On the Brink of Summer

Warm weather just screams popsicle time, no?

She gives such serious looks, I was so happy to capture a little of her silliness to shine through.

That's definitely a look she most likely got from me…

I had so much fun taking Brooke to the garden store.  We picked out some plants for our pots on the back deck.  She loves to "pick them" and we are working on just smelling them.

 Holly on watch.

Our makeshift "water table" turned into a hat.

I love my back deck!

6.14.14.

Saturday morning: [after breakfast, hence messy face]

She discovered how fun it is to pose, smile, and say cheese for the camera!

I am BEYOND ecstatic.

We headed to my Dad and Step-mom's for the day, hoping for a pool day but it was more like Fall. So we donned sweatshirts and still made the best of it.

My niece is so grown up!

Starting Kindergarten in the Fall.

 Brooke just adores Adrianna.  She just wants to follow her around and hold her hand…Adri doesn't really want much to do with her; so we are working on that.

The swing.

Nana helping her out.

Brooke's learning to push the foot pedal to make it go!

We had a delicious lunch of homemade chicken salad on a croissant.  Seriously delish and satisfied this prego's tastebuds.  It was so nice to sit down with my Dad and see him a little bit, since he too tends to work quite a lot, just like Joe.

This little ham enjoyed her ham and cheese on a croissant.  Where did my baby go?

See what I mean? She has found the love for posing for the camera.  No clue where she gets it from.

[said in a sarcastic tone, for those who don't know me in real life]

I am so full of happiness and love; memories being made and we are on the brink of my favorite season: Summer.  I know this will be such a wonderful one.  And just to think, next year I will have TWO babes to enjoy it with!

As for now, we will soak up every precious moment of enjoying this little girl.  Everyone asks me if she's always this happy, and the answer is yes.  She is just a happy kid, but why shouldn't she be?  Why shouldn't we all just simply be happy? Yes she has moments, like all of us, but we awaken each morning with smiles and hugs, and each night peaceful kisses and sweet dreams to slumber with. She is seriously the light of my life and now that Joe's tent sale is over, I am so happy to have our family back together.  And though rather tough at times, I know that it just being Brooke and I helped develop a deeper bond between the two of us.  I am happy I am surviving this first trimester, chasing after a toddler, and virtually on my own for two weeks.  Just like that, this too has become just a memory.

Well done Jenn, well done.

Can I put my feet up now?

Just kidding…off to play with "choo choo" now.

Cloud Dough & Play Dough {Sensory Activities}

Since not feeling so hot, I have slacked on my sensory bins.  The mommy guilt of watching way too much TV because I feel so ill, pushes me so if I do feel well, to do something creative.  I did manage to whip up two new activities for Brooke and she loves them!

Cloud Dough

It's just flour and oil.  They say you can use baby oil, apparently it smells great?  I just used vegetable oil since she still tends to explore with her mouth.  I also used a few drops of lavender essential oil to smell nice and soothing.

Warning:  It's addicting to play with, I'm talking to you mamas!  It's also ver messy. I would advise grabbing a $1 store tablecloth and using that outside---unless you want your husband to squawk about making pizza dough in the front lawn if it rains!!!

I chose not to use any tools, as I read something about the tools can take away from the hands exploration?  I kinda see that.  I just wanted her to play with it and feel the smooth textures and let her fingers run through it.

She really just wanted to dump it out of the bin onto the grass, so maybe a larger bin or two would work best.  It was cool though!

Recipe:

Cloud Dough

4 cups of flour

1/2 oil

a few drops of essential oil

You can google this and find tons of variations.  I just kept it simple.

We also made play dough and she LOVED it!  Of course she did.  I remember my mom making me play dough and loving it!! 

The first thing she did was put it in her mouth, which is exactly why I wanted to make it rather than buy something toxic. 

It was raining outside, so we played with it inside, on a table cloth.  She also does well at the high chair.

Play Dough Recipe Here

Now I want to get glitter and spice things up a bit! I also ran out of salt, so I would like to try another batch.

What are you doing to entertain your toddlers these days? I would love to know!!

A New Summer Do and Brooke Pics

And in other news…

I chopped my hair off!!

I really love it! My hair is so thick that it was seriously weighing me down.  Now?  I feel so light and like I have so much time to spare!  I kept seeing this "long angled bob"where it was a little longer in the front and shorter to the back.  I thought it was just so cute.  I will admit I miss seeing my long hair all done up, curled and pretty.  Buuuuut that happened like, only on special occasions [Easter was the last time I curled it] and for the most part, it was tangled, messy and just blah looking to me. So now I feel brand new!  I am sure that my hair will grow SUPER fast with my pregnancy, as it did with Brooke.  Plus, my Omegaplex and Coreplex with Iron certainly help!!

I've only actually blow dried it like 3 times, which proves again why I drastically needed help!! I chose not to highlight my hair until after the first trimester, so I think it actually helps hide my roots a bit by going shorter.

I think I'll actually style it today, as it's 50 degrees and this weather has me thinking apple pies and pumpkin spice everything. Say whaaaa?  I just was getting into the lemonade kick…come on mother nature!  Looks like sweats for today...

I am always trying to capture special moments and I promise myself to get better at using my big girl camera…for now these are just from the iPhone but super cute pics from the last week.

Brooke and my sister at my dad's.

I just love trying to get down to her level and capturing what she sees life like.

She rode her first "ride" at the mall the other day. She liked it!

She loves playing outside.

Drawing on the new driveway!

Girl loves a popsicle.  She's really good at eating them too!

And I need to remind myself of this constantly, so I know other women need to hear it too.

Happy Saturday!