Go Cubs Go!!

Yesterday my dad, my best friend Stef and I took Eddie to his first baseball game!

I was nervous, worried and scared that Eddie would
a) hate sitting for the game
b) throw things at the people in front of us
c) generally do a wonderful toddler freak out

I am happy to report that Eddie did none of those things, LOVED sitting in his seat, watched the game, ate his snacks and was generally more adorable than I ever could have wished for. The best part? Every time they announced a Cub player going to bat, Eddie would clap and yell 'Yay!!' with the crowd. Oh, my sweet boy. His first baseball game was wonderful....I can't wait to take him again!

{my favorite (cell phone) picture of the day!!}

{this picture. i love. it would be even better if it wasn't a cell phone pic!}

{the best out of a gazillion pictures...lol}

{grandpa and his boy!}

{the view from here}

{coloring his Wrigley book}

{I asked Eddie if he could smile. He said 'no' and gave me this face. stinker.}

{the view from here part 2}

{eatin' goldfish, watchin' the cubbies = happy boy}

{put your hands up and shake it!}

{this snack cup is a MUST HAVE for any parent. We love it!}

{my second favorite picture of the day}

{can you spot Grandpa and Eddie? Hint...Grandpa's in the yellow shirt, Eddie is in his awesome Cubs jacket!}

{If it wasn't crazy around there most of the summer, I would want to live in Wrigleyville. It is so pretty!}

So. Whew! Long day! I'm so thankful that we were able to go and have an amazing time. Of course, the traffic on the way home wasn't wonderful, but that's Chicago for you :)

Kisses for all!

{the picture we ordered from Disney, the same picture that Eddie stares up at and says "Minnie! Minnie!!!", the same picture that I want to blow up and post in every room in our house just to see the joy on my son's face when he sees himself kissing his beloved Minnie....the same picture that will forever remind me of our Disney moment}

Aside from Minnie, I'd like to send big, sloppy toddler kisses to everyone out there who reads this blog. Yesterday I hit 10,000 visitors, something that I never thought would happen....not in a year (plus a couple months)....hell, not even in 10 years. My little, silly family blog turns out to be interesting to people not only across the country, but also to my international readers. So, thank you. Thank you for reading my silly ramblings, looking at my un-professional pictures, for commenting when you want and sending me emails of support. Thank you.

Let's Grow

So. It's obvious that I didn't post for the past two days, instead enjoying my Saturday with both of my boys and my Sunday at a bridal shower. Suffice to say, I'm quitting the 365 blog challenge. I'm four months in and the thought of blogging just.....UGH. It kills me. I have to force myself, and I don't feel that this should be something that I force myself to do.


SO.


Forgive me, I've failed, but I hope you stick around. I'm still planning on posting quite a bit and I'd love to keep all of you around for the ride :)


In other news, I've started to garden again. And for the sake of all plants involved, I hope it doesn't end like it did last year.

This year, I was smart enough to grow my seeds in this nifty little growing pack, pretty much ensuring that even if I did spill them (or if Eddie spills them...who I'll probably blame even if  I drop them) my little seedings will be safe. Also new this year is the fact that I'm growing vegetables, which I plan to then transplant into the raised garden that Hubby is planning to build.

{look at my little seeds all cozy in their houses!}

{oh! look! a nice cover to keep them all cozy, too!}

{the green house thing that the top created popped those seeds up quick...this is less than a week later!}

My garden will soon include:

Tomatoes

Cucumbers

Bell Peppers

Green Beans

Strawberries

Cilantro

Parsley

Sage

Oragano

Thyme

Basil

Chives

(if I don't drop the seedlings or forget to water them, that is)

{some of the herbs that I bought as plants, which will be moved to the raised bed later}

{and my strawberries, which are happily growing in the back}

{oh! grow, babies, grow!}

{they love growing in the Topsy-Turvy Strawberry planter!}
{ps - omg - those weeds are out of control!}

And of course, my plants from last year are welcoming Spring early by introducing some new blooms for us :)

{my lilacs. possibly the best smell on the planet.}

{my climbing roses are even coming back....shocker!}

{woooo this picture makes me a little dizzy}

{but it was cool so I had to include it}

{the hydrangeas that I stole from my friend Nicole's house, who now lives in Germany but can enjoy her hydranges through my blog!}

{and even my ground cover is popping out these beautiful little purple flowers, which make me smile any time I see them}

Of course, I'm not the only one who enjoys the beauty of my plants.

{Ha! You thought it was going to be Eddie, didn't you?}

Eddie Doolittle

A couple days ago we went (unfortunatley) to pick up the dogs from Hubby's parent's house. They get spoiled rotten with walks and treats and Eddie-free time.

Of course, we pumped Eddie up for the reunion with his beloved Naynee (Saddie) and Jack. It went better than expected, with Naynee jumping up with one paw on each of Eddie's shoulders and showering him with kisses while he squeeled with delight. Oh, the love between a boy and his dog :) Jack, as usual, couldn't care less and generally acted as if he was totally impartial to the kid or Hubby and I, for that matter. Typical Jack!

We brought the dogs home late and Eddie woke early the next morning calling for his Naynee. You could hear the excitement in his voice, excited to see his pup.

What's even more surprising is the change in Naynee, now loves any Eddie time she gets. They snuggle and kiss and love on each other for the better part of the day, which really makes up for the fact that deep down Saddie is a one bat shit crazy dog.

Jack, however, has turned into one crabby monster, who wants nothing to do with Eddie (he was usually better with him than Saddie) and stares at me with daggers in his eyes. I think he desperately misses the spoiling that Grandpa provides, and is rather unhappy that Eddie is around to pull on him, drive trucks on him and generally inturrupt his mid-day naps.

For now, I'm just waiting for the honeymoon phase of our family being back together to end and for the animal world to right itself again!

Playing Catch Up

So. Wow. Lots of Disney.

And while I've been posting about vacation for a week, real life has been happening. Many times I thought 'oh! I should blog that!' and then I would realize that the week of Disney was not over yet and I could not tell you about all of the amazingly hilarious things that have happened to me this week.

Shall we start with my fall down the stairs? YES?! Awesome! I can't wait to tell you. Well....not that there is much to tell. I fell down the garage stairs, crawled to Eddie in the (fenced) backyard where he was playing and cried. As I calmed (hardly) I called my amazing as always group of neighborhood friends, who I am relieved....ehem....."work from home". We finally got a hold of Keith, who came running down the street yelling "I'M COMING MAGGIE!!!!" ha! So he wrangled Eddie while we waited for the babysitter, who was coming anyway. As if my neighbors did not already do enough, he took me to the doctor who x-rayed my foot, and announced I was fine. Embarrassed, swollen and fine. Holy geez is my ankle swollen, probably worse than any sprain I've had before....HOWEVER, I am a Momma and had to do what I had to do, so on with our lives we went. I mean, Hello! We had a playdate the next day!

With this adorable little girl and her baby sister....

{Shelby!!!}

Of course, I didn't break out my camera until Michelle was putting baby Leah in the car and these two munchkins decided to hop up on our porch chairs.

{oh, my. they're adorable}

{but don't expect them to share. that's when the shoving begins}

During our playdate I broke out Eddie's new sand and water table.Now, my son loves water. We all know this....he also loves sand. And dirt. And anything else that can make him messy. So I thought this was going to be perfect. PERFECT! Right?

Holy hell. WRONG! Why didn't anyone tell me this thing would end up to be the messiest thing on the face of the planet? Seriously. It was gross. Really, really gross.

 

{nasty. nasty, nasty gross.}

Needless to say, the sand and water combo is no longer. The water table sits up on it's legs, in one corner of our backyard. The sand portion has the legs removed and sits in the other corner of the yard.\

 Ah, much better!

Disney Day Five / Travel Day

SO, time to go home. Were we ready? Yes. Were we going to miss Disney? Yup. Were we dreading the flight home and praying to everything holy that Eddie would not scream the entire way? You bet your life.

We started the day out at Downtown Disney, letting Eddie run around a bit (in fountains, of course), eating some lunch and spending some money. Ah, Disney loves when you spend some money there :)

{hhhheeeyyy}

{he LOVED the lego doggies}

{one last trip to Buzz, who wasn't as much fun when frozen in place}

{and a trip to see Pooh for Auntie Stef :)}

{sorry love, the best I could do!}

{thankfully, I packed an change of clothes for my water loving munchkin}

{where'd they go?}

{surprise!!}

{uh, mom? these things are broken!}

{45 minutes here, people. 45 MINUTES}

{stuck in the middle}

{running through}

{MOM! THAT WAS AWESOME!}

I am happy to report that Eddie was sooo much better on the flight home...he mostly just snuggled his blankie and played with his Handy Manny doll, which he surprisingly chose over the Buzz doll. An old lady sitting in across from us even complimented Eddie! Color me shocked :)))

Disney Day Four

OH MY GOD.

Are we done yet? Even I'm sick of all of the Disney on this blog.

:::shrugs::: one day, I will love to see all of this, day by day and remember. And that, folks, is why I come back here day after day and post my randomness. Because one day, I plan to print this online baby book that I call a blog and show it to my son's wife. And she will sit through every damn page if she wants to marry my Eddie :)

{my boys on the ferry over to....}

{the prettiest place ever! heh. just kidding. kinda. i know...i'm such a girl}

{oh my gosh, why I am posting this for all of the internet to see, i have no idea. this picture is horrible, but, we're on the teacups and i have to include it. you know, for that day that i print it out.}

{eddie says...."i think i'm gunna hurl"}

{not to worry, folks! buzz lightyear ride to the rescue!}

{YUP. I'm too cheap to pay the $20 for this picture, so I took a picture of the screen. Classy!}

{mom! water!!}

{the child is happiest in water}

{told you so! back to Donald's boat}

{waiting for the parade}

{waving to his favorites}

No need to scroll more, guys. You saw right...we went to the Magic Kindom twice. It was easily the most Eddie friendly park...tons of water areas and places for eddie to run around, not to mention some of our favorite rides....mainly, Buzz Lightyear. But that was Hubby's favorite long before Eddie even came around, so we'll just say that he has grown into a Buzz love.

In case I haven't mentioned it before, I want to give one more tip. Disney allows you to bring in a soft-sided cooler, which I highly recommend. Heck, even if you bring in water you'll save money. We would put in 2 frozen bottles and 4 regular water bottles, plus an "Uncrustable" peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a frozen Go-Gurt yogurt for Eddie. Yes, Disney sells all of these things. But water there is $2.50 a bottle and I got a 12 pack from Target for the same price. They were also selling the Uncrustables for around $3, which is about the price of a package as well. We were able to give Eddie lunch while one of us waited in line for our own lunches, so it saved us a tantrum or twelve along the way.

Which, I'm sorry, but I have to brag for a second. My child has ZERO tantrums at Disney. We never, ever, ever had an embarrassing moment of ushering him away while people started on. We never had to apologize for his crabbyness. We did, however, have to apologize for his happy screaming, but what are you going to do? We're at Disney, my kid is excited and when he's happy he screams. THE LOUD FAMILY!! As my dad would say :)