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Counting Down the Days to Disney

Posted on February 6, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

To tell the kids or not to tell the kids? That is often the question that many families contemplate as they plan a Walt Disney World vacation. I will admit, as we finalized our plans to go to the 2012 Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, I was not sure what to do.

I wondered how I would be able to keep this BIG secret from my boys. I always watch the videos of people surprising their children the day of and wonder how they do it. TechyDad and I just did not think it would work for several reasons.

Our house is not large enough to have a secret packing area. Packing for a big trip is stressful enough in a smaller house. I could not even imagine trying to do it while in stealth mode.
How does one talk to teachers and others at school about missed days, but not tell their child? My eight year old would know something was up as I went into school and came out with a load of work.
I am WAY too excited and can’t stop thinking about everything. I wanted to be able to share the magical planning and joy in my heart with the kids now. Winter can be depressing enough, so having something to look forward to as a family seemed like a great idea.

There were other items on my mind, but those were the biggest things. To date, we have never been able to keep a Disney trip a secret from the boys for long and I think it has been the right decision for our family. When we told the boys that we were going to Disney World, their faces lit up. Then, they wanted to know when and how many days away it was. Chatter about rides to visit, places to explore, and Hidden Mickeys to find have dominated things in recent days. The boys sit together and read planning guides and think about how they will notice a new Hidden Mickey in their adventures.

Each day, they recite how many days are left until we head to see our favorite destination. Excitement is definitely in the air. At eight, NHL gets that we have just under three months until we go to Disney. JSL is only four and does not quite get it. I have thought about making a Mickey Ears paper chain to help us count down the days. This will help him to see as we get closer to the day of our trip.

Have you ever kept a Disney trip or something else a secret to surprise your children on the day of your trip? I would love to know how it went and if you have any other count down traditions that you do with your family.

LINKY

P.S. A huge thank you to Mariana from The Domestic Buzz for creating this magical Blog Hop!

Categories:
Blog Hop decisions Disney DisneySMMoms fun jsl looking back nhl photos TechyDad travel

Hello UBP11

Posted on April 4, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Welcome to all who have traveled from the 5 Minutes For Mom Ultimate Blog Party 2011! I am a bit behind in joining this year. There has been a lot going on in recent weeks. Some of you may recall that I am familiar with the UBP. Last year, I was the grand prize winner of the Toshiba Laptop. It all seemed like a dream at the time.

Why?

Well, the night that they randomly selected winners, I had gone to bed early. I was not feeling well. Then, suddenly, my cell phone started going crazy. Tweets with mentions of my name were coming in one after the other. Half asleep, I noticed I was being congratulated, but I did not know why. Then I saw the #UBP10 at the end. Sure enough, I was the winner. Thank you again to Susan and Janice from Five Minutes for Mom for doing this fun event. I am not just saying that since I won last year.

At the end of the UBP last year, I wrote about people that I met and blogs that I loved. One of those was Kelly’s Lucky You. Little did I know that I would meet Kelly at DisneySMMoms a few weeks ago and participate in the Wild African Trek with her.

Please say hello to my family. Here we are with Minnie Mouse after our recent adventure to Disney Social Media Moms Celebration.

So who is The Angel Forever? Here is a little bit about me:

I started blogging in February 2007 while I was pregnant with my youngest son.
For almost four years, I have been at home with my boys. Although I love this special time with them, I do miss teaching.
My blog webmaster is also my hubby. You may know TechyDad from his blog or Twitter. This June we will celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary. The two of us had our honeymoon at Walt Disney World for 10 magical days.
I am a HUGE fan of all things Disney – check out my category list on the left and you will see what I mean. Still processing all things from our recent trip there for the conference.
It was only a year ago that I came out of my bloggy shell. Before this I was pretty anonymous, never said where I lived, and was happy with that. Now thanks to recent opportunities, I am reinventing my online self.
The teacher in me loves to read books and share what we read. Most weeks I have a Tuesday Tales segment where I share some of our recent reads.
In addition to writing on TheAngelForever, I cover Education on The Disney Driven Life (I am NDM183 and proud of it) and am a columnist/blogger for KidsFunPlaza.

I love meeting new people in real life and online – so please explore and leave some comments, link up to your UBP blog below, and I promise to stop over to say hello and get to meet you. You can also catch me on Twitter and ~~I am still working on my Facebook fan page~~ I just finished/published my Facebook page.

Enjoy the 2011 Ultimate Blog Party and see you around!

Categories:
Blog Hop Disney DisneyDrivenLife DisneySMMoms fun looking back me moments photos TechyDad

Disney Social Media Moms Celebration 2011

Posted on February 17, 2011 7:52 am by TheAngelForever

A little over a year ago, I traveled to Disney World to take part in my first blogging conference. For some reason I was not nervous. Unlike my trip to BlogHer, a few months later in NYC, I was at ease going to a location that I knew and loved. What could be more magical than going to meet new people, learn new things, and play with my family at Disney World? The answer, being able to go again in 2011.

Yes, in a few weeks I will be heading back to the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration at Walt Disney World. I feel so lucky to be able to go and experience the magic of this conference. The best part for me is not having to worry about my family. While I am taking part in the events for conference attendees, I know that my husband and boys will be having an adventure in one of the Disney parks.

Categories:
Blog Hop Blogging Conference bloggy friends Disney DisneySMMoms fun looking back me moments photos

Ultimate Blog Party ’10 – The After-Party

Posted on April 18, 2010 6:16 pm by TheAngelForever

On Friday, April 9, I asked my readers if they were going to be joining in on the fun of:

That Aloha Friday question of the week also served as my official UBP10 post for the online festivities. I stayed up the evening it went live to put up my link and waited patiently while 5 Minutes For Mom were working out a few server issues. When the post finally was working properly, I linked up my #UBP10 post, put my Twitter name in and left a comment. My post was well into the 80’s within seconds, but I was the 13th comment on the post. During the week long event, over 2,300 people linked up on the original page. Now Janice and Susan are keeping the fun going. They are asking people to join them with the Ultimate Blog Party 2010 After-Party.

During the week, I spent time visiting many new blogs and meeting people on Twitter. Here are a few of them in no particular order:

Jolly Green Mommy – Another teacher, turned SAHM who also happens to be Jewish and have a love for Disney. Love all of her toddler projects to do with the kids and kosher/vegetarian vegetarian menu ideas.

From the Same Nest – Written by two sisters about their lives as wives, mothers and sharing the items that they create in a humorous fashion. They had a hilarious UBP10 post that really caught my eye.

Kelly’s Lucky You – Another Mom that went to DisneySMMom that I wish I had met. Kelly writes about many topics including winning contests, getting free samples and getting the best value for your money.

There were many others, but these are three that came to my head right now. I must admit, I am a little tired right now. I went to sleep early last night (before 11) because I was not feeling well. At about 12:20, I woke up and heard TechyDad going to check on the boys. At about the same time, my cell phone did a beep or two from text messages. I looked quickly and saw it was a Tweet coming in. Seconds later another. This time I could see it was a mention (@TheAngelForever). Suddenly, I saw person after person congratulating me for being the Grand Prize winner of the Ultimate Blog Party 2010!

I yelled to TechyDad to see if his computer was still on (mine was off – go figure). He said it was, so I told him why. We went to check and see what was going on and sure enough, there I was listed as the Grand Prize winner. What did I win?

The funny part, the post just 24 hours before was a wish list of practical things I would really like. Check it out. . . item #2 (the first really just for me):

New Laptop – My laptop is on borrowed time. It is almost 5 years old and the letters are worn off (stickers have not helped either). Plus, the fan makes a horrid noise from time to time.

TechyDad and I both laughed that I should make a new blog post immediately with a wish for a big winning lotto ticket! Well a girl can dream, no?

Thank you again to everyone for coming by my blog, I hope to see you again soon – remember I love comments. Janice and Susan, thank you for the fabulous party. Seriously, I am not just saying that because I won the Grand Prize. I feel honored to have met you both at DisneySMMoms and enjoyed my chat with Susan that Friday after the conference. Now I will be able to finish my Disney posts on the snazzy new computer when I get it.

Categories:
Blog Hop bloggy friends DisneySMMoms jl looking back me moments TechyDad web fun

Hershey’s Better Basket Blog Hop at The Angel Forever

Posted on March 30, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

I must admit, at this time of year I get a little jealous. Those cute Easter baskets are something I have never had and always thought they looked like so much fun to make and receive. Thanks to Christina at Cutest Kid Ever, I received an amazing virtual Easter basket that even I can enjoy during Passover.

What is the Hershey’s Better Basket Blog Hop?

Do you have a blog? If you do, you could help to raise some money for a great cause. Hershey is donating up to $5,000 to the Children’s Miracle Network with this promotion – $10 for every blog that participates in the Better Basket Blog Hop. The post that you are reading right now is another $10 that will be given to children’s hospitals all over North America. An additional $5,000 to this charity would be the world of difference to many sick children.

In my post, I need to pass along a virtual Easter basket to some of my blogging friends. Here is what my baskey will contain for you. Please remember I am a nice Jewish girl that is dreaming big and has never received anything like this before. All of the items are ones that I like and hope you will enjoy along with me.

Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Creme Eggs
Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs
Movie tickets for your entire family to have a fun time out together
Eggs to color and design together (loved doing this with friends as a child)
A Nalgene water bottle to make sure you drink your water each day
Some hand knitted wash cloths to pamper yourself with
Vanilla scented body wash

Not sure how this stacks up with the basket that you are used to, but it sounds like fun to me.

Here are the lovely bloggers who are receiving this virtual Easter basket from me:

Nancy from Life With My Boys
Renee from Life with my Special Ks
Mommy Cracked
Holly from Topic of Mom
Cathi from Simply Cathi
If you would like you name here. . . just let me know!

Hershey’s Better Basket Blog Hop Rules

Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.
Create a blog post giving a virtual Easter Basket to another blogger – you can give as many Virtual Baskets as you want.
Link back to person who gave you an Easter Basket.
Let each person you are giving a Virtual Easter Basket know you have given them a Basket.
Leave your link at BetterBasket.info/BlogHop comment section. You can also find the official rules of this #betterbasket blog hop, and more information about Better Basket with Hershey’s there.
Hershey’s is donating $10 per each blog participating to the Better Basket Blog Hop to Children’s Miracle Network (up to total of $5,000 by blog posts written by April 4th, 2010).
Please note that only one blog post by each blog URL will count towards the donation.

Have fun and please share what you put in your basket with me.