Spoiled Christmas Girls

Someday I will get around to blogging about Christmas. I've removed all signs of it from my house, except for the 1,000 toys that I now have to find a place for. I took down the tree and the decorations, then assembled the giant dollhouse that the girls got from David's parents, and that one toy alone took up more of my time (3 hours!) than any other task this week. Now I'm tired, my shoulder/back hurts from the huge task of dollhouse assembly, and I have to go get blood drawn for pregnancy lab work, and I've put that off for like a month. So I will leave you with one Christmas picture, of my cute spoiled children, then possible before the end of 2011 I will blog about Christmas and the rest of Disneyland. Maybe.

Our Stockings Are Hung and Our Cookies Are Frosted

In the spirit of Christmas I've made far too many baked goods containing butter the past two days. Even some almond roca that I will never make again because the toffee recipe pissed me off so much. If you say to cook something for exactly 12 minutes it should'nt be burnt at 9 minutes. I'm stubborn enough that I retried the same exact recipe, wasting 2 more sticks of butter, which also was a failure. The third try I made my failsafe old toffee recipe that I've made before, sometime in between yelling at David to get out of the kitchen for criticizing the size of the chopped almonds.

Luckily for me every other recipe since then has turned out okay, including a lemon meringue pie, broccoli and cheese soup, double chocolate m&m cookies, rice krispy treats and white chocolate cookies. If any of those had sucked I would've thrown in the towel on holiday baking, and just blamed my absent minded pregnancy brain. We've made other pre-holiday treats too, like peanut butter-chocolate fudge, gingerbread cookies, and sugar cookies. All have treated us well. My kids especially like the frosting, which is eaten in large amounts. Alana's motto is If it doesn't turn your teeth green, its not worth eating.

Merry Christmas everybody! I hope no one eats as many cookies as me, for your sake!

Gross green teeth, but a cute smile.

Alana liked the decorating, Ava liked the eating.

She is invisible behind her magical cookie cutters.

Ava is reflecting on 2011 and the meaning of Christmas.

Doppelganger

I have a dilemma whenever I watch the Disney Jr show Jake and the Neverland Pirates. I cannot keep myself from wondering how they possibly cast Duff Goldman to sing their opening song.

Pretty cute show, if you like pirates and such. Needs more dubloons.

That's Duff on the left, with his matey.

I swear that's the same guy.

I don't think its an eerie coincidence. I think that Duff takes time out of his busy cake making life to make corny pirate music videos for a show on the Disney channel. True story. You've seen the evidence.

Disney at Christmas Time


 



Not sure if my name is supposed to be on naughty or nice list, its kind of misleading.



Santa, then Mrs. Claus. Ava liked the Mrs. better.

California Adventure tree.

Alana loves her some Santa.

Santa left his sleigh here for us to take a picture in. How nice of him.

Second Santa. Hope no one was suspicious that he clearly looked different.

One of the reasons that we wanted to go to Disneyland in December this year, even though we just went in February, was that we wanted to see the Christmas decorations. And Santa. Twice. They did not disappoint, especially at night. Main street and its giant tree, Its a Small World, and the awesome parade were all really cool. And the girls loved seeing Santa, both in Disneyland with his reindeer, and in California Adventure without.

The parade was the coolest Christmas aspect by far, even if we had to wait forever to save our spot to watch it. The start time was 5:30, but when we came out onto Main Street 3 hours before it started there were already people lining up and saving benches to watch it. Crazy! I don't mind if there's an actual person waiting, but some people were just putting blankets on the curb with their stuff and leaving it, like that bought them dibs on that spot. I don't think so, that's bull! We wandered up to the circle area by the train station where it wasn't as crowded, and about 2 hours before the parade started grabbed a bench and claimed our spot. Realistically, with a 5 and 2 year old, sitting on a bench doing nothing for 2 hours isn't possible. So we wandered around in shifts. David and Alana, then me and Ava. We each went and got food with our respective kid, then came back to our bench. About 45 minutes before the parade, some Disney cast members asked me to get up so they could move the bench forward towards the curb. While I was standing next to it and they were moving it some other people came and tried to sit in it. No way people! I've been sitting there for almost 2 hours, you are not stealing my bench! I had to kick them off of it, but I don't care. You can't swoop in right before the parade and expect a bench! Our bench ended up being perfect, because it got moved to right by the curb, so we sat in it instead of on the ground during the whole parade. And thanks to cotton candy for Alana and popcorn for Ava, they both waited patiently and the parade and all of its lights was totally worth it.

I wanted to watch the fireworks, which I'm still mad about, because everyone else wanted to leave. So we watched them from the Denny's next to our hotel right across the street, while we waited for our to-go order. Other than that, everything else we did was standard Disneyland stuff, nothing too Christmasy. But it was worth it to go that one time just to see, and they made it snow when lighting the castle up at night, which was pretty awesome. Awesome and really crowded, cause snow is a big draw.



Crazy tall Main St tree.



The castle looked way cooler at night, but it was still pretty shiny.

The $50,000 Question

There is one burning question that consistently plagues the first trimester of every pregnancy: How are you feeling? Its not that the question itself is annoying, its just that I don't know if its always sincere. I don't necessarily think that every. single. person. who asks that question really wants to know the real answer. Telling everyone that asks exactly how you feel during the beginning of pregnancy is more likely to come across as whining than honestly answering a question.

If I told everyone that I feel nauseous, that I can't eat red meat, that the smell of ramen makes me dry heave, they would look back at me with glassy eyes, regretful that they had even asked in the first place. That's why a standard I'm fine or even a vague reference to Why is it called morning sickness, its not just in the morning? are my standard go-to answers. I don't want to seem like a whiner, and people who are just trying to be polite don't want to hear my real honest answer.

Of course, How are you feeling? is not the only question that is frequently asked when you're pregnant. Its just the first one. That question is reserved for people who know you are pregnant, because you still look mostly normal. Unless its your third pregnancy and your ab muscles have thrown in the towel already, so at the end of the day after you've eaten a bunch, you already look pregnant. Once you are clearly visibly pregnant, not just mistaken for someone who has eaten a few dozen too many doughnuts, then there are other questions. These questions come from everyone, not just people you know. Everyone will ask you 2 things: When are you due? and What are you having? I suggest wearing some type of nametag with this information on it, but that will not stop the questions because people are not observant enough to always notice what is right in front of them.

And just for general public knowledge, so no one needs to ask me how I'm feeling, I'm fine. As long as I eat really often, which is kind of annoying, then I'm fine. And you can still ask me in person, but that is the answer you will get. Cause you probably don't want to know any more details for that, just for your own personal well-being.

Queen and the Princesses

Princesses are so exciting, its almost hard to smile. For Ava anyway

Meeting Ariel is serious business

Ava is all business with her waffles and Alana is the same with her stickers



Queen!

Every year at Disneyland we have a can't miss breakfast date with the princesses. Its my favorite meal because its all you can eat, the food is awesome, and they bring it to you instead of like the other character meals where its a buffet. And the best part: the princesses come around to your table to meet you. My kids are all business when there are no princesses, especially Ava. No attention was diverted from her waffles. But when that glamorous princess would get there, they were so excited. They hugged each one, then turned so nicely to pose for a picture. Ava made a different weird smile each time, but Alana is an old pro and smiled sweetly with each princess. That breakfast is usually the most anticipated event of our trip, by all of us.

At some point in the last two weeks, prior to Disneyland, Ava developed a new Disney related obsession. Lightning McQueen. Its not because she watches Cars a lot and has seen him in that so much that she loves McQueen. No. She's a more complicated woman than that. Its because of Cheez-Its. Cheesy crackers with little pictures of Lightning McQueen on them. They are the source of her obsession. She loves him so much that she squeals Queen! whenever she sees him, or eats a Cheez-It. She even got a stuffed Queen to take home, which she carries around and gives kisses. And of course she had to pose by him, and give the actual car a big hug, cause cars can feel love.

These crazy girls really love princesses and Queen, and this concludes part 2 of my Disneyland novel.

Some Sprinkling of Disney

I'm gonna make this part one of an undetermined number of posts on Disneyland. Its one of those subjects where there is so much to talk about, its nearly overwhelming. I need to write it down, mostly for my own sake, cause I want to remember how much fun we had.

Last trip we took was in February, when Ava was just 18 months. If there is any Disney advice I can give to people its this: do not take an 18 month old to Disneyland. They are impatient, probably scared of the characters, can't really talk yet, don't usually want to ride in a stroller and in Ava's case will not sit in a high chair, or their own chair, for any meal. I've done it with both my kids, and I don't recommend it. Its an awkward age between 1 and 2 where they want to be big, but are still babies. You don't even have any idea how much of a difference waiting till they're 2 makes. Its a lot. I took Ava when she was 6 months old and she was a dream, but at 18 months she was less desirable. At 2 though, she was so much better. A different kid. She waited in line patiently, never cried, sat in the stroller everywhere that we walked, sat in her own seat the whole meal at every restaurant, only threw up once in the car (that's an achievement, seriously), picked out one toy nicely when she got to get something, and slept like a rock every night.

Alana is an avid fan of the characters. Like, hugs them and wants to spend large amounts of time with them. They are her long lost friends, and she loves them more than cookies. Ava was hesitant at first, but came around and hugged them and high-fived them and even got in pictures without me holding her. They were all about the characters. We even managed to sneak in tons of family pictures since the characters always have a Disney cast member by them who is willing to snap a pic, and who I mostly trust with my camera.

We went on tons of rides as a family, but the ones with a height restriction were mostly enjoyed by Alana and David. They went on Goofy's Sky School (a roller coaster), Splash Mountain (where Alana got so soaked I had to change her clothes, lucky I had extra), Gadget's Go-Coaster, Big Thunder Mountain, and Star Tours. Ava and I took advantage of the break each time by getting a snack, like a big hot fudge sundae at the Golden Horseshoe, or some messy beignets, or corndogs. Alana and I went on the Silly Symphony Swings, which she was a little scared about but got brave at the top, then Jumping Jellyfish. Ava patiently waited for everyone to get off rides, but she was bribed with goodies while waiting so that helped. As a family we went on Its a Small World, which was slightly less annoying with the Christmas decorations and singing Jingle Bells, David and Ava went on Pirates, where she sang Yo Ho Ho, the girls and I went on the Nemo Sub, we all went on Haunted Mansion, which Alana loved cause of the Nightmare Before Christmas decor, then we went on the standard Buzz Lightyear ride at least twice, both carousels twice, Toy Story Mania twice, the teacups only once, and a couple annoying ones like Alice in Wonderland and Winnie the Pooh. The highlight of the rides though, for the ten year old inside of me and for Alana, was Ariel's Undersea Adventure. This ride is the epitome of all of my Disney related childhood dreams. We went on it twice, and I'm still singing Part of Your World, which in my opinion should've had more time, cause its clearly the best Little Mermaid song. Ask my sister and my cousin Alissa, cause we totally acted it out on the living room floor with pillows standing in as some type of ocean rocks. Part of Your World rules.

Since this has been more of a short novel about Disneyland than a sprinkling, I'm gonna cut myself off now. I've gotta go watch Steven Colbert talk about plagiarism, which I'm hoping is about The Bloggess, so I've gotta run. I'll return later with way more pics and some ranting on about my awesome vacation.

The Biggest Secret in Parenting

The number one thing that no one will tell you about being a parent is top secret. I could be fined just for thinking about letting the secret out. Its not something sentimental like how you don't realize how much you will love your children until they're born and you hold them and your heart just feels so full. Its not that. And its not something practical that no one tells first time mothers when they're pregnant about how your stomach will still be all squishy and gross after you give birth, it won't just magically go back to being flat the next day. It will actually never look the same again. Unless you're some celebrity or model and magically still look the same after having kids. In that case, I hate you. No, its not one of those types of secrets.

This secret is much more life changing. It will affect you, and scar you, forever. What I'm talking about is the untangling of slinkys. Yes, slinky. Everyone's favorite toy. Its fun for a girl or a boy. But not for me. Because I've spent at least half of my five years as a parent untangling slinkys. Not even exaggerating. We have 3 slinkys at our house, and I've untangled them so many times I've lost count. My fingers are tired just thinking about it.

So here's my advice. You can approach the slinky situation in one of two ways: 1) Buy a minimum of 100, so that when you find yourself with a truly stubborn tangled slinky, you can create a diversion, sneak away to your secret slinky stash, and replace the slinky without your children knowing. Or 2) Enforce a strict no-slinky policy. If this is your choice then beware the prize counter at Peter Piper Pizza, its a slinky trap where they lure children into the presumed endless fun they can have with a slinky and you will forever be enslaved by this cheap plastic toy. A no-slinky policy is daring, but if you really want to avoid the dreaded untangling, then you must go this route. You have no other choice. Your children will thank you later.

In My Head I'm Still on Vacation

I'm home from Disneyland. I'm tired. I have homework today. Reality is slowing creeping back up, with homework for one more week and vacuuming Funyuns out of the carpet for the rest of my life. But here is a couple of pictures, to demonstrate the insane amount of fun we had. Really, like, insane. More to come.

This concludes our Disneyland sneak peek. Stayed tuned for more pics in the days to come.

Challenge Accepted

I'm in the home stretch of my second writing class, which has basically been 8 weeks of analyzing short stories and poems, not exactly rocket science. Now I have to write a final paper. And I had to post the subject on the discussion area for everyone else to read. Fine. I did. Now all the haters are doubting my subject.

For those interested or who know anything about poetry, I'm doing my paper about Sylvia Plath's poem "Daddy", which she personally said is not autobiographical. Some of the other students are doubting I can get enough info on that subject, or that I can complete the 1800 minimum word count just writing about that. Hello people, summer semester I wrote 6 full pages about high fructose corn syrup, and I got an A. An 1800 word paper talking about how everyone else is wrong is a walk in the park. I could write 1800 words right now about how I'm right and they're all wrong, but I won't. Cause my keyboard is being stupid. But if it wasn't, they'd better watch out. Stupid people. Telling me something is not possible just makes me want to do it more. Are they all getting an A in this class? Probably not, but its confidential so I don't know. Judging by their papers that I've read they are not. So take that. I'm doing it.