Friday Fun!

The last 2 weeks, Zoey J and I have taken adventures with some friends of mine! Last Friday we went to the zoo, and today we hiked to the top of Multnomah Falls! After 2 miles up, and 2 miles down, we got a great view, really dirty, and a tired 2 1/2 year old! I'd say it was a success!

Did anyone catch that I said 2 1/2 year old?!? Talk about mind blowing! I'm so proud of how well mannered she is and how quick she is to respond to our commands. At the zoo she was able to go on her own 5-10 feet in front (depending on the crowd) and had no issue listening, it's so nice having a (somewhat) independent toddler compared to a baby. I loved those days, but I'm so glad where she is and how quickly she's growing.

A quick share, her newest phrase is after something happens and you say sorry to her she says,"it's okay accidents happen!" (pronounced ackidents). Shes a little copy cat, that's for sure! And such a blessing!

Anyway, here's some photos of our recent adventures, and some extras! Enjoy! XOXO

Kitchen Time!

Lets start this blog off by me thanking the toy company Melissa & Doug! After doing some research and seeing Zoey J play with some of their products, I was in love! So I bought a few of their toys, and not only do I love the sturdiness and quality of them, but it helps her imagination and keeps her quiet (which I'll take anyday!). We purchased a few play kitchen products, a few are an apple pie, cookie set, "food group" sets (bins that come with the different food group items) and many more.

I bought them shortly after I had purchased an entertainment center off of craigslist for $5. Why would I buy an entertainment center for this you ask? Because I'm giving it a make over and turning it into a play kitchen! :) With much help from pinterest.com, I have found inspiration and have begun my conversion!

Nic and I had been looking around for quite sometime for a sturdy, wood, play kitchen for the girls after seeing them play with others kids' kitchens, looking every where from Wal-Mart to Costco, they can run a hefty $200-$300! I don't know about you guys, but my wallet told me otherwise :) So after 3 coats of some Pink Carnation paint (courtesy of Lowes) I am well on my way to creating my own play kitchen!

Here's a little disclosure to exit the blog now if you don't care about my kitchen crafting adventure! haha. I would also like to mention my good friend Amber for the yay's and nay's of creating a kitchen, considering I've been using her ideas as a template. Another 'shout out' to my Nana for making me so darn crafty over the years! :)

And so it begins:

As I stated before, I bought the entertainment center on craigslist.com for $5, it was right down the road, so it cost me pennies in fuel!

The quart of paint I got at lowes with my military discount and a coupon for $7. Yippee!

I purchased 4, round wooden plaques at Michael's craft store for $1.98 a piece for the burners and a bottle of Martha Stuart metallic silver paint to doll em up for $2.09, and a bag of popsicle sticks for a $1 at the dollar tree. I painted the sticks black,(which I had the black paint already) cut them in half and used them for the burner 'coils'.

The next step was a stainless steel mixing bowl I purchased at the dollar store to use for a sink. Now for the faucet of the sink, I was a little confused, but that's where Amber comes into play! She scored a sink faucet at Habitat for Humanity for cheap, and you bet your bottom dollar I did the same thing! I got one for $4.99! It needed some TLC, but I shined it up and it's tip top!

My next purchase was at Jo-Anns (which is better known as Narnia, because you could get lost in there!) where I got 2 yards of fabric. I'm making a valance and 2 curtains to hide the food for storage and mod podg-ing them onto some cookie sheets. (You'll read about that later) That cost me $12.99 with coupons.

Last, but not least, I had a run to Wal-Mart, there I purchased 2 cookie sheets to mod-podge (which I already had) some fabric on and use as covers for the "fridge" to hang photos or drawings on. That cost me $3. I also bought 3 tension rods for the curtains which ran about $5 for all three. I also picked up some laminate pockets to make some "recipes" for the girls, that cost a whopping $3.88.

I must say I am awfully proud of my crafting at this point, considering I've saved over $200! Total this project has cost me $52.87, that's pretty darn good considering you can't even buy a plastic toy kitchen for that much, and this bad boy is custom! I will post photos later of the progress and the finished product!


My next craft I will be turning an old dresser into a dress up closet for the girls' princess gowns and accessories. So stay tuned!


Here are some photos thus far! The beginning and 3 coats of paint. The burners aren't screwed in yet, so ignore them being lop sided. But I'll post more as I progress!

Hello Again!

Well friends and family, we're at it again! This is possibly my 4th or 5th apology for the lack of blogging, but I must say that now that the girls are older, I don't have as much to blog about! They're doing amazing as always. We have had a new schedule with Lillian for the Summer, we have her every other weekend (just as before) but we pick her up Thursday night at 7pm and she gets picked up Monday night at 7pm, and let me say, those long visits make a HUGE difference! I'm so glad things are starting to look up with our visitation, because we're getting her for holidays as well now! Yippee!

Lilly is still a witty little gal and is in love with princess things, decorating and doing hair. We succesfully had her 4th birthday as well. First off, FOUR!? I don't know where it goes, I truly don't! Anyways, we had a low key celebration this year. Our family (Nic, the girls and I) went to Red Robin for dinner the Sunday prior to her birthday and let her order whatever she wanted, got a fancy strawberry lemonade and of course the birthday sundae! Nic had to work on her birthday, so he came home around noon and we let her open presents from her grandparents. Seeing as she's getting older (and quite picky), for presents Nic and I took her to the store and let her pick her own presents! She chose a Rapunzel boat with Flynn Rider and glowing lanterns, a princess crown (to add to the collection) as well as another Rapunzel toy, I just can't quite remember what it was! Needless to say, she was elated and loved her gifts. I am so proud to call her ours and be a part of her life.

Zoey, the firecracker, is growing so much every day. She is constantly blowing my mind with her eagerness to learn and the words she takes from us. Her most recent was while we were cooking eggs (I allow her to add the eggs, milk, cheese and ham and mix it) and she cracked the egg. Some of the contents had got on the counter and I said, "Uh oh Zoey, that's messy, lets be careful next time!" She rubbed my arm and said, "It's okay mommy, accidents happen." Let me just say my jaw dropped. I picked her up and squeezed that little 27lb girl so hard. I just can't believe how big she is. And have I mentioned that she is fully potty trained!? We're still doing diapers at night as of now since she's been on medicine fighting a cold, but other wise she'll wake up in the night and tell us she needs to go! It's a whole new World guys. She has learned a few more colors since my last update, as well as shapes, and goodness only knows how many more other words and phrases.

A couple weeks ago we made a trip to Enchanted Forest with my step mom, sister, cousin, and her friend and it was a blast! Zoey J loved the rides, yummy food and running around. It was perfect weather too. It's so fun to see her wheels turning and soaking in all this information. I've been looking into different gymnastics for our monkey child, she's always doing sommersalts and head stands, so I might as well get her started young!

Other than that, things are going great. Nic and I are working and doing the daily grind and doing our best to raise these little monsters. I will post photos soon since this blog is being typed from work :)

Until next time!

xoxo

Toot Toot!

The title of this blog is the sound of my own horn. :) this is a friendly disclosure that I will be bragging of my smart, youngest daughter and how amazing she is! And obviously wouldn't be there without her mom and dad ;)

Yesterday, Monday, Zoey J had her 2 year wellness checkup. As I said in a prior post, it was delayed due to her pediatrician having a baby. So we went in, did the usual measuring/weighing/form filling an so on. She weighs a whopping 26lbs and 4 oz. and stands at 34" tall. Her weight is in the 32nd percentile, and weight checking in at around average of 51st percentile. Not too shabby!

Now to the obnoxious, bragging part. Haha. As Dr.Brighman came in, she asked how we were, any concerns, the usual. I explained my concern for her small development of excema and she gave a remedy. We than moved on to showing how smart Zoey J is. She said her shapes as I drew them (circle, square, triangle, heart, star, octagon, diamond, cone and cylinder). Than was colors (red, blue, green, yellow and pink). Never seizing to amaze, we moved to counting to 12 and counting down from 3. Next, yes there's more, she said her abc's (only knowing a,b,c,d, and mumbling to z and sing with me). And for the first time, she showed off and said she had to go potty, yippee! So Dr.Brighman was so ecstatic of her potty training also. Her motor skills are phenomenal and he will be attending a preschool soon once we find the right one!

Our appointment ended with 2 shots and some tears. :( but shorty followed by a pb&j and chocolate chip cookie! As well as a surprise date with her BFF, Paisley! All in all, it wasn't too bad!

Again, I am not usually this boastful, but I'm so proud of how smart our girl is. I can't wait to see how much more she learns!

Zoo Time

By the name of the title you can safely assume we made a trip to the zoo! We went Sunday morning right when it opened and it was perfect! The weather was warm enough for a light jacket, and a sprinkle of rain here and there, but I thought it was perfect weather! And so did the animals. :) all the animals were out and about and ready to greet us!

Zoey J did so good! She didn't have a stroller, and stayed with us the whole time without holding hands! For a 2 year and 3 month old, I'm bragging. :) she was fascinated with the large elephants, tall giraffes, playful cougars, "cuddly" bears, and everything else in store! She's a true animal lover like her momma and was so sad when she realized she couldn't pet them!

I'm always still so proud of my little love muffin, and she never fails to blow my mind with her continuing knowledge,and ever expanding heart.

Here's til next time!

Bye Bye!

Ladies and gentleman, the day has come. The 'minkit' (aka: binkey) is GONE! We're going on day 5 and it's getting better every day. There are still tantrums every night and at nap time, but we have explained to Zoey J that another baby needed them. Thankfully we had just met up with some of Nics family with an infant and she had a binkey, it worked perfect. :)

My mind is blown knowing that my baby is now a kid. She is potty trained, binkey free, in a big girl bed, no sippy and can hold a conversation. Where did she go!?! I'm so proud of her and everything she is, but I can't believe she's actually doing all of these things!

I love you my sweet girl, you're incredible.