A picture story

We recently took a vacation from life and spent a week at Disneyland.

Ella and Eli could hardly contain their excitement. The day we arrived we went to Downtown Disney to prepare for our stay. Ella needed a new nightgown (that's the item I forgot to pack, not bad considering all I remembered to pack.) and we needed autograph books.

All five of us slept in one hotel room. The room had two queen size beds (one for Chris and one for me) and a pull out twin for Ella.

Rhys slept in his pack-n-play and Eli slept on the chair cushion we placed between the beds. The first night Eli slept under my bed, woke up confused and moved his head back onto his "bed". After that I added pillows to the sides of his bed so he would stay in place.

We were so happy to spend our time in Disneyland with the extended Williams family. (The trip was funded by Grandma and Grandpa Oregon)

Cousin James is adorable and Rhys seemed to like him too. =)

When we first arrived it was time for me to feed Rhys. So Chris took Ella and Eli on one of the old fashioned car rides down main street. They never came back...

After feeding Rhys I was happy to wait in lines to meet characters, I mean so that Rhys could meet the characters 8).

After meeting Pluto, Goofy, and Mickey, Rhys and I made our way to Fantasy land where the family was waiting for us while they rode on rides.

As a mother, the joy of Disneyland is lived by watching my kids have fun. It has to do with nostalgia and memories from when I came as a kid and wanting the same thing for my kids. I mostly didn't mind being the parent who takes pictures and watches the baby, but I was kind of bummed that the parent switch pass doesn't work on kids rides such as the tea cups.

Britni and I are devoted mothers who will do anything for our daughters. Even stand in line for an hour so they can meet Rapunzel. Actually it worked out fine because our youngests were taking naps while we waited so we wouldn't have been able to go on rides then anyway. But really we are awesome mothers.

Ella wants you to know that Rapunzel asked her, "Will you hold my hair?"

Chris is a devoted father who will wait in line for who knows how long so his daughter can meet Tinkerbell. (I was sick in bed the day they did this).

While Chris took Ella on the Indiana Jones ride I took our boys on Jungle Cruise. I love this ride because there is never a line and it is always funny. Eli loved it too and we went on it several times during our stay in Disneyland--every time everyone else went on Indiana Jones.

Thanks to the parent switch pass I got to go on Indiana Jones too! Ella was so excited for this ride. She loved any and all of the thrill rides. Her effervescence was catchy.

While Ella and I rode Space Mountain, Eli met Buzz Lightyear. Lucky.

There was a lot of construction in California Adventure. I much prefer Disneyland to California Adventure, but the rest of the family loved both parks. In fact Ella's favorite rides were in California Adventure: California Screaming and Tower of Terror.

Here is Ella posing at one of the "forgive the construction mess" signs.

Spending all day every day playing and having fun was asking a little too much of my three year old. We quickly learned to let him take a nap in the stroller while I carried Rhys in the Mai Tai carrier. On day one, however we hadn't let Eli take a nap so when we went to California Adventure and I carried my tired boy on my shoulders he quickly fell asleep. Who can sleep like that? This boy has a sleeping gift.

Day two I woke up early with the baby and decided to go to Disneyland right when they opened. Eli woke up as I was leaving so I took him too. I loved the excitement of the crowds as we were let into main street and then into the park. The boys and I headed strait for Tomorrow land. We rode on the space orbiter (like dumbo but with rockets), the Buzz Lightyear ride, and the Nemo Submarine ride. It was fun for me to spend the morning with my boys.

If you look closely at this picture you will see oatmeal on Rhys' face. That's how we did things in Disneyland. I often fed Rhys while pushing him in the stroller. No time to stop and feed him, there were rides to ride on!

I have to admit that we lost Eli. We were walking to Pirates of the Caribbean, and when we stopped to park the stroller he kept walking. Thankfully I was with a large group of family that ran all over the park looking for him. And thankfully Disneyland is used to this and security found him in no time. Chris Debeikes brought him back to me (more than once actually since Eli had a tendency to get lost). The story is that when we told Eli we were going on the Pirates ride he thought we meant the big boat that sails around pirate island and had walked down to its dock. Here we are on the "pirate boat" USS Columbia the day after this mix up happened:

On day two we ate as a huge family group at Ariel's Grotto. I think it is a great idea to have the princesses come to you while you eat rather than waiting in more long lines to meet them. We were greeted by Belle, Arora, Cinderella, and Snow White (And Ariel of course.)

(It was shortly after eating lunch here that I started to feel ill. I tried to blame my gastroenteritis on food poisoning, but the next day when I was all better, Cassandra was sick so I knew it was a virus that made me ill, not the food.)

The super nice thing about coming with such a large group is that I got to ride on rides while someone else was willing to watch my kids. Chris D. took Ella to meet Jesse while I rode on Screaming. Thanks Chris.

On day four, Eli, Rhys and I went to Toon Town ahead of Chris an Ella. Eli was excited to meet Goofy and he loved playing in Goofy's garden--a small playground with a small slide. When Chris and Ella caught up to us Eli even went on the Toon Town roller coaster (this is a big deal because Eli didn't like fast rides.)

Look! Our first family photo since having Rhys.

Rhys liked Toon Town too. There were more places he was aloud to move around on his own. Like here, in Chip and Dale's house.

Of course we went on It's A Small World. It was fun to watch the kids pick out the Disney princesses within the displays. Somehow they even knew the song. Chris went on this ride once-it was his first time ever!

Going to Disneyland pointed out to me how big my little girl is. She was tall enough to go on any and all rides. She was (or looked) old enough to go on rides all by herself. Technically you have to be seven to go on rides by yourself, but no body questioned her when she waited in line and rode King Tritan's carousel alone.

Eli was asking for a sward starting on day one. On the last day I bought two swards. Miraculously they didn't break and made it home for a fun momento.

While the adults rode Toy Story Midway Mania and Ella rode on the carousel, us kids met Woody.

Eli decided to be grumpy and didn't want to meet Woody. So Rhys and I met Woody. But when Eli tried to walk past Woody without stopping Woody grabbed Eli and gave him a hug.

See how happy Eli is now? Thanks Woody.

Ella took the "Which Disney character are you" test. First she was Snow White's step mother. Then she was Maleficent. Ella wanted to keep trying to be a princess (or at least not a villain) but we had to move on.

My loving mother in law sensed my frustrations that came from always being with the baby and quickly swept me out of California Adventure and into Disneyland (Like I said before, I much prefer Disneyland) and bought me some beignets.

I just thought I'd mention that we drove to and from Disneyland. On the way home we needed to change our tire out for the spare. Yay Chris.

We had a fun time at Disneyland. Five days was not too much. It was not enough. We want more!

I've learned my lesson

We have officially moved into our new home in Portland, Texas. We love it here and soon I will tell you why, but first I must tell you how we got here...

Moving is not a fun thing to do. All that packing. All that stressing. All that driving. Bleh. But having movers is supposed to fix that. I hired movers back in February. Their job was to load the truck, drive the truck, and unload the truck. They were also hired to take apart beds and put them back together. Ahhh. You see, so much less stress and the move was still months away.

Fast forward to the day before the movers were scheduled to come. We had just returned from vacation the day before (I know, who goes on vacation the week before a move? Score one for the stress monster.) and we hadn't heard from the movers in a couple of days. I had been told the van driver would call me 24-48 hrs before they come to load us so we would know when to expect them. When the call never came, I decided to call them.

Sigh.

The rep in charge of my account wasn't answering the phone or returning my call. Then I tried their customer service and found out why my rep was avoiding me.

Are you ready for this?

They had yet to assign a shipper to my move. (The shipper is the van driver.) You see, I chose a nation-wide mover that hires out big trucks to move people, and the truck they had hired for my move had filled up and dropped us earlier that day and we now had no shipper planning to come to move us. Score five million to the stress monster.

Why didn't my rep feel like I should know this?! He did finally return my increasingly irate phone calls to inform me that he was sure they would find someone else to move us and contractually he had until midnight two days from then. The contract said the movers would come to load the truck on the 28/29th. I was sure that coming at midnight on the 29th didn't work, but he insisted he had until then to find me a shipper.

Gaaaaaaaaa.

Let me back up a little here.

We had planned to drive to our new home in order to move our cars there. My parents were planning to help us with the long drive and our young children. Then Chris' truck broke down and we sold it. This left us with one car that does not have room for my family plus my parents. (Score two for the stress monster.) My dad decided he would rent a car and still help us with our move. I soon learned that renting a car in one state and dropping it off in another state is a big deal.

Anyway,

On the 28th of July my parents flew into Tucson. We had one car, but they were planning to rent a car the following day when we started our long drive. We also had NO shippers at our house loading a moving truck. As we frantically finished packing our belongings (remember that vacation I went on? I had lots of laundry to do, and unpacking, and re-packing, and... score three for the stress monster.)

My husband, thank goodness, took over the whole yelling at the movers job. And after waiting 48 hours for the contract to be officially broken we rented Penske trucks and began to move ourselves. Did you catch that? I said truckS. When you wait until the day after you planned on moving to rent a moving truck all the big trucks won't be available and you will be stuck renting two 16 ft. trucks. We also had to load these trucks all by ourselves (who can you really ask to help you move the day after they all thought you had moved?)

Happily my parents were in town and Chris' truck was no longer ours. With four drivers, one car full of kids, and two Penske trucks full of our belongings we drove to our new home in Texas. Score one for everything working out.

And now we are here. My house is coming together nicely. I have Chris home for a month before he starts his new job. We were finally reimbursed by the movers. We even received our moving bonus and can now buy groceries. Everything is rainbows and unicorns.

I may never be willing to move again.

moving 101

We are moving.

Chris has a new job in Corpus Christi, Texas. We will move at the end of the month and packing is well under way.

I've learned many things while packing for this move:

1) It doesn't matter what you pack first because you will need it and have to open every box you pack to use what is in it at least twice before you actually move.

2) Pack toys first. Yep, toys.

3) Replace the toys with empty boxes and stand back in wonder while your children have more fun with the boxes than they did with the toys.

4) Don't believe the stores when they say they will save boxes for you. This is how I obtain boxes for packing--I ask a store (target or walmart) to save boxes after re-shelving and they tell me when to come pick them up (some obscene hour like seven am). I then don't sleep all night for fear that I won't make it to the store in time to get the boxes. Then, at the store I learn there was a "communication error" and the boxes have all been crushed. So why do I do this? Because once or twice they actually do save boxes for me and I get free moving boxes by the shopping cart full.

5) Selling unwanted furniture is easy if you want to give it away for free, but impossible if you want to sell it for money.

6) Be as organized as you want, but you will still have to reopen boxes to add items that somehow didn't make it into the designated box (ie: the tennis racket Chris has hidden in the bedroom that is not packed with our other tennis rackets.)

7) You can not eat everything in your freezer if you wait until the week before you move to start planning meals around what you already have.

I'm sure I will learn more before we actually move, like whether or not hiring movers to load and drive our everything we own is a good idea. I'll let you know...

my star

Yesterday my little girl graduated from preschool. We were lucky to have her attend Little Busy Bodies Preschool. There were only five children in the class and the teacher, Miss Amber, was fantastic.



Ella loved preschool. She loved playing with her friends, doing arts and crafts, and learning.

There was a graduation presentation on the last day of school. The children sang their three favorite songs to us and performed Caps For Sale. Ella was lucky enough to be the peddler and I thoroughly enjoyed watching my girl be the star of the show. Here, you can watch it too...

click here: Caps For Sale

I love my big little girl.

reversible no tie Mei Tai

I recently made the best baby carrier ever! I combined a couple different patterns to make my own and love it so much that I have made this tutorial to share the joy. See how happy it makes my son?

Mei Tai carriers are for babies six months and older. They can carry your baby on your back or your front with the baby facing you.

Traditional Mei Tai carriers use really long straps that wrap around and tie in place. I prefer the simple buckle method. I cross the shoulder straps to distribute the weight better and cinched the waist buckles over to one side for easier solo access.

I made it reversible for added fun. Now it will match any outfit I wear =)

Reversible, No Tie Mei Tai

Materials:

1 yrd Heavy weight fabric 60" wide. (canvas, denim, duck cloth)
13”x14” outer fabric (quilter’s cotton is fine)

13”x14” inner fabric (quilter’s cotton is fine)

2 yrds 1” webbing

2 1” back pack buckles
1 wide back pack buckle

Fleece (for padding)Cutting

Webbing:

two 26” long strips
two 3.5” long strips

Cut:

canvas:

51” x 11” (one of these-for the waist strap)
32” x 12” (two of these-for the shoulder straps)6” x 5” (two of these-for strap attachments)
13” x 14” (for the body)

Fleece:

two 12” x 19“one 12” x 24”

Sew:

Fold the fleece pieces lengthwise so the two raw ends meet in the middle. Then fold in half so there is a 3” wide, four layer thick pad. Stitch together briefly just so it keeps its shape.

Fold 1/2” on long sides of all straps (waist, 2 shoulder, 2 strap attachment)

Iron.Fold shoulder straps in half lengthwise so the folded edges lay on each other on the inside. Insert a the 12” x 19” fleece pad in each folded shoulder strap. (Place the pad five inches up from one of the ends of the strap.)

Sew along both edges of the shoulder straps 1/4” from edge and again 3/4” from edge. The fleece pad should fit inside without being sewn on by these stitches.
Fold the strap attachment in half lengthwise and sew down both long sides 1/4” and 3/4”.

Fold the waist strap in half. Sew along the folded edge 1/4” and 3/4”. DO NOT sew the open edge together yet.

To sew the 26” long webbing to one end of the strap attachment--overlap by 1” and fold down edge. Secure with rectangle with an x inside. Attach the male half of the 1” buckle to the webbing. Fold down the end of the webbing (3/4” or so) and sew in place--this keeps the buckle on the webbing.)Repeat for second strap attachment.

To sew the 3 1/2” webbing to a shoulder strap--slide the female half of the 1” buckle to the webbing and fold the webbing in half. Sew ends together to trap the buckle in place. Fold down the edge of the strap and overlap webbing onto the end of shoulder strap by one inch. Center the webbing and fold the sides of the strap in to cover the webbing and over lap on each other (see picture).
Fold down the top corners of the canvas body. Overlap the end of the shoulder straps onto the corners by two inches. Attach by sewing a rectangle with an x inside.
Attach the strap attachments right under the shoulder straps. Secure by sewing a rectangle with an x inside.

Lay the canvas body down on ground. Fold the four straps onto the body so none of them stick out the sides.
Lay the outer fabric face up onto the canvas body.

Lay the inner fabric face down onto the outer fabric.
Pin together.

Sew with 1/4”-1/2” inseam along top and down sides. DO NOT sew edges where straps are attached.

Turn right sides out. Pull straps through holes.
Top stitch with 1/4” seam around sides and top of body. (Fold fabric in where straps are to make look nice and protect edges from fraying.)

Insert bottom of mei tai body into remaining fleece pad where it opens lengthwise. Fold waist strap over pad and overlap onto the body of mei tai. Sew along the edge of the waist strap 1/4” and 3/4”.

Attach wide buckle parts to ends of wast strap. Fold down ends and sew to protect edges.

TADA:

best bath toy ever

I came across this idea on another blog (I wish I could give credit to this blog, but I don't recall what blog it was.) You buy the colored foam sheets at the dollar store and cut them into shapes.

These foam shapes make the best bath toy ever. They stick to the wall when wet and fall down when dry and they don't stain the wall. They provide never ending fun as long as you have an imagination. Eli likes to stick as many on the wall as possible and Ella likes to create pictures from the different pieces. It is a great way to learn shapes and colors too. I just can't praise this enough.

windsock/jelly fish

We did a craft today. I forget how much children love to make things. My goal is to do more art with my children. I've already done some blog hopping and have a list of craft ideas. Today was the first from my new list. We made mini wind socks. I believe this project came from Family Fun Magazine.

Eli said it looked like a fishing pole. He caught a jelly fish.

Ella liked dancing with hers.