Disney on Ice Dare to Dream Review

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I had been avoiding Disney on Ice like the plague for the last few years.

Selfishly, I thought it would be awful and I wouldn’t enjoy it. Also the whole merchandising attack that I thought would befall us as soon as we entered kinda made me sick to my stomach.

An opportunity to go to Disney on Ice Dare to Dream came along as part of doing a giveaway and writing a review. My baby girl had seen an advertisement for it somewhere, somehow, and had been talking about. The time had come.

She donned her princess dress, and N dressed up as Flynn Ryder. There weren’t many other almost 6 year old boys there, but N didn’t seem to notice. He insisted on coming because even though it was mostly princesses, “Eugene will be there Mom – its okay.” We brought Nana along for her birthday, tiara perched atop her head, and off we went to TDGarden on a Friday night.

We watch Disney Jr. like it’s our job around here, but I purposely have left much of the princess stuff out of our lives. S has received many hand me down dressup princess clothes and I have cut every princess medallion off them. She can decide what kind of princess she wants to be! They have seen Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and the Princess and the Frog a couple of times each. However, we’ve seen Tangled many many many times.

I haven’t been to the Garden since it was the old Garden. I thought we would be further away from the skating and we’d have a hard time seeing. Turns out we had awesome seats and so did everyone else. Truly.

Disney on Ice did a great job condensing the stories so that they still made sense. Great costumes, and music, of course. It was all really well done.
I could tell they spent the most time on the Tangled concept and execution. It was great. The skating seemed a bit more complicated than the other sets, and more entertaining. They used some silks hanging from the rafters to sail through the air  – it was a real crowd pleaser. Loved it.

As I feared, the merchandising was nauseating, every 5 feet there was something princessy that cost $20. It was awful. I told the kids I wouldn’t be buying them anything. Not one thing. However, I would never refuse a Nana her god given right to spoil her grandkids rotten. They nearly lost their minds when she came back to the seats with these.

So if you have some time over the Februaury break to go, you should go. If you have any princess girls in your house, you should go. Tangled fans? GO! So fun. Tickets are here.

Disney on Ice Dare to Dream Giveaway!

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“Get tangled up in the newest thrilling show to hit the ice, Disney On Ice presents Dare to Dream. Experience Disney’s hilarious hair-raising escapade, Tangled; as Rapunzel, her unlikely companion, Flynn, and Maximus, embark on an uproarious journey that takes adventure to new lengths!  Boogie to the beat of the bayou with Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen in a magical, musical journey that all begins with a fateful kiss.  And fanciful dreams become reality as Cinderella meets her Prince Charming, with a glass slipper fit for an unforgettable fantasy come true. All your favorite princesses take to the ice in a spectacular finale at the ultimate Disney Princess event of a lifetime!  Experience the beauty, sparkle, and spirit when Disney On Ice presents Dare to Dream comes to your hometown!”

Disney on Ice is coming to the TD Garden over school vacation week in February (Feb. 17-26)! To find out show times and order tickets, visit Ticketmaster here.

The Life of Reilly is giving away a family 4 pack of tickets to Opening Night Friday February 17th.

Mandatory entry is to leave a comment telling me a favorite Disney memory.

Happy Everything 2014

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I have been saying NO to my kids for so long about getting a video game that they have stopped asking. So I figured it was a good time to get it for them. They would never see it coming!

You know how much I love surprising them, it’s my favorite thing!

Wait till you see. They really never saw. it. coming. They still weren’t sure after they reacted and were looking right at it. SO funny!

Then they danced :-)

Happy Everything to you and yours!

We wish you all kinds of great surprises and awesome dance breaks all year long.
Happy 2015!

Olaf the Pumpkin Snowman!

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I am sure there are a 100 posts about this on Pinterest. But I’m not even going to check. I’m just going to post this for you here because I think it’s so stinkin’ cute.

Olaf from Disney’s Frozen made out of pumpkins for Halloween!

I will NEVER do this this but I hope some of you crafty mamas out there do! I can’t take credit for this. Some crafty person at the Red Fox Bar & Grille in NH made this. We saw it when we visited this weekend. I had to share.

What you’ll need:

3 pumpkins
white paint
black paint of black marker
black felt
orange felt
glue
sticks

Go! Make it please? And then show me on Facebook! I’d LOVE to see it.

Craft on mamas, craft on.

charity: water. also, my kids are awesome.

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All of my kids’ birthdays are within three weeks of each other. It’s a hectic and cake filled three weeks. Cake makes everything better. I actually love it. I love that they are excited for their own birthdays and equally excited about their siblings birthdays!

Last year we had separate birthdays for everyone. This year we diecided on one big bash. We had just been to Disney and spent a ridiculous fair amount of money and had told them it was part of their birthday presents. We knew that when birthdays rolled around they wouldn’t really remember it that way.

So one big party was planned. Next I wanted to fend off the present frenzy. I’ve been trying to pare down around here and the thought of 30 or so more plastic things in my house had me in hives. I approached the oldest with an idea about giving his birthday over to charity: water instead.

We discussed it.

We watched videos.

We cried.

I think the clincher was him seeing me cry over some of the videos. I really tried not to, but I’m a crier. At one point he reached out and put his hand on my back “You ok mom?” He’s such a sweet boy. We even won over the almost 5 year old after a few days. She kept asking to watch the videos and it started to click.

I want them to learn to give back. We don’t have a ton, but we have enough. More than enough. We live in a very wealthy town. I need for my kids to understand that most of the world does not live like that, or even like this.

So we started a campaign: http://my.charitywater.org/birthdays-help-kids

Then, like ya do, we made a video:

There should be an awesome video here. If not, please refresh your browser. It will appear like magic!

The charity: water team saw the video today for the first time and left a donation!

They left a comment that my oldest just thought was the best. “A donation for each of you — from the charity: water team. Thanks for being rockstars. We love your video!”

Rockstars.

It’s My Birthday!

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It is my birthday today!!

I will politely wait for you to finish singing…

Thank you :-)

I think I missed like a whole week of blogging in there. I do not know what happened. Life happened, I guess. I’m busy. We’re all busy.

Except for the lady at the nail salon today who is SO MUCH BUSIER than me and everyone else on the planet. She must have told me how busy she was, or how much she had to do, or going on, or however you’d like to phrase it –  like 6 times.

AS IF.

Deep breath.

I tell you this only to get to the part where I got a mani/pedi today! It was looooong overdue. I was supposed to get one before we went to Disney but then sick children happened. Then I was supposed to get it AT Disney, but then sick children happened. Oy.

So tra la LA!! –  today was the day. I have pretty pink fingernails and lovely purple toenails.

Someone at home became jealous of my toes and insisted I become a pedicurist. Immediately.


Gosh how I love those toes.

I tell you this also because I am not my usual angsty self this birthday. Oftentimes I get the birthday blues. But I’m doing ok. This weird encounter with crazy lady might have unhinged me other years and other days, but NOT today. My kids are healthy. Husband has some super secret cake making plans (she spilled it during her pedicure :-) All is well.

Do you ever get weird on your birthday? Do you treat yourself or let others treat you?