February art club

The kids this month came over to our house and made these initial paintings. I know it's not the most creative craft but they enjoyed it and the outcome was neat. We had 13 kids here and for the most part they were all well-behaved. We'll leave it at that!

Bird Feeders

A little over a week ago my parents took Maggie to the cabin for the night. One of the things they did with her was make peanut-butter-pine-cone-birdseed bird feeders. Apparently Maggie was more interested in eating the peanut butter than actually covering the pine cones (really though, can you blame her?). They brought the feeders back to our house and Maggie, Chad and I hung them together. She was more interested in doing that and now we can watch out our window for hungry little birds.

tea party

Maggie's friend turned three earlier this month and we got to help him celebrate his big day. He requested a tea party and the kids all got to wear their fancy duds for the event. Maggie and I both had lots of fun that day. The kids played games, listened to a story (Miss Spider's Tea Party), ate tea party-type foods like small sandwiches, fruit, scones and bundt cake, and rode their bikes/trikes/scooters outside (it was 73 degrees!) for awhile before everyone went home for a nap.

Storytime

Our friends Russ and Carolyn came to visit for the weekend back in January. We had a great time and, as a bonus for them, I let them each read Maggie one of the books (Bubble Trouble) they gave her for her birthday last year. It's a jaw workout, tongue twister, mouthful of a book and I wanted them to get the chance to read it to her. It's one of Maggie's favorites and she asks Chad to read it to her practically every night. Now they know what he has to go through!

Disney on Ice

Chad was given tickets to see the touring performance of Disney on Ice here in town. The theme was Toy Story 3 and, unfortunately, Maggie had no clue who the characters were because she can't sit still through a movie. She did have fun though, especially during the first half. After the intermission she started getting a little antsy, but overall she did a good job for a 2+ hour performance.

Chalk

This month I finally decided to bust out a large pack of sidewalk chalk because the weather has been so darn good. Mags and I have been outside as much as possible these days because who knows when the temps are going to change and actually make this area feel like winter again.

Let's Go Bowling (Andy)

Last Wednesday Maggie and I met up with some friends from our moms group at a local bowling alley. Because the kids had never been bowling before, the alley staff put up bumpers in the lanes and provided a little rail/ramp contraption for the kids to push their bowling balls from. Everyone started without using the rail/ramp and simply pushed the ball from the end of the lane, but after we saw how long it took for the balls to roll to the end, we decided the rail/ramp was a better way to go. Maggie's team consisted of Maggie and three other friends but the entire group of kids totaled about 10. Maggie did a great job and enjoyed bowling with her friends. And, I must brag, Maggie was the youngest on her team and totally won the game! Yeah! (Next time I'm bringing my bowling ball and shoes. I totally wanted to play.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Maggie, Chad and I hope you all have a wonderfully sweet Valentine's Day tomorrow. Here is Mags helping me stuff her valentines for her little buds.

Walk in line

This past fall our neighbors put in a cement border in their front yard. Maggie thinks it's the BEST. She can walk the border over and over again when I let her. Creatively, she calls it walking in line. Maggie even got Chad to play it with her last weekend.  They had to be careful with their balance because the grass, according to Chad, was hot lava.

Jason Wu

Oh yes I did. Bright and early Sunday morning I waiting with others outside of Target for the debut of the Jason Wu collection. And it was such a fun experience! I was nervous that the people in line before me were going to buy everything to resell on eBay, but that was not the case at all. We all worked together. Even before the doors opened we knew who was looking for which styles and in which sizes. In the dressing rooms we were sharing the clothes that didn't fit/we didn't like and ultimately I ended up with a dress and 4 tops. I'm really excited about each of them. Yeah!

crafty gals

Last week my friend Amy organized a little craft night at her house. She had the supplies for fabric Valentine love banners for our mantels so that's what we made.  It was fun hanging out with the girls and getting crafty for the evening. Hopefully we'll do it again soon.