Finding the time

I don't know how people do it.  I can't seem to find enough hours in the day or the proper balance to accomplish everything I need to on a day to day basis.  You should see my planner.  I have lists upon lists of things I'd like to complete and day after day, they're still not crossed off.  Maybe one of these days I'll figure it out.  Until then, suggestions are more than welcome!

A little bit of random today (mainly because I'm still trying to wrap my head around the horrible tragedy from last week.  It's hit me hard and I'm trying not to think about what these parents are going through.  I can't even begin to fathom it.  My prayers are with them all)

~I totally got played by a 5 year old yesterday.  Noah totally conned me into bringing him back home after we got to school in the morning. Kid:1 Mom:0

~I have every intention of getting back into the writing mode.  I have so many things to discuss, so many experiences to chronicle.  I just can't seem to find the time (again, see above.  I just can't find the balance)

~I can't wait until Christmas!  Although I'm not in too much of a Christmasy mood right now.  Not sure why.

~The Hubs totally made my day on Saturday and that feeling was followed up today by Noah.  We went to Christmastown at Busch Gardens on Saturday and I was hoping it would be cold because I wanted to sport some winter attire.  So I threw on my black crochet hat and the Hubs said I looked like Claudia Schiffer from Love Actually, with better teeth.  Then today, while Noah was at home and not in his classroom, he and the Hubs watched Love Actually and he said, "that lady looks like Mommy!" It was Claudia Schiffer!  My boys definitely know how to boost ones self esteem!  Especially because I, by no means, look like her.  At. All.

Not too sure if I see it but who knows 

~I've tried to really tried to kick my butt into gear when it comes my health.  I am so ashamed to say that I gained all the weight back that I lost last year.  It's horrible.  So I made the decision to take charge of my life and get back in control.  I've been writing down everything I eat/drink and I'm watching what I'm eating.  Since my kidney stone 3 weeks ago (that was the last time I stepped on a scale), I've lost between 5-6 lbs.  And honestly, I think I lost all the weight last week since I had been eating like crap before then.  I'm trying not to be excited about this because it's just a start but I think I have to celebrate small victories.  I've also added a few runs in this week.  I think I might actually be able to link up with Meghan and Genna this week!!!  I really need to find a good race to sign up for so I have something to work towards!!

It's OK

It has been forever since I linked up for It's OK Thursday so let's get this thing started!

It's OK.....

~to be obsessed with finishing up my Christmas gifts.
~to have a new found love for Mod Podge (how did I survive this long without it)
~to not really go on Twitter this week
~to have a goal of writing at least 3 posts and this is the first (and only) post written
~to need a few days off (preferably with pay) just so I can sleep
~to be putting my Christmas cards in the mail on Friday
~to be stoked about the Friends Dinner we're hosting on Friday!!
~to be proud of myself for staying on track with my food intake/journaling
~to need to get on the elliptical sometime this week
~to be proud of everyone who's starting C25K!  We need to pick a race to run together!!!
~to be so emotionally spent due to Em's current "phase" I don't know how much more I can handle
~to love that my card display is being filled up with cards from amazing people I've met through blogging
~to be so blessed during this holiday season

Who doesn't love candy?!?

Every kid loves candy.  And come on, so do most adults.  Most Mommies worry about our precious kiddos and the amount of sugar that's entering their small, little bodies.  I know I do and I probably cave in a little more than I should when it comes to candy.  But who can resist those baby blues?!?  I also worry about my kiddos teeth, even if they're going to just fall out in a few short years.

My kids love it when packages show up at our doorstep with fun things to try.  We received a box full of Xlear Sparx candies. I was really excited to test out these candies.  They're made with xylitol, a naturally occurring, plant based sweetner.  While I'm not 100% living the clean/organic life, if given the choice, I'd choose a natural product over a processed product. Xylitol has also proven to improve dental health and strengthen tooth enamel.  Score one for Momma!  A candy that helps my kids teeth, not hurts it! Xylitol also doesn't interfere with insulin levels or production so those people with diabetes and other illnesses don't have to worry about the candies interfering with their blood sugar levels.  This is perfect for my grandmas!

We opened our box up and instantly dove in.  There was a tube of Fruit SparX, Citrus SparX, and two tubes of Spry Tooth Gel (we haven't tried the tooth gel).  I was a little disappointed with how small the candies are, only because of the choking factor for my little ones. But since they're so small, there's a ton of candies in each tube.  I was initially surprised by the cooling effect the candies had.  For some reason, my mouth just felt cool.  Noah even mentioned it (without me saying it first) so it must have a cooling sensation.  The fruit flavor was definitely our favorite (our tube is almost empty). Don't get me wrong, the citrus was good.  The fruit was just better.  The candies are very sweet so a little goes a long way.  I've been known to grab a few if I need a little mouth freshen up and my toothbrush isn't around.  I'm a fan and I totally recommend these to anyone, not just Moms concerned for their kiddos pearly whites!

SparX is a product from Xlear, Inc.  Xlear is committed to health by producing all-natural, health enhancing products.  They have award winning nasal sprays, a line of dental products, raw xylitol crystals to use in baking/cooking as a sugar subsitute and now SparX candies. To learn more about SparX candies, Xlear and the products the provide, check them out on their website, www.xlear.com or on Facebook at Facebook.com/xylitol.experts.

I was provided this opportunity because I'm a Mom Ambassador Blogger for Moms Meet.  Want to learn more about green products and healthy living?  Want to receive and review the latest green products? Head over to greenmomsmeet.com and find out how to become a Mom Ambassador!

Disclaimer: I received this product for free from the sponsor of the Moms MeetSM program, May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms MeetSM blogger, I agreed to use this product and post my opinion on my blog. My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of May Media Group LLC or the manufacturer of the product.

Be Our Guest

This is the last installment of the Fantasyland Expansion....I promise.  Check out the other reviews here and here

We decided to try to eat lunch at the Be Our Guest Restaurant.  The rest of our group wasn't into that idea so we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.  At this point, Emmy was super tired and super cranky.  Noah wasn't the best either. The Hubs was getting very frustrated so it was a great time, let me tell you.  The nice thing about this new restaurant is that lunch is served as Quick Service (just like any other place at Disney that doesn't take reservations).  You go to the counter, order your food, and usually get it and find your seat.  Well this time around, Disney's tried to make it a better dining experience.  When you get in, you get a rose that goes everywhere you go.  You place your order, they scan your rose, and you are free to find your own seat.  Then a server delivers your food to you.  Sorta like a sit down experience but still quick service.  I wish I would have taken pics of this process because it was awesome.  Definitely check out this review page for pics and reviews of all the food.  It helped me decide what I was ordering before I got there!

This obviously was taken prior to lunch...demonstrated by the smile on Noah's face.  He was not thrilled to be at lunch when we went.  

The entrance to Be Our Guest Restaurant

{Side note...I stumbled across the Disney Food Blog while googling the Disney Dining Plan. This site is amazing for anyone interested in the food/dining experience at Disney World/Disneyland.  The reviews for the Be Our Guest Restaurant made my mouth water.  I think they did a great job making multiple posts on the decor, the experience, and the food.  It's my new go-to site when it comes to eating at the parks!}

The entrance is spectacular.  I really felt like I was being transported into the movie.  It's so cold and frightening, just like it was in the movie as Maurice and Belle walked up to the castle doors.  Disney did a great job!

We opted not to eat in the Ballroom since it was very crowded and headed to the West Wing.  If you're familiar with the movie, then you know the West Wing is the only place in the castle that is off limits to Belle.  It's where the Beast spends his time.  We went from the grandness of the ballroom to the darkness of the West Wing.  Curtains are slashed.  It's dark.  There's the portrait of the Beast as the Prince that has slashes through it.  And every so often, when it thunders, the portrait changes from the Prince to the Beast for a split second.  I tried to take a pic but missed it every time  There was also the balcony where the Beast keeps the enchanted rose.  Again, I didn't have my camera and my cell was being occupied by a very unhappy 5 year old who was refusing to eat his turkey sandwich (which was very good FYI) so I don't have too many pics.

This is the picture that changes to the Beast.  I really wish I could have caught that moment.  Next time I guess!

The Enchanted Rose....it looked so real!

We did walk through the Ballroom on our way in and way out.  It's stunning and I can picture myself dancing in it wearing a yellow ballgown.  Again, Disney Imagineers nailed it on the head!  Rumor has it, the cherubs on the ceiling are based on the children of the Imagineers who worked on it.  Who wouldn't love to have their face painted on the ceiling of a Disney restaurant?  I know I would!!!

The Ballroom.  It's so grand and beautiful!

I'm in LOVE with the ceiling and chandeliers!  

There's another room too that's open for lunch.  I can't remember the name of it but the focal point of the room is a large music box that Maurice made as a wedding present for Belle and Beast.  You'll also see something similar in Maurice's workshop at Enchanted Tales with Belle.  In this room, there's paintings hanging all around depicting different scenes from the movie. The kids were excited to see some familiar pictures from storybooks that we have.

The music box.  It's HUGE

The whole atmosphere is magical.  I feel so fortunate that we were able to eat there before it became too busy to even walk in.  But I haven't even talked about food!  Let me just tell you....the food was amazing!  We had checked out the menu before our trip (I tend to be a little OCD like that) so we had our minds made up.  I had my mouth set on the Croque Monsieur.  Basically a grilled ham and cheese on crack.  It's ham, Gruyere cheese, and bechamel on really good bread.  It had the right amount of everything.  I'll definitely be getting it again.  It came with Pommes Frites, aka french fries.  There was absolutely nothing left on my plate.  The Hubs got the Grilled Steak Sandwich with Garlic Butter and Pommes Frites.  He said it was good but not as good as he expected.  He actually wished he got mine!  AKA you better try the Croque Monsieur.  This is a steak man asking for a ham sandwich.  The kids meals didn't go over as well as we'd like.  I think mostly because they were in such bad moods.  Em actually fell asleep on my lap during lunch so we packed her's up and she ate it later.  We got Noah the carved turkey sandwich.  It came with peach applesauce which Noah didn't care for.  He's a regular applesauce guy.  The sandwich was great.  Large pieces of turkey that were moist and tasty.  He ended up eating just the turkey (no bread).  We got Em the macaroni with marinara and cheese.  This was a slight let down because Noah really wanted it but with no sauce.  You can't special order at lunch (not even sure if you can do it for dinner).  But Em will eat red sauce so it was right up her alley.  It came with green beans which the Hubs and I fought over.  They were AWESOME!  Best green beans I've had in a long time.

We have plans to have dinner there when we go on our family vacation in June (so you bet you'll be getting a dinner review then).  Yep, we've caved and are doing a 7 day Disney vacation, Disney hotels and all.  We've never stayed in a Disney hotel with the kiddos so I want them to experience it.  Plus this will be our first real vacation with the kids so we want to make it special.  Throw in the Disney Dining Plan and we're eating at great restaurants that we normally wouldn't eat at!  But for dinner, this is the only place in Magic Kingdom that will serve wine and beer.  This is a huge thing for Disney because Magic Kingdom has been the only park where no alcohol was served.  So this is a big step for them!

Again....check out Disney Food Blog's reviews of the restaurant.  You won't be disappointed....I promise!!!

Get out of my belly!!!

First off, thanks to everyone who's checked in on me or have been saying prayers for me this past week.  Facebook and Twitter have been so loving!  I really do have amazing friends.  Thanks!!!

I started with some abdominal pain last Sunday (right upper quadrant pain for all my RN/MD buddies).  I couldn't keep anything down and I was pretty much miserable. Went to my PCP on Monday who said it could be a handful of things: Kidney stone vs duodenal ulcer vs obstructed bile duct.  We did some labs and she ordered a CT scan for the next day.  The pain was very similar to the pain that landed me in the hospital for 6 days last year.  Drank all of my contrast (against my will) and had my CT on Tuesday.

definitely did not taste like a banana smoothie

Still in pain but went back to work on Wednesday and Thursday.  By Thursday afternoon, my pain flipped from abdominal pain to right lower flank pain.  This and the fact that I had calcium oxalate crystals on my UA led me to believe this was definitely kidney stones.  Everyone at work thought so too.  I tried my hardest to stay out of the ER but I couldn't help it.  I truly felt like I was in labor again.  it was horrible.  My IV was started, labs drawn, CT repeated (we still had not received the results from the scan on Tuesday), fluids, Zofran, and Dilaudid given.  I was starting to feel a little better.

The man who put this in (on the 2nd attempt) meant business....most painful IV start EVER!!!!

The MD comes in and says I have a 2mm stone that looked like it was almost in my bladder.  That wicked horrible pain was me passing it.  She thought that I could go home and manage it myself since it was in the bladder.  Well let me tell you....this lil bugger doesn't want to come out.  Or if it has, it has friends still in my kidney.  I'm so uncomfortable.  I'm still having flank pain that takes my breath away.  My pain meds only work for about 30 minutes.  Then they just make me feel crappy. So I'm trying not to take them but I'm miserable in the process.  I've drank so much water in the past 72 hours is crazy!  I think I've consumed close to 10-12 liters of fluid by now.

Noah's been trying to understand what's happening to Momma and it's kinda funny.  He just can't seem to wrap his head around the fact that I have a rock inside me.  That's just too weird for him.  No matter how much I try to break it down for him, he's just not getting it.  Gotta love the mind of a child!

Anyone who has ever had kidney stones, I never understood how horrible they are until now.  This is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I really think we need to take a stand and try to support Kidney Stone Research (if there is such a thing) to get rid of these things forever!  Who's with me? 

Sunday Social

I haven't linked up in a while for Sunday Social so I figured why not.  Em has had me awake since 6:30, the house is a mess, I have to come up with 17 small gifts for Noah's class stockings to send in tomorrow, but I think the first thing I should tackle is blogging.  Don't you?

1. What is your favorite Holiday season tradition?  We haven't really created too many family traditions yet.  We always get our tree on Black Friday and spend the entire weekend turning our house from it's regular state of chaos to a winter wonderland (full of chaos). We've tried to come up with a few staple activities for the kids so we've gone to the Botanical Gardens for their Holiday Stroll for a few years now.

2. Do you have a certain Holiday movie you watch more than others?  If so, what is it? Love Actually.  I can't watch this movie without feeling festive, no matter what month I watch it in.  It's up there on my fave movie list but it's definitely my favorite holiday movie.  The kids seem to watch the classics over and over and over and over and....you get the picture.  Rudolph, Frosty, the Grinch (the classic not the crazy Jim Carrey remake).  All the good ones from my childhood.

3. Show us your favorite decoration or Pinterest decoration you wish you could have. My house is a hodge podge of decorations.  I went on a HUGE snowman kick for a few years.  I'm kinda getting over them now that I'm getting older.  I also collect nativity scenes.  My favorite decoration of all time is my Willow Tree Nativity that my parents got me.  Not only is it beautiful, it's something that I'll have in my family and will be able to pass it on to my kiddos.

This picture cracks me up because we don't have green walls anymore and we have a different entertainment center.  But this is my most favorite Christmas decoration

4.  Favorite Holiday Song?  No brainer here.  "All I Want For Christmas Is You" Mariah's version.  No one should ever be able to sing this song besides her.  Oh and that little girl from Love Actually

5. Holiday Dessert?  I don't have any holiday specific favorites but I do make a mean Mocha Truffle and Peppermint Bark.

Living the Castle Life

I started our Fantasyland journey off with our voyage under the sea.  Again, it was amazing!!!  When I was at the movies this weekend there were previews for the New Fantasyland.  It was fun to say "saw that" or "been there" before anyone else could!  Yeah, I'm mean like that ;)

The next part of the Fantasyland expansion is the Beauty and the Beast portion.  This includes Gaston's Tavern, Enchanted Tales with Belle, and the Be Our Guest Restaurant in the Beast's Castle.  Now I've been waiting for the Beast's Castle from the moment I saw it and I'd been following the progress on Disney Food Blog for a while.  I kept reading reviews and seeing pics and it made me more and more excited.  Once we finished with Ariel, we headed towards Gaston's Tavern.  We stopped in the little shop there too.  It was awesome.  You could buy wine glasses, dishes, tons of Beauty and the Beast items that I've never seen before.  I was pining after a wine glass but didn't want to fork over the $15 price tag so I left empty handed.  Em was able to stop Gaston and snag a pic with him.

This cast member truly captured Gaston's arrogance!  He was awesome!

This is a new concept (I think) for Disney.  Gaston is a roaming character.  He doesn't have a particular location where people can line up to meet him.  The idea is that he roams the area, talking to (or poking fun at) guests and taking a few pics along the way.  When we went, they hadn't quite worked out that whole situation because there was always a line and the cast member working with Gaston kept getting frustrated with everyone.  But again, we were there during a preview and they were still working out the kinks.  We stopped by the tavern later in our day for a couple glasses of LeFou's Brew: a frozen apple juice drink with a hint of toasted marshmallow.  It was quite good in my opinion however it comes with a passion fruit-mango foam on top which was a little questionable.  I had to drink it off each glass and it wasn't too pleasant.  Next time we'll ask for it without the foam.  And of course, in true "we're suckers for all things Disney" fashion, we spent the $10/drink to get it in the fancy souvenir cups (which I love BTW)

via

I didn't take too many pics inside for some reason.  The tavern is quite small but it's decorated to the max with antlers, animal heads mounted on the wall, and a huge fireplace with a portrait of Gaston hanging above.  It's definitely similar to the tavern he frequents in the actual movie.  The fountain in front is by far the focal piece of the area.

Now keep in mind that these pics are all taken on my cell phone so they're not the best.  Actually I'm really disappointed with them.  I still don't know what happened to my camera that day. I think the memory card was faulty because I swapped out cards and it's working like a charm.  Epic fail on my part.

We left Fantasyland after eating lunch at the Be Our Guest Restaurant (more on that later) and went on a few rides in other parts of Disney.  But the kids wanted to go back to Fantasyland so we went back in.  I wasn't sure if they'd let us because we had already left but we walked right back in, no problem. I'm pretty sure they were letting anyone with a wristband come in and out as much as they liked.  I will say there was no true organization for this event, which was surprising.

When we reentered, the only thing we hadn't experienced was Enchanted Tales with Belle so we headed there.  I highly recommend this for anyone with kids.  You enter through Maurice's house and eventually end up in his workshop.  There a cast member points out all of the things he's been working on.  There's also a large mirror in front, one that the Beast gave him so he could check in on Belle whenever Maurice wanted.  We all said a magic phrase and the mirror opened and we entered the castle.  We walked through and were greeted by another cast member and the Wardrobe.  She was talking up a storm.  Definitely brilliant work  by the Disney Imagineers.  We were told we were going to be telling a story to Belle about the night that she and the Beast fell in love.  They gave parts to all the kids and adults that wanted to participate and then we were led into the library.  Lumiere was there and led the story.  Belle came in and the story began. It was really cute and all the kids/adults got to have their picture taken with her.  It was definitely worth the wait!

Lumiere starting to tell the story

Belle joined us

Belle and Emmy (who has her tongue out for some reason)

I'm sorry if all my Disney talk bores some people but hey, we're Disney fans!  It's what our kids love and it's what we love.  There's only 1 more post left and it's all about food!  Then there will be a Disney break....I promise!!!