Random Ramblings

Wow…. Life is getting very busy at our house. Meg’s 2nd birthday is coming very soon- in fact, she will be 2 in 14 days. I’m having a lot of fun planning her party, although I always go overboard! I tried this year to make it easy- we’re having a picnic lunch (burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, etc.) outside at a park, but it seems like the more simple an idea seems, the more complicated it really is! It should be a great party and I know she’ll love it- just the birthday cake alone will be enough to get her excited! Last night we were talking about her party and I mentioned cake. Her little ears perked right up and she said “birthday cake?” and we told her “yes, you will have birthday cake on your birthday.” She got so excited she was running around the room yelling “cake, cake, cake!” What can I say, the kid loves cake!


We’re also planning the big trip to Sesame Place. My packing list keeps growing and our attic is crowded with all of my “necessities” which I’m trying to organize into some sort of order. We’re going with our friends, Nick, Becky, their 2 year old, Jake and 1 year old, Maddie. Meg loves hanging out with her friends & I do too! I really can’t wait and I hope that it will be a great trip and as relaxing as traveling with a toddler can be. Really though, Meg showed herself to be pretty good on long car rides a couple of weekends ago. We took her to Amish Country with Nana and Grandpa, a 2 ½ hour ride from our house. Nana and I sat in the back with her and we played with her Little People, watched a bit of a movie on the DVD player and colored in her coloring book on her Travel Tray. (which I strongly recommend to any parent with a long car ride ahead! Go to www.onestepahead.com or amazon.com and check it out! Well worth it!) But she was pretty good. The ride to Sesame Place will take a lot longer, but at least I know she can do a 2 ½ hour stretch, which is pretty good for a little one!

So on top of all the big things, we’ve been getting the outside of the house in order. Michael’s been tending the lawn and it looks great, almost like living on a golf course! The plants for the garden that Meg and I planted are growing like crazy and we’ve had them outside for the last few days to harden them off. We will probably plant this weekend, as long as the temperatures stay warm. I can’t wait to show her how to plant. She’s been very good about helping to water the plants inside, and I know she’ll enjoy watering them outside too. Meg & I have also been spending a lot of time at the park, playing and enjoying the nice weather. We usually go right after I get home from school and play for about an hour. She’s really getting big enough and bold enough to try everything (or almost everything) at the park. She also really enjoys playing with the other little kids. And the nice thing is, we’ve found out that there are two kids in the neighborhood that are just her age. Parker & Reagan live nearby and we seem to run into each other in all the same places! Hopefully, we can set up some official play dates!

I think our summer is going to be great. We’ll continue to visit the library for story time 2-3 mornings a week, we have a nature center a few towns over that is free, and we can go to the local pool or the splash pad that is one town over. Plus, we have a zoo membership. I think that we’ll do a morning activity, like going to the library for story time or going to the park, come home, have a snack and a nap, wake up, have lunch and then head out for an afternoon activity, like the pool, nature center or zoo. Most of our activities will have to happen in the afternoon, since we’re early risers due to school and her nap time typically starts around 11:30. Michael would love for us to sleep in, but I don’t want to get too far outside our routine. It’s going to be hard enough to go back to school (and maybe to preschool for Meg) without having to totally change our routine. I just can’t wait to spend the summer with her.