All in Kids

Another Beach Happy

Another Beach Happy

Brittany Payne
Randomness, Vacations, Kids

Emily and I went to the beach with just our girls back in March.  Both of our husbands were out of town the same week (super rare for them to both be gone at the exact same time).  Well as a treat for our girls, I decided to make them each a small happy (I made a slightly larger one a while back).  I didn't want to do anything super big for two reasons.  One we only were going to have so much room in the car, ha!  Two since we would only really be going to the beach one day, there wasn't much point to buy a whole lot of things to take.  Check out all the fun things I added to this one!

Easter 2018

Easter 2018

Brittany Payne
Randomness, Kids

Easter this year was much different that ones before.  Melody was able to walk this Easter, and she was much more interested in hunting eggs.  We spent Easter local instead of traveling like we usually do.  While we missed our out of town family, it was nice to spend Easter with our local family and friends.  And traveling on holidays can be really stressful too.  Unfortunately our dishwasher sprung a leak the week before, so that did create some drama Easter weekend.  However it was a blessing we were in town to handle it.  Aside from the housing woes, we had a very fun and eventful Easter weekend.  Check it all out below:

Memphis Zoo

Memphis Zoo

Brittany Payne
Vacations, Kids

In early March, we went to Memphis to visit Brad's family.  His dad was turning 60, and his mom was surprising him with a birthday party that weekend with family.  While there, we visited the Memphis Zoo.  I don't recall ever visiting here before.  As a kid we went to the Birmingham Zoo, but I never remember the Memphis Zoo.  And this was an obvious first visit for Melody.  My brother in law and sister in law have season passes, so they were extremely familiar with the zoo and what Melody would be interested in.  So because of this, we followed their lead, and I didn't do any research before hand.  As an avid Disney planner, this was difficult for me, but I knew I could trust them and their guidance!

Doll Shenanigans

Doll Shenanigans

Brittany Payne
Randomness, Kids

For Melody's first Christmas, her Nannie gave her an American Girl doll.  It took her about 6 months to really become interested in her doll, but when she did, she became obsessed!  She now sleeps with it in her crib at night, and it goes with us on almost every trip.  Well prior to us moving it to her crib, each night we would take turns setting the doll up so that it appeared she got into certain shenanigans each night.  We did this most nights for about 6 months or so.  Some nights we didn't do anything too fancy.  And a lot of nights it was a real stretch to come up with anything!  Well below are some of my favorites!

Disney Packing

Disney Packing

Brittany Payne
Vacations, Kids

Packing for Disney can be quite a challenge.  The challenge becomes even more difficult when a baby/toddler is involved.  I had to make quite a few lists in addition to my usual travel checklist.  I wanted to share some of the packing tips/tricks/advice I have.  I am certain my advice isn't perfect, but I know every little bit helps!

Melody Lately

Melody Lately

Brittany Payne
Kids

It has been awhile since I did a Melody post.  I don't have a lot of schedule changes like she did her first year, so I don't feel like I am updating about her as much.  So I thought I would do a post all about Melody lately!

Snow Day

Snow Day

Brittany Payne
Household, Kids

Over the last week, we have had a few "snow days".  In most cases, if there is a chance of snow, schools begin to close.  Schools closed Friday, Tuesday, and Wednesday [so far!].  And since Monday was a holiday, they were out of school then too.  My husband's work also was cancelled for Friday and Tuesday.  Friday was lackluster, and we didn't get any snow.  However, Tuesday we did get some.  It wasn't a lot by any means, but it was enough to get out and play in for a bit.  This was Melody's first opportunity to really play in snow.  She seemed to really love it.  So much so, she wasn't very happy to come back inside!

Disney Day 6 - Friday

Disney Day 6 - Friday

Brittany Payne
Vacations, Kids

Today was a sad day.  It was our very last day at Disney!  While we were excited about some of the things we had planned, we were also sad that our trip was literally almost over.  It was also a misty day.  It wasn't raining enough for a poncho, but it was sprinkling enough to frustrate you!

Disney Day 5 - Thursday

Disney Day 5 - Thursday

Brittany Payne
Vacations, Kids

Today was an early morning.  We had a breakfast reservation at Be Our Guest at 8:20 am.  I wanted to be there fairly early so that we would be able to get in closer to 8 and take a few pictures with a fairly empty park.  Our only other reservation for the day was for Emily and Justin at Hollywood and Vine for dinner.  We also had Fastpasses scheduled in Magic Kingdom after breakfast.

Disney Day 4 - Wednesday

Disney Day 4 - Wednesday

Brittany Payne
Vacations, Kids

Today was meant to be our "break" day.  We did have lunch reservations at Biergarten at Epcot along with a couple of Fastpasses.  None of our Fastpasses were "required", but since we had a park ticket that day, we opted to book some Fatpasses just in case.  The night before, Brad and I decided to try and make it to Epcot at park opening and do a few things before lunch.  Then we could spend the afternoon and evening around the resort or at Downtown Disney.

Disney Day 3 - Tuesday

Disney Day 3 - Tuesday

Brittany Payne
Vacations, Kids

Tuesday was scheduled to be our busiest day yet.  We planned to visit three parks - Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom.  We had breakfast reservations at Garden Grill at 8:05, an hour before park opening.  Then we had Fastpasses to the Na'Vi River Journey between 7 and 8 pm.  The park closes at 8.  So it was going to be a very, very long day!  Long, hot, busy days tend to lead to breakdowns.  Check out ours below!

Disney Day 2 - Monday

Disney Day 2 - Monday

Brittany Payne
Vacations, Kids

Our second day of our trip to Disney was actually our first full day in Orlando.  Since we traveled so much the day before, we decided to take the morning easy.  We made lunch reservations at the Garden Grill for noon.  So that was our only true deadline.  Our plans otherwise were to spend the day at Epcot.  We had a few Fastpasses for that afternoon and dinner planned at Chefs de France.

Disney Day 1 - Sunday

Disney Day 1 - Sunday

Brittany Payne
Vacations, Kids

Since we opted to drive to Disney with an 18 month old, we decided to leave our house as early as possible.  We wanted Melody to sleep as much of the drive as we possibly could.  We opted to leave at 2 am.  On a "normal" drive, it takes 10-11 hours.  Plus there is an hour time difference.  We usually only stop once for food and, at most, once for gas.  I knew that was not going to be the case with this drive however.

Baby Travel Checklist

Baby Travel Checklist

Brittany Payne
Vacations, Kids

Before having Melody, we traveled all the time.  Whether it was a visit to simply see family or small trips to the beach or even large trips to New York, traveling is a part of us.  After having Melody, traveling did slow down, but we still traveled quite a bit.  In the last six months we have tried to make an effort to slow down on traveling.  But traveling cannot be avoided.  So I decided to try and make it easier.

December 2017 Disney Planning

December 2017 Disney Planning

Brittany Payne
Vacations, Kids

So we just got back from a trip to Disney World.  We have been planning this trip for almost a year.  Not only was it Brad, Melody, and me, but we also went with Justin, Emily (my best friend), and Lydia.  Quite a lot of planning went into this trip...a lot more than our trip back in February.  February was a much smaller trip, and there wasn't as many people to plan for!  Check out all of the details below!

Ponytail Favors

Ponytail Favors

Brittany Payne
Crafts, Parties, Kids

I recently hosted a Baby Sprinkle for my sister in law.  For her last baby shower, I made bookmark favors.  I considered making a favor that incorporated sprinkles to continue with the theme.  I thought maybe actual sprinkles, or some sort of food dipped in sprinkles and served in cute snack bags.  But I really wanted something people would use.  So I decided the favors should be ponytail holders!

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