MMM – Page 29 – ~HB ADVENTURE~

April 1, 2013

Fancy Maggie

Drinking Tea at the Fancy Nancy Party in Atown

I never paid much attention to the Fancy Nancy book series as a teacher, but we were gifted with a Fancy Nancy book and that was the end of it for Maggie. The character, who could possibly be Maggie’s twin, has been a favorite of ours since we first cracked the book open. We’ve since checked out almost every single Fancy Nancy from the library and Mags has gotten a few of her own books along the way and they are frequently pulled off the shelf to be read. I really like the books because they encourage creative word usage and the character is kind to her friends and little sister. I’m not ready to introduce the idea of ‘an annoying little sister’ to Maggie yet, that will probably develop on its on, no need to rush it.

fancy nancy party maggie

There was a Fancy Nancy tea party hosted through the parks and rec department in Anacortes a couple weeks ago and we decided to go with Caroline, Cole, Erin and Mara.

The description for the tea suggested that EVERYONE dress fancy. It took Maggie all of two seconds to decide what was fancy (her cape, tiara, and tutu, of course!), but I was a bit worried that my post-baby wardrobe was lacking. I think my dress, boots and babywearing front was ultra fancy, if not lacking in color….but we all felt and looked fancy in our own way.

All the little girls were sweetly dressed up in a variety of fancy things and so were the moms. We spent the first portion of the event doing tea-related crafts and the second half enjoying tea and treats. If anything, it was an opportunity for the girls to make a connection to the books that they’ve been reading and to me that is EXCITIING! We clinked our glasses together, toasted Fancy Nancy, and laughed at the fact that we were in the Anacortes Senior Center eating cut up sandwiches and having the greatest time. Not once could I have thought up such a scenario before I became a mother, certainly not with such a fancy daughter at my side.

March 29, 2013

Spring, Sprang, Sprung

Every single year I get this feeling when the first days of REAL Spring weather arrives. I get all giddy and ‘we need to get our projects in order’ feeling. The sun just has to make a tiny bit of an appearance for us to drop what we’re doing and head outside. We busted open our shed and pulled out some of our toys. Maggie pretty much remembered the entire inventory and wanted to take EVERYTHING out. I’m not entirely convinced that this weather is here to stay, so we left many things in there.

Maggie spent the afternoon practicing on her bike and Audrey enjoyed sitting in the bumbo watching Syd roll in the grass. When Barry (a.k.a. Captain Safety) got home, Maggie was strapped into her helmet and she continued to ride her bike until dinner was served. Seeing her enthuasium for her tricycle reinforced the birthday present that we got for her this year, a balance bike. She’ll be pumped.

I finally looked at my garden, probably for the first time in nearly a year, and called my mom to find out what some plants were and what I should do with them. I really love the part of gardening that involves rippin’ stuff up and I’m not so good at the planting part. Describing plants over the phone, when I know next to nothing, is very funny. I think this year, after tearing out that dang plant that went to seed, I’m going to actually plant some things so that our late summer garden will look beautiful. I’m determined to have some dahlias this year!!!

We also shot Maggie’s 3rd birthday pictures. This is the first year that she was involved in the process and helped to pick out fabric and set everything up. She was also very helpful and cheerful when getting her picture taken. If I hadn’t been wearing a baby on my chest while taking the pictures, I would have said it was no sweat.

Today we’re headed over to the Merk’s to do a practice egg hunt and tomorrow Bri & Darcy come to be here for the REAL egg hunt on Sunday morning. I can only imagine where ‘the Easter Bunny’ will hide eggs this year, especially with both Barry and Brian together.

Happy Friday, Little Chicks!

March 21, 2013

Reasons I Liked Today

1. DANCING. Maggie loves to dance and her day is spent singing and dancing from start to finish. One of her very favorite things to do is play music off her “companio” and dance around the living room. This morning, while Audrey entertained herself in the swing for a few minutes, Maggie twirled around the room with New Baby ‘putting on a show’ for her sister. At times Audrey watches Maggie like a hawk, but today she was more interested in her reflection. Maggie didn’t seem to notice and boogied on down in her undies.

2. SMILES, BREASTFEEDING & READING. The cooing and smiles have officially begun. Audrey has started to find her voice and makes the sweetest cooing noises at us and if we’re super lucky she flashes us a smile. I have yet to capture a full-fledged smile on film yet, but at the rate she dishes them out, it won’t be long. Most often while I’m feeding Audrey, Maggie and I will read a book together. This way we’re both engaged and can share in Audrey’s sweet smiles and Audrey gets to hear the story as well. This also means that Maggie gets read to throughout the day without a doubt. I love that she loves to read and finding her reading on her own in random places, like the kitchen, just reinforces the fact that no matter what I’m doing or where I’m at….reading with my children should always be a priority.

AND Maggie announced that New Baby was crying and needed some milky. So, she proudly nursed her….standing up. I can’t say I’ve nursed standing up, so it was funny to see Maggie’s smug face nurse her baby through her shirt. Wearing her tiara, also something I’ve never done while nursing.

3. MY PEEPS. Chaya came over today with her dog Jack. She didn’t just come over, she found us on our morning walk and joined us for the tale end of it. We also went to visit my former Kinder students a couple days ago to introduce Audrey and check in. It was really great, except for the fact that Maggie’s nose was running like a leaky faucet. The kids were doing Centers while we were there and Maggie joined in and was on task just like a proper Kindergarten student would be. She’ll be SO ready to start preschool in the fall and seeing her in a classroom setting reminded me of that. BUT, it was great to see so many of my teacher friends and touch base with them. I wish that I could teach and have my babies with me, but I don’t think that’d work out when my babies start screaming and the students actually need their teacher. A couple funny things happened:

a.) Kids shouted “I like your baby” at me more than once.

b.) Maggie was straight-up rude to some of my friends because she was beyond ready to go and I made her stay longer than I probably should have. The only reason it was funny? I’d never seen that part of her personality…maybe I’ll blame it on her cold, but she wore her ultimate grumpy face and marched out the door looking for our car announcing she was ready to go.

c.) When we made it to T-Diddy’s room, we walked in to discover all the students wearing party hats. For some reason Mags took this as a good reason to walk from table to table checking in. I was halfway expecting her to stay close to me, but she quietly made her rounds with those big 4th graders staring at her while I talked to Tamara.