shhh…can you keep a secret?

Want to know what Anna and I will be doing at about 9:30am on December 15?  Hints:

If you guessed breakfast with Cinderella at her castle in Disney World, you would be right!  And possibly on facebook with me.  Last year I couldn’t get a reservation for this event to save my life.  This year Disney changed the rules a little and you can make reservations 180 days in advance (last year it was 90 days).  So, it is good to plan a little (ok, six months) ahead.

Also, I thought it might be fun to actually stay at a Disney hotel for a few days.  So, we are staying at one of the Disney Value Resort hotels, Pop Century.  From what I have read on one of my yahoo groups, this is a good choice and well liked by several other singles with kiddos from China.  I plan on us just going to Magic Kingdom the full time – probably three days.  I do want to get tickets to Mickey’s Christmas Party on December 16 (ok, the Party is several other nights, but that is our exact night).

Because I know my daughter well and because she cannot let anything rest, I think I’ll wait to tell her about all this fun stuff on the days it happens.  So, she will know about the hotel when we check-in and know about breakfast when we sit down to eat.  Yep, that is my plan and I am sticking to it.

What a great day!!

First – Happy Father’s Day to my Dad and my brother.  I would tell you this is Skip’s ## Father’s Day (but then I would be giving away my own age – not something I am owning up to at the moment – denial!) and my brother’s second Father’s day, but first as the father of two.

Second – since we couldn’t make the family father’s day event (sorry, 9 hour drive for a day is not in our schedule), Anna and I had a great day together.  We hung out at home, I took a nap (without Anna even waking me once) and then we hit the pet shop.  No, we are not in the market for a new pet, two cats are enough.  But Anna loves to go look at the ferrets, other rodents, turtles, snakes, lizards, fish and birds.  It makes her happy and is free.  A win-win if I ever saw one :).  After the pet shop, we went and saw Toy Story 3.  I highly recommend it – better than Toy Story 2 and as good as the first.

Here is the funny part of living in a small town – at the movie, we sat next to the people who bought my bedroom suite.  I had called and talked to the wife this morning, because they have a couple more pieces to pick-up.  I told her that we were going to the 4:30 show for Toy Story 3.  Lo and behold, they ended up going to the same show with their three kids.  Only in Jeff or any other same town :).

How do you know it was a successful garage sale?

When you make enough money to buy a new scooter….

Starting this year, we instituted a new house rule – Anna has to buy her own toys.  So, Anna made enough money selling her toys, books and movies to afford this great new Barbie scooter.  We went out this afternoon to buy her new toy and she tested it out in the garage during an afternoon storm.

Why didn’t we do this earlier?

Now that we are weeks away from escaping…I mean leaving Missouri, we are just getting around to try some new things.  The other weekend we went to dinner at a local pizza/sandwich shop.  The pizza was great and I was like “why haven’t we come here before?”  After pizza we headed for the annual Relay for Life and Anna got her face painted like Hello Kitty.

more photo fun…

I love how the shadow is picked up in this photo of Dustin…

Really, is there anything cuter than this??

On this photo I did a color pop effect – it makes the dress color pop even more.

playing around with Windows Live Writer…

I have found an easier way to blog – Windows Live Writer.  Writer makes uploading photos so much easier.  I can work on a blog without having to be on the internet, etc.  It also has this fun feature that lets me play with photos – as seen above.  This is a photo I took last month – I really like the emboss effect with this photo.

Anna’s favorite movie..

I have no idea how this happened, but Anna’s current favorite movie would be Mama Mia!  Yes, you read that correctly.  My child is in love with this movie and its sound track.  I might have to download the original ABBA songs from iTunes.  She is constantly singing one of the songs from the movie.  On our way back from Glastonbury, CT last month, she watched part of the movie while waiting for the plane.

Did you know…

Did you know that the average four year old asks 437 questions a day?  This was a fact posted in the Magic House in St. Louis. 

Debbie and I decided that for Anna the numbers are transposed and it should be 734.  Anna’s little brain is like a sponge and she is soaking up so much information each day.  It is amazing the things she remembers and frustrating the simple things she doesn’t remember (like those things I want her to remember).  I will admit that I get tired of answering all her questions – but I just remind myself to be happy that she can voice those questions and this is how she will learn.  Of course, a little silence every-so-often won’t stunt her intelligence growth.

Financial lessons – Age 4

Anna is totally jonesing for the Radio Flyer My 1st Scooter as seen on the right.  Actually, Anna wants the pink and purple version, but I want the original red (easier to hand down to a certain boy cousin in about 3 years).

Anna hasn’t yet received this new toy, because we have a new rule in our household.  The only way Anna gets new toys (outside of holidays, birthday and Family Day) is to buy said toys with her own money.  Which means she has started doing chores (not consistently and not always correctly) to earn commission.  Feed the cats – earn a quarter; clean your room – earn a quarter if I had to harp on the cleaning or 2 quarters if done the first time I ask; put away dirty clothes – earn a quarter.  You get the idea.   I pay her immediately after the completion of each chore.  At her age, instant gratification is almost necessary.  In another couple of years, we’ll change up and pay weekly.

I have also told Anna that if she helps with the up-coming moving sale, I’ll give her a cut of money from the sale of her items (toys, clothes, movies, etc).  Since she really wants this scooter, she has totally gotten into the garage sale groove.   And I am not above using this possible purchase to motivate her to part with more items.