Our Top Ten Memories of our Christmas Vacation

Our Seven Best Memories of our Christmas Trip to Florida:

1.  My best friend, Candace came with us to Disney World! I'm glad we're still friends after she braved the 11 hour car trip from Virginia to Florida with us.

2. We went to Disney World for the first time! At 5 years old, Micah and Benji were the perfect age to be perfectly enchanted with everything Disney.  

Our family at Cinderella's Castle. I wore Silas in the wrap for the first half of the day and Candace wore him for the second half.

Even Silas got in on the Disney Fun! He slept the WHOLE DAY in the wrap! YEA!

We had a blast doing all-things-boy:

Meeting Buzz Lightyear, laughing it up at the Monsters INC show, getting major whiplash and laughing our heads off while the boys drove on the race car track, riding the spooky Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and taking the boys on their very first roller coaster: Thunder Mountain Railroad. 

Surprisingly, Micah (our often timid son) LOVED the "crazy train" (as he called TMR) but our crazy-Benji thought it was a little scary.

Meeting Buzz Lightyear! The boys LOVED riding the Buzz Lightyear ride as well!

3. A definite highlight was spending time with family, especially seeing M and B spend time with their cousins, Charlotte (5), Naomi (3) and Heidi (8 months) for the first time. 

Charlotte, Micah, Silas, Benji, Naomi, and Heidi

Christmas Eve: Our Family with Aaron's sister's family (Brittany, Jared, and girls)

Charlotte, Micah, Benji, Naomi

All four of the big kids loved playing together and "Char-lick" didn't mind that the boys couldn't pronounce her name. 

4. Although we spent the majority of time with Aaron's HUGE family (one family party boasted of 60ish Mengs), we also spent a few precious hours with my grandmother, Nonnie. 

She loved snuggling with her newest great-grandson. In fact, she did this instead of eating. 

Grandmother, Grand daughter, great-grandsons

Precious memories

 And I learned that my own great-grandmother, Elise May Long, had my shared interest and talent for writing and radio drama! Who knew?!

5. Another special memory was spending time with Angela, Aaron's older sister. She lives 5 minutes from Jacksonville Beach so the boys got to see the ocean for the first time! To them it was the greatest puddle ever (!) with an endless supply of splash-makers (shells) for throwing in the water. 

6. We spent Christmas Eve relaxing with just our family at the camp we were staying at. We had fun throwing rocks in the lake, looking at deer tracks, trekking through the woods, helping the boys climb through a rope maze, and napping. 

Silas turned 2 months old on Christmas Eve too

7.  Christmas morning was magical when the boys realized that "Santa came!" by witnessing that the cold hot chocolate and (rather dried out) dinner roll they left for him (hey, we didn't have cookies or milk!) had been drunk and eaten. Score one for Santa (and Mommy)! 

Our Top Three Not-so-awesome memories:

1. Getting a flat tire on our way home from Disney World. While we were stranded for 1.5 hours, Silas decided to have his first scream-fest. Thankfully, we got FREE help from the turn-pike serviceman. Thank God!

2. On the way to take Candace to the airport, Benji told us he had to pee. Of course, we JUST passed the rest stop. We asked him if he could hold it. 

"Nooooo! I can't!" he assured us. 

"Oh, yes! you can!" We assured him. 

Guess who was right? 

20 minutes later we hear: "I just peed" followed by a contented sigh from the back seat. 

Lesson learned. 

(Poor kid had to sit in his soaked pants for the next hour while we got to the airport and I frantically searched for size 5T pants in the airport mall. Thank you, Universal Studios Store for stocking $20 SpiderMan pants for my kid). 

And the next time he said "I have to pee!" from the back seat? You better believe we pulled over and let him do his business on the side of the road. 

3. We did a TON of driving. We put 1800 miles on our new car. Whew. 

Our Three boys: Benji, Silas, Micah

Overall, we had a great trip and Christmas in Florida but we are glad to be back home in Virginia. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Meng's!

DiY Peplum Shirt: Tutorial!

Peplum tops are so popular right now! With a cute little ruffle bottom, what's not to love? A peplum top is flattering too, especially for me since I am 7 weeks postpartum and have a *bit* of a tummy right now. 

Here is how to refashion a large maternity shirt into this cute top!

You need:

 An oversized maternity top (or any other large and long shirt)

First, cut off the bottom of the shirt 1 inch below your natural waist

Lay a shirt that fits you well over your large top. Cut sleeve to length if you want shorter sleeves. 

Fit your shirt with pins by using the smaller shirt as a pattern. Be sure to leave a seam allowance!

Sew along the pin line, removing pins as you go.

Try the shirt on and adjust if necessary.

Trim excess fabric.

To make the peplum, take the bottom of the shirt (the part you cut off) and sew 1/4 inch elastic (cut to the measurement of your natural waist) to the raw edge of the peplum

Use the stretch stitch on your sewing machine (the broken zig-zag above) to sew the elastic. 

Stretch the elastic as you sew to gather up the peplum.

Next, turn the shirt part right side out and put the shirt inside the peplum so right sides are together. Pin generously, stretching the elastic as you go. Use the stretch stitch again as you sew along the elastic a second time, joining the shirt and peplum together. 

Hem sleeves (if shortened).

Turn right side out. 

DONE!

The finished product!

Even cuter with a belt or bow! 

This was a fast project and I think the results are pretty cute! Enjoy making your own peplum top!

Three reasons why I love using cloth diapers

My little guy, Silas, is six weeks old today and just started using cloth diapers full time with him this week. Thanks to some generous friends, we we able to use disposables for his first weeks but that stash is practically gone so cloth it is! I used cloth diapers with my twins 5 years ago until they were potty trained but I had forgotten how much I liked using cloth. Here are 3 reasons why I love using cloth diapers: 

My current stash: All-in-ones on the right and my homemade bamboo prefolds and covers on the left

 #1 I don't have to worry about running out

When using the disposables over these past 6 weeks, I was very aware of how quickly the bag was emptying. I would even get annoyed when Silas would poop as soon as I put on a clean diaper. "Geez, kid! that was clean! Let's keep it that way for at least an hour, k?" 

With cloth diapers, I can just run a load of laundry instead of getting irrationally angry with my newborn. ;)

 #2 I can change him as much as I want to

This reason is related to #1, of course. Because I'm not worried about running out, I can change him as much as I want to without worrying about throwing "x amount" of money in the trash with every change. I once heard a parent confess that they only changed their (older) baby twice a day because diapers were so expensive. I really felt for this parent because I know all about tight budgets. With cloth, I know that I am getting my money's worth out of the diapers and I can change my baby every hour if I want to--not that I'm in love with diaper duty, but hey! I have the option. 

#3 Cloth diapers are SO cute on my baby!

Ah-dor-a-ble!!