The Park that Ikea Built

I am totally psyched about a park we visited the other day with a few fiends we haven't seen in quite a while. One of them suggested we try out a new park, and I was pleasantly surprised to find it was just down the road! It's still in the process of being finished off - currently there is no parking lot, and there is still some brush & mud to be cleared out around the edges of the park.

Seriously though? It was one of the most fun parks I have been to in a while, and the kids agree! We've dubbed it as the Ikea Park, simply because all the okay equipment is like nothing I have seen at another park, and it all looks truly like something Ikea would have put together. Here were some highlights of our visit:

Happy Halloween 2011

Wordless Wednesday-All Smiles

Wordless Wednesday - All Smiles

Capture the Everyday: Love

For today's assignment (first, can we celebrate that I am getting back into the swing of things??!!) I knew what picture I wanted to use right away. When I met my husband he had this cowboy hat, and I always loved that about him. Fast forward 15 years later and here he is with it again, during an impromptu Sunday morning dance party in the kitchen of course, with another little lady loving it just as much!

Want to participate? Head over to Adventuroo to link up!

Mama is Saving Up

Hi there! Remember me? I used to blog here - at times it was pretty often that I had something witty or entertaining to share. Life with two kids has been keeping me busy, but if we're being honest, I love me some TV in my downtime. And if we're being really honest, the TV & the computer are not in the same room. If they were, I could put my fine-tuned motherhood, multitasking skills to work & blog while I watch TV/relax at the same time (pending my brain not turning to complete mush). But alas, the TV, and conversation with the spouse & wine have won out over the blog many a night or free time. In an effort to change that a little, I have decided to FINALLY start going through some old baby clothes & things & selling them - hoping to make enough to purchase an iPad. I'll keep you posted on how that works out for me - In the meantime, this is what my life has been like lately...

Open Letter to Karate Moms

Dear Parents Sitting Next to Me at Karate,

Yes, this is our first time here. I didn't bring a stroller for my baby, because I didn't realize I had to sit in these folding chairs placed a mere inches apart for 30 minutes while the Monkey works on his karate chops. That poo-looking substance on my baby's hand, that she has now rubbed on your arm? I promise it is just graham cracker...

And you? To the right of me? You don't mind if my 11 month old chews on the zipper pull of your nice leather purse, do you?

Thanks,

Kelly

Wordless Wednesday: Sweet Dreams

This Face

This face is turning FOUR in seven days...hold me.

Happiest When Eating

But also happy when I snag one of big brother's coveted items...

Off the Map

We've been a bit busy lately - it's hard to believe that summer is already here & school is out. It's also hard to believe that the Monkey only has one more year of preschool before "real" school begins...whew. The biggest adjustment we have been dealing with this summer is having two kids full time at home - Bean was literally born on the first day of preschool - as in, we dropped Monkey off at school & drove directly to the hospital, Bean then arrived at 5:00 PM. Outside of holiday breaks, this will be the most time we have all been together. So far, things have been great - luckily Bean loves the pool as much as her big brother, so that has kept us busy. We have also picked out a few summer camps to keep brother occupied & stimulated too :)

A while back, I was doing my "Friday Frills," and then things got away from me, as they often do, and I haven't kept up with it. Thankfully, people like Adventuroo & All Things Fadra & their weekly assignments have kept me on my blogging toes these past few months when I haven't

found much time to write. In the spirit of updating, here are some recent discoveries & favorites:

1) Pinterest: I know I am probably WAAAY behind on this - I mean, I still think I might be one of the only people I know that isn't on Facebook. That being said, I am loving Pinterest. I haven't even begun to create any pages, but I am finding so much inspiration on other people's - I can't wait to get started!

2) A glimpse of Daddy & Bean time together:

3) This bathing suit (and all those rolls):

4) Sibling love:

5) My garden: Things are really coming along well this year in the garden. Our lettuce is done, but we enjoyed many salads from it, and it is definitely something I will try my hand at again next year. Right now I am still waiting for the herbs, especially the basil, to get a bit bigger. Otherwise, tomatoes are coming in, as well as cucumbers. We have also been eating plenty of sugar snap peas from the garden, and pretty soon we'll ave 2 huge bell peppers to pick, and a few jalapenos! The best part is Wyatt's enthusiasm about all of it, since he helped me plant it all from seeds - he will eat just about anything out of there right off the plant! I'll post some pics again soon when things are really looking delicious!

Capture the Everyday: A Sign that Summer is Coming

Couldn't wait to post for this today - my picture would have also been appropriate for last week's theme, if only I had been that organized...

Had to post a cucumber pic - These are what started my gardening passion

& I managed to grow about 50 of them last summer!!

Gardening has really become a new passion of mine (although as evidenced by the photo above, weeding is still not my forte...) - I was born with a black thumb, but I seem to be turning a corner this year. Not only have I been able to keep our orchid alive for 9 months (long enough for it to get new blooms people!!), but my garden has grown by leaps & bounds compared to last year. Here's what we're currently growing around here:

-lettuce

-sugar snap peas

-pole beans

-spinach

-arugula

-roma tomato

-cucumber

-squash

-raspberries

-strawberries

-sunflowers

-sage

-lavender

-basil

-cilantro

I won't bore you with all of the photos, but the best part is that everything I have listed above is actually growing at this point!! I have planted in larger numbers, in hopes that if several things die off we'll still end up with something. We have been eating salads every night with the lettuce - it's awesome! And, if all the plants die in the next few weeks, which I am hopeful they won't, I can at least say I have had fun trying my hand at all of this.

Want to participate in 'Capture the Everyday' as well? Head on over to Adventuroo & link up!

Fishing with Papa & Dad

This past weekend presented several opportunities for outdoor fun, which is one of our favorite things in this family. Seth & Wyatt took Papa out on the fishing boat to see what they could wrangle with the Scooby Doo fishing rod, and wouldn't you know it was quite a successful trip! All were thrown back, and Wyatt might have had the most fun with the worms, but a successful trip all-in-all!

Snacking with Papa - Wyatt's other favorite pastime

Casting the line with Dad

What did I tell ya?

My favorite pic of the trip

Capture the Everyday: Your Child's Favorite Part of Your House

This one was sort of a toss up between the basement & the swing set in the backyard. With the recent addition of the basketball hoop on the basement, it won the tie here. The basement was also one of the features of our house that sold me on it when we looked at it - I always had one growing up, and made so many memories down there. It was sort of like the one place in the house that didn't have to get cleaned up regularly, and anything goes! In this case, one half of the basement is for Monkey, Bean & myself (or my crafts & wrapping paper rather), and the other side is the "man cave." I don't pretend to know what goes on over there, but it houses all of my husband's stuff that used to be on our garage, meaning I can now park my car in there, so Mama's happy :)

Want to link up? Head over to Adventuroo to join in the fun!!

The Business of Updating

It's been a while since I have just posted some pics in here, unrelated to any challenge, meme, or the like. Here's what we have been up to on these recent sunny (and not so sunny) days - enjoy!

Loving baby food!

Ice cream with the cousins

Can I just tell you how much Bean loves Monkey? He's hung the moon...

After finishing a 5K - wishing I had been the one riding in the stroller... :)

Bean's first adventure in the backpack!

Doughnut date with Mom after church one Sunday

Dad & Bean enjoying the Spring weather in the sun porch

I love this pic - as I took it, Monkey was saying "I LOVE Duke Gardens..."

Capture the Everyday: Modern Technology

Wordless Wednesday: Wagon Riding

Stream of Conciousness Sunday: I'm Turning Into My Mother

I have decided that when it comes to all things "I'm turning into my mother," I'm just going to begin embracing them. Not even so much the "turning into my mom" part, as much as the "I'm a grown up - now responsible for two children" part. You see, I used to be cool - at one time I was a concert going, beer swilling, free spirited college gal who probably made $20 last two weeks, and didn't have too many cares. I mean, for three years straight pre-kids I attended a music festival with my younger brother that involved me going without a shower & sleeping in a tent for 5 days... My, how that all can change when you hit THE REAL WORLD.

So, I just have to laugh at myself now when I freak because my phone might have lost all the "sleep logs" I have been keeping for the baby. And I'll still chuckle a bit when talking about a situation in the car & I begin spelling names, or referring to people as "you-know-who," so those big toddler ears in the back don't go & embarrassingly repeat something to others. Last night I had to hold back my surprise when the boy announced mid-board game "OMG, this game is so hard Mom, right?" - they really do listen to everything.

I am a grown up now, one who is "turning into my Mom" - but you know what? She is a great Mom, so I'll embrace it & laugh about it along the way.

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Link up at All Things Fadra
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

Capture the Everyday: My Favorite Home Feature

Boy, Melissa over at Adventuroo must have read my mind with this week's assignment! MY husband & I just completed a serious backyard project - there are LITERALLY blood, sweat & tears that went into this thing - but it has been just perfect timing with this weather!

This combines a few of my favorite things about our fairly new house (moved in last year) - the new patio, the sun porch & the wooded backyard. (Side note - the chairs actually have cushions, but were put away before last night's rain...)

Everyone's Losing Weight & Guess Who's Finding It!

Bean had her 6 month visit this morning, and I had a feeling she was going to come up tiny on the charts - here's where we stand:

Weight: 13 lbs, 14 oz - between 10th-25th percentile

Height: 24 3/4 inches - between 10th-25th percentile

The doctor said to just keep doing what we are doing for now, feeding & schedule wise, and they'll check on her again in a month to see if we need her to gain more weight. I went through the same thing with my son...ugh.

In addition to my daughter being slim, a neighbor commented the other day that our Lab was looking thin & she wondered if he was sick. After taking a second look at the dog, it occurred to me that several people mentioned he was looking thin lately. I took him to the vet yesterday, only to find out he has lost about 17 lbs in 7 months. We switched dog food about that time, and apparently he needs to be eating more of it. At this point they are ruling out any major health problems since he is as healthy & perky seeming as ever - just starving apparently.

And to top it all off, my husband put on a pair of pants this morning that we bought for him just a year or two ago - wouldn't you know it, they were as baggy & loose as ever. Need I say more? I'll just be shuffling back down to the scale, which I keep in the depths of my basement, only to see that it has not moved in weeks from my current weight. Apparently Mama is the only one getting fed around here - sorry folks!

My Friday Frills - Installment 5

Wow! These past two weeks have really flown by, but here we are again at the end of another week. We have been building a flagstone patio this past week, lugging each & every piece of stone into the backyard. There was a stone the other day as big as the hood of my car, so needless to say my arms & back are taking a beating. We are really looking forward to enjoying it this weekend though - we are in the homestretch!! Here is what has made those sore muscles more bearable this week:

1. Baby Portraits: I am fortunate enough to have a few photographer friends that have captured some beautiful shots of my children over the past few years. I have their work hanging all over our house, and truly

enjoy it every day. However, the other day I felt the need to drop into the $9.99 portrait studio for a few shots of the Bean at 6 months. She is so smiley these days, so I felt like the pictures could be pretty cute.

3. Impromptu Dance Parties: With the boy's naps becoming more & more scare these days, it is nice to have a way to get out some of that extra energy at the end of the day. I have been enjoying the workout as well! Our current favorite dance song - Justin Bieber's Never Say Never - don't lie, you know you love it as much as we do ;)

3. A Good Laugh: Do you ever get in one of those moods & just start looking on the Internet for a funny video that has been mentioned by someone and the next thing you know you are looking up every hilarious clip you can think of? My husband & I did this the other night, and ended up watching this video again which I still think is hilarious (big fan of Chris Parnell).

There you have it! Here's to a great weekend!

Capture the Everyday: Your Child's Favorite Toy

Another Thursday to participate in Adventuroo's weekly photo assignment. Today's task was your child's favorite toy. This was easy for us - for Bean, it is the Exersaucer, since it is her latest & greatest discovery and a chance to use her new 6 month old skills.

For the Monkey, it has always been his stuffed animals (well, really his "soft blankie" but I suppose that's not really a toy...) - yes, he does sleep with all of these. They also get to take turns playing a variety of games with him, or participating in everyday activities such as eating breakfast, watching a show or going for a ride in the car. Most of them also have names :)

Want to participate? It's easy - head on over to Adventuroo to link up!

Stream of Consciousness Sunday: It All Goes By So Fast

This is my first time doing this, but I actually had 5 minutes to myself this morning so I thought - what the heck! I love to read all of these, so here goes!

As I sit here typing, I can hear my husband down in the basement with my son, teaching him how to ride his first "big boy bike." Funny story behind the bike, and I'll try to keep it short. Rewind to about 3 years ago, when the boy was roughly 6 months old. Hubby & I went to a bike shop with our bikes, hoping to trade them in for some cash towards new ones. Turns out they weren't as valuable as we thought, and the credit wouldn't go far towards a brand new bike from the bike shop. So, there we stood with our $125 credit, wondering what in the world to get from this bike shop. Then I spotted them - the kids bikes! And wouldn't you know, they were $125.00. I was never planning on spending that much on my child's first bike, but with a credit in hand, we decided to get one for the boy & save it. (Funny side note, as we were making the transaction, my son's pediatrician walks in...I had to explain why we were buying our then 6 month old son a brand new bike for a toddler...)

So, long story short, we have had the bike in an attic or basement for years - and now he is downstairs riding it. It always seemed like it was going to be such a long time before he fit on it. Excuse me while I go wipe a few tears away.

This is my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post hosted byallthingsfadra.com. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it

Capture the Everyday: What's On Your Nightstand

I'm am loving this little weekly challenge from Melissa over at Adventuroo! This week's assignment? Capturing a picture of what lies on your nightstand. Already a sore subject with me - I have no "nightstand," only my dresser, which is next to my side of the bed. I have been wanting a new set of bedroom furniture for about 8 years now, but alas other things always come up. Until then, here are the contents of the "nightstand portion" of my dresser - enjoy!

- a note from my son telling me that he found a penny on the floor of his room & wondered if it could go into his piggy bank (but I'm sure you got all that just from reading the note - you can translate "toddler," right?)

- the Kindle that I gave my husband for his birthday a year ago, which he quickly replaced with the iPad. I was happy to call it my own and am currently reading 'The Help'. Attached to it is the book light I use every night - he can't sleep with the light on, and I am a bit of a night owl

- my iPhone, which I keep handy for when I can't sleep & use to keep up with baby's eating & sleeping schedule

- my baby monitor, which I just keep on for the video screen, no sound. We sleep with our door cracked open, or I would never sleep with that thing so close to my head

- my cup of water

- my "bible" - Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, which I refer to quite often, even with #2

- the stack of magazines that I keep telling myself I will read soon - appears I have some serious catching up to do

- the TV & Apple TV remotes

And there you have it! What's on your nightstand? Head on over to Adventuroo to link up!