Feeling the LOVE.

It was a fun filled week!

Wednesday we had play group over at Amy & Alyssa's house. The girls had fun playing dress up while Amy & I chit chatted & munched on spinach dip.

I have been in the Valentine spirit with much inspiration from Pinterest {of course!}. So Reagan & I made some white chocolate popcorn with {red, pink, & white} M&M's. She is the most adorable little Mommie's helper.

I found yet another idea on Pinterest for Reagan's preschool Valentine's Day party at school. It was a bit time consumer {done during her nap}, but I think they turned out very sweet.

Late Wednesday evening my girlfriend, Bri, came into town to have some girl time for a few days. She just recently got engaged. Her ring is stunning!! Richard, her fiance, did a fantastic job. I had been looking forward to this visit for quite some time & was so excited to sit & talk to her about all of her wedding dreams.

I dropped Reago off at preschool Thursday morning & we took it easy at home just catching up while I made some {Olive Garden} breadsticks & Blueberry scones.

At noon, we picked her up from school & headed out to lunch at a casual Mexican restaurant I had yet to try.

And, then it was off to SHOP!

In the evening, we had very very spicy {accidentally bought the extra hot} Zupa Toscana, homemade mini pesto-salami-cheese pizzas, Olive Garden copycat breadsticks, & salad.

We had been doing a lot of wedding talk & Bri pulled this out...

& asked me to be her bridesmaid!! I am so honored.

Bri was such a blessing at my wedding. She went with me morning of to get my hair done & when I had forgotten my hair piece, she drove all of the way back to the hotel to get it. I won't even go into how she was not feeling well, had a hotel mix up, & had driven HOURS to get up north for the wedding. She is a true friend & I greatly cherish our friendship.

She ALSO asked Miss Reagan to be her flower girl, Jax to be the ring bearer, & Braden to be a groomsman. I am super excited for all of it, but I think I'm most excited for Reagan. This will be her first flower girl experience & I know she is going to love every girlie girl second of it.

On Friday, we went to lunch at the San Francisco Boudin & did some more shopping. I really enjoy this place. The bread is sooo good!

When we came home Bri & Reagan snuggled up in the chair to watch Beauty & The Beast.

I have to laugh because I rushed Braden to get off work early so that the two of us could go to our dentist appointments at 3:00 while Bri watched the kiddos. I met him over there & earlier I had a nagging feeling that I may have got the date wrong ( in my head). Sure enough, I did! I had it right on the calendar, but never actually looked. Fortunately, they were able to squeeze Bra in & we both got all of our paper work done (we switched dentists).

I ran home got the kids & Bri & we met him at our favorite family spot, Red Robin. YUMMMMM!

The night before, I put her hair in about 8 braids & curled it under in the morning. Gorgeous!

In the morning, I tried out {yes, yes ANOTHER} Pinterest recipe. These are absolute trouble. I mean like tempting, just one more bite, maybe half, oh so good T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

After breakfast & a bit of lounging around, we got ourselves together. Bri & I went to a Valentine's Day party with the munchkins that Reagan's friend Luke was having. Rebecca did a fabulous job with the party. Everything was so cute & creative. She didn't miss a thing & the kids had a ball!

And, I have to throw one last photo in. My sister took this last week at our church revival.

Looking forward to my hott date with the hubby on Tuesday night ;-) He won't tell me where we are going.... just that I should dress nice. Hmmmm....?

A Day In The Life Of.... Tuesday

Recap from last night & Pinterest ideas put into action

The kids LOVED the Chicken Gnocchi soup

I found a copycat recipe for Olive Garden breadsticks to go with it. O.M.G!! {I know, I just said O.M.G...but they deserve it}This bread was amazingly delicious. Definitely keeping that recipe around. As for the soup....so so. I'm glad the kids enjoyed.

My magnetic chalkboard & chicken wire pin up frame {for Save the Date, Invitations, Photos}

I found these darling mini clothespins at Target

Onto TUESDAY

I am impressed at how much I can get done in a rushed amount of time.

Got up this morning at 7:10am with Jackson boy. Shuffled into the kitchen to start the coffee & get Monkey Bread made & in the oven. Fed Jax, washed & dried his jeans to wear for the day, got Reagan breakfast, helped Reago get dressed, got myself put together, & dressed Jax. Reagan's backpack & raincoat in hand along with the diaper bag & headed out the door to preschool ALL before 9AM.

No chit chatting with the other mommies today at Preschool.... I rushed back home to meet a few of my girlfriends to make Broccoli Cheddar Soup & have brunch {hence the Monkey Bread}. Had a lovely visit, good food, & got dinner made for the evening... always a good feeling.

Before I took the immersion blender to it & added a generous amount of cheddar cheese

I managed to get everything cleaned before picking Reagan up at Preschool.

You know it's time to get your kid's hair cut when they keep begging you & saying, "Mom, you said maybe today...." What better than to go right after preschool & before eating lunch. We put our on name on the waiting list & WAITED for about an hour before getting called to a chair.... I guess that's the price you pay for $10 Tuesday at the trendy kids salon.

Side note: I tried to get Reagan to let me get her hair bobbed.... she insisted that we keep it long like Tangled's (Rapunzel).

Since it was 2pm {YIKES!}, I was a bad Mom & stopped to get her a cheeseburger (gasp). Then it was home for naps.

That's Tuesday in a nutshell.

Oh, &... the Broccoli Soup was divine. Absolutely scrumptious & a must for the cold winter. I recommend that you try it.

How we planned & budgetted for a Disneyland Vacation.

I have been putting this post off long enough. One of my girlfriends will be going to Disneyland with her family in March so I needed to get my buns in gear & finally write this.

I will do this in bullets to keep it clean & easy to reference.

To some this may not seem BUDGET friendly, BUT you have to remember a budget doesn't mean cheap, it means working with a set amount of money.

We had put aside our money about 8 months before we actually went on this trip. Those 8 months were stress free because we didn't have to worry about saving & we knew what amount we had to work with.

Disneyland Vacation on a BUDGET

• First & foremost make sure you get the biggest bang for your buck. I did my homework & am happy with the road that we chose. I went to our travel agent, asked friends who had been, & searched endless websites with tips/tricks for a Disneyland vacation on a dime.
• COSTCO proved to be the most price efficient.Our $1,400 package included:
• 2 night stay at the Disneyland Resort Hotel
• 3 3-DAY park hopper passes
• 2 Premium Character Dining Meals (Goofy's Kitchen & Ariel's Grotto)
• A bonus $20 Disneyland giftcard

• The Dave Ramsey Method....ENVELOPES. Husband & I have been using the envelope system since our Honeymoon (almost 5 years!).
• Everything that we would be spending money on that week was categorized in an envelope: $925 (note-this amount included meals during our week of travel outside of the 3 day Disneyland Vacation)
• Gas
• Food
• Snacks
• Reagan Fun  $ (this included Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique)
• Jax Fun $ 

•  Set aside more than you think you will need... unexpected costs come up & it is better to be safe than sorry

• It is VITAL that you do not spend more than what is in your envelope. NO CREDIT CARDS! Unless.... you have the cash to back it up with the receipt.
• Mobile Apps
• MouseWait was a huge help on our trip. It allowed us to see where restaurants were in relation to our current location. We could view full menus & prices of all dining spots (snack bars, sit down, fine dining, etc.). All of the rides were listing with the height requirement. It did all this & SO MUCH more. This proved to be the best Disney app we found.

• Because we are budget crazy, we downloaded a spreadsheet app (Simple Spreadsheet) to keep all of our dining money in order (in case we used the credit card). This allowed us to see how much was left in our budget for meals each day. We put in what we budgeted for each meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner) & it would give us the difference left over after ever amount entered.
• Reservations
• Make them early! Like 2 months early. Places fill up quickly. 
• To make reservations for Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique call DINING ((714) 781-7895). I know that sounds odd, but they are the ones who will set up your appointment. For more info check out this site: Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique
• We set ours up for an hour before our Ariel's Grotto reservation (good reason to call early)

•  Random Costs
• Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique
• The Coach Package includes hairstyle, shimmering make-up, princess sash, princess cinch sac and body jewels — $44.95, plus tax. PLUS TIP 
• must be 3 years old
• Mouse Ears
• Range between $14-$17 

• Embroidery is an EXTRA $7
• Charactar Dining Meal
• Goofy's Kitchen
• Breakfast & Lunch: Adults (ages 10 and up) $25.99, Children (ages 3 - 9) $13.99
• DINNER PRICE: Adults: $31.99, Children (3-9) $13.99
• Hours: Brunch: 7:00 AM– 1:00 PM (Mon. thru Fri.), 7:00 PM – 2:00 PM (Sat. and Sun.) Dinner: 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM Daily 

• Ariel's Grotto
• BREAKFAST PRICE: Adults: $29.99, Children (3-9) $17.99
• LUNCH PRICE: Adults: $33.99, Children (3-9) $19.99

• To check out prices & hours of other Character Dining options go here: Disneyland California Character Dining

If you want to check out what we did on our trip you can go here: Disneyland Day 1 , Disneyland Day 2  , Disneyland Day 3

Questions are more than welcome. Please comment or e-mail me at Ashliebear@gmail.com