Disney Dream Cruise

Well, its been a while since I've been on here.  It seems to be a lot for me to attend school, work on research, crochet hats, while parenting two children and keeping my home in one piece.  I am part of a few forums and I still can't find time to get on them like I use to.  But that's life for me right now.

However......................................

In 18 days, my son and I will be boarding the Disney Dream cruise boat in Port Canaveral, FL.  Let me tell you, I've been waiting on this trip since last May.  Yep, almost a year.  I wasn't going to tell Kai about it, but I busted the bubble (according to my brother Malcolm, I can't keep anything to myself).  I needed to know if he wanted to do something, like go to one of the Disney amusement parks, Universal Studios, Sea World, Islands of Adventure, etc.  So, I gave in.  All he cared about was getting on the cruise boat.  Since then, he keeps asking "mommy, when are we going on the cruise boat?"  That was two months ago.  Now, we are only 18 days away from sailing off towards the Bahamas on the beautiful Dream.  We will be heading down there April 27, 2012 and spend that evening and Saturday in Orlando.  I've decided that we will be going to Islands of Adventure because it looks like fun and Kai loves rollercoasters (just like his mommy) and he can't ever enjoy them since Mimi is always with us.  So this is a great opportunity to enjoy some fun :)  We of course will be going to Downtown Disney that Friday evening just to walk and enjoy the scenery and hopefully go birthday shopping for Miss Temperance (Rapunzel style).  Once we leave Islands of Adventure on Saturday, we will be heading to Port Canaveral to check into our hotel for the evening.  First thing Sunday (April 29), we will enjoy breakfast and shuttle our way to the Dream.  We have to be there by 11.  Hopefully we will starting boarding around 1p, if not earlier, but most likely around 1.  I'm so excited.  I even got Kai and I matching shirts for the trip.  Below is his, mine is on a white tank top.  We will be wearing these as we get onboard the Dream :)

Rewind....just a little.  I am part of a great Disney forum:  Disboards and on here I found a group of individuals who will be going on the same cruise as us.  We are part of a group in which we will exchange memorabilia amongst the adults and children known as a fish extender exchange.  Coming Up Baby (who also did our shirts) is making our fish extender.  Here is a link on etsy showing what they look like.  I will be sure to post what ours looks like once it's done :)  I didn't really know what to do for our gifts  I'm not all that creative and didn't think I would have time to crochet a bunch of hats.  So for the children, I made little notepads that they can use for an autograph book or drawing pad.  The front page has their name in Disney font.  Each pad as 8 sheets of cardstock paper, four which are colored and four white.  Depending on the age of the child, I put either two triangle crayons, two twistable pencils, or one twistable pencil and sharpie marker.  Also, candy, goldfish, apple sauce pouch (for children under 3), fruit snacks, and sheet of Disney tattoos.  Here's my son's set:

For the adults, I made them mini scrapbooks (4X4), with two crystal light powder pouches, crackers, and mints :) I so wanted to add more, but didn't know what else to add :(  The scrapbooks come with 5 sheets that can be removed and autographed or used as notecards.  There are two removable tabs that can be used for pictures or writing memories on them, and there's plenty of space within to add collectable items, whatever your heart desires.  Here's the link to how to make the accordion scrapbook in which a friend of mine graciously shared with me:  

Now, back to getting on the cruise boat :)  Once we get on, we are unable to go straight to our room, so I figured we'd just walk around the boat and get familiar with the atmosphere, so I don't know a panic attack.  I didn't sign up for any shore excursions, we are just going to play it by ear :)  Since this is our first Disney cruise, I decided not to splurge on a stateroom and we will be on Deck 2.  Yes I am a little nervous about being on the bottom, but no worries.  I'm sure we will be fine.  We are staying in a Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom, which is nice.  We get a medium window to look out of, but after looking into the Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom, I kind of wished I'd went with that one because it has a bigger window that you can sit in.  But I'm sure we will be happy with what we get.  Our room comes with a queen bed and a pull out couch, where Kai will sleep (even though he keeps saying he wants to sleep in the big bed).  But we will see what happens.  I found Perfect Gift Cape Canaveral on the Disboards forum and they will be creating Kai a gift set that includes a book bag, drinks, chips, candy, and misc. items.  It should be in the room by the time they let us in.  Once we see it and I take a picture of it, I will be sure to share :)  So, there's about all I can share right now.  Once we get back, I will be sure to share our  entire trip with you.  I know it's going to be fantastic :)

What have we been up to???!!!!

I would not say I am lazy, but I will stay I do slack off and get distracted real easy, and put things on the back burner at times; which is why its been almost a month since my "last" post.  So, I figured I'd catch everyone up on what's going on in my little world :)

In two months and eight days, my daughter will be celebrating her 4th birthday.  Seriously??!!!  I just can't believe this.  Wow!  The day after her birthday, she will be having her birthday party at the park.  I've never had a real birthday party for my daughter before, besides just family and maybe a friend or two.  So, I'm having a hard HARD time with the party list.  Right now, there are 12 "children" on the list, but of course, that does NOT mean they will all show.  But then I keep thinking of other children I wouldn't mind inviting, but know there's no way I will be able to handle "too many" children :/ , so I will stick to my plan.  Then my other issue is FOOD.  I want to make sure everyone is fed a little something.  Imaginary Cakes will be doing her birthday cake.  I'm so exited.  It's going to be 24 cupcakes and a small cake on top of a cupcake tower, just for Miss Mimi.  I'm just concerned that I won't have enough cupcakes, but I was told not to worry about that, just let the cupcakes be for the kids and such.  So we shall see.  There will definitely be more food:  Maximus Apples, Pie (not sure yet what kind, maybe Apple), fruit (of course), and some other goodies, I just have not thought about it lately.  I've been working on the goody items, which will be in glass canisters, so the kiddos can choose what they'd like.  I'm working on games, which we will come back to that down the road.  And most of all, I've been working on Mimi's Rapunzel hair.  Oh how I love it, but NOT too sure Mimi is going to be happy with it.  LOL.  Anyways, here are just a few pictures to show the progress of Mimi's party :)

The bigger flowers have been removed.  Hopefully I will post a finish product soon.  Depending on Mimi's attitude, of course.

So, that's the story of Mimi.  Now onto Kai, well, he's been busy with school and being a BOY!!!!  Lol.  He opened up his own little savings account and is happy about making $5 a week.  $3 which he's putting towards something he wants, right now towards the Disney cruise trip and $2 in his bank account.  Instead of buying two piggy banks, I made them myself.  I used two aromatherapy glass bottles from Bath and Body Works.  Sprayed painted them with green glitter spray (several coats) and a clear coat purchased from Michael's craft store.  Here's a before and after picture:

Someone can be the idea of spray painting a portion of the containers with chalk spray paint, which I thought was an AWESOME idea.  I think what I'm going to do is spray paint a piece of wood and mount it to the bottle instead, then Kai can write on it what he's saving up money for, etc.

The kiddos also participated in Dr. Seuss week at school.  I thought this was super fun!!!!!

Mix Match Day

 Wacky Hat Day

 Backwards/Inside Day

Wacky Sock Day

Pajama Day

And since Kai was visiting my mom and brother for a few days, they helped celebrate Dr. Seuss week by making him Green Eggs and Ham :)

Well, that's about all for now.  I will come back with more in a few days, I hope.  Right now my shoulder is hurting me and I don't know why :/

My Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope it was a great one for everyone.  I know it was for me, because I got to spend it with two amazing children who brighten my day, each every day.  Even when times are rough!  This year for Valentine's Day, I decided to do something a little different.  We usually go out to eat at somewhere nice as a family, but this year, I decided we'd stay home and make heart shaped pizzas.  I collected a few ideas off of Pinterest, but actually got the idea from a Wilmington Mommy.  I had thought about making our own pizza crust, but opted out of it because I just didn't have the patience or time to do so.  Once I saw how much dough I had left over, I decided to add a flower, sun, and just a few random pizzas.  For this to be my first time doing this task, I felt like it turned out pretty GREAT!  So here's our Valentine's Day dinner :)

On to Valentine's Day for the kiddos and school.  I wanted to do something special for the children's teacher's for Valentine's Day.  I had thought about baking them so sweet treats, but after browsing Pinterest one too many times, I found quite a few crafty ideas.  Last week, I took each child outside and had them hold their closed fist up in the air.  I really thought it was going to be a challenge with Mimi, but boy did she surprise me (to be honest, these past few weeks she’s been surprising me quite a bit).  She threw her arm up in the air, smiled, and of course, started jumping around.  I took quite a few shots and decided on the best one out of the lot.  I think she just enjoyed the fact that she was outside, enjoying the breeze, while in her eyes, looking silly.  When I got Kai outside, he did just as I needed him to.  I think I took three shots of him with his fist in the air and that was it.  He’s such a pro!  So the pictures were taken and sent off to Walgreens.  In the mean time, we worked on the actual Valentine’s Day card for their teachers (another Pinterest idea).  Using pink/red paint, they applied their hands to the card, attempting to create a heart shape image, with the palms of their hands.  Let me tell you, this task is NOT as easy as it looks.  I tried to show them an “example” and well, it was no where near the shape of a heart.  Unfortunately, Mimi’s looks like a big old blob, but it’s still special in it’s on way.  Kai did pretty good, he just didn’t center his hearts in the middle of the card.  But that’s ok.  The cards dried up and on Saturday, I asked Kai what he wanted to write in his card and that’s what we wrote around his “heart” to hopefully make the image look more like a heart.  The same was done for Mimi’s.  Malakai was a big boy and wrote Prince Malakai Porter for his signature.  The pictures were developed and picked up, and once the inside of the card was completed, I took a razor and created a slit where the children’s fist were and inserted a Tootsie Roll Pop, as if they were holding the candy (like a flower) giving it to the recipient.  Then I taped the candy/picture to the front of the card.  I really think they came out GREAT!!!  I recently bought a new crochet pattern for a headwrap that has a flower attached to it.  So, since I needed practice working on the new pattern, I decided to crochet each of the children’s teachers one for Valentine’s Day.  Here's the gifts the kiddos made their teachers:

Overall, it was an Awesome Valentine's Day with the kiddos.  I really enjoyed it.  Kai made me two gifts in class and gave them to me when I picked him up from school.  Once I looked at it, he gave me a HUGE hug and wished me a Happy Valentine's Day!  Boy do I love that kid :)  I love both of my children dearly and I'm so glad I got to spend yet another Valentine's Day with them  <3

Family of 3

I've decided to change the name of this blog from "Signing with Mimi" to Family of 3, mainly because I couldn't get myself motivated to blog about each new sign that Mimi was learning and felt, Family of 3, suited us best.  We shall see!!!  No matter how much I would love to blow on a regular basis, it seems life gets the best of me and I don't ever get the chance to; this is something I am going to attempt to work on :)  So first, I just want to give everyone an update on what's going on in my little household.

Mommy
I am happy to say, I have completed all my credits for the graduate program at UNCW.  I am now just focusing on my research (which is going very slow at the moment, but that's another story).  My goal is to be done with everything by May 2013, so I can finally get a BIG girl job again.  I haven't decided exactly where I want to go or what I actually want to do once I graduate, but figured I'd get through the summer, see where my research is, and start making some hardcore decisions.  School and caring for two children has been challenging these past few months and haven't been crocheting as much as I was, but I am perfectly fine with that.  Sometimes you just need a break to get yourself together, before you move forward.  Tiny Tot Toppers is something I enjoy being part of, it gives me the chance to share my creativity.  My goal is to get it back up and running here in the next few months.  I have tons of goals/planning ahead of me.  My main one at the moment is getting the apartment completely organized, if it means buying tons of organizing shelves and putting baskets inside of them :)  My apartment just needs to be changed up a bit and it's all in the works.  Yay!  I am also currently preparing myself for Mimi's 4th birthday, which will be arriving in three more months on May 18.  It's crazy how times flies, but it's approaching and I will be prepared for that weekend.  I have made the decision to do most of the birthday preparation and will be glad to share with everyone else once I do so.  I'm  currently working on the birthday invitations, which in my opinion, don't look to bad.  I'm hoping to be able to complete a few DIY tasks this coming year with the help of Pinterest and my creative mind.  Well, that's about it for me, now onto Mr. Malakai.

Malakai
Oh Kai, he seems to be growing an inch by the day.  Before I know it, he's going to be my height and then taller than me.  He is growing up so fast, but obviously, this is something that must happen.  He's been in Pre-K for about a 6 months and is asking everyday when he will start Kindergarten.  I think he keeps bringing it up because it's something different/new for him.  He seems to learn something new everyday and I couldn't be more proud.  Of course, he still has some behavior issues, but he's working on them.  I feel like it's for attention, but who knows.  The one thing I can say about Kai is he loves spending time with his sister and helping her the best he can.  Temperance couldn't ask for a better BIG brother :)

Temperance
Miss Mimi is coming along just fine.  She's doing fantastic in school and is able to match two pictures together in class.  We are still working on her being potty trained, but it's just not happening.  It comes and goes, but her time will come.  For the longest, she continued to eat her meals with her fingers, pushing her fork or spoon to the side, but here lately, she's been holding onto her fork and actually using it.  Yay for progress!!  She's still not saying many words, but still continues to use some signs.  In my opinion, something is better than nothing.  All and all, she is making progress and that's what we want to see :)

So as you can see, my little family of three is doing just great!!  We tend to live each day to the best of our ability and enjoy the most of it.  In the next few weeks, me and the kiddos will begin to work on more crafts, while I "attempt" some DIY tasks.  I'm super stoked to try something NEW and see becomes of it, so be sure to check us out <3

Playing Catch Up

I can't believe its been 4 months since I been on here to post "anything".  But that's what happens with life takes over.  Within these past few months, I've been busy with two core classes, crocheting children's hats, and taking care of my babies.  After today, I will no longer be taking classes and I think I will be able to breathe again and let me tell you, I am ready for that moment.  I still have about a year and a half left to go to just focus on my research, but at least I won't have to go home every night, trying to focus and make time to study for an exam/ or final  :)  I am happy to say, I'm glad to be over this part of my MS program.  I've also been working on crocheting hats (http://www.facebook.com/tinytottoppers), which has been quite interesting and fun!!  I've learned new patterns/stitches and it's amazing at how far I've progressed.  I haven't been too busy with it lately, since I back off for about a month to mainly focus on school/the kids, but I will start back over it once break comes around.  I will need to do something with the kids are sleep at night.  Well I guess I will go ahead and up date you on everyone and let you know where we stand <3

Temperance
Let's first start off by saying she is amazing.  She has learned so much from school and Malakai, that she amazes me more and more each day.  She is picking up on signs and is using them constantly.  I will admit, there are times she throws up a sign and I have no idea what she is asking or telling me, but eventually, we compromise something out.  She is still not talking, but trust and believe, she has her way of telling me what it is she WANTS, not need.  Temperance seems to be getting taller each given day and her attitude, well, she's got one.  We are still working on potty training her.  There are times she goes to the potty and pretty much informs you she has to go, and once she gets settled down onto the potty, she handles her business.  But there are other times she does not want to be bothered by the potty.  Christmas is just around the corner and I truly believe, I will have one happy little girl.  She will be getting two precious Disney babies for Christmas (Mulan/Ariel), a gorgeous Rapunzel suitcase, and a Rapunzel blanket made by Violet from Coming Up Baby (http://www.facebook.com/ComingUpBaby), from Santa.  She is going to completely love LOVE love all her items.  Currently we are still working on signs, but right now, nothing new.  She did however get two new DVDs for Christmas, one which talks about going to the potty using signs and Kai also go one DVD.  All purchased from Signing Time, so we will have so much more to share once the new year starts.  Temperance has recently picked up signing:  red and purple.  Mainly because at least a few times a week, me and Kai play the Rainbow Song in the car and while it's playing, Kai does the signs in the backseat and if you just saw Mimi's face, it lights up as if she's inspired by everything Kai does :)

Malakai
First I must say is he is going to be super smart when he gets older, if he can continue to focus and steer away from too many distractions.  It's like he is taught something and never forgets it.  I mean never.  He remembers a lot and he's at that age in which he should be able to.  I am so proud at how much he has learned these past few months at the Child Development Center.  His teachers are great with him and I am so glad they are his teachers.  He has been working on writing his name and is doing a great job.  He pretty much knows to how write Malakai, but now I have them working on the Prince portion of his name.  I have faith that Kai will succeed very far.  He has met so many friends at school and I am so glad for that.  Before he was never really around many people because he didn't "actually" go to school, but now, he has friends and it means a lot to me to know he has someone he can have fun with at school.  As far as Kai's health, we went to the doctor a few months ago and had his thyroid levels checked and everything seems to be normal.  He has gained a little bit of weight (50 pounds), which the doctor said it could be because of the amount of juice/gatorade he was taking in, so currently he is drinking more water/ or diluted drinks.  He seems to be getting taller each day.  Before I know it, he will be as tall as me.  Oh my!!!  He is suppose to be getting a hamster from Santa/Uncle Malcolm, but we shall see what happens.  He's been a little "naughty" lately, and well, he needs to work on his behavior a little bit  :)

Well, that about sums everyone up a bit.  Hopefully, I can start back blogging here soon, once I get a little more organized with life  <3

August Already??!!!

Yep.  It is August.  I can't believe how fast the Summer went.  But I'm not complaining.  <3
Its been a few weeks (I think), since I've updated you guys on Mimi and signing.  Even though there's a lot of changes going on in my family right now, we are still working on signs and she's doing so freaking good.  I love my little Mimi.  Recently, I started crocheting hats.  It's so much fun and I think they're pretty CUTE if you ask me.  Now, just trying to get others to be interested in them too.  Maybe once it gets cooler outside, sales will pick up.  A girl can only hope!  :)
Yesterday, $600 charged to my DCL (Disney Cruise Line) at AAA, Mimi was added to the Disney Dream Cruise, Kai and I are taking in April 2012.  I figured, what the heck.  There's no need of stressing over making sure she's taken care of while we are gone, she will just come too.  Yay!!  So between NOW and THEN, we will be hard core potty training Miss Mimi.  Kai's around said he'd help.  By the way, he doesn't know we are going.  He will find out the day we board.  Surprise!
Here's a few videos of Miss Mimi.  There's not a lot to share at the moment, but when there is, I will be sure to inform you guys!

Mimi signing "kick", which watching Signing Time.

To sign "kick" you literally KICK.

Mimi showing ONE.

Crochet Beanies :)

Sometime last year, I wanted to learn how to crochet infant/toddler hats.  But, I gave up.  I got frustrated and there was no one to turn to for advice.  This was about a year ago.  Recently, I decided, I wanted to try again and if I failed this time around, I wouldn't try again.  But luckly, I met a lady on the Etsy website: http://www.thelovelycrow.blogspot.com/ (here's her blog) named Elizabeth, who has so "kindly" assisted me with any questions needed.  It truly made a difference in how I was feeling last year, compared to this year.  So far, I've been working on making "Bulky Princess Beanies" and "Bulky Earflap Beanies."  Soon, I will be looking for a different type of pattern, since Kai is going around wanting a hat too.  I just haven't had time to search, with  me being so busy lately.  So, I wanted to share with you guys what I've done so far.  If you are interested in purchasing a beanie, please feel free to email me.  The prices are below.  Shipping is $4 starting with the first item.  Even though the pictures are set at those coloring, they colors can be changed.  What I have to offer is:  white, pink, ivory, cotton candy blue, and green.  You decide what colors you want on the beanie and flower.  They are made to order and come in various sizes.  Thanks so much for taking the time to read this.  :)

Newborn: $12
0-6 months: $14
6-12 months: $16
12-24 months: $18
2T-4T: $22
Plus shipping, if needed.

Bulky Earflap Beanie

Bulky Princess Beanie

Mimi wearing her Crochet Beanies  :)

They really are just absolutely ADORABLE on children.  :)