"Give a Day, Get a Day," more like "Give a Week, Get a Year!"

After having my house covered in fabric, needles, sewing machines, irons, scissors, and thread for a week, we (the Williams, Watene, & Jones families) accomplished our goal of earning a free ticket to Disneyland (or, in our case, half of our annual passes paid for). That, plus the added satisfaction of helping others, made everything more than worth it.

Les Présents de ma Tata à Paris

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While stuck on the couch with my bandaged foot elevated, Wendy & I were pleasantly surprised to receive an unexpected package in the mail! It really brightened up my day. My Tata (aka "aunt Heather") sent Wendy the CUTEST little wooden toy and adorable dress from Paris! The dress has little light blue apples on it and the wooden toy is shaped like a dog with little shapes that stack up. She LOVES both of them almost as much as I do, so I just had to show them off a little. Thank you Tata!! It was such a nice treat to get these gifts out of the blue. They couldn't have come at a better time!

Valentine's Day 2010

This year for Valentine's Day Wendy & I got crafty and made Ryan some sugar free cookies from scratch and some homemade cards. Although I get sad when I realize she's not so much a baby anymore, I love that she's old enough to have this kind of fun with me.

Ryan & I usually keep Valentine's Day pretty low key. We usually go to a nice dinner & a movie. Our anniversary is in March (coming up on 6 years!) and that's when we splurge- usually a weekend get away to a new city we've never explored before. I was so happy to find a pile of my favorite goodies for V-Day! The first thing I did was hurry up & hide them before Wendy saw. It was perfect, especially because I'm pretty sick with the flu/cold and we probably won't go out this weekend. You know it's a bad sign when you're googling "H1N1 flu symptoms."

Disneyland in the Rain

*looks like someone is starting to get a little annoyed with all the pictures I make her take

On my way to Disneyland with my toddler in the rain, I thought to myself, "I'm either a genius or just crazy to be doing this right now." It was a last hurrah before my pass expired and my foot surgery (two things that would prevent me from getting to go for a long while). So I bundled up my baby and myself and we took off.

We went on FIVE rides in 1 hour!! The submarines, it's a small world, peter pan, and the carousel(twice- it's her favorite). I started to believe I must be a genius, but on our 2nd ride around the carousel it really stared to pour. Luckily we were just about done anyway.

We had so much fun playing in the rain at Disneyland, I just might make a habit of it. When I was a little girl we had passes and during the off season, the place was empty. I remember running around the park with my sisters, feeling like we owned the place. Now that the passes are so much cheaper, there's no such thing as an "off season." Going in the rain, with the park pretty much empty, reminded me of that feeling I had as a little girl. As you can see above, Wendy enjoyed it too!

Now, to totally contradict myself and go against my wishes that Disneyland passes were less accessible so that I could have the place to myself, here is a great way to get in free for a day OR have 1/2 of your year round pass paid for. If you go HERE you can sign up to volunteer for a day to get free admission to Disneyland for a day (instead of getting in free on your birthday). The have a great list of places you can choose from to volunteer near your home. My friend and her kids are going to feed the homeless. I have signed up to make fleece knotted blankets for children in need (this is one I can do at home and turn in on my own time!)