Postcard Friendship Friday #6

Here are some other postcards from Australia, courtesy of that same pen pal that sent me last week's card. These are from Perth. The top one is the Floral Clock in Kings Park...that's right a clock made from flowers! How cool is that? He sent me a set of 12 postcards in all and that one is my favorite!

The bottom one is the city skyline view from Kings park. Kings park is a botanic garden in Perth. According to one website I found it is the most popular visitor destination in Western Australia.


Happy Postcard Friendship Friday, Mate!

To see more postcard from postcard friendship Friday visit Marie athttp://www.cpaphilblog.com

Blogger Award

I received by first blogger award today! Thank you Amy! You can check out Amy's Awe-summ blog at http/keepingupwiththeschultzfamily.blogspot.com.

Here are the rules:

List 7 things that make you Awe-Summ and then pass the award on to 7 bloggers you love.

Make sure to tag your recipients and let them know they have won!

Also link back to the Queen that tagged you.

Ok, here are the 7 things that make me Awe-summ.

1. I have homeschooled my kids for 7 years now and I'm still sane!

2. I love to organize things.

3. I go to church every Sunday, even on vacation!

4. I'm a pretty good cook.

5. I have the most awe-summ husband in the world!

6. I rescue baby animals that show up in my back yard.

7. I live in Texas...the most awe-summ state!

Now, I award this blogger award to the following awe-summ blogs...

1. Frugal Fabulous because to be frugal and fabulous is pretty awe-summ!

2. Sweet Serendipity ...awe-summ homeschoolers!

3. The Niebuhr Family ... awe-summ Texas Tech fans!

4. Muse Swings always awe-summ stories! (and quite amusing!)

5. Life's a Calling, Who is This? ...some awe-summ comics yesterday!

6. Eskimo Kisses and Air Hugs ...awe-summ Texas sunset picture on your blog!

7. Cpaphil Vintage Postcards because Postcard friendship Friday is awe-summ!

So, my fellow Queens of all things, take this blogger award and pass it on to 7 more awe-summ bloggers!

Aimee

Roses!

Here is a picture of my first rose blooms of the season! I used to have a white rose plant that the kids gave me one mother's day. I had it for several years and it always bloomed for the first time on Mother's day weekend. Unfortunately, it died last winter. So, I replaced it with this yellow one...I guess it didn't want wait until Mother's Day to bloom!

Big Ooops!

I've mentioned before that Claire has 4 pet snails. She has had them for a couple of months now. I found them in the backyard while I was planting flowers. She keeps them in a bug viewer and we clean out their home every week. She loves these snails! She named them Willy, Billy, Nilly, and Lilly at first. Then one was named Unaccepted! When I asked why she said it was because she didn't like it because it always bothered Lilly. I don't really know how a snail bothers another snail, but ok! Then, she changed it to something nicer because it was being nice to Lilly. Their names seem to change all the time...except for Lilly. That's the little one and it's Claire's favorite.


Well, today was habitat cleaning day for the snails. We took them to the back porch and Claire put them on the porch. I went to clean out the container. At one point she was jumping up and down next to them. I told her to be careful, she wouldn't want to jump on one. Then, she went around to the front of the house with me and just left them on the porch. I had to send her back to watch them so they didn't crawl away. Finally, the container is clean (snails can be quite messy!) and we are ready to put their stuff back in it. Each week they get new leaves to eat and new dirt. Well, their stick was old and yucky so I threw it out. Claire wanted another stick. I say, ok, I'll go get one, and I take a step to go to the backyard. Crunch! I stepped on one of the snails!!!! I said, Oh my gosh! and she and Nathan said what? They hadn't heard it! I shoved them in the door and said go inside! I scraped the poor little guy off the porch and thought, what am I going to do now???

If they had been Nathan's snails I would have just said, Oh, no, I stepped on a snail. I'll find you another one. And he probably would have said, Ok. Can I see it? Did its guts squish out? But I wasn't dealing with Sir Doesn't care about a-lot. No, I was dealing with Princess cries a-lot, the sentimental maiden! I knew that she would just ball and ball if I told her about it, and she would never forget it and always be bothered by it. That's just how she is.

So.....I grab the shovel and head to my flower bed where I found them in the first place. I thought, "it's just rained, I found 4 without trying before, I should find one in no time!" WRONG! I dug and dug and couldn't find anything but earthworms! Not a snail to be found! I look back and the kids are watching me from the window. I think I'm busted, but no. They never asked what I was doing. I went looking all around the yard to see if there was somewhere else I could dig or if maybe one was crawling around somewhere. No luck! Then, the kids come to the back door again. Claire asked where her snails were. I said they were in the container. She said, "Are you sure you got Lilly?" I said yes and secretly prayed that Lilly was not the one I stepped on! Then I headed back to the flower bed one more time. I have a Mary and a St. Francis statue in that corner. I had to move Mary off the stone she was on so I could stand on it. When I did, I prayed, "Mary you are a mother. Please help me find a snail for Claire." Then, I think... I've got St. Francis here too, patron of all things animal related. So I say "St. Francis, pray for me!" I start digging again and less than a minute later I found a snail!! I was so happy! I was patting the statues on the heads saying, "Thank you! Thank you!"

I put the snail in the habitat with the others and so far, Claire hasn't said a word about it. The new guy was big, probably bigger than the one I stepped on, but they are snails and they all look alike anyway so I hope she doesn't notice. Thank God I didn't crush Lilly!! She was little and would have been very hard to replace!

One of the snails....

Thank you, Mary and St. Francis!!

Seriously?

I read an article in our local paper today. It was about how to clean your house. It's in their series of do it yourself things that can help save money in this economy. That's right...How to clean your house. When did this happen? When did we become a society of people who don't know how to clean up after themselves?

I understand if you have kids, a job, a house, etc. that you may hire someone to clean your house. That's understandable. Also, it's always nice to read tips on how to clean stubborn stains or such. However, the tone in this article was how to do the basic things like vaccuuming and putting stuff away in the bathroom. It had a "really, you can do it" tone. Seriously? You plug the vaccuum into the wall, turn it on and push it! Do people really not know how to do that? Put the toothpaste in the drawer when you are finished. Hmmm...that's easy enough.

At first I thought, Boo for the paper. They are assuming that their readers are helpless adults who don't know how to clean up after themselves. Then, I got to thinking....I've heard people say things like that! There really are those people out there.

Here are some quotes from the article:
"Declutter the bathroom counter by putting things away in drawers and under vanities."

"Do your own windows"

"Keep a spray bottle of all purpose cleaner handy under sinks for quick wipedown jobs."


Being a stay at home mom, I am here to clean my own home. Even when I worked full time, though, I still knew how to clean my home and did it efficiently. If people really don't know how to clean up their own house, then they have a bigger problem than the economy! I think many are not passing basic "take care of yourself" skills onto their children these days. That is sad. That is what I came away from the article thinking...how sad.

Now, my house may not be the cleanest all the time, but I clean it and I know how to clean it. And most importantly, I'm teaching my kids how as well.

Nathan's dinner last night

We go out for lunch every Sunday after church. Since we are usually full for the rest of the day we eat very little for dinner...a bowl of cereal, a sandwich, etc. And since everyone gets hungry at a different time we all just go get what we want when we want.

Well, last night my 11 yr. old son went in the kitchen to get something. I just assumed he was making a sandwich or something. I sat down to watch tv with my husband and forgot all about it. I thought he had finished and gone upstairs. NOPE! My husband went into the kitchen and I hear, "Come here, you've got to see this!" This is what I found...

Nathan's explanation: "I came in here to eat a bowl of cereal. After I did that, I found the chips, pretzels, and goldfish in the pantry so I ate those. Then, I thought this is NOT healthy! So, I got some yogurt and peanuts."

(The peanuts were honey roasted too, so I'm not sure how healthy that really was!)

I must say, I like his reasoning...pig out on a bunch of junk food and then to counter the unhealthiness of it, just eat some yogurt and peanuts!! Oh, if only that really worked!!

Postcard Friendship Friday #5

This postcard was sent to me by one of my pen pals. I had several military pen pals when I was in high school and college. One, in particular, used to send me postcards when his ship went somewhere new. He spent a lot of time in Australia so I have some from Perth too....maybe I'll post those next week!

I especially like this one because of what is printed on the back. All of this was really printed on the card, even the P.S. part...

Aerial View of Sydney Tower

At 305 m (1000 feet), it is the tallest strcuture in Australia and a magnificent addition to Sydney's skyline.

P.S. CLIMBING THE TOWER FROM THE OUTSIDE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED!

I typed it just as it was on the postcard with all caps and exclamation mark! Makes you wonder how many people have tried to climb it.

To see more postcard from postcard friendship Friday visit Marie athttp://www.cpaphilblog.com

Humorous Homeschool Lesson

Here's a little writing exercise that might be good for any kids out there that don't really care for writing.

My son does not like to write. He complains everytime he has to write anything! Today's writing assignment got no complaints from him, though. He had to write funny epitaphs for imaginary people that the book gave him. He loves to kill people off in his stories and such so this was right up his alley! Here are a few that he did. I helped him with the last one because he was having trouble saying what he wanted to say and still making it rhyme, but the other two he did all on his own.

Here lies Ebenezer
Who, in his lungs, grew mold.
He became a sneezer,
And he finally died of a cold.

Here lies Abel Brown
who always fell down.
One day into a hole he fell,
And now he has no tale to tell.

Here lies Ira Jones
Who loved to talk on phones.
Once he gave to much information
Now he's on an eternal vacation.

Free reuseable bag from Walgreens

A friend of mine posted this offer on our homeschool message board...

It's valid today, Apr. 22 only...Earth day.

print out this coupon http://tinyurl.com/c6mvhb to get 15%off everything or 20% off Walgreens brand items, plus a free reusable shoppingbag.

Homeschool funny...

Another homeschooler posted this on our homeschool discussion group page. I thought it was pretty funny so I'm posting it here for other homeschoolers to read. The "socialization" topic is always such a pain for homeschoolers to deal with! The truth of the matter is that my kids have so much on their social calendar that we have to turn stuff down, and by homeschooling we get to avoid a lot of the negative socialization that most kids have to deal with.


"When my wife and I mention we are strongly considering homeschooling our children, we are without fail asked, `But what about socialization? ' Fortunately, we found a way our kids can receive the same socialization that government schools provide."

On Mondays and Wednesdays, I will personally corner my son in the bathroom, give him a wedgie and take his lunch money.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, my wife will make sure to tease our children for not being in the `in' crowd, taking special care to poke fun at any physical abnormalities.

Fridays will be `Fad and Peer Pressure Day.' We will all compete to see who has the coolest toys, the most expensive clothes, and the loudest, fastest, and most dangerous car.

Every day, my wife and I will adhere to a routine of cursing and swearing in the hall and mentioning our weekend exploits with alcohol and immorality. …

And we have asked (our kids) to report us to the authorities in the event we mention faith, religion, or try to bring up morals and values."- author unknown

Tonight's dinner conversation

We went to the animal shelter today to renew our cat's license and the kids found a kitten they wanted to adopt. Over dinner they asked my husband if they could have another cat and he, of course, said no. Then the whole pet topic got a little crazy!

A couple things to know: I love turtles! And Claire has 4 snails from our backyard for pets. (I need to do a whole separate post about those snails!)

Hubby: We can't get another pet. Mommy doesn't want to take care of it.
Claire: I'll take care of it.
Me: How many times have you cleaned Simba's litterbox?
Claire: Well, she's your cat.
Nathan: What about a rabbit?
Me: Yea, I found a place to adopt rabbits.
Hubby: Can we let it get really big and eat it?
Everyone else: NO!!!
Hubby: Then we can't get it. You can only have a pet we can eat.
Claire: I have 4 snails.
Hubby: We can eat snails. We ate escargot.
Me: I think those are different snails, Honey.
Nathan: Then, I want a pet spider.
Me: NO!!!!
Hubby: What about a turtle? We can eat a turtle
Me: NO!!!!
Nathan: Then, I want a pet elephant.
Claire: Can I have a pet giraffe?
Me: There are laws that say you can have those kinds of animals for pets.
Nathan: What about a penguin?
Me: Well, that might be ok. I don't think a penguin would be any trouble.
Hubby: I don't know, did you ever see that penguin on Batman?

This whole conversation just cracked me up so I had to post it!

Chef Nathan

Last night at dinner Nathan proclaimed he was hungry for a big chocolate chip cookie. My husband and I both said, "well, make one!" So after dinner I gave him a recipe and told him to go to work. Of course, Claire wanted to help. They pretty much did everything on their own. The cookies were very yummy too! We had them warm out of the oven with chocolate chip ice cream on top. (Blue Bell, of course!) Here are some pics of the kids hard at work. Nathan decided he liked eating cookies much more than making them! (I think he gets that from his dad!!)

Postcard Friendship Friday #4

This is a postcard from Aquarena Springs. It was a little amusement park type place back in the early 80s in San Marcos, TX (near San Antonio). We went there on vacation once. They had glass bottom boat rides, a diving pig, water shows, and a petting zoo which is what the postcard is showing. Another really cool thing they had was a mermaid statue that you could sit on for a photo op.





My husband and I both went there when we were kids. (We grew up 45 miles apart but didn't meet until we were at college 500 miles away from home!) We both have pictures of us sitting on that mermaid statue! This is really amazing because my husband has VERY FEW pictures of himself as a child. When I pulled them out to scan them, I noticed that we were both there in the summer of 1980! Small world, I know our paths crossed a couple other times too. I guess we were just destined to meet!

Here is the picture of my husband there in 1980...

and here I am!

Just a side note...

Aquarina Springs still exists...sort of. It is not an amusement park anymore...no diving pig or water shows, etc.. It has been taken over by the university there in San Marcos and is more of a research/teaching facility. You can still visit it though. They have some hands on museum type of things and they still have the glass bottom boat rides. We took our son when he was about 3. We went on the glass bottom boat ride and walked the grounds, but alas, the mermaid statue is gone so we couldn't take his picture on it!

To see more postcard from postcard friendship Friday visit Marie athttp://www.cpaphilblog.com

Calgon, Take Me Away!

Do you remember those old Calgon commericals where the woman was having a hectic day...phone ringing, kids crying, someone at the door, etc? Well, I had one of those Calgon moments today!

Our house is for sale and we requested a 1 hr. notice before a showing....because I can rarely get out of the house in 20 or 30 min. especially if I'm in the middle of school or laundry, etc. Well, today I got a call wanting an exception to the 1 hr. notice. An agent wanted to show our house between 11:15-12:15. (It was 10:45 when the showing service called me.) I went ahead and said ok, because I thought maybe I could make it out of the house in 30 min. Well, I was dreaming!

I was outside cleaning the cat's crate when I got the call so I threw all of that in the garage. Claire's snails were waiting to have their habitat cleaned too, but they also got tossed into the garage. I made my daughter's bed and swept up the breakfast crumbs that were on the floor. Then, I loaded the breakfast dishes into the dishwasher. The kids know the routine so they went and cleaned up their toys, etc. I had a couple of boxes of VBS craft supplies sitting in my entry way that I needed to take to a meeting tonight so I went to load them up in the van.

Ok, here is when the Calgon moment starts...

As I'm about to get the really big heavy box out of the house, the agent drives up. I tell the kids get in the car, they're here, as soon as I get this box in the van we'll leave. (We had a couple of errands to run.) Well, Claire is saying something from somewhere. I have no idea where she is. I finally find her in her closet. She dumped a whole drawer of papers and junk out onto the floor and was trying to pick them up. I told her to get in the car. This resulted in her throwing a really loud crying fit. Claire is notorious for crying at the drop of a hat. We should have named her Princess cries-a-lot! Anyway, I scoop up everything and shove the drawer back in. I run out to the garage to grab the big box and leave and I'm met by 2 little dogs that are trying to run in my house. I think they belong to the family that came to see the house, who is now on my driveway watching my screaming daughter get in the car and watching me wrestle a really big, heavy box of crafts out my door while 2 dogs jump on me.
Well, they weren't their dogs either! So, that's just great! These people come to see our house and are greeted by strange dogs and crying children!

The lock box with our keys in it is on the garage door which was open at this time so they couldn't get to the keys until I pulled the van out of the garage and closed the door. This was not easy because one of the dogs kept running back in my garage! The realtor had to hold onto it while I closed the door! How embarassing! I told my husband, "if those poor people end up buying the house, well, God Bless Them!" I can just imagine what they were thinking.

When we got back, the dogs were camped out on my porch like they belonged there! They kept running in my garage trying to get in the house and eat my cat's food. I tied them to a tree, gave them some water, and called animal control. They didn't have tags, but they were really friendly. Someone will be looking for them when they get home today, I'm sure. I hope they call the shelter and find them, but I just couldn't deal with 2 more unexpected things today!

This day has gotten out of hand. I had a plan when I got up, but boy that didn't last long! We are skipping PE today because my son has an early baseball game and I need to make an early dinner. Of course, this does not make my daughter happy because she wants to go to PE...so now she is mad about that...at least she isn't crying though!

Calgon take me away!!

Why I don't like going to the dentist

I had a dentist appointment today to have my teeth cleaned. As I'm lying back in the chair this is what's going through my mind...

Most people don't like the dentist because they are afraid of needles or drills or pain. I'm fine with all those things I don't like going because I feel a little insulted! Its kinda like having someone you barely know come over to your house and start polishing your floor. I mean, you sweep it twice a day and mop it every other day, it looks fine, but they still have to polish it. And they do it as you sit by in awkward silence. Then, as they leave they say "nice to see you try to mop that floor a little more often!" That's how I feel when I go have my teeth cleaned. I brush them and floss them (maybe not as often as I should, but I floss!). Then, I go in and they take these metal instruments and the little motorized polisher. When that polisher was going I was invisioning one of those big motorized floor waxers! Then they always say to floss more.

I don't know why I feel insulted. I know everyone's teeth are cleaned this way. Does anyone else feel this way or is it just me?? :)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to everyone out there!
Our Easter has been nice...very relaxing! I even enjoyed a rare afternoon nap! We had a wonderful brunch and I think we are all still full this afternooon!
Our day started out wet with thunderstorms, but it is clearing to become a really nice day. The Easter Bunny had to hide the eggs in the house though...thunderstorms all night. My 6 yr. old daughter is convinced she heard him last night. She said she heard a "boing" sound so it must have been the Easter Bunny!

Cupcakes Claire and I decorated yesterday.

Postcard Friendship Friday #3

This is a postcard my grandfather sent me back in the early 80s. I posted one of the Vegas ones from this trip last week. My grandparents drove from S. Texas to New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada all in one trip, sending postcards along the way! I thought this one was really interesting because it shows one cowboy lighting a cigarette for the other. (I don't know how well that comes across on the smaller picture on the blog.) I was about 5 or 6 when this was sent to me. I couldn't imagine sending a postcard with people smoking to a 5 or 6 yr. old today!

It's funny. Back then a lot of people smoked...tv characters, cartoons, you name it. I remember seeing magazine ads and billboards for cigarettes. I also remember those old cigarette vending machines everywhere. No one in my family smoked, but we still had ashtrays in our living room because so many people we knew smoked. I'm glad times have changed and smoking is not as glorified as it used to be! I couldn't imagine having an ashtray in my house for guests now! It is funny to look back and think about how things were, though. It also makes me feel a little old that I'm remembering "how things used to be" 25 years ago!

To see more postcard from postcard friendship Friday visit Marie at
http://www.cpaphilblog.com

Why I never seem to have time to blog...

I never seem to have the time to blog these days. Here's a couple of pictures of part of the reason! It seems I am always driving someone somewhere...Baseball practice, gymnastics, field trips. I never thought a stay at home mom would be out of the home so much! I wish I could just stay at home for once! We also have our house for sale again so I have to constantly leave for showings...have another one tonight and a baseball game. At least I don't have to make dinner. We'll be grabbing that on the run!

Postcard Friendship Friday #2

My grandparents went to Las Vegas in the early 80s, I think. Sorry, I was really little and can't remember the year! The back of the postcard says copyright 1980. This is a postcard they sent to me. I've never been to Vegas, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't look like this anymore!

To see more Postcard Friendship Friday postcards visit Marie at

Voila Vintage Postcards!

Banana Rum night!

We brought back a bottle of banana rum from the Bahamas and we didn't know what to do with it so I searched the web for some recipes yesterday. Well, looking at all those recipes got me in the mood to cook! I ended up making a whole Island themed dinner last night...grilled Hawaiian Chicken, Rice pilaf, multigrain bread, fruit salad and of course, Banana creme daiquiris and Banana Rum cake! It was sooo good. I'm actually eating a piece of the leftover cake right now! It has a crust of rum sauce and roasted pecans that is fantastic! I had extra rum sauce left over so I drizzled it on the ice cream...that was really good!

Banana Creme Daiquiris

Banana Rum Cake

Here is the recipe for the Banana Rum Cake. It made a lot of glaze so you could probably cut the glaze recipe in half. I used banana rum wherever it says rum, but you can use regular rum. I also added some cinnamon and sugar to the pecans as I was roasting them.

Ingredients:

For the Dark Rum Glaze: 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter 1/4 cup water 1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup dark rum

For the Cake: 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, toasted 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter 2 cups granulated sugar 1 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar 5 large eggs, at room temp 1 cup mashed, very ripe bananas (about 3 medium bananas) 2 tsps pure vanilla extract 3 tbsps dark rum 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 10-cup tube pan with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle the pecans in the bottom of the pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the mashed bananas, vanilla, and rum. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt over the batter and fold in using a rubber spatula, just until no streaks of flour remain. Fold in the buttermilk. Spoon the batter over the nuts in the pan and spread to the edge of the pan.

To make the glaze: Combine the butter, water, and sugars in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the rum. Set aside and keep warm.

Bake cake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Use a wooden skewer to poke holes all over the cake and pour 1/4 cup of the warm glaze over the cake. Let the cake cool for 5 minutes more. Place a serving platter over the pan and invert to release the cake onto the platter. Spoon the remaining glaze over the cake, a little at a time, and let stand until the glaze is completely absorbed into the cake. As the glaze hardens, this will encase the cake in a rummy, sugary shell. Let the cake cool completely before cutting into wedges and serving.

Downtown Disney

We went to Downtown Disney a couple times during our trip. We didn't do a lot of stuff there, but here is my input on what we did do.

Planet Hollywood: We ate dinner here one night...very overrated, bad service, overpriced food. I'm sure there are other restaurants in Downtown disney that are better.

The Lego Store: We love this place! Its a good place to buy mini figs that you can buy separately anywhere else. And they have lots of cool stuff made out of legos including this sea monster!

World of Disney Store: Huge store full of Disney Souvenirs. Same prices as in the park. When we were there they were having a 35% off all toys sale. My daughter got a set of princes to go with her princesses at home for less than we would have paid for it at Target...and I've never seen the prince playset anywhere but Disney.

Disney Quest: This is a huge video game/virtual reality type place. Its lots of fun! All four of us had a great time there. It is owned by Disney and admission to it is included on your disney tickets IF you buy the waterpark and more option. If not, you can pay at the door. We ordered discount tickets online before we left. Here is the site I used. It was reliable and had quick shipping. www.ticketmania.com

Disney runs buses to Downtown Disney from their resorts and I believe also from the Transportation and Ticket center. We stayed at the Port Orleans Resort so we could also take a boat, but you can only do that if you are staying at certain resorts.

Tips for visiting Disney World: Magic Kingdom

This is probably the most popular park! If you have little ones, go to fantasyland first. There won't be lines for all the little rides they want. The Dumbo ride pretty much has a line all day so if that's a must do for your family, go on it first. There are also lots of chances to meet characters in Fantasyland. The Pooh Characters are in the hundred acre wood area, the fairy godmother and step sisters are around the castle area. Alice (and the white rabbit) makes an appearance by the tea cups. Toon Town usually opens an hour later than the rest of the park, at least it did when we were there. If your child wants to meet princesses or Fairies be at Toon Town when the rope drops. The Fairy line is usually not less than 45 min. unless you go right at opening.

If you don't care so much about the characters and little rides in Fantasyland, I still recommend being there when the park opens. Get a Fastpass for either Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, Splash Mountain or whatever else you want to ride, then go ride another ride. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Haunted Mansion usually don't have a wait the first 30 min to an hour after the park opens. We never got to go on Splash Mountain, but I think it usually has a pretty long line especially in the afternoon.

We went here on 3 different days. When we went first thing in the morning we got sooo much done before lunch because there were no long lines. In the afternoon the place got pretty packed. I recommend getting as many fastpasses as you can early in the day and using them later in the day.

My recommendations for attractions:
Fantasyland: Mickey's Philharmagic, Winne the pooh (if you have little ones), Peter Pan, the tea cups
Frontierland: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Haunted Mansion
Adventureland: the jungle cruise (get a Fastpass early in the day), Pirates of the Caribbean was ok, not as good as I was expecting.
Tomorrowland: Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, Tomorrowland transit authority
Toon Town: the meet the princesses and fairies area (I have a 6 yr old daughter!)

Dining: We didn't eat very many places in Magic Kingdom. My kids got Mickey Shaped Waffles at Sleepy Hollow and really enjoyed them. We also went to El Pirata y el Perico in Adventureland, but they were serving the Pecos Bill's menu while it was closed...we just got hamburgers there...nothing special. I do recommend the softserve ice cream at the Aloha Isle in Adventureland.

I put this link in one of my other posts but I'll include it again. It has all of the menus for all of the restaurants at disney world: http://www.themouseforless.com/tripplanning/menus/wdw/menus.shtml

Last, but not least, the parades and fireworks shows are great! Try to make sure you see the fireworks at least once!