Easter Traditions

Does your family have any Easter Traditions? I remember when I was a kid that we would always have a big egg hunt at my grandma's house. I think that's the only thing that happened every year. Sometimes we would color eggs, but not every year. So I wanted to make sure we started out right with some traditions my little girl would never forget.

So every year we have visited the Easter Bunny and had an egg hunt on Easter morning. This year we added egg coloring since she is a little older. We had a blast!

Disney for Little Kids

Leading up to this trip I was a little nervous that I jumped the gun. My daughter loves Disney everything. She watches the movies, knows all their names, and adores the princesses. But would be too scared to ride the rides? Would she run screaming from all the over sized characters? Would she melt down because she didn't get her afternoon nap? Was I planning a vacation or 6 days of torture?

With all those things in the back of my head I decided I needed to just take the vacation as it was. I didn't do too much planning so that I could be flexible and go on her schedule. I booked a few sit down meals so we could do the character meals. But I made sure to only book one a day so the rest of the day could go however we needed it to. I had a list of what I definitely wanted to do with her, a list of maybe's, and a list of definitely not's. And off we went.

We booked two character meals... The Crystal Palace for dinner and Cinderella's Royal Table for breakfast. If you have a little girl who loves princesses you HAVE to do the Royal Table. It was the most magical part of our trip. Cinderella greeted us downstairs and my daughter's face lit up. She was thrilled to meet her, Belle, Ariel, Snow White, and Aurora. Each princess spends a nice amount of time with your little one. The food was very good and the setting was amazing. You truly felt like you were dining in a castle. Be sure to have a reservation well in advance!

The Crystal Palace was also a lot of fun. Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, and Piglet made the rounds as we dined on a buffet of American style food. Every once in awhile they stop and do a parade. The kids adore it and you're in the Magic Kingdom, so it's very convenient.

We also had dinner at The Cape May Cafe. For breakfast they have characters, but at dinner they have a seafood buffet that is incredible! All the clams you could eat, mussles, pasta, chicken, steak, chicken nuggets... tons and tons of food with a great variety. This was may favorite in terms of food.

And did you know you can get your haircut at the Harmony Barber Shop on Main Street? They do something extra special for first haircuts, so we signed my daughter up. It was a lot of fun! They do take reservations so call ahead.

We read a lot about what rides to avoid with a 2 year old. Snow White, Pirates, the Haunted Mansion, the ride at Norway were all on the "skip" list. Well, we did them all except Haunted Mansion and Pirates was my daughter's favorite! Every kid is different so you won't know how they will react until you try. Do some easy rides first... like Peter Pan, It's a Small World, and Winnie the Pooh. Then try something a little scarier so they don't think all rides are scary.

Napping was a challenge. She didn't nap at all the first day. Who would with all that excitement!?! But the following days she did sleep for short times in the stroller. It may be worth it to go back to your hotel for a nap if your child depends on one to get them through the day.

Overall this was an incredible trip! I didn't feel she was too young at all. She ran to characters with arms wide open, loved going on rides, and was a trooper on long days. I think it will be a different experience each time that we go.. but I can't wait to go back!!

A Balancing Act

I have to apologize for being so quiet lately. I've been quiet on my own blog and quiet visiting my favorite blogs. I guess you could say I'm trapped in a balancing act.

When I started working again my daughter was 7 months old. I took the job because it was close to home, my mother in law could watch my daughter, and it was only two days a week. Well, my mother in law eventually found the ride down to us in the winter to be too much. So I put her in the daycare at my work. I didn't think it was a bad deal since she was in my building and I could peak on her at any time.

My Favorite Moments from 2011

This past year has been filled with so much fun! Having a little one makes everything more enjoyable, but it also seems to make the time go so much faster. Here are some highlights from our year:

January: My little one started school and totally rocked at it! Not a tear shed until they told her it was nap time.

February: We got a brand new kitchen!

March: We kissed our (partially) Irish daughter on St. Patrick's day.

April: We had a successful Easter egg hunt!

May: My little one turned 2 and had a fabulous "Tea for Two" party.

June: My husband and I celebrated our 5th anniversary and we took our 3rd family vacation. My daughter also met her Great Grandparents for the 2nd time at our family reunion.

July: We went peach picking for the very first time.

August: We survived Hurricane Irene... but our tree didn't.

September: We had the 10th Anniversary of September 11th and visited the Memorial in NYC.

October: We watched our little girl walk down the aisle as a flower girl at her uncle's wedding. We also experienced the breathtaking beauty of Niagara Falls. Not to mention having a blizzard!

November: I realized how easy children transition and how hard it is for adults when my daughter moved from the toddler class to the preschool class. We also took our first trip to Chuck E Cheese.

December: We experienced our first Christmas with our little one understanding and believing in Santa... Magical!

Here's to hoping 2012 is a great year, too!

Reindeer Food

Did you make reindeer food? This was our first year doing it. We took oats and the sugar sprinkles and mixed them all together. Then on Christmas Eve we went out in the yard and sprinkled it everywhere. This way the reindeer can see the sparkles and won't miss your house. It worked really well because Santa arrived right away!

The Lull

After over a month of preparing... Christmas is over. This year was the most exciting yet! Our little one is 2 and a half and really got into it this year. She knew who Santa was and "wrote"  him a letter, visited him at Santa Land, and looked for his sneaky little elf every day. Her face lit up Christmas morning as she peaked from the staircase to see if the big man had left any goodies under the tree!

This year the hot toys in our house were Buzz Light Year and Woody figures and Rock N Roll Elmo. For me, it's my new iPhone! Yes, I have made the leap into the world of Smart Phones. I love being able to check my e-mail and facebook whenever and wherever I want. I just need to make sure it doesn't become like an extra limb. And as for my husband, he is enjoying a new watch and looking forward to going to a hockey game that he got tickets to. A great Christmas for all!

But the best part was being with our family. This year we were so lucky to have my grandparents with us for the whole weekend. Seeing my daughter with her great grandparents was priceless!

What were the hot items in your house for you and your kids?

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!

I hope you are enjoying this wonderful holiday season! We have been busy spending time with family and friends and trying to make the most of the season. While I will still be around with reviews, giveaways, and general ramblings of a busy momma... I will be slowing down. I want to make sure I enjoy every moment with my little one and my family, as time goes way too fast!

My Little Ballerina!

My little one has started doing dance classes through our town recreation program. We wanted to test it out and see if it would be worth signing her up at a dance school next fall. I think it will be... she loves it!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!

I apologize for not having any posts ready for this week! With the random snow storm we got, and power outage, I have a lot of catching up to do. But luckily school is closed today, so I am hoping to get some great posts up for you!

This was our front yard after Snowtober! We spent all day yesterday cutting up very large branches.

Wordless Wednesday

I LOVE fall... and apple picking!

Welcome to Fall!

I am having the hardest time believing that summer is over! It went by in the blink of an eye... and didn't linger for a moment. We are dealing with rain and cold temperatures for our back to school week!

But luckily we were able to say goodbye to summer over the long weekend with lots of fun activities. We went to our local parade to see Papa (my dad) march with his fire department. And then we went to the fire men's carnival. This was really fun because my daughter was so into it! She wanted to go on rides and play games. We had a blast!

So while it's sad to say goodbye to summer I really love fall! I am excited to pick apples and pumpkins, do all kinds of baking and cooking, and decorate the house. The smell of candles burning makes me feel comfy and cozy. So I'm embracing fall and we are gonna have a blast!

Do you have any fun traditions or activities that you love to do in the fall?

We Survived Hurricane Irene

We made it through the hurricane! We were as prepared as we could be. We brought all our outside furniture in, had nonperishable food, flashlights, and extra batteries.

We were very lucky that our area of NJ had minimal damage. We have some water damage in our garage from a spot where our roof leaked. And part of the ceiling in on of the bathroom's is coming down from water getting in. We lost power for a few hours, but were so lucky it came back on! Some of my friends are without power and they are predicting it won't be back on for a week! We also have a pretty large tree down in our yard. It came from a neighbor's yard but fortunately didn't land on anything.

Sadly, my hometown was hit really hard. They are suffering from a lot of flooding. My parents still live there and they got lucky. But many parts of the town are still underwater.

This is a park, softball field, and tennis court. I spent a lot of time there when I was younger.

The water on the roads was very deep! It has dried up a lot, but many roads are still closed.

I hope everyone else got through the storm without damage. If you wrote a post with pictures from your area please leave a link so everyone can check it out!

More S'mores!

This weekend we went to visit my in-laws for a couple of days. One of my favorite things about visiting them is that we always sit by the fire. Which means... s'mores!

Little Miss loved them! But she was a little bothered by the stickiness of them.

We all had a great time!