New Mommy Group

Apparently there has been a little bit of turmoil in my old mommy & me group which ended in a new (supposedly more friendly) group. I signed up and went to my first play date yesterday. It was quite nice and good to see some old friends I'd not seen in a long while.

Here she is getting a bird's eye view of the kidlets playing:

It's a tiny pic of her out there trying SO hard to keep up with the older kids as they ran around:

She was so busy playing she really didn't eat much at the picnic so I handed her a full bag of Pirate's Booty to eat on the way home. Bad idea. This is where the booty ended up. Of course I was driving so I couldn't clean it up despite her insistence that I should. I finally convinced her to eat some of it to "clean up". She complied and when we got home I let Patrick come out and remove her from the car seat.

Maggie Makes Pizza

On the menu for Monday night was Patrick's homemade pizza. This was Maggie's first time helping out. She had a really good time as she helped spread the shredded cheese and pepperoni.

After helping out, she asked for a wipe to clean her hands. She does not like to get her hands dirty. (This can cause problems of all sorts with eating as you can imagine.)

Weekend Review: Farm Fun & Fathers Day

Oh what a crazy, busy weekend we had! Friday my friend Julie and I made some way too yummy cupcakes. Recipe HERE. I also had to do some emergency babysitting for little Owen. Everyone played very well together. For a good while all of them sat at the little table and colored. I'm pretty sure it was Maggie who covered the boys with marker. Good thing they were the non-toxic washable variety! The whole day was wildly busy, loud, and fun!

Saturday morning Maggie gave Orange Tebby Dare a ride while her parents packed up for the big Sunflower Farm trip!

We spent the morning at Sunflower Farm for their Kids Fun Fest and boy was it F-U-N. I'm pretty sure Patrick and I enjoyed it just as much or more than Maggie did. We were jumping around snapping pictures and making her play with, and look at, every single thing.

We saw pigs, chickens, cows, sheep, horses, goats, llamas, ponies, ducks, I think a turkey, turtles. We played on trikes, swings, tractors, sandboxes, tree houses, etc...phew! The only way to show all the cute pics is by slideshow.

After the farm we headed over to Two Dog Diner in Prospect for some food. We all agreed the food was great (Maggie did so by eating almost everything in front of her). Nap time started in the car on the way home.

After her nap I thought we'd hit the park and get wet in the water jets but they were turned off. Maggie was sad so I brought her home for some backyard fun.

Sunday was nice and relaxing. Maggie, who rarely lets me clean ran around the kitchen playing and yelling "mommy cleans" while I did my thing. Patrick made his famous BBQ chicken with corn on the cob (a new favorite of Maggie's--so funny to see her eat off the cob). I topped my day off by watching Patrick and Maggie have a pillow fight and giving my dad a call. It was a really nice Fathers Day.

Things I Want Recorded

May 27. Maggie and her dad on the couch. Maggie with a bag of potato chips (yes, the whole bag). She takes one out, hands it to her dad and says, "Here ya go Dad". So fun to hear the longer sentences these days.

Maggie is very good at getting us to do anything for her (she's SO my daughter). She's taken to having one of us feed her breakfast--spooning her oatmeal in her mouth. She actually tries to recline in her booster chair while she gets fed!

While in Las Vegas, Patrick was carrying Maggie under a tree. He's very tall and some hanging branches/leaves grazed his head. Maggie said, "uh-oh, sorry tree!".

We LOVE Dora The Explorer. Maggie was playing with the water in her bath and said, "Water, agua. Water is agua". Um, are you serious?? I had no idea Dora was such a good Spanish teacher.

I turned on some random kids station in order to....blog. Maggie started watching Blues Clues and they had 4 or 5 items on the screen and asked which of the items started with the letter "H". Maggie looked at them for half a second and replied, "the hat". She had never seen this show before! She's freaking two years old! Ok, two years and a couple of weeks. Those couple of week must have been really important. Ok, I know it was a fluke (lest you think I'm a loon) but it still makes me beam with pride--just a little.

She Would Find a Way

She would find a way to make even her sweet little table and chairs to be dangerous. She does this every time she "sits" at her table! That's how she colors, eats, etc.

Can We Borrow Some Sunscreen?

After spending way too much time packing up the perfect park bag I plopped Maggie in the stroller and rolled her the couple of blocks to the water jet park. Once there I realized I had forgotten to pack sunscreen. Maggie, lucky girl, inherited my pale skin and would have fried without some. We had to start out fully clothed (that's her in the orange shirt and pink hat).

I started to feel bad and thought I'd give her just a couple of minutes in the sun.

She was having so much fun I decided to ask another more prepared mommy to borrow some sunscreen. Oh, Maggie was just SO thrilled!

I hope she appreciates what I did for her because I knew that by starting a conversation with this woman she'd likely want to continue it. She did. She asked all the standard questions then moved to the clincher--so, do you come here often? This means she's a mom lookin' for a friend. This is not my first experience with moms hitting on me at this park. There are a LOT of lonely moms out there! I feel really lucky to have found Mommy & Me and then Itty Bittys because I not only have a larger community of moms to associate with but I've also developed a handful of really close friendships from these groups. When some mom starts "the conversation" with me at the park I want to hand her a card with the website info on it. Hmmm. Maybe I should.

Weekend Review: Birthday BBQ

We had a pretty nice weekend! Maggie and I spent most of Saturday at the local park. We hit the water jets, the sand, the swings, and the slides. She liked the swings most of all. I was way tired (and hot) and kept asking if she wanted to go home. Her response was, "no. no home". I'd respond with, "no home?" and she'd say, "'kay"

The above pic is worth clicking on so you can get a good look at her expression close up.

Sunday we had a small BBQ to celebrate Maggie's birthday. Does it seem like this year the birthday festivities just keep on going? So do we! Maggie has taken to singing Happy Birthday to herself daily.

Our neighbors gave Maggie some bubbles (which she adored). Leah helped her open them. Leah also read to the kids. Gosh, she was fun--and helpful!

It was nearly impossible to get all kids in one shot so I just snapped randomly. Below is Owen, Addy, Keirsten, and Maggie.

New Table for Maggie

Our gift to Maggie for her second birthday was a little table and chairs. She loves them. She plopped herself down and immediately demanded to color.

The next morning she decided to skip her booster chair at the big table and eat at "Maggie's Table" as she calls it. She also requested to wear her fishy apron (from Aunt Julie) as a bib that morning. She must have felt like such a big girl because she ate the entire bowl of oatmeal without once asking me to feed her as she normally does.

Birthday Packages

Maggie got a couple of packages in the mail for her birthday. The McCarthy's gave her a super cute hooded towel and some adorable bows (oh, how we needed those bows).

The Narducci's gave her some very sweet Gap shorts, some crazy cute flip-flops and the sweetest little felt cake I've ever seen! She loved them all. She carried the cake around ever so carefully for a good long while.

Regular Brunch

A couple of moms and I have started doing a regular brunch get-together. Most of the time I forget to take any pictures. And, by the looks of it, when I do take pictures they are pretty darn weak. Oh, well. At least I have some proof we actually do get together!

Here's Brooke checkin' out Maggie.

Alex was with his grandma but the rest of the kids were there. Below is Maggie, Luke, and Brooke. Brooke was thrilled with the attention. At almost 7 months I'm shocked at how much that girl wants to hop out of that Bumbo and toddle around with the others!

Vegas Baby!

We're back, safe and sound, from our trip to Las Vegas! We all had a great time! We stayed with my in-laws at their time share condo a couple of blocks off the strip--right by Hard Rock Casino. It was heaven! Maggie had her own room so we didn't disturb her and she didn't disturb us at night. There was not a slot machine in sight--ahhhh for me! This place had a great kids pool, an adults only pool, a great fitness room (which I'm happy to report I did use more than once!). Very family friendly. It was a good mix of play and relaxation.

Why is it that Maggie's FAVORITE activity (by far) was jumping on our bed?

We did a small celebration for Maggie's 2nd birthday. She got some fantastic gifts--thanks everybody!

She was a little timid about the pool.

One day we took a limo out to some shopping for the girls and off-strip gambling for the boys. The little "stars" in the limo were all it up and she loved it! She thought she was in a train and kept saying choo choo. Uncle Donald stretched his legs out to relax (getting his feet a little too close to the "stars" on the side) and Maggie said, "Uncle Don. Stepping. Stars."

Grandma and Grandpa took Maggie for one afternoon so Patrick and I could spend some precious time together. We had a super yummy lunch at the Bellagio, walked around, held hands...good stuff. The highlight of my Vegas experience was that afternoon. He took me to the pastry shop with the 27 foot chocolate fountain and the A-MAZING pastries!! We shared the most amazing dessert ever. Good, good day.