A Few Photos...

Yeah, I'm a terrible blogger right now. It will get better...right?!?

SO over the last several months Colin has started first grade, Miss C has turned 1 and we visited Mickey and Jo Pa. See why it's been tough to blog, lol!

In the midst of everything I also need to make two costumes for Colin. One is a ninja as requested and the other is for All Saints Day for school.

Yeah, somehow I just think that things are going to get worse before they get better.

Have I mentioned that Miss C has started running?

Yep, totally going to get worse before it gets better :-)


Get the FREE Printables here, they are awesome.

Disney in the City...

We are back and just like I predicted, it really was all about the fashion, (and the allergen free food). We had a wonderful time and seriously cannot wait to go back. I think one of my favorite moments from the trip was on the way to the resort from the airport. We were watching the movie on the bus and they were playing that stupid memories begin commercial that makes me cry everytime I see it. I started to tear up and I looked over at Colin who was tearing up too! I said are you okay? He said, "I'm just so happy!"

That just makes my heart so happy.

Here are a few quick photos before I head off to bed. The red and white dress is the one I made and the cupcake photos are from Babycakes, the vegan bakery downtown.

It's All About the Fashion...

As we start packing for Miss C's first trip to the mouse I have noticed one very interesting theme...I'm very concerned about what she is going to wear. :-)
I have always packed Colin's best summer duds on a trip where there are photo opportunities galore but never with as much gusto as I have with Miss C.

Miss C has 5 swimsuits...most of these have ruffles like this one.



She has three costumes, Tinkerbell, Minnie Mouse and Belle.

We have a pirate wig that I got for Colin that he wasn't too into but we nearly peed our pants when we put it on Miss C. If I have time I may make a peasant dress out of Muslin just for kicks.

I have cut out all the material for a few handmade dresses to take along as well as purchased her clothes for summer.

Now I have overpacked for her mostly out of concern that there will be blowouts. But now that I am thinking about it there may need to be costume changes just for the heck of it.

I can't wait to finally start taking pictures again :-)

So I HAD to Blog About This.....

There is a Babycakes VEGAN bakery in Downtown Disney!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How did I not know about this??? Just goes to show that I have been away from the blogging world way too long when something like this slips through my radar.

So basically Colin can walk up to the counter and order ANYTHING!

He is going to freak. We had been thinking about going this Easter and well, finding out about this put us right over the edge.

How could we not go?

I cannot wait to walk up to the counter and let him pick whatever he wants...he has never had that many choices even in Disney. Donuts, cupcakes, cookies, and breads oh my! He knows about the trip but knows nothing about the bakery. We want it to be a surprise.

This is how Miss C feels about that....

Mommy feels the same way too.

Even though we had to think long and hard about it.


But watching your brother eat anything that he wants and you eating your brother it totally worth it.

If anyone needs me I will be cutting coupons and eating Ramen noodles.

At 39 Weeks....

Wishing I was in Disney so I could pick up a pack of these...

It's a sickness...I know.

Realizing that maybe it was a little unrealistic to think that I could go into labor on my own...I mean I can't get pregnant without help why would I think labor would be any different???

WALKED my insane son to school this morning. Mostly because I am a sucker and I did say if he got up early enough we could walk. Did I mention that it was raining? Oh and that I had to walk home to get my CAR so I could go to work. Colin was happy as a duck in our development, (yes we have loads of ducks, and goats and sometimes a horse but that's a whole other post) hoping and skipping to school this AM. Yep, I'm a sucker.

Oh and it was about a mile or so and I'm still not in labor. On Sunday I RAN hoping that would get things going, oh and did the elliptical and played football when I got home.

Nothing.
*sigh* I really could be pregnant for awhile longer, I just want to avoid the induction and the IV's and the laying in bed and the whole medical intervention to begin with.

Sad that I will miss Homecoming Weekend at PSU this year. If I had her by today we were still going to go up but I'm thinking that we missed the boat and it's probably a bit irresponsible to go so close to my due date if I haven't had her.

As of today Charlotte's crib sheet is done and her bumper is 98% finished. I just have to add the ties and work on the crib skirt. I think I will finish that tonight. I just need to pick up some additional fabric that we ordered and I will start her Minnie Mouse quilt.

Having another ultrasound today and a non stress test. Hopefully it will be my last one, I've only had like 15 this pregnancy. Seems a bit excessive but at least I know she is doing well in there.

Well, wish me luck and hopefully little miss Charlotte will decide to make her grand entrance sooner rather than later. :-)

How Many More School Lunches Do I Have to Pack?!

I've thought about actually doing the math but I am pretty sure I would break down in tears. Packing a balanced and interesting lunch for a 5 year old who only has a few things that he can eat cold let alone things that he likes is just a bit overwhelming right now.

Now granted I'm sure that I am making this harder on myself than needed, but it's still pretty complicated.

I am however excited to have made a few purchases to make things a bit easier. We got a few new snack size containers for dressing and dip, and I found these packets...

Let me tell you, it's extremely difficult and messy to clean Sunbutter out of a tiny container after it has been in a lunch box all day. Yuck!
So even though it's nearly $7 for a box of 10 1oz servings, (and who knows how much to ship), I plan on placing an order soon just to avoid doing dishes.

In other exciting news we will soon have Minnie Mouse Bake Shop Chocolate Chip cookies to help us out during snack time. A girl needs to be able to grab at least one prepackaged snack on occasion, especially on soccer days.



These aren't our chocolate chip cookies but I couldn't find a picture of the 100 calorie snacks and well...looking at these makes me just as happy. It took ALOT of arm twisting and my stellar manipulating, I mean social work, skills to get Disney to agree to ship the cookies.

They generally don't ship food but especially don't ship chocolate because it's just so stinkin hot there. So they sent a merchandise runner into the parks to search for the cookies and then read the ingredients over the phone. They agreed to ship them to us as long as we realized that they could be a mess by the time they got here. I assured them that my son eats all kinds of things that I wouldn't be able to choke down and that in fact he has never met a carb that he doesn't like. So they are being air mailed to us and we should have them in a few days. Yay! So thanks Disney for not only making a cookie in a cute package that doesn't kill my kid but for also being willing to ship it to me.

Total Randomness...

I am trying to get a bit organized before my, "photo shoot" for naked baby mama photos this afternoon so I figured...hey why not blog?

Except I surprisingly don't have too much to blog about.

I did make an extremely elaborate lunch for my food allergic Kindergartner. I should have taken a photo but we were already running behind because of said lunch. Colin likes when I make pot pie noodles for him which you can imagine involve milk and butter. With a little creativity, I can make these for him that they are safe but I fear there may be too many steps involved for lunch.

He has his thermos, (which he is able to open by himself), a paper plate to put his noodles on and a cracker topping to spread on the top. I seriously would love to be a fly on the wall to see how he handles this today. There are also grapes, a homemade chocolate chip cookie and carrots with Sunbutter to dip.



What is it about Kindergarten that makes me miss him more during the day?



Totally wishing I was here right about now. When I start dreaming about vacation I know that I am doing a bit too much. Can I tell you how stinkin' excited I am to take our little princess here?!

I should probably start making her princess gowns now so there will be done by the next time we are able to take a trip. Because seriously if didn't try to do something totally over the top insane, (like making a dress for her for every night of our trip, or making the kids bedding or making a maternity tee shirt for this weekend's PSU game), I wouldn't be me.

At least admitting that it is insane is the first step, or so I've been told.

Mickey and Minnie Bedroom

So I have committed to the Mickey and Minnie Mouse theme for Colin and the Baby's room. Since there are very few products that fit my Mouse theme that aren't too cutesy, I plan on using a general red, black and yellow color scheme. Lucky for me, the bedroom is already painted Mickey Yellow :-)

When we were in Disney I searched the Art Galleries for an inexpensive print that I could use in the room as a focal point. Of course the one that I loved was $6500...not exactly in the budget.

So I did a search online and found that Amazon has loads of movie posters for sale and I plan to buy a few and frame them. Here are a couple of the options.








Classic/Vintage Mickey and Minnie are my favorites and having any of these in that room would make me incredibly happy. It will be like my own personal Disney fix on a daily basis. I can't wait to start putting everything together.

Well My Internet Life Has Been Pretty Lame....

It's been several weeks since I have dug through the mess of my scraproom to get anywhere near my computer. Sure, I have gotten the occasional internet fix from my Blackberry but it's been ages since I have spent any quality time surfing the internet.

Well I am here now and crossing my fingers that I start feeling like my old self soon. I did almost finish a layout so I think I am making some progress.

First things first...for those who don't know yet we are having a little girl! I think I am still in shock but she is doing quite well and we are extremely excited to meet her. We have NO NAMES for her yet, well Matt and Colin do but I don't. I haven't found anything that I am in love with yet but I am confident that we will agree on something.

I would have taken a picture of the ultrasound images but I kind of lost my memory card. I thought I would be all slick and print my photos without editing them so I can start putting them in albums and somehow misplaced it.

It has all of the Disney photos on it. Well, at least I printed them first.

Here are a few from our photo pass CD.


I made these shirts using my Cricut and Freezer Paper. There are loads of tutorials on the internet, just google "Freezer Paper Stencil."


This one you can see my baby bump a little better. I'm about 18 weeks in these photos.

And a Hershey Park photo for good measure....

Get it...good measure?! Ha, I kill me :-)

Well I'm off to purchase Silly Bandz since my son just asked me if we could go to "silly bandz.com" He was so cute I'm actually going to buy the stupid things.

Hope to be back soon with actual scrapbooking stuff and some sewing projects.

If You Ever Wondered What I Would Take To A Deserted Island...

The answer is posted here.

Very excited to have been asked to participate in this...it really is a great community.

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I posted. Well yes I can...I have been running like a crazy person so come lights out I'm out like a light too!

Anyway it's 8:00AM and I am planning to scrap a little before little man wakes up and starts to bug me...I mean ask to play.

I'm totally kidding by the way...kind of :-)

I seriously need to clean this place up...I can hardly see my scrap stuff which doesn't really work for me.

Oh and I guess I should mention that I will need to make another one of these.



We just started planning our next trip to see the Mouse. Would anyone be interested in Disney planning posts that discuss how and why we make the planning decisions that we do? I know a lot of folks are super overwhelmed by the whole process but once you know a little information, set realistic expectations and plan well...the trip really is a piece of cake.

And of course there is paper and glue involved, it just makes everything better.

And for those of you that are new here...we go to Disney so frequently because my son has multiple food allergies and Disney is awesome at making my family feel like everyone else for a week. So we make it a priority above almost everything else so that we can have that experience.

And the Mouse makes me happy too :-)

Guess What Came Today....

Three of these.

One for Mommy.
One for Daddy.
One for Colin.

And I got them on sale.

The Fausts are going to be all matchy matchy this holiday season.

I seriously can't wait :-)

Disney Planners

This is last years planner. I used cardstock to write all of our important info that I would reference a lot during the week. Allergies, places to find special food, hours, reservations and height restrictions. I of course did this the night before so I used 4x6 laminating sheets to sandwich my cardstock and pattern paper to protect them from damage since they would be handled a ton.

Things that worked...
Everything was in one place.
It was easy to find in my bag.
It was cute.

Things that didn't...
The laminating sheets didn't make it through the whole week.
They didn't hold up to the rain.
Some of my handwriting was hard to read.

So here's the updated version...



I made it smaller, I did it ahead of time and I focused my information by day so it was easy to tell which parks were open late each day.

I included a list of Colin's allergies, (it's easier to hand this over then worry that I forget to say something), park hours, where we could get Colin's special food in each park and all of our reservation and confirmation numbers. I forgot to take a photo of the back where you can see a coordinating pattern paper. After printing these onto cardstock, adhering pattern paper, cutting to size and embellishing I took them to Staples and had them laminate it.

This worked much better.

And it was still cute. :-)

Disney Recap...

Let me start this post by saying that this trip was exactly what I needed to recharge my batteries. Which is interesting since going to Disney pretty much depletes any existing energy while there. This trip was no exception. It was incredibly hot...(so much for mild weather), crowded and exhausting.
But oh so much fun!

We arrived on Sunday. I must say that taking a later flight and being organized helped a lot. We left without a hitch and didn't run into any speed bumps until later that evening when we were all excited and hungry. After our first little big kid meltdown we decided to skip the parks Sunday night and went swimming.
Yep, we swam until almost midnight! I kept telling Colin that this was crazy and that we should be sleeping. But we knew we were going to sleep in the next day and figured we might as well swim when we don't have to worry about getting burned.

On Monday we decided to hit up Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom...homemade shirts and all.


Doesn't he just look so relaxed?

We stayed at the Pop Century Resort which was definitely our favorite Value Resort. The transportation was great and we hardly waited very long for any of the park buses. We did spend some time checking out some other resorts while park hopping and I have to say the Animal Kingdom Lodge definitely has a few perks...



How about seeing one of these out of your window. I took this photo on the safari but when we stopped at the lodge to use the bathrooms we saw a few while waiting in the lobby. Now tell me that's not cool.



I did manage a few decent pictures in front of the castle but this is the only one that I have on my camera. I have a couple on our Photo Pass card and now will just stalk my email to see if they will send me a promo code for it to be cheaper. I just can't justify the expense when I have almost all of the same images on my camera.

I really wanted to write down all of the funny things that Colin said but for some reason I got too busy and forgot.

The few that I remember are...
"That's what I'm talking about, baby!"
"No Mommy you hold onto to those...we will need them to take another vacation!" (said in response to me asking him if he wanted to throw pennies in It's a Small World)
"I can't make my body settle down."
"You were lying, that ride was scary!"
"Mommy, I'm sooooo gonna dunk you under water!"

But the best was Colin ringing the bell on one of those bikes that you see on the boardwalk that seat 2-4 riders. Well we rented one at Disney's Boardwalk Resort and my stomach still hurts from laughing and the ab workout that I got while peddling. It's a good thing Colin was so good at his job because I am sure we would have run someone over. Not to mention that he was too cute for anyone to yell at him for making them get out of the way!

Other highlights...

We had two character breakfasts and I bribed Colin with race cars to take photos with the characters in Animal Kingdom. They were so cute since everyone was wearing their Halloween costumes.



We walked around Epcot during the Food and Wine Festival and had a snack during a Boys to Men concert.

Again, tell me that's not cool.

We rode the monorail 865 times and HAD to sit in the back of the bus each and every time that we rode it. Although we did better this trip in that he didn't have a complete meltdown when others were sitting in the back.

It feels like we did a ton but also feels like we hardly did anything. Oh well, it's not like we won't ever go back. As Colin says, "we can't throw our pennies in the water because we need to save them to take another vacation. I just looooove vacation!"

So I'm sure we will be saving pennies....and nickels, and dimes, and quarters and bills for awhile so we can all have a break to recharge our batteries and to see the mouse!

Now if I could just think of a witty phrase for our next set of tee shirts....

Golly We're Almost Ready!

I can almost hear his voice on our wake up call in the hotel room. "Oh boy! It's time to start our day, see ya real soon!"

I realize that I am a grown up but there is just something about seeing the mouse that just makes me happy. I am so looking forward to this trip and if I can get through tomorrow I will be set.

Everything is pretty much done except packing up my documents and camera chargers. I plan on bringing my little camera too and letting Colin take pictures. I got a new camera bag that I can hopefully put my camera, Colin's stuff, purse stuff and whatever else I think we need without feeling like I am carrying the entire hotel room with us around the park. This way my camera will be easily accessible and I hopefully won't feel like it's a pain to get it out. (Which I admit to sometimes being too lazy to lug it around.)

On a Halloween note, we decided on a costume.
Well, I did and Colin went along with it.
I found a Superman costume from a few seasons ago at the Halloween store for $4.97!
It actually doesn't feel like crap and is pretty well made.
Colin was happy but insists that Superman needs a mask because, "Duh Mommy, superheros wear masks. Silly Mommy!"

What do I know?
Although I do know that the Transformers song does not go...

Transformers...in the sky
Transformers...in the eye
Being in the battle...
Bringing on the strong...
The Deceptecons...
Yeah!

And yes, I do have him singing this on tape.

Classic. :-)

I've Been Meaning To Blog...

But I have been sleeping. :-)

Between getting ready for the trip and our weekend at Penn State, I'm beat.

So a quick update and then I am planning on a little mind clearing paper playing.

We went to the game, yes they cancelled tailgating and no, it wasn't that bad.

We had a great time and enjoyed hanging out in our old stomping grounds.

I am almost completely packed for our trip. Although the only reason is because we are now wearing pants instead of shorts. So instead of putting our summer stuff away, I put it in our suitcase. You have no idea how much I impressed myself with that one, ha!

Thank you for all of the Halloween recommendations. I think what we are going to do a mix of a homemade costume with a few store bought basics. So I think Colin will either be Batman or Dash. It just depends on which color dance wear I can find cheap, lol. Who knew that the girls clothing section held so many possibilities?

And since no post is complete without a picture, how about a random one to go with a random post?



Well, I'm off to finish my challenge LO for the Collage Press Blog. Can't wait to share the details and I hope all of you get a chance to play along!

New LO...

And a bit of self doubt. I spent Friday night at Times to Remember at the Hershey Outlets. I try to do this at least once a month but it has been awhile since my schedule and their midnight crop schedule matched. I go up by myself, spread out my supplies and try to get as much done as I can. This is usually when I realize that I think too much about stuff and sometimes can be painfully slow.

Friday night I only brought a few supplies and just the LO's that I was working on. So I of course forgot a few things that would have made my life easier and was having a hard time with this LO.



I'll be honest...it's only now starting to grow on me. I wanted to finish this first before working on anything else since I started it about a week ago and just was tired of looking at it.

So I called it done and sat it to the side. Well I just kept looking at since I wasn't happy with it. What I liked was the tone on tone color scheme, the die cut paper that I journaled on and the stitching. That was about it. I struggled trying to balance the die cut paper and the rest of the LO. But I was bound and determined to not pull it apart and start over.

In the end I added the floss, buttons and half pearls in the middle, yet it still didn't feel right. Then I added half pearls in the top right corner, that didn't do it either. It wasn't until I added the punched sun embellishment with the staple and half pearl that I started to feel better about it.

Did I mentioned that I also dropped my stamp onto my photo?

Now that I stepped away from it for a bit I am happy with it. I wish I didn't waste so much time on it but I am glad it was done.

More importantly I got this funny story onto paper.

But I will admit, I had a few "I'm a terrible scrapbooker, why even bother to submit stuff," moments.

Luckily I came home, slept and then looked through albums with Colin today and remembered exactly why I do this.

So self doubt gone....scrapbooking can resume :-)

Disney Countdown Chain...

This was our rainy day project for today. Since we are getting so much closer to our upcoming trip and Colin is getting better with time I thought this was the perfect activity for today.



I used two 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of cardstock and 1 scrap piece of pattern paper. I cut the cardstock to 1 1/2 strips with my paper trimmer. I then let Colin put some left over letter stickers where ever he wanted. He enjoyed the first 4 or 5 but then wanted my to do the rest. I used glue on around the rings to adhere them.



After I assembled it, I wrote the number of days left on the inside of each ring. So each morning when we get up we will cut one off.

I found some ribbon that matched my curtains and figured that it was either hang this here or on a sprinkler. I thought the curtain was a much better choice. :-)

I have a few other Disney projects that I am working on this weekend and I also have new LO's to share.

I also think I'm getting pretty close to my 200th post. When I do we will do another HUGE RAK! So make sure to be on the look out for that!

Here's The Pumpkin Patch...

Here are just a few photos from the patch. I haven't edited them all mostly because I have been *gasp* going to bed early. While I do enjoy feeling well rested, I actually feel a lot better when I get things done. Doesn't really matter what it is, as long as I can cross something off of my list. So I got a Sweet Tea on my way home and I'm hoping to get a little scrapping in as well as some Disney planning.

I worked on our "Disney Details" book and when I finish it I will post photos and describe why I include the information that I do. I did this last year for the first time and it was super helpful!

I did have a light bulb moment the other day. As I am transitioning to fall clothing I realized that I could actually start packing for our trip and not have to wait till the last minute. Since there's no point in putting away shorts just to get them out again in a few weeks! Every once in awhile I have a good idea, lol!

Who knows, maybe I will even get our tee shirts finished a few days before we go instead of the night before. What a concept!

10 Disney Cruise Tips

So have you ever thought about taking a Disney Cruise? Well here are some things I learned....

1. Don't worry about clothing, you seriously need very little during the day, (just a swimsuit) and most people won't remember what you wore to dinner.

2. The rooms are small, large for a cruise ship, but still small. Spend the extra money for a window or splurge and get a balcony. Make sure you like who you go on vacation with, always a bonus, and bring the least amount of stuff as possible. We took an inside cabin while the grandparents splurged on their room and got a balcony. I really didn't think it was a big deal for all of the extra $ but it wonderful! I know they enjoyed having coffee in the mornings and enjoying a drink before bed.

3. Bring an over the door shoe organizer to use for toiletries. I saw this in another room and you bet I wished I had thought of that!

4. The pools are small and there are bigger kids using the slide and therefore running across the pool, a lot. Have a Margarita before getting in and you really don't care.

5. The excursions are expensive and except for the Dolphin Experience, you may enjoy just wandering the ports independently. If you want to go to the beach there are plenty of cab drivers willing to take you to a nice beach if you ask. Just be sure to bring a watch and leave yourself enough time to get back to the ship.

6. The cruise is not very Disney, for those who want a neat vacation that is kid friendly this is a good fit. For those nuts like me...do the land and sea option to get your magical fix.

7. I can't say enough good things about the daycare. You seriously could leave your kid there all day and they would probably be fine. They did such a nice job of doing activities and games that the kids were not bored and had a great time.

8. Bring chip clips to hold your towels down on your beach chair.

9. I got sea sick. If you get even the littlest bit sick in the car opt to get a room in the middle of the ship. Even better if you stick to activities that are located in the middle of the ship. We went to a wine tasting in the front of the ship and that was definitely my worst day.

10. Wash your hands often. It's not fun being sick on vacation and with so many people so close together it's very possible to catch something.