831!

It's my birthday! As long as I can remember my birthday has been sacred. The numbers 831 are just the very best and when I see them on license plates or a clock I am usually apt to announce with glee "831 it's my birthday!" (Or dyslexic my birthday if I see a 138 or 318 or something. One of my license plates even randomly was assigned a dyslexic my birthday when I transferred the registration from MN to IA.)  

Over the past few years though the excitement of my birthday has worn off, just a little. I am no longer peeking in boxes and trying to see what I got early. I still haven't opened anything and back in the day I would wait until approximately 12:01 am before digging into something at least. 

Last night Husband and I made penguin cupcakes. Because C has this thing for the book Hello Cupcake! And they're on the cover. And he's been asking for months. And I like him. 

Since last year I made walrus cupcakes for my birthday but actually for C, this is starting to sound a bit familiar. But really, I am not picky and I love seeing him happy. 

Also, why has no one told me you get your own Google doodle on your birthday? I must be a moron because when I logged on last night (after 12 EST but not quite in my timezone yet) there was a birthday Google doodle. I clicked on it because I was like "What famous person do I share a birthday with?" Because my known list wouldn't really warrant a doodle. (Richard Gere, Van Morrison, Chris Tucker, Sara Ramirez from Grey's Anatomy, Hilary Farr from Love It or List It.) 

 

But it wished me my very own happy birthday. Obviously they warranted screen shots! 

Since today is Monday which is not my favorite day of the week we had a mini-celebration yesterday. We took the local water taxi out on the river and one of the stops is right at TGI Fridays, so we had a special lunch. (The second time ever the 4 of us have gone out to eat together.) The food was really only so-so but the experience was fun. C liked riding the boat for the whole loop. We saw: turtles, ducks, geese, seagulls and excavators. It was very exciting. 

Anyway, have a wonderful 831! It may not be your birthday but I am wishing you some of my 831 joy because why not?! Let's all just settle into happiness today.  

I Don't Stand With Cherish

I Don't Stand With Cherish.

I'm sure you've seen the hashtag. I'm sure you've read the story somewhere. Cherish, mother of 4 in Arizona, accidentally left her 2 month old son in a shopping cart. Loaded her other kids and groceries into the car. Drove away and didn't come back for 40 minutes.

Now, I am not for a minute saying she did it on purpose. While I legitimately cannot imagine forgetting your baby somewhere, I don't think she had malicious intent, which is needed in "crime." But I also don't think that 99% of parents who forget their kids in hot cars do that on purpose.

It's a slippery slope folks. We can't punish the people who make the same mistakes but the only difference is that something bad happened. Drunk drivers are ticketed regardless of whether they've been in an accident or not.

And it's not like she called 911 immediately after realizing she left her kid and cried and told them she was coming back and could someone go check on him to keep him safe until she got there. Because for the 20 or so minutes when she DID know he was missing she did nothing but turn around to go get him. At that point, she was actually knowingly putting her child in danger. And that is child endangerment.

I am not trying to advocate for her kids to be taken away, I am sure she's no worse a mother than most, she just made a bad mistake and then made a bad judgement call after the fact. But I do think she should have a probation period. Someone to check in on them occasionally and make sure all is well. And maybe an evaluation just to be certain Cherish isn't suffering from PPD. Because if she is, and this is a terrible manifest of her symptoms she does in fact need help.

Again, I don't think she should go to jail. I don't think her kids should be taken away. But I also don't think this is a situation where we are all supposed to stand together and make all consequences go away.

So no, I don't stand with Cherish. At least not in the way the hashtag implies.

I'm Throwing A Bridal Shower

Yesterday I found myself sitting on the floor of my kitchen, and standing on a step stool in my kitchen, scrubbing my white cabinets with a magic eraser and cleaning solution. (Not at the same time.) I learned three things:

1. I should really scrub my cabinets more frequently than "whenever I am trying to impress people by the cleanliness of my house/people who have never been to my house." 
2. I should really just repaint all these doors and use good scrub-able paint. 
3. White kitchens are pretty but wow do they show dirt. 

Prepping for this shower has been eye opening to how we live. Our house is pretty old. (Built in 1920) Our house is not huge. And so we do not live in a way where I can clean leading up to the event and hope it stays clean. Oh sure, I can dust, and I have. But the bulk of the cleaning prep is going to happen tonight after bedtime because seriously, that whole saying about cleaning with children around is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos? True story.

Today has been gloomy gloomy outside. It might rain later, but regardless it's the kind of day most people would just want to snuggle under a blanket with a book or a movie. Maybe a nap. Heck... I'd love to join in. But this house is not going to clean itself. 

It's going to be a small shower. But that's okay. It should be fun.

We are playing Name That Tune: Famous First Dance Songs and Match the Famous Couple.

We are serving pulled-pork sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, cole slaw, veggies, fruit, German chocolate cake, mini apple pies, strawberry lemonade punch and water.

Now if only I could get the house clean! Back to it.

A+ Wifeing

Do you ever just have one of those days that goes impeccably well? Because I am having one of those.

I woke up this morning and I did not bite the heads off of my husband and children. *Honesty people, the morning is my weakest time and it can get ugly. I'm not proud.* But again, I was almost perky.

We left the house for our appointment and the construction did not even phase me. I didn't blink. I am not sure why they waited until after school started and the last week of August to start these projects that crazily limit my journey away from my house, but no worries because it's going to be great.

We had a good appointment. I can't really take any of the credit for this because it was all C, but still, it makes a mom proud.

I ordered M's winter coat today. And a few other things that we need for the house. So I felt accomplished.

I got dinner started in the crock pot. We are having roast. With potatoes. I'm going to steam up some broccoli too, but that is the last thing, no need to start that now. Then I got all excited and made dough for rolls. After the 2 rises, they're in the oven as I type. Fresh rolls... awesome. And I thought to myself "Self, this is a pretty good dinner. We should have dessert."

So I made cookies. And they're done and wrapped on a plate for when we finish our roast, potatoes, broccoli and rolls. To keep it real though, some butter dripped onto the bottom of the oven and started smoking a little.

Then M's chair arrived so I put it together. I folded a load of laundry and put it away.

And... okay that's pretty much it but still. It feels like a pretty A+ Wifeing kind of day. Some days have to be good to make up for the not so great ones. The ones where you call your husband at work and tell him that he should walk in the door with food because there ain't no way you're going to be able to get a meal going because you're losing your mind. *Ahem, last Friday.*

Train of thought rambles

We are getting into those days that are hard to dress for. Chilly in the morning but by afternoon jeans are just a little too much. But you know what? I love it. I love this weather. And yes, I am getting all weather-nerd on the blog here but it's just because I love this weather so much. I love having my windows open. I love the way the sun warms the kitchen but the breeze cools it right back down again.

I love that we've got this weather and it's only August!! You guys, it's not even my birthday yet. Now don't get me wrong. You KNOW that it will probably be hot and sticky and somewhere in the 90s by then again but I am not going to lose hope.

I am trying to figure out some fall-ish clothes for my kiddos. I need to get long sleeved shirts for C and M is right on the cusp of going up a size and I have some things ordered, but they're not here yet and pretty much I just need to go baby girl clothes shopping.

In my planning ahead-ness, Halloween costumes have been ordered. Both costumes require clothes underneath it, but I don't want to buy them until I see the exact colors of the costumes.

M's birthday shopping is underway, Prime Day helped with that a bit but still there are things to get. Christmas shopping is also underway. It's weird to me that M's birthday is just 2 months out from Christmas. In my family birthdays end with me in August. May, June and August birthdays. Then Husband came along and added April to the mix but still... that's not close to Christmas either.

Fun question: Convertible Car Seats. What is the hip kind these days? C is still RF in the Britax Marathon 70. They don't make that exact seat anymore and the click-tight just had a recall. I am up to my eyeballs in reviews and I just don't know. But it will soon be time for M to move on and while I am sad about that I want to know she's in a good seat. I am irrationally against the Graco brand (seriously, I have no good reasoning why but I just can't do it.) but other than that I am open to suggestions. Clearly we are extended rear-facers so a seat that is good for that is great.

I am throwing a shower this weekend for one of Husband's cousins and I am pretty sad because it looks like next to no one is coming. Me and the cousin co-host, her sisters, 1 aunt and grandma. I haven't heard back from a few cousins but it bums me out on her behalf. From a hosting perspective, it makes my job very easy however.

Anyway. I've got some tidying to do. This little break when C is at school and M is napping is good.

Sometimes You Do a Photoshoot

We had a photo shoot Saturday to capture some 10 month pictures and hopefully some of the two of my kids together because pickings are slim when it comes to those. It turned out to be a not too bad shoot. Nice weather, good light and fairly cooperative subjects. 

Gosh I just love these kids. Happy Monday and a Happy Birthday to my Mom!! 

4 Things I'm Thinking About

one. Thursday night was the annual baseball game in a suite with Husband's work. It was wonderful. Very few people from the 2 departments went so it was super fun. We were able to actually watch the game for a part and we didn't pay for parking or food or anything. So nice to go out as a family. And the weather was the most perfect day ever ever ever. 75 and sunny with fluffy white clouds. Man. So lucky to have this perk. Of course we didn't take any pictures except for of the grasshopper that C liked. That boy and his creatures.

two. I am becoming convinced the people we bought our house from, actually entered witness protection. When we toured the house the house was just perfectly set up with the door unlocked. But I didn't think much of that at the time. The sale of the house went fairly quickly and then... we moved in. We have never had respite from getting their mail. Never. We get Christmas Cards, family reunion notices, their reminders for vet visits, driver's license renewals and jury duty. We get bills. But the man was also ran a home-based business and we get all that stuff too, plus the address on Google says that we are a business. No matter how many times I try I cannot convince Google otherwise that it's just my house.

three. M turned 10 months yesterday. Gah. That is insane.

four. My brother left on Thursday to study abroad for the semester. To say that I was sad about his departure would be fair. I am so excited for him and I think it will be so good for him. And seriously, he sent us this picture from Cannes (of film festival fame) and I think he is pretty darn lucky. I will miss him but Christmas isn't that far away.

Preschool Letter Y

This week brought the letter Y to us at our little preschool.This week also took Husband on a business trip to Atlanta. Since he wasn't around, I didn't feel much like hosting even though it was our week so we took a field trip to the museum. 

I'm not going to lie, I think it was harder than having them over to my house! Even with the other moms. As M can walk it is hard to convince her she isn't allowed to participate. Because the museum was crowded it was hard to watch both kids and poor M got the short end of the stick. She did get some time with the water table. Luckily they have step stools so she could reach. 

We read "The Yellow Dot Book" (Press Here) and had juice boxes and yogurt raisins to keep some sort of Y theme going but mostly it was a free for all at the museum. 

Today we had a grand adventure with Y! If you'll excuse my bluish tint pictures. :) Check the white balance Madeline!

We started out by playing with yarn! Looking at how long or short it was (I cut many different lengths.) Seeing what shapes they could make, how they dance in the air, how they stretch, etc. 

After our welcome and circle time we did YOGA!  I found this little series online and we did this story off Youtube on the Roku. I set out beach towels to be their "mats" and they did okay. Sometimes they all just watched and sometimes they really participated and liked it. 

We made Yellow Ys for craft. Just gluing squares of yellow tissue paper on the Y. 

We made Y's with our bodies to learn the shape of the letter. And we followed that up with the YMCA dance. (Obviously right?!) That was fun. 

We read "Should I Share my Ice Cream" because ice cream is yummy! Then we sang the "5 green speckled frog" song really emphasizing the YUM! YUM! Following all that yum was our snack of yogurt and yo-yo cookies. (Oreos with pull and peel licorice wrapped around and sticking off the top as the string.) 

We also did Yodeling! We watched The Lonely Goatherd from The Sound of Music and then yodeled around the house. 

And that was our Y preschool day in a nutshell. 

The Minion Movie!

Well it finally worked out to take my guy to see his first movie in the movie theater. Okay, it sort've worked out. The original plan was to get a babysitter for Miss M and take him together but we eventually decided it would be easier to split up.

So since Husband got to take him to his first musical last week, I got the movie this week. We went to the first showing of the day and got popcorn and M&Ms because we are cool like that. 

I think he really had a good time. He doesn't weigh enough to keep the seat down very well so he spent a good chunk of the movie on my lap. But not only were there minions but also polar bears, grizzly bears and penguins. Tiny insignificant moments of the movie but they certainly made my animal loving guy happy.

It was a super fun outing and I am so happy I got to spend time with my guy.

QT: 8.14

Hey-O! It's Friday! I love Fridays. Kelly's place is hosting the 7QT Party like always and I love a good party. Especially one that I don't have to leave the house for. :)

one. It is August 14. A pretty good day. But even better when it's your anniversary!

Spring 2006. 

A previously unreleased picture of our vows, 5 years ago today.

Happy Anniversary Husband!! I really kind of can't believe it's been five years already but it's true. Kind of the best gig ever if you ask me. I'm still glad I married you!

two. We started watching Breaking Bad. I don't get what all the hype is about. Honestly, Jesse and Walt are the most sympathetic characters. Maybe that's the point? Not all drug manufacturers are bad people just ones who have made difficult choices? But what I don't really get at all is Walt's family. I kind of really hate Skylar. First she forces her husband to get treatment even though he doesn't want to and then she just tries to make it all about her. Walter Jr. I don't mind. But Hank and Marie are horrible. And while it's admirable to want to take care of your loved ones, I don't really love his loved ones so the whole plot seems an unnecessary risk to me. I mean we are only like 8 episodes in but I'm not really grooving on it.

three. So... have you seen the story about the Frozen/Tarzan connection? They claim that Anna and Elsa's parents in Frozen, didn't die in the shipwreck but instead made it ashore and built a tree house with their infant son. After they were killed by a leopard, their son was raised by gorillas. 

First off, do we really think that the king and queen who don't understand the message the trolls give to them about their daughter's powers and do the exact opposite are talented enough to make a super cool tree house? 

Second, the entire premise is based on them having a son out at sea. But in Tarzan's tree house they clearly have a photograph of the three of them. Are we supposed to believe that they had a camera for a posed picture on board the ship? 

Highly suspect. Though the timeline of both stories could be possible. 

four. The internet is a scary place full of horror stories and misinformation. I simply went to search on when correct hand grip is formed and I have ranges from (At 3) C is probably never going to write correctly and should be in OT to somewhere around 6 or 7 the correct hold is fully formed and if stressed too early can damage their hand. 

Yeah. Super helpful. C hasn't even picked his dominate hand yet. I think he's leaning towards left, like me. (National Left Hander's Day was yesterday.) But he still switches often. 

This is a real problem. 

five. Pretty much hearing M say "Hi Mama" is my favorite thing. She doesn't say it all the time or anything. But when she does... it's gold. 

six. Reading Rainbow is on Netflix and we're all digging it. I bought C Reading Rainbow DVDs before he was born because I wanted him to love reading so much. He does love Reading Rainbow and so having more episodes is just dandy. Hearing him sing the theme song is about as golden as the "Hi Mama" above. 

seven. My preschool letter next week is Y. Anyone have any great word or book recommendations for preschoolers learning the letter Y? 

Okay. So I will be linking up with Kelly. Have a terrific weekend!

Thursday.

Today is Thursday. Which normally isn't such a formidable offense to me. Usually I like Thursday. It's just that yesterday I spent nearly the entire day believing it was Friday. I'm not sure why. Tomorrow brings a fun event and a weekend and there were things that needed to be accomplished yesterday that screamed "Wednesday" and yet... there I was in disbelief at the fact it was actually Wednesday.

So today is Thursday. I dropped my dude off at school and got M settled in for her nap. M has been doing some crazy night wakings lately. Her pediatrician suggested skipping the morning nap and she let us know with no uncertain terms that in fact she wanted it and had no intention of giving it up. It's strange, my girl does everything on her own terms. She wants a nap but it might be 45 minutes or it could be 2 hours.

Yesterday M suffered a black eye/scrape. Baby met sidewalk. I of course feel horrible about it but as I am reminded it was bound to happen sometime and I can't protect her from everything. It was a very unwelcome addition to my "felt like Friday" Wednesday.

I had kind of been on a roll. I managed to run the dishwasher, 2 loads of laundry, an appointment, morning nap, some learning time and all before 11:00. I was thinking that outside playtime would be a good addition before nap and it was kind of nice out anyhow so out we went. Then the whole falling thing resulting in a beat up face. It didn't even remotely begin to stop my girl though. She may also be part Mountain Goat. This little 9 month spitfire loves to climb. She's unfortunately pretty darn good at it.

C is doing his own thing. The things he remembers... I've said it before but he truly has an outstanding memory. It's fun to see. What's not always fun is the threenager but we'll get through it.

This is a pretty unspectacular post. Oh well. :)

Practically Perfect

Yesterday was a big day for my C. 

Husband took him to see Mary Poppins the Musical. 

In his seat ready for the show!

And he did great!! Better than we anticipated, especially since the show was smack dab in the middle of rest time as well as sold out, meaning the intermission was close to double the planned length. Apparently they almost didn't make it because intermission was getting a little too long but they stuck it out and had a good time. 

Now, I'll be honest and tell you his favorite part was the popcorn at intermission. But he has since told me about Mary Poppins flying, touching the french horn in the pit, (with permission)  the dancers, (he really liked Step in Time) the map, (program) and his booster. 

I am so happy we bought our tickets early, it is the first production in the area since it has been available to produce so it sold out FAST. So fast they added another performance even before the run started. But we bought two seats right on an aisle in case a quick getaway was needed.

About to head out for fun! 

I am so happy that we can really start looking at theater as an option for entertainment again! 

Things I'm Thinking About

Time has gotten away from me this week. It's unbelievable how fast August goes. It's my favorite month and it speeds by. But here are a few things from this past week that I have been thinking about:

1. M had her 9 month well child visit. She is, not shockingly, ahead of the curve on gross motor. (Hello walking.) She is right on track with everything else and her growth is steady on the curve. All around it was a pretty successful little visit. I asked my few questions, had a good chat with Dr. Julie
and that was that. The 9 month is the easy one.

2. M has been off on a mischievous streak. She certainly is going to keep us on our toes more than her brother that's for sure. M hasn't met a book she doesn't want to rip and on Wednesday she flushed a linking ring down the toilet. Well rather, C flushed the toilet because yay! he's potty trained and she comes walking over and throws a ring in at the very last second. I tried to grab it but missed and so that is how we found ourselves Thursday, pulling up our toilet, replacing the wax ring with a super cool new model that let's you place the toilet multiple times (in case this becomes a trend) and removing the ring from the bottom of the toilet. Super fun. (Not really. But way better than not doing anything about it.)

3. Book club was at my house this past week which was fun. We had a really good discussion about The Scarlet Pimpernel and whether we thought dying by guillotine was a good way to die. In case you were wondering we decided it was pretty bad but better than the other means of murder in the French Revolution.

4. I am co-hosting a bridal shower for Husband's cousin but it is at my house. I am hoping it goes well. Anyone have any great tips for a good shower?

5. Target de-genderizing the toy aisle. Great big whatever from me. I know that it's supposed to be a great big win for the boys who want to play with pink Legos or the "boy" Legos if they're a girl but I just want to roll my eyes. I liked the pink Legos. I still like the pink Legos. And some of M's "girl" toys are just way way cuter than the "boy" toys we own.

That's about all that's on my mind these days. Have a great rest of your Sunday.

What Are You Watching?

It's that time of year again. The one where Madeline asks for TV show recommendations. But not actually on TV. Netflix or Prime. (Technically we have Hulu Plus through the 18 and I am sure they would be ever too happy to take my $7.99 again if you have a show that is on there that you think I would LOVE.)

I need to find a new show before I feel all empty inside because we finished Scandal last night. Darn that Shonda. I love me some Scandal. I actually watched the first three seasons during my immediate newborn nursing all the time experience but Husband missed out on most of that. So when the last season became available we started over from the beginning and watched in order.

I don't want to go into tonight with no plan. So lay it on me people: give me a new show to watch!! (Preferably one with multiple seasons but beggars can't be choosers and all that.) What are you currently watching?

A Girl's Weekend

About the time Edel was happening I got it in my head that I should go on a girls weekend trip. I've never really done that before so I texted up my bestie Kathryn and proposed the idea. She concured and we picked this past weekend. 

But then what to do. We toyed around with St. Louis and Chicago but both of us were really digging a more low key kind of a trip. And I half-jokingly brought up Decorah. This is a town that makes all the top lists of cute small towns. It has a nationally recognized brewery and it is in what I like to call "Pretty Iowa" (Bluffs) The reason I was half joking is because Husband grew up there. And so we go a few times a year to visit family. 

But, we never get to do anything. Because we visit family. Or we're there for a wedding. Or both. Right? Please tell me this happens to other families as well. So we figured out some of the fun stuff to do on the way that I've always seen and wanted to try.

Our first stop Saturday was the Field of Dreams movie site. Kathryn had done that before, but I haven't, so now I can say I have. We basically got there, walked to the outfield corn, took some pictures and left. Neither of us is a big baseball fan or a huge fan of the movie. 

Our next stop was St. Boniface Church in New Vienna, IA. It is this GORGEOUS Gothic church in this tiny rural small town. It was just as beautiful as I thought it would be. 

"A temple of God a monument in memory of past events, a token of gratitude to the to the most high for the bountiful blessings bestowed on the people of New Vienna and surrounding country. It is intended this house of God be a continual silent sermon to the coming generations, speaking to them in the language of art of the faith and love of their forefathers. The question is often asked why was such a church built out here in the country? Anyone having studied history of the past and watched present events much come to the conclusion the future welfare of church and state lies largely with the people in the rural areas with the tillers of the soil. He that owns the land will eventually rule the country." -The plaque inside the door. 

We stopped at the Guttenberg overlook. Because why not? And it was a beautiful day!!

We stopped at the Froelich Tractor Museum Historical Marker. I would definitely stop back here and tour the little historical village when I have my kids with me. It was super cute. 

Past Decorah almost to the Minnesota border, is the Laura Ingalls Wilder Park and Museum. Here's what I can tell you about it, Laura never included the time they lived in Burr Oak in her books but they did live right in this building in the picture for a few months. (Then in buildings no longer standing in the town before they moved on.) It is a very down home museum but in a good way. I am glad we went. I wish it hadn't have been so crowded or that my group was big enough to warrant our own tour as the group we were with were not the brightest crayons and kind of rude children. 

We spent some time walking Decorah then had a pint (and some samples) at Topling Goliath. This brewery keeps winning major awards in the craft beer circuit and I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent there. 

I tried Dorothy, PsudeoSue and Tsunami. I really liked Dorothy. PsuedosSue smelled great but finished a little too bitter for my taste. I also made friends with Gilbert the Glasshopper, a grasshopper living on the window. I regret not buying some bottles to go. 

Saturday night we went out to dinner at Rubiyat and I took no pictures... because the food was so good. I would go there again for sure. Good food and good conversation made me very happy. We snuggled into our hotel and had a very good sleep. It was my first sleep with no interruptions from M in the entirety of her little life and while I desperately missed my baby it was so good to have some space! 

We did a super fancy "brunch" of Mabe's Pizza when they opened at 11:00. This was the only thing on the trip that I had done before, but Mabe's is an institution and incredibly delicious. I even brought a regular home for Husband because I am nice. :) 

We headed out with GPS Judy which took me down a road I have never been down, so that was kinda fun. We drove through 2 tiny small towns I'd never experienced but had heard of. Then a little while later we made it to Spook Cave. I am very glad I had an open mind about this, because the website did not explain that by "Cave Tours by Boat" that meant a tiny little boat that sat 8 people. 

If you don't do tiny enclosed spaces, skip this tour. The boat we actually got on came back out, let people off and then took us. Because in order to get into the cave you are in this tiny little boat and then you have to duck. And by duck I mean, chest on your lap and cover your head, duck. I am not claustrophobic but I can understand now going on this tour. The rooms did open up and it was really interesting!

Our final stop was at the Basilica of St. Francis Xavier. Also incredibly beautiful. It didn't photograph super well because the light was coming in all wrong, but it was stunning. 

I made it home in time for dinner with my wonderful Husband and my beautiful children who I missed more that I can explain. Again, it was so good for some space and time but I was glad to be back with my snuggly bunch.