Surprise! Special Guests at Animal Kingdom & an Engagement! | Vlogmas 2024

[Music] good morning we're so happy that you're here we are doing vlogmas this year so if you like this video we hope that you will come back oh my goodness how much more we have like 3 weeks all of a sudden I was like how are we already halfway done no we're good um we are meeting up with some very special friends today we have not met it we kind of like take things one at a time on this vlogmas um but I think you guys are going to be excited to see who we're meeting up with so we're at Animal Kingdom this morning wilderness explorer is being initiated we dropped Jamesy off at school I think that bigger cold front is moving out it's still like like 60 right now the air is still nice and crisp we just like trying to hang on to it because I just feel feel like we only get so many weeks like that a year um but it's still it still feels really nice and we're going to head straight to the Safari giraff giraffe lion lion Teddy's hair is so curly and long we recently just got James's haircut for a picture day at school we're like feeling torn if we want to get his hair haircut or not just because we've let it we haven't ever let it go this long since his like initial like first haircut the curls are just so cute they weigh upwards of about 4 to 5,000 lb hippopotamus in Greek means River horse almost sleep about 4 hours a day kind of like the average Disney cast ha I wish that was a joke hours a day using their Tong and Pull It Downs their pouches in their cheeks where they store stack for later now how do yous how do you monkeys monkeys have tails few days female elephants carry a baby for about 22 months before the average baby elephant weighs about 200 lb when it's born that's one of their main senses they use for directions is they're hearing reason for that is cuz at night is six times greater than it is during the day during the day it's very similar to ours yeah this my first welcome to the Vlog first doip okay now that that's a big deal is hippo going to play the drums oh my gosh [Music] oh please tell me it's the Pizza Planet truck I can't see it I wish I could tell you can you get it that's still a cool one isn't that from Toontown or like is it Roger Rabbit Roger Rabbit Roger Rabbit's Car cool Megan's letting Teddy open up her mystery pins can you get this one out and tell me what it is I can't see I wanted to see we got two [Applause] dinosaur Christmas dinosaurs Teddy just noticed the Santa Claus bearded hat on the brochos surus we have parted ways from our friends we will see them again this weekend so there will be more pizza family and Company content um so they have some lightning Lanes they're actually going to the Orlando Informer event tonight I I'll tag them here so you can follow them on Instagram and we are going to go to dino dig until we have to get Jamesy from [Music] school here comes Kevin you got a bird on your head I don't know they're probably looking for something over there we actually saw the atier on the way out Jingle Bell we made it home Peter had the house so cozy it smells like Christmas in here Christmas trees's on Little Women is on and it's like our movie um so feels good to be home um similarly like what in other days when I do school pickup by myself it's like I once I finish the fun at wherever I am with the little boys it's like go go go cing everyone in um and out of the car and talking to the teacher and yada yada so um happy to be home and then there's also the added pressure of if anyone falls asleep bringing them into the house and then today I also have a grocery haul for all these so I'll be sharing that um as I unpack it um but first I just got to like get shoes off and change diapers and um Teddy actually woke back up but then he was able to fall back asleep and I'm so relieved because he just he had skipped a nap like two days in a row at least like had really short naps so um he just needs sleep he still needs a nap so I just feel like I can like decompress a second um and then put the groceries away but yeah so much relief so much relief just being home and then add that it's Friday we we're trying we're not caring about my hair I'm doing an Aldi haul kind of quick kind of off the cuff but I just want to make sure that it happens in between making sure I have the baby monitor up and just the other kids so I'm just going to do it bag by bag however I'll de organized it and I can talk about recipes and plans as I go okay first thing is a chocolate ice cream we we enjoy chocolate ice cream okay so this is our Frozen bag chicken pop stickers these are something the kids love so we always have pot stickers got Frozen edame right now we are not strictly any like vegetarian vegan pascatarian we're kind of just going flow but I'm trying to have our dinners incorporate more plant um nutrients um and so Ed M is great protein I think I'm going to put it in a like curry noodle soup um same thing with this stir fry we love water chestnuts this one has broccoli carrots and water testut so that's going in the soup this is the first time I've got these from Aldi I've only had them from Trader Joe's but they're the hash brown patties um honestly I'm just trying to switch things up especially like with the kids so try those out for easy breakfast and this happened in the car we already opened these got to have candy in your festive Christmas candy bowls okay our next bag has a lot of our dairy in it um whole milk Greek yogurt usually I get vanilla but we'll see how that goes um cheese stick this is like Teddy's Jam um we have been out of komuna and I need this to function so we usually get like four a week and I usually have like a third of one a day sometimes like Peter Peter also drinks it so just do our best oh I got two yogurts I wonder if that was an accident it's all right this I got so my like when I'm trying to be intentional with my groceries I always make sure that I get at least like a couple of snicky snack things that I know I would be excited for cuz half the time like we're trying to eat you know be mindful of what we're eating I'm like I feel snacky I want something and then we end up like getting McDonald's so I'm like I've recently I've been like okay we need to get cookies we need to have chocolate ice cream this is like a pimento spicy jalapeno dip so in a moment's notice when I'm like I'm feeling that snacky it's just a quick easy it is Christmas it's birthday I know your birthday passed that was so a lot of fun right yeah we had fun on your birthday um and then I got this champagne cheddar cheese Aldi has the best chees selection um and we are our big goal for this haul was like having set breakfast lunch and dinner because that's not something we typically do and I'm going to be making us yummy salads during the week for lunch and this is going to like be the cheese that goes on it um again like knowing that we have the yummy ingredients to be like oh I don't want to make a salad for lunch it's like no it's going to be delicious because we got yummy cheese and we got candy the peans you know so that's what that cheese is for oh and tofu I've finally learned how like after all those years of being plant-based I like learned the beauty of corn starch and like slowly frying it um and I've been making really yummy tofu lately and so that I think I think we'll probably do like some sort of like yummy sweet chili sauce with like a cucumber salad on top over rice with the tofu all right the next bag has salsa in it I'm going to do cauliflower tacos have kale I just threw a full unused bag away so I need to use that with this chicken and that um that cheese for the salads during the week garlic hummus our children demolish this always for ease to be like we're going to eat a salad get like two of these a week this is their pesto Caesar so tasty and then this is self Lush chop salad I'm not crazy when there's like mostly cabbage it's just I I don't mind it mixed in um so this is a nice one that has a good variety and the night that we have tacos we're gonna have this on the side or maybe on the tacos um toiki sauce this is I actually I think I was I mean I guess I did this order late last night spinach parmesan that'll be different um we're going to do Greek bowls that's like my go-to easy meal where I know it's going to be yummy but quick um and you can never go wrong with having Zippy on top same this is baby cucumbers that's I'll mix that in with those and then also just good for snacking Teddy loves those Charlie loves those I have a guacamole again an easy topper this is broken um but something Jamesy loves a really a go-to dinner breakfast lunch and dinner really is avocado toast so a lot of times I would just make it um but this is just like so nice to have quickly at the ready and so yummy and simple and strawberry sorry e girl um I think we don't like we go through a decent amount of fruit but not like like those like typical like toddler memes they eat a lot of fruit but we'll like all eat this over the week all righty next bag got our Cher Tomatoes these my kids eat like crazy fried cranberries good for salads and snacks cashew these everything cashew are so tasty for snackies I just said my kids don't eat fruit but they definitely eat apples they really like truly eat them but I'll also put these in the salads green peppers we'll go in one of the bowls or maybe the soup I was talking about same with the zucchini I was even thinking with the cauliflower tacos that maybe I would do like a like fajita Peppers or also dice up zucchini I just realized I think I was notified that there was no cauliflower so maybe we're going to have zucchini T and dried mango another fruit forget what I said about fruit I just like I don't have to I get different types of fruit they love fruit we love fruit but I'm just grateful that that is not the majority of the cost of our groceries I'm very happy to report that they saw my little message to get garbage bags I got garbage bags applesauce these little apples sauce for the boys got this corma curry sauce this is going to be a part of my little noodle soup this coconut Chia granola for my yogurt again I'm trying to be more intentional with like actually eating breakfast and I think I'm going to switch off between yogurt and like an egg or avocado toast or something like that we already had our weeks worth of milk and eggs um because we were after the holiday we're kind of like getting things here and there but this is like our first true grocery haul and bit this chicken stock is for um I'm going to make like an alfredo shrimpy lini pasta tonight what dice jalapenos this was kind of like a weird like um impulse byy but I love jalapenos and I was thinking that'd be good for the tacos it could be good in any of the soups or even the Greek bowls um and then chickpeas and coconut milk I actually showed this recipe on our Instagram um just coconut curry chickpea recipe to have in the fridge for easy lunch so like half of our lunches will be the salads and half will be these coconut chickpeas and what are you oh this was another whim purchase I had white wine for like our Thanksgiving meal for cooking but we ended up using all of it and so I wanted to use the wine in um this pasta I'm making tonight and I looked up like what to use instead of wine because I was only going to need like a little bit and it said mushroom like gives that like same little flavor and so I don't know I might just use this like mushroom juice I don't know if I'll actually use the pieces I don't know we'll see all righty our last bag got tortillas for those tacos um bigger tortillas because Peter makes um like wraps with hummus and greens and hot sauce that's a typical lunch that he makes and then also I make this like egg bake that's nice with a big tortilla on the bottom um so I need those this was my another little like treat um milk chocolate covered English toffee almonds sounds good here's mostly snacks here's the cookies I was talking about these are like kits with everybody and then the rest is our snacks so our typical snacks we get pxel the white tedar H popcorn still don't trust our kids like their ages with real popcorn and soing another bag of popcorn oops an accident did not with pretzels but they'll get eaten so that is the full haul like I said we had a couple of things already for the week I try to do like a big Aldi order once a week keep it as close to $100 as possible because we all know the price of groceries at the moment is insane and then I'll also do a pickup at Walmart for like our sparkling water because we don't drink pop and that keeps us again like the little the little Zippy drink stops us from getting like the Red Bulls and the you know whatever like that's just like a nice little treat um and I'm just I like some of like Aldi is wonderful for most of our foods but they just don't have some stuff like pouch yogurt usually I'll put coconut water on the AL the order and they won't have it um and then randomly like the cauliflower today they didn't have so I'll typically do a grocery order Monday even though Friday we just needed it um and then the next day I'll do a Walmart order with everything Aldi didn't have and then those couple of things that we get from Walmart I usually make a homemade pizza like even the homemade dough um and they have like the mozzarella cheese that we like and um just like random like things that I'll like keep under $50 to hopefully budget like $150 a week um our kids are still little they are also they like what they like and you know I feel like in the beginning brart project days we would just do like whatever we were making deconstructed like I feel like Teddy and James hit at the same time that like I don't want to try anything new phase but they still eat really really well and that we just have other things that they like and then doing it on like an an order pickup that helps me like plan and budget at the same time so I know that like I'm not going over a certain price um and then obviously like picking up as nice as the kids are asleep and then I can you know I can shop when I'm about to go to bed like I did last night instead of having all three kids with me um if you have grocery pick up where you live and you've never taken advantage of it it has like saved me so much time and effort and peace of mine so um that is our grocery haul and I will try to show as much of what I cook now that Thanksgiving is through and we finish those leftovers um as vlogmas continues all right I don't have the capacity for a cook with me but I will show you what I'm making Linguini for Peter and I rigatoni for the boys I already sauteed up some shrimp and butter and lemon juice and salt pepper serious garlic minced garlic and this little mixture and then after that sauteed I took out the shrimp made a r added heavy whipping cream some chicken stock that mushroom liquid from the can and I've just been mixing it up as it boils getting nice and creamy so that'll be our sauce going to add in some whoa serious peino Romano cheese that's actually probably fine stir it all up oh no my spoon and here is our finished pasta with a little bit more romano and pepper on top 3 hours later can you move it along I'm all out of time cards woohoo sorry my mouth is blue over there hello we are home and I haven't even uttered a word on here since before we left because I've just been I've been so nervous about spilling the beans that I like literally I don't know it was like not until after tonight that I even wanted to think about sharing our dear friends John and Kristen got engaged tonight and what you saw was like as many dear friends and family as possible that could celebrate afterwards um and so it's a really special night and we're just so so happy for them and I'm hopeful that they post and that I can include this clip but we were celebrating all night um something so cute that Teddy said when I was like I don't like the boys already lump Kristen and John together like they don't know what marriage is um all they know is that we're going to have a big party and when I told Teddy that he was like are we going to clap our hands I was like yes we are going to clap our hands um and so it was sweet tonight we we definitely clapped our hands and um just super excited for them and for everything that an engagement and wedding and all that fun stuff brings Along on another note I got up today's Vlog with 20 minutes to spare before midnight that's my goal each night um and I did it and it was a great Vlog and just just know that I love vlogmas just as much as everyone in the comments says that they love lmas even if I look this tired at the end of every night happy weekend and it is good to be home we know what our goals are we know what we hope to accomplish and believe me it's the most exciting and challenging assignment we've ever tackled at Walt Disney Productions 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