— Here’s What I Have to Say —

Since I’m doing some catch up to things we did earlier in the year, this was another fun outing we did this summer. I had been wanting to take the girls to Minnehaha Falls, but until this year, Maddie wasn’t old enough and Dannie is a bit easier to take places since she can walk....

Back in July, I finally gave Dannie pigtails. Why it took me that long (and why I haven’t done them very often since then) is beyond me. The pigtails themselves are not all that exciting. I mostly couldn’t decide which of her crazy faces to post in a different post, so this one got its...

I decided to register for another year of MOPS. I debated because I am trying not to over-schedule myself or become overwhelmed by feeling I HAVE to do so many things. But since I quit MOMS Club, I took the plunge and joined. I am so glad that I did. I have a wonderful table...

This was our September book for book club. (We haven’t met to discuss the book yet. We meet on Monday.) First, I’ll give you the synopsis, then I’ll tell you my thoughts. Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck–impersonating...

Last week, Chuck’s local Microsoft office closed and they laid off about 35 people there. While Chuck is job hunting and deciding what his next adventure will be, he started a new website. I added a link to the right side of my page, but you can check it out by going to MadeByChuck.com. Check...

Earlier in the summer, I signed Maddie up for a sports class. She went twice a week for a few weeks and got to play a variety of games/sports with a few of her friends. At the end of the session, they played a big round of soccer with the other teams and got a...

Over Labor Day weekend, we took our annual trip to Bluefin Bay with the Fishers. Our kids are the same age and are such good little friends. We love going up there with them and we have already booked the same places for next year! Trisha did a really long post with a bunch of...

On the way home from dinner one night while we were on the North Shore last weekend, we put on some music and the girls started dancing in their car seats. These are two of Maddie’s favorite songs to dance to. They were making me laugh! In the first video, they are dancing to “Sexy...

For our August Book Club book, we chose Bread and Wine. We decided to try a new genre with food and I think it was a good choicesomething a little different. Here’s a bit about the book: As a follow up to her two bestselling books, Bittersweet and Cold Tangerines, author and blogger Shauna Niequist...

Here is the September activities calendar from MOPS. I think some of the ideas this month look like a lot of fun!

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...

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 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...

Better late than never in my book. Here is the August events/activities calendar for MOPS. I really like some of the suggestions for this month!

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...

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...

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...

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’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.

I haven’t been posting these monthly MOPS calendars (because I kept forgetting), but here are the last couple months. I thought you still might be able to find some fun ideas in them if you are looking for things to do with your kids/friends/family.