Birthday Planning....

Well, the countdown has officially began. Exactly 3 months until Addi's 3rd birthday. Seriously. Where does the time go?! Michelle and I are having a joint birthday party for Morgan and Addi at the same place I had Addi's party last year, the Discovery Cottage, in Valpo. Only this year we are renting it for the whole day. That way we can go sledding (weather permitting) and hopefully have a special guest come to visit :)

The theme is of course Disney Princess. We are also having it a "dress up" party too. Come as your favorite princesses/prince/pirate/whatever. Should be a LOT of fun!

I'm going to buy this backdrop and use it for picture taking with the surprise guest.

I've been debating on birthday invites. I wish Jess still worked at Arnell so she could just make them in an hour like the last 2 years but she doesn't so I'm stuck looking elsewhere. I've been looking at Etsy and tinyprints.com and have found a few that I like but nothing is really jumping out at me. There's this one:

and this one

and this one

There is just so much cute princess stuff out there. I can't make up my mind! I haven't even thought about the favors yet. I'm not even sure I want to do something like that. Last year it was a waste of money and half the stuff didn't work. I'm pretty sure we are just doing pizzas and cake/ice cream.

We will be going all out with decorations too. It's going to be a pink and purple paradise in there :)

Now I have to start thinking about what to get her for presents...DECISIONS! DECISIONS!

We're off to see the Wizard

The Wizard of Oz is one of Addi's favorite movies. Not gonna lie she could watching it a million times a day {and has}. So with the Oz Fest being this past weekend I knew she would be super excited. Boy was she! I couldn't take her to the parade because of work, so my cousin Holly and Kyle took her. She of course, dressed as Dorothy and enjoyed each.and.every. minute of it! After work we headed over to the fest and walked around. It turned out to be a fantastic day weather wise. She got a shirt, a bow and a wand. We ate elephant ears, took some pictures with cardboard cutouts of the characters and a 'real' Dorothy and had lots of fun.

Conversation when she saw a "real" Dorothy:

Addi: Mom. Look! It's Dorothy! With the Lion {the woman's little boy}

Me: Well honey, that's not the REAL Dorothy. It's a lady dressed up AS Dorothy.

Addi: NO Mom!! It really and truely is! Can I have my picture taken with her? Please?

Me: Uhm sure? But YOU need to ask her.

Addi: Ok Mom!

Addi to woman: Hi! My name is Addison. And you are Dorothy. Will u take a picture with me? You're my favorite!!!! Pretty please?

Lady: OMG! Yes!! You are just so polite and cute!

So ya. That's how my kid talked some lady into getting her picture taken. Although, it was nice and the lady was very flattered to be asked. 

Last night Addi and I went to the drive in to watch the movie. I'm really not sure what I was thinking. She was crazy! But she told me as soon as we left that she had a lot of fun and wanted to do it again. I'm hoping to make it an annual tradition that the two of us do.

Today we just hung out at home. I bought her Mary Poppins and Candyland the other day so we watched that and {attempted to} play the game. She was fine for about 10 minutes and then got sidetracked. Oh well, there's always tomorrow :)

Ya...I pretty much have the cutest Dorothy ever!

I miss her :/

She's such a little stinker during the week but I look forward to our weekends together.

And this is going to be the best weekend ever. Wizard of oz at the drive in Friday. Parade on Saturday. Festival all weekend. She will be in heaven. She's also going as Dorothy for Halloween, not aurora as she originally said. Which is good bc I don't want to buy another costume lol.

And she's already excited for cold weather. Although she's mad she doesn't have fall dresses and has to wear pants. Guess it's time to go shopping :)

New routines

It was our first week back at us all being apart from each other.

Out the door by 8, home by 6 eat some dinner, bath and bed. Followed by me going to bed shortly thereafter. Kyle has been working a lot too and in Joliet so he has to leave 90 minutes early to get out there.

So tonight after dinner we all cuddled up on the couch and watched "Phineus and ferb" we are HUGE fans of this show. I'm pretty sure Kyle watches it when addi's not home.

I absolutely love the weather we are having. Addi can still wear her clothes from last winter so thats less shopping I have to do (yea right, who am I kidding?!). But for now she's having fun wearing her old clothes and is actually {gasp} wearing pants/leggings/capris! I'm investing in a lot of colorful tights this fall/winter so she can still wear dressed and skirts.

Oh! And for Halloween she has told me she wants to be Aurora (sleeping beauty) so i have started looking for that costume. Pretty pumped :)

Kyle and addi just being goofy. I love these two :)

Whirlwind....

This past week has been absolutely crazy. I worked at my cousin's daycare for 3 days, had Thursday off, an interview at 5:30pm and by 7 I had the job. To start Friday at 9am. WHOA!

I am now the Owner Loyalty/Rental Car Manager at Bob Rorhman Nissan in Chesterton :)

Heeeellllloooo big bucks! and a demo :)

The girl that was doing the job got fired on Thursday and they needed to fill the spot ASAP. I've been thrown into this position not knowing a thing (even though it's just service stuff so I do know a little bit from Arnell) and not a lot of people know exactly what the position is. Oh.Em.Ge. I've watched videos on Nissan's history and technology and some other stuff but it's just a lot of information being thrown at me at one. I'd say by next week I'll have it down {hopefully!}. It's not that hard.

Addi is back at school 5 days a week and Kyle watches her on Saturday mornings. Which means he has to take her to dance class too :( I'm sad that I'll have to miss that. I really enjoyed seeing her dance. But Saturdays are only temporary until I get the swing of things and it's only till 12 so it's not all that bad.

Kyle got a new job on Monday too. More money, more stable hours. Down side? he's working in Joliet. and taking my new car :/ BUUUT now that I get a demo it's no big deal. We can get his car fixed {finally!!!}

It is true what they say, you gotta hit rock bottom before you can come back up. And things are finally starting to look up for us :)

Phew!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, not sure why it's been so long. Oh you know, other than having an exteremly busy 2 yr old at dance class, playdates, school and trying to keep my sanity we're hanging in there lol!

Addi started dance class 2 weeks ago and absolutely LOVES it! She is such a ballerina :) She goes to Eclipse in Chesterton with 3 other girls. 4 girls, 1 teacher. LOVE it! It's 45 minutes long and hopefully by January all 4 girls will be moved up to the 3 yr old class {with the same teacher:)}. In June there's a recital that the teacher thinks the girls will be ready for if they continue with how they performed on their first day. Yes. On the 1st day Ms. Susie said all 4 girls were very good listeners and better than the 3yr old class she had. Now if we could have our listening ears on at home.....

Most of my mommy friends went back to work this week {teachers} so our play dates have winded down. But Addi will be in school a lot this week because I'm helping a daycare my cousin works at. I'm really looking forward to our playdate with Lori and Annalise on Thursday. Much needed girlie time!

                      These are pictures from the 2nd week of class. I can't find the first. Enjoy!

{yes, even in dance class the baby doll obsession continues}

Y3W/Stay at home vs. Working Moms

This subject weighs incredibly on my heart/mind..pretty much at all times. So I thought I'd post about it.

Jenni did a blog addressing the topic and some friends and I have discussed it so I thought I'd put it out there for everyone to read/comment on.

{Circle of Moms}---There's a chart there, I can't get it to copy over here. It's too big. Go check it out, it's a little skewed in my opinion.

I have had the privilege of being both a stay at home mom and working mom. I absolutely loved (and still do) staying home with Addi when she was a baby and now as a toddler. When she was a newborn she was changing each and every day. Learning new things, discovering the world around her. I didn't want to miss that for the world. I was fortunate enough to find an amazing daycare that knew what I was going through leaving my 7 month old baby for 8 hours a day 5 days a week. Kelly was (and still is) a wonderful person and she treats and loves the kids like they are her own.

That leads to my next point about daycare. Whether you choose an "at-home" or center it is really about how YOU feel and how INVITING they are. I called around to a few places and spoke with them about Addi. She had a milk protein allergy and absolutely could not under any circumstances have milk/milk products. A few said that that wouldn't be a problem, a few said that they couldn't guarantee they could keep milk away. Those few daycares were immediately crossed off the list. I didn't even continue talking to them. I continued to talk to the ones that agreed to not give her milk and none of them said "oh just come on by whenever you want, the door is always open (figuratively of course)" except Kelly. She wanted me (and other parents) to feel welcome to come over whenever. I never did because then I knew Addi would freak out and want to come home so I trusted my gut (and Kel) that Addi would be safe. And she was.

In the 2 years (this week...WOW!!!) that Addi has been in daycare I don't know if I could have taught her the things she knows. Yes of course I'd teach her things, but she has learned life lessons. She has learned how to share, how to communicate what she wants/needs/feelings, she's smart. SO smart. The things she says amazes me and not just the silly things; its the things that she's learned from being around other kids. She's a social butterfly. She tries new things. She isn't afraid to get down and dirty while wearing a dress. She shakes it off when she falls down. SHE LISTENS (ok, sometimes lol).

Daycare/school was the best decision Kyle and I could have ever made for our daughter.

Now, I also love staying at home. BUT it's THE.HARDEST.JOB.EVER. hands down. No questions asked. I am fortunate enough that Kyle's job allowed me to stay home after being laid off. I think in the back of our minds we both knew I should stay home until Addi was in kindergarten (and if that happens, great, if I have to go back to work, that's fine too. I know she's taken care of). I am also grateful that we still have the extra cash to send Addi to school 2 days a week. She and I can get the break we need. I don't say that because I don't love my daughter, clearly I do. She's just too much like her father for us to be together 24/7 (and I say that with love honey :P). Again, I love seeing her learn new things, take her to the park everyday, play with friends from school, go to  gymnastics and dance (separate post coming!), painting, coloring etc etc. But this job is hard. The hardest job ever. I don't know how people with more than 1 kid do it. I'm exhausted by the end of the day sometimes.

I have had the best of both worlds. I love staying home and I loved working. I think working gives you a sense of Independence and a {sometimes much needed} break from taking care of the house/family. What I don't like to see are moms arguing over what is right and what is wrong. Parents have to work. It sucks but that's life nowadays. No one should tell another mom how to raise their kid and what do it. Do what works for your family and your family alone. Screw everyone else :)  

Wanna Play Along? Go Ahead!