Book Fan Friday

You know, I may not work outside the home or go to school or really have anything that makes the week any different than the weekend (especially now that hubby doesn't really get days off right now) but I still really look forward to Fridays. Not only because my favorite show, What Not To Wear, comes on (though that totally helps) but I also get to share another book with all of you!

I decided to put the spotlight on a Dr. Seuss classic since this coming Muffin Tin Monday's theme is Dr. Seuss! Awhile back I already featured my favorite Dr. Seuss book as a kid, so this week I'm going with another one I've always really enjoyed (though, come to think of it, is there really a bad Dr. Seuss book?). Green Eggs and Ham!


I remember my mom telling me how this was both my brothers' favorite book growing up. I love it, too, and I pulled it out for Baby Girl's bedtime story Thursday night. I think she really enjoyed it. She just laid down on my chest, listened, and looked at the pictures. After that and a song (one of her favorites to go to sleep to is actually A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes from Cinderella) she went to sleep really quickly! I was very pleasantly surprised!

If you have found a great book, children's or otherwise, I would love to see what it is and what you thought about it! I will leave the link-up open all week so feel free to join in at any time.

Muffin Tin Monday - ABC's and 123's

Welcome to a brand new week! This week's MTM theme is ABC's and 123's. We did something pretty basic but it gave me a chance to give Baby Girl some stuff I know she loves and also to reintroduce some past foods.


She had Apples, Bananas, Cheese, 1 cracker, 2 goldfish, and 3 Nilla wafers. She used to eat Gerber diced apples all the time and for some reason I stopped buying them. I think because they are in the baby food aisle and I haven't gotten her baby food in quite awhile. So I diced up an actual apple but she wouldn't even try it. Oh well, I'll try again a different time. :)

Check out Muffin Tin Mom to see what others did this week!

Book Fan Friday

Whoops! I had everything ready to write this last night to post this morning, but completely forgot. Hubby and I had some last minute stuff we had to do online before going to bed and he wanted to watch BBQ Pitmasters and before we knew it, it was 10:30pm! That's late for us and every time we decide to stay up later than usual, Baby Girl wakes up in the middle of the night for some reason. She did not disappoint this time! Oh well. :) This week we read All The Ways I Love You - A Pop-Up Book by Julie Downing.


I think this book is just the sweetest thing. Each page has a pop-up animal (I bet you had some sort of clue about that haha) and says something really cute. Like the first one is a Mama Giraffe and her baby and says "Baby Giraffe asks Mama, 'Do you love me a lot?' And his mama answers, 'I love your every last spot!'" Too cute! Baby Girl loves all the animals (she is now starting to roar - she already neighs and sometimes tweets) but kept trying to pull on the pop-ups. She was just in a paper-ripping mood yesterday, actually. Generally she's really gentle with books and magazines and stuff.

Anyway, if you have found a great book, children's or otherwise, I would love to see what it is and what you thought about it! I will leave the link-up open all week so feel free to join in at any time.

The Super Bowl May Not Be In Your Future, But I'm Sure You Did Something Important. What Are You Going To Do Now?

WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD! Hubby and I are planning our next Walt Disney World trip! YAY! We are planning on going in late October. I know it's a little early to start planning, but I have a blast doing it so why not?!

I've gone to Disneyland in Anaheim, California more times than I can count while growing up. My first trip to WDW was in November 2008, two months after Baby Girl was born. Hubby had gone once when he was very young and doesn't really remember it, so it was almost like a first trip for him, too.


We then went back in October 2009 to celebrate Baby Girl's 1st birthday (her bday was in September, but October was the earliest we could go).


I could go on and on about Disney, our trips, and our planning, but for today I think I'll talk about the little bit of pixie dust we got during our last trip. Actually, we got quite a lot. :) But I'll focus on one instance in particular. Before we went this last October, we were trying really hard to get reservations to Cinderella's Royal Table. It's a sit-down restaurant inside the castle. I mean, shut up! But a lot was going on to where we weren't sure until a few months out exactly what dates we would be going to WDW. So of course by that time it was all booked up. We tried up to the day before and nothing had opened. When we went into the Magic Kingdom that first morning, we went straight to Fantasyland and went through the castle to get there. As we were going through the castle, hubby said "Just a second" and veered off towards the restaurant. He decided to take the long shot and ask if there were any last minute reservations. "We already know the answer, but do you have any openings for today?" hubby asked. The guy at the counter said, "Breakfast or lunch?" Hubby: "Whatever is available we'll take." Guy at counter: "No, really, breakfast or lunch? We have one for each. How's that for a little Disney magic?" What? Really? I wanted to hug the guy! Well, I hugged and kissed hubby because I had pretty much given up on going there this trip. I'm tearing up just thinking about it.


We are incredibly glad we went. The atmosphere was incredible, the food was yummy, and Baby Girl had such a great time! She was smiling and laughing and just loved it. Every so often a new princess comes out (we went during lunch) and is introduced with fanfare and everything and she goes around to each and every table to sign autographs and take pictures and stuff. It really was an incredible experience and recommend it to anyone who has a little extra money (it's not exactly cheap) and loves the princesses and stuff. After we were done hubby was the first one to say "Well, we're doing that again next year!" I love that man!

Who's The Leader of the Club That's Made For You and Me?

M-I-C... K-E-Y... M-O-U-S-E!!! In chocolate-covered Oreo form! ♥ Yes, trust me, I know! The other day I was going through major Disney withdrawal. We are barely starting to plan our October trip to Walt Disney World (more about that in a later post) and I am just already itching to go. Plus I love baking and really wanted to make something kinda cool. I knew I wanted to combine these two things and make something Disney-inspired. I thought and thought but just couldn't come up with something that seemed perfect.

Picture found at Pooh the Bear

Then it came to me in the shower (yes, I'm one of those who does my best thinking in the shower). At first I really wanted to do these as cake pops. Because we all know how incredible cake pops are! But I had just done Christmas cake pops and have already planned on making some for Easter (cute little chicks? Easter eggs? Not sure yet.) so I thought I would lay off of the cake pops until then.

It is then that I remembered I really wanted to try out the dipped Oreos that Jamie at Momma's Playground did for Christmas. We always take each other's ideas and give them our own little twist. I love that. She took my reindeer cake pops, turned them into Oreos, and now I'm turning her Oreos into Mickey pops! You don't understand how excited I was to try this! I stuck a popsicle stick into the Oreo, dipped them into melted chocolate candy melts, and stuck them in the freezer. Once they were hardened, I dipped some whole candy melts into melted ones and stuck them on as ears.


I just LOVE them! But, they look a little plain, don't they? I have BIG plans for these little guys. But, I live in the middle of nowhere and have to order a lot of things offline so it will be a little while before I can reveal that little secret. ;)

Another Hair-Brained Idea

Well, here I go again... I got pretty good with putting pigtails in Baby Girl's hair. I've gotten them to be pretty even and super cute.

She likes to comb her own hair.


I had to catch her off guard for this pic. She doesn't really like to sit still anymore now that she's picking up on this walking business. But look at those big eyes and pouty mouth... can we say "heartbreaker?"

So yesterday I decided to try something different. So I tried doing something like a ponytail. It ended up being more of a half up/half down sort of thing, but whatever.


Her hair is a little short for this yet, but at least it kept her hair out of her face! I eventually just took the second ponytail out. It didn't really do anything for her so I'll try that again when her hair's a little longer.

Muffin Tin Monday - No Theme

Wow, is it Monday again already? It's just crazy around here. I know I didn't do MTM last week... I had so much to do that I just had to put it on the back burner until this week. It being a no theme week helped a little, too! We kept it simple. Baby Girl is quite fond of chicken noodle soup and Goldfish crackers, so that's what she had! We get her the Disney princess shaped chicken noodle soup.... surprise, surprise! lol I like to think that she likes the shapes, but we all know (at least until she is a little older) that it's me who likes the shapes. :) Oh, she had to have some chocolate milk, too, to wash it all down!


I think she enjoyed it. :) (Please don't mind her hair... it was my first time trying a kind of ponytail thing and her hair is still a bit short for it. lol I'll post about that later, though.)


Hmmm, I'm really wanting some new muffin tin stuff. I might just have to go do a little shopping online today!

To see what others came up with this week, head over to Muffin Tin Mom (also check out the awesome new look to her blog!).

Book Fan Friday

Goooood morning! Well, technically, good evening since I'm writing this on Thursday night, but whatever. It's time for Book Fan Friday, once again! Yay! Hooray!!! Okay, I need to lay off the birthday cookies... too much sugar. (I'm turning 25 today! Okay, well, honestly I'm turning 27 but my friend over at Saving the World One Cupcake at a Time and I have decided I am turning 25.) Oh, and they are banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, by the way. Yummy! Anyway, this week's book is The Shy Little Kitten by Cathleen Schurr.


Wanna know how I picked this book this week? Well, it was about 9pm here and I realized I didn't have a book out for the post. AND all of Baby Girl's books are in her room. AND she was already sleeping. SO I had to sneak in and grab the first book that was on top. I love going in and checking on her before I go to bed anyway, though. She is just so beautiful and peaceful when she's sleeping. *sigh* ♥

Anyway, this book really is a classic and Baby Girl LOVES cats so this is a great book for her. She gets excited when I get this book out and points to the cats and says "Cat!" Again, *sigh* ♥

Totally random thought of the day: Anyone else have "You're lookin' like a fool with your pants on the ground!" stuck in your head? *ahem* Moving on...

If you have found a great book, children's or otherwise, I would love to see what it is and what you thought about it! I will leave the link-up open all week so feel free to join in at any time.

My Sweet Baby Girl

Recently I got the urge to start playing with Baby Girl's hair. So poor thing has to deal with crooked pigtails and stuff because I have no idea what I'm doing! There are some wonderful sites like Babes in Hairland that have wonderful hair styles for kids (including babies) and I've felt inspired. So I broke out some ponytail holders and a comb and got to work. Come to find out, it's not as easy as it looks! :)

My first shot at doing her hair was on Wednesday. I didn't have baby ponytail holders or even a comb small enough to work with on her so I used her baby brush and two of my ponytail holders to do some low pigtails. I knew it wouldn't turn out perfectly, but it was fun just playing around.


Today I had come across a couple of baby ponytail holders and bought a small comb so I decided to try something more advanced. When that didn't work, I just did different pigtails. The right side of her head looks so much better. She sat patiently and let me work on it. The left side... not so much. She started squirming and wanted to get down. She's thisclose to making walking her primary mode of transportation (YAY!) and had bumped it up a notch today so she didn't want to sit for too long.

That has to be the cheesiest smile I've seen on her!

Anyway, I thought I'd share my craptastic baby hairstyles so we can see if I start making any progress down the line! I don't know, though... I told hubby that she looks a lot older with her hair done like that so I might not do it anymore. lol She's super cute, though, even if they are lopsided. :) Do you have any pictures of hairstyles you've done on your children, whether a hit and a miss? I'd love to see them!

Body After Baby Challenge

Okay, well, this week was not nearly as good for me, Body After Baby-wise, as last week. Baby Girl and I were both sick so we were taking it easy. Last week I was 123.2 lbs. This week (as of Tuesday... that's the day I take my weekly weight for the challenge) I am 123.4 lbs. I may have gained 0.2 lbs, but I'm not too concerned. I didn't do much at all since both us girls were trying to kick whatever bug we had, so I'm happy I maintained my weight. This week is a new week and I can get back on the Wii Fit Plus! :)

Head on over to Mama's Notes to see everyone else's progress and get some fabulous inspiration!

I'd Like To Thank The Academy... Oops, Wrong Speech...

I always feel so honored when I open my email and see that I've received an award for my blog! I have fun with it and am so happy that others like it, too.

Artsy Momma over at Crafts~N~Things for Children , Trudie over at Fun with Little Mouse AND Jamie at Momma's Playground passed the Sunshine Award on to me! Thank you ladies so much! I absolutely LOVE your blogs and feel so honored that you enjoy mine as well. :)


The rules for accepting the Sunshine Award are as follows:

• Put the logo on your blog.
• Pass the award on to 10 bloggers.
• Link the nominees within your post.
• Let the nominees know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
• Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Jamie at Momma's Playground also gave me the Happy 101 Award! Thank you again, Jamie!


For this award, you are to list 10 things that make you happy, then tag another 10 people.

10 Things That Make Me Happy:

1. My husband.
2. My darling little girl.
3. My family.
4. My friends (RL and bloggy).
5. Baking.
6. Shopping.
7. Nice, long showers while hubby is watching Baby Girl.
8. Pretty much anything Disney.
9. Panera Bread and Starbucks Iced Caramel Fraps with extra caramel (I know that's two things, but eating at PB while drinking Starbucks? Holy crap! Get me on a plane to FL right now!)
10. Hanging out in little beach side cities with those cute little privately owned shops and restaurants.

Okay, I know this is the easy way to go about this, but I'm still going to go ahead and award BOTH these awards to the following 10, FABulous blogs.

.little moments.
The Coffee Shop
Sew-Fantastic
Saving the World One Cupcake at a Time
The Ramblings and Adventures of a SAHM
It's A Good Day
A Little Loveliness
Crystal's Craft Spot
Living With Fairies
The Sound You Hear Is... Living!

Book Fan Friday

Happy Friday! I realized yesterday that I haven't done Book Fan Friday for TWO Fridays in a row! Ack! You'd think the last two Fridays were, I don't know, Christmas and New Year's or something. ;) Either way, I am going to try and not let that happen again.

This week I thought I'd share something that I think is just the coolest thing. For Christmas, Baby Girl's Great Aunt Barbara sent her some storybook pillows. I'm sure most people have seen these before, but I hadn't until they arrived in the mail. She got Baby Girl Cinderella, Tinker Bell's Talent, and Disney Princess - The Best Day of All.


The front and back covers are like, well, pillows and have fabric pages. They have tabs (one with velcro) that keep it closed.


I found this set at QVC and they also have another set we might get with Snow White - The Sweetest One of All, Sleeping Beauty - The Wedding Gift, and The Princess and the Frog. They also have sets for boys that include stories from Cars, Toy Story, and others. LOVE them! Baby Girl always brings them to me to read to her and she will lay on them or cuddle with them every day.

If you have found a great book, children's or otherwise, I would love to see what it is and what you thought about it! I will leave the link-up open all week so feel free to join in at any time.

Body After Baby Challenge

It's the first check-up post for the Body After Baby Challenge over at Mama Notes! I did decently. I have been trying to up my water intake which I have been doing pretty well with. I have been trying to keep a pitcher of Crystal Light in the fridge to help with that. I have a hard time just drinking plain water all day long. This helps A LOT. I know there is sugar and a few calories involved, but a heck of a lot better than soda, that's for sure.

Okay, so down to the numbers. I took my measurements on Dec. 31st and they were:

Bust: 35.5"
Waist: 32"
Hips: 39"
(I blame Baby Girl for those numbers, by the way, in case you were wondering.)
Weight: 126.5 lbs.

Anyway, my wonderful hubby got me a Wii Fit Plus as an early birthday present on New Years Eve (which is where I took my weight and will continue to do so for consistency's sake). We both are having a blast with it! It may not kick my butt like the 30 Day Shred, but I have more fun with it and it keeps me coming back so it technically works better than the 30 Day Shred CD does sitting in my DVD holder.

I will be honest that I haven't gotten on every single day, but I was on for 50 mins on New Years Eve, and about a half an hour on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th. As of yesterday (Jan. 5th) I weigh 123.2 lbs! That sounds great and all, but I have to remember that weight does fluctuate from day to day... plus Mother Nature just left after her monthly visit so that helps too. BUT that doesn't mean I'm not proud of myself for those few pounds! It just motivates me to do just as well, if not better, this coming week. My body tends to keep its weight really well so I just need to stay off my butt and stay active and I can reach my goals.

Head on over to Mama Notes to support and get inspired by the other wonderful people who are participating in this challenge!

Muffin Tin Monday - No Theme

The first post of 2010... ahhhh, don't you just love that new post smell? And it just so happens to be the first Muffin Tin Monday of the year, too! No bells and whistles on this muffin tin meal, though. I took advantage of it being a no theme week. I just took a normal meal Baby Girl usually likes and put it in her muffin tin. It mixed things up a little bit, though, so no complaints here. She totally dumped it all onto her tray two minutes into her meal, but that's okay. She had fun. :)


She had some turkey, provolone cheese, and crackers along with some strawberry milk. Sounds good to me! I'm glad to say that the stress of meal time has lessened a little bit lately. If you're familiar with some of my posts, you know that Baby Girl has been super picky. She is also tiny which I know I shouldn't have worried about since EVERYONE in her family was small as children, but I'm not always rational. I worry way too much about things. But I'm proud to say after a few minor changes in my approach she's eating better and even on days that she doesn't, I let it go and say to myself that she will eat better tomorrow. So meal times have been a lot less stressful for everyone involved! Yay! Thank you to everyone who left comments of support and tales of their own picky eaters. :)

Check out what else is going on this MTM over at Muffin Tin Mom!