Congratulations Aunt Karen!

Auntie Karen passed the bar! We are so proud of you.

Congrats!

Muffin Tin Monday-Peter Rabbit's Garden (no theme)

No theme this month for MTM, so I decided to wrap up our garden theme with this idea I used from Gourmet Mom on the Go-Peter Rabbit's Mixed up Garden. The card says:
"Peter Rabbit’s seeds got all mixed up this year and now he doesn’t know what has grown in his lovely garden! Will you help him eat his yummy treats and figure out what they are? Help Peter by digging in each hole, nibbling the food, and deciding what it is. Use your taste, smell, and sight to figure out this mystery! Good luck!"

When Hattie tore through the paper, she found grapes, carrots (which surprisingly she ate), bananas, apples, a flower-shaped sandwich and a cupcake with a flower on top. OK, so those things aren't necessarily things one might find in a garden (not ours at least), but close enough. She even tried feeding a carrot to her rabbit.

Muffin Tin Monday-Plants and Flowers

Another fun theme this week. Works out nicely with our garden theme we are doing at home this month. Her favorite this week: the gummy worm, least favorite: pudding. A little surprised with that one. I think because she thought it was dirt (well, that was the idea anyway). She did try the broccoli, but then decided she didn't like that either.


L to R: flower-shaped cheese on a cracker, chocolate
pudding with cookie crumbs (to resemble dirt) and a gummy
worm (non-edible flower :0 ), broccoli (mini trees), flower-shaped
pb & j sandwich (painted with blue food coloring and milk,
then toasted), cracker with the words, dirt, water and sun
spelled out using Alphabits cereal (something we are
learning about in our garden theme this month) and a flower
made out of strawberry slices, banana and Veggie Stick chip



First thing she grabbed was the gummy worm, and she
said, "Look Mommy. This worm is dirty." Notice how she
started on the opposite side of the worm?


Click on the link to see more ideas

8 Months and Happy Anniversary!

Our little cuddle bug is 8 months today. I love to watch the two girls starting to play together and enjoy each other.
At 8 months
She:
-has 6 teeth!
-is sharing a room with her big sister
-sleeps from 6pm-6am without any wake ups
-sits up on her own
-can get up on her knees and rock back and forth
-is not yet crawling (relief)
-is starting to sign "sleep"
-is learning the signs for "cat" and "more"
-likes squash!
-picks her arms up when she wants to be held
-still sucks her thumb
-smiles when Cameron walks into the room
-still wears her 3-6 month clothing
-takes 3-4 30 minute naps a day
-claps her hands when we do
-"dances" when someone sings or she hears a song

and Happy Anniversary to my mom and dad! 36 years!!!

Muffin Tin Monday-Birds and Nests

This week's theme is Birds and Nests, which to be honest with you, was a little more difficult to come up with ideas. Hattie seemed to enjoy it, and I enjoyed the leftovers.


L to R: bird (I couldn't think of a 6th food item), egg salad
sandwich and B for "bird," Cheerios in plastic eggs,
deviled eggs, gummy worms (birds eat worms!) and nests
with Jelly Belly jelly beans (chow mein noodles and melted
chocolate)


I asked Hattie to give me a thumbs up if she liked her
lunch, and this is what she did


Click on the button to see what others came up with.

My Favorite Thing Right Now...

At least 5 times a day, in the middle of nowhere, Hattie will say, "Mommy, wanna nuggle?" She wants to snuggle on the couch. So I stop what I'm doing, clear off the couch (there is always stuff on the couch), and we nuggle. Love it.

Muffin Tin Monday-Mother's Day (no theme)

No theme this week since yesterday was Mother's Day, so I made a Mom's theme: I spelled out the word, "mommy." This lunch also helped with sound/letter recognition since we are learning that the letter M says, "mmmm." BTW, this could also be used as a brown and orange theme. LOL!


L to R: half of a p-and-b sandwich, half an orange, other half
of p-and-b, pretzels and pb, cheese, snickerdoodle cookie


Pointing to the mmmmm sound :)

Finally! She is "Peas"ed

Sorry about the corny title. I had to do it.
Little Miss Celie does not like to eat solid food. Nope. She likes her milk and nothing else. I've been making a few things, and finally found something she likes-peas! The first few bites were kind of "eh", but then she got a huge smile on her face and opened her mouth whenever the spoon came near it. A big relief.

Muffin Tin Monday-Cinco De Mayo/Mexican Heritage Theme

This week at MTM is a Cinco De Mayo theme. Perfect since we are having chicken tacos for dinner, so I happen to have all of the ingredients.
And the shirt that Hattie is wearing was bought by my mom over a year ago when she went to Mexico. It was a dress, now it fits as a shirt!

L to R: salsa, sour cream, guacamole-all for dipping (red,
white and green, the flag of Mexico's colors), chips,
flower-shaped quesadillas (flower because we are doing
a garden theme this month) and refried beans.

A New Project

Since I'm bored all day without a single thing to do (please see the sarcasm in that sentence), I have decided to take on a new project; sewing alphabet letters. One night when I was on the We Teach website, someone shared a link to this blog Rag Quilt Letters where the owner shares a tutorial and patterns on how to make alphabet letters out of cloth. I have a sewing machine but never sew. Actually, I don't know how to sew, but I save patterns "just in case I learn." Thursday night my friend Stevie, who knows how to sew, came over and showed me what to do. So far I have only finished Hattie and Celie's name, but I'm hoping to finish the whole alphabet by the end of the weekend. I'll post when I finish.



Hattie helping


She kept saying, "H is for Hattie!"


Soft enough for little hands

93

My grandpa is 93 today! These are pictures taken back in November. Happy Birthday Grandpa!


Looking at a photo of Celie and my grandma, Cecilia

Reading his text messages

Four generations

Sunday-A Week in Yor Life-Last Day

Lazy Sunday around here. Went to the Campbell Farmer's
Market in the morning, then I headed to the store to buy
my dinner for the week (I'm starting a diet), Hattie had a
day of time outs, we then headed outside and watched Hattie
on the swing, watched Celie watch Hattie on the swing, read
a book, Hattie showing off the treasures she found when she
and Randy went for a walk, and talked to Grammy on
Skype where Hattie showed off her caterpillar.
A Week in Your Life

Muffin Tin Monday-No Theme (bugs)

For MTM this week, there wasn't a theme, so I decided on a bug theme. We are finishing bugs this week, and we read the book, Bugs For Lunch during calendar time this morning. She loved this tin. Went straight for the juice, then worms, then pasta. She tried celery for the first time and said, "I don't like it." Oh well. I don't really like it either.



L to R: beetle juice (apple juice), bug-shaped pasta (Safeway),
ladybug (apple half with peanut butter and chocolate chips),
ants on a log (celery with peanut butter and raisins), butterfly
(heart-shaped bread with pretzel stick as body) and
gummy worms.

Saturday-A Week in Your Life

Lazy day around here. Snuggling first thing in the morning,
playing Wii, trip to Costco, relaxing in the sun, playing
Ring Around the Rosie (again), trip to OSH-grass seed
for a project for Hattie in May, In-N-Out for lunch, Celie
watching us eat, dreaming of the day she can eat a french fry.

Friday-A Week in Your Life

Quick trip to the library to donate, return and checkout
books, Hattie's lunch-couscous, grilled chicken and an orange,
my lunch-caramel frap from McD's, a very cranky baby,
reading, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," showing off her
caterpillar made out of an egg carton, watching
The Food Revolution (loved this show) and
Trader Joe's for dinner.
A Week in Your Life

Thursday-A Week in Your Life

Our daily "cheers"-Hattie with her milk, me with my coffee,
making breakfast in her kitchen while I make hers in mine,
playing with friends at the park, daddy doll on the toilet, a
quick trip through Target, two girls in the car, playing Snail's
Pace Race, and watching the best show (next to the Young and
the Restless) on TV-The Office.

Wednesday-A Week in Your Life

Waking up before 7 (and the kids), morning routine of
everyone piling into bed together, feeding the girls their
breakfast, being spit up on exactly two minutes before
walking out the door, running errands (in a new clean shirt),
eating, no, devouring Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Peanut
Clusters, helping with housework, and Grandma and Grandpa
here for a visit.

Tuesday-A Week in Your Life

Here is Tuesday's edition. Watching the garbage truck is
always so much fun, taking baths and brushing teeth,
checking emails first thing in the morning, sitting on our
own, painting blue snails, having fun with friends at a
play date and eating spaghetti for dinner.
A Week in the Life

Monday-A Week in Your Life

A few photos from yesterday. We had a fairly normal day. Had breakfast, got dressed, gave Celie a bath, did "calendar time," hunted for lady bugs and gnomes, celebrated Celie's 7-month birthday, ate lunch out of a muffin tin, I got 20 minutes of silence (overlap of nap times) while watching "The Young and the Restless," and made pizza. Taking more photos today.
A Week in Your Life

7 Months and Avocados-Yuck!

7 months. Many new things to share from the past month.
At 7 months
She:
-takes 3 naps a day
-sleeps from 6:30pm to 7:30am with one, sometimes 2 wake-ups.
-is consistently rolling from her back to her belly
-is sleeping on her belly
-has 1.5 teeth
-still sucks her thumb
-signs "milk" and is learning the sign for "sleep"
-can sit up on her own
-loves to play Ring Around the Rosie with Hattie (she sits in her exersaucer and Hattie holds her hands and turns her around-big smile the whole time)
-sleeps in her pack n' play in the office (to be moved to her sister's room soon)
-imitates me when I scream in a joking way (had to clarify the "joking way")
and for the avocados,
-doesn't like rice cereal, bananas, sweet potatoes or avocados (these are the only solids that she is eating right now, and she doesn't like any of them!)