Our Trip to Disney

Here is something blog worthy.

My mother-in-law has been asking us for the last couple of years to take us on a trip to Disney World with her. Although we really wanted to, between job changes, moving and being pregnant we just couldn't do it. Finally this year over the kids winter break we got to go. It was kind of cool because we didn't know that we were going until the week before we left. I remember texting the girls at school to let them know that we were going and getting back something like "OMG, OMG, OMG, ARE YOU KIDDING?" and various other thrilled responses.

We spent 3 days in the parks, Magic Kingdom first, then Animal Kingdom and finally Epcot. It was so much fun! Thanks mom! I still can't believe how good Oskar and Josie were. Three days of trekking around those parks and not a single melt down. I don't think that I saw the girls hooked to their ipods even once, they had a ball because they were finally tall enough to ride the "big" rides. (barely five feet and I don't think they are getting any taller) Mom was so sweet to take us, we can never thank her enough. Here are some pics, I wish I had taken more!



This picture deserves to have the story behind it told. Oskar was so excited to meet Mickey Mouse. When we pulled into the Disney resort there was a big picture of Mickey at the entrance. When Oskar saw it he said, "I love Mickey...his heart has my heart." Remember, he's three. My mom and I just ate that up. Well we stood in line for almost an hour and when we finally got in the room alone with Mickey, Oskar just walked up and hugged him...and hugged him...an hugged him. All I could think about was what he had said about Mickey's heart and before I can help myself I'm bawling! (still not sure where that came from, maybe a little stressed from hauling four kids and all their stuff around?) I look at mom and now she is bawling too and we're like, "Okay, that's enough...Mickey doesn't have all day." I think that they understood and thought we were pretty funny. Mickey wouldn't let me leave until he gave me a hug too. When we got outside I asked one of the girls if they thought I was silly for crying and she said "No, I think that your crazy."

This is Josie at Disney:



This is what she thought of most of it:



All the kids with Mickey:



Oskar's "OMG" moment when he saw his first Disney parade:



And some other various pics. Looks like the girls were playing with my camera when we got back to Mom's condo.







We will never forget this trip, that's for sure. Well, Josie might so I guess we will have to go back in a few years!

Just a Wordless Wednesday...

Homemade Glass Cleaner

My sister-in-law gave me this recipe and I tried it several weeks ago. I will never use anything else again! It does not streak at all and I use it to clean mirrors, sinks and even my floors. It is a lot less expensive than store bought cleaners and just as effective! Let me know if you try it and if it works for you too!

Approx. 1 gallon of water
2 cups rubbing alcohol
4 tablespoons ammonia
1 tablespoon dish soap

Add the 2 cups of rubbing alcohol to a clean, empty gallon jug. Then add enough water to almost fill the jug, leaving enough room for the ammonia and dish soap. Add ammonia and dish soap. Make sure the lid is securely on the jug before you gently shake to mix. Make sure to write "glass cleaner" with a sharpie on the jug just to be safe. I keep this in spray bottles in my kitchen and under every bathroom sink in my house. You can add food coloring in you want, I don't.

Update: 07/18/2009 I get so many views each day of this post! Please leave me a comment and let me know if you tried this and if you liked it. Thanks!

New Year, resolutions?

Well, I have been on a bit of a holiday from my laptop. Christmas was wonderful this year, the hubby and I stayed home and just enjoyed the kids. They got a Wii and I have to admit, I have played it a little (a lot). My littlest had her last major procedure on the ninth of January, we are relieved to be through that. She is doing fabulous. My mother-in-law came down a few days after Christmas and was here until the eleventh. She is such an easy house guest and she loved spending time with the kids. Now that the house is cleared out and there are no major events coming up I am forced to think about getting back into my routine.

I have never been one for resolutions but this year I am going to make myself have a few. For one, I want to spend less time cleaning and more time doing things that I feel are as equally productive. Somehow just staying on top of this house consumes the better part of my day. I would like to spend more time sewing for my etsy store, blogging for my recipe blog and teaching my three year old to read. (just a few there, there's more) On a personal level, just for me, I would like to read my Bible, EVERY day. Literally, I am going to have to make a schedule for myself if I want to keep any of these resolutions. I just had a funny thought, in regard to the "spend less time cleaning" resolution, my dear hubby would probably recommend therapy.

Shh...

I just realized that everyone but me is napping. The baby, my little guy, my hubby and the dog! All that I hear is the hum of the dryer in the background. I do love a moment like this every now and then.

Getting busy in the kitchen...

It seems that I have fell of the edge of the blogging planet, I'm sure a lot of others have too with the holidays here. I've been in the kitchen making candy, if I see one more caramel I think I might get sick. The driving force behind all my candy making is gifts for my family. There are a total of five of us, three boys and two girls. Two of my brothers are married with four children each and one is 19 and still lives at home. My sister is married with 2 children. We normally exchange 'family' gifts each year and when you have so many people to please with your present, candy seems like a pretty safe way to go.

It's kind of fun, finding different things to make. Last year I made homemade marshmallows and they were a hit. I made them again this year and this time I made chocolate ones too, they are so good. If you have a good mixer it is a pretty simple recipe, I will try to post it on my recipe blog in the next few days. I also made caramels, taffy, peanut brittle, cinnamon popcorn and hard candy last year. Everyone loved the cinnamon popcorn too, and I would love to oblige them again with it this year but I just can't get excited about the smell of cinnamon being stuck in my sinuses for a week. If you have ever made cinnamon candy, you know what I am talking about. I tried to add the cinnamon oil to the candy outside, but I still breathed a ton of it in. The cinnamon popcorn gets baked in the oven like caramel corn so there was no way to avoid the smell going all through the house. So far this year I have marshmallows, caramels and turtles. I think that I will also make cashew brittle and (I feel like I am going to cry) cinnamon popcorn.

It's always fun to see what everyone decides to give each year. One year we got a bunch of popcorn (un-popped) from and Amish company. Last year my brother and his wife gave every family about 15 pounds of Cheddar cheese. Seems strange but I used it all and I wouldn't mind if they did it again this year! I'm happy to carry on this tradition that started in our childhood, we always got to pick out a gift for each of our siblings. Oh, the stories I could tell. We always anticipated opening those gifts, and we were never disappointed. You could always count on your brother or sister to pick out something cool, they would never get you, oh, let's say, socks.

So we carry on, as long as good fortune allows. My wish is for everyone to have a wonderful Christmas, filled with good memories both new and old. I leave you now to don my apron and wooden spoon and whip up another batch of, well, love.

My esty.com store

Thanks to a recommendation of a fellow blogger, I have been working on setting up a little shop on etsy.com. They are a site that host sellers that have handmade/homemade products. I love to sew, for me it is relaxing and so etsy kind of gives me an outlet for my creative energy. This is my link: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6467472

I would love to know if anyone else has sold on etsy and if they have any tips at making it a success. Wish me luck!