Painted Nails

I let Maggie paint her own nails. If you click on the picture you can see what a professional job she did. Her fingers are covered from the top knuckle up. Lovely.

After posing for a manicure picture she insisted on showing the camera her purse.

The Princess Reads to Her Royal Subjects

Pixie Skate

A skating rink in Denver hosts Pixie Skate for kids 2-6. I made big plans to take Maggie down for some skating. They key the skates so that it's more like walking than rolling. She was so excited...until the skates were actually on her feet. I walked her out to the circle of kids doing the hokey pokey. Her eyes were huge. I tried to slowly back up.

I walked back out a few seconds later, and with her huge eyes, she looked up at me and said, "All done, Mommy". And that was it. She was scared and no amount of convincing was going to change her mind. I was bummed.

She immediately had me remove the skates, asked for her treat, then wanted to leave. I was so glad we drove almost an hour for that!

Cleaning the Garage

We attempted to clean the garage with Maggie around. Harder than you would think.

Maggie was soooooo "helpful".

We brought her old stroller in to clean it and get it back in working order for baby #2. After I did a quick wipe-down, Maggie commandeered it for play. It's been her favorite toy since. Really, really awkward for such a small house.

Weekend Review: Denver Fun

Friday night we actually went on a date! Dinner and a movie. The first time we'd been to a movie since having Maggie--she's almost THREE!! Predictable, but good. Taken.

I did some knitting (this pregnancy has been insane with the whole nesting phase. I've been knitting a lot lately). I think I'll put a ribbon through the hat--in the ribbing, through the eyelets.

We also spent some time in Denver as a family. That was fun.

And I made these coconut cupcakes from Martha Stewart. These were way good. I highly recommend these. This was my first time making Seven Minute Icing although I grew up on it. My dad is the master of Seven Minute Icing. After I finished making it and frosting the cupcakes I turned to Patrick and said, "My dad would be SO proud!".

I'm Behind

I've been running at least a week behind so I'm going to play catch up yet again.

Warm days at the park.

I bought Maggie an umbrella at Old Navy. It's been a fantastic purchase in that she uses it every single day. We wander through the "rain" in the houe all the time. You have to be careful though or you might lose an eye.

Sunday family picture. It's really the only day I hit the trifecta of shower, makeup, AND hair!

Maggie got a huge box of Valentines toys and candy from church. Included in the huge stash were these very cute sunglasses with little red hearts on them. Oh, how she loves them. After digging through the box, trying on the heart socks and sunglasses, and eating all the candy she asked if she could go back to church tomorrow. Hmmm.

Discovery Days was all about Valentines and squishing the "gak" they had on the table into her shirt. See the stain just above her fancy schmancy heart necklace?

We had one day of snow (gone by 2pm that same day). This was the first time this winter season that she actually wanted to get anywhere near the snow so, although it was 7am and I was in my robe, we bundled her up and went outside.

Valentines Weekend

We had a really nice Valentines weekend. Since our babysitter was booked 6 weeks in advance we are going on a date another time. We spent the weekend as a family just enjoying the calm.

Saturday night Patrick (and Maggie) made homemade pizza. I had thick crust, a creamy pesto sauce with feta and fresh tomato toppings. Oh, man was it good! Maggie went through two outfits "helping" her daddy with the preperations.

I made these peanut butter and jelly cupcakes from Martha Stewart. Um, the cupcake itself was WAY yummy but the frosting was icky. Good thing I only frosted 3--the rest are all good for eating.

Patrick gave me roses, a big Valentines balloon, card, and the indulgence of some celebrity trash magazines. Good stuff.

More pictures of us 3 (4). Way into pulling faces aren't we Maggie? In this picture I'm 28 weeks. Figured I might as well throw in some pregnancy update:

gaining lots of weight

baby is kicking like crazy and keeping me up at night.

Maggie is starting to talk about baby sister and has even stopped calling the guest bedroom "grammy's room"--it only took a coat of paint and a crib set up in there!

This one, just like the last one, likes to hang out under my ribs on the right hand side. I'm mostly lopsided and in constant pain from it. Maybe my uterus is lopsided...

My belly button finally popped. It never did the first time--it stayed an inny.

America

This song came on my iPod while driving one day. After it was over she said "again". In the past week we've listened to it nonstop in the car. The second she's buckled in she says, "I want 'merica Mom".

Check Out the Belly Button

If you click to enlarge this photo you get a great look at Maggie's hilarious belly button.

Another Family Pic

Maggie is starting to LOVE these regular family pics. She can't get enough of them and when we're done, she wants more.

Things I Want Recorded

This post has been in the works for a very long time. Most of this stuff is not even new anymore.

Terrible Two's have struck. Everything (EVERYTHING) just has to be a big fat pain. Lots of "no!" and "I don't want to". Lots of bossy demands. Tears before each bath and then tears when its time to get out. She's learning to assert her opinion and will. She's been so darn easy up until now--I don't quite know how to handle this but we're getting through. Example: The other day we were just sitting around ever so peacefully. She took a big drink of water from her sippy cup and spit it all over my lap. What the ...

Discovery Days has a table--sometimes filled with water, sometimes with rice or beans or...whatever the kids can play with. One day it was filled with various dried beans. She found one of these beans:

and immediately picked it up saying, "Look Mommy, cow beans!".

I sliced up an apple and arranged it on a plate with some Nutella in the middle. After a while I looked over and noticed she was taking each slice, dipping it once, biting, then moving on to the next slice. One bite out of each, then starting over. She quickly ate through the Nutella, looked at me and said, "Oh, no! I'm out of mud!"

Little Addy Crapo gave Maggie the book Little Miss Tiny for Christmas. I read it to her upon opening the gift. She carried the book around all day saying, "little miss tiny sat on a tuffet".

We finally ventured on a date leaving a girl from our church with Maggie. We were quite surprised to find that Maggie actually had gone to sleep at bedtime and things looked to be just fine. After dropping off the babysitter I came home to Patrick with a very funny look on his face. He said, "you need to check on your daughter". As I was walking up to her room I hear Patrick say, "I'm sure Emily did everything right...". I walk in. Maggie is asleep with covers up around her neck but under the covers was a buck naked little girl. She had somehow managed to squirm out of her pj's AND her diaper before falling asleep. Oh, and she also managed to hide the diaper somewhere in the room. I searched for a good 10 minutes before finding it.

Walking into Target one very cold day Maggie said, "My eyes are cold".

Chuck E Cheese

My mommy group had a playdate at Chuck E Cheese. This was a first for both myself and Maggie. We actually had a really good time! She figured out how to ask for pennies (tokens for the rides) pretty quickly.

The bus was a favorite ride until another little girl (from another group) peed in it. The staff came right away and sterilized the whole thing but at that point we were over it! I tried not to think of how often this happens so I could get through the playdate without totally freaking out.

Snowman Pin

Maggie made a snowman pin.

She was so proud.

Discovery Days: Daring to Get Messy

Discovery Days has a little table in the back--usually for play dough. Maggie loves it. This time, however, the table was covered in shaving cream. A little too messy for our little girl. She hates getting her hands messy. It took a good 10 minutes of just staring at it and poking it with a stick before she FINALLY put her hands in...and liked it!

Another regular table. I kept trying to get her to look up for the picture. This was her attempt to look at me.

Two Peas in a Pod

Maggie and Patrick are so much the same. They share their own special little bond. I'm definitely the outsider--enough to give someone a complex. I wouldn't have it any other way though...

I mean, how many guys can lay on the floor with their 2.5 year old and just laugh?? They were just laying there cracking each other up!