I am Thankful...

Dora Dora Dora and BOOTS

For Miss A's 2nd birthday I decided to look for a Dora house. They are VERY expensive so thought if I couldn't find one on e-bay or craigs list, we wouldn't be getting one. We did find one on e-bay the seller gave us a great deal, sent the package fed ex so it would be here for her birthday and even threw in a few extra's! TOTALLY AWESOME and a HUGE HIT!!! She still loves to play with it.

Happy Birthday Miss A - you are wonderful and completely fill up our hearts with your sweetness!

A little of this A little of that

Just some of the crafty things I have been up to lately. The cards were for K's Japanese class. The hair bows were for a birthday gift and just for fun.

Preschool and a Birthday party

Along with babysitting, I have also started working as a preschool teachers assistant.
Lucky me, Miss A gets to come with me, and I get to be with these totally awesome kids twice a week. I love working with them and with Ms. Nancy.
On this day, we also celebrated Miss A's birthday. Our big 2 year old!!

Because I was feeling so frazzled this week, I asked Miss E's mom if she wouldn't mind making cupcakes for the class. She did! I have such amazing friends. : ) The little mini cupcakes were
a hit. And the kids enjoyed adding their own sprinkles.

Hanging with Miss M

Miss M has made some cute friends in kindergarten. This was their first sleep over. And they had lots of fun (especially because it was a school night sleep over). K made a yummy breakfast for us all. And Miss A was happy that the girls included her in their sleep over.

SPIRIT week at school!!! The first day of spirit week was SPORTS day, dress in your favorite sports team gear. WELL, Miss M LOVES sports and all sorts of teams. So she had to show some support for them all. (well almost all, she loves the Dolphins, but we couldn't find a jersey in time.) So, she has on a cubs t-shirt, a packers sweatshirt and a Bears hat. GO TEAM!

A little Mommy and Miss M time. We planted tulips for the spring. I am not sure how well they will do since those dirty little squirrels kept digging them up. My sister pointed out that they probably didn't eat them, just replanted them, so I may have some tulips show up in the middle of my lawn. Oh well...

Exploring

I started babysitting my friends cute little girl on Mondays and Fridays early in the fall. It's been great for Miss A to have a twice a week play date and good for me to get out of the house.
One rainy day I decided that we needed an outing. So we headed to the exploratorium. My sister and Gavyn came along too.

A few of things that I liked best,

• it was perfect for Miss A and Miss E.
  
• Everything was in one room, I could see them at all times!
  
• They had a play yard inside - we LOVE slides
• and a CRAFT room! The girls had so much fun making puppets and coloring
  

I know that we will visit this place lots more!

Farmers Market

This summer and fall our little community has had a farmers market every Wednesday. It has become our favorite afternoon activity. Especially since the school year has started - it's the after school hang out. The fresh fall air, the yummy crisp apples, the fun neighborhood friends, the great music, just watching the girls run around outside and eating picnic dinners.

The girls loved dancing to the live music. With our busy days of running here and there its great that we can take time out with each other and watch these girls 'dance through life'.

We Heart Wagner Farm

I can not believe that I have lived here for 11 years and this is the very first time I have visited this fun little farm! The girls had SO much fun. I am glad that we went and hope to make this bonfire an annual tradition in our family to kick off the fall.
What a perfect way to bring in the autumn.

Celebrate Good Times!

Hooray for Keenan! He passed his state CNA exam. And to celebrate the occasion Aunt Jesica treated us to Chile's YUM! As you can see from the pictures the girls really
enjoyed their mac n cheese and broccoli.
Keenan we are super proud of you!!

Little Jamo

I just love it when new babies curl up and sleep its just SO yummy!!!

1 month old, and not happy about having his picture taken - but he sure is cute when he cries.

We are all loving every moment with this sweet little baby.

Miss A loves doing art work with these foam stickers. She kept sticking them on herself and Jamo. Even Aunt Cuppy joined in on the fun.

watching babies sleep is so sweet
(no matter what age they are)

*by the way these are also posted on my sisters blog just in case you think you have seen them some where before...

1 month already

It's already been 1 month since this little guy came into our lives. I think we have adjusted all quite nicely. Even Miss A is fine having a new little one around. She is always concerned when he is crying and loves to help out. I am sure learning to be more soft will come soon.
Anyway, I haven't had a chance to download his one month pictures so I just put a couple of my favorite ones up. Happy one month little J-mo.

the light was shinning just right on the kids. I love the natural lighting.

It is still amazing to me, how fast little ones change. He can hold his head up, loves to look around, already has favorite songs that sooth him. Has different cries for his different needs. Does NOT like a dirty diaper (can't blame him) and has a fussy time between 7 and 9 pm. Not very convenient, but is it ever? And LOVES his mommy, just as all little boys should.

Hey, Soul Sister

My BFF shared this song with me and I LOVE it!!!



happy weekend!

Mmm, Brownies

My brother in law captured these pictures of Miss A sneaking on the counter to eat some more brownies. Girl after my own heart - or daddy's He's the brownie fan.

Little Star

lately Miss A has been singing a lot. However, I pull out the video and nope she won't sing. She just wants to take the camera from me. But I was able to capture a couple of her songs. And the cute way she says "I LOVE YOU" with OUT her pacifier. She is just such a joy - if I do say so myself.

Beautiful Lake Michigan

Miss A enjoying the big rocks by the lake

I L O V E living by the lake! Especially when its beautiful weather and we can just head over there to enjoy the lake, the breeze and some sweet Hawaiian music.

First and Second weeks of school

It seems as if the time is flying by. Miss M LOVES LOVES LOVES kindergarten. And she is excited to tell you ALL about it. It's great to see her love of learning. Her teachers (she has two)
have told us how great she is doing. She is kind to the other students, always willing to help, she listens well and gets her work done. I am happy to hear all about it - she likes to tell me about recess. Miss M gets to take a Spanish class as well, she loves to come home and practice her new words. Especially to our neighbors.
She does get homework to work on during the week. I wish she was enthusiastic about it, hopefully it will come and she will take after her dad NOT her mom!

Miss A has been a little lost with out her sister. She sure knows when it is time to go pick up Miss M. She will be sleeping so soundly and her internal alarm clock wakes her up just in time to get
out the door to pick up her sister. I think we all look forward to the end of the school day.

Crafty birthday gifts

Miss M has been invited to a couple of birthday parties - and lucky me they were both girls who love to wear things in their hair. Last week's party was for our neighbor who had a super fun fiesta - with a three tier pinata! She LOVES to wear headbands. I went to the dollar store and found a few headbands, added some ribbon, bows, or buttons to jazz them up. Then of course some matching hair clips. And I made a quick one for Miss M to match her outfit for the party.
So glad that I know how to make hair clips/bands! Now if I could just get my girls to wear all the
hair clips I make...

Wee Little One

Along with getting Miss M ready and off to kindergarten - there has been another big change in our life. My sister Jesica has been living with us since June. On August 21 she had her baby boy.
It's so wonderful to have a baby in the house. Although he being so tiny makes my "baby" not so baby anymore - but really a toddler now. It also takes that baby hunger away. I get all the joys of having a baby during the day - but at night I am fast asleep.

Miss M LOVES to snuggle with J-mo any chance she can get. Their favorite time together is bed time. They love to fall asleep together. It's a treat to go in and peak at them to watch just how close they can snuggle into each other.

Miss A doesn't mind the baby so much. Although she hasn't liked her Aunt Cuppy (my sister Jescia) too much since she brought that baby home. She is very sweet to J-mo and always tries to comfort him when he is crying. Bringing him a pacifier, or her favorite stuffed animal, rocking his swing, playing music for him -she has even tried to change his diaper every now and then.

Our Big 5 year old

The day has finally come - KINDERGARTEN!!!
She was SUPER excited! No tears by me or Miss M.

Walking to School (it's so great it's right behind our house!)

Daddy taking MORE pictures! (but she is SUPER cute we just couldn't take enough!)

Our neighbor kids, Miss M is thrilled that they are going to school too.

Ready to go in and start the day!

where did the time go

and yes, I know I will ask that again and again, but it feels like I was just holding this little baby in my arms...

and now she is off to kindergarten.

I have held it together so far, I am sure tomorrow I will shed some tears. I am sure, she will do just fine.

A breather...

Soon, I will take one. It's just been a bit crazy around here getting Miss M ready for kindergarten and having a new little baby in our lives. My sisters baby came 12 days early. But we have loved every chaotic moment!

I hope next week when Miss M is in school ALL DAY, Miss A is napping I can catch up on our end of the summer fun.

Until then, I leave you with a little You Tube video. My sister in law sent me this and I thought it was pretty cool and wanted to share. Crazy how it is all ONE person! Makes me want to go join a glee club because I TOTALLY have time to add just one more thing to my schedule ; )

Happy start of the new school year!!!!



or this one if you like MJ its a great medley...

On My Wish List

Now that I have FINALLY started using my Sizzix side kick (thank you Mostess Mommy) I now would love more accessories to go with it. I wouldn't mind a Big shot now too! I took a little visit to Sizzix.com and saw that they have a Hello kitty big shot!
I have always loved Hello Kitty and now Miss M loves HK too.
Found here and there are even cute die cuts too. These are kind of cute too (click HERE).



anyway - super fun. I like "window shopping" some day I will have that big wonderful craft room.

Hip - hip HOORAY!

Just a quick post to let you know that Keenan graduated from his BNAT (CNA) course at Oakton college tonight. He was also the student speaker. I/we are SO SO proud of Keenan and the new path he is on. His instructors that I met tonight just gushed with wonderful things about Keenan and what a great field of work Nursing will be for him. Now, he just has a couple of weeks to enjoy no school before he starts up again in the fall. 2 semesters of pre-req's and then nursing school. Congratulations Keenan we are so proud of you.

I will post pictures soon - we are still house sitting and I didn't bring along my camera cord to down load my pictures.

hope you are all enjoying the summer. I hope to make it to the beach at least once. Now that Miss M is done with camp (last day today - so sad) we might have more time to head over to
the great Lake Michigan.

Good News Story

I seldom watch the news anymore because there is rarely any Good news. So I actually missed this cute story about a 6 year old piano wonder. Amazing! (and she's here in the Chicagoland area!)

What else we have been up to

Not only am I a bit addicted to the silly farm town game on Face Book, but just about every evening after we put the girls in bed, Keenan sits at the dinning room table to study and Jesica and I pull out the crafts. At first she wasn't so sure about making cards but as you can see she has become quite the little card making (her's are the safari collage). I've had this knack for showing my sisters how to do things and then they just run with it. I love her cute cards! To make me feel better she said, "Um I make 4-8 cards a night and you have done over 20." Ok so I am a little bit faster at making them, but I think that we both make pretty cute cards! Plus it's fun to watch all our Tivo'd shows while we make our crafts. Sometimes we stay up way to late, but I guess we are trying to get it all in before her baby comes.

I have also been making more hair clips for the girls. Now that Miss A finally has hair long enough to put pony tails in its fun to add cute hair bows. (she has started to leave them in a little longer too!) And with all the fun bow choices, I don't mind that Miss M wants her hair done in a pony tail everyday. I even enjoy adding one to my pony tail.

Keenan is doing great in school and really enjoys it. He is almost done with his CNA 10 week course, then he start the fall classes. He also really enjoys is Japanese language class he decided to take. I am very proud of him and what he is accomplishing!