Day Two

Our second full day in Disney World meant making it to Epcot for Extra Magic Hours Rope Drop.  We quickly settled into a routine of me getting the stroller completely packed for our next day and then showering while Doug put the kids to bed.  Then we'd get up at about 6:15, he'd shower and I'd get dressed, then we'd get the kids up and we'd all be out the door by about 7:00.  Doug and one or both of the boys would stop in the food court to fill up a few of our refillable mugs while I took the littles to wait in the lobby.

So anyway, we got to Epcot just before rope drop and got to watch some lovely older CMs dancing to the opening music.  We headed straight to Test Track, which I rode with Lachlann, after obtaining a Rider Swap pass.  I'd heard that the new version of Test Track left a lot to be desired, but I really enjoyed it.  The interactive queue and designing of your own car definitely improved it in my opinion, and the actual ride was pretty cool.  After our ride was over, I took the littles to do some shopping while Doug took Lachlann and Colwyn on Test Track.  Fiona picked out a Mickey ears hat with Cinderella's slipper on top, which I thought was kind of goofy, but she loved it.

Once we were done with Test Track, we decided to head into Innoventions to kill some time.  We had a reservation at Ohana and didn't think we'd have enough time for Soarin' or Mission Space (in hindsight, we probably would have).  We played the Fire Hazards game in Innoventions and had a pretty good time.  You get special flashlights to identify fire hazards on big screens meant to look like different rooms in the house.  Afterwards, we took a group picture in front of a fire truck and got to add lots of virtual stickers to them and email them to family.

On the way out of Epcot, we went on Spaceship Earth.  I can't recall ever riding it, though I suppose I did when I was really little.  The kids really loved it, mainly for the interactive "Build Your Future" thing on the way down.  We took the monorail over to the Polynesian where we had one of the last seatings at Ohana.  It was pretty empty and we got plenty of character interaction, making it one of our favorites.  As usual, Niall just adored the characters.  He was especially lovey to Mickey, and I heard Mickey say, "Awww!"  Pretty sure he's not supposed to do that, so I felt proud that my son was cute enough to make Mickey break character.  ;)  We had a great conversation with Lilo about Stitch and Niall being long lost cousins, due to Niall's trouble-making.  Stitch goofed around with the boys, loved the autograph book, and played around with Fiona's new hat.  Breakfast itself was really good, too.  Even though the family-style meal meant less variety than a buffet, it's really nice not having to get up and down all the time to refill everyone's plates.  We had a great view of the castle from our table, too.

Once we were all stuffed to bursting, we headed over to Magic Kingdom.  We got straight on the train and rode it around to Fantasyland.  We grabbed fastpasses for Dumbo then got in line to meet Daisy and Minnie.  Poor Niall fell asleep in line, and poor Doug had to hold him the whole time.  Daisy was very cute with Lachlann, who wasn't especially enthusiastic.  She played with his face, trying to make him smile.  When we moved on to Minnie, I committed a huge faux pas and called her Daisy.  She told me off and I was suitably apologetic.  She loved the autograph book, though, and danced for us like she is in her picture.  Minnie blew sleeping Niall a kiss and made us promise to bring him back when he was awake.

The Dumbo area of New Fantasyland unfortunately made a bad first impression on us.  For one, it was hot and incredibly sunny (presumably because all of the deciduous trees had dropped their leaves) - which was a big shock after the cool and overcast day we'd had at Animal Kingdom the day before.  But we also had trouble with the Barnstormer breaking down.  After meeting Minnie and Daisy, our fastpass window wasn't open yet, so we rode Dumbo standby so we could play in the new play area.  That queue is fantastic and, just for the record, every other attraction should use that system.  The only problem was that there was a lot for the under 18 month old set, and a lot for the 5+ set, but Fiona and Niall were a little bored - which seems weird since I figure they're really the target audience for Dumbo.  Anyway.  After Dumbo we grabbed fastpasses for the Barnstormer, then used our Dumbo fastpasses to ride again.  By then our Barnstormer window was open, but just as we were about to get in line, it broke down.  So we headed over to the teacups - a pleasant surprise since they were supposed to be closed for refurb.  The carousel was next, then we grabbed fastpasses for Pooh.  We managed to convince the kids to ride the Haunted Mansion, which they hadn't done before.  They liked it okay, except for the part where we got stuck in the crystal ball room for about five minutes.

We ate lunch in the Columbia Harbor House.  I had the lobster roll while Doug had fried shrimp.  We were all happy with the meal and the break from the sun and heat.  We tried to use our Pooh fastpasses next, but once again - the ride broke down right after we entered the line.  They advised us to leave the queue and that they'd honor late fastpasses, so we headed back over to the Barnstormer.  Thankfully it was operating this time.  Colwyn and Lachlann absolutely loved it.  Niall seemed a little iffy, but told us he really liked it.  Fiona was pretty terrified during the ride itself.  As we pulled into the unloading area, I asked her if she liked it.  She said she loved it, so when I asked if she wanted to ride it again, she screamed "NO!" in a very horrified voice.

Pooh was back open when we went by again so we rode that, then tried to pull the sword from the stone in front of the carousel.  We got in line for Tiana and Naveen next, and while we waited, Doug and the boys went to check out the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom booth over there.  They signed up and got a little demo on how to play.  Tiana and Naveen were great and we had some great conversation about the autograph book.  I apologized to Naveen for making his picture be of when he got mixed up with the Shadow Man, and we joked about bringing up sore subjects.  We decided to get some Dole Whips next - Niall and I ate ours while Doug took Colwyn, Lachlann, and Fiona in the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, then we let Niall run around while they had their Dole Whips.

We headed back to the resort early that night after such a long day.  Doug took Colwyn, Lachlann, and Fiona to swim in the pool while Niall helped me ice my feet in the bath tub.  He had so much fun splashing around that I ended up giving him a bath.  Doug and the kids showed up with a large pizza and four desserts, which was a great deal at just two QS credits, since it fed us all.

We were all exhausted, but 'finally' walking into Magic Kingdom was wonderful.. and we really were so pleased that the Christmas decorations were still up.  I mean, how can you beat this view?

Traveling to Disney World & Day One

Traveling to Disney was very exciting, and not nearly as stressful as I'd imagined, considering we have four young kids.  Doug and I did almost all of the packing and loading of the car the night before we left since we had a fairly early flight (10am).  Each of the kids had a carry-on packed with some toys, an activity book, earbuds (since we fly Jet Blue), and a bag of trail mix.  Even though our kids are normally up early, we actually had to wake them up.  We left Niall 'til last and let him sleep until we were all literally ready to drive off.

Security was easy, if tedious.  While we were waiting in line, we made sure the kids didn't have anything in their pockets.  We had them wear slip-on shoes, but it turned out that they don't make kids under 12 take their shoes off anymore - except for Fiona, whose fancy boots set off the alarms.  We briefed them on the procedure - be quick, don't goof around, put your bag on the belt and move it forward, then go through the metal detector.  It was a snap.  The only thing that was mildly annoying was loading the stroller up again afterwards.

The flight was fairly uneventful.  Colwyn and Lachlann sat with me, so I had some free time on my hands.  I did help entertain Niall a bit because he got a little antsy.  As usual, Magical Express was wonderful and one of the big reasons we stay on-site at Disney World.  Not only is it such a relief to not have to worry about our bags, but the ride itself on a big motorcoach, with a welcoming video to watch is pretty fun.  It did take a bit of time - we were the last of four or five stops - but thankfully we made it in plenty of time to get checked in and head over to the Contemporary, where we had dinner reservations at California Grill.

I can't say enough good things about California Grill.  It was an incredible way to start our trip.  First thing:  you check in on level 2, even though the restaurant is on the top floor.  We got our stroller valet parked (fancy!) and a special CM personally escorted us to the 15th floor in an elevator that only services California Grill (even fancier!).  We were a little early, so we went out onto the observation deck.  The view was amazing!  You could see all of Magic Kingdom - the mountains were easily identified, as were a few of the other big attractions.  Obviously, Cinderella's Castle was gorgeous, all lit up in the holiday lights.  There was a slight hiccup with our pager not working, but the CM who valet parked our stroller came and found us, which was super nice.  Our waiter was wonderful and very helpful in explaining the dining plan, which we hadn't used before.  We knew the basics, but he helped us get our money's worth.  The food was fantastic.  We ordered the cheese board as one of our desserts (thank to the waiter who gave us that tip), Doug got the fillet, and I got scallops - the hugest scallops I've ever seen.  The kids got mac and cheese and pizza, which came with 'fruit cups'.  These fruit cups were actually lots freshly sliced fruit neatly arranged on nice plates - simple but nicer than what 'fruit cup' sounds like.  Our table was great - we could see the castle all lit up, and the observation deck proved a nice distraction when Niall tired of sitting in his seat.  After our amazing and huge dinners, we were all too stuffed for dessert, but our waiter very kindly advised us on which desserts travel best (chocolate cake and Rice Krispie 'sushi') and packaged it up for us.  We got back relatively early and went straight to bed.  Surprisingly, neither Doug nor I had trouble falling asleep at 9pm.

The next morning, we got to Animal Kingdom in time for rope drop at 8:00am (Morning Extra Magic Hour).  The first thing we did was stop by the camera center to sign up for Photopass Plus.  The CM there was wonderful, asking Colwyn and Lachlann questions, and pointing out must-see's on the park map.  After that we headed to Kilimanjaro Safari.  Niall was very excited to see all the animals.  After the Safari, we headed over to Expedition Everest, expecting the boys to ride with me (I didn't get a chance to ride last time).  Well, the kids balked and after a bit of fussing by everyone, I decided to ride alone.  The ride was great, and I was amazed at the view at the top - you could see Spaceship Earth, the Swan hotel, and Tower of Terror.  Unfortunately, the ride broke down as we were just outside the unloading area.  We had to sit and wait for a little while as CM after CM walked past us, up into the mountain, assuring us that someone would be along soon to get us out.  Finally our 'evacuation team' showed up and while the train unloaded back to front (I was in the second row), the CM said that there were three or four trains behind us, and some people might have a very, very long walk down.  We all got a 'free' fastpass to use any time.  Once I reunited with my family, we headed over to Tusker House.

Tusker House was great!  Our waitress loved our autograph book; we loved her jungle juice.  Daisy loved the book, too, and since the illustration we had of her was her on the phone, we teased her about not getting to make a lot of phone calls while on safari.  Niall thought Daisy was amazing and giggled for her.  Mickey was just 'eh' - which was kind of disappointing.  Goofy was much better, though, and got HUGE laughs from Niall and the kids.  This was the first buffet we'd been to since the last time we were at Disney, and the boys loved that we let them go get their own food and that they didn't have to stay with us.  The food itself was pretty good - not anything amazing, but definitely tasty and satisfying.

After Tusker House, we grabbed fastpasses for Kilimanjaro Safari and rode the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch.  We decided not to take the stroller, so after we got off the train, we put Niall's harness on.  Now - we don't call it a leash, we don't treat him like a dog when he wears it, so we were very surprised when, after it was on him, Niall said, "Niall be doggie now."  Oops.  We got a good laugh out of that.  We stopped to do an activity where the kids had to find plastic creatures that could conceivably live in their backyards, and they got activity books for completing it.  Inside Planet Watch, the kids had a great time looking at all the exhibits.  We saw a CM holding a Harris Hawk and asked her a few questions, then talked to another CM about a bird next exhibit.  Next up was meeting Rafiki - he absolutely loved the autograph book.  He pretended to be a big star, flipping his hair over his shoulder, then held the autograph book up just like Simba (which was the illustration we had for him to sign).  Niall thought he was hysterical.  After that, we checked out the petting area with goats and sheep and whatnot, but it wasn't that different from any other place where you can pet goats.  We headed back to Harambe and the Safari - on which Niall fell asleep on Doug's lap.  After riding the Safari again, we headed back to Everest so Doug could ride using the Rider Swap we had picked up the first time.  While waiting for Doug, the kids and I went to the Boneyard, a huge play area themed like a dinosaur dig site.  That was a big hit with all the kids.  We hit Triceratop Spin real quick before heading over to Flame Tree BBQ for lunch.  The queue area was kind of cramped, so Doug took the big kids with him to get our food while I hung off to the side with the stroller and the littles.  Luckily, I had read ahead of time about how the lowest terrace is the best seating area because it has the best view of the lake and Expedition Everest, and that it's usually the least busy.  Both proved to be true and we had a great lunch.  Colwyn wasn't too thrilled with the chicken sandwich he ordered (not the sandwich's fault, that's not normally something he'd eat), but the other kids devoured their hot dogs and Doug and I split the ribs/chicken combo.

After lunch, we managed to catch the parade.  There weren't that many spots available so Doug and I stood back a bit with the stroller so the kids could sit in front, behind some other kids.  I was a little unhappy about the number of people who tried to squeeze in front of us (even though our stroller was practically touching my kids' backs), but the parade itself was fun.  Lachlann had just bought a stuffed zebra, and we were all wearing our zebra Mickey Head shirts.  Well, the zebra stilt walker spotted us.  She got very excited and shouted, "Zebras rule!" to Lachlann, then noticed our shirts.  She hurriedly pointed us out to another stilt walker.  We all thought the attention was fun.

We fought the crowds back toward Dinoland so Doug could take Colwyn and Lachlann on Primeval Whirl (which they loved).  I took Fiona and Niall to meet Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger.  The kids loved the characters - Niall especially gave them super long hugs, which became his MO when interacting with characters.  We even got a bouncing lesson from Tigger.  At that point, we decided to head back to our resort.  On the way out, we looked at Ring Tailed Lemurs and saw an ant-eater.  We noticed the ant-eater's long, very furry tail and asked the CM there why he needs such a distinctive tail.  She said he uses it as a blanket - he lies down and flips his tail over himself.  She said a good joke is, 'Hey, we saw an animal today that has a two foot long tongue and uses its tail as a blanket - what is it?"

One really nice thing that we were totally not expecting was that the Christmas decorations were all up for the first week we were there.  It did feel a little weird - like we'd rewound life a bit, but a very pleasant surprise overall!

Once back at our resort, we ested in the room a bit, had some cake, then headed to dinner in the food court.  On the way back from one of our many restroom breaks, Fiona participated in the Riverside dance and got a Mickey Head straw, which the boys were very jealous about.  Again, a pretty early night, in anticipation of another early morning!

Preparing for Disney World

If you know me at all, you could probably guess that I wouldn't just throw a few t-shirts and shorts into a suitcase and head to Disney World.  Oh, no, that would be way too easy.  See, Disney is magical.  Really magical.  But can I leave it at that?  No, I want to add to the magic.  I want to make a Disney vacation as totally-freakin'-awesome as I possibly can.

Our planning began over a year ago.  Actually, it really began as soon as our first Disney vacation ended.  I started thinking about things I might want to do differently, or what worked really well.  I knew I wanted to do a different kind of autograph book and took a time to come up with my idea of a perfect autograph book.  I started selling them on Etsy because I loved them so much, and because our vacation was ages away.  For our trip, I created two books - one with all the girly characters (princesses, Marie from Aristocats, etc), and one with all the other characters (everyone from Mickey and the Gang to Phineas and Ferb).  When I sell an autograph book, I embellish the pages meant for photographs with coordinating patterned paper, but I left ours blank so I could make sure the papers match the colors in the photo instead of just the illustration.  I didn't get any before shots of the books, but here's Pooh signing his page:

The other big project was our clothing.  On our first trip, I was a novice at Mickey head tie-dye, but we still really enjoyed wearing our shirts.  Now, two years later, I've much improved on my methods.  I sell a lot of tie-dye shirts in my Etsy store, including the color combination I picked for our trip.  Here's a picture of the kids wearing their shirts - my husband and I wore matching shirts as well.

Unfortunately, we neglected to bring a matching shirt for the Mad Hatter.  Oh well, maybe next time.

I didn't leave it at just tie-dye, though.  Another thing I love doing is freezer-paper stencils, using my Silhouette Craft Cutter.  I came up with this design, which I have yet to list in my Etsy store, though I will offer it as soon as I get a new shipment of grey t-shirts (the grey ones at AC Moore are too light, in my opinion).

I think the bears are just adorable!  They're based on the baby brother bears from Brave, and it worked out perfectly that there are three bears in the movie, and I have three boys as well.  In that picture, Fiona's wearing a t-shirt that I sewed an embroidered patch onto - I bought it from the Etsy shop, MyHoard.  I also got her a Belle Mickey Head and I got Niall Buzz and Woody Mickey Heads.  They're super cute and well made.

Of course, the boys had to wear two of my favorite designs that I've offered in my Etsy shop:  Here Comes the Smolder and Clone Troopers Go Commando.  Here's Lachlann wearing his Flynn Rider shirt.

Fiona's wearing a shirt I picked up from Target and then embellished with rhinestones.  It was fairly painstaking, but I really loved the way it turned out.

I upcycled three other shirts for Fiona, too.  The first was a light blue shirt that I added an apron to so it would look like Alice in Wonderland's dress.  I figured that by upcycling shirts to a character theme, Fiona could dress up like her favorite characters without having to be uncomfortable in a giant polyester dress all day.  Here's her Alice shirt, and for what it's worth, I do have a few listed on Etsy.

Another upcycled shirt was a plain purple t-shirt that I turned into a Rapunzel shirt with some tulle and ribbon.  I also bought a patch on Etsy from The Pinpoint Shop and ironed it onto a pair of jeans to complete the look.  I really wish I could have sewn it, and I might try to hand stitch it a bit because the adhesive is coming off a bit.  But there's no way to machine stitch it to such a skinny pants leg.  Anyway, here's our Rapunzel.

The boys are wearing shirts I made for them based on the Agent P Missions in Epcot.  The front has a simple "Where's Perry?" in Phineas and Ferb front, but the back (which I don't have a picture of, unfortunately) has "Raum World Showcase Tour" and a list of all the countries in the World Showcase, sort of like a concert t-shirt.

And last but not least was the purple ruffled shirt I found in Target.  I used three different types of Disney Princess fabric to turn it into a twirly dress.  It was really easy and Fiona loves it!  Here she is on the observation deck at California Grill.

Not all of our 'extra' magic was stuff that I made.  On Disboards.com, there's a whole community of people who create amazing things in Photoshop.  I found a whole ton of invitations that you can customize for your dining reservations.  We printed one out for every table service meal we had planned and after the kids were asleep, we set the next day's out to look like someone had slipped it under our door.  The kids never caught on and were always excited every morning to see what 'mail' they'd gotten.  Here's one I came up with myself, since Be Our Guest is a new restaurant and I couldn't find a pre-made one.

We also printed out Thank You cards - little business cards with cute pictures that said things like, "Thank you for making our day magical!"  We handed them out to anyone we had a great interaction with, even guests.  The kids loved it, and everyone we gave one to seemed quite pleased.  Here's one that I really liked, which I got from a Disboard user named Natalie.  Most of our invitations came from her as well.

The last really big thing we did was to create Epcot Passports.  In each of the countries in the World Showcase, there's a Kidcot stop manned by a native of that country.  Kids can pick up a cardboard Duffy or Agent P to color in, and the cast member will stamp them with their country's flag.  You can buy a passport at Epcot as well, and they'll write something in their native language for you on the page they stamp.  As I was browsing Natalie's files, I saw her beautiful passports and decided to make them for each of the kids.  I bound them the same way I bind the autograph books, and they came out fantastic.

Oh, one last thing, I swear.  We also decorated our window at our resort.  Using my trusty Silhouette Craft Cutter, I cut out a bunch of Mickey heads and we strung them up in the window using 3M Command Hooks.  Pretty simple, but it was fun.

So why do I bother with all this stuff?  Is it necessary in order to have a good vacation?  Absolutely not.  Some of it is simply a way to 'kill time' before our vacation.  I'm a really impatient person and the lead time before a vacation just kills me.  So doing crafty stuff like this makes the wait a little more bearable.  And the other reason is that it really does add to our vacation.  Whether it's creating conversations we wouldn't have otherwise, giving the kids something to look at during a wait, or making them feel extra special, it's worth it to me!

The Disney Difference

This will be the first post in a series of posts documenting our Disney vacation this month.  We left on Sunday, January 6th and flew home on Sunday, January 20th.

A lot of people wonder why we love Disney so much.  In our social circles especially, Disney is not exactly popular, and I sometimes feel awkward explaining what I sell on Etsy or where we go on vacation.

Sure, Disney makes great movies.  Sure, the rides in the theme parks are fun.  But those aren't really the reasons we go.  To put it really simply, we go for the customer service.  What a boring answer, though!  So let me try to illustrate how fantastic their customer service is.

In the two full weeks we were at Disney, I didn't see a single unhappy Disney employee (cast member, or CM for short).  On the contrary, virtually every cast member was cheerful and perfectly happy to engage in any length conversation I wanted.  They answered every question I asked, and if they didn't know off the top of their heads, they found out the answer for me, instead of shunting me off to someone else.

We chatted with several people who were from Massachusetts - CMs wear badges that list their names and where they're from.  Most CMs who had more than passing contact with us asked where we were from and made an effort to connect with Massachusetts in some way.  I had long conversations with people who I had virtually nothing in common with - like on the cold and windy day in Epcot, I chatted at length with the woman selling beads made in Africa.  She's from Chicago and we talked about wind and children and social networking and the program Water for Life.

On our journeys around the park, we saw cast members going out of their way to connect with guests.  A woman was driving a scooter extremely slowly and a CM gently teased her, telling her she was going way over the speed limit and to please slow down.  On the way out, the security guards and other CMs joked with everyone that passed by.  When we screwed up and showed up at Hollywood Studios an hour and a half before opening, a CM got us checked into the park early and gave the kids tons of stickers to play with - and not just the standard Mickey stickers you get everywhere, but Jasmine and Belle stickers that I didn't see anywhere else.  Cast members comment on the kids' clothing or toys that they've brought along.  Even when we're just passing by, they'll shout out, "Hey, love the Flynn Rider shirt!"

A few times, I stopped to get food when I had the double stroller and the littles, while Doug was off doing something with the bigger kids.  One woman working behind the counter gave us free cupcakes for the kids. At every restaurant, the CMs insisted on carrying my tray for me, despite my assurances that I could manage it.  At table service restaurants, the waitstaff was always willing to help us get the most value out of our dining plan.  This happened once or twice at our resort's food court as well - because we got refillable mugs, when we got an adult quick service meal that comes with a drink, they occasionally let us get an extra snack in place of the drink we didn't need.

At Buzz Lightyear's Ranger Spin, a CM overheard me talking to Lachlann about his perfect score - talk about pixie dust!  She decorated an "I'm Celebrating!" button for him with "2013; Galactic Hero; 999,999".  He was thrilled!

On our last day, the kids did some last minute shopping at our resort.  The man who checked us out was very friendly and chatty - he gave the kids boatloads of stickers (again, some less common ones, too) and Mardi Gras beads.

These are all things that cast members don't have to do.  They could still do their jobs competently without going above and beyond - but we saw more times than not was a willingness to do everything in their power to add a little magic to our day.

The thing that I really love about Disney is how it changes me, though.  I'm not normally one to chat with strangers.  When I fly, my biggest fear is that I'll sit next to someone who wants to talk all through the flight (well, now I always sit next to someone like that, since we fly with our kids).  I find small talk with strangers in the grocery store awkward.  But at Disney, that all goes out the window.  I greet everyone with a big "Hello!" and tell people to "Have a Magical Day!" when we leave.  If I see someone with a "Happy Birthday" button, I wish them a happy birthday.  I'll happily chat with anyone - and they chat right back.  Even our fellow guests are happier and more friendly than regular people are on a daily basis.  I'm just comfortable at Disney.  It feels like home.

Let's Pretend - Merida!

My daughter, Fiona, is four.  Those of you who have or at least know four year old girls know where this post is going.  Few things are more appealing for this demographic than princesses - and if you can dress up as a princess, life is just about perfect.

Fiona has gone through many different 'favorites' when it comes to princesses.  To start, she was named for a princess - her brothers chose her name because they were in a Shrek phase.  First they suggested Donkey, then Puss, and even Gingy, but when they asked for Fiona, we said, "Okay!"  Her first real fascination with a princess was Snow White.  I threw her a lovely Snow White party for her third birthday, but soon her focus shifted to Belle.  Her first viewing of Tangled put an end to Belle's reign, however.  Rapunzel's rule in our house was a long one - and one I encouraged because I really love Tangled as well.  Which explains why I went totally overboard with her fourth birthday party.  At some point, though, she switched to Tiana.  She was thrilled to meet her when we were at Disney in September, though you wouldn't know it from the picture.

But now we're gearing up for a Merida phase.  I scored Brave (Three-Disc Collector's Edition: Blu-ray/DVD) as a Lightning Deal on Amazon today.  Fiona will get that for Christmas.  She's already got the Merida dress from Disney and the Merida Barbie doll as presents from her aunt on her last birthday.  So she really only needed a hair accessory to go along with all her Brave stuff (though my husband is lobbying for permission to make her a bow for Christmas).

I decided to go with something simple for Merida's hair, even though it is extraordinarily time consuming.  I picked up a skein of thick, curly reddish orange yarn from AC Moore.  Depending on what kind you get, you might be able to get two 'wigs' out of one skein.  I set myself up with a good TV show and set to work cutting the yarn into approximately 3 foot lengths (I just eyeballed about how long I wanted the hair to be, then doubled it).  Once everything was cut, I just tied each piece of yarn onto a headband - in the middle so each strand made two strands of hair.

You've really got to tie on a ton of yarn to get it bushy and thick enough, but eventually it will look like this:

And I have to say, Fiona looks great as Merida!  Isn't she adorable?  You could easily add a ribbon to the top if you want, or adjust the length of the hair to whatever works for you.  Or if you don't want to bother making one yourself, you could just buy one from my Etsy Shop!

Craft Fair Fun

I've been experimenting with selling items at some local craft fairs.  Last weekend, I set up shop at a homeschool craft fair in Concord.  That was a mix of good and bad.. it was great to socialize and they had some great entertainment, but it was much more of a 'get together with friends and hang out' craft fair than a 'bring in a big crowd and sell stuff' craft fair.  Today's was much busier and was put on by a church in Beverly (so a much, much shorter drive for me).  The only bad thing was that set up started at 7am.  That was painful.

Here's my set up:

As you can see, there are a few new items.  The Rapunzel braids and the Merida headband were huge hits. The Merida headbands as well as a few new hairbows will be up in my Etsy Store tonight or tomorrow.

And speaking of my Etsy Store, I'm running a sale until the end of the month - 25% off all premade items.  I didn't realize how much inventory I actually had, and I really need to clear it out!

Semi-Dieting

I've done pretty well so far this week with eating healthfully.  All of my meals have been balanced and healthy.  During the day, I haven't snacked on anything other than fruit, hummus, and crackers.  The only problem is that with my throat being so sore, I have had some ice cream at night.  But even with that, my eating has been a lot better than my 'usual'.

I'm looking for new ideas for lunches, though.  Lunch is my hardest meal to plan and to stick to.  It's always rushed and I never want to spend a lot of time preparing my food.  This week I had Doug cook up some chicken for me and I topped salads with it, but I'm really not a salad girl.  I may have him grill some chicken this weekend and then roast some yellow squash, zucchini, and onions to eat next week.  But as delicious as that is, it'll get old after a week, too.  I did find two good recipes:  a buffalo chicken wrap and a southwestern cheese panini.  I'll probably need to do veggie prep all at once Sunday night, 'cause if I have to cut up veggies at noon time, I'll end up having something unhealthy instead.

Besides cutting out the ice cream, which will hopefully be as soon as my throat becomes tolerable, I also need to work on the exercise piece.  There's really no excuse for not taking some nice long walks around the block - unless miserable colds count (they do, right?).  It's cool out, the kids love riding their bikes and I have a stroller for the baby, so I just need to make it a part of our routine.  Doug and I would also like to do some strength training together in the evenings after the kids are in bed.  He had been swimming at night, but it's way too cold for that now.