Summer Must do's

I think we're probably half way through summer now. The weather has been very mild this year. Since when is 60 degrees July weather? Global warming my rear. Anyway, we managed to do a few new things so far this summer. We were able to fly a kite, go to the circus, take an art class, go to the Independence Day parade, and check out a new zoo. Other favorites were swimming lessons, blowing bubbles, drawing with chalk, going to parks, and going to the library.

4th of July Parade (a week early)



"Tea" party (protest)


Circus (park district put this on)





Art Class:






The park:

[IMG]http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll101/chicagoshannon/DSC_3645.jpg[/IMG]

Water Fun:







We have a lot more stuff to do this summer too. We plan on going to the train museum, a White Sox game, a boat ride downtown, and Kiddie Land. Wow! That's a lot to do in the next month!

We will be starting pre-school this year (at home) so we've been practicing things with Madeline in preparation. She's farther ahead then we thought. She knows her alphabet and sounds, even sounded out the word HAT last week. She knows her colors, shapes and numbers up to 16. She can do 1 to 1 counting. The skills we'll be working on to start our school year will be tracing and cutting. She's very excited to start school. It's a good thing since she wants to be an astronaut when she grows up. :)

Another big thing that has happened this summer is potty training. Madeline is TRAINED! She wears a pull up at night but that's it. We're very proud of our big girl (sniff).

One year ago today...

we found out we were going to have baby #2. 3 and a half weeks later we found out we weren't. July is a hard month :(

Madelineisms

We were at a stoplight the other day, arrow turned green, Madeline says "watch out we're coming through"

When told we're going to do new things in art class, Madeline says "awesome".

"Me Madeline Olson"

"Me eating dino's, mommy, seeeeeeeee (opens mouth)"

Redecorating

For a couple of years now I've let the decorating of the house slide. My priorities had shifted and with everything else going on with trying to have babies ect. I just didn't pay much attention to the house. I really, really miss putting out little decorations to mark the seasons and getting a new house thing once in a while. I was actually getting really, really down about it. Things like decorating used to take no effort at all from me. I feel like I lost a piece of myself. So I'm taking it back!

Last week I painted our Master bathroom. Instead of boring builder white it's now a lovely shade of lavender. Ahhhhhh relaxing! I had taken most of our pictures off of the wall last year when we had the house on the market. So I put a bunch of those back on the wall. My family room actually feels like mine again.

I WILL put up fall decorations this year. I WILL decorate for Christmas (more then just putting up the tree), I WILL bake Christmas cookies this year.

My next project is to paint our entry way. It's a dark blue now, same color as the family room. It will be turning into Dutch Boy's "blondie boy". It's a cream with a hint of yellow. Hopefully that will be next week.

Now do I take down the crib in Madeline's old room? That's a hard one. It's been my sign of hope for almost 4 years now. I would like my scrapbooking room back though. I guess we'll have to wait and see on that one.

In any case I'm taking my house back!

I've decided

that too much time has gone by since or Disney trip to blog about. So if anyone wants to hear about it let me know. Or you can look at my scrapbook which is scheduled to be done around the year 2015. haha!

I will let everyone know that Eric gained 2 weeks of vacation while we were gone so we're taking another trip... to Disney... for our Anniversary THIS YEAR! We figured 5 years is a milestone so why not celebrate it!

Seeing Mickey!

We had an awesome time in Disney World. We went to the Magic Kingdom the first day and Madeline loved it. She probably could have spent EACH day there. We watch the opening show at Magic Kingdom. I will never forget her face as she say all the characters come out of that train. She was SO excited. And now for your viewing pleasure, her reaction.







Right then we knew we made the right decision to take her now even though she's only 2. Her reaction couldn't have been more perfect.

Over the next while I'll put up some more tidbits about our trip.

Quick wrap up.

We leave for Disney in a little over 2 days. I've been pretty busy getting things together and trying to get the house clean.

I'm tired. I need a vacation!

Eric confirmed all of our reservations today. We got the code and directions to our condo. My parents have their new van all ready to go. We're 99% packed.

After I get the laundry done tomorrow I'll be in vacation mode!

Madeline is doing ok with potty training. She complains every time I take her but she seems to have mastered the pooping phase of potty training. She hasn't pooped in her pants in over a week I think. Peeing, well we're working on it. ;)

She is VERY excited about going to Disney. She is looking forward to riding Splash Mountain, Mission Space, and Expedition Everest. What? She's not tall enough you say. Well you'd be right. I'm having a hard time convincing her of that though. lol

No Way! has become her favorite thing to say lately. I'm getting really tired of hearing it. She has also suddenly become "scared, Monsters". She'll wake up in the middle of the night and call us in there to get rid of them. I had no idea that started at 2! At least she has no under the bed (bed's on the floor at this point). Maybe she thinks the massive amount of clothes in her closet is a monster. ;)

With that little Madeline wrap up, I'll bid you all adieu for a couple of weeks.