So I haven't mentioned it one here yet, but next Tuesday Mags and I are going to be attending our first MOPS session. MOPS stands for Mothers of Pre-Schoolers, and basically it is an organization created to support and educate moms. This of course sounded very interesting to me, but what really piqued my interest was that while I sit in a meeting, with crafts and games and supposedly really good brunch food, Mags will be in a classroom setting right down the hall from me. Awesome!
I am thinking that this might be just the transition that we need. Mags desperately needs some structured time away from Mom and I want her to start to get used to the idea of a classroom and knowing what that looks like. And if there's a problem, I'm right down the hall. I am really excited about this!
So just like other kids heading off to school, Mags will need to take some of her own things with her. And with a classroom of other kids, it is really important that everyone knows whose things are whose.
Enter Mabel's Labels.
I was fortunate to receive a sample of some of their offerings a little while ago, and they are going to be perfect for MOPS!
This is the adorable box I received
Really nice packaging!
Preschool Shoe Labels- Butterflies are perfect for Maggie!
Write Away Labels
Both of these types of labels are going to be very helpful.
The shoes labels break in half, and one side will go in one shoe, and the other in the other shoe. That way if she takes off her shoes, they are easy to identify, and once she starts learning to put them on herself, she will be able to see which one is left and which one is right.
The Write Away labels, are dishwasher and microwave safe, so these would be perfect for her sippy cup, or any other food related items. The last thing you would want would be for the sippy cups to get mixed up....ew!
So I am super excited to be able to use these labels for our new adventure. I think that they are going to be really useful!
Please note, I am in no way trying to negate or belittle the tragedy and horror of 9/11/2001, please don't misconstrue what I am expressing here....
On September 11, 2001, my alarm went off at 7am. I got up, jumped in the shower, climbed in my car and headed to work. After I got my costume, I headed to the locker room and overhead, I heard the news break into the music on the radio to announce that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. I didn't hear everything that was said, but I thought to myself, "Hmmm, World Trade Center, I think there is one in Baltimore, wonder what happened....". Walking through the tunnels to head onstage, I passed a break room that had a tv playing and as I walked by they replayed the tower being hit and I see that they are talking about NY and that this is serious....possibly not an accident at all. I hurry to punch in and take the elevator upstairs. My co-cast members who have been there since earlier that morning, bombard me with questions. I fill them in with as much as I know. A manager walks by to caution us from discussing the situation on stage. We don't want to alarm the guests.
An hour after I arrive, we are informed that we are evacuating the park, and for the second time in the history of the Magic Kingdom, it will be evacuated and closed for the day.
Two weeks before September 11th, I left MD, and moved to FL to start the Walt Disney World College Internship Program. I was assigned retail operations, and I was based in the gift shop off of Splash Mountain, and mainly sold the ride pictures.
So today, I remember those lost souls and mourn the atrocities that accompany that fateful morning. I remember being a scared twenty year old, many miles away from family and friends. I remember the sadness for the loss of the world that we had once known.
But also, there is a sense of gratitude for a catastrophe that came to inspire me. A spark, that set into motion an amazing set of events:
September 11th created some of the lowest park attendance that Walt Disney World had ever seen...
The college program interns had our hours considerably cut...
I wasn't making much to begin with and now I was making even less...
I could barely make ends meet and I knew that I could never live like this again...
I knew that I had to go back to school and finish my degree...
I started researching colleges and spoke with my father about moving to PA and going to school there...
Applied to Millersville University and was accepted for Fall 2002...
Went to school and entered the Secondary Education program...
Was placed in Hempfield High School for my Student Teaching...
Assigned to Mr. Harry Sachwald as my co-op...whose classroom was two doors down from a Mrs. D'Orio, the co-op teacher of....the Hubs.
Our wedding song is "The Luckiest" and if you have never heard it, I beg you to give a listen. One of the main reasons that it really resonates with me is because of this line...
"I don't get many things right the first time
In fact, I am told that a lot
Now I know all the wrong turns
The stumbles and falls brought me here"
So as I have said, I of course mourn with our nation the loss and tragedy that is remembered today, but for our little family, I feel blessed.
Good can come from bad. And we are the proof.
Since I had such a great time making a Summer Sand Pail list this year, I decided to continue the fun with a Fall 2012 Bucket List!
Here she is....
Disclosure time, I did not make this template, once again I had some help from another website and I edited it in Picasa, since I don't have any fancy editing programs. But I like the way that it turned out and it is making me super stoked for the Fall!
Now I learned my lesson from the Sand Pail list...less is better, so I don't have 25 items like we did over the summer.
And to update you on the Sand Pail list, we accomplished 15 out of 25, not too shabby if you ask me...
Honestly, we got a lot check off in June, but July was too busy to get any more finished. Oh well, we had fun so that is all that matters!
So as for our Fall List...I can't wait to start checking things off!
Hope you're having a great day!!!
I have loved Walt Disney World ever since I can remember and after trips there in 1987 (6 years old, don't really remember anything), 1991 (10 years old, lots of fun), 1995 (14 years old, school choir trip...I was away from my family and I had TRAVELER'S CHECKS!!!! LOL), and then working there in 2001, I came to adore this magical place.
I have always wanted to go back and being able to take my 2 year old daughter just made it even sweeter. Now I had some misgivings, taking a two year old (IMO) is not an ideal situation and August (as I remember) is hot as heck. I wasn't sure how Mags would do with flying, the characters and having her routine/schedule turned upside down.
If only I could go back to the Sarah of a month ago and tell her...."Hakuna Mata!". No worries sweetie, just get excited, because you are going to have a BLAST!!!!!
So here's the basic gist of the trip (don't want to bore you with TOO many details)...
We stayed from Saturday-Thursday, at the Treehouse Villas at the Saratoga Springs Resort on Disney property. We rented two cars for the 7 of us and it was really helpful since we were there with Brian's grandparents and we could do our own thing if we needed to.
The flight was awesome and Mags actually asked for them to do the landing, "One more time?". We got in and went to Downtown Disney for the night. It was way too packed, but we checked out World of Disney, which is the best!
Sunday was insanely awesome. We decided to do Magic Kingdom as our first park of the trip and we made it there that morning for the rope drop (the opening of the park for the day). It was magical and I got a little misty eyed seeing Mags super excited about it all. Then we hoofed it back to Fantasyland and walked on to Peter Pan's Flight. For the most part we had minimal to no waits for all the rides, and the only one that we had to wait for was The Jungle Cruise (only 15 minutes aka nothing). Basically in that first day we went on every ride that we wanted to go on with Maggie.
She met her first character, Fronteirland Donald Duck and she was a little leery at first, excited but wary, and allowed us to take a pic with me holding her. Then we found Pirate Goofy at Pirates and again, we took a pic together.
Since she seemed ok with the characters I thought we should try the Mickey/Minnie character meet at the Town Square. It was incredible! She was sooooo excited and kept saying, "Oh my goodness" over and over again. The feeling was mutual for Minnie and Mickey and they acted quite enamored....LOL.
That night after Mags went to sleep, Brian and I went back to the Magic Kingdom for the Extra Magic Hours, and closed the park at 12am after going on the "adult" rides like Space and Splash mountain (Splash was the gift shop that I worked at, and it has changed since I worked there 11 years ago...it looks good! And their costumes are 100 times better!!!)
After that day, the rest of the trip was spectacular, filled with fun and wonderful memories. We hit up Epcot on Monday, with more character greetings and I got to go on "Soaring" for the first time (so awesome!), Mags met Beast (she was a little scared, {he is HUGE!!!} but we still got a pic), and we had an amazing dinner in Germany.
Tuesday morning we did Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary (OMG that buffet was awesome!!!) and then we hit up Hollywood Studios. Mags got to see the Disney Jr. stage show, which she LOVED ( a little too much, she wanted to run up the stairs and hug Mickey SOOOOOO bad...) and we tried for Toy Story Mania but the Fast Pass at noon was for 8:30 that evening....BOO!!! Again, after Mags was in bed, we went back and did The Tower of Terror and Star Tours and I got a Mickey Mouse Ears ice cream!
Wednesday was our last day in the parks, so we spent the morning in Magic Kingdom and then headed to Epcot for a spectacular meal in Mexico.
Thursday was a relaxed day, spent packing and then we finished our time in Downtown Disney, this time without the crowds.
Final words: Extraordinary and When can we go back???
Have 8 minutes to spare? I made a video....
Just want to look at some pics? Here are a few of my faves....
In the beginning of August, we got the chance to head down to OCMD for a nice long weekend.
I think I have amply documented my love affair with the OC...MD, like here and here.
What can I say... I spent A LOT of time there as a kid and it is one of my favorite places on Earth!
So we headed down late Friday morning, leaving rainy PA and arriving in sunny MD.
We got there in time to put Maggie down for a nap. When she got up, we headed out to my favorite Friday night dinner spot, Bull on the Beach. They have the BEST shrimp salad sandwiches, and I was not disappointed!
Afterwards, we headed down to the beach for a little walk. Mags wasn't interested in getting down, but she wasn't as scared of the ocean and even seemed curious about it.
My loves in my heaven.....
My parents and grandparents made it down at that point and we relaxed the rest of the evening.
The next day was pretty icky, weather wise, but we didn't let it stop us!
Waiting out the rain with Great-Grandaddy
We headed down to the boardwalk for Maggie to go on some rides. It was perfect, because although it wasn't a beautiful day, the rides are covered, so it didn't bother us! Now the majority of these rides are "kiddie" rides, but they are mostly the type that the child would have to go on by themselves. Mags had never done this before, and I wasn't sure what she would think about it...
I'll let the pictures do the talking....
Now some of these are a little blurry, but make no mistake, the girl was in seventh heaven!!!! LOL
After that we went out for a late lunch and then had another relaxing evening.
Sunday, we lucked out and it was a beautiful beach day. We got Mags all ready and headed down. I didn't have high expectations of her loving the sand, but overall it wasn't that bad. She was ok with sitting on the blanket and actually played with the sand toys with my mom....a WIN in my book!
Did this one all on her own...best seat on the beach!!
Then after our fun on the beach, my parents and grandparents headed home and we headed out to our other favorite dinner spot. Fish Tales is a bay side restaurant and it is mostly uncovered. Well, as we headed down it started to look dark and foreboding. I was getting upset because I really wanted to eat there. When we got there, we asked if there was any covered seating, but they said it was whatever was available. We got seated outside and as we sat down it started to spit a little, and then all of a sudden, the sun peeked out and the rain stopped. It was a great night!
These were the delish fish tacos that I got! They were AMAZING!!!!
After dinner, we headed out for some ice cream. Mags was happy!
And this is how the Magster insisted on going to ice cream....
This girl is too much!
After ice cream we stayed in for the night and then we left Monday morning. It was a stupendous trip!
Slight interruption of updating, to share some new "Maggieisms"
Loving:
"Carry you me"- translation, "Carry me". It used to just be "Carry you" but then we said, "No, carry YOU"....so she added the me for good measure....LOL
The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song-
Correct: "M-I-C-K-E-Y, M-O-U-S-E, Come inside, it's fun inside"
Maggie Re-mix: "M-I-C-K-E-1, M-O-U-S-B, Come inside, come inside"
"Call Me Maybe"
Correct: "Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my number call me maybe" (like you don't know the lyrics....LOL)
Maggie's version: "Hey, I just met you, and YOU'RE crazy, but here's my number call me MAYME!!!!" (super emphasis on the MAYME)
The little negotiator:
"How about....Mickey, Beast, Nemo, Sleeping Beauty?" Basically she goes through every show/movie to see if one is the magic one that you will let her watch....And she does it with finger pointed, mainly palm up and close to her face....guess it makes the request more appealing?!?!?
"I have an idea....how 'bout Mickey!" Said to the hubs while I was tutoring
And while we were in Disney, she would go to everyone trying to get the answer she wanted.....
"PopPop, how 'bout Mickey?"
"Nana, how 'bout Mickey?".....and on and on....
Not enjoying:
"Gimme that!" as she grabs something out of our hands....no idea where she heard this one, but we are nipping that right in the bud!
Ok, so mostly cute....LOL. Still have to update from our beach trip at the beginning of last month and of course, DISNEY! Coming super soon!!!
Hello! So another fun and rather important milestone that we accomplished a couple weeks ago, was getting Maggie's 1st haircut.
Now I think we could all agree that Maggie doesn't have a ton of hair. When she was born, the first thing the Dr. said when he held her up was, "We got a cueball here!". LOL
So the little bit of hair that Mags has now has been a long time coming and we didn't want to do anything crazy, but we did have quite a mullet situation going on. We explained the situation to my MIL's hair stylist and she agreed that a little trim would probably remedy the problem.
I present for your consideration, a glimpse into our future...about 13 years down the road...."Mom, please....."
And now for the hair, as you can see her bangs were in her eyes....
MUCH longer in the back....
And she also has a shorter layer growing on top....Oh and about 50 bajillion cowlicks....
So we made our way over to the hair salon. I had a feeling that this would not be a ton of fun for Mags, so we had Mickey cued up on Daddy's phone.
Nope, didn't want to sit in the seat by herself. I didn't think she would, but I thought we could give it a try....
This was the main problem....Mags kept turning her head to see what was going on....honestly, I have no idea how the stylist did it! LOL
And here are the results...
Overall, I think it turned out great. She wasn't too traumatized and it came out really cute.
So now that the school year is upon us, I am back to tutoring. Mostly reading and writing help. I did some GED test prep over the summer, but I have never done anything like GMAT prep. I try to stick to things that I know a lot about and the GMAT is not one of them! I am happy to get back to my tutoring and helping my students.
