Archive for the ‘Parenting’ Category

Girls Only Trip

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

I am making several posts tonight for several reasons.

1. I have some spare time and Ben is out of town.

2. I haven’t had much to say until recently.

3. I have been super busy trying to get in last minute visits with friends and family, see places I want to see before the big move, and prepping for the big move. We leave in about a month, July 19 to be exact. I haven’t posted much about it because I have been busy trying to prep our house and lives so that we are prepared for it. That seemed more important than blogging about all the details we were dealing with! Once the move is complete I hope to post more about the process and all the fun stuff.

With that being said, last week Mikayla and I took a girls only trip with our dear friends Lara and Lylah.  For Mikayla’s birthday they gave her a trip to the zoo.  So, we packed up our bags and headed to Lara’s parent’s house in Indiana, just outside of Evansville.  We spent Wednesday afternoon and evening swimming in their fantastic pool, eating a delicious grilled steak and salmon meal prepared by her dad and vegging on the couch catching up.  On Thursday we braved the heat and headed to the Evansville Zoo.  The girls had a blast and actually outlasted their mothers.  The heat got to us before they were tired of seeing the animals and playing.  It was a great trip!  Thanks Lylah and Lara for the awesome birthday gift!

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My little water bug!  She was pushing me away so she could swim "on her own".

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Two little cuties!

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Ms. Sassy Pants herself.

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Grilling time.

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Checking out the animals.

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Lylah was a champ when it came to feeding the giraffes…

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Mikayla on the other hand was a bit timid.  I am blaming it on the duck incident from the week before!

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Strawberries and Ducks

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

A couple weeks ago we took our strawberry loving girl to a local strawberry patch to pick some berries.  We didn’t last long though because I forgot the sunscreen and it was blazing hot, nonetheless it was a great trip!  She was a great hunter and was able to spot berries faster than Ben or I!

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We also took a trip to a local park filled with ducks.  We took a loaf of bread and after a quick picnic lunch began the feeding frenzy.

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Mikayla had fun feeding the ducks at first and then one duck bit her as she was trying to hand feed it.  After that she didn’t want to feed the ducks anymore.

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Must Be a Toddler’s Home

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

Only in the home with a toddler, or maybe someone who was very absentminded or sleep walks, would you open up your refrigerator to find this:

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See that random shirt placed in the fridge?  Like I said, only in the house with a toddler!  A very cute toddler at that!

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A Candy Themed Party

Sunday, May 8th, 2011

When Mikayla turned one I knew I wanted to throw a cupcake themed party.  We did and it was fun!  This year I was wavering between a Dr. Seuss birthday party and a Candy Themed birthday party.  When I gave Ben the options he immediately decided it had to be candy!  So candy it was…lots and lots of candy!

All I have to say is:  Candy + Lots of friends and family (minus some really special ones who couldn’t make it) + a very special little girl = the best 2 year old birthday party ever!  Thanks everyone for making it such fun.  I hope we didn’t have too many upset tummies last night!  Here are some picture highlights of the day.

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The candy bar set up!  I was pretty proud of this, minus the bows I did all of this on my own!  The pictures are of her at birth, one year and then two years.

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Candy sushi made by Ben and myself.

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We had everyone write special notes to Mikayla for her third birthday since all our friends and family will be here.

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The dip table plus cupcakes (Funfetti of course).

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The cupcake smash, similar to last year but funnier!

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Here are some very special party guests.

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Callie

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Carson

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Lauren and Crystal

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Tracie

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Ali and Jeff

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Brittany and John David, notice Mikayla sharing her gummy worm

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Aunt Chelsea and Uncle Tim plus Baby Taylor

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Christi

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Dacia and Terry

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Jennifer

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Uncle Christopher and Aunt Sarah

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The Goodmans minus Caleb and Paige

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All the kids

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The fabulous dress made by Dacia Shoemaker!  Everyone should have a dress this beautiful!

The evening ended with a little party in the bathtub!

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Thanks again to everyone who came out to celebrate our special little girls 2nd birthday!

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Happy 2nd Birthday Mikayla

Thursday, April 28th, 2011

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Mikayla last year on her birthday and then this year (very excited with crazy bed head!).

I had planned to write a lengthy post of all the accomplishments Mikayla has made in the last year, but to be honest I am too tired tonight.  Maybe another night.  For tonight I just want to wish the sweetest two year old a very happy birthday!  We had a great day of donuts, bubble baths, visitors, a park date, Chick-fil-a and of course rounded out the day with a little Stakz frozen yogurt!  Mikayla even woke up to a birthday decorated doorway. 

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Posing in front of her birthday sign before our donut date!

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Just hanging around the park like two year olds do!

Happy birthday sweet baby!  I am sad you are growing up so fast, but can’t wait to see what the next year holds for you.

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A Couple of Firsts

Saturday, April 9th, 2011

Mikayla had a couple of firsts this week.  She got her first official haircut by the amazing Ali Townsend at Bella Me on the square in BG.  She did awesome!  She sat so still and let Ali cut and play with her hair.  I didn’t get very many shots, but here are a few to capture the moment.

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She also slept in a big girl bed for the first time (minus those few moments we bring her to bed with us).  She took it like a champ in typical Mikayla fashion.  After a few bumps and delays she laid down and went right to sleep.  Since we started this on Tuesday night, she has yet to climb out of bed even at naptime!  Knock on wood!  She doesn’t put up any more of a fight than she did when we put her down in the crib.  She is however, much more cautious since the first night when she bumped her head a few times.  She will even say as she is climbing in the bed, "Be careful"!  Too cute.  I am so proud of my big girl.  Check out the video below to see her first reaction to the big girl bed.  I apologize for her not being clothed, she had just gotten out of the shower!

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Dinosaur World

Friday, April 8th, 2011

Today we took an impromptu trip to Dinosaur World with my sister, her kids and my mom.  Mikayla had a blast and loved saying "Din-O-saur".  She even commented that she wanted to "poo poo a dinosaur" when she got home!  That kid is hysterical! 

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Mikayla kept calling these elephants, but they were really wooly mammoths.

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Dinoslide as Mikayla called it.

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This is my niece who is 10 months old..I think she is going to be tall and pass Mikayla up very quickly!

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Mikayla and Tanner loved hanging on the bars!

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Chattanooga Birthday Trip

Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

For Mikayla’s 2nd birthday we opted to take a non-traditional route.  Since we will be moving in July and can’t take very much with us we decided to give her a trip somewhere instead of a birthday gift to unwrap (thanks Lara for the idea).  My spring break is this week so we had the perfect opportunity.  On Monday, we packed the car and headed to Chattanooga, Tennessee for the evening. 

Our first stop was the zoo.  It wasn’t a very big zoo, but we had a blast anyway.  Mikayla loved looking at the monkeys (really chimps, but she doesn’t know any better).  At one point one of them was walking right by our viewing window and got either excited or scared.  It let out a screech sound banged the window a few times while showing its teeth and then ran off.  Mikayla was a little taken back until she realized the monkey was just saying hi!  When it happened she actually threw her hands up and said "Whoa"!  It was priceless. 

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Loving on the chimp!

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Pretty jaguar pacing in front of the window.

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This was just before the peacock got spooked and hit Mikayla in the head with its tail feathers!

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Family portrait

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The guy at the carousel was so nice, he let Mikayla ride an extra time for free!

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A little playground action after our zoo trip.

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What Kickert vacation would be complete without a few ice cream stops along the way?

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And of course we had to go swimming so, as Mikayla called it, "put my head under water"!  Doesn’t she look so grown up in this swim suit?

On Tuesday morning we got up and headed to the Creative Discovery Museum.  We have taken Mikayla to several children’s museums, but this one was a hit for sure.  It catered very well to toddler aged children where others are geared towards older kids.  Mikayla loved the water station the best and kept asking to go back. 

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Water Station – her favorite station of the day!

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She has become quite the "hoarder", hopefully we don’t see her on one of the hoarding reality TV shows in the future!

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Camping out!

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Hanging around in a kayak.

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They had the coolest music exhibit with different instruments and recording devices throughout.  It even had a recording studio!

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Face painting…a beard just like daddy!

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Trying to figure out the dinosaur dig…she wasn’t quite sure about the sand.

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Being eaten by a T-Rex!

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Hanging out at the top of the arch!

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The kitchen area was her second favorite exhibit!

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All tuckered out after some birthday fun!  Happy second birthday sweet baby!

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Belated Dr. Seuss Fun

Sunday, March 20th, 2011

March 2 was officially Dr. Seuss’s birthday, but we had a pretty crazy week so we didn’t get to complete all of our Dr. Seuss fun.  We continued some of the fun while Ben as away in Africa (you can read all about his trip here, here, here and here).  However, I am a sad to say that we did not get everything completed that I was hoping too.  Here are some of the fun activities we did get completed.

Hop On Pop – We read the book and then hopped on the bed.  She loved this and has asked to jump on the bed several more times since then.  She is almost lifting herself off the ground, but not quite!

Dr. Seuss Flash Cards – I got some at the Parent teacher store with a birthday gift card.  She isn’t really  into looking at the numbers or letters yet, but she loves throwing them around and studying them!  I also have a Dr.  Seuss letter puzzle (two actually) that we attempted to work.  Still a little young for this!

Foot Book – After reading the book (like five thousand times – she loves this one and Hop on Pop the best) we tried on different shoes.  She loves putting on mommy and daddy’s shoes.  She is even getting pretty good at putting on her rain boots all by herself. 

Thing 1 and 2 – I totally stole this idea from my friend Lara (she completed with her kindergarten students and daughter).  You paint your fingers blue and the base of your hand skin toned, smoosh it on the paper and you magically have a Thing 1 and 2 from The Cat in the Hat.  This is the only project I managed to get a picture of though!

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Mikayla chose to paint while her Thing 1 and 2 picture dried.  Here she is cheesing it up!  And yes she is not wearing a shirt, but it is easier to wash paint off of skin than it is clothes!

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Admiring her work, so proud of herself!

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Up close view of painting.  I was very pleased with how they turned out!

I am pleased to announce that Mikayla is now in love with Dr. Seuss!  She even requests her Dr. Seuss shirt over her Elmo shirt.  Every time she sees Cat in the Hat she smiles with delight.  She will even sometimes start singing Happy Birthday!  And every Dr. Seuss book is a Cat in the Hat book, not Dr. Seuss!  I love that she has inherited my love for all things Seuss!

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Mikayla’s Dr. Seuss Fun!

Sunday, March 6th, 2011

We had such a busy week, that we hardly got to do any fun Dr. Seuss activities at home last week.  So, I plan on continuing Dr. Seuss into our afternoons and evenings this week!  We did manage to squeeze in a few fun activities. 

On Tuesday evening we went to the public library for story time.  They had a special guest reader, the Cat in the Hat.  Mikayla was in love.  She kept going up to him and pulling his (but really her) leg and interrupting the story!  Then we made cat in the hat headbands and bowties.  We finished the evening off by singing Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss.  Mikayla surprisingly knows the words and started singing before everyone was ready.  Unfortunately I did not remember my camera, so I don’t have any pictures from the evening.

On Friday night Mikayla helped me make green eggs and ham and cat in the hat pancake stacks.  Mikayla and Ben also enjoyed some green egg ice cream for dessert.  We ended the evening by reading this fabulous board book version of Green Eggs and Ham.  We plan on doing some crafty stuff with Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham, but we just ran out of time!

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Mikayla helping stir the pancake mix.  Notice her serious face and pudgy belly!

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Green eggs and ham and cat in the hat pancake stack!

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Cheese!

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Green egg dessert treat (lime sherbet with whipped topping)!

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Enjoying some green eggs with daddy!

On Saturday we read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and had a fish themed lunch.  I was also planning on some other fun "fish" activities, but several things came up during the day and we just ran out of time!  Maybe next week we will be able to squeeze them in.

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Fish shaped sandwich, sand (crumbled crackers), seaweed (celery), goldfish crackers, and bubbles (blueberries).  Mikayla loved it!

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Such a little cheeser!

I hope to complete some of the other Dr. Seuss activities I had planned this week, but if not we will get to them eventually!  We may just call March, Dr. Seuss Month!

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