Mickey Wacky Wednesday Recap

So I've been more than a little quiet on the blog the past two weeks because I have had zero time on my hands. We finished up preschool for Lily(*tear*), had my Grandmother's 88th Birthday, Mother's Day, and then went to Disney World. Woosh. I'm exhausted even typing about it. I'm going to break up my Disney breakdown into 2 posts. So if you care nothing of hearing about it, check back in with me in 2 posts!

First, I'll share with you how I hyped it up to be bigger than birthdays, Christmas and Easter combined to my kids. May have been a mistake, but we'll have to wait and see how it all turns out. I'm sharing this because I searched Pinterest high and low for fun ideas and came up with very little. I envy moms who can pull off a 'surprise-trip' to Disney. Just pick the kids up from school and drive to Florida. I can't keep a surprise to myself for anything. With both of my pregnancies everyone in my address book knew I was pregnant before the pregnancy test was even dry. That's just how I am. It's all out there. No onion layers to peel, folks.

About a month ago we had my parents over for a Wacky Wednesday dinner which was Mickey Mouse themed. In a normal family this would have tipped the kids off to a Disney trip surprise, but we regularly have Mickey shaped things in our meals. I guess that puts our family straight into the weird category. Oh well.

Mickey-shaped chicken patties

Really the only Mickey food we had was these chicken patties. I took some nice, delicious free-range chicken breasts and destroyed them in the food processor and mixed them with bread crumbs, egg whites and diced leeks (won't add the leeks next time- too strong a flavor). Then I mashed them into shape with this great Mickey Mouse pancake mold I've had since our first Disney trip. Thus the reason behind our regularity of MM-shaped food. I panfried them until golden brown and served them with a variety of dips. It was fun! Before naptime that day I had the kids make an old-fashioned paper chain out of red, yellow and black construction paper with fun Disney stickers (most of them were the free ones from those Disney Movie Club junk mailers). So I strung them up as a decoration, but they had 26 links- one for each day until our trip. 

See the paper chain in the back? Added some of the leftovers from Davis' birthday banner.

I wrapped a present for each of the kids. A monogrammed T-shirt that my talented friend Hilary made. If you need anything cute you should check out her shop.

I also made a 'ticket' out of the free baggage tags that came with our reservation. 

After dinner I gave the kids the presents and they still needed a little bit of a clue as to what was going on...

So then we had to wait a very long 3 weeks until the trip and it was full of excitement! We watched the free Disney planning DVD multiple times. We measured them to see what rides they could go on. Daddy found out Lily was tall enough for the Tower of Terror and the excitement built about that (my stomach sank just thinking about it). And I got to spend a zillion hours on family tie dyed T-shirts for our Magic Kingdom day. They were VERY labor intensive. I'm not even gonna play it off like "Oh, these? I just whipped these up last night." It was more like 3-4 nights of prep work, 1 meltdown in the middle of WalMart (that place induces tears just thinking about pushing around their massive carts- who needs that much stuff? Really?!), and 3 layers of skin later (ALWAYS wear gloves when handling the dye, people. No joke.) But the shirts turned out pretty good. Mickey was mistaken for a heart once, but I'll tie the rubber bands tighter next time.

Oh, this? It was nothing!

For some completely detailed instructions on how to do this shirt go visit Melissa at her blog Disney Dreamer Designs. That lady knows how to do some tie dye. This was my first ever tie dye experience so I wasn't sure what to expect. But they didn't turn out terrible! Also, we all stood out as a group in the park so it was much easier to find each other. And other people in the park who also did different Disney tie dyes would come up and give you a high five. Like we were in some secret club. It was funny. But I foresee tie dyes in our future Disney trips for sure!

And thanks to my family for being sports and wearing the shirts!

Flashback Friday, Island Style

Can we just sit back, sigh, and praise God that it's finally beach weather again! Ahhhhhhhh!! If you're reading this up nawth, just know that I am praying for you. I spent my first 18 springs under a fine dusting of snow. I empathize. Really I do. But those days are over for me! So rejoice with me! The handful of times we've been to the beach this spring have been downright renewing. I sit down and can actually relax and watch the kids play (and they get along 10 times better than at home).  I can almost hear a church choir inside my head singing 'It is well...it is well... with my soul!'

First beach night 2012
Kids actually forgot what sand felt like on their feet.
It was hilarious. 

Now this wasn't always the case. Several summers have gone by where there was a lot of extra kid anxiety, some real, some self-inflicted.

"Yes, you need to walk to the beach so I can use the other half of the double stroller for beach toys. Step it up. Let's go."

"Did I put sunscreen on you yet? What number did I use? Did I get your face? Is your cheek red? Is that sunburn? Oh whatever, let me reapply everywhere. Is this bottle empty ALREADY?!"

"No, don't eat the sand, I brought really food. What is that crunching sound? Is that a shell? What?! Is that a dead crab?!"


"Kids, be nice and share. We have enough shovels. No, there is only one green shovel. Go play with the blue shovel. Ok, we can't play with the shovels at all if you're going to hit your brother in the face with it. Go find a stick."


"We have to leave this very second if we're going to have nap on time. Drop those shells and put on your shoes. I'll change your wet, soaking diaper as I push the stroller through the sand dunes. Let's move. Oh no, naptime is ruined. We're off schedule now. Great!"

You get my drift. The beach hasn't always been blissful. We have earned this summer! 2 & 4 seem to be the perfect beach ages for my kids. The hubs and I are giddy with delight that our most favorite place on earth is now their most favorite place on earth. I am fast and furiously couponing for my sunblock stockpile and last year's style of Crocs have been purchased on clearance and are headed to my house! I won't even be miffed when the UPS guy rings my doorbell during naptime!

So here are a few pics and a video from the past few years to celebrate this Flashback Friday... island style.

And then there were 4. 

This video was from 2009 when I was pregnant with Davis. I love it, but can't watch it during the winter or towards the end of summer. It gets me sad. But now that we have a whole summer ahead of us I can enjoy it!

Wacky Wednesday!

Family dinner time is something I pretty much cherish. As soon as our daughter started to sit at the highchair and eat (which was a little later than most since she eats like a bird), we have been enjoying that time-honored tradition of family dinners. Even when my son was a newborn he would enjoy dinner time with a nursing cover on the side. It's not only a great way to end the day, catch up with Daddy and build family identity, but it provides us with loads of training opportunities! Table manners, interrupting, sitting at the table until everyone is done, how to say grace, not smearing yogurt on your face with your hands... Endless opportunities!

How not to eat....

During the spring/summer/fall we cherish having Family Beach Night once a week (yes, we are blessed and a little spoiled.) As soon as Daddy gets home from work we are all packed up to go to the beach for a picnic and some sunset playtime. It's something we look forward to all week long and when Friday night rolls around we cross our fingers for good weather and head to the beach!

The beach at sunset is amazing

So over the long winter (ok, it only feels long, because I love summer) we have continued to have our regular, sometimes mundane family dinners. Even on the nights when mommy has to leave for work or an event, if we have a 10 minute overlap of all of us home at the same time we sit down and eat and play a quick round of catch up. Last week I took my son out to eat for a Mother- Son date 'knight' at Chickfila. They did a great job putting the event together! And it was a good excuse to get dressed up and use a little gel on Bubba's hair.

My knight armed with a balloon sword and chocolate milk

Yes, I wore a fru fru dress!

While we were out that night, my husband made my daughter breakfast for dinner and she thought that was so hilarious and talked about it for days! So we came up with the idea to do something a little different for dinner once a week. We tried it for the first time this week and we are calling it 'Wacky Wednesday'. I made up a new version of Eggs Benedict since I had just made some fresh homemade salsa. And the kids went for the more reserved Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes.

Huevos Benedictos!

Wacky Wednesday Wardrobe

The Wacky Wednesday dinner coordinator is taking suggestions NOW! Any ideas what to do next?!?

Big Top Phobia

I know a lot of people have weird, irrational phobias that I scoff at and don't begin to undertsand. Like selenophobia which is the fear of the moon. And not the full-hiney-hanging-out-of-the-pants kind of moon, but the real up-in-the-sky-tide-inducing moon. I mean c'mon. Is that real? And then the new modern, chic fear called Nomophobia: the fear of losing cell phone contact. I totally believe this one and Verizon made a entire commerical campaign playing off this fear. 'Can you hear me now?'

Don't get me wrong, I'm not without my own weird phobia. For the majority of my life I've been afraid of the circus. Most people would automatically assume I had coulrophobia which is the ever-popular fear of clowns. Now, I'm not a huge fan of clowns and they are kind of weird. I've seen the movie 'It' and can somewhat understand people with this fear. Men wearing make-up, pants that fall down, annoying pranks. Doesn't seem too kid-friendly to me. But I don't fear them. 

Me as a clown, Halloween 1981

My fear doesn't even have a clinical name it's so weird. I'm a case study. I am afraid of watching people who are up high. No, I'm not afraid of heights myself. In fact, the first year we put up Christmas lights on our house, I preferred to climb on the roof myself rather than watch my husband climb the ladder. Lots of head shaking from the neighbors ensued. Now I just stay inside and hide when he's up there (and periodocally peek out to make sure I don't have to call 911.) But this fear isn't exactly unfounded. When I was about 4 years old my grandparents took me to the circus and I really had a great time. Right up until the end. The death defying moment when the human cannonball gets shot out of the cannon...and flies through the air... and misses the net. Yep, the human cannonball flew his last flight that day as this wide-eyed four year old took it all in. The circus was halted and we all watched as he was taken away in an ambulance with a snapped neck and not by the circus clowns dressed up as paramedics, but the real deal. And then, "The show must go on!" Cue clowns, ringmaster, music! Like it never happened. Well, that ruined the circus for me. I went a few other times after that, but I was terrified at any acrobat, human cannonball or  high-flying trapeze artist. No circus, no thank you. 

Fastforward about 20 years. My sweet, thoughtful new boyfriend surprised me with tickets to the circus! Yay! Great! The circus! How fun.... I didn't tell him until we got there about my past issues. I got nervous and sweaty all through the elephant act, then the tigers, then the horses. The knot in my stomach got tighter and tighter and then the trapeze act came out and it was more than I could stand. I actually had to run to the bathroom to throw up. Nice. Good impression, Stacie. But he saw my freak flag flying high and the man still stayed with me. Married me actually. At least he knew what he was getting into. And he never surprised me with circus tickets again. 

Fastforward another 10 years and 2 kids together. Last month my husband playfully mentions that the circus is coming to town. Ha, right, I thought. I'm not going to scar my children by taking them to that fiasco.

But then I thought about it and felt very convicted. That was my fear, my anxiety, my phobia. And it was irrational. And it ends here and now. I'm not going to pass this irrational fear and anxiety and nausea-at-the-thought-of-a-man-flying-through-the-air onto my kids! Enough! They have their entire lifetime to come up with their own crazy phobias. I don't need to add to that right out of the gate!

So we went to the circus! And I didn't throw up! And here's the video my hubby made to prove it!



And just so you know, they don't even have the human cannonball anymore. No, that is so 1999. Way too tame. Now they have the human torch. They light a man on fire and launch him through the big top where he lands on a inflatable landing pad while still ON FIRE and then the circus clowns put him out with fire extinguishers. I have to admit I may have tasted my popcorn a bit during that one. But he made it. And I made it. And my kids are clueless of their mom's crazy circus phobia.

Who knows, maybe this year I will even spot my husband while he's on the ladder going Clark W. Griswold on our house instead of cowering inside listening for a thud. Hmm. Maybe. Baby steps.