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A Preschool Mother’s Day Celebration

Posted on May 12, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Dear JSL,

This week, I have been really sentimental. I think the fact that you turn five in a few days has hit me. My baby is not really a baby anymore. When I keep asking you not to get older, you always remind me that you have no control of this. Thanks to all of this, I am trying to cherish our special time together more before you head to kindergarten. Yesterday, I arrived at school early to cheer you on during the fundraiser and parade. When you saw Mimi there with me, you were so happy and waved to her.

Then, it was time to head up into the classroom for the Mother’s Day celebration. The room was set up for all of the special guests to sit down near your table to watch a performance.

I managed to get a video of your class singing a special song, but I am not going to share that here. Thank goodness you were willing to do an extra performance of the song at home for me to record.

What I realize on the video is we really need to get you to an allergist since that nasal thing that is still pestering you. Oh well, I will work on that next week.

Once the song was over, each of you went to get a present to give to the mothers. You were so cute and came over to me. You were not sure if I should open it up there, but I did.

You handed me a homemade crown. The crown was wrapped around a treasure box that you had painted and decorated.

As beautiful as it was on the outside, my heart melted when I looked inside. This is what you and your fantastic teachers had come up with to surprise us on Mother’s Day:

We had our photo taken together, but my eyes were closed on the one that was taken with my camera. Once you were finished giving me the present, you wanted to show it to Mimi. Later on, I made sure to get a photo of the two of you together. I think you were the only child that had a great-grandparent there.

I am so glad that Mimi and I were both there with you. It was a wonderful afternoon that we all shared together. Thank you for being such a sweet, loving, and special little boy.

Love,

Mommy

Categories:
arts and crafts Dear Kid Saturday family holidays jsl kid talk me moments milestone photos school video

Snacking on Kim’s Magic Pop

Posted on May 11, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Trying to find a healthy snack food that is low calorie, low fat, filling, and tastes good can be a difficult task. A few months ago, we were visiting my brother and his family. One night, he shared a snack that was absolutely delicious. I was immediately jealous because it was amazing and we had nothing like it near us. It was called Kim’s Magic Pop.

The months went by and I never thought about them again until Nana and Papa had them at their house the other day. Yes, they were able to find them locally. Now, I think we may have a bit of an addiction. The boys and I love them and the kids loved watching them get made. Thanks to the Delice Global website, we now know all of the flavors that Kim’s Magic Pop could come in. They include:

Original
Onion
Cinnamon
Cheddar Cheese
Potato
Strawberry
Whole Wheat
7 Grain (coming soon)
Super Fiber (coming soon)
Honey Wheat (coming soon)

Although I like them plain and right out of the bag, I think they would also be delicious with some hummus. No doubt we will continue to experiment with different ways to enjoy them. At just 15 calories each, the wow factor when crunching them has been worth the wait.

My question to you this week:

What is a new snack food that you are currently enjoying and why?

It's Me

Disclosure: We have paid for many bags of Kim’s Magic Pop with our own money. Just thought of this post one day while I was crunching on a delicious snack and wanted to share.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #202

Categories:
Aloha Friday food glorious food me moments photos yummy

Tuesday Tales – Meeting Ridley Pearson in Walt Disney World

Posted on May 8, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

It’s time to jump around on my timeline from events at the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration to share something related to literacy, reading, and books. Nothing could fit in more perfectly than meeting NY Times Bestselling author Ridley Pearson. Since I signed up for his session on Saturday, I knew that Ellen and I would be front and center for his presentation. What I didn’t know is something magical would happen before that.

After the conference session on Friday, TechyDad and I met back up with my parents and the boys. Once back in the room, we debated what to do before the party in DinoLand at Animal Kingdom. We were told that we could head to the Animal Kingdom and exit the park to wait for the group while they finished setting up the area. This seemed like a good plan. On the way out of the Yacht Club to catch a bus to the Animal Kingdom, a person caught my eye. I shrugged it off until I got to the bus area and happened to bump into Ellen and her daughter. I told her that I was pretty sure I had just seen Ridley Pearson in the lobby, but was doubting myself.

After wandering around Animal Kingdom for a few hours, we waited outside the gates, for the rest of the families to arrive. I nudged Ellen and told her Ridley Pearson was walking in with everyone. This is when I mentioned something to my son and reminded him I was going to Mr. Pearson’s session in the morning.

NHL was busy going on ride after ride before eating dinner. Thanks to this, I had to force him to stop to get at least a little something. NHL and I were at one of the then empty buffet lines when I noticed someone come over on my left. I peeked and noted that it was Ridley Pearson. I said hello and wanted to make sure he was Mr. Pearson. He said he was and then I mentioned I was going to his session the next day. Then, I turned things over to NHL. I mentioned that NHL was a fan of the Kingdom Keepers. Without missing a beat, Mr. Pearson started to talk to NHL. He asked him about his favorite part of the book. NHL explained that he loved the scene in Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark when things happen in It’s a Small World. This is when I knew that Ridley Pearson gets his audience. He made small talk with NHL about how that really happened and he liked it as well. FYI, video coming soon from the session about this scene.

The next morning before the session began, I thanked Mr. Pearson. Thanks to this encounter, NHL wants to get back to reading the Kingdom Keeper series. He was excited to let his teacher know that he had met the author and kept chatting all night about the Small World Ride chat. Yes, once again, Ridley Pearson showed how a little magic from him could inspire a reluctant reader to jump back into reading. While others were asking for autographs, I knew that I had to get one for my son (little did I know my almost five year old would be jealous of this – ooops). I even took photos to share with NHL later.

More about the session and tour of Epcot with Ridley Pearson coming soon. Have you ever met an author? Please feel free to share your experience below. What have you read recently? Please be sure to link up to your book posts in the comments below. Include something you read on your own, with a child, or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.

Disclosure: Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World to attend the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, we were given an incredible deal from Disney. Also note that Disney never asked us to blog about this event. As a long time Disney fan, it is my pleasure to share my experiences from the event. Meeting Ridley Pearson was just another BIG perk from the festivities. One Amazon Affiliate link is included in this post for the book mentioned. I will receive a percentage of money for the sale should you opt to buy any of the books through my links.

Categories:
Blogging Conference bloggy friends books Disney DisneySMMoms friends fun interesting looking back me moments nhl Tuesday Tales

Destination Disney Social Media Moms Celebration 2012

Posted on May 7, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Thursday, April 26th was a busy day in our house. We woke up before the sun was shining and packed the boys and suitcases into the car. By 7:30, this was the view from our Southwest Airline plane taking us away to Orlando, Florida for the 2012 Disney Social Media Moms Celebration.

At noon, the Magical Express taking us from the airport pulled up at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort. The excitement was in the air as we were Tweeting with a few other bloggers while on the bus. After we checked into our rooms and dropped things off, it was time to head down to find the Disney Social Media Moms check in for our park tickets and schedules. On the way down, I noticed some familiar faces. I saw Suzannah, Amanda, Jackie, and Leigh. I ran down to say hello, give hugs, and then went with TechyDad, the boys, and my parents to the convention center area.

NHL was so excited to see the sign and ran ahead to show us the way to get our items. We bumped into Mary and Amy from BSM Media and Maura from Disney. Then it was time to toss things back into our room, get park tickets, and head over to Epcot for lunch. Since you can walk to Epcot via the International Gateway, TechyDad and I suggested going to France for a quick lunch. On the walk over, we saw the beach getting set up for our Pirate Soiree that evening, watched the palm trees blowing in the breeze, and saw beautiful topiaries set up for the Epcot Flower and Garden Show.

Lunch was perfect to hold us over until later on and gave us some energy to tackle some more of Epcot. The boys asked to stop in Great Britain to play in the maze there after checking out the Winnie the Pooh topiary. Then we continued to walk around World Showcase and noticed that Duffy was outside for photos. We missed him on our last trip, so it was perfect timing with a short line.

Next, we decided to go to Mexico to do one ride before heading back to the Yacht Club. It was time to sing and ride in the boat while chasing Donald Duck around.

By this time JSL was really tired and we hoped to get him to rest before the party on the beach. NHL wanted to roam more of Epcot. I said that I would walk around with him to see Figment. We wandered to Journey into Imagination.

Since we still had more time, we walked by The Land and over to The Seas with Nemo & Friends.

We walked a lot in a short amount of time and decided to take the boat back to the Yacht Club. When I got back, TechyDad and I had about an hour to get ready to make it to the Cocktail Welcome.

So much more to share coming soon. Next up, the Welcome Cocktail party and Swashbucklers Soiree.

Categories:
Blogging Conference bloggy friends Conference Disney DisneySMMoms family jsl me moments nhl photos TechyDad travel vacation

Smartphone Charging Solution

Posted on May 6, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

As a blogger who just finally entered the world of Smartphone ownership, I knew that keeping my phone charged when out and about would be critical. I have often seen other bloggers at events running around to find an outlet to plug in their phone. With Disney Social Media Moms Celebrations, TechyDad and I knew that we would challenge our phones. The reality is that Violet, my Droid Bionic, does not keep her battery charged for a full day at home. I knew that I would be doomed at Walt Disney World.

Thanks to TechyDad doing a lot of research we finally ordered two Anker Astro 5600mAh Backup External Battery Packs and Chargers from Amazon. They arrived shortly before our trip. This gave us time to see how many times we could use them with our Bionics before we had to recharge the main unit. Here is a photo of Violet sitting on the passenger seat of my car charging while picking the kids up at school.

We quickly found out that we could get two recharges from about 15% to fully charged. What I liked was I could use the phone during the conference as it was gaining strength, it could go into my purse and gain power while waiting on lines. This is Violet on the table while waiting to hear author Ridley Pearson speak.

In a typical day, I do not have the photo opportunities that we saw in Disney World. While TechyDad had his regular camera with us, I was often busy snapping shots with my phone to send to Twitter and Facebook via Instagram. If my phone was not charged, I never would have captured these amazing memories and others.

The things we will do for our Techy Toys! All I can say is thank you, TechyDad, for finding this must have to keep my phone alive.

Disclosure: Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World to attend the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, we were given an incredible deal from Disney. Also note that Disney never asked us to blog about this event. As a long time Disney fan, it is my pleasure to share my experiences from the event. We purchased the Anker Astro with our own money and wanted to share how it helped us while traveling.One Amazon affiliate link for the Anker Charger is included in this post. I will receive a percentage of money for the sale should you opt to buy this item.