Mommy Monday- Activities with Tape

Keeping Emily entertained can be quite the task so I'm always looking for new activities for her.  This one is super easy.  I laid some tape on the floor and we played the "Tape Game" as she now calls it.  We jumped over the blue lines, measured how long we are, stretched our legs out to see how far we could reach, jumped on one leg over the lines, and jumped backwards.

Fresno Friday-Spring Fest

Last weekend my mom, Emily and I went to Spring Fest in Fig Garden Village.  The stores have sidewalk sales, there is a kid's area, and some stores participate in a 20% off coupon.  It wasn't well attended which is really surprising but nice for us.  The kids area was the best.  There was an activity area where Emily made bookmarks.  She also got her face painted for the first time and got a Hello Kitty Balloon made by a clown.  The zoo had some reptiles for the kids to pet and lastly there was a singer where Emily spent awhile dancing.  All the kids activities were free unlike so many other local events so this was a huge bonus.  After shopping and playing we ate at La Bou.  DELISH as always!

Weekend Wrap-Up

We had a busy weekend this past weekend.  Friday night we celebrated our great friend, John Orman's 30th birthday.  His wife surprised him with a party at Sequoia Brewing Company.  It was a fun night hanging out with friends.  On Saturday, Emily, my mom and I went to Fig Garden Village's Spring Fest (details coming up on the blog).  On Sunday we had our best friends' baby girl's baptism at Holy Spirit followed by lunch at their home.  The baptism was beautiful and the party was equally fun.

More pics of Spring Fest coming up on the blog.

Em had a little cough so Madi got to play only child and loved it.

Mommy Monday-Front Yard Picnic

Now that the weather is much nicer I find way more opportunities to do fun things with Emily.  Recently we had a picnic in our front yard.  After listening to tunes during lunch we played tag and Red Light, Green Light on the lawn.  After sissy woke up with changed into suits and played in the backyard with our water table, played hopscotch, and rode on the swings.  

What are fun activities you do with your toddlers; I'd love ideas?

Supper Sunday-Brown Sugar Chicken and Sweet Potatoes

Brown Sugar Chicken and Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch thick rounds
1/2 onion, sliced into rings
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1/8 c. orange juice

Butter

salt & pepper

Directions:
Place the chicken in the Crock Pot; season generously with salt and pepper. Top with the onion slices and then the sweet potatoes. Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly across the sweet potatoes and then pour the OJ on top of everything. Season the sweet potatoes well with salt and pepper, and top with a few pats of butter. Cover and cook on high for 5 hours.

Madi-11 Months

Madi is 11 months old today!  She's still power crawling, couch surfing, climbing, and taking steps.  She took her first two steps on April 7th.  Since then it's never been more than two steps, but one or two here and there.  She's standing but still not for long periods of time.

She's still in 6-9 month clothing and some 9-12 month clothes and size 3 diapers.  The schedule is still where she nurses at 7 am, around noon, around 4:30 pm, and gets a bottle at 7 pm. She naps from 9:30-11/12, 2/3-4:30ish pm, and the catnap in the evening has pretty much gone away.  

She's gotten so much better at eating chunks of food.  She's doing great with eating just about anything.  We're barely doing any pureed food.

On April 9th Madi got her bottom right lateral incisor which made eight teeth.  Then on April 12th she got her bottom left molar so now she has nine teeth.

Madi's blood work came back and she doesn't have any food allergies; YAY!  We're weening the acid reflux medicine again and she's on about half her dose now.  It's hard to tell if her recent fussiness is from her tummy or her teething.

Only 1 month till the big day!

Fresno Friday-Big Hat Days

It's always an annual event for us to attend Big Hat Days in Clovis.  It's a great free event (free to get in) where you can do lots of craft shopping, eat greasy food, get a treat, and take part in carnival rides.  The days are gone where we went for the whole day and hung out in the beer garden:(  This year we went on Saturday about lunch time and it was PACKED.  A little too busy for my liking.  Despite the crowds we shopped, ate corndogs, shared a slurpee, and Kevin and Emily rode some carnival rides.  Great weather and a great day.

Love events like these that our town offers!

Mommy Monday-Mommy Daughter Date

Kevin and I try to rotate one-on-one time with Emily. We'll do the same with Madi when she's old enough. Last week I asked Em if she wanted to have a date night with me and she beamed with excitement and said, "Let's go to Chuck E Cheese, I went there with daddy!"

So she and I went for pizza and fun. After lots of games and a few slices we went to Baskin and Robbins for a treat. It was a super fun night.

Big Little Lies

I wanted to read Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty because I loved her novel The Husband's Secret.  Just like her first book this one did not disappoint!  I read this on the plane to and from Nashville and couldn't put it down.  This follows three women who leave in a beach town in Australia.  They are all mothers of children who are starting kindergarten together.  We see the story unfold thru each of their eyes and in the end how it all intertwines.  The big reveal is at the end but I knew who "it" was very early on.

The plot involves school yard drama, family dynamics, co-parenting, one night stands, love, abuse, friendship, and suspense!

Grab a copy now or rent it from the library like I did.

Fresno Friday- Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

This Fresno Friday is about getting out of Fresno!  One of my favorite things about Fresno is our central location.  We are 1 hour from the mountains, 20 minutes to a lake, and 2.5 hours to several beaches.  Last week we took a very spontaneous trip to Santa Cruz.  We left early in the morning and got into town just about lunch time.  We stopped at Gayle's Bakery to pick up a picnic lunch to take down to the beach.  We love Gayle's and always stop by when we're in the Santa Cruz area to pick up a treat.  This was the first time we stopped for lunch; NEVER AGAIN.  It's way overpriced and the food sucked!  I paid $8 for a tiny cruddy sandwich and $7 for a small cup of fruit.  The other items we picked up also were pricey and not good.  I have news for you Gayle's this isn't Paris or New York City, you can't charge that much for average food.

After we packed up our lunches we headed down to the beach.  Please someone tell me why I thought it would be a good idea to take a crawling 10 month old to the beach?!?!  Staying on the towels and blanket was a total joke.  She's definitely my second child because I just let her do her thing.  She ate half the beach and was in heaven.

After our picnic, building sand castles, and playing in the water we went on the boardwalk to ride rides.  Emily is still a daredevil and wanted to ride everything.  She was disappointed she didn't meet the height requirement for most things.  We got to ride the Carousel, Logger's Revenge, Sea Serpent Roll-O-Coaster, Cave Train, and the Ferris Wheel together.  Emily rode Bulgy the Whale, Red Baron Planes, and Speedway by herself.

After a full afternoon of fun we ate dinner on the Santa Cruz Pier then headed home.  

It was a fun FULL day and I love that living in Fresno we are able to take day trips like these.

Thanks mom for going on the adventure with us.

Easter Decor and Decorating Eggs

I hard boiled eggs for us to decorate but was so swamped last week we didn't even color them.  MOM FAIL:(  Thank goodness Emily had a sleepover last week at her Auntie Lala's and all the cousins colored eggs that evening.

This egg says, "Emily."