Tag: family

My Reason

by disneywonderlandgazette, posted in family, family fun, Home, morgantown, west virginia, Pittsburgh, preschoolers, Toddler, Uncategorized

As I have probably talked about on here before, I am not the biggest fan of winter. I get so down with all of the long dark days and the lack of sun. 

But one of the things that gets me through this is my daughter. 

She is so happy and so thoughtful for being so young. 

We were sitting at lunch the other day when she said that she had to talk to Daddy about a surprise. 

Later I had found out that she wanted to surprise me by getting me flowers and told my husband that he had to take her to Walmart to buy me flowers for Valentine’s Day. 

While we were at my in-law’s house she found a bunch of fake roses and asked if she could surprise me with those. 

She was so excited to give them to me that she couldn’t wait until Valentine’s Day and she gave them to me right then and there. 

They are sitting in a vase in our living room and when I look at them it’s a reminder that even in the darkest of days there is always a little light around, you only have to look for it. 

My little sunshine helping me make banana bread a few days ago.

Smoke & Mirrors

by disneywonderlandgazette, posted in family, Home, preschoolers, Toddler, Uncategorized

I am part of the problem.

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Motherhood is messy. It is messy, and hard and not for the faint of heart. Yet, this isn’t a side that we usually see.

Behind all the pristine photos of sunny Saturday breakfasts, art projects and crafts gone right is, most likely, a fight about how you have to eat something other than just the chocolate chips on your pancakes, or no you can’t put glue directly on the table.

But, we never see this.

We are made to believe that all children are perfect, all houses are spotless and every party and gift giving occasion is Pinterest worthy.

Well, the jig is up.

I am here to tell you that it is hard and that we need to start cutting ourselves so slack when it comes to parenting.

For example, in the photo above, we were having a melt down because we wanted to drive a blue Corvette because we felt it was our size.

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This photo, we didn’t want to take at all. We were tired and just didn’t want to have our picture taken.

Did I post these photos on the corresponding blog posts? No. Just like everyone else, I choose to forget the bad and remember the good.

And you know what? It’s OK to show the difficult side of family life.

It’s OK to have a cranky kid sometimes. It’s OK if they end up coated in chocolate. It’s OK if a craft doesn’t turn out the way you hoped it would.

The only thing that isn’t OK is if you feel like you never measure up to other parents.

Everyone’s parenting journey is different. Some have more bumps in the road than others, but everyone has their fair share of struggles.

So you never have to feel like everyone else has it together while you are worn down negotiating with your toddler about bedtimes and wishing you could just lock yourself in the closet with a bag of Doritos just to have five minutes of peace.

Because behind every sunshine smile of a little one is a nervous Mom or Dad just praying that they could get just one photo to capture this beautiful memory to hold on to when the days are long and the houses are messy.

All the Comforts of Home

by disneywonderlandgazette, posted in Disney, family, family fun, Family Vacation, preschoolers, Toddler, Toddler Travel, Walt Disney World

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For a lot of people after deciding when to visit Walt Disney World, the next big choice is deciding where to stay while you are on vacation.

The way Walt Disney World’s resort system is broken down is there are different tiers of resorts that are based on how much you want to spend. They are value, moderate and deluxe.

Value Resorts

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Pop Century Resort

The most economical category of resorts are the value resorts. This includes Pop Century, All-Star Music, All-Star Movies and All-Star Sports. The Art of Animation would also qualify as a value resort, but the price point, in my opinion would put it in the more moderate category.

The value resorts are pretty similar to each other. Each features outside hallways, oversize design features like a huge can of Playdough at Pop, or a giant Lady from “Lady and the Tramp” at All-Star Movies.

The value resorts have only one place to get food and that is at a large cafeteria style restaurant that you can find options for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The resort pools are large and are the center piece of the resort.

All transportation is done by bus and there is only one area to catch the bus and that is at the front of the resort. If you drive yourself it isn’t as bad because you can park near your building if they are situated toward the back of the resort.

Typically the cost per night at a value resort is around $100 a night, give or take.

Moderate Resorts

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Port Orleans French Quarter

The moderate resorts are right in the sweet spot between value and deluxe categories. They offer some of the am entities of a deluxe resort while being more cost friendly.

Resorts in the moderate category include the two Port Orleans resorts (French Quarter and Riverside), Coronado Springs and Caribbean Beach Resort. The cabins at Fort Wilderness are also semi in the moderate category.

The moderate resorts have a more cohesive theme whether it is the Caribbean or New Orleans the theme is carried throughout often into both the quick service and table service restaurants.

Speaking of the table service restaurants, one of the biggest differences is that the moderate resorts offer a table service (a place where a server comes to your table to take your order) where as the value resorts don’t.

Also, the pools usually have an additional feature, like a water slide.

If you want a better themed hotel, with more dining options, then you will want to check out the moderate resorts.

Typically it costs between $200 to $300 a night.

Deluxe Resorts

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The Beach Club Resort

The deluxe resorts are the primo accommodations at Walt Disney World. The resorts include: The Boardwalk, The Beach Club, The Yacht Club, The Contemporary, The Polynesian Village Resort, The Grand Floridian, Wilderness Lodge, Animal Kingdom Lodge, and the different Disney Vacation Club areas that are a part of the different deluxe resorts.

If you are looking for high quality table service restaurants, spas and mini-water parks at the resort, then you will want to upgrade to a deluxe.

Another benefit of this category is that many of the resorts have alternative ways of getting to the park such as monorails or boats. (Tip: If you and your family are big fans of Epcot you will want to stay at either the Beach or Yacht Club resorts because you are within walking distance to the World Showcase entrance.)

Typically it costs $400 to $500 a night.

Which category do you and your family prefer or what is one resort you would love to stay at that you haven’t tried yet? Leave your comments below.

If you are looking for more tips on planning your Walt Disney World vacation for your family and your little ones pick up a copy of “Mousekatots”.

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Fishy Fun

by disneywonderlandgazette, posted in family, family fun, Home, preschoolers, Toddler, Uncategorized

Because of my job I am off on Fridays so Lily and I get to spend time together through the day.

After we have a little snuggle time and breakfast I try to work in a little learning activity.

This past week since it was Read Across America week and Dr. Seuss was honored, we did an activity from the wonderful website Totschooling.

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This pack was great. It had math and verbal components, plus it included colorful goldfish crackers.

The math sheets included sequencing, numbered fish to count to 20 and counting out goldfish.

The verbal included putting the fish in the corresponding colored bowls and finding the color word on a sheet of paper.

Lily seemed to really love the math components where she could cover up the numbers.

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She loves to sort things and put them in groups so doing the goldfish bowls by color was right up her alley.

While this does have a Dr. Seuss tie-in it can be used any time.

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If you are looking for any type of preschool or totschool activity for your little one I can’t recommend totschooling.com enough. The activities are cute and really engaging with the kids.

Do you have any favorite learning activities that you like to use with your little one? Leave them in the comments below.

 

Bonus Days

by disneywonderlandgazette, posted in family, family fun, Home, morgantown, west virginia, Pittsburgh, preschoolers, Toddler, Toddler Travel, Uncategorized

Living in southwestern Pennsylvania means that the middle of February is usually cold, windy and snowy.

This past weekend, and continuing through this week we have had wonderful weather that included temperatures in the 60s and sunshine.

We wanted to take advantage of this beautiful weather and decided to head to the playgrounds.

On Saturday we went to Morgantown to do some antique shopping and to visit some retro game stores. (We have become obsessed with playing old Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo games. That is a story for another day.)

While we didn’t find any antique stores, we did have fun exploring Seneca Center (where the tea room is located) and we found some interesting murals and one particular antique of our own.

We did a little shopping and sight seeing and decided to take Lily to the playground and let her burn off some energy and enjoy this bonus day of beautiful weather in the middle of February.

We were so tired after a big day of playing that we slept all the way home.

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On Monday, we decided to take her to a local school’s playground to let her enjoy the fresh air since we both were off from work.

Did you have the opportunity to enjoy beautiful weather this past weekend? Leave your comments below.

Making Sweets With our Sweetie

by disneywonderlandgazette, posted in family, family fun, Home, preschoolers, Toddler, Uncategorized

Valentine’s Days seems to be a pretty popular holiday with our little one.

I don’t know if it is because of the hearts or all the pink and red (Lily’s favorite color), but she is a big fan.

One of her favorite things to do is bake (mostly because it involves sugar).

My Mom was shopping and came across a huge block of rice crispy treat that she thought we could cut into little shapes with cookie cutters.

We then bought lollipop sticks, cellophane bags and ribbon to make them into little rice crispy treat pops.

A few nights ago we sat down to make them and it turned out pretty well.

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The cookie cutters did a good job just as long as you have an adult help push down the cutter and you might have to use a knife to cut around the outside edges.

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What would a night of baking be without taking a little time to take a photo.

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After the hearts were cut out, I then applied the icing and put the sticks into place. This is better for an adult to do because it could get really messy icing and you have to have a little finesse to get the stick in the heart without pushing it all the way through.

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After the icing went on, then Lily got the pops back and added sprinkles.

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We ended up having to let the icing harden overnight before putting it in the bags. (We tried one and the icing smudged a little.) I think they are going to turn out really cute. But, even if they don’t Lily still had a great time making them.

Do you have any fun Valentine’s Day activities? Leave your comments below.

 

Makeover Time

by disneywonderlandgazette, posted in family fun, home organization, Pittsburgh, preschoolers, Toddler, Uncategorized

Our little Mousekatot turned 3 this past November.

In all three years, she has never had her hair cut, except for a few terrible bang trims by yours truly just so the poor girl could see where she was going.

I realized that her hair was getting so long and the ends were becoming split and uneven. So, as hard as it was for me emotionally, it was time for her to get her first haircut.

When the decision was made, the search began for a child themed place to take her. I know she is a little nervous about new experiences, so I wanted to make sure the place was really kid-centric so that she would feel the most comfortable. (Plus, I wanted to take really cute pictures and make the experience as exciting for her as possible.)

When looking online, I came across this really cute salon called Sweet & Sassy at a mall that is out of town for us, but we still visit frequently.

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I mean, the place is just bursting with little girl cuteness.

I love that they make everything really special and offer a variety of services including manicures, pedicures, spa treatments and even themed birthday parties.

There are a variety of different kinds of haircut packages that are available on their website. Because of Lily’s age, she was able to qualify for a toddler package which included her haircut, glitter face tattoo, sparkles in her hair and a lollipop, all for under $20.

She was a little nervous when she first jumped up in the chair and they put the smock over her.

Luckily, they are experienced in dealing with nervous kids and they are prepared.

Each station has its own television that plays a Netflix show (ours was Barbie) and the stylist was wonderful and interacted with Lily to put her at ease.

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The whole process was a wonderful experience.

The stylist really listened and only took a little off of Lily’s hair and trimmed her bangs for us, and Lily felt like a little princess.

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In addition to everything else there is also a sundae bar that lets little girls pick out different bath products to take home.

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(There is also a lotion and body spray bar.)

The place for pedicures was absolutely adorable and looked like something out of Barbie’s Dream House.

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When we were there, two girls were celebrating their birthdays. One party was almost over and another one was ready to begin, so the place was packed, but everyone looked like they were having a great time.

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Overall, it was a wonderful experience and I really think that we will be going back next time Lily needs a haircut.

She already loves having her nails done at home, so I think we are going to have a girly-girl who also loves to play with her dinosaurs and get a little messy, too.

Have you ever had a wonderful experience at a salon for your little one? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

(I wasn’t compensated for this review in any manner. All the opinions expressed are my own.)

 

 

A New Meal with Character

by disneywonderlandgazette, posted in Disney, family, family fun, Family Vacation, Toddler, Toddler Travel, Uncategorized, Walt Disney World
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Photo courtesy of Disney Parks Blog

When you have a little one who is obsessed with seeing the Disney characters up close and personal it can be difficult to try and track them down all over the parks.

This is why, in my opinion, the best option is to plan a character meal.

There are lots to choose from that cover all three major meals and offer a bunch of different characters.

This week, the Disney Parks Blog announced that a special breakfast featuring some of Disney’s most popular couples will be offered this spring.

This new breakfast will take place at Trattoria al Forno located at the Boardwalk Resort.

Currently, the power couples from “The Little Mermaid” and “Tangled” are slated to make appearances at the breakfast.

Right now, information regarding prices and menu have not been released yet.

If you are looking for a great character breakfast that is currently offered is Tusker House at Disney’s Animal Kingdom park.

You get to see Mickey and the gang, the buffet has plenty of traditional breakfast staples plus some additional offerings that are unique to the restaurant.

When we have gone in the past it hasn’t been that busy so we were able to spend a lot of time with the characters and got some really cute photos.

Thumb Wars

by disneywonderlandgazette, posted in family, Home, Toddler, Uncategorized

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Being a parent is hard.

There are tons of websites and blogs that serve as a prime example of how difficult it can be, but there are also many moments that leave you wondering if you are made of tough enough stuff.

One such incident happened after our dentist appointment this Monday.

To provide a little background, our Mouskatot is a thumb sucker. She always had been. Try as hard as I could, I just couldn’t get her to latch on to a pacifier. (I wanted this option because I knew I could take away the pacifier, but I couldn’t take away her thumb. I jokingly suggested that I would chop it off and our little one said no I couldn’t because blood would go everywhere. I think we have a little Wes Craven in the making.)

She doesn’t suck her thumb a whole lot, just usually when she is sleepy and it would fall it once she feel asleep.

I knew that when we went to the dentist, that he was going to bring up the thumb sucking issue.

After her exam we found out that she has perfect teeth, and luckily the thumb sucking has caused only a little damage, nothing major, but if it continues it could lead to problems down the road.

Now I was faced with the challenge of how to break this bad habit that has provided so much comfort for her since birth.

The dentist did talk to her and said that she needed to be a big girl and stop sucking her thumb, and once we got out to the car she broke down and cried.

My heart broke right along with hers. It was like watching her lose her most favorite thing in the world. At one point I was trying to find a way to make it all better and I asked her if she could have anything in the world what would it be (I would have given it to her) and through tears she said, “To suck my thumb!”

She is a blanket baby that has to snuggle with her blankie for comfort and in goes the thumb.

So when we got home my mom was trying to come up with some ideas on what to do.

The internet did have a variety of options including:

  • Wrap the thumb through the wrist with an ace bandage.
  • There are also these mid-evil torture devices that are a rubber thumb guard that has a strap attached around it that goes around the wrist.
  • Get her a necklace that is made to bite on and that way she can transfer the oral fixation to another device
  • Show her a video on what it is like to get braces put on. (Nothing gory, but just something that shows the process.)

Well, I decided to give the last two a shot.

I had a necklace that I received as a gift from my mom when Lily was just a baby and is made for teething. I gave it to her and she really enjoyed wearing it. She got used to putting it in her mouth when she had the desire to suck her thumb.

Now a day removed and she doesn’t have to rely on it too much.

What I think really pushed her over the edge was watching the braces video.

Like I said it wasn’t gory, it was something made for kids and it just showed the process of putting the cement on, putting in the tongue guard, etc.

She watched intently and afterwards we had a talk.

Being a person that had to have braces I was able to tell her a little about it and how it required a lot of work to take care of and sometimes it was uncomfortable.

Since then she really hasn’t sucked her thumb.

When she woke up this morning she said that she forgot and sucked it once, but then thought “no I don’t need to do this. I can cuddle Pay (her blankie) like this.”

She found a way to still snuggle her blanket near her face without needing her thumb and it really worked.

I also turned to one of the time honored traditions of parenting (bribing) and said that we would go and get her nails done at a kids salon and spa this weekend as well as get her a “Chubby Puppy” (whatever that is) that she has been asking for if she didn’t suck her thumb anymore this week.

So far, so good, but only time will tell. But, I think that we maybe have crossed this hurdle.

Was your child a paci user thumb sucker? How did you break them of the habit. Leave your comments below.

Holiday Book Bag

by disneywonderlandgazette, posted in Books for Toddlers, christmas, family fun, Family Vacation, Toddler, Uncategorized

With the Christmas and holiday season right around the corner, we wanted to take one more trip to our public library to stock up on some books to keep us busy during the holiday season.

So I wanted to show you what we have in our:

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We are lucky enough to have a wonderful library that has a lot of books for adults downstairs and then a great children’s library upstairs.

I am a big lover of cozy mysteries (mystery books that are not overly violent and often feature a sleuth who is not a professional in the business.) Luckily, our library has a wide selection of these types of books.

My cozy mystery choice for over the holidays is:

“Gingerbread Cookie Murder” by Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine and Leslie Meier

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This book is really unique because it contains three different stories in one book and they all have to deal with murder and gingerbread. (How is that for a niche book subject?)

The first story is “Gingerbread Cookie Murder” by  Joanne Fluke.

Fluke is the author of the Hannah Swensen novels that feature the owner of a bakery as the heroine of the books. (Some of the books have been made into movies for the Hallmark Channel and feature Alison Sweeny in the role.)

This time Hannah finds her neighbor murdered with a box of her gingerbread cookies nearby. She soon discovers he had a list of enemies longer than her Christmas shopping list. Will Hannah be able to solve the crime?

The second story is “The Dangers of Gingerbread Cookies” by Laura Levine.

Jaine Austen has been recruited to help her parents’ retirement community play when the actor playing the gingerbread cookie falls to his death during the play. Was it an accident or something more? It is up to Jaine to find out.

The final story is “Gingerbread Cookies and Gunshots” by Leslie Meier.

Lucy Stone discovers the body of the father of a five-year-old boy who had gone missing. When gingerbread cookie crumbs that Lucy gave to the boy are found on the body she sets off to find the killer before he strikes again.

Honestly I picked up the book because I really wanted to read Fluke’s story, but if I have time I might check out the other two.

When it comes time for Christmas and over the winter I really like to find a sweet romance. Not one of the bodice rippers that features Fabio and some woman half clothed with her hair flapping in the breeze, but a sweet story that is full of heart and gives you the warm and fuzzies.

My go to author is Debbie Macomber.

Some of her books were made into the widely popular drama series “Cedar Cove” on, you guessed it, the Hallmark Channel.

So I picked:

“The Perfect Christmas” by Debbie Macomber

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This book I actually started reading as an e-book from our library, but my time was up and the book “poofed” away from my bookshelf when I was only a few chapters in and I thought I would get it in hard copy form and finish it.

When 33 year-old Cassie Beaumont receives a Christmas card from a friend depicting her perfect family, single Cassie decides to take fate into her own hands.

She makes a sizable investment into a very exclusive matchmaker, Simon Dodson, who guarantees a match or your money back.

But before Simon will introduce Cassie to her match, she must complete three holiday tasks: be a charity bell ringer, dress as Santa’s elf at a children’s party and prepare a traditional turkey dinner for her family.

Will Cassie be able to complete the tasks and find love? What does Simon have planned for her?

The few chapters I read were really cute and I am looking forward to finishing the book.

Those were the two books that I choose. I am hoping to at least read two of the stories while I am on vacation from work, but with a little one you never know.

For our little bookworm, who also loves to read, I choose mostly Christmas books, except for a book from her favorite series.

“Happy Pig Day” by Mo Williams

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This book, that is part of the Elephant & Piggie series, teaches children about how to include their friends.

When Piggie is celebrating the very special Pig Day, Gerald her elephant pal starts to feel left out. Will Piggie notice and find a way to include Gerald in the festivities?

Lily loves these series of books that feature very few words on each page and almost always garner a laugh from the little readers.

“The Animal’s Santa” by Jan Brett

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I was immediately drawn to the books because of the beautiful illustrations. Lily and I previously read another book by Brett and we enjoyed the illustrations. Because there is a lot of text on each page for pre-schoolers, the intricate illustrations help distract the little bookworms and make them less antsy while you read.

The books tells the story of Little Snow, a white rabbit who is celebrating his first Christmas, as he learns who is the Santa for the animals.

On Christmas Eve, Big Snowshoe, who is Little Snow’s big brother, figures out a way for the animals to catch a glimpse of Santa.

“Henry the Christmas Cat” by Mary Calhoun and illustrated by Erick Ingraham

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If you have read Mousekatots before, then you know that we have two sweet kitties. So, anytime there is a book that features a cat we snatch it up. So when we found a book that featured a cat and Christmas we had to check it out.

In this book, Henry is a Siamese cat that follows his family everywhere. When he finds out that his boy is acting in a Christmas play he decides he wants to see what this is all about and sets out to find his family.

On his journey he becomes an accidental shepherd and steps in to save the day and the play.

“Llama Llama Holiday Drama” by Anna Dewdney

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If you have a little one then you are probably familiar with the Llama Llama books.

In this story Llama Llama is struggling to remain patient for Christmas to arrive while he helps with all the holiday preparations like decorating, shopping and making Christmas cookies.

This is something all little ones can identify with.

“On This Special Night” by Claire Freedman and Simon Mendez

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For us, teaching Lily the reason for the season is something that is important.

We have a few books that take on this subject, but I really liked that this story was told from the perspective of the animals that were in the manger when Jesus was born.

Little Cat and Mother Cat end up joining the other animals that are going toward the special light that lead them to a very important someone who embodies peace, love and joy.

So, those are the books that we chose from the library to enjoy during the holidays.

What is your favorite holiday book or what books do you plan on reading over the holidays? Leave a comment below.