The happiest place on earth

One of my 101 goals was to take the girls to Disney World.  With only a little over a year left living in Florida, we figured it was time!  Abbie and Ellie are the perfect age to really enjoy it, plus they are able to go on most of the rides!

To be honest, I had a lot of internal struggles about buying our tickets to Disney.  From the beginning, I had planned to buy the Florida 4-day pass.  That way, we could spend one day at each park and then be done with it all - no more pressure to go all the time to make season passes "worth it".  However, we have several friends who have seasonal (or annual/no-blackout) passes to Disney, and I was feeling a bit of pressure to follow suit.  As a result, I hated myself for feeling that pressure, since I'm not usually into "keeping up with the Joneses".  Most of the time, I really didn't mind not having the passes. I was fine seeing my friends go frequently, we would just stay home and have fun ourselves. However, sometimes I would feel guilty like I was maybe depriving my children of some magical childhood adventure - we may never live in Florida again, after all.  I was also feeling a lot of anxiety about packing everything into one day at each park with the 4-day pass.  What if it rained?  What if someone was sick on the ONE day we were supposed to go?  What if... what if...??  It was killing me.  And THEN... I started feeling guilty that I was feeling guilty.  I was disgusted with myself for thinking that "depriving" my children of Disney was even a problem.  Because it's not.  I NEVER went to Disney growing up, and neither did most of my friends.  Even still, all these anxieties and guilty feelings were building up and I couldn't stand it.  I'm not a "guilt-feeling" mom.  I don't guilt trip myself very often.  I think I'm a good mom and I do my best.  But, for some reason this was really getting to me.  I was putting way more thought into it than I wanted to.

In the end, it was my sister who saved the day.  Emma called me and said that they are hoping to surprise their kids with a trip to Disney next December (at the end of this year), and that she would love for us to come.  Right away, I knew that of course we would, and it made the most sense for us to go ahead and just buy the seasonal passes (we can go any time, any day, except some blackout dates, which is basically the whole summer but it's miserably hot then, anyway!).  That way, we could take some day trips here and there as a family, or with friends, and then we could go for a good chunk of a week next December with Emma's family.  It will definitely be worth it.

So, when I went down for my Disney 10k race in January, I bought our tickets.  Garrett drove the girls down that Saturday morning and we met up after my race and took the kids to Magic Kingdom.

I'm not sure why these pictures uploaded like this and I'm too lazy to crop them, but I just loved when the girls met the princesses:

All in all, a very magical day!  I really loved the Magic Kingdom and I'm excited to go back again! It was so much fun to see the magic through my kids' eyes.  I will admit, I got a little nervous when Ellie got scared during the thunder/lightning part of the Winnie-the-Pooh ride (our first ride!), but thankfully she got a little better as the day progressed. :)  

We also went to Animal Kingdom (a few weeks later), which was also okay but not my favorite.  It was a lot more zoo-like than I thought it would be (yes I know it's called "Animal Kingdom" but I thought there would be more rides/attractions, rather than mostly just a big zoo).  It started pouring around 3:30pm so we had to cut our day there short, but hey we can go back any time so it's not a big deal!

So... if ANYONE has been considering a trip to Disney World in the next year, please let us know!  We would love to come down and meet up for a day! :)

Lately

Olivia, waiting for Abbie to get home from school:

My helpers at Trader Joe's... Ellie was pretending to be a statue

 I was trying to clean my floors and Olivia kept walking behind me... aren't those the cutest little footprints?

I decided to make a heart quilt for Valentine's Day, and here's the top. I don't have many Valentine's decorations so I thought this would be a fun thing to have.  However, when I posted it on my quilting Instagram account, there was a lot of interest and I ended up selling this one and getting a custom order for another one!  Guess I'll have to make a third if I want to keep one!  Maybe for next year....

Playing around is so much more fun than going to sleep!

Yummy doughnuts with chocolate!

We have had an abundance of leaves in our yard lately!  Garrett finally did a big clean-up a few weeks ago, and another one last week.  Hopefully we are nearly done!  Last week (the second major clean-up) we filled over 25 bags of leaves!  It's pretty insane (and annoying!).  But I have to admit, sometimes it's nice to get out and do some manual labor, especially in gorgeous Florida winter weather.

This is Olivia's reaction when Daddy leaves to go for a run.  Poor little daddy's girl.

A successfully dirty day at the park!

Ellie wanted a braid just like Elsa's:

Someone found the chocolate chips:

Sharing Daddy's ice cream:

Garrett brought home balloons for the girls for Valentine's Day:

Another park day!  We go pretty much every afternoon for at least a couple hours.  In fact, we've gotten to the point where, if we are there for less than at least 90 minutes, my kids can't believe we are leaving "so early!!  We just got here!!"  Our longest day yet was a couple Saturdays ago when a bunch of the husbands were working.  My friends and I went to one playground for about 3 hours in the morning, then met up again later at another park for around 4 hours.  It was glorious.  Both playgrounds are within a mile of our house and each has its own perks.

Ellie, reading outside:

I'm realizing that I really need to break out my camera more when Abbie is home!  It seems like most of my pictures are taken when she is at school or off playing in the fields at the playground.  Olivia is always by me, so she's definitely in the majority of the pictures.  Ellie's also around more.

All in all, it's been a wonderful winter, full of playgrounds and friends.  I admit, I'm dreading summer a bit.  The pool is so much more work and a lot more stressful than the playground, but it's one of our only outdoor options during May-Sept.  But, it's our last Florida summer so we will make the best of it!

Happy Birthday, Abbie!

Abbie turned SEVEN in January!

How did my baby get so old?

Here's the note that Garrett left for her that day.  Abbie's birthday was on a Sunday, but Garrett worked a 14-hour day on Saturday and a 14-hour day on Sunday, so... he literally did not see her between Friday night and Monday night!  He felt pretty badly but what can you do.

She was really excited about her new soccer ball:

And some window clings!

We didn't do too much to celebrate on her actual birthday (since it was Sunday & Garrett was gone), besides a special breakfast and dinner.  On Monday night we went out to dinner with some friends at Cici's Pizza, per Abbie's request.  She had gone for another friend's birthday party the month before and had been raving to Ellie about the arcade ever since.  Both girls were over the moon to be there.

                                      

I love so many things about Abbie, but here are seven:

1. She is so creative.  She has big ideas for how to decorate for things, how to celebrate things, and how things should be.  I love this about her.

2. She is such a great big sister.  Olivia adores her.  I love walking into a room and finding her reading books to Ellie and Olivia.  So cute.

3. She's smart.  She aces all her tests and does all her homework perfectly (even if she resists having to do it!)

4. She's a great artist.  Several months ago when we went to the school to find out who her first grade teacher was going to be, another teacher found out who she was and said, "Abbie Woodbury!  I have heard about you!  I've heard that you are a wonderful artist!"  She was so happy, it was adorable.

5. This is similar to being a good big sister, but all little kids love Abbie.  When we go to the playground, they flock to her and follow her around like the Pied Piper.  She makes up little games with them, keeps them safe on the playground, and pushes them on the swings.

6. She is a great soccer player and a great dancer, too.

7. She loves to help me.  Help me cook, help me do the dishes, help me sew.  She loves to learn and try new things.

Happy 7th Birthday, Abbie.  We love you!!

Disney Princess 10k

                    

My friend Stef and I ran a 10k at Disney World last Saturday morning.

We left on Friday afternoon, after divvying out our kids to several different people until our husbands got home from work (her husband is a resident also, and she has 4 kids).  I wish I could say that the drive down was uneventful but it was pretty crazy!  First of all, it was raining pretty hard for part of the freeway driving which made me pretty anxious.  Then, we saw the two cars in front of us get into an accident.  So, we came to a stop behind them, but unfortunately we were in the lefthand lane of the 3-lane freeway.  Thankfully the car behind us also stopped, but that's where our luck ended.  The car behind him came barreling into him, but through some miracle we still didn't get hit by the person behind us.  Then, another crash and another crash... we just heard car after car getting hit.  Soon there was just a huge pileup behind us, plus the two cars in front of us.... and we were in the middle, untouched.  It was crazy, and scary.  I don't think anyone was hurt -- from what we could see, cars were just rear-ended and no one was smashed up badly. 

We drove to the expo, where we picked up our running gear.  Then, we headed over to the Magic Kingdom!  Stef is a huge fan of Disney; in fact, her whole family had Disney Annual Passes even when they lived in Wisconsin for medical school!  Haha.  We spent a couple of hours at the Magic Kingdom doing the bigger rides, then headed back to our hotel room for a couple hours of sleep before our race. (Incidentally, we were rear-ended on our way to the hotel!  Thankfully there wasn't much damage, which is especially good because the other car sped away before we could get any info from him)

Saturday morning we woke up early (3:45 am!) and headed to Disney World for the race (which started at 5:30 am).  We were done by 6:30 and headed right back to the hotel to shower and change (Garrett brought the kids down and we took them to Disney for the day -- blog post soon!).

All in all, it was a fun time.  I didn't do very well on the run -- probably a combination of lack of sleep and a few other things.  To be honest, I didn't love it, because I really don't love running!  But it was a fun experience and I'm glad it's behind me.  Stef is already trying to get me to run a half marathon with her next year but I don't see that happening (she runs 3-4 Disney halfs a year).  I don't feel like I have the time to train for a half marathon, or really much of a desire for that matter.

But hey, I got a pretty medal, which the girls loved wearing around the park that day.

And finally, a shirt at the expo that I wanted to buy for Garrett.  Oh, he would have loved this, don't you think??

10 Things

My friend posted "10 Things I'm Loving Lately" on her blog and I figured that copying her would be a good way to get out of this blogging rut (i.e. laziness).

So, 10 things I'm loving lately:

1. New running shoes

I got my last running shoes (Asics) for my birthday in 2010, and I have put a lot of miles on them in almost-4 years.  Of course, not all running (my running habit is very erratic).  But, in 2013 I ran about 100 miles and walked 225 miles, and in 2012 I ran 60 miles and walked 230 miles. I have already run 35 miles since the beginning of 2014 so I knew it was time to get new shoes (well, mostly it was because there was a hole in my left shoe).  My sister recommended the Nike LunarEclipse, but they have gotten really expensive recently  for some reason, so I bought some Asics on sale instead.  After putting about 6 miles on them, I knew I had to exchange them for something else.  My knees ached and it just didn't feel right. My feet are really similar to my sister's, so I trusted her and bought some Lunar Eclipses online (buying shoes online makes me nervous so I made sure to buy some that could be returned at a local store).  They were hard to find!  For some reason they are really expensive, and it's hard to find my size as well (9 - pretty common!).  I finally did find some blue ones (couldn't find pink, sadly), and I figured that spending $$$ now on good shoes is better than spending more $$$$$ down the road on knee surgery.  I LOVE them and haven't had any problems with achy knees since I got them.  Definitely worth it.  Thanks for the recommendation, Emma!

2. Grapefruit

I love grapefruit season.  Growing up in NH, our youth group would sell cases of grapefruit and oranges every winter for our girls' camp/scouts fundraiser (or maybe just the scouts sold them?? I don't even remember if I did or not).  Anyway, my family always bought 2 cases of oranges and 1 case of grapefruit.  Of course, I always ate grapefruit with a special grapefruit spoon and some sugar on top.  However, I've never been able to find grapefruit spoons so I've gotten into the habit of just peeling them like an orange and eating them that way (no sugar).  So good..... reallly messy (besides peeling off the rind, I peel off most of the bitter "skin" too).

3. The "Frozen" soundtrack

Oh man, I can't wait to see this movie!  The music is soo good and we listen to it multiple times a day on Spotify.  The girls know every word and I do too.  Even Olivia sings along!! (I will sing "Let it..." and she says "...go!"  and a few other words. Adorable).  Abbie has seen the movie (with a friend), but we will all go see it in the theater when it goes to the cheap place (hopefully soon)!  Did you know that the movie is based on the story of "The Snow Queen"?  I used to love that story growing up.

4. Roasted red pepper hummus

Always delicious.

5. Grocery shopping at Walmart

Okay, I'm not loving this. Our SuperWalmart is 30 minutes away so I don't make it there very often (ever).  I normally just go to Publix because it's only half a mile up the road (plus it really is a very nice place to shop!!).  However, I just did a giant grocery trip at Walmart and I just couldn't believe how much money I saved.  I did still go to Trader Joe's for a few things (some produce, meat, tortillas).  Anyway, I'm planning to go to Walmart again in February, for sure.  Just last night I had to make a quick trip to Publix for some milk/bananas/eggs/bread/lunch meat/apples (you know, the stuff that's hard to stock up on and runs out fast).  I grabbed a couple other things too, and I ended up spending SEVENTY dollars, and that was AFTER the bogo deals (saved $17!)!  Ugh.  Still can't get over how expensive groceries are here.

6. The Biggest Loser

I've always loved this show.

7. Going to bed earlier

I've been going to bed before 11 (sometimes even by 10:30) and it's so refreshing!  I'm getting nearly 8 hours of sleep a night!

8. The weather

Okay, it's actually been REALLY cold this week, but it's supposed to be 80 degrees this weekend.  I'm so excited.

9. My "groups"

One thing I really love about living where we do, is that there is such a big variety of activities going on all the time.  We have a book club, girls nights out, running groups, playgroups, a "homemade" group where we make different things each month (face cream, laundry detergent, candles, pickles, etc), ... just to name a few.  It's not out of the ordinary to get a mass text in the evening from someone saying that they are going out somewhere fun, inviting anyone who wants to come!  I'm technically "in charge" of the book club (I send out the reminder emails, host the welcome party every summer when new people move in, etc).  I used to go to playgroup religiously, but now that the older girls are in school, Olivia naps in the mornings so I don't go anymore.  I go to the "homemade" group, and I run with friends usually 2-3x a week.  I love my "groups", and now that Garrett is studying every night for boards it's nice to get away sometimes so he can study in peace and I can talk to some adults.  I do have to be careful though, because I could truly be gone at least 3 nights a week if I participated in everything!  That being said, I did just start a new group that I'm really excited about.  I started a "small business group".  We meet once a month or so (in the morning) to talk about our businesses (I talk about my quilting) and bounce ideas off each other, and we are going to start having reading assignments and stuff about growing your business, etc.  There is a girl at church who owns a very successful etsy shop (she has had over 8500+ sales), so she and I kind of started it together, along with my good friend who is an interior designer.

10. Catherine's Spicy Chicken Soup

I know I have shared this recipe on the blog before.. but it's worth sharing again.  I love it so much, and it's perfect for winter.

Lately

We've had some cold weather lately, resulting in some.... interesting outfits that Ellie has put together.

Finding books.... er, DVD's.... at the library:

Olivia, looking cute as always:

My friend put together a "boot camp" during the second week of Christmas vacation.  We met every morning at 9 a.m. for a 20-45 min workout.  It was a lot of fun!  And really hard because another friend of mine was "making" me run 3-5 miles with her almost every night that week too.

This was probably my favorite workout -- she called it "12 Days of New Years" and we did it on New Years Day.  There are 12 exercises listed and we did them just like the song, so:
Round 1 - we did lunges to the half court line.
Round 2 - we did sprints to the half court line and back twice, and then the lunges to the half court line
Round 3 - 3 burpees, the 2 sprints, 1 set of lunges
Round 4 - 4 plank walk-outs, 3 burpees, 2 sprints, 1 set of lunges
etc.

Olivia with her bed hair:

Ellie helping Garrett fix her bike:

Abbie, ready for a chilly ride to school:

Close-ups

Like I said in my blog post last week, I've been busy quilting lately!  Garrett and I took some pictures of my quilts over Christmas break.

This one is a favorite.  It's pretty big for a baby quilt -- it would be perfect for a toddler bed or even an adult lap quilt.  The patterns have a nautical theme to them, so I did triangles and simple straight line quilting.  I love this one!  The back is just solid white.

This one I really love, too!  When I was fabric shopping online over Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend, I randomly came across this fabric bundle and added it to my cart on a whim.  It turns out that they are gorgeous in person and so nice and soft.  This quilt actually sold soon after I posted a picture of it on my Instagram account (I got a new IG account for my quilting projects - @riseandshinequilts .  I'm "listing" my quilts there first to try to avoid Etsy fees.)

This baby quilt was a custom order and it was really fun to make.  I love pinwheel quilts.

Three quilts, ready to be mailed out:

I made this herringbone quilt and I'm in love with how it turned out!

I made a mint one with a navy binding, too:

... with metallic dots on the back

And THIS.... this is my baby!  Haha.  I started this last summer and was finally able to finish it after I bought my sewing machine.  The quilt pattern is called "Fireworks" by Camille Roskelley, and I actually used Camille's "Vintage Modern" line of fabric as well.  I love how it turned out!  

Not too bad for my first time doing "fancy" free-motion quilting!

Another close-up

It feels so fun to have found something I really enjoy doing - I feel like I found my passion!  I love trying new techniques and connecting with other quilters and I have a lot of big ideas for future quilts and projects.  I'm really excited!