Merry Christmas!

Boo!

Lots to catch up on and I'll get to it eventually but for now...

curtains

Well, it doesn't look like I'm going to make anything for the baby before his/her arrival, but I did manage to make some curtains for Maggie's room with the help of my mom. They are the same style curtains we have in the baby's room with a different, more colorful fabric. Complements her room nicely, we think. Thanks for all the help, Mom!

hair cut

On Friday Mom and I took Mags to get her preschool haircut. As usual she was squirmy. I need to find a style for her that doesn't involve a straight bob with straight bangs. Too bad I like this one so much on her.

August birthday party

Despite the fact that August is statistically the month with the most birthdays (followed by July and September), only one of Maggie's friends had a birthday party this month that we could attend. (Her Papa - my dad - also celebrated his birthday this month, but he didn't have a party. Happy belated birthday!) Maggie's friend recently had a princess party complete with a backyard bounce house and plenty of friends to play with. Maggie loved it.

shoes

I'm catching up on Maggie's baby book and here are photos of her most recent shoes. The first group is from this past winter and the second group is her summer shoes. We had such a mild winter that she wore summer shoes in the winter too. Weird.

Book Sale

A couple weeks ago CBS47, Chad's television station, sponsored a community book drive benefiting the local county library system. The sale is taking place at a local mall (Sierra Vista, for you locals) this week and there are lots of great deals on books. We went with my parents and ended up with fun kids books and some great cookbooks. Go if you have the chance. The sale benefits a great cause!

movies

This summer I took Maggie to her first movie. Movies plural, actually. The theaters here have a special deal on Tuesdays and Wednesdays where they show children's movies at 10am and tickets are only $1 each. Maggie and I (and sometimes friends) got to see the following movies: Happy Feet, Hugo, Rio and Chimpanzee. Maggie loved the popcorn, the other kids in the theater, and the whole movie experience. Let's hope they offer the same summer deal next year. It's a fun and cheap way for us to beat the heat.

Dentist

Earlier this month Maggie had her third dental appointment. What a difference between this one and her last two (at 2 years and at 2.5 years)! She laid down patiently in the chair and let the hygienist and the dentist do anything they wanted to with her teeth. Yeah! They were able to clean and floss her teeth, perform x-rays and give her a fluoride treatment. At the end, as always, she got a bag with a new toothbrush and toothpaste, floss and lip gloss, a pink helium-filled balloon and a book. She chose a board-book about concrete mixers. Go figure. Oh, and because she has (mostly) stopped sucking her fingers she got a gift certificate for a free Jamba Juice.  I am so proud of her and how well she did at the dentist this visit.

a little celebration

Last Saturday my kind friends Amy and Katrina threw me a little baby shower to celebrate the upcoming arrival of our little squirt. There were 11 of us at the party and we had a nice time eating desserts and fruit, playing a game, chatting, and opening gifts. I had a great time and am thankful for my friends who put the time and effort into planning the afternoon. I also appreciate everyone who attended. A special thank you to my mom who drove up for the day and to Loren who traveled here for the weekend from the DC metro area. It wouldn't have been the same without either of you.

The top photos L-R are: the pregnant women at the shower and me with my hostesses. I wish I had a photo of the entire group of us, but I don't. Darn!

radishes

In the spring Maggie got to plant some radish seeds in little paper cups with the moms group. As soon as our seeds sprouted we transplanted them to the garden and let them grow wild. Since none of us likes to eat them we figured we'd just let them grow and see how big they could get before we needed the space to plant our summer garden. They got pretty big.

hammered

Lowe's offers classes to kids twice a month and occasionally I have signed Maggie up for them. My mom took her to the first one where they made wooden ice cream trucks. We both took her to the second where she (mostly me) made a wooden bomber airplane. Chad was the lucky recipient of the airplane--father's day gift--and Maggie thinks it's pretty cool. She's a little young to follow the directions for the kits, but she enjoys being there with the other kids, wearing her apron, and taking something home at the end. If you haven't been, sign your kids up for the next Saturday/Sunday workshop and see what it's all about.

zucchini

In June Chad and Maggie picked the first zucchini from our spring garden. Here is Maggie cooking it in her microwave and holding it. Ultimately the entire thing went into summer soup.

new friend

In June we got to meet, feed and hold our good friends' new baby, Matthias. He's a cutie and we were so happy to meet him at just 3 weeks old. Maggie was giddy with excitement to see, kiss, hold, snuggle, tickle and play with him and somewhere there is a video to prove it. When we finally allowed her to hold him (with assistance, of course) she could not stop giggling and smiling and touching and loving him. Heart melting, really.

big girl room

A couple months ago we had three walls in our guest room painted a light aqua/blue to prepare Maggie for the move into her new bedroom. We ordered and received her new bedspread but didn't want to fully move her into the double bed (from a toddler bed) until the room was painted and the bed was where we wanted it. We hoped to make it a big event for her. And even though it wasn't (and still isn't) complete and this past weekend we rearranged it all again, the switch was still a big event and she loves her new room. The are still things that need to be done (putting up a full-length mirror, adding a clothesline for artwork, hanging window treatments, etc.) but I'm giving myself a month or two (or more) to get them completed. There's no rush--the big move has been made and for the past couple months she's loved what we've done to it. We thought she might miss her old room but so far she hasn't. She talks about the baby's room as just that, and knows that she now has a super awesome big girl room that's all hers.

Playland

While I was at the bachelorette party baseball game, Chad and Maggie spent the afternoon at Playland and Storyland. Maggie loves it there. We have unlimited ride passes which means she can go on the train, carousel, carnival rides and more as much as she wants. She was still sobbing when they picked me up from the baseball game because she was mad that they had to leave...after playing there for nearly FIVE hours.

cowboy birthday

Maggie's bud, K-Bob, turned one this month and we got to celebrate with him this past weekend. His family threw him a darling cowboy birthday party in the country complete with stick horses for the kids, hats, bandanas, photo ops, swimming, food and a pinata. A great way to spend a warm weekend evening.

asparagus

Ever since turning 2 1/2 Maggie has increasingly requested to help me around the house. She wants to help me with laundry, dishes, cooking, etc. so I try to find easy jobs for her so she can feel productive and happy. Jobs that don't make my task any more laborious or time-consuming are a bonus as well. In the kitchen she mainly washes veggies in the sink or puts things in bowls, but in this photo she's actually snapping the asparagus before we wash and steam it. So what if we're losing a bit of the edible part of the stalk in the process...it's a safe and helpful task and she couldn't be prouder.

Undies!

 

Back in May we started potty training Maggie. She, unlike the previous times I'd tried, took to it immediately and did an amazingly great job. My parents started putting her in undies for a couple afternoons while they watched her (thank you!) and when Chad and I picked her up from a weekend away we decided to fully go for it. And she totally rocked it and she even stays dry at night. Yay Maggie!

escaping the heat

This past weekend Chad, Mags and I went to the cabin to cool off. The weather was great, the mood was relaxed, and we all had a great time. Saturday morning we travel to Huntington Lake to watch the High Sierra Regatta. The three of us had a picnic while watching the boats and enjoying the fresh mountain air. And of course we took Maggie to the swing before the day was done.