If a couple buys a house...

The children's book "If you give a Mouse a Cookie" is probably one of my favorite stories to read. Because it's just so darn true. You rarely can just do one small thing without it snowballing. Not that it's a bad thing- but it just shows you that one small action can lead to more and more. 

For me, this was never more evident than when we decided to buy a house. I mean seriously. The whole storyline works VERY well with this adult context added:

If a couple buys a house, 

then they are going to want some furniture.  

And if they want some furniture,

They will probably want a lamp. 

And if you give a family a lamp, 

then are going to want a place to sit. 

And if the wife sits down, 

she may notice the walls need to be painted. 

She will start to question all of the lighting options. 

And she will want some pictures on the wall to look at. 

And if you paint the walls, 

the wife will realize she needs an area rug. 

And when you get to Home Depot to buy a rug, 

the husband will need a grill cover for the new grill that he bought.

And if buy a grill and cover, 

then the couple will have to invite friends over... who are also buying a house. 

Thanks to my good friends Merry, Jenny and Shayna for contributing to this blogpost. And be sure to check out Shayna's blog, Faith, Trust, & Disney Dust! She's a CASTMEMBER at the Walt Disney World Resort, working at Disney's Hollywood Studios Park. 

Thanks EIU, you will be missed!

Our time at EIU is coming to a close. When we moved here in 2012, I was so scared of living in a tiny town. Where there was no good places to eat and the closest Target was an hour away. I couldn't imagine raising my children in such a small community. But now... I'm looking back and I can't imagine the future without this small town. 

It's hard to imagine not wearing blue on gamedays and helping my guard girls get ready in a classroom of Doudna. Fighting over hair bumps and straight or curly hair. Glitter or no glitter. Exploding hair spray bottles. 

Me and my Guard (and Twirler!) girls! 

It's going to be hard to not listen to the fight song echo through the campus as the Marching Band makes its way towards OBrien Stadium from Booth Library. 

It's going to be tough to not have the university president excited to see the band and eagerly try his hand at conducting. It will be equally hard not seeing the smiles on the students faces knowing that the leader of their university cares so much about the school that he would wear a big blue wig and sit in the middle of the student section. 

I'm not sure how to handle the idea of my children losing some of the freedoms that come with a close-knit community. Playing with all of the band kids and enjoying running over to bounce during the long second quarter.  How the EIU Cheerleaders and Pink Panthers always took my girls in as one of their own. 

I'm not going to have explain - for the hundredth time - that the words the band is singing is "You don't want to go to war, with the Panthers- don't start no stuff, there'll be no stuff" to people. 

But the future and the past, at least for right now are very different. There are so many changes going on at EIU. The years we have been at Eastern can never be duplicated. It wouldn't be fair to hold the next director of EIU up to what we have done- because it's not fair for us to hold the students of Vanderbilt to the the students here at EIU. All we can take forward is the beauty of our memories and remember the good times. 

While I know that there were some that didn't like the way things were handled at times, I feel like Corey, the girls and I always handled everything as well as we could. You can never make all of the people happy. I'm sure there are a select few that will believe that our departure will make things better- and perhaps they are right. Perhaps they misunderstood out goals and dreams for this band and these students that we have so loved. We will never change their minds. But that's okay. I'm not taking that baggage with me. 

The moments we have had at EIU will always be so precious to me and that will ALWAYS hold near to my heart. While I still may not know every student by name, they called me Mama Francis, and that fills my heart with such joy and love. I wish each of you nothing but the best. There will never be another group of students that I love like the students I have met here in the last few years. Thank you. Thank you for becoming our family. Thank you for embracing our dreams. Thank you. 

Why I love Disney... Or why I don't care if you don't want to visit Walt Disney World.

Growing up, my family life was less than ideal. Of course, everyone wants to imagine their childhood has a blissful time where life was easy and perfect, but even with a pair of rose colored glasses firmly in place, that's just not the case for myself.

Recently, I was asked to share my life history. I shared growing up without knowing my biological father, moving around a lot, emotional and physical abuse I suffered from my mother and how I have worked hard to get to where I currently am in my life. At the end of my spiel, someone asked "Wait- you love Disney and that NEVER came up. How does that fit into your history?" Great question.

As I stopped to think, it felt very easy for me to answer. The Walt Disney World Resort provides amazing experiences that I know my kids will never forget. And even if they forget, then I can remind them with the thousands of photographs that I have from our four family trips. I want happy memories for my kids. Memories that I didn't have from my immediate family. I want my girls to be happy and secure knowing that even when things are tough, that we can still stop and have fun and enjoy each other.

Selfie in front of Spaceship Earth! 

Not only do we have our family vacations to Walt Disney World, but a few years ago, I applied for the Disney Parks Mom Panel. To my surprise, I was accepted into the second round of the process- which according to my vast research (hours spent chatting online with other applicants) isn't very normal. While I did not make the panel, it actually helped inspire me to look at my life and think about other dreams that I had set aside.

I LOVE making client's wishes come true! 

At 32 years old, I decided to go back to school for MY dream. Cosmetology. My mother had never liked the idea and squashed the chance I had to attend Cosmetology school right after I graduated high school. Would I have decided to do this without the Walt Disney Company? Perhaps? But I really do believe that getting that close to working for Disney inspired me to reach out to ALL dreams that I have in my life. Now, I'm working in my field and a small business owner. Had you asked me even 3 years ago, I would NOT have believed you.

Another dream of mine has been writing. I have enjoying writing this blog- but lets face it. I've been less than committed to this small little blog. I've always enjoyed social media outlets- BabyCenter and the DisBoards were two places I was able to write and connect. About a year ago, I was asked to join the team at Magical DIStractions- combining my love for Disney and writing. I'm amazed at how our team has come together and how my passion for writing has bubbled to the surface.

I'm so grateful for the path that my life has taken as I have gotten older. It's been a lot of tough work and hard decisions. Nothing in my life has come easily- but honestly, I wouldn't want it to be easy. Perhaps I wouldn't appreciate where I am now if I didn't have to work to get where I am today.

So, don't go to Disney if you don't want to go- that just means less crowds for me. I'll be saving my pennies and looking forward to our next family trip.

Another year, another trip!

I'm so lucky to have a family that enjoys traveling to Disney Parks as much as I do. I never intended for our family to end up at Walt Disney World so often. I thought when we took our first trip in 2010 that we'd go every few years. However, that quickly changed and we have gone again in 2012 and 2014- not to mention a "girls trip" with my best friend this past summer. Now, we are just weeks away from another trip for our family and I'm getting so excited and antsy!

We decided to make this trip a surprise for our daughters and it's been quite an adventure keeping quiet. I'm hoping that we can make it. We've told them that we were going to the "big city" and that we'll be watching the new Cinderella movie at a fancy theater that has a restaurant. Both of those are truthful statements. LOL We will be spending the night at a hotel in the big city... near the airport! LOL  And then we will be heading to the AMC Fork and Screen at Downtown Disney to watch the Cinderella movie one night.

But the hardest part has been keeping quiet. The girls have been on a kick watching as many Disney Park videos as possible. Thank you YouTube for providing literally hours of entertainment! It's going to be amazing to see their smiling faces when we wake them up early to head to the airport!

My #DisneySide Box is HERE!

I have received free products in order to host a Disney Side @ Home Celebration! The opinions expressed here are my own.

The day has FINALLY arrived! My box containing the items Disney is providing for my #DisneySide Party has arrived!  For information about the party check out the DisneySide Celebrations Website! I could not be more pleased with the items in my kit and I cannot wait to host the party TOMORROW! Yes! You read that correctly! I received my box this morning and I'm hosting a party tomorrow morning! Do you think I'm crazy? Because, quite possibly... I am! 

Of course, I know MANY bloggers and party hostess waited to open their boxes with their children. Ha! Like I could wait all day for them to come home to open this box... not likely! LOL 

So, everyone wants to know... WHAT'S IN THE BOX!? Without any further ado! Here it is! 

My box! I was so happy to hear that big Brown truck! 

AHH!!! Look at all that stuff!  

I just couldn't believe how much was in the box! 

I can't wait! I don't even have to do many dishes, thanks to those awesome Sofia snack holders! Table  cloth, luggage tags for my friends!

Table decorations, plates, napkins!  

Some great small gifts for door prizes as well as a fun activity for the girls- A barrett maker!  

Princess Nail Polishes, Sofia crowns, Pin-The-Smile-On-Mickey game and a chore chart! 

I also received a Mickey Head cake pan. I have a good friend who has a home bakery who agreed to take my cake pan as well as the Duff Cake mix to create a cake for our party TOMORROW! Watch for my post later this weekend on Magical DIStractions about my party! I can't wait to share with you all about my party with my sweet kids and friends!

I'm hosting a #DisneySide @Home Celebration!

I'm so excited! 

I have been chosen to host a Princess themed preschool party! My two princesses will be so excited to host a practically perfectly princess party! Thanks to my friends online, I learned about the #DisneySide @ Home Celebration  and decided to join. Since I have this blog and I barely use it, I figured I better start using it a little bit. This party is really the perfect fit for my family's #DisneySide, since my two girls think they belong in princess dresses 100% of the time! I bet the hardest part of the day will be picking out the dress they plan on wearing! I can't wait to start planning.

I promise to start sharing more of my personal life, our life with the band, my #DisneySide and my professional Cosmetology stuff!

I have just finished my cosmetology program at Lake Land College and will be starting my new career very soon! My favorite

For more about my #DisneySide make sure you check out Magical DIStractions

Living by the seat of our pants!

Well, last night, Corey looks at me and says "What do you want to do for Mother's Day?" I thought about it for a minute and said "Why don't we go to the beach?" With the oil spill in the Gulf, the time to go enjoy the beach could be significantly shortened this summer. So, why not? We're close to the beach- lets do it!

Cortlyn LOVED the beach. When we told her this morning we were going, she got so excited! She was ready to be there!! We put in the Car-Ride-Helper (That good old Mary Poppins!) and headed to Pensacola. We have been there before so we knew what to expect as far as the parking/showering. It made the most sense to go with what we know!

Enjoy the picture overload!!!

Beach Time!

It was bound to happen, and now it has! We have a beach bunny on our hands! Cheryl and Emily were in Pensacola for a volleyball tournament and we went to go watch Emily kick some hieny and then tagged along with the Volleyball girls to Pensacola Beach.





















It was warm, but VERY windy! If the wind hadn't been so bad, it would have been a perfect day at the beach. I was very glad that I brought some knit capri's for myself! Cortlyn thoroughly enjoyed playing in the sand! This is where she proved that she isn't my kid! She was pouring the sand on her arms and rubbing it in her hair- She LOVED the sand! Bring it on!

She was very excited about the water too! When she saw the water she was ready to get in there! So, Cortlyn and Daddy headed towards the water! Of course, we knew it was freezing, but how could we keep her out of the water? And this wasn't a bath- she wasn't slowing down on her way towards it!

She had no problem being in the cold water! She was not happy when we took her out! Crazy girl... I see a lot of sand in my future!