We're Back ! And we have a new addition ! My Facebook Post about his arrival My business page : CoCo Pretties

OK - next big reason I never blogged for nine months at 12:31:00 AM Wednesday, February 20, 2013

I'm going to Disneyland !! (Trip Planning Advice)

Well not really :( but I would love to help you plan your trip. {We have a new trip planned: Spring Break 15}

I have been a self proclaimed Disney Dork for a long time. Recently somebody called me an expert when it comes to trip planning. I think of it as more OCD and being anal-retentive but EXPERT sounds better!

When I see friends or even strangers (friends of friends on facebook - not random people in the street) talking about a trip to Disneyland - I want to help. I love planning my trips and I haven't been as much as I would like in the last few years. Just so you know my background. I did an internship at WDW in FL and mainly worked at EPCOT. I had annual passes for years for DL in California and have been on trips with toddlers, preschoolers, elementary kids, middle school, teens and newbies.

Here are some of my favorite places to find info about the parks or plan my trips: http://goo.gl/maps/I1kVc  This is a MAP of the area with local hotels and restaurants. It even has a walking feature so you can estimate how much of a walk it is from a certain hotel to the gates. The main entrance on Harbour Blvd is marked at the letter A across the street from the Best Western.

This is a great website that I have used for years. Not only do they have a weekly update for Disneyland (and WDW) but they have great articles, info and a discussion board. You can create an account and log in to ask a specific question or just search for an answer and browse.

If you plan on doing a character meal - which I highly recommend - you will want pictures. The best deal is Photo Pass+. For Disneyland it is $69.95 as long as it is ordered 14 days prior to your trip. (It must be mailed to your house and you have to bring the certificate with you.) It includes print and digital copies of pictures taken at the character meals ($35 per print package if paid separately) and digital copies of your ride photos (on their own $10 for digital, $15 for print). It includes a limited license for printing the pictures after your trip. You can edit them online and then they send you all the files on a CD. We had approximately 225 pictures on our 4 day trip this past fall.
I think Goofy's Kitchen is my favorite character meal. They have breakfast or dinner which is nice. It can get very noisy in there so take that into consideration. Priority Seating can be arranged 60 days in advance. It is best to wait until 60 days from the last day of your trip so you can plan all your meals at once. Disney Dining can be reached over the phone or you can even email them.

Disneyland Calendar of events - (Edited: I hope this link works.)

GetAwayToday is the company I used for our trip this past October. {I used them to schedule our upcoming trip for #SpringBreak15 as well.} They had great deals on hotels and you can add on other attractions in the area or character meals. Make sure to watch that the hotel you pick is actually close to the main entrance of Disneyland. A lot of hotels in Anaheim will say they are close but they can be a 5-15 minute drive to the parking lot. I usually choose to stay within walking distance because I don't want to deal with buses or trams in the morning. An extra 5 minute walk in the morning is not a big deal when you will be walking 5 miles during the day in the park. Plus if it is close by, you can walk back for lunch or even a nap during the busy part of your day.

www.Ridemax.com I have never used this service, but I have heard good things about it. I wouldn't use it for a short trip. Helpful for a short trip to WDW.
I also like to read up on posts from this blog:

IF there are any other questions you have about planning a trip to Disneyland. Please leave it in the comments.

Have fun ! at 10:27:00 PM Monday, January 28, 2013

Mom to 3 yr olds!! (Toy Story Birthday Party)

I can not believe it !

(Stolen from Quincy on Little Einsteins -- I can't be the only mom that knows that quote by heart.)

My babies are no longer babies. They are BIG BOYS ! They turned 3 a few days ago and we had a great party over the weekend. I took almost all of my party ideas from Pinterest. I even hired a photographer to do the "photo booth" that I had set up in their twins' bedroom. The pictures turned out really well and I got to enjoy the party instead of being behind a camera.

Christie from Savage Photography was amazing ! She is local to Flagstaff.

Here are a couple shots :

And some random shots of our Toy Story Birthday Party !

Well, I will have another post up soon with family photos that we will be taking later this week. We had it scheduled for their actual birthday but it was raining. I will also have a giveaway next week so check back...

~ Courtney
at 9:34:00 PM Sunday, January 13, 2013

Big headaches...

HUGE headaches...

Behind my eyes, near my temples,  neck is tight.

Yet they keep fighting and screaming.

This last time was because Sam took apart the box Jay made out of foam shapes.

So they are in time out.

It has been a very long weekend.

at 6:45:00 PM Sunday, January 6, 2013

Meal Planning

I have been trying to come up with a meal plan and a grocery list this weekend. As I checked my news feed on facebook tonight I saw a blog post from Karen at Desert Chica Ramblings. She is trying to stick to a meal plan and use items in her pantry to keep from being wasteful. Since I have been stuck on the same idea all weekend I decided it was worth a blog post of my own. I am a stressed out single mom most days and I hate the scrambling that happens at the end of the day when I have to figure out dinner. It is even more stressful when I have toddlers that only want fruit snacks and cold hot dogs. (I hate the idea of cold hot dogs, it makes me cringe just typing it out - gross!)

I am hoping that by making this a blog post it will help me to be accountable too :) I used to have a pretty good plan in place where I had a type of meal for each night. That fell apart as our schedule changed and life got more hectic. If you have seen any of my posts (blog or fb) you know I have been stressed a lot lately. I am hoping this will make life a little easier.

SO, I started with a spreadsheet and started listing types of meals and recipes that I know my boys will eat. Examples: Mexican, Italian, Crock Pot, Easy, Pizza, etc. I then organized the list into these categories and tried to come up for 4 or 5 "recipes" for each night of the week.

Monday - Soup and/or Sandwiches
Tuesday - Mexican dish
Wednesday - Italian dish
Thursday - Crock Pot meal
Friday - Pizza Night
Saturday - Leftovers or Easy
Sunday - Breakfast for Dinner

There were a couple different reasons behind each night's choice. Monday is stressful for most people, so I wanted an easy way to start the week. Taco Tuesday just sounds cool and it is something I love to eat. Pasta  or some sort of chicken/pork on Wednesday will leave some yummy leftovers. Thursday is MOPS so being able to throw food in the crock pot and let it cook is always nice on a busy day. My boys love PIZZA so most weeks will be frozen with the occasional call to Domino's. Saturday is usually hectic so being able to play with the boys and not worry about dinner will allow me to use the leftovers and empty out the fridge for the coming week. Breakfast at our house is usually dry cereal, frozen waffles or fruit - so having it for dinner on Sunday night lets us have a big meal of pancakes, french toast or eggs, hash browns and sausage that we normally don't get to eat.

I am going to link to my spreadsheet and meal plan when I get a chance. I want to add links to the recipes where I can and turn it into a public google doc. Give me a day or two and I will update this post.

This week's plan :

Monday - Grilled Cheese sandwiches and Soup

Tuesday - Chicken Enchilada casserole (layered like a lasagna, not rolled)

Wednesday - Pasta and Sauce (whatever I have on hand, probably meatless)

Thursday - Southwest Dump (sorta a cross between Taco Soup and Chilli)

Friday - Pizza

Saturday - Leftovers

Sunday - French Toast and bananas

Well, it isn't fancy but the monsters should eat it. Let me know if you have any other ideas or want a recipe.
[null, {"document_url": "http://blog.cocoandtwins.com/2013/", "unformatted_src": "http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CDFpHWkmBOs/Upg5HNJqjUI/AAAAAAAAEho/tMIazvsYgvM/s320/1481336_10152036762393934_1228571102_n.jpg", "src": "http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CDFpHWkmBOs/Upg5HNJqjUI/AAAAAAAAEho/tMIazvsYgvM/s320/1481336_10152036762393934_1228571102_n.jpg", "rendered_width": 320, "rendered_height": 240}, null, {"document_url": "http://blog.cocoandtwins.com/2013/", "unformatted_src": "http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A0L4-K2FYWs/UphAQ-aIE6I/AAAAAAAAEi0/Ru85my0XAXU/s200/1458752_10152036177028934_18063611_n.jpg", "src": "http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A0L4-K2FYWs/UphAQ-aIE6I/AAAAAAAAEi0/Ru85my0XAXU/s200/1458752_10152036177028934_18063611_n.jpg", "rendered_width": 200, "rendered_height": 150}, {"document_url": "http://blog.cocoandtwins.com/2013/", "unformatted_src": "http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zo2eORhqVfg/UphARIsZ9BI/AAAAAAAAEis/wsI4JseAKXk/s200/1422863_10152036177568934_90327199_n.jpg", "src": "http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zo2eORhqVfg/UphARIsZ9BI/AAAAAAAAEis/wsI4JseAKXk/s200/1422863_10152036177568934_90327199_n.jpg", "rendered_width": 200, "rendered_height": 150}, null, {"document_url": "http://blog.cocoandtwins.com/2013/", "unformatted_src": "http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LG2jMjgflFE/Upg7t60SDdI/AAAAAAAAEh0/Bn7fPEU34Ck/s320/954855_613771198666082_425526852_n.jpg", "src": "http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LG2jMjgflFE/Upg7t60SDdI/AAAAAAAAEh0/Bn7fPEU34Ck/s320/954855_613771198666082_425526852_n.jpg", "rendered_width": 320, "rendered_height": 213}, {"document_url": "http://blog.cocoandtwins.com/2013/", "unformatted_src": "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_GX7-MNN54U/Upg7t5LcFaI/AAAAAAAAEh4/-IdwOZRgCzA/s320/1378366_615049128538289_1825938367_n.jpg", "src": "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_GX7-MNN54U/Upg7t5LcFaI/AAAAAAAAEh4/-IdwOZRgCzA/s320/1378366_615049128538289_1825938367_n.jpg", "rendered_width": 320, "rendered_height": 213}, {"document_url": "http://blog.cocoandtwins.com/2013/", "unformatted_src": "http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J6icgL8piEM/Upg7_Fcg0hI/AAAAAAAAEic/BRTcH5hOvK0/s320/Courtney-Courtney-0031.jpg", "src": "http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J6icgL8piEM/Upg7_Fcg0hI/AAAAAAAAEic/BRTcH5hOvK0/s320/Courtney-Courtney-0031.jpg", "formatted_filename": "Courtney Courtney", "rendered_width": 320, "rendered_height": 213}, {"document_url": "http://blog.cocoandtwins.com/2013/", "unformatted_src": "http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H-FeJXTo-CY/Upg7xp5bp5I/AAAAAAAAEiI/le56UyunqP8/s320/Courtney-Courtney-0039.jpg", "src": "http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H-FeJXTo-CY/Upg7xp5bp5I/AAAAAAAAEiI/le56UyunqP8/s320/Courtney-Courtney-0039.jpg", "formatted_filename": "Courtney Courtney", "rendered_width": 320, "rendered_height": 213}, {"document_url": "http://blog.cocoandtwins.com/2013/", "unformatted_src": "http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gAX73M6hUDQ/Upg7yGAWPYI/AAAAAAAAEiQ/EZtvLAHZcVI/s320/Courtney-Courtney-0041.jpg", "src": "http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gAX73M6hUDQ/Upg7yGAWPYI/AAAAAAAAEiQ/EZtvLAHZcVI/s320/Courtney-Courtney-0041.jpg", "formatted_filename": "Courtney Courtney", "rendered_width": 213, "rendered_height": 320}, null, null, {"document_url": "http://blog.cocoandtwins.com/2013/", "unformatted_src": "http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OmgNkZVz6n4/VKn6CCtwLfI/AAAAAAAAclw/lMy_pxUaH6g/s1600/Photo0093FourBySix.png", "src": "http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OmgNkZVz6n4/VKn6CCtwLfI/AAAAAAAAclw/lMy_pxUaH6g/s1600/Photo0093FourBySix.png", "formatted_filename": "Photo FourBySix", "rendered_width": 640, "rendered_height": 436}, null, null, null, null, null, {"document_url": "http://blog.cocoandtwins.com/2013/", "unformatted_src": "http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZcMQ_09-qE0/Vk-Z-qEEwJI/AAAAAAAAm1Y/68NBXYAEJbs/s1600-r/Coco-Soc2.png", "src": "http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZcMQ_09-qE0/Vk-Z-qEEwJI/AAAAAAAAm1Y/68NBXYAEJbs/s1600-r/Coco-Soc2.png", "formatted_filename": "Coco Soc", "rendered_width": 190, "rendered_height": 124}, null, {"document_url": "http://blog.cocoandtwins.com/2013/", "unformatted_src": "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PJoHLnLw-pI/WfvEQshOQQI/AAAAAAAAzTU/_AiEAsMKbkIXgJ0hlNlDm0XmgQd4kv0-wCK4BGAYYCw/s292/Ludwig74.jpg", "src": "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PJoHLnLw-pI/WfvEQshOQQI/AAAAAAAAzTU/_AiEAsMKbkIXgJ0hlNlDm0XmgQd4kv0-wCK4BGAYYCw/s292/Ludwig74.jpg", "formatted_filename": "Ludwig", "alt_text": "I'm Courtney", "rendered_width": 195, "rendered_height": 292}, null, null, null, null, {"document_url": "http://blog.cocoandtwins.com/2013/", "unformatted_src": "https://media.zayconfoods.com/referral-programs/resources/farmdirect-arrowcta-200x200.jpg", "src": "https://media.zayconfoods.com/referral-programs/resources/farmdirect-arrowcta-200x200.jpg", "formatted_filename": "farmdirect arrowcta", "alt_text": "Shop Now at Zaycon Fresh"}]