Outside Adventure

Lia and I threw on some winter gear and enjoyed the snow. And by "threw on" I mean that loosely because it took about 20 minutes! We visited the swings, chickens, and fish...all Lia's favorite spots. And in Lia's words, "it's so fun!"

Super Christmas!

Yesterday, Lia woke up about the same time as always. David went to get her out of bed and I could hear her say, "Super Christmas!" She was very excited to come downstairs for some Santa presents. He got her a table and chairs, lots of books, a new Little People toy, and a stocking full of stuff. But most importantly, some "potty treats" she could just have! It was a super morning.

Merry Christmas

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the man in the red suit! Lia keeps asking "Santa where are you?" because we keep telling her that he's coming tonight. She sorta gets it. But to keep us busy, we made some cookies for the big guy.

Home

There isn't much better than coming home! We've been in upper Wisconsin for the past four days celebrating Christmas. David enjoyed sledding and broom ball, which I cant do thanks to the bambino. The bambino got renamed Deuce. We went to a walk thru light show complete with popcorn, cookies, hot chocolate, roasting marshmallows, and visiting Santa. It was very cold on Lake Superior but the most fun and free! Of course there were lots of cousins and present exchanging too.

All in all it was a great trip. Lia slept like a champ. The drive went smoothly with no traffic jams. And we're home. Ahhhhhh!

Good Morning Wisconsin!

It is freezing here...like 16 degrees this morning. That's why we are still in our hotel room and Lia is still in jammies. We will drive another two or three hours today before reaching my brother's house.

Meltdown

Last night Lia had a total meltdown. A crying, screaming, nothing makes me happy meltdown. We even put her in bed in an attempt to get her to calm. It didn't work.
As it turned out Lia once again had an awful poo she was trying to get out. Her poor little buns were an angry red. When she was actually working it out, her shrieks were awful.
My heart was broken and she got a double dose of Miralax. This is simply not normal and I am a bit worried. The doctor has said once she eats a better diet, it will get better. But it's very hard...on all of us.

Glimpse into the future...

This is my sweet little daughter relaxing while I vacuumed. As I looked at her my mind saw a phone at her ear, the rug becoming her bed, an iPod in her hands, and her sweet little Gymbo tee changed into some boy band concert shirt. Can't you just see 13 year old Lia? So scary !

Imagination at Work!

So this afternoon Lia came to me with the concoction seen below. She wanted me to taste her "special pie." I guess while I was cooking dinner she was cooking her pie. Love her imagination!

Stop! Thief!

Little Lia moved a chair across the room to nab the chocolate chips off the counter. Don't worry she got both bags. She's been carrying them around saying chocolate and cookie one please. It's not working, but she's giving it 100%!

Elf Visits!

An elf came to our house last night and put up a Christmas tree and various other fun Christmas decorations. Lia woke up to see the tree "sparkling to the sky" to quote her. There is absolutely nothing like seeing her sweet face light up. Adorable! Now if I can just keep her out of it.

Baby Baltazar

When I was pregnant with Lia, we started calling the baby Baltazar for fun. So since this is round two, we've brought back the name. Baby Baltazar is doing well. He or she is 14 weeks old today. Seems like time is flying by. I'm sucking that up now because I'm sure it will seem to crawl when I'm sporting the huge baby bump. Mr. Baltzy has been leaving me generally bloated and still tired, but much better in the nausea department. I'm sure Lia is looking forward to having her energetic Mommy back and frankly I'm ready to see her too! There is no doubt David misses her the most though.

Whatcha Haulin Mister?

We had to take the lawn mower in for servicing. That means Lia got to play in the trailer. She thinks it is big fun to run back and forth. It's nice for us because she can't get out...until she learns to climb the gate. Anyway, for now it's a win win.

Thankful...

For my hubby, for this sweet little girl too busy to get her picture taken, and for the little one inside me who made me toss my cookies this morning. So blessed!

Hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving!

Football hat

So I had my first commissioned hat! I'm so proud of it. My friend from MOPS asked me to make a football hat for her son. This is mostly a combination of several patterns and pictures. I tried it on Lia for sizing, and she wanted to keep it. So I think I can give it the toddler seal of approval!

Cookie?

Guess who likes it when I make cookies? Lia. Guess who couldn't resist giving her two? Me.

Love those chocolate cheeks!

Oh My!

My sweet daughter likes to play with my phone sometimes. She uploaded her own post. I suppose I need to keep a closer eye on her. She also dialed a friend recently!

Mm mm mm

Mmmmmmmmm
MmkkjjnnnpppouqZ?

Multi practice game

So I got these shapes from the Target dollar spot. I put letters on them with a permanent marker. So now we can play using colors, shapes, counting, and the alphabet. Today Lia had to match the letters to the letters on the paper. Pretty neat! She did a good job for her first time!

Lia and the farm

Lia playing pretend warms my heart. I wish I could watch her for hours. She's so creative. Piggy goes night night. Horsey goes in the castle (really a silo). She says love you to the sheep and gives kisses. She commentates every action. It's adorable.

Farm Girl

In honor of harvest season and getting chickens, I splurged and bought Lia this farm. Hours of fun today!!!

Loosening Egg Yolks

As an avid Pioneer Woman fan, I loved today's post. She detailed the process of her letting her sink overflow and flood her kitchen all while just trying to loosen the stuck on egg yolks from her dishes. Oh how I can relate! Sometimes my best plans get mucked up by a little step like turning off the water, and I think all hope is lost. But she ended her post by saying, that the egg yolks were nice and loose now.

Looking on the bright side isn't always the easiest, especially when things aren't going according to plan. I have had a rough week so far, so this little post couldn't have come at a better time. So what if I wasted hours in the car, got sick at a very inopportune time and location, and haven't won the mother of the year award...my proverbial egg yolks are loose right?!?

New Clothes

Mimi came to visit on our 'layin low' day yesterday. Unfortunately we only had gourmet bun pizzas planned for dinner. But Mimi was game, which is why we love her. Lia was super excited because Mimi bought her some new clothes. Here she is in her adorable new clothes!

Layin' Low

Yesterday was super busy. It involved a lot of driving, appointments for me, and hanging out with Aunt Amanda for Lia. This led to Lia sleeping in and me feeling worn out. So Lia had a late morning bath and a little nap. We need to hit the grocery store because David requested bun pizza for dinner. Other than that, you'll find us at home...layin' low.

My girl

This is my Lia girl. I just love her sweet little mouth and big eyes! So serious, but cracked up about two seconds after I took her picture.

Here comes the chickens!

At 7am David got a phone call from the Sheridan post office letting us know our chickens had arrived! So off he went to pick them up. When he got home, we opened a surprisingly small box of 15 baby chicks. David had to make each one drink some water before we could let them loose in their new house...a plastic bin.

They are currently resting/cheeping in our downstairs shower. It's the warmest spot in the house...especially now that there is a heat light in there too! Lia loves them...me not as much but I'm sure they will grow on me.

New Pants

These are Lia's snazzy new pj pants! They were super simple to make even without a pattern. I simply traced around a pair of pants she already has! I added extra room for seam allowances and an elastic waist band. I did learn two things...
1. I want a little extra room in the rise because when Lia crawls the top of her diaper shows.
2. Plan hems when Lia is wearing the pants! I somehow ended up with one leg slightly longer. But it's unnoticeable in shoes.

Happy Fall Y'all!

We are loving the fall weather and changing leaves. My sweet Lia is a freak for leaves. She's all about picking them up anywhere and everywhere. It is mildly annoying when in the grocery store parking lot, but she's cute so what's a mom to do?

Here she is after a nature walk we took. We were doing some leaf rubbings.

Ever so proud of her leaf collection on the window!

Lia and Daddy posing at the apple orchard. We picked up two big bags of apples and a ton of pumpkins.

Last but not least, it's been really warm the past few days. So Lia decided to relax on her bunny chair wearing her new hat from Nana and Papaw and a diaper. Focus on her rosy cheeks and not her nakedness. :)

Vacation

We had a lovely vacation in Tennessee. We hung out in our cabin, hiked a few trails, went to the Biltmore, and did a bit of sightseeing in Gatlinburg itself. Here's a quick photo recap...

Relaxing in the cabin. Daddy got some rarely seen snuggle time.

We're here! Lia relaxing in the rocking chair outside of check in.

If there are two things Lia loves, its a phone and a swing. She's in 7th heaven!

David goofing around at the Aquarium.

How cool is this?!? Lia and David crawled through a glass tunnel and into the middle of the penguin exhibit. I tried to get her to go through with me first, but she was a little nervous walking over the water.

WooohooO!

LIA WENT PEE PEE IN THE POTTY!

More later I'm supposed to be outside helping with yard work.

Weird Science...

Okay, it's barely science. We put those little grow capsules in warm water. They did have animals in them. Lia thought it was really fun to say gorilla. The blue one was a gorilla. Here's Lia playing with her gorilla.

Hrmmmmm....what's going on in there?

Playing with the first two animals while waiting for the other two. Animals in the water, animals out of the water. Squishy, squishy, squishy.

I've got several more of these so I'll plan on doing this again. Four capsules at a time was about long enough., especially right before naptime. It was quite fun and kept Lia engages the whole time, so we'll do it again!

Mama's Been Busy

Here's what I've been up to...

My current project is a CAL (crochet along) with the Inner Hooker. She's pretty awesome and has cool patterns. I'm dreadfully behind the bunch because I started late and can't commit the same amount of time to it with a toddler. But it will be a blanket for Lia. It's granny squares with this different color flower pattern. Here's the flower part. I will then join them together in all cream. Yea for using up scrap yarn!

This is my dreadfully small amount of circles I have done, but the colors are pretty.

My sweet hubby's birthday is today. Happy Birthday! I made him this hat. It is attempt number two. Attempt number one was from a way funky pattern. Attempt number two is a little tight. Chances are he won't wear it because of that...but that hat is good though. Very good man pattern if you are interested. David happens to have a somewhat larger head than normal to encase his smartypants brain. Guess that's why he was smart enough to marry me.

Last, Tasty Kitchen had this recipe for cheese crackers. Only four ingredients, cheese, flour, salt, water. They are pretty yummy if I do say so. Lia enjoys them and David brought them to bed for a late night snack the other night. I'd say they pass as a family snack. I think next time I will roll them even thinner for a crisper cracker texture, use whole wheat flour, and maybe less salt. But we'll see...they were pretty tasty as is! :)

My Indiana Girl

This is my little Indiana girl...

Muddy puddles

Sweet Corn

Lia's New Love

This is Lia's new love...Super Why. She asked for it all day, every day. Anytime we are in the living room she wants it on. She says Super Why the minute she wakes up from her nap. Thank goodness for DVR so I can pretend it's only on when convenient. I'm somewhat surprised she latched on to this one show after watching it only once. However, Lia loves her cape and reading and since these characters all turn into "Super Readers" it maybe makes sense. I suppose if Lia needs to be hooked on a tv show, this one is stellar. I went to the website and read the series goals and they rock! They are things like...

• to create life long learners who are motivated to read for pleasure and information
• to teach abstract, high order reading skills such as making inferences through theme comprehension
• to help young children learn key reading skills and strategies for using these skills

Honestly, I think LIa likes to dance to the songs. But maybe, just maybe she's picking up on letters and sounds. I also think she likes to say Super Why...but what do I know. She could be making inferences through theme comprehension at one and I have a little Doogie Howser on my hands. All I know is that it is fairly educational and she will let me cook dinner in peace while it's on!

On a final note...Sorry Gymbo, you've been replaced. Maybe if/when we restart Gymboree, Gymbo will return to his place of glory. But for now, long live Super Why!