Confessions of a Not So Crafty Momma.

We recently made our first trip to Walt Disney World as a family of three. We got married at Disney just over ten years ago, so we were very excited to introduce our toddler to our Disney obsession. We did several things differently this trip because we had a tiny human with us. In the past, we did mostly quick service meals and we had never done a character meal! This trip, we decided to try one out!

We highly enjoyed our trip the The Crystal Palace. Winnie the Pooh is Mr. Not So Crafty’s favorite fictional character. We had a hard time deciding what meal to do, but we went with breakfast. We arrived about 15 minutes early for our reservation and were quickly seated. Like most character dinning experiences at Disney World, advanced reservations are highly recommended. There may or may not be day of reservations available, but we do not recommend risking it if the restaurant is on your must do list! While we were waiting, the hostess gave us a little paper that not only had allergy information on it, but it also had a list of foods that we could order from the kitchen custom made to be safe for specific allergies.

The food was delicious and the selection was amazing! Mr. Not So Crafty and our little one really enjoyed the sausage and bacon. There was a really amazing made to order omelette station with tons of choices for fillings. They had more food than we can remember to list! For the allergy safe offerings, I ordered a muffin and mickey waffles. Both these things were delicious. The muffin was Udi brand. This was not listed on the allergy menu, I am just a big fan of their muffins.

While the food was a pleasant perk, the reason we booked this meal was to meet the Winnie the Pooh characters. The characters available were Eeyore, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and Piglet. Each character came by individually to each table. They did not rush and spent plenty of time with each family. Out of all the characters, Piglet spent the most time at our table. We didn’t think our daughter was ever going to let him go and he didn’t appear to mind!

We did not dislike a single thing about this dining experience! Everything from the food to the service was amazing. We can not wait to make reservations for our next trip!

Spring is here, but in Ohio, we have not had tons of warm days yet. We decided to bring spring inside with this butterfly art.

Materials Needed

• Construction Paper (One piece for the butterfly and one for the “body” and “antennas”. You can pick any colors you’d like.)
• Glue
• Scissors
• Paint
• Paint Brush (Optional)

The prep work on this little project will only take a few minutes. Cut out a butterfly like shape (ours missed the mark a bit, but it was the best freehand we could manage) out of one piece of construction paper. Next, cut a long shape for the body and two little antennas from the other. If you have a preschool or elementary school aged child, they can do the cutting to work on fine motor skills!

Next, put some paint on the butterfly shape and let your little one move it around with either their hands or a paint brush. We used a paint brush.

Encourage your little one to paint as much as the butterfly as they can. After it dries, help them glue on the remaining parts.

The end result will be a unique little butterfly that is sure to make it feel like spring inside, even if it is still cold where you are. We joke that our little one’s finished product looks a bit like a moth than a butterfly, but we treasure anything that our little one puts her heart into making!

Yesterday was a busy day. Our toddler had an appointment and then we headed to a local play place so she could run off some energy. In the afternoon, we wanted to come up with a quick craft that she could have fun with.

Materials Needed

• White Paper (Two Pieces)
• Construction Paper (Can be any color)
• Scissors
• Glue

We started by cutting out the parts needed to make the bunny. We cut out a big circle, a smaller circle, and two ears from the construction paper our little one picked. Next, we cut a fluffy bunny tail from one of the sheets of white paper. You can use scrap white paper for the tail if you have any. We always keep paper scraps around to cut down on waste.

Next, we let our little one put together the bunny. We put glue from a bottle on the paper, but a preschool aged child could use a glue stick instead. We have not introduced the glue stick concept to our two year old yet, so we do not have any around the house.

The end result is a very simple, but super cute, bunny!

When a parent gets sick, it can be difficult for the whole household. When a parent has a chronic illness or disability, it is something that the whole household has to adapt to. It can be very frustrating and lonely at times. Today, we want to share a few tips for those who may be struggling to balance life with a chronic illness and parenthood.

Do Not Strive for Perfection

Your children do not need a perfect parent, they need you! Each and every one of us have different abilities and talents. Comparing yourself to other parents, especially those without health struggles, will always leave you disappointed. I have learned to embrace both my limitations and my strengths.

Respect Your Own Limits

You are allowed to have a bad day. You are allowed to give yourself rest when you need it. If you need to order delivery for dinner, skip the laundry, or let the dusting wait a day, then you should do that without guilt. Your health is more important than a spotless house. Do not be afraid to use your support system. I am blessed to have a mother who is always willing to give me a little break when my chronic illnesses are causing me extra problems.

Join A Support Group

It can be super helpful to know that you are not alone! Since not everyone has time to go to an in person support group, Facebook groups can be very helpful as well!

We hope these tips are useful. If you are living with a chronic illness, we’d love to hear from you! How do you balance your life? How do you take time to care for yourself? What is your biggest challenge right now?

Spring is officially here! Today we are enjoying some chilly, but not freezing weather, and are thrilled to be able to retire our winter related crafts! We will be back with new ideas next winter, but now it is time to move on. This paper chick craft is simple to prepare for and is great fine motor skill practice!

Materials Needed

• White construction or computer paper
• Yellow construction paper
• Orange construction paper
• Scissors
• Glue
• Googly Eyes

Getting ready to make this little chick is super easy. Start by cutting out squares from the yellow paper. Children who are younger or have issues with fine motor skills will need bigger squares, but if you have a preschooler or kindergartner, smaller squares will work well. You will also need to cut a triangle for the beak and two feet from the orange paper.

After the cutting is done, put glue in an oval shape onto the white paper. If you are feeling brave, you can also draw an oval and let your little one put glue inside.

Next, let your little one put on the yellow squares one at a time.

After all the glue is covered, add the beak, legs, and eyes!

After it dries, it will make the perfect spring time fridge art!

Our toddler loves to paint, but some days we do not have the time or energy to clean up a big painting mess. We love using a mess free method!

Materials

• White Paper
• Brown Construction Paper
• A Marker
• Scissors
• Green Paint
• Glue
• A Plastic Gallon Size Sandwich Bag

We started by folding up the white paper to fit in the plastic bag and then put green paint on the paper. After that, we put the paper into the bag.

We gave the bag to our toddler and let her move around the paint. This is a great sensory experience for little ones! The green shape will be the turtle’s shell. The turtle could come out in pretty much any shape or simply take up the whole paper, but that is just part of the fun!

While we waited on the paint to dry, we cut out four “legs” and a “head” for the turtle. We also used a market to give the turtle eyes.

Once everything was completely dry, we helped our toddler glue on the arms and the head.

The finished turtle was as unique as our toddler!

We recently enjoyed a wonderful eight day stay at Walt Disney World. We stayed at Pop Century for the second time. We had a blast and were not in the room much, but we want to share a little about the resort with you! This is not a sponsored post nor were we asked to write it, we just love sharing our travel experiences!

This was our first Disney World trip as a family of three, so we were looking for a resort that would be very interesting for a small child. We looked at a variety of resorts, but decided on Pop Century because the price was something we could easily afford and we knew from our previous stay that it was very nice. The rooms had been refurbished since our last stay, so they were new to us.

Overall, we really enjoyed the new room design. We loved the hard wood floors because we all have allergies that can be sometime bothered by older carpet. The decor was fun but simple. The only thing we did not love was the glass doors on the bathtub. We know it is probably more sanitary and saves the hassle of changing shower curtains, but they did make it just a bit challenging to bath a wiggly toddler. We absolutely loved the room as a whole though.

Our toddler wakes up super early, so we got to enjoy walking around the resort several times. All of the buildings really captured the Disney spirit as well as the decade that each building represented. We tried to get some pictures of our toddler in front of some of the cool decorations, but she just was not feeling photogenic.

Before we stay at any hotel, Mr. Not So Crafty checks out the nearby food options. One of the biggest differences between a Value hotel and the Moderate and Deluxe hotels is that the value hotels do not have restaurants. They simply have food courts. The food court at Pop Century has a very large selection of foods, so we did not really miss having a restaurant. They have a lot of allergy friendly options as well, but you must speak to a chef for safety, and that can mean that you have a wait a bit longer for your food, but allergy safe food is worth waiting for!

We highly enjoyed our stay! Pop Century offers affordable lodging while offering all the perks of staying on Disney property. We will be visiting again!