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Emi

Christmas Eve Morning at The Disneyland Resort With Our Elf on the Shelf!

/ Disney, Orange County, SoCal Fun

What do you do when it’s Christmas Eve day, you don’t have to be at dinner until 6:30 p.m. and you still haven’t had a chance to take your daughter to see Santa yet? You head straight to The Disneyland Resort, that’s what you do! What a beautiful, sunny, Southern California morning it was, too! There aren’t too many places you can be where you actually NEED to wear sunblock on December 24th!

Emily & I decided to visit Disney’s California Adventure first! There was NO LINE to see Santa over at Elias & Company! We walked right in and Santa immediately struck up a conversation with Emily. As you can tell by this photo, she was mesmerized by him.

I’m pretty sure she’s asking him for the Frozen castle here.
I love everything about the setup of this Santa location. It’s just so old fashioned and Christmas-y and if it hadn’t been so blazing hot, I would’ve put Emi in her actual Christmas dress for the photo. Regardless, I think we got some beautiful pictures to add to her memory book.

Santa also had an absolutely beautiful elf named “Tinsel” that was helping him and passing out candy canes to the guests as they exited from sitting for their photo. I couldn’t resist snapping a pic of Emi with her also.

Seriously though, how adorable is this elf?

Emi and I also had another mission on our visit….we had to bring her Elves on the Shelf with us! Yep, they had written her a note, asking if she could take them to Disneyland! They told her that Santa had given special permission for Mommy to touch the elves to move them and take them to Disneyland. We just hadn’t had much time during December to visit the parks and since the elves were returning to The North Pole that evening, this was our LAST chance. The tricky part about this was that 1)only Mommy could touch the elves, because children DON’T touch the Elf on the Shelf and 2)We needed to be careful as NOT to spoil any magic for other children at The Resort. I carried the elves in our backpack and we took them out for a few photo opportunities. There was one incident when two small children spotted them and were trying to tell their mom they had seen them, so we just sat back and pretended not to notice the elves and then as soon as the children were long gone, we grabbed the elves, stuffed them BACK into our backpack and ran! It was pretty funny to have elf shenanigans going on!

Our elves INSISTED on wearing these buttons!
There are always a lot of “good parts” about each trip to the parks but on this particular day, Emi was REALLY excited about getting to ride in the front of Monorail Blue….WITH her elves! Since there weren’t any other children up there with us (who might’ve gotten freaked out), we could have the elves out of the backpack!
Patiently awaiting the front spot on Monorail Blue!
This is Disney Magic at work!
CM Manuel even let the elves help navigate, once we started moving and had to sit down!

It was such a great Christmas Eve morning at The Disneyland Resort! We are so blessed to be able to just run over to the parks for a few hours and be able to do something like this! Happy Holidays!

Fun with our Elf on the Shelf

/ Celebrations, Holiday Fun

Last year was the first year that we participated in the whole “Elf on the Shelf” thing. Emi came home from school one day talking about one of her classmate’s elf and asked if we could get one.  I had seen others doing it online and there were some really cute ideas. I figured that it would be something fun to participate in. So, we hopped onboard the Elf on the Shelf party! . I thought I’d post some the pics from last year and how our elf “Sugar” ended up posing! The following images are from our Elf on the Shelf adventures last year! Enjoy!

Stay tuned for details about THIS YEAR’S elf shenanigans!

Peppermint S’mores

/ Uncategorized

One of my favorite parts about the holiday season is the variety of peppermint treats you can find in the stores. I seriously love anything peppermint! I think I have a peppermint obsession, actually! The other day, I came across these yummy Ghirardelli Chocolate Peppermint Bark Squares at Target.

I immediately felt the necessity to toss a few bags into my cart, mostly because they’re a limited edition item and I know if I don’t stock up now, they’ll be gone when I go back. My daughter came up with a brilliant idea. She said, “Mommy, why don’t we make peppermint s’mores?” We love s’mores around our house. I think she just likes being my official taste-tester/model!

I love that these squares are the perfect shape for s’mores too. 

We just decided to microwave our marshmallows. I’d prefer to roast them on the stove because I actually like the little burnt parts, but Emi likes hers to be perfect and when you pop them in the microwave, they are perfect to stick inside of the s’more!

Seriously though…how yummy does THIS look? 

Did I mention that Emi finds it necessary to stick a mustache on absolutely everything?
Yep, even on the s’mores! (these mustaches are by Wilton and we got them at Michael’s.)

She also likes to use my old stand-by line…”I need to taste it and make sure it’s not poisonous!” 
I fall for it every time! 
I wonder if Santa would prefer we leave out s’mores for him rather than cookies this year?


DIY Glitter Shoes Using Mod Podge

/ Crafts & DIY

I cannot tell you how many pairs of my daughter’s perfectly good shoes have had the toe area ruined by what seemed like just a few wears to school! I don’t know what exactly kids are playing at recess these days, but it can sure be frustrating for me to either 1) send Emi to school wearing shoes that look worn out or 2) keep having to buy her new school shoes every month. Let me show you what just a couple of supplies can do to transform scuffed up shoes into beautiful glittery ones!
Here’s the supplies you’ll need:
*a bottle of Mod Podge (I buy mine at Michael’s)
*a container of glitter (Since Emi’s favorite color is blue, I chose a pretty aqua blue glitter.)
*a roll of painter’s tape. (I like 3M brand. The skinny width is easiest to use for this project.)

The first thing you need to do is tape up the shoes around the area you’ll be adding glitter to. Don’t forget to do part underneath the glittered area too, which is part of the sole.
Next, apply a coat of Mod Podge to the exposed area with a paintbrush.
 After this, sprinkle glitter over it while it’s wet, shake off  the excess glitter, and allow it to completely dry for about 12 hours.
At this point you’ll need to apply another coat of Mod Podge, this time over the glittered area and again, allow it to completely dry for another 12 hours. **VERY IMPORTANT I forgot to take a picture of this part, but don’t forget to do this 2nd coat!
Afterwards, remove the painter’s tape and the shoes will be ready to wear!

How cute did these turn out? I feel like one of Cinderella’s step sisters, trying to cram my own feet into them so I can wear them!
 The entire project was so simple and I think these are Emi’s new favorite pair of shoes!

Now I’m wanting to make a pair for ME! What color glitter do you think I’ll choose? If you know me well enough, you’ll easily answer that question! 

The Candy Corn Wall in Downtown Disney!

/ Disney

If it’s possible to have a “favorite wall”, I do! I found it last year when Emi and I were walking through Downtown Disney, on our way into The Disneyland Resort for some casual Halloween-time fun. We stopped to admire the Lego Store display outside and BOOM…there it was! The wall spoke to me, like no wall had ever spoken to me before, and demanded that I photograph it immediately! Maybe I was imagining, maybe I just had candy corn on my mind, because seriously this wall looks like a giant piece of candy corn! Although I’m fortunate enough to have a very photogenic model for my pictures, she’s not always as enthusiastic as I am about having to be camera-ready almost all the time.

Regardless of what I got out of her, which looks to be a bunch of smolders, looking back at these pictures just gets me REALLY excited for Halloween time at Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure! It’s such a beautiful time of the year in the parks. It’s just something that everyone should get to experience at least once! I love the beautiful decorations, the pumpkin goodies and the happy Fall feeling in the air!

Have YOU had the chance to visit the parks at Halloween time? If so, what are some of YOUR favs?

Everyone Loves a Carousel!

/ Lifestyle, Motherhood

My favorite kind of day is one where I can stop and enjoy the moment without being in a hurry.

Emi and I had one last “Mommy & Me day” before she went back to school. She usually has a vision in her head of how most occasions will play out so first off, she needed to get appropriately dressed up.

Our first stop, was the nail salon. With the start of 3rd grade being SUCH a big deal, she wanted to make sure to have just the right design on her nails (and toes).

I LOVE little nails and toes and wish I could get away with having something this adorable on mine!
Our next stop was lunch. Nordstrom Cafe is one of our favs, especially the tomato soup and kids grilled cheese! I can’t say that a cookie wasn’t also snuck onto our tray.
After lunch, we walked around the mall for a long while, getting back to school necessities. Although my little girl is growing up too quickly, I love that she still asks to ride the carousel!
Everyone loves a carousel!

And Sometimes I’m a Swim Mommy!

/ Lifestyle, Motherhood

I’m a cheer mom. I’m a tae kwon do mom. I’m a soccer mom. Sometimes I’m a swim mom…like today! Today was Emi’s last swim meet of this summer’s swim team season!
She placed 1st in 25 freestyle 2nd in 50 freestyle and 2nd in 25 backstroke
and this was out of 5 teams!

One of the things I admire most about Emi is that she’s not afraid to do things like this…athletic things
! I could NEVER swim the way she does, let alone compete in swim meets! Although she comes across as fearless, she does actually get nervous sometimes.  Personally, I think I’d be “over it” just when someone asked me to put on one of those swim caps!!! (I’m just being honest here)

Ultimately, I not only want her to do things I never did as a child, but also to SUCCEED at those things! So far, I’d say it’s going pretty well! 🙂