Saturday, November 25, 2006

Our Thanksgiving Brunch

This year rather than go to two (or three) different houses for Thanksgiving dinner, we opted for a different approach. We hosted my side of the family for Thanksgiving Brunch and then traveled to Dave's Uncle's for dinner.

The brunch was a lot of fun! We ate yummy food, drank mimosas and watched the parade. What more could you ask for?

Thanksgiving Brunch Menu
Baked French Toast
Turkey and Swiss Quiche with Caramelized Onions
Pan Fried Sweet Potato Medley
Maple Sausage
Turkey Bacon
Mimosas
Coffee
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pumpkin Roll
Mixed Berries with Fresh Whipped Cream

Okay, so it was neither low-calorie, low fat nor low-cholesterol, but it sure was tasty!

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Disney: Day 5

So we've come to the last day of our trip to the Disney World Theme Parks. We started off in MGM (which I made Dave go to since it's his least favorite park). We caught the Little Mermaid and Playhouse Disney. Jonah was pretty tired so he cried throughout Playhouse Disney and eventually feel asleep in Dave's arms.

After Jonah's brief nap, we walked the park. The kids got to meet their favorite characters (JoJo, Goliath and the Little Einsteins) and Dave got to meet his favorite character, Matlock. Okay, here's the inside joke: everyday, Dave used to watch Matlock in between his breaks at college. I, of course, teased him relentlessly.

Anyway, the real highlight of the day was the trick-or-treating event at the Magic Kingdom. They only let about 15 to 20 thousand people through the gates (you had to buy a special ticket) and there were meet and greets along with candy spots throughout the park. There was also a special fireworks show and parade. The best part? NO LINES! Dave took Ellie on Splash Mountain. Then she went on Thundermountain twice!

We had a great time! And while we did feel slightly guilty about keeping the kids up so very late past their bedtimes, we were comforted by all the other naughty parents around us who had their kids up late too. Hey, it's vacation!






















































































Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Quote of the Day

Scene: restaurant
Situation: Ellie's snap on her overalls has come undone

Daddy: in the middle of a conversation
Ellie: Daddy. Snap.
Daddy: continues his conversation
Ellie: (louder) Daddy. Focus please. Snap.
Daddy: he reaches over and snaps together the undone clasp

Seriously, I cannot believe that worked. Obviously reflexes just kicked in at that point. Oh and I wonder where she learned the word focus from? Certainly not me. Wait. Yes, I could write something here to throw you off the scent but it was me. My parenting has come back to bite someone. Luckily this time it wasn't me.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Open for Business


Ellie Bellie Kids is now open for business! The shopping cart is enabled so shop, my friends. Shop!

Friday, November 10, 2006

Disney: Day 4

So after a long night in the ER we were ready to have some fun. We took it easy in the morning (slept in since we didn't get back to the room until midnight, had a leisurely breakfast) and didn't get to the parks until lunchtime. Since we were still recovering from the night before, we didn't plan for anything except lunch and dinner. We were dining with the Princesses for lunch and Germany for dinner.

I'll let the pictures tell you the story of our day. The only thing I'd like to mention is that we met some really great people that day. There were the lovely family from Ireland who were also lunching with the Princesses, a really cool couple from Florida who told us about traveling to Europe (and gave us some tips for our trip to Belgium in the spring), and a fabulous pair of retirees who moved from New England to Tennessee and are now spending their retirement traveling near and far.

Between meeting new people and just relaxing and enjoying the day, day four was just the day we needed!


















































































































































































Thursday, November 09, 2006

EBK Messenger Bags Added to Precious Personalities

We always knew the owners of Precious Personalities had good taste. Make sure you check out the EBK messenger bags while you shop around. Speaking of shopping, Ellie has already added the Babywatch-Paris watch they carry to her Christmas list. Happy shopping!

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Babesta Tees: Not For The Boring Tyke

Melissa over at Mommies With Style recently posted a review on a Tribeca tee-shirt company called Babesta. These baby and kid tees are great! Plus, one of my favorite features is that you can shop according to your little tyke's attitude—anything from politico to sweet & chic—and don't we all know kids have nothing if not attitude!

Magic Dog Studios Hits the Airwaves


You might remember a post a while back I did reviewing a charm made from Ellie's self-portrait by Magic Dog Studios. Well when a Cleveland station shot a segement on Jennifer Bunt (Magic Dog owner/designer) they also got footage of her working on Ellie's charm.

Click on the video link to see for yourself!

Monday, November 06, 2006

Disney Day 3: The Day It Happened

Well day three started out like any other. We got dressed, ate breakfast and hopped on a bus. Today it was off to Animal Kingdom. We spent much of the day in the Africa section: taking the Safari trip, listening to the musicians, viewing the animals on the walking tour. Of course, we also hit the Lion King show. If you haven't seen it, it is a must see! We also caught Pocahontas and Friends which was very cute.

After the shows, we traveled to the Asia section where Dave and Ellie went on the white water rapids ride. While they enjoyed that, Jonah and I strolled through the walking tour. We saw tigers, flying foxes (large fruit bats), peacocks and a variety of other animals.

We also hit the Dinosaur section of the park. And this is where it happened. Dave helped Jonah up off the ground by holding Jonah's hand and teetering him up from a sitting position (Dave was a couple steps down from Jonah so he was more at an equal height with him). When Jonah stood up he started whining. We left the park. He whined the whole way back. I thought maybe he was tired and/or hungry. So when we got back to the resort, we fed him, gave him a dose of Tylenol and laid him down for a proper nap.

Dave of course was worried that he somehow hurt him. I figured we'd assess the situation when he woke up, but Dave was convinced we would need to go somewhere to have him checked out.

Well, when Jonah woke up, he rolled on his tummy to push himself up and started crying. That's when I knew for certain something was wrong. We called the front desk and they gave us a number to call to have someone assess the situation and see if further medical treatment was needed. We called the number and told them "Yes, he is breathing. No he is not bleeding. Yes, he is conscious." They told us that they would send someone out to take a look at him.

Ninety seconds later we answer a knock at the door. When we open it, we find four people: an EMT, a security officer, a lifeguard and some other dude wearing protective gloves. Was it overkill. I'd say yes.

Then the fire truck shows up.

Anyway, Disney drove us to the hospital. I could write for days about our experiences there, but to summarize four hours later Jonah's nursemaids elbow was put right again and he was back to his old giggling self. I will say this though, after holding our boy for four hours (because we left in a hurry and didn't think to bring his socks and shoes) we were all very exhausted. We returned to the room around midnight. It was a very long day.