Christmas Tree Pictures

A few years ago I switched from regular Christmas cards (which I love) to the photo ones. You know, the ones where you just plug in a picture to a website and order as many as you need. I had resisted for a while, but my kid was just so cute! In 2008 I took her to Downtown Disney (DTD) to take pictures of her in her Christmas dress by their beautiful tree.

I don't claim to be a photographer. I have a simple point and shoot camera I barely know how to use. I am not creative with poses. But I had a great time. It was slightly challenging to get a 2 year old to hold still, but she's such a ham. We both had fun.

And then I remembered that the various Disneyland hotels would had trees in their lobbies. So we took pictures by the trees at the Disneyland Hotel, Paradise Pier Hotel, and the Grand Californian as well.

This was a little more difficult because I can never get the lighting quite right. It was also fun just seeing the different trees. I ended up using a picture of her in front of the DTD tree.

The next year I knew I wanted to do the same thing. Again, we had fun. This year she started doing poses, which I thought were hilarious.

Besides trees in the hotels, we found Santa's photo spot at DLH. Without him there, we could take as much time as we wanted taking pictures in front of the amazing set up they have.

 We skipped 2010 because we went to Walt DisneyWorld in Oct/Nov. They started putting up Christmas decorations in Nov so we used pictures from the trip.

2011 we went back again. This time there were a lot more poses that Melodie wanted to try.

And that brings us to this year. We were so excited. It was threatening rain, so we quickly went to DTD since that's the only tree that is outside. It wasn't there. Instead there was a Disney Fairies ice skating rink. I was pretty sad. They did have a little photo op spot with two snow covered trees. But I really like traditional Christmas colors. These trees were decorated in pink, blue, lime green and purple. I went with it anyway, because that's why we were there.

The DTD pictures are the two on the left. We also never made it to the Grand Californian because it started raining. It wasn't quite worth the walk over there because it had started raining and the tree is so orange.

 Next year I'll be doing this with two kids!

Meet Princess Minnie

 I did have intentions of being a really dedicated blogger, but who knew I'd feel this yucky all the time? I have finally accepted that I'll just be sick this whole pregnancy. It only took 6 months for me to give up hope, but at least there's only 3 months of nausea left.
 So, what did we do while I'm not feeling well and with a new baby coming? Get a new puppy of course!
 It wasn't expected. I'm still not okay from saying goodbye to our two dogs we had for over 10 years.
Everyone knows Jock was my favorite. Trusty was really Rocky's dog.

 

 Friends of ours got two puppies. They brought them to visit in August. They weren't sure if they still wanted two because the puppies would just play together and not with the children. They were adorable.

 Our friends were thinking of finding a new home for Kris, but still weren't sure. At the end of the month they asked if we could watch the dogs for a weekend. This turned into, "Why don't you keep Kris a little longer to see if you want her?" So we did. Melodie and Rocky quickly fell in love with her. I was excited that Melodie liked her. She didn't really care about our other dogs. It's not that she didn't like them, she just didn't care if they were around her or not. But she really liked Kris. However, we didn't care for the name, and in an effort of wanting Melodie to feel this might be more her dog than the others were, I asked what she would name Kris if we kept her. Princess. I was not going to call a dog Princess. In an effort to compromise, we decided to add another name. Melodie wanted Minnie after Minnie Mouse. I was okay with that since our other two dogs had Disney names. So, Princess Minnie kind of had a new name. She must have been confused for a while because we changed between calling her Kris, Princess Minnie and Minnie.

By this time, Rocky and Melodie were sure we were going to keep her. I was still not sure I was ready to "replace" Jock and I know puppies are a lot of work. Since I wasn't feeling well, I knew I wasn't up to the task. But watching Melodie with "her dog" was a big push in the direction of keeping her. Then one day I found myself at the pet store with Melodie and Minnie and we bought a dog tag.

 It was official. She was ours. Everyone knew she was ours long before I accepted it. She's a pretty good puppy. She chews on everything, but that's what puppies do. She has a lot of energy, but so does Melodie. She still doesn't fetch with a ball or walk on a leash as well as I want her to, but we're working on it. She's the first dog I've had that loves to bury things. I love watching her play outside with Melodie. Melodie and Minnie are great friends, although Melodie does get a little annoyed when Minnie doesn't do what she wants.

 After having her for about a month, one eye started to look funny. A friend of ours told us it was cherry eye. I'd never seen that before. We massaged it back in, but it turned red again. I took her to the vet and scheduled surgery. We had to wait a little bit because she was in the middle of puppy boosters. During that time, the other eye developed cherry eye too. For a time they didn't bother her, but a few days before they surgery she started scratching at her eyes. I had to put a cone of shame on her.

 

Look at her poor eyes! The surgery went well, and in a few days she was back to normal. I was NOT happy with the amount of money we had to spend, but I left it up to Rocky and he said we were doing it.

 When Halloween came around Melodie wanted to get Minnie a Halloween costume. I don't care for dressing up dogs, but Melodie asked every time we went to the pet store. A few days before Halloween, all the Halloween stuff was 75% off. There wasn't much of a selection left, but for $5 we got her a Halloween scrunchie collar things, a witch hat and a skirt.

Poor Minnie tried to get the hat and skirt off for about five minutes. Unfortunately it was kind of funny, so we put it on her a few times. She would finally accept her fate, but not happily. The scrunchie collar thing didn't bother her at all and I actually didn't mind it either.

In fact, Rocky and Mel just bought her a Christmas one. The bad thing about that one is that it has jingle bells on it. That's a little annoying.

 She's been fun to have around, but she's so funny.

We have two perfectly good dog houses, but she hangs out in the play structure instead. Maybe it's because the houses smell like Jock and Trusty. I don't know, but she doesn't really think she belongs outside anyway. Her favorite toy is this hideous blue cat. She shakes it, plays fetch with it, walks around with it in her mouth and is very upset that I won't let her take it outside to bury it. She also sits and lays down in the funniest positions.
 The week of Thanksgiving we took her to the dog beach. We'd never been there before, but since she has so much energy we thought it would be fun for her.

I think she was in heaven. We'll definately go again.
 I'm still not sure I was ready for another dog, but she's growing on me. As I was looking at all these pictures, it struck me how she doesn't really even look as much like a puppy as she used to. That actually made me a little sad.

Halloween Group Costumes

I love group costumes. We've been doing group costumes since the first Halloween with our daughter. Since that Halloween I have bought her costumes (and dress up clothes) at Children's Orchard, my favorite resale clothing store. I look forward to the day in September when they put out the costumes. That first Halloween I found a cute lion costume. What immediately came to my mind is "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!". I blame my dad. Wizard of Oz is his favorite movie. So Melodie was the cutest cowardly lion, we bought a scarecrow outfit for Rocky and a good friend made my Dorothy costume (I needed to nurse in it and all the Dorothy costumes I could find to buy were one piece). This was also the first year we went to a Disney Halloween party. At the time it was at DCA and called Mickey's Halloween Treat.

The next year (2007) was the first year we went to Mickey's Halloween Treat with my whole family. It was such fun to go with a big group in costumes of the same theme.

My mom had previously made the Snow White costume. For this party she also made all the dwarf costumes (except for the Grumpy costume which we borrowed from a friend) and the prince costume. I bought a black cloak for the Old Hag costume. Melodie was the poison apple. I found a devil costume at Children's Orchard which I reworked to be an apple. I took off the tail and horns and put on a stem and leaf. I also stuffed her with padding.

In 2008 the party name changed to Mickey's Trick or Treat Party. This time we went with friends. Our theme was based around Melodie's costume (guess where I found it?). When I saw it, I knew she would be adorable in it! I don't have many good pictures because this is the night I ended up in the emergency room because I was in pain. Turned out I had an ectopic pregnancy and had surgery the next day. I barely made it home in time for Halloween day. Anyway, Melodie's 50's costume was pink, so the first thing that came to mind were the Pink Ladies in Grease.

 

We went with an even bigger group of friends in 2009. This time I found a few costumes I liked, and Melodie was starting to develop opinions of her own, so I let her choose between a few. She chose a purple witch costume, so our theme was witches and wizrds. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the group all together.

 

 

2012 was especially fun because we went to Walt Disney World in Florida called Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. This year Melodie wanted to be Dorothy, and luckily I found a costume at Children's Orchard (you never know what you will find or not find). Rocky reused his scarecrow costume, and we knew we needed a witch. That left three of us (none of which wanted to be a lion or Glinda). Three was the perfect number for the Lollipop Guild munchkins.

The next year the prices got too high for us, so we didn't go to a Disney Halloween party. Melodie wanted to be a witch again, so Rocky and I kind of went with a theme. I was Maleficent (a wicked sorceress is a kind of witch, right?) and Rocky was Gandalf (the wizard for Lord of the Rings, which my husband is slightly obsessed with).
We actually thought we wouldn't go to another Disney party again, but my mom and one sister really wanted to go this year. There's even more of us now, so we needed a Disney movie with a lot of characters. We wanted the same reaction we got when we went in 2007. We received applause as we walked around and people wanted to take pictures of us. It was such fun! We ended up selecting Peter Pan (yay! my favorite!).

So here's how everyone is related to me and their characters:
a younger brother - John
a younger sister - Wendy
a nephew - Michael
brother-in-law - Indian Chief
a younger sister - Tiger Lily
a younger sister - Nana
a niece - Tinker Bell
a younger brother - Peter Pan
me - Tic Toc the croc
husband - Captain Hook
step dad - Smee
mom - a pirate
niece and daughter - mermaids

Huge props to my teenage brothers, one who wore a nightgown and one who wore tights. Such team players!

We borrowed the Captain Hook costume. One sister bought the pink pjs for "Michael" and the Tink costume. My other sister and I had pretty simple costumes that were more representations than actual costumes since 1) it was too for a full body furry costume and 2) I couldn't find anything in maternity. So for Nana she wore a brown shirt with dog ears and the nurse cap. For Tic Toc I wore a green shirt with a crocodile hat (a random find) and a clock necklace ('cause he swallows a clock!). I painted the stripes on the Smee shirt. My mom put together her pirate costume with various clothing choices. The big thing is that she made all the other costumes (John nightgown, Wendy dress, Indian Chief shirt, Tiger Lily dress, Peter Pan shirt and the mermaids).

We got amazing reactions at Mickey's Halloween Treat (another name change and this time at Disneyland). Applause, pictures and tons of comments. So much fun! We didn't see another themed group as big as ours. Hopefully we will do it again someday (my vote would be for Alice in Wonderland).

 

 

A Sister!

I'm well into second trimester, and I'm finally feeling better. Last week I had the ultrasound to find out the gender of the baby. Rocky and I knew for a few days before telling Melodie and close friends. We wanted to make it fun! I baked a cake that Melodie cut into to see if it was blue (she's having a brother) or pink (she's having a sister).

 

 

She was thrilled it was pink. She's going to have a sister.
We had to keep it secret for another week. We were going to be seeing family from out of town and thought we should do something fun for them too. I made this shirt for Melodie:

Grandma and Auntie Lori noticed quickly!

 

 

This was such a fun way to include Melodie in the announcement. She got lots of hugs.

4th of July

 Melodie and Rocky spent the day swimming at a friend's house. That night we went to a friend's house for BBQ and fireworks. Fireworks aren't legal in our city, but they are in the next city over. I think this is the fourth year we've spent 4th of July at her house. But first, I had to do Melodie's holiday hair.

I took inspiration from one of my favorite girl hair style sites, Cute2TryHairdos. I got all the decorations from a dollar store bow that I took apart. I've only been doing these fun hairstyles for a little over a year, but I love them. Melodie really looks forward to the holiday ones. Here's the one from last year.

 I love making cute food, so I was bummed not to make any this year. I just wasn't feeling up to it, so I'll share what I've made previously.

2009 Not a great picture, but mine are the red and blue star shaped rice krispie treats.
2008 & 2010 were cookies, but I didn't get good pictures.

These are from last year. I love the cookie/candy bouquet. Maybe, because I made two things last year, that makes up for this year. But back to this year. Good food, great people, and fun fireworks celebrating our freedom. Can't ask for more.

Announcement

America Week

While I'm still going to try to follow my schedules I've planned, I'm not going to post them. The reality is that I've been pretty sick and not able to follow them as much as I would like.
 So now for America Week. Here's what we did on Monday and Tuesday. First we read about why we celebrate the 4th of July. We read the Declaration on Independence (I bought a poster of it) and talked about how it was written in 1776. I found this website called Liberty's Kids. Melodie loved watching the "Now & Then" episodes.
 We also learned about fireworks by watching 3, 2, 1 Firework. I was surprised at how interested Melodie was in this. She loved going to the firework stand to pick out our fireworks for this year.
 We did our weekly alphabet, of course.

 And that's it for the beginning of the week!

The Rest of Bird Week

Wednesday
 Melodie loved watching all the bird songs on youtube.  Then we read this book:

This is the second Just Ask book we've read and we really enjoy them. After reading about why birds sing, we listened to bird sounds on the Canadian Museum of Nature website. It's actually a matching game. Mel enjoyed it so we did all four habitats.
 For the craft we were going to make bottle cap birds. I even saved bottle caps, but I couldn't find small bottle caps. They were all the same size, which would have made pretty silly looking birds. So Melodie cut out circles instead.

With the extra feathers she made a random picture.
 She played to games on the computer and liked both of them. Shapes: Starfall and letter matching: abcya.com. The letter matching was too easy for her, so she chose some other games to try on that website too.
Thursday
  We made two kinds of bird feeders. One kind was out of toilet paper rolls and one was out of bagels.

 I haven't been feeling well all week. She's in her swim suit because this was after her swimming lessons, but before going to a friends' house (they have a pool) that were going to watch her while I went to the doctor. On Friday we didn't get a chance to do anything (I was so bummed because the fun food was so cute!) because after swimming lessons I had to go back to the doctor (auntie watched her) and then she had tap. After that she wanted to stay with her auntie the rest of the night. Well, maybe we can do the fun food another time just for fun.

Bird Week Has Started

 We started by Melodie doing her ABC's on cutouts of birds.  I hope we can do this every week. We love it!

 We tried playing Chicken Stacker, but it kept freezing on us. We'll try again tomorrow.
 We watched the youtube video of a chick hatching. Melodie thought the chicks were so cute.
 She spent a majority of her time painting her bird house. She has been waiting months to do this, so I let her take as long as she wanted.

 While she was in the middle of painting, a neighbor knocked on our door. She told us to come outside quickly. This is what we saw:

I have lived in this neighborhood most of my life and I've never seen ducks walking down the street. We see them a lot at Disneyland, but it was so strange to see them walking through our neighborhood.

We got a little nervous when the crossed the street. Melodie wanted to follow them for a while, so we did. Perfect sighting for bird week!
 On Tuesday we watched Chicken Little. I gave Mel the choice between Dumbo and Chicken Little and that's what she chose.
 After that we read about birds and feathers on Kidzone and read about the types of feathers and the parts of a feather on ASU School of Life Sciences. I printed the worksheets on that website and she did all the labeling.

And then we did the craft project. Mel spent hours painting with feathers.

She thought it was fun using both sides of the feather and made several pictures.
 When Rocky came home from work they hung her bird house outside. I also bought a new hummingbird feeder (We had one a while ago and it broke. Since then she would constantly ask for a new one.) so they made hummingbird food and hung that outside too.