Wild World of Sports

Today in sports Buehrle made a kick and under hand toss, to a bare handed Konerko for incredible out! But that’s not all!


Our athlete of the day award goes to Ellen Abbott! She mastered her Intro to Tots Ice Skating for 3 year olds and now gets moved up to Intro to Tots 4-5 year olds! She starts her next session April 27.

She looks forward to her first Soccer practice this Thursday!

Happy Easter!

Spring Time!

March 18-We took the girls to Portrait Innovations for Easter pictures. They came out cute!

March 27- We had our Rush Copley mommy and baby friends over for an Easter Egg hunt. It was fun we made homemade pizzas and had fun finding eggs in the yard!

Pizza Crust (inspired by Jay's Signature Pizza Crust from allrecipies.com)

Original Recipe Yield 1 giant pizza thick crust
Ingredients
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 teaspoon salt (or use garlic salt)
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
Directions
Put everything in the bread machine, dough setting.

When done, Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out.

Use for your favorite pizza recipe.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 or 20 minutes before topping and baking it.
Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Resolutions...

Just a few of our Resolutions for 2010...

1. Eat at home, eat out less! (Family resolution)
2. Become more physically active. (Family resolution)
3. Read more. (Mom's goal to read 150 free books)
4. Take advantage of community offerings (club house, park district, and library)
5. Save more money. (Mom's goal!)

So far we've been doing good.
Neil and I have lost weight eating at home and becoming more active. Neil is using the club house, back to running, and is more active then he lost over 50 lbs. Ellen has been more active by taking ice skating lessons and starts Soccer April 17. Natalie and I hope to take a baby swim class this spring at the park district.
By eating at home we are saving money, and I've become a food saver whiz! I'll be sure to post some of our favorite dinner & bread recipes!
My reading goal has been fun! You can look at some of the books I've read at goodreads.com. I started off with free ebooks from my library but they were mostly romance and bad! But now, on the way to Ellen's preschool I stop at our lonely local library and have been reading historical fiction. When we go, Ellen and Natalie get to check out a book too!

WDW with the Abbott's

In January we had a nice visit to the Mouse and stayed at Bay Lake Tower.
We really liked staying at BLT. It was a nice walk to magic kingdom, and I liked having the monorail as well.
Some of our Disney tips for toddlers...
We love going to Disney, It truly is the happiest place on Earth! I like that there is always something to do if we choose to do it.
The Disney dining plan for us pays for itself! Because, we do all the character dinings and they're buffet you never go hungry.
Reservations are key! 180 days in advance!
We did Cinderella's Royal Table, it was expensive. Cindy, land Arial, casual belle, aurora, snow white are there. Yes they stop briefly at every table for a picture and autograph. Cindy doesn't, she takes 1 picture with you, it's included in the price. Get a reservation for before the park opens!!! You can then get on Dumbo without a wait! If your trip is more about characters and you want to save some cash... For free-Arial is in Arial's grotto complete in her mermaid costume. 3 other princesses are found in mickeys country fair tent/store (but its closing in May), the faeries are also there. Mickey and Minnie are a house over in mickeys house area. The wait for Ariel is a little long, princesses are 45 min. Faeries are longer 60-90. These setup are cool they put you in a room in a group of 5 so it feels very special! I like the Epcot princess meal better, it's cheaper, not as rushed, and the princess took their time. Belle is the main act there. Jasmine and Aladdin can be found in Maraco (?) in a back store or sometimes by the lake. She's a hard one because she's half naked so she gets cold. Every 45 min. She needs a break! Pocahontas is at Animal kingdom... My husbands favorite!
Website we like...
http://www.wdwinfo.com/
http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1
PARKS
Magic kingdom is where we spend all our days. There is 2 rides for this age set that are the longest waits Dumbo, Pooh, and 3 if you include the gran pre race.
Dumbo first! While waiting at Dumbo Send someone for fast passes for pooh, then do the car races, depending on time do Buzz light year or tea cups. Do Pooh, get a fast pass for peter pan, then do small world, take a break, do pan. She also enjoys Aladdin's magic Carpet ride and Big thunder rail road!
Animal kingdom is a half day for us. For us, We go to Animal kingdom right when it opens, We sometimes do the character breakfast here, before opening, and send Neil to get fast passes for the safari, and do the Safari first. The Animals are woken up and fed in the AM. It also has a long wait. Next to the Safari is Rafiki's animal watch. U get on a train and get off, take a WALK, and there's a petting zoo. After that, we do the Dino "dumbo" ride, There is a Nemo stage show that's supposed to be good, and its on its way to Dino land never went because Ellen wasn't interested. There are characters in the Dino dumbo area. Then we leave because that's pretty much it. The Tree of Life has a 4d bugs life movie, Freaked Ellen out but it's really neat. The other rides are height restricted or too scary. There's another character area in the Camp Minnie/Mickey Area We seen Pochatonas there.
Epcot....They have the Nemo ride, aquarium, Space ship earth, Ellen's energy ride, Journey into imagination, the imaginarium and world show case. Mexico has a boat ride that features the 3 cabrellos (I suck at spelling & Spanish) There's also a really good ride Soarin. Where you fly on hang gliders over different places (get a fast pass. You can also find the fab 5 (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, and Goofy) near the front in one of the inside corridor places, also in England the toy shop in the way back, Pooh, Tigger, and Eyore hang out.
Hollywood Studios is a waste of time. They have about 3 things for us to do. Playhouse Disney show, Toy story ride (FAST PASS FIRST THING UPON ARRIVAL!!!!), and the honey i shrank the audience play area. The Muppet's have a 4d movie but it's not up Ellen's alley, but I will say this is not scary or as scary as bugs life , The movie ride is got a few scary scenes (aliens).

E*TRADE BABYMAIL

album 02\06\2010, by melissa abbott

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos

Christmas Time!

We were very excitied about Santa this year!

We went to breakfast with Santa at Gaelic Park. Ellen won a prize! Thanks to Grandma! Ellen asked Santa for a big girl bike and hamsters. Natty asked for blocks!

Then we had fun at the school party! Ellen had another show. She did great!

We ended December with 4 days of Christmas! Santa delivered the goods through the window and ate his cookies and milk. The raindeer ate their oats.

Thankyou Santa!!!!

Fall

Ellen started pre-school in September and took to it like a fish to water. She's made many friends, but her bestie is Aliya. She started the school year at 34lbs 40in.

In October we played with Cousin Mikey and Gerrad and Joan. Ellen made fast friends with her cousin! Later in the month, We Christened Natalie Elizabeth. John Linzer and Erin McCain stood as her God parents. It was a nice, long, intimate service. The next day, we went to the Dells!

We ended October with Ellen's first school show. She did great singing and dancing on stage! Natty weighed in around 9 pounds and got her first shots. Then Ellen and Natty dressed for holloween as a very pretty Snow White and a cute bunny!

In November, Aunt Annette and Aunt Eilish came for visit. The girls had fun playing and Natty impresses Aunt Annette with her skills! For Thanksgiving we went to the Linzers. We had a good time and enjoyed the delicious turkey!