The Park...we will miss you!

As we prepare to move, we are starting to do our final visits to some of our favorite spots. Now, I know there will be plenty more parks in our lifetime and plenty more walks to pick up 'natures', as the toddler likes to call them, but it's still a bit sad to visit some of our favorite spots for possibly the 'last' time....


Yes, that's my daughter -- with the crazy hat on -- "it's windy, I have to wear my hat" -- sometimes you don't argue with a toddler!

Wordless Wednesday

"The perfect tower, it won't fall over"...

Our new FAVORITE TV shows...

Okay, I will admit that our little 2 1/2 year old toddler probably watches a bit too much TV, according to the AAP regulations. But, there are just SO MANY good programs on -- educational, imaginative and creative shows. Some of our favorites: Dora, Diego, Blue's Clues, WonderPets.

We first heard about some new PBS programs through this website. So, we checked out the new programs: SuperWhy and Word World. They are by far, our FAVORITE programs. Our little one wakes up every morning, "I wanna watch a little SuperWhy". We are using it as a reward program -- she can watch one episode of it later in the afternoon if she has had a good attitude during the day.

This is just a little plug for some great children's programming -- I'm not getting paid to write any of this!

LEAD PAINT AWARENESS!

Click on the link above to learn more about lead paint awareness -- especially since all the popular character toys seem to be recalled these days! Payton has a couple of the toys -- one being the Elmo sprinkler she got a year ago. She was a little over 1 at the time last summer that we used it. Of course, looking back at pictures and memories of that sprinkler, she put it in her mouth SEVERAL times! What to do now? Not much...it's too late, but we are working on preventing her from putting toys in her mouth. She's never been much of 'toy in the mouth' kind of kid, so we're lucky on that aspect.

The above link is also running a contest to win a $100 gift certificate from an on-line toy/clothing company that is all-natural materials, Natural Pod....it would be nice to win!! :)

My Favorite Things:

My thumb and my blankie -- 2 of my FAVORITE things! What are your favorite things?

Our Little Helper

Helping daddy vacuum my room! We like to get this little 'popper' out -- you know, that traditional toddler toy that they push around the house that makes a popping noise? You know you have one -- I think they are like 30 years old! (they make a newer version, of course). Each time we get out the vacuum, the little toddler has to get out her 'bacuum' and push it right along with us.

New HOUSE!!

I know you've all been waiting with baited breath from some exciting news from our end of the earth...

So, I won't make you wait any longer...

We FINALLY sold our townhouse! We've been on the market since April, and just this weekend we sold it to a couple from Florida. The CRAZY part of this story -- we now have 20 days to move! YES -- only 20 days! You know, we've had our house open for 'business' for almost 6 months and now, in the blink of an eye, we have to move out in 20 days.

I am very excited, however, at the same time, I am sad. We've been talking about moving into a "house with a yard" for some time now -- our toddler daughter is the type who needs some prompting and encouragement before trying or doing new things. So, last night while we were doing the "happy dance" of joy for selling our house, she looked at me and said, "but this is our house"....oh, don't make me cry little one. There's plenty of time for tears when we have to say some final good-byes, but right now we need to FOCUS!!

The house we are in IS her house -- she was born here, she has her room -- the only home she has known, her bathtub, her toy box and all her toys. Now, of course all of her 'stuff' will come with her -- but, I know this is going to be a stressful and a whirlwind 20 days.

Any suggestions on how to reduce the stress and tension as we transition to a new house?

A Trip to the Zoo...

HAPPY LABOR DAY, everyone! Okay, so I'm just a couple days late. We had a busy weekend of me working, a full Sunday of volunteering at church (hubbie on the sound system, me in the nursery) and then a picnic. On Monday, we decided to go to the local *FREE* zoo. I kept reminding my husband that it's *FREE*. It's definitely not like any big-time zoo with lots of wild animals -- this zoo has a cougar, some wolves, pot bellied pigs, goats, ducks, bald eagle, and some foxes. It was hot, so even those animals were hiding in the shade and didn't come out to see us....our little one didn't seem to care. So, as hubbie was looking at me like "what sort of zoo is this?", I told him, "Oh, we have to go to the best part -- the REPTILE HOUSE!". This is SO worth the wait everyone....



we saw some alligators,

a BIG boa constrictor,

we saw the alligators...again...this time we waved at him/her,

and some turtles!

Here she is watching and waving at the alligator -- our favorite exhibit, by far!

YUMMO!

Wow -- look at that picture -- you would think that I am a real baker!

For those of you who know me, you know that I am the FARTHEST thing from being labeled a 'cook' or 'baker'. I don't do well with measurements -- I like to just toss some ingredients in -- I use a rough estimate and for the most part the food I cook/bake seems to come out to be edible!!

So, I was 'surfing' the internet and have found a fellow mommy-blogger and she had this post on her website about blackberry pie bars. Now, I love me a good dessert bar (I don't do cookies very well)! It looked easy and YUMMY, so I emailed her and asked if she thought I could use blueberries (more popular around here and cheaper -- I am also a frugal baker!) I followed her recipe (for the most part) and they turned out SO GOOD! They were ultra easy to make and it was the hit of the cookout today -- even the pre-teenagers liked them!

Fashionista?

So, do you think this will EVER be in style? Dora underwear (on the OUTSIDE of the onesie, of course!), Elmo slippers and the now-infamous upside-down glasses! (click on the pictre for a LARGE viewing....)