Big Accomplishment

3rd post of the day - keep reading (Thank goodness for long naps)

Look at this cutie pie.... can you guess the big accomplishment??????

OK - give up?
It's really not about Megan's big accomplishment...
It's my big accomplishment....

I finally finished making 2 matching dresses. One for Megan and one for her cousin, Anna. Megan is modeling the finished product! That was the front - here's the back...
Is it not so cute - I'm very proud of the matching dresses. I can't wait to see Anna in hers - hopefully she'll like it as much as Megan does. My friend Amy has spured me on to tap into my inner seamstress....... It's been a lot of fun and I have lots more fun plans like it in the future.

Seriously, to copy what Amy has said in the past - it is so easy - anyone could do it!
No joke - it's one piece of material - one seam and a hem and then attach the ribbon straps. The straps were the hardest part. I can't wait to make another one!

More Outdoor Fun

2nd post of the day - keep reading

So - I'm thinking this may be a rough summer. By rough - I mean HOT! This weekend we enjoyed some warm temps but nice breezes as well. It was so warm this past week that I broke down and got Megan a water table. Since we are under water restrictions, I figured it was the best outdoor toy that I could invest in.

I've been scouring Craigs List and consignment stores and sales for one, but had no luck. Finally a good Toys R Us coupon was too much to pass up. So..... I unveiled it on Saturday so that Megan could play while Tom and I tried to get some outdoor work done. She had a great time and I know it'll be an on-going hit this summer! I just have to work on getting her to understand that she's not supposed to drink the water, or pour it down her shirt.

The breeze sent leaves flying and that's always fun for Megan.
And her little convertible is NEVER far away when we are outside. She's fascinated by the wheels. Perhaps we have a little future mechanic on our hands!

The Mall

This weekend we met up with some friends - Kevin, Robyn, and Kenny - for a casual dinner out and some playtime at the mall for the kiddos. I've found that one of the best places to go with Megan is Steak and Shake.
Some out there may be thinking crazy - but seriously, she's always entertained by the bright colors and people and it's got lots of walking room for a roaming toddler. I'm amazed at how many families are there. AND... if you are trying to teach your child to drink from a straw (megan would never really drink out of a sippy cup) it's the best place for them to learn... they have the best milk shakes and that's how Megan learned to use a straw. Yes, I realize I won't get the parent of the year award for that one!

Afterwards we headed to the mall for some firsts.... First escalator ride - she loved it! She wanted to ride up and down over and over again (thanks Dad!)
First time Daddy got to try to keep up with her in the "soft play space". All I have to say is - there were some BIG kids in there and the lady with the balloon needed to not be hitting the balloon around. Yes, Megan thought that was GREAT... but it also caused her to be the bottom layer of someone else's landing zone. Overall it was fun - and fun to see Tom chasing her while I got to chat and be social.
It was our first playdate with Kenny. Outside they got to check out the vegetation - you know, that's Megan's favorite thing.

I'll try to post more later - if our internet is actually fixed.... we'll see.

A week in Review

What a week..... it's been full of fun and frustration.

Fun with Megan and friends!

Frustration with Charter. Every single day this week we've had technicians out here (or failing to show for an appt.). Every single day I've spent at least an hour on the phone with them. It's been sooo irritating. Today was no different - technician was here at 9 - nothing worked, when he left - nothing worked still. Basically he said, "I have no clue what's wrong. I can't find any indication as to why you have no phone or internet. I'm totally stumped and you are up a creek. So I'll send a street line crew out later (by the way, they've only been here 3 times in the past 2 weeks) because it has to be something to do with the street line (by the way, they swear the street line is fine and it's a house issue). So........ we are debundling with Charter and going back to AT&T for phone and internet. Until they get it all fixed up.... I have to deal with randomly having no phone or internet for most of the day. But right now - it's up and running and Megan is napping so I'm back in touch with the world! :^)

That was the frustration part... here are some highlights of the fun parts of the week (when we weren't stuck inside waiting for a technician).


If you need something to occupy some time - like to keep a baby from getting fussy when it's almost bedtime, or to "reset" a fussy baby, or just because you wonder what they'll do .... try stickers!
Megan loves to try to get all the stickers we put on her. She now knows right were to go to get some stickers (left overs from my teaching days) and she'll bring them to us so that she can play the "sticker game". It's fun to watch her get so serious about getting the stickers.
One day we were outside waiting for the charter person (imagine that) and Megan got ahold of the phone. Thankfully we had no service at that point anyway. (then why is the phone outside? because randomly it will suddenly start working and if I miss the computerized call, they'll cancel my appt.). Megan knows to pick up a phone and say "eh yo". It's hard to take the phone away when you realize she's having a conversation with someone she thinks is on the other end (usually Daddy).
No week is complete with a trip to the park. We actually hit 3 parks this week - but only once did I have my camera. I have to say, I'm a little concerned about the summer. It was only in the lower 80's this week and on this park trip, Megan got so fussy because she was so hot. Oh dear!
We spent a lot of time outside... I think that will be the case for the next few months. Megan loves to explore and is really doing well with her walking - which is no small feat in the grass. All her little friends seem to be sick right now and thankfully we've somehow managed to escape illness... I pray that will continue!

This week we also met up with some friends at a Kindermusik demo that my friend Ashley was holding. I have some fun fun pictures of that but someone is waking up so that will have to be another post - when ever the internet is up this weekend.

Redneck Popsicle Lover

I love this little girl... she is so amusing! Ok, she's also a hand full - but still amusing!

It was such a great day out. It's nice and warm, but there is a great breeze! Megan LOVES feeling the wind blowing! Note the little scream of joy that you just know she's letting out - and the leaf that stuck to her forehead. All that happiness from a gust of wind!! (she why she's so amusing!)

After we played outside awhile I got out some popsicles I just bought. Megan is teething again.... ugh.... and I thought maybe they would with how much her gums seem to be bothering her. Of course I'm no fool... the white shirt had to come off. So my little redneck sat in the front yard topless eathing her popsicle. They are little mini popsicles and she can actually hold them by the stick. She LOVED them....

What really amazed me was the streams of melted popsicle flowing down her tummy. I had to get a true redneck shot so you could see the final result of the popsicle break.

YUM!

Outing with Friends

The past week or so I've had a hard time blogging. We've had some computer issues. Actually our computer is just fine... It's Charter that I really dispise! I can say that now that I've had it out with several Charter employees. And supposedly they are on their way here for an appt. sometime between 3-5pm.... of course they just totally ignored the fact that the appt was actually scheduled for yesterday for between 1-4. When at 5:15 I called to say - hey what's up? They told me that it might be 8pm before they came. GREAT! So at 8:45pm when I called back after having cancelled all my plans for the day.... seeing the issue I have! At any rate, we'll see if they actually show up. No matter - the internet is mysteriously up and running, the phone somehow got a dialtone while I was out today (No tone this morning) and we are about to quit Charter. :^)

At any rate - I had to catch up on some fun time with friends.

Last week some of Tom's friends came to town from Fargo. Mr. Brian kept Megan entertained with pictures of his boys.

We met up with Will and Tressa last week and had a fun outing to Chick-fil-a. It was fun as usual and Will and Megan got to have some fun in the play area.

While we were there, we ran into Robyn and Kenny. Kenny kept Megan very entertained in the tunnels.

And once we got home - it's always fun to go play with the boys next door. Hunter and Megan love to play in their fire truck. It's always fun to watch Hunter and Mandell take care of Megan. She truly is the girl next door.
We had dinner with them yesterday (Megan and I - tom was at the court house praying to not get put on a jury - yipee, he didn't) and I have some fun pictures to post later (if the internet is still working).

Tanglewood Farms

It's a beautiful day and the outdoors was beckoning to us....

Sooooooo..... an impromptu field trip was in order. Megan has been in a good mood and I've wanted to check out this local farm stocked with minature animals. I wanted to organize a big playdate there but I also wanted to make sure it's appropriate for everyone's kids. You just never know. I have to say, Tanglewood Farms was so fun. Megan woke up from her nap and we decided to hit the road. The cool thing is that it's only about 15-20 minutes from our house. Our friends Ann and Nate decided to meet us there for our impromptu outing, which made it even more fun!!

Tanglewood is truly a petting zoo for small ones. The animals are minatures and most of them that the kids can get to are also babies. Megan LOVED all the animals that were smaller than she was. She refered to most of them as doggies - but hey, she's got the concept. The animals that were her size or a little bigger - she wasn't so fond out. These pygmy goats were the favorite of both Megan and Nate. We could've stayed in their pen for the entire visit.
Megan stayed on her feet most of the time... until one little goat jumped up on her and knocked her down. But Megan wasn't stunned (I think it scared me more than her) and she just sat and petted more goats.



After we saw all the animals, they had a great shady picnic area with lots of places for kids to explore. For the older kids they have a cool fort you can climb into. Megan wanted so bad to figure out that ladder - thankfully she didn't!

Our trip started with pony rides. Ann and I didn't think our kiddos could do it because it's not like they can stay on by themselves - but we got to walk with them and hold them on. They loved it. Here's little Nate. The entire time we were there, if Megan saw the horses through the fences, she went wild. She loved the horses! I guess she takes after her mom (for whoever doesn't know, I grew up with horses - each member of my family had a horse - my horse was a Quarter Horse named Beau.)
Although I didn't get a good picture of Megan on her real pony ride, she wanted to show that she's a natural in the saddle! I can just hear her in a few years..... "Daddy, can I have a horse?" (That's how it started with my family - I took horseback riding lessons and suddenly we owned 4 horses and went on family trail rides... I'll have to find some of those pictures to post).

So... for all my friend who are thinking of checking it out... here are my thoughts (aka - pros and cons)...... It was super fun. Bring lots of wet wipes. Take advantage of the covered picnic area (near the entrance by the ponies). I would say that if your kids aren't walking yet - it may be a little overwhelming. The down side of that is that kids under 1 are free and by the time they are walking you have to pay full price to get in. I went with the idea that I didn't know if we'd be there for 20 minutes or 2 hours. We stayed for almost 2 hours. The stroller was somewhat useless and cumbersome because we didn't take it in the animal pens and we were in there most of the time. But it was good to have at lunch because Megan was contained and she had a tray to eat off of. If I were to do it again - I'd bring it and park it in the front eating area and not even try to wheel it around the place. Yell if you go - we'd meet you there. It's not a cheap outing (if your kids are over 1) but it was fun! I also wouldn't go on a hot day!!!!! It's not shaded and it was hot and it was only 78 when we were there.