No Disney Trip For Me---POO!!!!

As I have said before, we have gone to Disney every year since Roseanna was born.  Our 1st family trip (and my 1st ever trip) was in May of 2003 when Roseanna was only 6 months old.  We have gone at least once a year since then.  Our last family trip was this past December when Riley was only 2 months old.  We always have the best time and some of my favorite family memories are from our trips.  So I am so very sad that this will be the 1st year we are skipping our annual trip.  As responsible adults, Mark and I have taken this year to pay off our credit cards (almost there) and buy new carpet and furniture for our 1st floor.  We needed it desperatly! I am happy with this decision but I still have that pull at my heart everytime I think about WDW!

However, it will make our NEXT trip even better!  We are hoping to go May 2012 for Russell's 6th birthday.  We took Roseanna for her 6th birthday so I think it owuld be really cool if we could do the same for him.  It got me to thinking that if we do decide that we will be able to make it in May that by the fall, I will be able to BREAK out our Disney countdown.  I created this about 4 years ago and I love to hang it up.  It makes me smile everytime I walk past it in the house and each time a clip comes off.  Here are pictures of our Disney countdown calender.....

Want to cretae one of these for yourself?  Well, all you need are a few supplies, lost of time and endless patience :)

I started with foam white board (the kind with posterboard on each side) and cute them to make the long middle part to attach the clips to. 

Next I cut out a large Mickey head from black poster board.  Make sure when you attach the head to the foam board, the foam board goes almost to the top of the mickey head in the back to give it the most support.

Then the fun part!!!!!!  I took about 250 clothespins (however long you want your countdown to be will be how many clothespins you need) and started to paint.

I used craft paint and painted each one a bright color.

Once the paint was dry, I went back and added sparkles, dots or stripes to them.  every clip is different and it makes the display very eyecatching.

Next step is to make the mickey heads for the clips.  I used a large Mickey paper punch (available in scrapbooking departments) and punched the same number mickey heads as clothpins using all different colored card stock.  I used cardstock so that way it is more dusrable and I can use this trip after trip.

I think used glitter pens to write the numbers 1-250 on each head.

Almost done!!!!!!

Lastly, attch your countdown somewhere where you will see it everyday.  We hang ours on the door to our upstairs using packaing tape loops on the back.  Clip the clothespins on from bottom to top (we do even numbers on right side and odd on left) until the #1 clip is at the top ofthe Mickey head. 

Take one off each day until your trip!  My kids take turns taking ours off and it is a fun way to watch how close we are getting!

DO YOU HAVE A COUNTDOWN?  I would love to hear how you countdown to the most magical place on Earth!

ENJOY and see ya real soon!!!!

Nikki