Halloween 2013

We bought costumes this year for our Disney World trip, but we weren't able to use them because our Halloween party was rained out. We were all glad that we were still able to use the costumes for Halloween night though!

Gum Chewing Myths

One of our house rules is that we do not chew gum. Period. There are far too many negative consequences, not the least of which is gum EVERYWHERE. Gum is the nastiest thing to try to clean up. So, we nixed the problem as best we could by forbidding it to be chewed. There. Done.

Natural Play

It has been beautiful here in Austin for the past couple of weeks. This week we have had highs in the 60s and 70s. It's been fantastic! The lows have gotten into the 40s at night. I love me some cool weather! It's also been raining here and there. I REALLY love me some rain.

Kingston goes to Nursery

The title of this post reminds me of a Curious George Book. It makes me rethink my one time dream of becoming a children's book author. I mean, look how good I am at coming up with titles! The rest has to be a piece of cake, right?

Be Free Froggy!

I am a bit of a naturalist. I feel like, in a lot of cases, the world is better when we don't mess around with it. I am not a huge fan of zoos and the like because I feel like the animals are happier in their natural homes. Obviously there are exceptions to this, but I just use this as a general rule to illustrate my point and to lead into my story.

Campfire Cookies

So, I thought I would be funny and make my next post based on a recipe from Pinterest. Hey, I never said Pinterest was bad, just that we need to use it for ideas and not base our standards on it.

Non Pinterest Worthy Halloween Decor

There are so many standards in our lives that we are forced to try to live up to. We're told what we should look like. What our family size should be. What we should do for a living (or NOT do). What our homes should look like. Trying to live up to society's expectations can be exhausting! There are things in social media that, while they can be fun, can also make the situation far worse.

King Bananana

Kingston learns new things all the time. Some of those things I'm happy he learned, and some of those things I wish he would learn when he gets a bit older and I don't have to worry about him hurting himself.

Best Friends

I love my kids. I love that they spend so much time together. They do almost everything together. They are definitely best friends.

The other day we went on a walk together. We were out for probably over half an hour. They had a ball, and held hands nearly the entire time.

Delicious and Nutritious

For me, the most difficult part of early pregnancy is food. It is a huge challenge to figure out what sounds good to eat. It's also a very important thing. If you eat the wrong thing there may be dire consequences. I spend a lot of time listening to my body and trying to determine what I can safely eat, and make, for every meal.

Squirrel!

I'm blaming it on pregnancy, but I seem to be even more distractible as of late. Cameron tries to keep me in check, but when he's not around sometimes I feel hopelessly distracted.

Surprise Ending

So, what story would be complete without a surprise ending?

Final Day at Magic Kingdom

Our last full day in Disney World and we had big plans! We were heading back to Magic Kingdom. The forecast did not call for rain, so we were very hopeful we would have the chance to enjoy the park in a way we weren't able to on Monday. The park was closing early that night (at 7pm) because of the Halloween Party (that we decided NOT to attend), but we still had hope that we could do everything we wanted before we were kicked out.

Disney's Epcot Center

By Thursday we had learned our lesson! The crowd levels were supposed to be low at Epcot for this day, but we didn't want to take any chances. We were going to start first thing! We arrived at the park just before it opened. This was the only park that we actually had to wait to pass through the gate with our tickets after having our bags all looked through (a daily occurrence). Usually there were no lines and we just walked right through, having our tickets quickly verified before entering the park. We actually had to wait through quite a long line.

Disney's Hollywood Studios

Wednesday morning we woke up ready to go! It was pretty cloudy outside, so we packed up ready for rain. I had purchased one and two gallon ziploc bags to keep things dry inside. They worked like a charm. I put anything that would get damaged in the rain inside a bag. I also used them to keep things organized. Nothing was getting wet today!

Downtown Disney

When we woke up Tuesday morning Cameron and I had a mission. We would be prepared for whatever nature threw at us, and we would still do what we wanted while at Disney World. In our minds the first step to this was finding good rain gear, and a quality stroller cover.

Magic Kingdom in the Rain

We woke up early Monday morning. We ate breakfast and did our morning routine. Then we were ready to head out to start our day at Magic Kingdom!

Sunday is a Day of Rest

Never have I been more grateful that we honor the Sabbath day then while on our hectic, exhausting, fun filled Disney Vacation. I know a lot of people would balk at the thought of "losing" one of their vacation days. To us, it was a day very very well spent resting and recharging.