Weekend Review: All Play

Friday we met with the Itty Bitty's for some play time at B&C Bouncetown. This was our first time and we had a blast! It was a bit overwhelming with all the billions of kids, the noise, etc. Maggie built up a lot of courage and by the end I could barely keep track of her.

She just went down the big slide all by herself!

In another spot, chatting it up with Vicki and Alex.

Saturday was a very full day! In the morning was little Addy's second birthday party. Could a year have possibly passed since we attended her first?? Impossible. Micaela went all out and hosted an adorable princess themed day. It made me tired just attending!

Maggie woke up from her nap to find her sandbox assembled and filled with sand and toys. Huge, huge hit! We also got out the bubble blower. Such an easy way to entertain a toddler.

Maggie insists on going down face first--doing face plant after face plant!

Saturday evening was Patrick's homemade pizza and a visit with our neighbors. Here's a picture of the kids playing Guitar Hero. Maggie is in the chair to the far right, watching.

This weekend was Maggie's first experience with an ice cream cone. Dairy Queen will have to be a regular experience. Just look how happy she is with it! I came prepared and covered her with an old towel. Smart mommy for once.

Outdoor Toys

After a couple of really great weather days I committed to drive the 45 minutes to the nearest Toys R Us for some outdoor toys. Watching Maggie run around in a bare, unlandscaped yard is just too sad.

First is a picture of Maggie riding a coin operated toy in the store entrance. She was really funny about it--very animated and playing around until I put the coins in. Then she got quiet, big-eyed and serious about the drivin'. She begged "again" so we did it two more times (as many quarters as I had on me).

The box the slide came in was a huge hit.

Unfortunately, the weather went south so we set up shop (partly) in the house. She quickly figured out every possible variation of how to go down the slide including the inevitable falling down it.

We also bought this sandbox that's waiting for the weekend to be placed outside and filled with sand. She stares and points at it in the garage every time we get in or out of the car.

We also picked up a couple of outdoor chairs for Maggie and a friend to chill in the backyard. A much cheaper version of this in red.

Happy to be Home...But Miss Utah Family

Maggie is sleeping better since being back in her own bed (and us too)--she spent her spring break sleeping in the bed with me in Utah and kicking me in the face. She's really enjoying the newness of her old toys and her favorites like jam and bread and the local park. We do really miss Utah Family though. As much as I dislike Utah in general I actually WOULD live there in order to be near my family.

Patrick really enjoyed his time in Ohio with all his old friends and March Madness. He's tired though from going nonstop and is very ready to get some sleep and some down time on his own couch!

I Think This is Sweet!

Ellen and Maggie on Easter.

I know her lip looks hilarious as she sucks on a spoon but its still good.

Dad and Donuts

One event I captured in Utah with my own camera is the donut party on Easter Sunday.

I don't know where it started but I grew up with the occasional homemade donut party. My dad would make the dough, let is rise, punch it down, cut out the donuts (and donut holes). He would cook them up in the worst possible grease, turning them with a pair of chopsticks. Dad would pull them out when they were golden and set them on old newspapers he'd carefully laid out. Nine times out of ten he started some sort of fire. I'm not joking. The only topping for these treats was plain old granulated sugar. I have a VERY serious love for these donuts and donut parties.

One of the funniest parts of this particular party was how my dad and his wife, Rosa, interacted while making them. Dad had carefully cut out the donuts and was waiting for the oil to heat up when Rosa walked up and threw one in. Dad looks at Rosa and says, "Rosa! The oil is not hot enough!" Rosa looks at him with a complete lack of expression on her face and tosses another one in!. "Rosa! It's not hot enough yet!". Then each time the cooking donuts needed to be turned (with the chopsticks) Rosa would elbow Dad and say, "Larrrry, turn! Turn Larrrrry!"

I guess it would, at this point, be helpful to know that Rosa BARELY speaks English. My dad speaks NO Spanish. When she says his name, Larry, she rolls her r's. Very sweet.

As the donut cooking process continued, Rosa would focus on putting the dough into the oil. She would line up the dough, rearrange it and my dad would yell at her, "Rosa, no touch the dough. Touch just once or they flatten!". This went on the entire night like this. Rosa is really good for him.

Maggie's first steps into this lovely family tradition:

She likes it!

Spring Break in Utah

I'm back from Utah. Unfortunately I was sick the whole time! Yup. Sick. After being sick for what seems like forever, we get on a plane and pick up something else! Good thing I was staying at Julie's--she and her family totally took care of Maggie (Madge). Julie took tons of pictures. I'm at her mercy--she needs to send me all of them so I can do a decent post!

Until then, she did an amazing summary of the week on her blog. Check it out HERE.

Desperation Entertainment

I got desperate Tuesday morning to keep Maggie happy. This lead to a manicure, a drive in the car (with absolutely no errands to do or places to go), and a trip to Starbucks for chocolate milk and a muffin. Her first time with chocolate milk and she loved it. At least it was organic....

This is her best effort to hold still and show off the paint. I also learned that she DOES know how to say please. I often ask her to say please when she asks for something and she never does. She said,"more peese" between each nail. Ha! She does know what it means!

Early Easter Celebration

Since I'll be in Utah for Easter, we did our Easter Bunny basket and egg hunt on Sunday. I was thinking she would still be a little too young to understand but she did quite well and even fully participated in the egg hunt.

As Maggie was waking up we had her look through her basket from the Easter Bunny. She loved it all.

This picture shows that she knows EXACTLY what to do with a bubble wand. She had to wait until later to actually open the bubbles.

This egg lit up and spun around. Cute.

And, of course, we have the obligatory stickers.

After a big basket of toys and an egg hunt producing lots of chocolate she still eats her oatmeal. Good girl...

Weekend Review: A Little Too Much

We had a very busy weekend! In fact, I'll have to do a separate post for the "Easter morning".

Friday we went to the Itty Bitty City after several weeks off:

This wheely thing is a favorite of hers. I pull her around and around and around that gym. Fun for her but I don't get to chat with the other moms.

Isn't she adorable in the skates? That was actually very fun for me.

Saturday morning I frantically cleaned the house and prepared food for a dinner with friends. Patrick was amazing and kept Maggie occupied so I could get it all done.

She went NUTS over the bubble blower.

We had a fantastic time with friends Vicki (with husband Doug and babes Alex and Brooke) and Julie (with husband David and babe Luke). Lots of food, laughing, chasing kids. I didn't really get a ton of pictures because I was busy running around.

Here's a picture of Doug and Alex playing.

The moms tortured Luke by dressing him up in Maggie's old Halloween butterfly outfit.

And check out fancy miss Brooke. So sweet.

Go Brownies!

I did have her in a perfectly respectable outfit but she insisted on trading out her shirt for her old Cleveland Browns onsie. I just threw it on without snapping it under her pants. She was thrilled with the "tail".

I have to admit the football butt is cute.

Toddler Toothbrush

Maggie hates to have her teeth brushed. She hates having anyone in her mouth really. Once the teeth came in I quickly learned to keep my fingers out! Even when she's fallen and cut her mouth she won't let me in there. Teeth brushing is a regular battle at our house. Until....

Now we "tickle the teeth" with the electric toothbrush. She sits there with mouth wide open (and eyes wide open) in a trance. I can brush like crazy without resistance. When I'm done she says, "tickle, tickle, tickle". Phew.

2008 Easter Eggs

Here are the eggs we decorated for this year. Check out last years eggs (and the rest of '07 Easter) HERE.

Patrick made an Ohio State egg (surprise). I glued some dried flowers on mine (not totally in love with this one). Maggie did the "M" glittered one (mom did glue, Maggie did glitter--sort of). These will be added to our collection. I keep these eggs forever.

The rest of our Easter celebration including egg hunt, Easter basket, and decorating sugar cookies are scheduled for this weekend.

Back Yard Time

We've had a few great, warm days around here. Maggie is demanding "outside" all the time now. Our yard has literally NO landscaping so she plays with rocks. I feel bad for her. She needs some real toys to play with. Our plan is to buy a little sandbox and a small plastic slide or something. We didn't know we'd need them this early in the season.

This is a cute pic of her pointing out one of the many spiders darting around.

Squinting into the sun--geeze we need a tree or two back there!

A sweet picture of my two favs eating some Pirates Booty.

Weekend Review: Lots of Family Time

We had family time on Saturday and went down to Boulder's Pearl Street Mall. We ate at Cheesecake Factory and just meandered along the street. We stopped to play at the kids area, a balloon for Maggie, and to get some chocolate at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Maggie was so mesmerized by the street performers that she walked right into a flower bed and fell over into it. I know it scared her but it was very funny as well. I did my best not to laugh at her.

When we got home she wanted her balloon tied to her tricycle. Notice we finally bought the handle attachment and she LOVES being pushed around in that thing. Such a good buy!

Sunday was rough. Between daylight savings and Maggie freaking out at nursery it was a frustration. She's never wigged at nursery so now I'm sure its daycare/separation anxiety we're dealing with. I'm thrilled she's so connected to her parents but it does make it difficult when we absolutely NEED a break from her. She did recover from the trauma and chose to eat lunch with one mitten on.

Sunday afternoon we did Easter egg decorating. My, did I underestimate the mess a little glitter would make. Patrick and my eggs require a couple of days for finishing touches so I'll post the end result later this week. Because we'll be apart for Easter we'll be doing our egg hunt and Maggie's Easter basket next weekend. Should be fun.