— my little corner of randomness —
Yesterday I was laughing so hard listening to Maddie singing in her room during nap time. I don’t know where she was in her room, but I took a video of the baby monitor. She was cracking me up. She started by singing “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye. Then she transitioned into her own little mix of who-knows-what. Enjoy!
Back in July (yes, I’m VERY behind in blog posts), Maddie had been asking a lot about trains. So we decided to take her on a light rail ride downtown. Maddie loved every minute of it!
Here are the girls waiting for the train to come.
Here is Maddie watching for the train.
Dannie and I sitting on the train.
And Maddie…happy as can be sitting with dad, looking at everything from her window!
When we got downtown, we walked around a little bit and then had dinner at Panera. Then wandered back to the train to go back home. It was a fun adventure and Maddie talked about it for days. It was a cheap little trip to make a 3 year old happy for days!
I posted a few weeks ago that baby #3 is going to be a BOY! Some days I still can’t believe it. I told my family to come wearing pink or blue for what they guessed the baby would be.
The guesses were Girl: 8 and Boy: 6 (A few people couldn’t come, but we got their guesses ahead of time).
Chuck’s sister put together a really fun scavenger hunt for us this time. In her words “you’ll have to work for it!”. And we certainly did.
Paige and Chuck’s mom, Linda prepped my house while I was working in the office. Then left me in the house alone with the answer!!! Can you believe I didn’t go searching?? I can’t!
Most of the questions were riddles from nursery rhymes. Some we got right away and others were a little trickier.
This was my favorite clue. It was from Frozen and the next clue was hidden in the freezer in a block of ice I had to thaw! How clever!
The last clue had a gift bag in it. There were two chunks of playdoh and it was filled with blue or pink and we had to mash it together to find out.
There was also a little boy outfit wrapped to open…in case the playdoh wasn’t clear. 
And to be clear, I don’t have any good picture of it, but there were definitely tears on my part. Happy tears of course and also very surprised tears.
Part way through the scavenger hunt, I was given a picture of a car, then the next clue had a mom, then a dad, etc. Then there was one with a baby that wasn’t colored in yet. The next clue had a blue and pink marker. It was so cute that she made a little picture of car decals. So clever! That was probably my favorite part.
And as you can see, Chuck is quite happy that it’s a boy. He’s happy to be balancing out the girl-boy ratio in the house a little bit.
So there you have it. Our little reveal. Right after this, I gorged myself on pizza in celebration.
Here’s a look at what Paige did for Dannie’s reveal.
Hollow City is another fabulous book. I read the first book in the series, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and loved it. So I was really excited for this one to come out. Here’s a little about the book:
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children was the surprise best seller of 2011—an unprecedented mix of YA fantasy and vintage photography that enthralled readers and critics alike. Publishers Weekly called it “an enjoyable, eccentric read, distinguished by well-developed characters, a believable Welsh setting, and some very creepy monsters.”
This second novel begins in 1940, immediately after the first book ended. Having escaped Miss Peregrine’s island by the skin of their teeth, Jacob and his new friends must journey to London, the peculiar capital of the world. Along the way, they encounter new allies, a menagerie of peculiar animals, and other unexpected surprises.
Complete with dozens of newly discovered (and thoroughly mesmerizing) vintage photographs, this new adventure will delight readers of all ages.
I really liked this one, but found it a little confusing at times. There was a lot of time travel and it was hard to keep track of what time they were in. The story was fun and exciting and whimsical, just like the first book. You got to know the characters a bit better and my favorite part about both of these books are the photos that are incorporated throughout the book. It’s a fun addition to an already entertaining book.
Overall, if you liked the first book, definitely read this one. And if you haven’t read the first one, I highly recommend reading it. Everyone I have talked to that has read it has loved it, too.
Happy reading!
I came across this link in my inbox this morning from MOPS. I had a little meltdown the other day about things I felt I needed to get done and I just felt completely overwhelmed. I didn’t want to ask for help because I thought the things I was worrying about were silly even though they were making me nuts. When this article popped up this morning, it just struck a chord with me. Here is the article:
Moms care for everyone, and sometimes (read: more often than not) it’s hard to find time (or even remember) to take care of herself. Here’s a little list of ideas to help rejuvenate. Pick one. Or two. Or, actually, just do them all. We dare you.
- Sleep in once a week and let your hubby get the kids up. Or if it’s Saturday – stay in bed and let the kids watch cartoons. Cuddle longer. Enjoy the quiet.
- Be spontaneous – in one way or another. Plan less and live more. If your child asks to throw the ball, stop dinner and go outside. Be present now.
- Make a friend and be a friend. You need support and so does she. Your kids have one model of a mom. And they need to know that you aren’t doing life alone.
- Invest in vacation for just you – if it’s you and a spouse that’s great – but take time to be away from your kids. So each week, put money aside for just mom time. And if you want to feel guilty about it, that’s just silly. Rested moms make for better moms.
- Write an encouraging note to someone every week. It might be someone that lives under your roof. One note per week is 52 or more people in your life that now know you are grateful for them.
- Read a blog. Peruse a magazine. Watch a home and garden show. WASTE 30 minutes a week – or more. Do something you love and stop feeling bad about it.
- Ignore a chore. Once a week, don’t do a certain “must-do” task. And watch the world still spin. Even if you leave your laundry in a pile for one month, the world still remains on axis. Wild, huh?
- Show a neighbor you care every week. Something active, tangible, relational that says, “Our family cares about you.” Do this with your kids. Demonstrate what loving those around you looks like.
- Make one phone call a week that is just for you. Not one where you are serving and giving but one where you are mutually caring for each other.
- Find a mentor. And meet weekly with this person. Encourage one another towards love and good deeds. Do not give up meeting together. Even if it has to be over the phone, 30 minutes – meet, and meet again, and love faithfully and fervently and watch your spirit soar!
- Have 30 or more minutes of silence per week. Yes, total, absolute, certain, deafening SILENCE! Yes, you can tell me the 30 reasons why this is impossible – or you can make the sacrifice – turn off the TV, take your early morning cup of coffee outdoors, away from honey and children, wake up at 3am and go to the bathroom by yourself – even that counts – just choose the silence. He speaks to you in whispers there.
Every week. 11 steps to you becoming a healthier woman! Enjoy.
Here’s to hoping you find some time to yourself.
Article can be found HERE.
The past couple weeks, Chuck and I have been making a very conscious effort to use our phones less. Checking Facebook (Instagram, Twitter, etc.) has started to consume my life. I know I am not alone in this. Chuck commented that in five years we aren’t going to look back and say “I wish I had spent more time checking Facebook”. And he’s absolutely right.
With baby number 3 just about 16 weeks away from arriving and these two girls growing up before my eyes, I need to remember to savor the time I have with my girls, with only two kids, with a little bit of free time from a newborn and when I am not running on fumes from being up all night. I need to stop going to the gym for 5:00am classes (because those couple extra hours of sleep will be appreciated as my frustration levels rise during the day). In general, I need to set down the phone and live life.
I have seen a few articles recently that have hit a chord with me about how much time we spend on phones. This article was one I saw recently that I loved. It’s about how much different a personal connection is than a connection you have through social media. And this video is called “Look Up”. There are loads of other articles and videos on the same subject.
Social media can also be so depressing. When we are looking to see what people are up to, we are only seeing the very best things…the things you want others to see about your life. It’s hard to feel like you are enough when all your friends (or “friends”) are out having fun, dressed up, showered, put together, smiling, laughing, living it up….when you feel like a mess because your house isn’t clean, you don’t remember when your kids last had a bath, laundry is overflowing, dishes are piled in the sink and your to-do list is a mile long. Yet, you aren’t unhappy, you just feel inadequate. “Why can’t I get it all done, too?” “Why aren’t I doing that right now?” Just depressing.
No one shows the pictures of the dishes piled, the laundry that has been in baskets for days still waiting to be put away, the toys strewn all over the house, the crumbs all over the floor, that you had a fight with someone, that you are feeling secluded, that life is life and not always picture perfect.
I admit I have done all these things. I have posted about all the fun I had during the day and not about the number of times I got frustrated with the kids. Maybe I do that so I make sure the fun things outweigh that I felt like a terrible parent that couldn’t hold it together that day. I’m not sure.
Although I am not ready to give up Facebook (and the other forms of social media) completely (because I know there are many people that love seeing updates about the girls that don’t otherwise get to see them and I run a book club through it), but I am making an effort to put down my phone more and spend more time with my family. I have turned off notifications for just about everything and a few other FB tweaks so I’m not so engrossed. And I have moved all the apps that I was checking ALL THE TIME to a different page on my phone. Not seeing them immediately when I turn my phone on has helped me sort of forget they are there and made my addiction subside a little.
I always had a feeling if I wasn’t “liking” someone’s post they would think I didn’t like them or I didn’t care or something else dumb like that. No, I just didn’t see it or didn’t check my phone or FB screwed up my feed somehow. Any multitude of reasons. But of course, I go right to the whiny girl thought. Would I really think that if someone I knew didn’t “like” one of my pictures. No. So why do I automatically assume someone will think that of me?
I think all of these steps will help with my overall happiness and even my confidence. I will know what I am doing is right for me. I need to remember that people didn’t always have Facebook and Instagram and Twitter (and Google+ and LinkedIn and……) and they are just fine. Imagine the time I am going to have on my hands to do things I do love!?
So there you have it. My thoughts on social media after I have had some time to process and contemplate my usage and what I want out of it.
What are your thoughts on social media? Are you too engrossed, too? Do you hardly ever use it? Have you cut back on your usage? Do you forget to “look up”? I would love to hear your thoughts.
First, I love the show True Blood. Second, I was having a terrible time getting through my current book club book, To the Moon and Timbuktu (which I still haven’t finished and we are meeting tonight), so I decided to start a new book. I could get this book from the library right away, so I thought I’d give it a go. Here’s a synopsis if you haven’t read the books or seen the show:
Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. Until the vampire of her dreams walks into her life-and one of her coworkers checks out….
Maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend isn’t such a bright idea.
There’s a lot more that happens and the first book was the whole first season of the show. Normally I don’t like reading books where I have a face to put with the characters, but since I love the show and the people they have casted for the roles, I was fine with it. I didn’t remember some of the things that had happened in this book because it was so long ago since the first season of the show aired.
Overall it was a quick read and a fun read at that. I have already downloaded the second book to read until my book club book for August becomes available. 
I definitely liked this more than I liked the first book in the Twilight series. So if you want characters that aren’t just vampires and werewolves, but like the vampire-type books, you should check this one out.
Happy reading!
I’m admittedly not much of a Weird Al fan, but Chuck said I should watch this video and I’ll admit, I found it funny and laughed quite a few times. If you get upset with grammar misuse, you will definitely appreciate this video.
Here is the August events/activities calendar for 
