E’Syntheis Chambers may be young, but he’s got big ideas and an entrepreneurial spirit. Oh, and a love for Disney.
The seven-year-old Dallas, Texas, native told his mother, Roshanda White, that he wanted to go on a Disney cruisewith all of his cousins.
“I told him for him and his cousins to all go, it would be pretty expensive,” she said, ”And he replied that he would start his own business to pay for the trip.”
And that’s exactly what little E’Syntheis did; he started his very own juicing business, called EE Healthy Juicy Juice, featuring some drink combinations his mother had put together for him in the form of smoothies since he was four years old.
“He actually just turned what we used every day for smoothies into juices and he slowly came up with his own, so I am very proud of him,” his mother explained.
The young entrepreneur says he wanted to open his juicing business to help others be healthy, especially his mother, who fell ill and underwent a heart transplant procedure shortly after giving birth to E’Syntheis.
“Juicing is good for you because of the different fruits and vegetables that have vitamins in them for you,” the young man shared during an interview.
His mother, Roshanda White, says that drinking juices E’Syntheis makes as part of his business have helped her in regaining her health.
“Drinking his beet juice, his green juice, and his green and ginger juice lowered my A1C (level) from 13 to 6,” White said. “I lost a lot of weight with his juice, and it also helped with diabetes and [my] heart transplant.”
(Physicians use a patient’s A1C level to diagnose diabetes and prediabetes; it is a measure of the percent of hemoglobin with sugar, or glucose, attached to it in your blood. People with diabetes are challenged with bringing their A1C levels down, as a normal, non-diabetic A1C level is around 5.7% or less.)
E’Syntheis’s mom says her son has not only grown his business, but while doing so, he has also maintained straight A’s in school, and he has kept up with his karate, track, and basketball obligations.
His mother didn’t share how close E’Syntheis is to reaching his goal of going on a Disney Cruise with his cousins, but patrons interested in trying his juices can grab them at a pop-up location in the Dallas area, or they can visit his website.
EE’s juices cost $10. Flavors include beet, watermelon mango ginger, carrot and green juice, and others. Orders can be placed online for local delivery, and E’Syntheis has also shipped his juices to other states as well.
In addition to saving up for a Disney Cruise, E’Syntheis loves animals and has a heart for children in foster care, and says he might just share some of his profits for their benefit too.
“I’m thinking about donating to the animal shelter and foster care for kids because I like animals and I like to help people,” he said.
Here’s hoping E’Syntheis gets his Disney Cruise soon and has an amazing time with his cousins!
Joel Magee is known as “America’s Toy Scout,” and for good reason. He loves toys and Disney memorabilia and has spent a large part of his life appraising toys and collectibles, but he also has a massive Disney theme parks collection of his own.
But we’re not talking trinkets and knick-knacks.
Instead, the West Palm Beach native collects Disney theme park relics, such as attractions posters, signage, figures, ride models, costumes, and other items from Disney theme parks over the years.
Magee’s personal Disney collection has been growing for 30 years. His first purchase was in Orlando at a collectors’ event.
“There was a gentleman there that had a whole bunch of cool Disney items. They were from the park, and I didn’t even know that you could get items from the parks,” Magee said. “I bought some of the pieces, and I caught the bug.”Among his first purchases was a poster for the Haunted Mansion attraction. And Magee paid a hefty price for it.“I remember giving him at the time $1,000 for it. I’m like, ‘I just paid $1,000 for a poster!” Magee said. “And now that same poster goes for $10,000. I mean, it’s just crazy.”Magee and his massive collection have been featured on History Channel’s Pawn Stars and on MeTV’s Collector’s Call, and over the years, he has amassed some pretty amazing pieces in the collection. For example, Magee owns the biplane from the “If You Had Wings” attraction that Guests enjoyed at Magic Kingdom from June 1972 to June 1987.
His collection also includes a ride vehicle from “Dumbo the Flying Elephant” at Magic Kingdom, a control panel from a monorail, and an original 1971 Hitchhiking Ghosts trio from the Haunted Mansion attraction.
But now, Magee says, it’s time to downsize. So he reached out to the co-owner of Van Eaton Galleries in California, Mike Van Eaton, who in turn flew to West Palm Beach to see Magee’s collection for himself–most of which is in Magee’s 9,000 square-foot home. (Well, stuffed into the home, anyway.)The plan is for Van Eaton to hold an auction just for Magee’s collection, but Van Eaton says before the Galleries hold an auction, they will host pop-up exhibitions across the country. He says the collection is special because there’s a story to it.
“The thing that makes this collection great is that it actually tells a story. It tells the history of Disneyland through artifacts, from the clothing that the Cast Members wore to the signage to the props to the attraction posters,” Van Eaton said. “It was not random. It’s thought out, and he focused on certain things.”
Van Eaton’s company has had the experience of hosting a collection belonging to a single individual once before. The auction was held in a space that once housed a Sports Authority store. When the exhibition opened up to the public, the crowd they hoped for ended up being much smaller than the crowd that showed up.
“We were hoping to get a few thousand people, and we ended up getting about 50,000 people, and people were waiting three hours to see this exhibit,” Van Eaton said. “This is in a town where Disneyland is right around the corner.”
Van Eaton thinks Magee’s Dumbo ride vehicle will fetch a lot of cash.
“I can tell you that Dumbo ride vehicle–which the only other one I have seen offered for sale was in 2018–that one went for half a million dollars,” he said.
The auction will host very expensive items, such as the trio of Hitchhiking Ghosts, for which Magee says he was once offered $750,000.
“That was three years ago,” Magee explained. “We turned it down.”
But according to Van Eaton, there are many affordable pieces in the collection as well–some that will run for between $20 and $50 each.
Carrie Underwood and her family just returned from a memory-making trip to the Most Magical Place on Earth.
The 38-year-old singer and songwriter took to Instagram to share photos and a heart-warming post about the family’s “much-needed” trip to Walt Disney World.
“Got to spend some much-needed family time recently in Orlando!!! We rode lots of rides, ate lots of sugar, smiled a million smiles, and made a million memories!!! These years, with our boys, we’ll never get back…to see the wonder and excitement on their faces is priceless! We already can’t wait to go back! Thanks, @waltdisneyworld for existing!” Underwood posted on her Instagram account on Wednesday.
Underwood rarely shares photos of her two young sons, Isaiah, 6, and Jacob, 2, but she was only too happy to share a photo of her little ones and their cousins enjoying the magic of the Dumbo ride at Magic Kingdom.
Underwood’s Instagram post prompted comments from fans and followers of the Billboard Top 200 regular. One Cast Member, coronas_royal_table even commented about just thinking about serving Underwood and her family.
“I just started working at Be Our Guest! I totally just had a fangirl moment imagining that I got to cook for you. Hope you enjoyed your vacation!” the Cast Member posted.
The thread of comments underneath the Instagram post was filled with fans tagging one another, especially if they had friends or family who were in the parks at the same time. Many were asking, “Did you see Carrie?”
A few of Underwood’s Instagram followers were in the parks at the same time as the mom of two and served to clear up questions about bodyguards and paparazzi for followers who weren’t in the parks at the time.
“She had a guide with her, we walked right past them by Big Thunder Mountain. In a very public space,” one follower posted.
“They were VIP Guests so they didn’t have to stand in line. [That’s] why they got to ride so many rides,” another follower posted.
Disney Parks has shared another recipe to enjoy at home, but I am not too sure about this one!
From a Disney Cast Member;
Today, we are talkin’ turkey…and stuffing!
For today, I selected one of my favorite recipes from a past holiday festival – Leftover Stuffing Waffles with Turkey, Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, and Homemade Cranberry Sauce. This remix of the traditional Thanksgiving feast is the ultimate plate of leftovers – complete with crispy stuffing waffles! (Disney bonus points if you make your stuffing waffles with a Mickey-shaped waffle maker found at shopDisney.com!)
Happy Thanksgiving from our Disney Kitchens!
LEFTOVER STUFFING WAFFLES WITH TURKEY, MASHED POTATOES, GRAVY, AND HOMEMADE CRANBERRY SAUCE
EPCOT® International Festival of the Holidays
Serves 6
CRANBERRY SAUCE
12 ounces cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
Zest of 1 orange
WAFFLES
4 1/2 cups leftover stuffing, crumbled
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 to 1/2 cup heavy cream
Vegetable oil, for brushing waffle maker
TO SERVE
1 pound warmed leftover turkey, sliced
2 cups warmed leftover mashed potatoes
2 cups warmed leftover gravy
FOR CRANBERRY SAUCE:
Stir together cranberries, sugar, water, and orange zest in saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes, until sugar dissolves and cranberries are soft.
Increase heat to medium and cook about 12 minutes, or until cranberries burst. Cool to room temperature before serving.
FOR WAFFLES:
Preheat waffle maker to medium-high. Combine stuffing, eggs, and 1/4 cup cream. If mixture is too dry and not spreadable in the waffle maker pockets, add more cream as needed, until mixture is just wet enough to spread.
Generously brush top, bottom, and all pockets of waffle maker with oil.
Evenly and firmly pack each pocket of the waffle maker full with stuffing mixture. (Note: If using a mini waffle maker this will make 12-14 mini waffles. A larger waffle maker (6”-8” in diameter) will yield 6-8 waffles). Close and cook about 7 to 8 minutes, until golden and the waffles easily lift out of waffle maker.
TO SERVE:
Place two mini waffles or one large waffle on each plate. Top each with turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberry sauce.
Note: Always use caution when handling sharp objects and hot contents. Please supervise children who are helping or nearby. This recipe has been converted from a larger quantity in the restaurant kitchens. The flavor profile may vary from the restaurant’s version.
“Everything’s bigger in Texas.” I have heard this sentiment since I was in my single-digit ages, and I can tell you that it can be an out-and-out lie, and then again, it might be the absolute truth; it just depends on the scenario and subject matter. And while not all of us wear cowboy hats and boots, most of us don’t ride horses to work, and very few of my friends and family live on a ranch, it is true that the surprises are bigger in Texas, especially when they come from Mickey Mouse.
That’s exactly what Paula Cornelius will tell you if you ask her. When she answered her front door on the morning of November 12, she got the surprise of her life–and all because so many to whom she’d shown kindness and love wanted to honor her. Paula and her family live in Cedar Hill, Texas, a suburb south of Dallas. But Paula is not your typical mom, and her family is not your typical family. Hers is a story of selflessness, acceptance, forgiveness, and family being more than blood.
And this story is just about the sweetest one we’ve heard in a while, so in the spirit of Thanksgiving, we wanted to share it! Try to read this story and watch this video without wiping away tears. I haven’t been able to do it yet.
Paula Cornelius is described by her friends and family as big-hearted, kind, and loving. Her older daughters describe her as having an amazing capacity to love and an amazing capacity for parenting.
Years ago, when Paula and her husband discovered they could not have children biologically, they decided to adopt children. Their first child was their daughter Sydney. And then they welcomed daughter Destiny into their family. But soon they realized that their daughters had biological siblings who needed loving homes as well.
In all, Paula is Mom to 13 children, ages 8 to 28, and their names alone tell the story of kindness and love within this family. They are Serenity, 8, Harmony, 14, Charisma, 10, October, 13, Caleb, 16, Josh, 17, Grace, 18, Trey, 20, Faith, 20, Victoria, 21, Matthew, 21, Destiny, 22, and Sydney, 28.
Don’t you love their names–Destiny, Charisma, Harmoney, Grace, Serenity? And we love the name October!
Not only did Paula and her husband adopt every one of these 13 children, but Paula saw to it that they could keep up relationships with their biological families as well. Paula’s experiences in adopting her 13 children and learning about their first families led her to found an organization that helps parents in need. It’s called The Lullaby House.
The Lullaby House is a faith-based not-for-profit organization that works with families and provides items needed by young families, classes to help parents better themselves, and support for parents in need. Their mission is “to strengthen families by providing programs and services to parents which will inspire and promote generational change.”
Since January 2021, The Lullaby House has served more than 7,400 clients (more than 320 who are teen parents), distributed more than 520,000 diapers and containers of wipes to families with babies, and has hosted more than 720 attendees in classes offered by the organization.
And this is surely only a part of Paula’s story, so you can see why those who know and love her and have been blessed by her wanted to honor her in some way. That’s where Disney came in. Paula and her huge family had a vacation planned last year, but it was shelved because of the coronavirus pandemic.
When Paula opened her front door on the morning of November 12, she saw the sun shining, she felt the cool temperatures normal for Texas in November, and she also saw a member of the Good Morning America team, who immediately rushed her toward a crowd of people gathered at Paula’s Cedar Hill home. It was a crowd of friends, family, and others who have been blessed by Paula’s kindness and giving spirit. They were holding signs, and a likeness of Paula’s pretty face had been made into signs in front of the crowd of Paula’s loved ones.
After showing Paula a special video featuring family photos and special words from those whose lives have been touched by Paula and her kindness, a GMA host and Mickey Mouse himself were there via satellite to present Paula with 0ne more surprise.
(This is the “bigger in Texas” part.)
They surprised Paula and her family with a trip to Walt Disney World for four nights and five days. But they didn’t stop there. It’s a long way from Dallas, Texas, to Walt Disney World in Florida–almost 1,100 miles–so Disney surprised Paula with round-trip airfare for the entire family. But wait; there’s more.
Not only were Paula and her family heading to Disney World. Not only were they flying to Disney World from Dallas. But Disney and Southwest Airlines partnered together to see that the Cornelius family gets to fly on a special Disney World 50th anniversary celebration plane.
Paula said she was at a loss for words, and, she says, that’s not the usual for her. But Paula lives in Texas, where everything is bigger and even better sometimes, and that was the case on that cool November morning south of Dallas. Because just when Paula, her kids, and surely the audience watching Good Morning America thought the surprise couldn’t get any bigger, it did.
Not only was Disney sending Paula, her husband, and her 13 kids to Disney World for an amazing family vacation, but Paula was surprised with yet another surprise: Disney wanted to send the WHOLE family! Remember the crowd outside Paula’s home that day? You guessed it–EVERYONE is going to Disney World–Paula and the rest of her 29-member extended family.
There’s so much negativity in the world today, and COVID has brought sadness and anxiety to many, but when you hear a story like this one about a selfless mother in the Lone Star State, just living her life and investing into the lives of others with no thought of any return, well, it gives you a warm feeling. We hope it does that for you too. So many people are thankful for Paula, and we know she’s thankful for this amazing surprise.
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