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The butterfly house is one of our favorite parts of the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival! Thanks to my husband for capturing this amazing shot!

The Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival opens today! It’s one of our family’s favorite events of the year and we usually visit several times throughout the festival. The butterfly enclosure is just one of the many amazing experiences to enjoy.

It’s no secret I am a Patriots fan, but since the Pats were out of the running I am more than happy for the Saints to have won Super Bowl 44. I think the best part of the game for me was following it on twitter with all my friends. The comments on the commercials and half-time show were hysterical. To show my support for the winning team, I thought I’d share my favorite photo from after the win last night:

Brees with his adorable son. Photo: NY Times

And my two favorite commercials from last night:

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Xbox 360 Controller cake with glowing buttons

As you know, I discussed my past cake creations earlier and it was within the comments of that entry that the suggestion came in from my good friend Luis to make an Xbox controller cake. I instantly agreed that would be the perfect idea for my Xbox Live-addicted 11 year-old. It also seemed like it could be do-able with some fondant and a little creativity. So last night, I embarked on the journey to create the ultimate Xbox 360 controller cake! (Thank goodness I had the help of my husband or I’d still be working on it now.)

Click to see more of the Xbox Controller Cake!

Of COURSE we wanted to make a cheerleading pyramid at the party. Why wouldn't we??

Continue to the Not-So-Wordless Wednesday

11 years ago, I wasn’t exactly partying like it was 1999. I had high blood pressure, swollen ankles and was pretty much done with being pregnant. It had been a rocky start due to severe morning sickness that left me unable to even keep water down. Typical first-time mom-to-be worries kept me on edge most of the pregnancy and after being told it was a girl for almost 5 months only to discover in the ultrasound it was a boy, I was always expecting the unexpected. So perhaps I should’ve known in the morning when I went in for my 37 week check up on that last Friday in January, that I’d be admitted to the hospital by that night.

Click to continue reading

Alright, I’ve waited long enough for this update! The truth is, in addition to heading back to Disney World 2 days after returning from training, and then getting sick and having a sick baby to take care of, the thought of trying to put back into words all the the amazing sites, experiences and emotions I felt during the 5 days of training was just a tad overwhelming! But I’m finally here and figure if I break it down into days, I can tackle it. It’s just too good not to share, right?

On the day I was supposed to drive up, I got cold feet. I know, most people would have killed to be in my shoes, both being close enough to drive to Walt Disney World and being picked to be on this amazing panel…but I still got nervous. You see, there’s a reason why I write a blog and don’t host a pod cast or web cast or anything else involving face-to-face interaction. I am in fact, pretty shy. There, I said it. I wasn’t always this way, my 1st grade report card lists me as a “Social Butterfly” and as a result I was separated from my best friend for 2nd grade. It isn’t even because of all the moves my family made over the years, deeming me the eternal ‘new kid’ – I actually had no problem making friends and keep in touch with many of them from all the way back to grade school. This really started in college but is also a combination of being nervous about speaking in front of people. Let me digress a bit…

continue reading about WDW Moms Panel Training…

I know many of you are anxiously awaiting my update from the Walt Disney World Moms Panel training trip last week. I’m dying to write it too! However, I went back to Disney for my birthday weekend, and came home sick – and so did the baby. So I’ve been dealing with that as well as coming to the harsh realization that WDW housekeeping does not follow you home! I promise to get the updates started soon, thank you for bearing with me. You can always follow my random updates on twitter too! (And once again, this Wednesday is not wordless!)

In the meantime, I thought I’d give you some bonus pictures that encapsulate some of the amazing memories created during the trip. Thank you once again, Disney, for this amazing gift you’ve given all of us on the panel – most importantly, the other panelists!!

This picture includes ALL the moms that came down for the picture - from the 2008 and 2009 panel too!

picture above courtesy of DisneyMomCathy

One of my favorite parts was our visit to the Hoop Dee Doo Revue. I'd never been in my 30 years of visits and I loved it! HOOP DEE DOO!

Some of the wonderful 'moms' I spent 5 days with. Of course there's only one other mom in the picture, but the dads this year are AMAZING! From left to right is Disney Dad Joel (@Zipadeedoodad on twitter), Disney Dad Chris, Disney Mom Amanda W (@oohamanda on twitter), me, and Disney Dad Jonas (@HeyJPK on twitter). Miss you guys!!

And as a bonus, some beautiful Cinderella Castle pictures, captured right as the sun was coming out and shimmering on that top golden spire. This was a treat to get, because it is the one time the flag pole, Christmas tree and decorations were down due to parade taping. Enjoy!

Beautiful isn't she?

As with all the pics, click for full-size view!

Stay tuned for more updates in the coming days and thank you for reading!