Things I Want Recorded

One morning, before breakfast, Maggie looked out into our backyard and saw a squirrel running along our fence. She said, "Oh! A squirrel up there mommy. Oh, it's so cute!"

While singing Baa Baa Black Sheep, Patrick decided to chime in and finished the tune with his daughter. At the end Maggie said, "Good job Daddy!"


When she doesn't want you to sing with her, or to her, she puts her hand up and says, "stop singing, Mommy/Daddy".


While in Florida she put her shoes on, packed up her beach toys into a little bucket and was caught trying to open the front door. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "going to friends house".


She's taken to playing mommy to her Dora doll. She held the doll up and said, "time for nite-nite Dora". She dragged that thing (which is almost her size) all the way upstairs and threw her into the crib. She said goodnight and shut the door.


While at the park swinging, Maggie spotted a few kids about 50 feet away. She yelled, "Hi kids! Come play swings!"


On Patrick's night to put Maggie in bed, I heard funny noises coming from her room--not quiet going-to-sleepy noises but entertaining noises. Suddenly I heard Maggie shout, "Daddy! You're silly, Daddy!"

She loves "mower men". If she sees a city worker riding a mower around town she MUST point it out. On Mondays (while in daycare) she gets to walk around the block because that's mowing day in the neighbor hood (for common grounds maintenance) and she gets to see TONS of riding mowers. Miss Kellie says Maggie really enjoys that--a lot!

At The Library...

At the library things are somehow much more entertaining than at home. We do regularly and Maggie picks out some books to take home. She seems thrilled with them but generally ignores them, and choses to read her own books, once we lug them all the way home.

There are those teeny arms again...

Breakfast Changes

Since Maggie started on solid foods, she's had the same breakfast--oatmeal and a banana. Always oatmeal and a banana. She's branching out.

She now decides what she wants while walking downstairs in the morning. Sometimes it's a bagel, sometimes it's her old stand-by, but mostly it's cereal (the way she pronounces it is hysterical).

Baby Penguin

Maggie LOVES her teeny tiny "baby" penguin. I found her cradling it on the stairs one morning.

Currently it sits next to her (the passenger sit behind me) so it can "go for rides" with us.

THIS Weeks Weekend Review: Old Friends

We had a playdate with one of our mommy groups at a park. Had fun. Forgot to photograph until we're loaded up and headed home.

Cuddling with Dora

I made blueberry muffins. I wanted to make them WITH Maggie but after her last experience with the mixer she chose to keep her distance.

Friday night we attended Longmont's Festival on Main. Fun. Came home starving. Like the random people surrounding Patrick and Maggie?? What the ??? was I thinking?

The bubble tower. Maggie had a good spot to pop them on top of Dad's shoulders.

The highlight of that evening was watching a local dance company. She adored the "ballerinas".

After the farmers market on Saturday morning we hit the huge baby consignment sale next door. They had face painters--Maggie had to have a butterfly but we chose the leg so she could see it. She.Was.Fascinated.

We ended up with some Dora, Boots, and Swiper dolls at the sale.

Saturday we had my childhood friend over for dinner. She and her husband had come to look at an orthodontics practice that's for sale here. I did my very best to sell them on Longmont while having just the BEST time catching up. We even shared some old memories and cracked ourselves up. I was very sad to realize during Maggie's bath that I had not captured any of the evening on film! So, these pics of us as kids will have to do.

There were others...but they were just that side of mortifying. I'm in the middle, Laura on the right (my older sister Charlotte and younger brother Randy as well). Yes, I'm very aware I looked like a boy.

Booth pic

Weekend Review: The Forgotten Weekend

Last week I forgot to do a weekend review. So this weekend review is actually LAST weekend's review. Get it? I barely do.

To sum up:

We built forts (a current obsession after Florida)

She wore my heels after church.

She made herself a picnic for one out of my dish cloth. Her dad taught her about picnics.

She ate her meal on the retaining wall.

The Daddy Eats A Vege (Sort Of)!

If you know my husband at all you're probably aware of his "dislike" of all things vegetable. He says he eats them but he really doesn't. Lettuce and corn don't qualify as eating vegetables.

Maggie's daycare provider, the lovely Miss Kellie, had some extra zucchini and generously gave some to me. Hmmm. What to do with zucchini.

I found a really tasty recipe for zucchini bread on allrecipes.com and....he likes it! My husband actually likes it! (I'm beaming inside--I'm not a good cook to put it nicely.) Ok, so it's mostly sugar and flour but STILL. Maggie was a little hesitant but after her first bite she came back over and over again demanding more.

Recipe here.

Maggie's Computer

Since our laptop kicked the bucket, and we don't plan to replace it for a couple of months, I'm stuck in the basement using my desktop for everything. It's such a pain if Maggie doesn't want to play down there and I desperately want to check my email.

She found her own way to feel included in the computer time. She dug out my label maker and old wireless mouse for the laptop and made her own computer. She mimics me--trying to type and move the mouse around clicking it.

Lovely Play Date

My friend and walking partner, Marisa, is heading back to her job (school teacher) so we had one last play date. It's not like I'll never see her or Owen again but it's just so much harder to work around school schedules. Owen and Maggie get along perfectly. It's...pleasant. Marisa and I can actually just sit and chat.

Cupcake Drama

Inspired by Karla to actually cook with my daughter (I usually make every effort to keep her entertained and OUT of the kitchen) I decided to make some cupcakes with her.

I packed her up in the stroller and headed to the store for a cake mix. It was hot and I was in jeans for some crazy reason. I sweat my way over there, sweat my way back, and opened the fridge to find we were out of butter. Ugh. I made Patrick watch her while I jumped in the car to go back and get some--the whole point of taking Maggie in the stroller was to avoid using my car/gas/energy to get there!

I get back and start the cookin'. I cut open the bag and let Maggie dump the mix into the bowl. I gave her a stick of butter and let her unwrap it and drop that in as well. I was even feeling brave enough to let her crack the eggs. She did very well on the first two and busted the third to bits. I spent 10 minutes fixing that situation and then turn on the Kitcheniad. It must have stuck or something because it didn't just turn on to the "1" setting but jumped up to "3" sending butter, cake mix, and bits of egg flying out in every direction. After turning it off both Maggie and I stood there, stunned, dripping in ingredients. At the exact same time I burst out laughing and Maggie burst out crying. The more she freaked out the more I laughed. I felt bad but could not stop laughing! We did eventually make the cupcakes and they were enjoyed by all.

Luggage

When trying to accomplish something in the basement (emails, blogging, scrapbooking, etc) I will do just about anything to keep Maggie happy and quiet. Her favorite thing to play with down there is our luggage. I don't know what the draw is but it keeps her happy. So it always looks like we're preparing for a trip.

Oskar Blues

Last year we took a small jaunt up to Lyons (a neighboring town) and found a really good place to eat. Oskar Blues. Seems like a biker bar by night but it's full of families during the day. We took Maggie back a few days ago and had a really good meal. Maggie had PB&J which gave her that funny joker look. This is the best picture I could get of it because she just wanted to play with the balloon.

Tiny Feet Big Shoes

I thought the size difference from daughter to father was funny--it looks even funnier than when she puts on my shoes.

Shark Attack

I woke up yesterday morning to a news story about a shark attack on New Smyrna Beach. Uh...weren't we JUST there?? Yes.
A 13 year old girl was wading in the water and a shark bit into her leg. She has a 3 inch gash on her leg and the shark left a tooth embedded in the wound. Great.

Just Maggie...and a little bit of lunch.

If I was a Photoshop wizard (or if I even OWNED it) I would fix the leftover lunch all over my sweet daughter's face!

Second Florida Video

This is the last video I'll post for a bit...I think.

Maggie Singing

Although I still have to post another Florida video, I wanted to show this one of Maggie singing for me.

Florida Video

I have a few Florida videos to get through over the next few days. Here's just the first of them.

Vacation Review: New Smyrna Beach

This year's trip to New Smyrna Beach was a lot of fun. Maggie did NOT really care for the ocean but still managed to enjoy herself in the pools, sand, etc (most especially hanging with her cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles). The hardest part for me was having NO internet access. Major withdrawal.

Instead of giving a blow by blow I'll just add some fun pictures with short explanations for a few of them.

Maggie was a very good traveler--perfectly happy and content for the full 3.5 hours!

First order of business was to eat cheerios with Grandpa. She spent tons of time screaming "HI GRANDPA" when he was in sight.

One of the few times she actually had her feet in the ocean water. For the most part she'd just see the waves come in and scream "the oceans coming" and run away from the water. Not scared, just not interested.

She screamed "HI GRANDMA" a lot too.

Her preferred activity at the beach--sitting with the big kids in the sand digging holes. Here she is with Cody and Ally. She thought herself very helpful.

At the pool with cousins Sydney, Kayla, Ally.

In baby pool with daddy.

Some tide pools that actually kept her on the beach for a moment one evening.

Our only family shot of the trip. So, although its not great, I'm including it.

New Smyrna is known for sharks (and shark attacks). This kid was fishing one evening (lots of fishing after dinner around there) and he caught a baby shark. Maybe it's a good thing Maggie stayed away from the water!

Our family spent many hours trying to catch crabs. This was one of the first (not very big from what ended up getting caught in the course of that week). Maggie would follow the big kids around with what looked like a butterfly net acting as if she really was part of the search party. All the older cousins were terribly patient and sweet with her!

At night the kids played Wii (I don't own one so I don't know how to spell it). Maggie, again, was right in the mix of things. The adults played cards.

Ally and Sydney spent two nights on our pull out couch and made forts with Maggie. She kept asking to "go underneath" when the forts had to be disassembled.

How the kids worked so feverishly in that sweltering heat and humidity to dig massive holes I'll never know. Maggie would slide down into them.

It was good trip but, wow, did I miss my bed, my bathroom, a schedule for wild-thing Maggie, etc. I'm glad to be home!