Halloween Season Surprise

Okay, I swear not everything I share will be Disney related, but as I mentioned before, we have an upcoming trip so that’s currently the theme around here :).

These treat baskets actually have a dual purpose for me. I love getting the kids seasonal jammies and goodies to celebrate the upcoming holidays….But instead of them just showing up in their drawers and not really appreciating it, I like to make the delivery of the gifts special as well. And on top of that, I wanted to surprise them with a little something when we leave for our trip. I plan to have these waiting in their car seats when we pick Grady up from school and hit the road! It will be an amazing tangible indicator to him about where we are going and what he can expect. I just feel like these add a touch of magic from a little kids perspective.

I packed the buckets with some snacks and goodies for the ride and a pair of the CUTEST pajamas from Gap. Our little man is donut and sprinkle-obsessed, so these are literally everything right now. And of course, I know the Mickey bucket and light-up necklaces will be huge hits the entire camping trip. The great thing about these gifts is, we probably would have ended up getting these things for the kids at the park anyhow…why not make it a little more personal and special with the way we give it to them?

One of the other things that inspired this was Disney’s own Surprise Gift arrival program. I stumbled across this while planning one of our trips and I thought the idea and gesture was adorable for families. The pricing is a little high and I feel like your money goes so much further by doing it yourself. So why not plan ahead and bring a surprise goodie bag for the kids for arrival? Pack it with all the things you know you’ll probably get or need or want anyway, and make it a magical moment of the trip. Disney’s online shop sells a lot of the park goodies and seasonal items….and they often run promotions with discounts and free shipping. So, just an idea to add a little thoughtfulness to your next Disney (or non-Disney, for that matter) adventure!

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Disney (or any vacation) Rocks

So I know that painting rocks is not a groundbreaking idea, BUT we did this little project to get ready for our upcoming Disney trip and I’d thought I’d share! To get the kids excited about our camping trip to Fort Wilderness in Disney World, we spent a day painting these rocks that we would be able to share with other kiddos. I love that it helped to build the excitement for our vacation and that we were able to talk about doing special things for others. Grady was excited to hear that we would be hiding these for other kids to find, knowing how happy it would make them. I mean, how simple and cool of a concept to pass on to our little ones?! I just love it. Since our vacation is Disney, we chose some of our favorite characters and gathered lots of inspiration from Pinterest. But this could totally be tailored to any vacation destination. I think it will become a new tradition of ours!

For the rock project, we used a bag of white rocks from Home Depot. Make sure to wipe the dust off (or wash them prior to painting and let them fully dry). To paint them, we used an assortment of acrylic paint from the craft store. And then we just sprayed a thin coat of clear sealer after all of the painted designs were dry. Pretty easy!

The kids can’t stop playing with them and looking at them, which is always a good sign for a project. Hope this inspires a new tradition for some of you! Here’s a closer look at some of our cute rocks. Thanks for stopping by!

Hello (Again) World!

It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost a year since my last post! If I’m being honest, there are many reasons for why that’s the case–a mix of finding our new groove as a family of four and feeling uncertainty as to the direction I want this blog to take.  But I have recently felt a huge urge for a creative outlet and the timing just feels right to me.  So, I have decided to buckle down and give this a chance in a more serious and structured way than before.

I’ve been wanting to start this process for quite some time but I wasn’t sure how to blend my personal social media accounts with this new adventure.  After careful consideration, I believe that keeping my personal social media private is the best interest for my family and my children.  It’s funny, I often read that many people stumbled on blogging ‘by chance’ and just happened to create an audience.  At one point in time, I would have told you that I wished for something like that; but after observing the pros and cons that scenario creates, I would much prefer to have a deliberate community with whom I can share curated content.  I truly love following along to both types of Bloggers, but I think this works best for me.

My dream of starting a business is still alive, but at this point there are so many other things that take priority over my own aspirations.  What I love about this Instagram and Blogging world is that it allows me to still focus on what matters most to me (my children, my family, celebrating big and little moments, creating lasting memories, photography, etc), while also diving into a challenge for myself.  I have no idea if it will stick, but if I don’t try, I’ll never know, right?

So, anyway, here we are!  I am SO SUPER excited to re-brand my blog as Thoughtfully Curated and really give try to create something meaningful and fun. Hopefully I can create, capture and share some good stuff along the way!