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Have You Seen These Wizards?

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We prepared for our rainy day at Universal by getting rain ponchos at Walgreens. We didn’t need them too much during the day but they sure came in handy when we rode Popeye’s raft ride. That was seriously the best river raft ride I’ve ever been on. I think that was everyone’s favorite ride that day.

Caleb liked riding the carousels. He’s not a big “rider”. He doesn’t like anything that goes too fast or too high. So…basically, all of them. We kind of trick him onto riding some things.

For those things we know he won’t like at all, we used the child swap area. Universal gave us a pass to skip the lines but if there were long waits, we had to come back at a certain time. It wasn’t quite as nice as the Disney pass, but we weren’t complaining!  The child swap areas on the bigger rides were so nice. Most of them had comfortable seating and movies playing. Kudos to Universal!

My favorite part of Universal was seeing the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Such a flattering picture, I know. Anyway–I’m not gonna lie. My eyes misted up when I saw Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. It was awesome!

It was also CROWDED! There were even lines to get into the shops! We couldn’t “cut” into those lines with our passes so we didn’t go in. There are only a few rides in that area so we rode them both. The Forbidden Journey ride was wild. It made me feel my age and I had to close my eyes because it made me sick. Eva rode it twice. We were mainly there for the butterbeer!

We ate in Hogsmeade. I had fish & chips and Carl had the pasties.  The kids ate earlier (we got them the all you can eat pass). The frozen butterbeer was so GOOD!

We didn’t take many more pictures from this day but we had a great time! There weren’t as many rides for the kids. The crowds were also a bit more rowdy. We left around dinner time and I went to go and pick up Lisa and Kenny from Hollywood Studios at Disney. Kenny was too little to care about Universal so we split up that day. By the time I was back with Lisa and Kenny, the kids were asleep so Carl and I left them with Lisa and we went back to Universal so we could go into the shops at Hogsmeade. I didn’t get anything for myself, but I sure liked seeing everything.

 

Funny Phone App

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I have some talented friends. This friend was technically my husband’s first, though. They went to high school together.  Now he’s got a creative company that has created an app for young kids.

You know you use your phone to keep your kids occupied.

Funny Phone is one of those apps you can use for your young kids.  The basis behind the app is that your kids can talk to characters on the phone. There are other apps out there that do that but these characters wait for your child to answer and ask them fun, interactive questions (except for the rock–that is the character that your kids will probably love the most but the one that will drive YOU bonkers!).

You can also purchase additional characters. The holiday characters are really great. What kid wouldn’t want to talk to Santa or Rudolph?

This app is rated 4+ but I think it would appeal most to the 18 month-3 yr. old set.

Right now this app is only available for Apple products.

Are you going to try it out? Let me know what you think!

I know the owner of Creative Bottle and he let me try out this app. The opinions in this post are my own.

Mexican Style Tacos

Posted by christy in Food | Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

All this talk about Mexico has me thinking about the food. There are so many great things I remember eating when I lived there but the one recipe I make over and over since I’ve been home is for my Mexican style street tacos.

Very few “Mexican” restaurants get it right around here and even the ones I make at home are no comparison for eating the ones from the street vendors. But, they are close. And, they are safer. Let’s keep that Montezuma’s Revenge at bay, I always say!

You only need a few simple ingredients to make authentic street tacos in your home.   Behold, the holy trinity of mexican tacos:

cilantro, onion, and lime

Ingredients

corn tortillas (flour, if you must–but it really isn’t the same!)

white onion, diced

protein–chicken, pork, beef (my favorite cut of meat to use is flank steak)

cilantro, chopped lightly

lime wedges for squeezing

That’s it! Cook your protein the way you like it, stick it in some warm corn tortillas and then top with the onion and cilantro. Squeeze a lime on top of the taco and then some in your water (yum).

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Letters to Santa

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The picture above is the letter I wrote to Santa when I was 5*. I think I got out a toy catalog and just copied down every toy that looked good to me. I’m thankful that my kids made their lists a little less complicated.

Eva asked for the Toy Story 3 toys. She’s been a very good girl and her dad was very brave this year on Black Friday. I think her Christmas wish will come true.
Caleb asked for Mario Kart. Santa has known about this wish for a while so when I bought the Wii (on Craigslist) earlier this year, I found one that came with that game and set it aside for Santa to use this year. He’s very grateful and promised me that I’d get exactly what I want this year.
That’s a Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine. I don’t know if I got this the year that I wrote that letter to Santa, but it was one of my favorite toys when I was little and I know that it’s going to be under the tree for me this year! Thanks, Santa!
*In case you thought I misspelled my name. I didn’t legally add the ‘h’ until I was 10 years old.

The One Where I’m “Cool” and a “Genius”

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I’ve been blogging for six years now. Wow. You know one reason why I started? Melessa. She was doing it. So, I thought I’d join in.

Melessa has a great talent for reminiscing and writing about it in a way that is interesting and entertaining*–whether you were there or not. I love reading about her high school adventures, her Rainbow girl antics, and college days. This week she’s remembering…ME! If you care to read about some of my good old days, hop on over to her blog.
*Melessa-I hope your screenplay takes advantage of this special talent…because you really are good at it!

School Daze

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Sure, it’s October. The kids have been in school for several weeks now. And…it’s been a resounding success!
Caleb is in 2nd grade. He loves his teachers and his classmates. This year was his best transition yet from summer to school. I think it may have a little to do with Academy of Rock and the consistency and daily routine that came along with that. We didn’t get to do as many fun family outings (no Oklahoma trip–but we’re going during fall break) but I think it was worth it for all of us. In fact, most of our family came to visit us! That was a nice treat.
Eva is in Kindergarten and comes home every day with a new adventure to share. She is learning so much. She can write her full name and the names of all of our family members. Just last night she gave us all individualized popsicle sticks when she caught us being good. I’m glad I was well behaved! We just had parent teacher conferences and her teacher told me she is well-liked and friendly. Eva is also improving her letter and number recognition. She loves books and is excited to be learning her letters and how to read.
Now that the kids are in school all day, I have time to get more done around the house. Surprisingly, I am still a master at avoiding housework. The good news: the kids are better at picking up their own messes now (thanks, Wii). The bad news: my messes are getting bigger because I’m at home all day by myself crafting and computing. My social life is improving, though! I go on “outings” at least 3 days a week. Tuesdays are for friends, Wednesdays are for Toolulu, and Thursdays are for Carl.
Speaking of Carl, he’s the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric now. Basically, that means he’s really busy at church. It’s not much different than when he was Scoutmaster. That was a big time commitment, as well. It’s just we don’t get to sit by each other at church anymore. People have been coming out of the woodwork asking to help me with my kids during the service. *yes, they are sometimes that bad.
There you have it. You’ve been updated.
Want more? I update more regularly at the following places:

Kindergarten Kamp

Posted by christy in Life | Uncategorized - (3 Comments)

Eva is starting school this year and for a week in the summer, they have Kindergarten Kamp. She got to spend a few hours a day learning the ropes. Good thing she’s getting her counting down…

Well, we’re working on it.

This Little Gem

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I’m coming out of retirement to post this sweet little gem from Eva.

Guilt Ridden

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I can’t keep up with this blog anymore. It pains me to say it…especially because I blog for a living. But, because of that I need to let go of this one. I will still keep it published. I will probably still post from time to time. I just need to give myself permission to let it go.

Permission granted.
I’m certainly not falling off the face of the Internet.
My personal pictures and day to day goings on can be found on Facebook.
You can find me on Twitter, too.
I will always be posting on ChristyNelson.net. Here is the Facebook Fan Page.
My business website is Toolulu.
I hope you’ll follow me over to one of the other sites.

Turning 5

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Eva’s 5 now so I thought I’d share a few things about my favorite girl.

1. She lost her first tooth just days before her 5th birthday.
2. She gets in trouble at school sometimes because she’s very protective of her “boyfriend”. She told me today that it makes her so sad that other people like him because she liked him first! Is this starting already?
3. Her favorite TV show is The Super Hero Squad Show and she likes Hulk and Iron Man the best.
4. She is very sweet and cuddly. She often just wants to sit in my lap and tell me how much she loves me.
5. Eva is finally getting better about letting me fix her hair and she’s starting to take more of an interest in wearing clothes that match and are clean.
6. Her favorite movie right now is This Is It. She asks to watch it daily and her favorites are the monsters (Thriller), Beat It, and are you walking (Smooth Criminal).
7. Eva’s favorite color is pink.
8. Eva doesn’t like cake or cookies. She blew out her candle in ice cream.
9. She has no fear. This girl is our little daredevil. She also likes to hike and camp–which makes her dad very, very happy.
10. She has some imaginary friends. They all have weird, made up names like Sheemy, and Keyloo. She likes to dress them up, too. Sometimes they are guitars. Sometimes they are the rail posts on the stairway.
Our little Eva is so wonderful and we are truly blessed to have her as a part of our family!