One of my best friends and her husband recently had their second little girl. We went to visit them after she was born. She has such a proud big sister! Maddie loved Kate. She loves dolls and babies, so I wasn’t surprised that she wanted to be in my pocket when I was holding the baby. I hope Maddie likes her sister as much! Such a happy, beautiful family! We are so happy for our friends and since Maddie and... Read More Read More ...

I look forward to the end of August because it means the State Fair is here! I really only go for the food. We went last year, but Maddie didn’t really get a whole lot out of it. This year was totally different. Aside from getting some new teeth and being a crabby wabby, she seemed to have fun! And she seemed to enjoy the food as much as we do! I have not been able to get Maddie to... Read More Read More ...

I’m 29 weeks now. Well, yesterday. According to the ticker on my site, BG#2 (Baby Girl #2) is the size of a squash. She is definitely much stronger than a squash, though! Oofda, this girl has some muscles! I’m only excited about 29 weeks because I have 10 weeks left until my scheduled c-section! The weather is getting cooler and reality of how little time is left before BG#2 gets here is sinking in!   Here’s a little picture of... Read More Read More ...

I just finished reading this book for book club. Here’s a quick description for you: It is the summer of 1950–and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events: A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Then, hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he... Read More Read More ...

I have a category for reviews of things (Products), but I haven’t done a great job of reviewing anything. So I thought I would try and do more of those. Most of the things I will review will probably be kid related things. Since I have a bunch of toys, I may start with some of my favorites and not-so-favorite things. If there is something you are curious about, let me know. There’s a good chance I own it or... Read More Read More ...

Depending on how you count, I am either almost to my 3rd trimester or just starting it this week. Everyone seems to count differently. Either way, I have 12 weeks until Baby Girl #2’s birthday on November 13th! (Yes, I know her birthdayI have a c-section already scheduled.) Things are going well. I have spurts on energy and go into crazy pregnant lady nesting phases and I have other times that I can hardly bring myself to get off the... Read More Read More ...

Our happy little girl is now 18 months old. (Yes, I am a few days late posting thiseven though I dated it for the correct date but now I have some stats from her doc appointment today!) She is such a joy. She is so sweet and kind (most of the time). She loves her dollsfeeding them, carrying them, tucking them in to bedshe will be such a great big sister. She loves wearing her sunglasses and says “eye”... Read More Read More ...

Like any toddler, Maddie has tantrums. Sometimes you can distract her easily other times, well, not so much. I saw this and it made me giggle. I think any mom can relate to this one. ...

Last weekend, Maddie and I went to meet some girls I went to High School with and their kids. We got together a while back, but hadn’t found the time to see each other again until now. They kids are all getting so big! Here are pictures from the beach! These are the kids a year ago! My how they grow! Maddie is in the zebra outfit. She was only 4 months old at the time! And in case you... Read More Read More ...

Sunday night we were a little stir crazy, so we decided to go to the Mall of America and walk around and have dinner. We walked around Nickelodeon Universe and Maddie was in love with the carousel. She kept looking at it saying “wow, wow!” So we decided to let her have her first ride. She loved it. She did keep looking at the cat behind her and wanted to ride it. Maybe next time! After we were done with... Read More Read More ...

I’ve said it at least a hundred times, but Maddie is silly. She cracks me up. The last few days she has had me laughing so hard at her because she wants to wear a bucket on her head like a hat. She won’t sit still long enough for a good picture, but you’ll get the idea! The doll in her hand is her garage sale doll. ...

We went to a friend’s garage sale the other day and Maddie found herself a new doll. She carried it around with her, fed it, pushed it around in a stroller, wanted to go to bed with it and even wanted to eat breakfast with it.   And a couple days later, she still loves this doll and wants to bring it everywhere with her. Even though this phase probably won’t last long, it was worth all $0.50 I spent... Read More Read More ...

I got to babysit our niece, Amira (Mira) recently and she was such a good girl! She loved the playmat that a friend gave us! I used to keep Maddie’s table near our back door. Then she started pushing the chairs to the door and turning the locks. (I have now moved the table elsewhere and replaced the table with her play kitchen.) She has such a serious look on her face. And Maddie has been very into noses. She... Read More Read More ...

Not only has Maddie learned the joy of wearing a life jacket and hat around, she has also realized she likes sunglasses! Oh, I love my silly little girl! ...

This girl of mine keeps us laughing every day! She is getting funnier all the time! Recently, she wanted to wear a life jacket around the house. This was a life jacket given to us by some neighbors because their kids grew out of it. Maddie still isn’t quite big enough for it, but she REALLY wants to wear it. She also discovered she likes wearing her hat. So put those two together and you get this: And this is... Read More Read More ...

This is the book we read for July for book club. A friend of mine pointed out that it is only available for an e-reader. I did see online that you can buy a paperback copy used if you really wanted one. Here’s a little about the book. Stuck in a job he no longer found fulfilling, journalist Mike McIntyre felt his life was quickly passing him by. So one day he hit the road to trek from one end... Read More Read More ...

Saturday, my mom, Maddie and I walked in the Leprechaun Days Parade in our city. We were walking with my MOMS Club. Maddie sat in the wagon that had banners decorated by some kiddos while my mom pulled her. I handed out candy to moms in the parade with little cards promoting MOMS Club. It was a hot day, but we had lots of fun. Maddie was a trooper and sat happily in her wagon through the whole parade and... Read More Read More ...

Over the weekend, we celebrated Chuck’s mom’s birthday. We got (and made) her some things for the grand daughters (Maddie and Mira). We got her a kids table for her house. And I made her some placemats and name tags for the chairs. We also gave her a couple plates for the girls to use at the table. Mira isn’t quite old enough yet, but before we know it, we will have 3 little girls at the table! Grandma Linda... Read More Read More ...

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You read that correctly. We are now the owners of a minivan. For so many years I said I would never have one. Then the idea of two kids without one just didn’t seem right. So yesterday we picked up our snazzy mom-mobile. It’s a Nissan Quest. I love the look of it! I especially love that the glass goes all the way around the back of the car. We got it in grey. It’s the same color our Murano... Read More Read More ...