28 September 2013

{Our Week} - 9/16/13 - 9/22/13

Madden has so many phrases lately that make us laugh.  The most popular this week include:
"Riah take it" (translation - Mariah took it from me AGAIN!)
"Shoies on" (Get my shoes on)
"That's LOUD!" (Usually in reference to a vacuum cleaner or lawnmower)

He is also maxing out all of him 24 month clothes - hard to believe my little dude is into the toddler sizes already!  2T here we come!









Mariah is continuing to have fun in preschool.  I just love how she goes on and on when I pick her up from school.  This week was all about the letter "C" and they read the book "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie". 

She is also a budding photographer and begged to try out mom's big camera.  After many pictures of the floor, I helped her get a couple good ones ;)





Mike & I ran the Quad Cities Half Marathon on Sunday.  We were very happy with how it went!  The weather was perfect!  It's such a fun route to run.  I hope its something we can continue to do each year!


My mom is friends with one of the preschool assistants and they were talking about how the teachers enjoy Mariah.  I told Mariah that her teachers "think that she's a hoot"

Her response: "No Mom, don't say that dirty word!  I'm just Mariah."

:)



CHALKBOARD TABLE

We started a fun project of turning an old coffee table (garage sale find!) into a chalkboard play table for the kids.  I had a couple helpers with priming and painting the table.

The next step is to finish painting the base and maybe even paint a road on top for Madden to use for his cars.  Will post again when its complete :)

BEFORE

IN PROCESS: PRIMED & CHALKBOARD TOP DONE


18 September 2013

{Our TWO Weeks} - 9/2/13 - 9/15/13





Remember how I mentioned that we were starting to potty train Madden last week?  Well, after breaking out the Elmo Potty Time video he has used the potty 3 TIMES!  I take zero credit for this.  Mike got him to use the potty TWO times and the other was a day care.  Again, I know we have a ways to go, but after 3 1/2 years straight of changing diapers the thought of NOT having to is quite exciting!!!






Mariah continues to be a busy girl.  She has a best friend across the street (Addy) and these two just can't get enough play time with each other.  The other day Mariah actually had her first play date at Addy's house all by herself (granted, she was about 20 seconds away and was only there for 15 minutes).  Even though the girls are a couple years apart they sure have fun together!

The past 2 weeks in preschool the class focused on the letter "B" and read the book "Brown Bear Brown Bear" - one of Mariah's favorites!  They did lots of fun projects with animals from the book, got to bring their own bear to class one day and even had a "wear blue" day!  Thankfully Mariah's favorite color IS blue - so finding blue clothes to wearwas no problem ;)

Mike and I are gearing up for the half marathon on September 22nd.  I am nervous, but ready for the challenge!  Hope all goes well since running has not been my main focus lately.



In other news, HoneyBeanDesigns is continuing to thrive.  I'm working on some super fun Christmas items to go live in early November - so keep me in mind when it comes time to order your Christmas cards :)






Mariah loves waking up each morning and seeing if she "grew taller" over night.  One morning we woke her up and she stood up tall and said:

"I'm going to be a GIANT when I grow up.  And I'm going to live in Florida, too."

What?  Kids. :)



On September 8th we went to a Book Fair at the Mississippi Valley Fair Grounds.  It was a fun event where every kid got to pick out one book of their choice.  Mariah choose "Pinkalicious" by Victoria Kann.  I thought it was a weird choice, but turns out its a super cute book that we've been reading every night since!

We also met up with Olivia at there and the kids had a blast playing on all the inflatables! :)




This past weekend (September 14th), Mike went off to the Iowa/Iowa State football game and the kids, my mom and I headed over to North Liberty to visit my cousin Sara and baby Katie.  What a sweet little girl - she's doing so well and had grown so much since I last saw her at just a couple days new :)



It was so funny to see Mariah and Madden interact with a little baby (and super crazy to think Madden was the same age Mariah was when HE was born).  Mariah was actually a big helper!  She enjoyed holding Katie's bottle and helping with a diaper change :)  Madden on the other hand - well - he spent most of the time playing around with all the baby toys, mostly oblivious.  haha :)



We even went out for some frozen yogurt to finish off the visit!


It was so fun to see all the cousins meet - they are going to have so much fun growing up together!


Two kids in a laundry basket - just a normal Sunday activity around here as they "help" with the laundry! :)


05 September 2013

{Our Week} - 8/26/13 - 9/1/13

Why hello September - where did YOU come from?!  It's hard to believe that summer is coming to a close.  It makes me sad to see the sun going down before 8pm - but on the bright side maybe it will make bedtime a little easier since the sun won't be shining through the kids' curtains as we tuck them in bed?  **Wishful thinking!!**



Madden, oh Madden.  Love that boy.  He's been so talkative lately... babbling on and on.  He's also rediscovered the word "NO" and uses it as much as he possibly can.  Usually in various forms, my favorite being "NO WAY!".  Our favorite bedtime book this week has been "Goodnight Gorilla".  He goes to bed talking about that book and yells for it first thing in the morning.  We are also attempting the start of potty training (WHAT?  I know.  I can't believe it).  Unfortunately asking Madden if he wants to try the potty has resulted in the response "NO! NO WAY!".  :)  I have a feeling its going to be a slow process.




Mariah is keeping busy with school!  This week they learned about the letter A and apples!  They even made their own applesauce, which Mariah thought was pretty cool!  She came home one day and told me that when we sit on the ground we have to do "criss cross applesauce" (aka indian style).  Love it and all the fun stories she shares about her days at preschool!

Also had to share the picture on the right.  Mariah loves stuffed animals in bed, but it was a little creepy to walk into her room to check on her and she was sound asleep but all her animals were lined up and facing the door! Haha :)



Not much new with Mike and I - just busy with work and trying to fit in some runs and workouts when we can! :)  We both conquered 10 mile runs this weekend - better start training for that half marathon in a couple weeks (yikes...).














We were in the car driving home and I lifted my hand up to fix my hair.  Mariah yelled from the back seat:

"MOM, two hands on the wheel please!"

I told her she was right and resumed the proper 10-and-2 position on the steering wheel.

A minute later: "MOM, do you have two hands on the wheel?"

Oops.  I cant get away with anything ;)



Homemade Gak!

With daddy attending the Iowa football game on Saturday, the kids and I whipped up a batch of homemake gak (blue of course!).  Mariah was a big helper mixing it up and both kids had a blast playing with it! 




A video this week! Madden on his NO streak (told ya) :)