You Say It’s Your Birthday!

It’s My Birthday Too!

Oh yes it is, I actually prefer to call it my Birthday week.  I tend to try and stretch out this horrid wonderful day from Mother’s Day right thru and past the 23rd. It’s just the way I roll!  Why do I do this?  I think because as a Mom, even on birthdays the kiddos come first.  My plans for today include volunteering at a Track and Field meet and then heading to a Dance Competition.  You know what’s funny?  I wouldn’t have it any other way…uh unless someone wanted to whisk me back to the Eiffel Tower like on my 40th Birthday! 

As I sit here contemplating turning another year older I a amazed at the rollercoaster I’ve been on this past year.  In true Life In The Suburbs style; my Birthday Confessions. 

Guilty Pleasures, Not Just For Birthdays:

-Coffee might be the best started for my day, but throw a muffin or cookie on top of that and I am a very happy girl.

-I hide chocolate in the cupboard and keep it there, you know, for chocolate emergencies.  

-I prefer to pay someone else to do my nails.  No matter how hard I try, when I do them myself it looks like a 6 year old painted them!

Dumb Things I Do Every Week  ( and will probably do for the next 42 years):

-Waste too much time on Facebook.  Time. Suck.

-Stay up way too late and missing my “Sleep Window”.  I have turned myself into an insomniac.  Candy Crush is my new late night friend. 

-Using Dr. Google.  No one should be allowed to search medical symptoms on the internet.

The Stupid People I Will No Longer Pay Attention To:

- The scene stealers and the drama queens.

-The mean girls.  (there are a lot of mean girls!)

-The people who can’t see further then their own noses.  Selfish is not pretty. 

Life is too short to worry about those who can’t find their own happy so try to steal yours.  I am letting them all go.  No really, I am. 

Weird Quirks That Make Me, Me:

-I am addicted to snacks.  I don’t just like snacking, I need snacking.  This constant food throughout my day is becoming a problem for my thighs and a challenge for my jeans.

-I am directionally challenged and after 42 years have just decided to embrace it.  It’s just part of who I am.  I have become very proficient at asking for directions, so there’s that.

-When I travel I must sleep on the side of the bed closest to the bathroom.  I don’t know why, there is not rhyme or reason, it’s just the way it is. 

Things I Am Doing Right:

-Hugging my children, and telling them how much I love them.  Everyday. 

-Honouring my friends.

-Working hard while maintaining honesty and integrity.

Things I Am Doing Wrong:

-Worrying.  Always worrying.

-Not drinking enough water. 

-Not getting enough sleep.

Things I Will Continue To Do:

-Find the joy in the little things.

-Be grateful and thankful.

-Count my Blessings….because I know I have many.

What I Am Looking Forward To:

-My first baby graduating public school!  How did this happen already?

-Summer, sunshine and vacation time!

-Dance recitals, pool party’s, and quiet afternoons on the deck with my Hubby sharing a beer.  ( I know, so so wild!)

Dreams I Am Not Letting Go Of:

-Travel; so much travel.  Taking my family to see this beautiful place!  Santorini, Greece. 

Oh and San Francisco, and Italy and London and Key West and New York and Disneyland……

-Spending a week at a cottage with the family.

-Hardwood floors in my house! (what, it’s a confession style dream list, it can include selfish material things)

This past year has been a really REALLY good one. More smiles then tears, more ups then downs, and so many reasons to celebrate.  Tonight I will blow out those candles on my cake I will wish for nothing more then just some more of what I already have.  Today I feel like I am a very lucky girl. 

It Brought Me To Tears

Less then two weeks ago I was honoured to have been a part of the amazing Disney Social Media Moms Event in Orlando Florida.  Sadly due to some huge conflicts my girls couldn’t attend.  This did NOT have me feeling like Mother of the year. I mean, I had just spent a full five days enjoying the magic of Disney…without them.  I returned late the evening of Mother’s Day, kissed their sleepy heads, received the biggest of hugs and was once again amazed at how lucky I was to have two sweet and loving girls.  I thought that was it for Mother’s Day, and I was just fine with this.  Until this past Sunday, when I received an incredible gift, a do over!  Mother’s Day a week late.  A fabulous brunch, time playing in the backyard, some sweet gifts and then this, the video that brought me to tears.  One of my favourite songs and the girls telling me no matter what, they will be there for me. 

The Sweetest Gift….

 

I am one lucky Mama. 

I hope you will join me in my not so Wordless Wednesday!  Please leave me a comment and/or link up below!

Disney, Without The Kids!

Day 2!

My sister and I were running late. Again.  Shocking?  Not really. As girls we were always fighting for bathroom time, fighting over clothes, disagreeing over who was taking the longest and arguing over who’s turn it was to let the dog out. But the wee fights didn’t really get much worse then that. This past weekend, as I looked across at the double sink and caught my sister brushing her teeth in sync with me, I started to giggle. Here we were together again. Just like those two little girls, but all grown up, sharing a bathroom getting ready to head out for the afternoon, only this time we had no idea what laid ahead.

It was day two of our Disney adventure and we had just competed our registration for Disney Social Media Moms.  We were all checked into our second hotel for our stay, at the very sleek Contemporary Resort, and were about to tear ourselves away from the gorgeous pool on site and head out to the Disney Parks! 

The question was, where to begin!  We had time, just the two of us with no kids, to visit any Disney Park we wanted?  It was almost overwhelming.  Here was our plan of attack.  Jump the monorail to the transportation centre and then catch the bus to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  My SassySis had never been before and I was just a wee bit excited to be able to show her the magic.  Animal Kingdom is one of my all time favourite parks, there is simply something for everyone!

As you enter the centrepiece of the entire park you are drawn into the staggering Tree of Life.  Standing at 145 ft.  tall and more then 50 ft. wide there are 300 incredible depiction's of animals carved into the trunk and roots.  Housed inside is the fabulous and funny “It’s Tough to be a Bug” show!  If you are travelling with little one’s it’s a production you don’t want to miss.  (Note: some really little one’s may not appreciate that some parts of the show that are very dark.  My girls liked it best after about age 4 or 5 depending on the temperament of each girl)

After trekking past the Tree of Life and snapping the obligatory pics, we made a bee line to the Kilimanjaro Safaris® tour, an experience like no other! (and my favourite experience at the Animal Kingdom)  You are loaded onto the “jeeps” and transported into the wilds of Africa. 

We saw lions and gators and elephants oh my!!  What is truly amazing, it feels as if a little bit of Africa and it’s eco system have been re-created right there at Disney.  The animals, although at a safe distance from the guests, seem to be within in arms reach!

After a ride full of ohhs, awes we were off to explore the rest of the park.  I personally find Animal Kingdom to be a relaxed and easy park to navigate, and for one who is directionally challenged, this is saying a lot!  You can easily explore the entire thing, taking in a couple of Broadway worthy shows like Festival of the Lion King, and Finding Nemo – The Musical all in one day!  Some must sees for the Sassy Sis and I?  Splash Mountain.  (got soaked),   Pangani Forest Exploration Trail (where we were amazed by the power of Gorillas) and of course Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain ,where we screamed, and looked like this:

One ride that we did not get on this year but that I absolutely love, is Kali River Rapids. I will warn you all now, the Rapids ride is a ton of fun, but you will get wet!

After a couple of sun filled hours beep bopping around the park we decided to make a quick hop over to the Magic Kingdom!  Why not!  Have I mentioned yet how fast you can travel when you are only looking after yourself?  (and no one is whining that they are hungry, thirsty or has to pee! Well beside me! )   It was a quick trip between the two parks.   This was my first day using the Disney Transportation system and I was amazed that it was so efficient and easy to use! 

After our quick bus trip, we arrived at the Magic Kingdom.  Call me sentimental, but there is still something incredible about the first glimpse of that castle.  With or without children, the Magic Kingdom remains my all time favourite park in the world!

Since we had thoroughly explored the Animal Kingdom we didn’t have much time for the Magic Kingdom today.  In the short time we were there we did get to pose for  a few pictures, jump on a couple of rides (thank goodness for the fast pass!) and giggle like a couple of school girls.  Two sisters living it up foot loose and fancy free in the happiest place on earth?  This was going to be a VERY good week!

With huge smiles on our faces and in our hearts we soon realized it was time to head back to the Contemporary and prepare for the evening ahead.  The first official Disney Social Media Moms Welcome Reception at Epcot followed by a TryIt Family Dinner and Fireworks show!  So much fun packed into one day!

Hope you will come back next Tuesday to hear all about the rest of our adventures!

One More Reason To Wear Clean Underwear

I can’t recall if my Mother was the one who taught me to “Never leave the house unless you are wearing clean underwear”, you know, in case you get hit by a car and get rushed to the emergency room.  I mean, you wouldn’t want any of those strangers to see you in dirty panties, or perhaps worse Granny panties!!  But this is a rule I do live by.  Don’t be leaving the house in ugly skivvies.  Sadly after this weekend, I think I have a new rule to add to my underwear list.  Don’t sleep in your “Giving Up On Life Pyjamas” .  Don’t act like you don’t know what those are.  It’s those PJ’s that you have been holding on to for 10 years that really should be in the trash bin.  The elastic may be all stretched out in the bottoms, the tank top that was once a cutsie little matching thing, but is now worn thin and see thru, but you hang onto them.  Why??  Simply because when you get to the bottom of the clean laundry pile and you are super tired there is something comforting about putting on those raunchy PJ’s.  UNTIL NOW!!

Let me take you back to my Friday night.  It started out with a bang and went out with a whimper.  My girls had a great evening.  One at a girlfriends, one out at a banquet.  We waited them out at their exciting evenings out by watching hockey on TV.  Woo Hoo.  (where is that damn sarcasm font)  Finally crawled into bed by about 11:30pm and drifted into a blissful and much needed sleep.  At 4:30am,  a very rude awakening.   Pain in my chest and ribs, breath stolen from me, heart racing, tear inducing fear…..  Details I don’t want to go into, pain I won’t soon forget.  A scary hour that had my Hubby with one hand on my shoulder, the other hand holding a phone, contemplating calling 911.  An agonizing 60 minutes.

I was so wrapped up in a cycle of pain I was having trouble thinking clearly.  I couldn’t make a decision.  Did I need to go to the Hospital? Was the pain getting worse? 

So how did I finally know the pain was subsiding, how did I calm down enough to figure out it was my stupid rib popping out and smashing against a nerve,  and that I was going to be okay?  When my thoughts drifted from concentrating on trying to catch a breath and dealing with the pain, to the realization that I was wearing ugly ass pyjamas.  Mama could not go to a hospital full of potential Grey’s Anatomy looking Docs wearing my I “gave up on life” PJ’s!  What if I saw someone I knew?  I looked like crap on a stick. 

Vanity insanity at it’s best.  As I realized I was actually worrying about how bad those PJ’s are I also realized I was going to be just fine. 

Some new self truths from my Friday night of pain.  The hypochondriac in me now has a split personality.  On one hand I think you should never ever go to bed in dirty PJ’s, cause this could happen again but the end result may be a trip to the ER in those embarrassing duds!  The looking for the silver lining side learned those ugly ass pyjamas just saved me a trip to the Hospital and there are a LOT of germs there.  So what is my conclusion, these are not giving up on life pyjamas, those are some magic ass Pyjamas. 

Hope your Friday night was better then mine!  Mwah.

Disney With Joovy AND a GIVEAWAY!

I have just returned from Disney Social Media Moms in Orlando Florida where I did something wicked.  I took on the parks of Disney without my children!  Eek!  Have you ever heard of such a thing?  Due to a rather major conflict, my dear daughters and Hero Hubby couldn’t make the 5 day trip to the magical land with me so what did I do?  The very next best thing, I took my SassySis with me! 

Ahhh do you have any idea how much trouble a girl and her SassySis can get into when let loose in DisneyWorld without their kids?  Oh but that is for another post! 

What I can tell you is that we rode the rides at our leisure, walked at our own pace, ate when we were hungry and only stopped to pee when WE needed to.   It was kind of glorious!  We also noticed the Mamas who were having the times of their lives, and the Mamas who were struggling.  The one’s who were doing well were the one’s who were prepared.  You know; had lots of water and snacks for their babes, band-aids in their purses and extra diapers and bottles in those diaper bags and stroller pockets.  The happy Mama’s were also the one’s who had reliable, comfortable, easy to use Strollers making their lives a little bit easier.  Some of those Mama’s were pushing some of my favourite strollers thru the park, the Joovy. 

Can you spot it?  They were everywhere!

When my girls were in Strollers I looked for certain attributes, qualities that when combined created the perfect stroller.  It had to be light weight, easy to manoeuvre,  fold down flat, comfy for my babe, good for a tall Mama and believe it or not pretty.  Hey, if you are going to push that baby thru parks, malls and the neighbourhood, it might as well be pretty too! One stroller line that absolutely ticks all of these boxes is Joovy. 

Have you seen these incredible Strollers.  Pretty, lightweight, easy to navigate and an integral part to a Mama’s successful day. 

This my friends is the Joovy Caboose Ultralight Stand-On Tandem Stroller, and by all accounts it rocks!  “The new Ultralight Caboose is the lightest, most maneuverable tandem stroller available on the market today.”   It has won awards and it is super pretty!

Here is a little bit about some of it’s best features:

New 3-Position Front Seat Recline - The large, comfortable front seat now includes three reclining positions for the front riding passenger.

Larger storage basket with side pockets - A new and improved larger storage basket will hold plenty of gear for your outings and is equipped with mesh pockets on each side.

4-Wheel Suspension / Linked Rear Brake - The new Ultralight Caboose has linked rear brakes adding extra security when the stroller is parked. The new 4-wheel suspension will make for the smoothest ride for your back seat passenger.

Front & Rear Seating - Padded rear seat and comfortable three-position front seat. Accommodates children from 3 months to 45 lbs.

Car Seat Adapter / Removable Tray -

Parents of an infant or newborn will love that each Ultralight Caboose is outfitted with a Universal Car Seat Adapter that snaps easily into the tray housings. Your compatible car seat will nest in the front seat to create a wonderful place for your infant to ride snuggly. When you're not using the infant car seat adapter, the child tray snaps into place for your child and provides a great place for snacks, toys and beverages.

Oversized Canopy - Joovy's signature oversized canopy has been designed with a sun visor extension that provides shade for both children and protection from the elements.

Folding - The Caboose Ultralight folds super compactly for storage. In fact, it can be placed in the trunk of most compact cars. And at only 21 pounds, lifting the Ultralight in and out of your car is simple and easy.

Parent Organizer - The Joovy Parent Organizer is standard equipment with every Ultralight Caboose. Constructed of machine washable neoprene, the organizer has a rear zippered pocket that is perfect to securely store your keys, cell phone, camera, etc. and the dual cup holders will keep your drinks cool.

As if hearing about how awesome this stroller is isn’t enough, I have even more good news!  Thanks to the incredibly generous people of Joovy  one of my readers will win a Caboose Ultralight Strollers !!!  An average retail value of over $269.99!!

Yes, this giveaway is open to both my US and Canadian readers! 

Joovy is a family run business, they pride themselves on personal service and truly put their customers first. Their goal is to design and manufacture family gear products that are extremely useful, practical, good-looking and FUN.  Utilize this store locator to find a Joovy retailer near you! Please be sure to check out all of Joovy’s products on their website and follow them on Facebook and Twitter!

To enter, simply fill the form below with your qualifying entries. Ends June 7th Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Princess For A New Generation!

I have just returned from a whirlwind of a trip to Orlando Florida where I had the distinct pleasure of attending the Disney Social Media Moms Conference.  An opportunity to chat with other Bloggers, spend time with sister, and see Disney World in a brand new way.  While I was there I was thrilled to attend a once in a lifetime event; Merida of Brave became the 11th Disney Princess!!  It was a Royal Celebration!

On a very steamy Saturday morning, you could feel the excitement in the air as the Disney Social Media Moms were escorted to the front of the Castle in the Magic Kingdom.  A large crowd was gathered, eagerly anticipating the arrival of the spunky and spirited Merida.

Included in the special coronation ceremony were Gold Medal Gymnast Gabby Douglas, her mother, and Sophia Grace and Rosie who kicked things off with a little rap!  These little tiara wearing stars definitely showed some Princess style up on that stage.  

After the introductions it was time to bring on the Princesses! 

All were in attendance to welcome Merida into the Royal family. 

Not since I was a child reading about Cinderella have I so looked forward to seeing the arrival of a Princess! Merida embodies qualities my girls easily relate to; she is adventurous, determined, single minded, brave and knows herself. She is a true modern day Princess.  As bag pipes played, Merida made her grand entrance! 

In a swift and sweet ceremony Merida took the stage, was meet by Queen Eleanor crowned and declared “ I am strong, I am brave, I am Merida and I Am A PRINCESS!”

It. Was. Fantastic. 

Welcome to the newest Disney Princess, truly a Princess for a new generation!

Thanks to Disney for a morning I will never forget!

Two Wild And Fearless Mamas?

Not so much!!

This past weekend while at the Disney Social Media Moms Conference at Disney World,  SassySis and I decided to tackle the Rock’n Roller Coaster at Hollywood Studios.  The closer we got to the front of the line, the more terrified I got?  Let’s just say by the time we took our seats in the coaster everyone around us knew the two Canadian blonds were shaking in their sandals.  Chants of “we’ve got some screamers here” were heard as I buckled up.  As the rollercoaster took off at warp speed, we did not disappoint our new fans.  We screamed, we laughed until we cried, and we made new memories that will last a lifetime. Oh and then what did we do?  We rode that rollercoaster all over again!! 

 

I hope you will join me in my not so Wordless Wednesday!  Please leave me a comment below so I know you were here!