Shortly after the reception, we attended the Pirate Themed party, the Swashbuckler Soiree and Family Dinner by Disney Junior.  Held on the beach, with a tasty buffet, it was a lovely way to spend time with our families and other bloggers. The entertainment included a band of pirates (get it?), Disney characters (Smee, Captain Hook and Jake from the Neverland Pirates) for fun photo opps, splashing in the water and hunting for treasure.

The food choices were overwhelming, so I took a little of everything to taste. Then I’d go back for more of what I really like – barbeque ribs, mahi mahi, roasted potatoes and Bananas Foster. The children’s buffet had burgers, hot dogs, fresh fruit, mac and cheese and other goodies.

Disney always knows how to make families happy. The adults had time to kick off our shoes, eat dinner and dessert (maybe a few helpings of both), laugh at the corny jokes from the band and make friends with others at our table or across the beach. Children of all ages grabbed some food then ran off. They dug in the sand, found a friend or three,  played games with Radio Disney cast members, danced and some ended up with more than their toes in the water. As the sun set and our bellies were filled, my family and I found ourselves with big smiles, relaxed and looking forward to more adventures during the Disney Social Media Moms event.

Important Info: I must say thank you to the amazing women who worked behind the scenes to make this entire event as special anyone could imagine – the @DisneySMMoms team. When I checked in to get my paperwork, tickets and swag, they remembered me by name! When I apologized for the emails I sent about special requests, they were so kind. I’m kicking myself for not taking a photo of them and their contagious smiles, but I sure do remember them all.

My Flickr folder contains more photos of the Pirate Dinner. Take a look!

Stay tuned for more Disney Social Media Moms posts.

I paid to attend the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. In exchange for my registration fee, I received deeply discounted rates on hotel, park tickets, free events, meals, and swag. I am not required nor was I asked to write about the events by Disney or any other brands, celebrities, or speakers affiliated with the event. All opinions are my own. Affiliate links are used on this blog.

Top 3 Favorite Disney Restaurants:

Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom – Winnie the Pooh Character buffet meal that is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Menu items change. Reservations recommended, but don’t be afraid to try to get in while you’re at the park. The choices of food are incredible – from Moroccan couscous salad to Prime Rib. Children’s station includes chicken fingers and macaroni and cheese. We’ve never had a bad meal at the Crystal Palace.

- My Tips: 1. Leave room for the dessert bar, which is to die for!  2. If you choose lunch, don’t expect to need to eat dinner.  If you choose dinner, be sure to eat a small lunch. 3. Try small amounts of the selections of salads, entrees, desserts, etc. at first. Then get a bigger helping of what you like. 4. Take your time. Take photos with the characters, talk, and then eat some more!

Piglet at the Crystal Palace

Via Napoli, Italy in EPCOT – The less formal dining place in Italy, EPCOT. Open for lunch and dinner. Reservations highly recommended. Not only is the food delicious, but the atmosphere and staff make you feel that you’re in Italy.

- My Tips: 1. Ask you server what to try and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Our last time there, our waiter suggested the Arancini as an appetizer. It’s fried saffron risotto balls filled with mozzarella and meat ragu. The three of us, my husband, my daughter and I ate them up as fast as they cooled down. 2. Don’t be sidetracked by their famous wood fire pizzas. Other entrees are authentic Italian style and delizios! 3. Don’t waste your money on the House Salad, it’s mainly lettuce and 3. I highly suggest the Zeppole di Ricotta for dessert. You’ll thank me for it.

Tortino di Melanzane Parmigiana

Cape May Cafe in the Beach Club Resort – The Clam Bake Dinner Buffet is held nightly at 5:30 – 9:30. Reservations are recommended, especially for large parties. Don’t think there’s just clams or seafood at the Cape May Cafe. There’s something for everyone, including a carving station, picnic style items such as Barbeque Pork Ribs, Corn on the Cob and Potato Salad. A Kid’s section is included too. Now for the seafood – Snow Crab Legs, Steamed Clams,  Mussels, Tortellini with Lobster Sauce, Seafood Pot Pie and more. Expect yummy desserts of course.

- My Tips: 1. Eat here if at least one person in your party is crazy about seafood because it’s rather expensive. 2. Expect to spend some time here. Opening crab legs is time consuming! 3. Try the soups, especially the clam chowda. 4. The Oreo Bon Bons are the some of the best dessert items in all of Disney World.

Top 3 Favorite Disney Snacks:

Frozen Chocolate Covered Banana – Sold at some ice-cream carts in the Disney World parks, these treats are on a stick and are covered in nuts. I must have one every time I visit Disney.

Baked Potato With Fixings – At Liberty Square in the Magic Kingdom is an outdoor spot that makes the best baked potatoes hands down. I don’t know why, but try one.

S’mores Chocolate Treat – Find them at the Main Street Confectionery and get a few to share.

Making Chocolate Treats at the Confectionery

I’m taking part in the Countdown to Disney Blog Hop with The Domestic Buzz.

Believe me, I could list a lot more favorite restaurants, snacks, meals and other food items from Disney World. But, I think this gives you a good start. Enjoy!

The basics: I am a 29- year- old wife to my wonderful husband (aka the hubs) and mother to my three amazing children: J, M and S.
Who I am: Well I’m a simple kind of girl. I enjoy cooking (especially with the kids) and photography is a major passion of mine. I am no professional but I do get some great shots every once in a while. My kids are my pride and joy, and my life revolves around them. I have a great sense of humor — well at least I think I do. It’s kind of dry, kind of dorky, and everything in between. 

Welcome, Shana.
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It is almost a weekly occurrence that I sit down and wonder,  ”What am I going to make for dinner and will the kids like it?” I got lucky that two of my kids are relatively easy and not picky eaters. My oldest is another story and if he could live off of cheeseburgers and jelly sandwiches, he would. So lately, I have been trying to come up with kid- friendly dishes that not only are easy to make, but dishes the kids will enjoy eating.

Here is what I have so far:

Tostadas

These have always been a favorite of mine because there are so many possibilities on how to make them. I grew up eating them and now I make them for my kids.

The basics:
Heat corn tortillas in the oven at 400 degrees for 4 minutes on each side until you reach your preferred crispness.

I go the simple route and use pre- shredded chicken. Just pop it into a pan with a little bit of olive oil and seasonings and that’s it.

Beans are another easy item since you can buy refried beans.

Now toppings are my kids favorite part. I usually dice up some onions, tomatoes, black olives, jalapeños, lettuce, shredded cheese, salsa and sour cream. If you can find ripe avocados guacamole goes great with these. The best part is you can let your kids create their own!

Breakfast

A  lot of people knock having breakfast for dinner, but I think it’s fun on occasion. You can keep it simple with eggs, turkey bacon and an english muffin or you can go all out and make the above mentioned items plus hash browns and cinnamon rolls or do a breakfast sandwich or breakfast burritos. To keep your kids involved, have them pick toppings if they want an omelette. You can also have them stir the eggs for you. If you are like me and try not to bake to much so you buy the refrigerated cinnamon rolls instead of making it all from scratch the kids can help by squirting the icing on top. If they are old enough they can also help by shredding the potatoes for the hash browns. When making your hash browns try to remember to squeeze as much water out of the potatoes as you can so they will hold together better.

Mini-Quiches

You can also make a frittatta or quiche is you prefer crust. Again, super simple and a great way to make it fun for the kids is to make it in a mini cupcake pan.

 

Chicken fingers

Home made chicken fingers are always a win. You can bread them with breadcrumbs, panko crumbs, ritz crackers, matzo and more I am probably forgetting. If it’s something that needs to be crumbled ask the kids if they want to do it. My kids get a kick out of being able to smash food and not get in trouble for doing it. Another thing that’s fun about chicken fingers is letting the kids choose a dip they want. There’s your standards like ketchup, ranch,and blue cheese, or you can also make your own honey mustard.

Chicken & Cheese

My mom used to make this for us growing up. It was one of those dishes she only made a few times a year because while it was sooooo good it was not really the healthiest thing that you could eat once a month. I don’t have the exact recipe but it’s pretty simple to replicate. You slice your chicken into strips, dip into bread crimps and fry for a few minutes on each side just so they are browned a bit. Since they are small it won’t take long for them to cook. While those are cooking turn oven on to 350. When all your chicken is browned place in a pyrex dish. Dump a bunch of sliced mushrooms and then jack cheese. And when I say add cheese I mean a lot of cheese. Cover it! Cook in the oven until the cheese is all bubbly and there you have it– Chicken & Cheese!

 

Fish tacos

We started giving our kids fish at a young(ish) age hoping they would grow to like it. For the most part they don’t seem to mind it, but every once in a while they just won’t touch it. One fish recipe I have found that they will eat is fish tacos. Part of the draw being the same as the tostadas, they can build their own. I season the fish (mahi mahi) with cumin, onion powder, garlic salt and cayenne pepper. Easiest way to do this is mix your seasonings together a then sprinkle it on the fish (I like doing this because if I have extra I save it for the next time). Cook in some olive oil until fully cooked. For toppings, I use shredded cabbage, diced onions and sour cream mixed with salsa verde and lime juice. Warm some fresh corn tortillas, then put a piece of fish on and top with the toppings of your liking. Serve with some beans and Spanish rice and you have a quick and easy good meal. 

If your kids are interested in cooking and/or helping you, take advantage of it! Not only will the kids get the satisfaction of helping Mommy, but they get to see the start to finish and now that they helped you make that meal that everyone is eating.

Also, one trick I have found helpful for getting the kids to eat their veggies is to squirt lemon juice on the vegetables. No salt, no butter just lemon juice. It’s a win- win.  Still healthy and they eat them!

Do you have any tips or tricks that have worked for your family? We’d love to hear them!

My daughter, Sammi, has been a member for a little over a year. And because of the security of Yoursphere, I don’t worry about her taking part in the virtual world, keeping in touch with friends, making new friends, entering contests or taking part in the spheres or forums. She loves to be on her computer creating art and playing games, but even with parental controls, I have to keep an eye on what she’s doing. On Yoursphere though, any child that joins is allowed to by parental verification only. Everything is monitored and members can report improper language, bullying, etc.

Yoursphere is free and your when your children becomes a member, they’ll enjoy the summer fun too of this online community. When you sign your kids up using my promo code YS11-F41S, they’ll get 75 credits to spend in the Yoursphere Gift Gallery! The founder of Yoursphere, Mary Kay Hoal, has made it her goal to keep children safe on the internet. Her blog provides information and tips on this and other internet news.

Learn more about Yoursphere and internet safety by following Yoursphere on Facebook and the following Twitter accounts: Yoursphere.com, Mary Kay Hoal and YoursphereMom

Your tween will enjoy the fun this summer on Yoursphere, while you know that they are safe. And I bet their membership will continue way past the summer!

This is a sponsored post for Yoursphere. All opinions are completely my own. I’ve been a fan of Yoursphere for over a year and the work of Mary Kay Hoal, the founder of Yoursphere.

Just a little something to get you to smile.

So my husband, Shawn, daughter, Sammi, my mother, Natalie and I decided to be with them for Christmas Eve, Christmas and a few days after. Not only was this a family visit, but a Christmas gift for all of us. We didn’t spend much on presents since being together was more important than things. Alicia and Scott were worried that they still had work to do in their house and that it was too cold to do many things outdoors, but we reassured them none of that mattered. We’d sleep on the floor if we had to and we’d be happy just sitting around talking!

They surprised us by having an Italian Christmas Eve Dinner. It was special to be able to sit together and have a meal that is a tradition in my family.  We stayed up talking that night even though we were exhausted from our long day of travel. There’s nothing like laughing and going over stories, even if you’ve heard them hundreds of times.

The next morning we awoke to cookies baked by Alicia and Sammi the night before. Sammi didn’t run to see the presents that were under the tree. Yes, she’s growing up! We waited for Scott’s father, sister and brothers to arrive before we opened presents. There wasn ‘t much for us including Sammi, but there was a lot of love and gratitude.

The rest of the week, we spent with Alicia and Scott’s friends and Scott’s family. We had a potluck/White Elephant party, a massage for Sammi and my mom (their first) and me and Alicia (given to us all by Alicia), an Anniversary Dinner (for Shawn and me – our 14th) at Kobe Steak House, a short ice-skating trip, a sight-seeing drive of Wichita and lots of time playing board games, video games, reminiscing and planning more trips to see each other again.

As much as I miss being near to Alicia and Scott, I know that they’re happy where they live. They have plans for the future. Their family and friends are supportive and a lot of fun. Knowing that we will be seeing them again this summer or maybe before that for another family visit makes it a bit better. Kansas may be far, but our love keeps us close.

We plan on celebrating a lot more after the holidays with a party for her friends (probably a sleep over). Since she’s born so close to Christmas, she’s used to putting off her birthday party for a while so that people can attend. It’s something we started doing about 4 years ago. It works out great because she gets 2 parties in the long run.

This year she wanted cupcakes instead of a cake for her birthday -

But she had her own special cupcake just for herself -

And lots of presents, the kind that a tween girl wants -

Happy Birthday Sammi! We love you so much!!

We were lucky to find one of the few boy’s Mad Hatter costumes that were left. She didn’t care that it was a boy’s costume because it fit her so well and looks awesome. At least that’s done. I promise to post photos of her in her costume, but for now here’s what it looks like from Disney -

We’ll be decorating the house tonight, carving a pumpkin and buying lots of candy for our trick or treaters. We love to use our Mickey pumpkin to hand out candy.

If you’re like us and haven’t gotten everything ready yet for Halloween, or maybe you’re more organized and want to prepare for next year, you can still save money! Get up to 50% off select costumes and accessories at Disney Store. Shop Now! Be sure to check out the adult costumes, which are the high price items.

Saturday, Sammi will visit our local grocery store while in costume and get some candy with the neighborhood kids. She’ll also go out to do the real trick or treat deal on Sunday with friends.

Are you ready for this Halloween weekend?

You’ll get free admission for one year, a subscription to their newsletter, invitations to special events and openings and discounts on summer camps and birthday parties, (Edited to correct) and a 10% discount on store purchases (certain exceptions such as sale items, books and occasional selected purchases).

With your membership you’ll be part of the special reciprocal program with partner museums and attractions, where you’ll get one visit per month to these places:

• Bok Tower Gardens (All Year Long)
• Florida Holocaust Museum (January)
• Great Explorations (January)
• Tampa Bay History Center (February)
• Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art (March)
• Sunken Gardens (March and August)
• Florida Holocaust Museum (April, July, November)
• Tampa Museum of Art (April and June)
• Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art (April)
• Great Explorations (May and September)
• Polk Museum of Art (May and June)
• Tampa Museum of Art (May)
• South Florida Museum (June)
• Salvador Dali Museum (June and July)
• G WIZ the Science Museum (July, August and September)
• Selby Botanical Gardens (July)
• Mote Marine (August)
• Clearwater Marine Aquarium (September, October, November, December)
• MOSI, Museum of Science & Industry (October and December)

The Pier Aquarium is located at the St. Petersburg Pier. It has 3 cylinder tanks that are two stories high. There’s also a 400-gallon fresh water aquarium and a 1,000-gallon saltwater tank. The second floor has 14 aquariums, educational exhibits and a museum store. There’s also a Daily Touch Tank Experience from 1-4pm daily and fish feeding at 3pm.

This is the Year of the Ocean in which special programs are held the first Saturday of each month – FISH-Ful Saturdays. All this comes with your membership to the Pier Aquarium.

(affiliate links included)

Discounts

Every offer is at least 50% off the normal price, sometimes up to 90%. Offers vary from 50% off annual memberships to zoos, museums and aquariums to deeply discounted tickets to interactive play places to discounts to amusement parks. If it is fun for parents and kids, it is on the Savvy Savings list! Simply sign up to get the weekly discounts sent to you via email. You can also see the widget on the side of my blog which switches from one city to another and looks like this -

The awesome thing about Savvy Savings is that besides helping families like yours and mine save money, they raise money for families in need. Each time an offer is purchased,  5% of the purchase is donated to a local preschool of the purchaser’s choice and 5% is donated to a preschool scholarship fund.

Partner Programs

Savvy Savings & Scholarships has set up a partner program that rewards you when you share a weekly deal with your social network. Here’s how it works:

• When anyone who registers with Savvy Savings & Scholarships using your referral code, you earn 3% on all deals they purchase.
• Your referrals can also share their own referral code and make the same 3% you do. Plus, you will earn 2% off their referrals.
• And, yes, you guessed it, you will earn 1% from their referrals.

Cities

If you don’t see your city included on the family event discounts from Savvy Savings and Scholarships, have no fear! New cities are being added soon.

(affiliate links included above)