Car Wash

Today the heat index was expected to get up to 107 degrees so I decided it would be a good day to do something outside involving water. I decided Amelia should have her first car wash and get her princess cozy coupe all washed up to start the summer off right.


I didn't have to ask her twice to wash her car - she went right to it!



Auntie Kim came home mid-wash and started a sprinkler so running from that took her attention away from her car for a bit.


To get her back into the car wash mood I showed her how to spray her car off. Next it was her turn to try...



She thought it was far more entertaining to chase after auntie and myself with the hose. She eventually decided her car needed to be rinsed off though.


I'd say Amelia's first car wash was a success. Her car is cleaner than it was, she stayed cool in the heat and she got some energy out! All good things :)

Tantrum

The other day, at Target, Amelia would not listen so she had to be put into the cart and buckled in.


As you can see, she was not appreciative of this. I took this photo because I just know she will appreciate it as an adult ;)

Shopping is one of our biggest struggles currently. We have given Amelia freedom at the store in the past and now she is getting a little too free and wandering off and adding items that she wants to the cart! This is resulting in frustration for us all while at the store. Each time we go to the store it is unpredictable. Sometimes we have a near perfect, easy trip and other trips we are all frustrated when we leave!

Menards is by far the easiest shopping stop we ever make - they have carts with cars attached to the front! It is genius and Amelia loves it. We love it too because she "drives" around the store and we get to get our shopping done with some ease. Too bad we never need more than one or two things while we are there! I really wish all stores would get fun carts!

Windows Down!

Amelia LOVES to have her window down in the car :)


She only gets her window down in daddy's car since mommy's car doesn't have backseat windows. One more reason to drive daddy's car in the summer months :)

Sleeping Sweetly

I checked in on Amelia a few nights ago and this is what I found:

Terrible Twos

We have finally reached a really terrible point in the "terrible twos." Amelia is so headstrong and so difficult some days it is beyond exhausting. She has taken to yelling for everything and refuses to "ask" nicely. We have a baby sign for "please" that we use and the past couple of days she won't even use it and I have no idea why!

So many little things are adding up these days with her that I sometimes have to walk away from her when she is acting up just to relax and keep my cool. It's hard to stay frustrated with her when we arrive home after a trying afternoon and evening and she is sleeping so sweetly in the backseat:


I know that part of our problems stem from communication. Amelia still isn't talking very much and I think it is becoming more frustrating for us all - herself included! We have noticed just this past week that she is trying really hard to say things sometimes. For example, she wanted cheese last night and we kept asking her to not climb up the stool and to please just tell us what she wanted. She got up on the stool and said, "heeeeee" which I can only assume meant cheese since that is what she was reaching for which shows that she is trying.

Another part of the problems we have stems from pure stubbornness. I wonder where she gets that from? This morning she brought me a box of crackers and said, "please." I gave her a cracker and she happily ate it. When it came time for another cracker she would not say "please" and she threw the empty cracker box across the room. I told her it was not ok to throw things like that and asked her to please get me the box and then she could have another cracker. She put the box on the edge of the bed eventually and then demanded another cracker. I told her I appreciated that she picked the box up but she needed to bring it all the way to me. I know she understood the entire situation and what was being asked of her. After fifteen minutes, I got the box and put the crackers away and that was that. I didn't cave in and that is what needs to keep happening!

I have the number for a program through the school district that will evaluate your child if you have developmental concerns. We do plan on calling them but we are hoping to wait until we are living on our own again since they do come to your home for the evaluation. We have recently started looking for places to live and are currently weighing the options of a few towns that are possibilities. Once we have that narrowed down our search will become much more serious!

For the time being though, this shirt seems quite appropriate:


(it says, sometimes crabby - but always cute!)

Rocking Cow

Amelia is still into cows!


My sister and mom were shopping over the weekend and found this rocking cow at Once Upon a Child.


For now it will stay at Nana's house and once we are on our own again we will bring to our new place!

Father's Day 2011

Yesterday Jason had a pretty laid back Father's Day. I worked in the early morning and Amelia was kind enough to let us sleep late (I went back to bed upon returning home!) I think we can thank the gloomy weather for that - it was pretty dark out all morning so I don't think she knew it was morning!

In the afternoon we met up with my parents and ran a few errands with them before we had a late lunch/early dinner at Boca Chica followed by dessert at Izzy's Ice Cream! We missed Izzy's People's Flavor Awards by just a few minutes :( Each summer they create new flavors and the customers get to taste and vote on them. We caught a glimpse of some of the flavors as we walked in and the one that intrigued me the most was buttered sweet corn... Maybe it will win and I will get to taste it?

I wanted a picture of Amelia with her daddy and papa. They got down to her level for it but then she saw that they got lower so she decided she should sit down!

Bridal Shower

Over the weekend my friend, Lisa, and I hosted a bridal shower for our friend, Marie! We spent Friday evening preparing everything that we could so the day of the shower would go smoothly. We designed and made the cake, made pretzel and fruit dips, cut fruit and got games ready!

Saturday everything went smoothly. We played several games including 20 questions about the bride, groom and them as a couple, the "mystery sock" game and bridal bingo!


The hit game was the "mystery sock" game. We put an item in each sock that pertained to Marie and Jordan's honeymoon (in Hawaii) and people felt the items through the sock and had to try and guess what they were! It was funny watching people try and guess the items. One person got them all right even!

We prepared lots of food and sherbert punch.



For the punch we mixed fruit punch (made from powder) with sprite and a touch of orange juice concentrate. We put scoops of raspberry sherbet on the top which gave it a fun taste!

Marie with her matron and maid of honor (Lisa and I):


Marie with all of her bridesmaids except one who lives in California!


We had a fun afternoon. Next - Marie's bachelorette party in one month followed by the wedding!

Creative Bridal Shower Cake

As a co-host for a recent bridal shower I knew that I did not want to pay for an expensive store bought cake! I knew I could come up with something more creative and with a personal touch for one of my best friends.

The bride's favorite cake is, and has always been, Funfetti cake. So that is where we started. While I was at work, my co-host Lisa baked two Funfetti bundt cakes. Once I arrived in the evening it was time to find some way to create the cake I had in my head.

I wanted it to look like two interlocking wedding bands. We cut a chunk out of one of the cakes and put them together:


Once we frosted the cake it looked more like an 8 we decided


An 8 would have been appropriate since it does happen to be the bride's favorite number! Using the chunk that we cut out of one of the cakes we made a diamond to add to one of the rings and it looks more like what it was intended to be!


About half the people who saw the cake thought it was an 8 and the other half knew it was wedding rings. Either way, I was happy with how it turned out! The bride and her cake:


I think she was happy with it!

If you know me well, you know that I am not the most domestic person so this really was out of the ordinary for me to have a creative idea that actually panned out. Lisa and I decided it was because I am a mom now - domestic things are slowly coming more naturally to me :)

Amelia and Daddy

These two cuddle at night and watch cartoons


and before you know it


she is out like a light :)

Baby BOY

I've been MIA for quite awhile...lack of Internet will do that!

The BIG news is that:


Amelia is going to be a BIG sister!

I am over halfway there already at 21 weeks and 5 days.


My weight gain has been minimal so far which is the exact opposite of my pregnancy with Amelia! I have only gained about 7 pounds so far.

Today was the big ultrasound. I had my first 3-D imaging done which was pretty cool.


The doctor was kind enough to print a shot of boy parts for Jason since he wasn't able to come with to the appointment!


(look in the bottom left corner and there are two legs and a penis. You are looking from beneath if that helps anyone...)

I found a fun way to tell Jason it was a boy. I wrapped up a hammer rattle and baseball sleeper for him to open after work:



I of course don't have a lot of time to blog so I will end with a short video from the 3-D ultrasound that the doctor made for Jason to see:



I'm hoping to start getting online more as the summer progresses. Hopefully it happens :)

Fair Oaks Farm

Over Memorial Day weekend this year, Amelia and I went to Indiana with my parents. We used one of our days there to do something fun/touristy! We decided to go to Fair Oaks Farm since Amelia has recently been really into cows.

We went on a bus tour of one of their ten farms. Amelia got really excited when she saw cows and tried to get off the bus but once she realized that wasn't happening she just sat on Papa's lap:


We saw baby cows


an (empty) pasture between barns


and the rotary where the cows are milked


The rotary was the most interesting part to me. It holds 72 cows and when it is their turn they just walk into a stall, ride around, get milked and when the circle is complete they back right out. It was pretty interesting to see. Some people who I told about this seemed really upset about it and I just wanted to ask them, where do you think your milk comes from? This is what large-scale, modern farming looks like!

After our tour we went to the birthing barn and saw a baby calf be born.



This is something that we always miss at the state fair each year so it was interesting to see it.

Amelia rode around in this train several times.


(she is in the yellow car)

The first time she went she insisted that Papa ride with her so he squeezed in with her. Nana and I were in the birthing barn so unfortunately we weren't able to witness it.

Before we left we had fresh ice cream and cheese curds! Both were delicious. It was a long day for Amelia and she passed out in no time on the car ride to visit grandpa at the nursing home!