Guilty Pleasures Swap

I took part in another of Mamarazzi's blog swaps. This one had a really fun theme of 'Guilty Pleasures'.

I don't know why I can't get the buttons to work for this swap... but you can follow the link to the swap post here.

My swap partner was Tammy.

Abi was trying to rip the box open immediately.

She didn't understand I like to take a picture of things when they are wrapped all cute.

Here's all my prizes..

She enclosed a cute note explaining all of her favorite guily pleasures.

Australian Craft magazines- that was fun to look through. I found a really cute craft inside that I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to make for Maddy for Christmas.

A tart burner and some of her homemade meltaway candles- I have never tried these kind of candles before and I quickly put on one of the apple pie ones to try it out. They smell really good Tammy!

Some sweet smelling lotion - I was actually able to convine Doug to give me a foot rub using it!

Goldfish Crackers- Abi's eyes were so big when she saw them! She loves Goldfish crackers so she felt like these were just for her.

Thanks Tammy!!

First Day of Fall

Happy first day of fall! It is officially our favorite time of year! We're going to be celebrating with an old fashioned Maple Leaf Luncheon and Nutting Party. Right now we're baking acorn ginger snaps! How are you going to celebrate?

The King's Christmas List review

I recently signed up to Booksneeze to get books for free and review them. This was the first book we received. It is a really nice, hardback picture book.



The King's Christmas List by Eldon Johnson and illustrated by Bonnie Leick was a really great story to help a child understand the real meaning of Christmas.
I sat down to read this with Abigail so I could get her review of it as well. We both love Christmas so she was excited to be getting and reading a brand new Christmas book.
The story begins with the little girl, Emma, decorating her amazing playhouse for Christmas with her dog Shu-Shu. Obviously the little girl has a lot because she has this really cool playhouse and it is full of toys and a Christmas tree.
Her mailbox starts glowing and when it does, she is able to get out a letter that invites her to the King's palace in 'The Kingdom' to the King's birthday party. At this point her dog is able to start talking to.
So, she gets in the carriage that comes for her with a wonderful cake that her mother had baked to take as a gift for the King. She also takes along her favorite toy- a teddy bear named Cherry Bear.
Along the way she encounters a cold and hungry young boy with his grandmother and a little girl with her parents that is very sad after losing a special toy.
By the time Emma arrives at the King's birthday party she has no gift left to give.
The story reminds children (and adults)what Christmas is really all about. Abi really enjoyed it and hung on every word. She loved the illustrations as well and would occasionally stop me to ask me questions about certain parts of the story.
I actually teared up at one point so that tells you what I thought of it!
It was a really great book that holds a very important message.
See more by following the links below:
The Kings Christmas List
Preview the book

Little World Travelers

Recently I found out about something that I think is one of the coolest things for kids ever!

It's called Little Passports.

We've been waiting for weeks for our first package and finally got it over the weekend.

The first package is the introductory one so it includes the cute little suitcase.

Maddy really wanted to be a part of this!

The idea behind Little Passports is that these kids Sam and Sophia found a magic scooter in his aunt's garage and are now traveling around the world on it. This package included a letter explaining this as well as a picture of them on the scooter in the garage. There was also a big wall map, some stickers of them to decorate the suitcase with, a passport, and a boarding pass that you can use to do special things online.

I really wanted this before we start our Geography kickoff in November so we could use the suitcase and passport. We will then work our Geography every month around whatever country they go to that month.

Every month your child gets a new package from a country they are visiting that will include a letter or postcard, stickers for the suitcase from that country, a stamp from that country for the passport, pictures, a boarding pass, activities, and a souvenir of some kind from that country. It is so cool! It is a really great price too!

I already hung up the map and we did the activity page that came with the first package that revealed what our first country will be- Brazil!

Meeting Arthur

Saturday I was looking up something else on Doug's phone and found out that Arthur was going to be at the library for a couple of hours. I hurried to get the girls ready and we got over there!

At first Abi was scared of him so we went into the craft room to let her warm up.

We drew Arthur. You can see Abi working on hers. Mine is next to her.

We made Arthur and D.W hats. Maddy looked so cute in hers.

then promptly took it off...

tried to put it back on...

and then ripped it...

Abi working hard on the hats...

Finally ready to get a picture taken with Arthur...

Afterward Abi asked me where the magic door is that the cartoon characters come through when they want to come to the real world where they are big and can't talk.

I wish I knew!

School: Bugs and crawly things

The letter this week was C for Caterpillar. Here is Abi hanging it on the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tree..

She did a C do a dot...

Made fingerprint ants...

which she then cut out and hung up..

We read the Grouchy Ladybug and then she made her own grouchy ladybug...

circling things that begin with C...

reading lessons....

We did the flannel board story 'The old lady who swallowed a fly' and then Abi colored out pictures of the story to make a mobile...

cut them out...

her finished mobile..

We did some reading comprehension... I read a book called Busy Buzzers to her. It was about Bees. Afterward I asked her to remember the beginning, middle, and end and I wrote down what she told me.

Maddy wanted in on the theme too and busied herself with an insect puzzle.

We made bee treats.. they are a vanilla wafer with a little frosting to help stick half a mini twix bar onto them. Then I ripped marshmallows in half and put them on for wings, and then made the lines with yellow frosting.

I gave Abi some yellow and black strips of paper and she made a bee...

We made caterpillar pizzas out of english muffins...

She used these pictures from the Very Hungry Caterpillar to lace on some yarn while I read the story to her.

made some number caterpillars....

put caterpillars on a leaf based on what number I put in the square...

colored these pictures and then put them in order...

The Weeks Random moments

Abi can hardly keep her hands off of her baby sister. Maddy isn't always that happy about it.

This is what Madeline's hair looks like straight from the bath before it is dry or brushed. I love it. It is wild and curly and so cute. As soon as it is dry it flattens back down.

Abi came out of her room the other day like this....

I believe that is 4 or 5 headbands and one big bow. She is so silly. She wore them for hours!

Free Museum Day

September 25th is National Museum Day and a bunch of museums are offering free admission. To find a museum in your area click here.
To get you ticket good for up to two people click here.

For those of you in this area.. we printed out tickets for Betty Brinn Children Museum.

Lake Andrea

After our picnic at the park on Monday without the camera I promised Abi we would come back the next day. I wanted to come back with the camera because of the pretty scenery. Abi wanted to come back for the nice park. I noticed that Lake Andrea had a jogging/walking/biking path around it so I thought it would be fun to bring Abi's bike and let her ride. She has never gone further than around the block so she was really excited.

We brought a picnic lunch and sat in some shade by the lake to eat. Maddy slept. Abi wanted to wear these dress up glasses.. in case you're wondering what they are.

I thought the path would be about a mile but it turns out is is around 2.25 miles. We did a little more than that because we went a little further to get to our car. At about .75 miles Abi was complaining. She was scared to go fast on her bike and she wanted to ride on the stroller. I told her that she made the decision to bike it so she had to either ride it or push it along. So she did... with the promise that we would stop at every park along the way.

It was slow going. It was pretty funny. I was not wearing workout clothes and I was wearing flip flops and then Abi was having a hard time so I'm sure we looked pretty funny to all the hard core runners that kept lapping us.

We reached the first park and played for about ten minutes. Maddy got out to stretch and Abi was pretending to be a captain.

After the park stop Abi was excited to get to the next one and that made her ride fast. Suddenly she realized how much fun it was to be able to ride her bike fast so off she went. Occasionally I would run with the stroller to catch up with her or she would slow down or stop until we did.

We had a great time at the second park because it had swings and Maddy loves swinging now.

We played for about ten minutes again, then finished the 2.25 miles (probably closer to 2.5 for us) and played at the park we had gone to the day before for a few more minutes.

It was really fun. I was so proud of Abi that she rode the whole thing and after the initial few minutes I never heard another complaint. She told me she wants to go back every day.

Ten Months old

This month Maddy had two photo shoots- the one on the actual day (13th) and one the next day so we could get some outdoor pictures at the lake. I wanted to do this Monday but we got to the park and realized I'd forgotten the camera!

So, here is little Maddy on the actual day. She had a little bump incident a few minutes before so she has a little red spot on her forehead.

And here are the rest of the pictures the next day.

I can't believe she is already ten months old. It has gone by so fast. I am in full swing planning mode for her first birthday and pretty much have everything I need. It will be a small party with just the four of us but since Abi had an extravaganza for her first birthday, I want it to still be very special.

Maddy is still very happy but a little more whiny and emotional now that she is starting to want to do and get to more things. She lets us know when she wants something! Also, her teeth have been taking so long to come in so she is in a perpetual state of teething. Her top two teeth should be coming in any day... but we said that about the bottom two for a couple of months.

She is still sleeping from around 6pm until around 6am but it usually only taking one nap per day and often cries when we put her down for it instead of being happy about it like she used to be.

She loves music, banging markers and blocks together, eating, juice, playing on grass, baths, and people.

I was so excited to see fall leaves popping up that I had to get some pictures with them!

Maddy had her nine month appt last week (late). She is still above average in height and is at the 50% for weight. She is doing good in everything and is either where she should be or above average on development. I really thing kids with older siblings learn to do things and want to do things so much faster.

She melts our hearts daily with her smile, her laugh, her excitement to see us, her super fast crawl to get to Doug when he gets home from work, and her cute little face.

I really wish Doug would let me put her in a helmet so she'd stop bumping her head onto things!

Abi continues to love her a little too much! She just doesn't understand why Maddy doesn't want to be held 24/7. It's pretty funny. She is really good with her most of the time and it is comforting to know I can leave the room and Abi will keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't get into anything she isn't supposed to. She takes that responsibility very seriously.