Good Times = Priceless.

This car has been the main attraction at our house. It hasn't gotten old yet and we're on the second week of ownership. 

The price you ask? 

Free.

Ganked it from my in-law's neighbor. They had it in their driveway with a "Free" sign, and going against every clutter-free-mentality cell in my body, I snatched it up and threw it in our van and drove off. I even got a fist bump from Ryan with an astonished look on his face.

And there's been peace in our home ever since. The girls have even been excited to share it:

Not quite wide enough:

The girls have both used the Dukes of Hazard style of jumping into the car on the side without the swinging door.

Alexia, the push-master.

Got Milk?

I'm still nursing Naiya once a day, first thing in the morning.

At 14 months old.

And I love every minute of it.

Don't judge.

Since I got robbed of being able to nurse Alexia past five months because I was so sick (guess that happens when you conceive when your first child is 3 months), I was determined to do it as long as possible.

Or until she was able to ask for it herself (not judging anyone else, that's just my personal threshold).

Did I say that I absolutely love nursing?

One of my favorite things. It's actually one of the main things I look forward to with having another baby.

Minus the pain that comes with it initially though. Not one of my faves.

But Canadian Nipple Ointment is one of my faves. It is a lifesaver. (Also referred to as All Purpose Nipple Ointment.) I would be at the top of the pyramid if they had some sort of direct marketing company for it. I am a mad marketer for that stuff.

But anyway, back from my tangent of nursing 101. All that to say, as I'm still continuing to nurse, Alexia is becoming more aware of the whole process. And now wanting to take part.

This past week, Alexia wanted Naiya to "drink mook" from her. Here's the play-by-play.

Alexia getting herself situated. Poor Naiya doesn't know what's comin' to her:

Going in for the kill:

Using brute force to get Naiya to the ground and onto her lap:

And, the flip:

Taking a break to laugh with Mama, who at this point, was laughing so hard she couldn't even breathe:

And back at it again. 

Need to make sure both sides are even:

Needless to say, it didn't quite go as planned. Naiya wasn't as willing to nurse from Alexia as she is with Mama. It was well worth the laughs though.

Newmans Are Back.

Our beloved Newmans are back! Yay!

Ryan's sister, Tanya, her husband, Tim, and their boys, Sterling (2.5 yrs) and Thorin (1.5 yrs) are home for the summer from the Kurdistan region (northern Iraq). Collectively, they are really the Mewmaws, but the running joke comes from the most common way their last name is butchered. They even had to go through the hassle of changing their son's birth certificate because of a clerical error. So Newmans they are. It seems so Seinfeld-ish to me. Maybe because I hear "Newman...." running through my head.

So the first time I could get the boys all to myself, they gave me plenty of photo opps.

For some reason, feminine products are a common attraction for toddlers.

Maybe they look like big band-aids to them? 

Thorin and Naiya weren't impressed with the panty liners. Instead, they were taking phone calls.

Oh, it's for you Thorin...

Auntie Tanya having story time with her pregnant self. That's right. Baby #3 due in October. You can hardly tell she's even pregnant, right? 

Love this shot:

That would be a Nasal Rinse bottle he's chugging water out of. I'm just going to assume that it was clean when I filled it with water for him. No really, it was. I think.

The Newmans are currently in Indiana visiting Tim's family, but we will be having our 2nd annual Family Vacation (last year's was actually a Staycation) in the beginning of September. 

                                          

Tot School Homeschooling Practice Week 1, Part B

To finish out the week, here's what we did:

Thursday

A is for Alligator craft.

The finished product:

Friday

Tot Trays. Alexia only lasted about 15 minutes doing this. A late night left her doomed for Meltdown City. I had planned to go to the airport playground and watch planes land, but both girls needed to catch up on their much needed beauty sleep. 

Bows. Onesies. Girls Are So Fun.

I got the itch to create again.

After catching up on my blog reading, I was reminded of etsy's cuteness. So I headed on over to etsy to steal some creative ideas.

One thing about me is, I love to create, but am not innovative. I prefer to steal other people's ideas and create them for myself (or others).

My current fave is the fabric rosette clip. So I scoured youtube for a tutorial and found the how-to for a fabric rosette.

Here's my attempt:

And I needed some more variety in my life, so I tried this one, too:

Although, for this one I used regular cotton fabric from JoAnn's and cut the fabric into 2-inch circles (I have no idea what she is talking about in the tutorial when she refers to her "sizzle". But I am quite interested if it's more efficient). I do think the bow would be cuter with a more sheer fabric, as she mentioned in the tutorial. But oh well, my creative binges are usually impulsive, so I gotta use what I got. And for simplicity reasons, I just overlapped the circle into quarters. 

All this bow making, sparked an idea for a gift for a friend who just had her first baby, Madelyn Marie. Beautiful name, right? Makes me have buyer's remorse for my two girls' names. 

So here's a peek at the gift that is ready to be shipped:

    

I'm hoping to send it before she no longer fits into the onesie. To-be-shipped items typically take up residence for weeks at a time on my counters. 

Tot School Homeschooling Practice Week 1, Part A

Never thought I'd be on this path.

But here I am.

Never say never. (I should start making a list of all the things I've said so far that I never would do, but my girls came along, and it's all been downhill from there.)

Researching for ideas, I came across a blog that I've ripped off an idea or two from. It's what she refers to as Tot School.

So I implemented my own Tot School this week. I'm amazed at how into it I've actually been. I'm even more amazed at how easily Alexia has learned things from just the first exposure. (This may or may not be the first time Alexia's has ever heard of letters of the alphabet.) And I might also add it makes the day go by faster and with less meltdowns. And I'm less prone to hopping on the computer out of boredom or watching Barefoot Contessa marathons. The structured schedule has done my soul good.

Here's a recap of our week so far:

Monday

• Tot Trays for 45 mins. (I intended on this only being for 20 mins, but she was really into them)

***I cleared out the bottom row of shelves in our living room to put the trays on. Only, I didn't have trays. I just set the items directly on the shelf. I am only putting them out for "school" and on Tot Tray days (Mondays and Fridays) so that she doesn't get sick of them. I put out four differet trays using things I had around the house. My Tot Trays included:

• Cutting - I used strips of different colored cardstock and scissors for Alexia to practice cutting
• Transferring - I used an empty ice cube tray, small bouncy balls, small tongs and a tupperware bowl (which she later requested the lid for) so Alexia could transfer the balls from the tupperware to the ice cube tray and vice versa, using the tongs (Naiya liked this one too)

        

• Matching - I used an On the Farm print out  and printed two copies. One copy I cut out each item and put them in a tupperware bowl, the other was for the "board" for Alexia to match the items up to. 
• Small Spaces - I used an empty plastic container that grapes came in (because it had holes everywhere and was clear), and q-tips for Alexia to shove the q-tips into the holes and watch them drop down to the bottom of the container. (Naiya was also a fan of this one)

Tuesday

• Introduced the Letter "A". This is our theme for the week. The corresponding themes are: apple, alligator and airplane. (I'm not kidding when I mentioned this is really the first time I've ever explained what a letter is to Alexia. And no, we don't have those magnetic letters or floor blocks. But I would like to get my hands on the magnetic letters soon!) 

***I used five methods, and I introduced to Alexia in the following order:

• Using Word, I typed the letter "A" (capitol only) and made it huge. I also inserted clip art of an apple and a picture of Alexia. 

• Letter "A" tracing worksheet
• A is for Apple coloring page
• Letter "A" youtube lesson (I lost count of how many times we watched this. I also started memorizing the song)
• Using a magazine, I asked Alexia to see if she could find any A's. (I swear my jaw dropped when she actually scanned the first page with her little finger, nose practically touching the magazine, and shouted "A!" with a big smile.) So with each "A" that she found, I cut them out and let her glue them onto the Intro page (the Word doc from method #1). This was also her first encounter with Elmer's glue. 

Wednesday

• took the girls to Trader Joe's and let Alexia push her own mini cart and told her our mission was to find 5 apples. We also got to practice counting with each apple she chucked into her cart. Then we came home and baked an apple crisp together. 
• went to the library (for the first time) and picked up The Apple Pie Tree (I really like this book!) 

One over.

I think Alexia has been pulling a fast one on me.

Since introducing the lovely bribing technique, I have noticed a pattern. A poop trend if you will. It goes something like this:

Alexia: "Mama! Poo poo!"

Me: "Okay, let's go to the bathroom."

Alexia sits on the pot, and says: "Piece of candy, okay?" (Like she's making sure we're on the same page here. No free poops.)

Me: "Yes. You'll get a piece of candy if you poop."

Poop comes. Candy is given. And suddenly this same thing happens two more times in a row.

Really?

I can't help but wonder if hemorrhoids are possible for a two year old.

Goodbye Key Largo.

We are officially going to have to say goodbye to our boat. At this present time, it is up for grabs (and a small chunk of change) on Craigs List.

{Tear.}

Our Key Largo served three years as a means of curbing my husband's appetite for the water. I initially thought his request for buying a boat was a bit extreme, but I now understand it's a way of life for him. I guess growing up on a beautiful tropical island does that.

Alexia took her maiden voyage on the Key Largo at just 9 days old. I'm pretty sure that's legal.

And of course we had to follow suit with Naiya.

Alexia tried to show her a good time.

This boat gave us so many memories. Entertaining family and friends visiting, early morning crabbing adventures (with coffee and donuts on the boat, of course), swimming, summer dates for Ryan and I (pre-kiddos), 4th of July tradition of being on the water, and so much more! It definitely gave us a return on investment in terms of fun and memories and pursuading me to see the benefits of being a boat owner. (I didn't grow up on the water.) 

Here's to you Key Largo! May you bless another owner as much as you did us. 

Ty fishing

Ry fishing

Boating w/ Hurleys (Will 3 months)

Grandpa Seaward's visit for Alexia's birth; Learning to crab

Summer 2009; not so sure about the whole boating thing

Summer 2009

Summer 2009

Summer 2010

Summer 2010; very sure about the boating thing

Maryland Blue Crabs

My fave!

Legit Crab Feast...for free!

Preggo Tanya. Gimme more!