Toddlers Meeting Heroes

I'm mostly writing this picture heavy post for the sake of our own family story hopefully being documented soon Becky style in a beautiful book we'll someday pass on to our children and their families.

Our mom's group visited a local fire station a few months ago after one thoughtful mom took the initiative to arrange a visit with the hope of acquainting our children enough with firefighters so Heaven forbid anything happen, they would be less afraid of the big noisy trucks and men dressed in scary garb  barging into their homes or neighbors homes or schools or whatever the case may be. Again, we all hope and pray that they never have to experience such traumatic event, but you just never know.

The trip was definitely a success and proved her thoughts correct. Many of the kids (about ages 2-3) were timid, some all out afraid complete with crying and clinging to mom. Others were totally digging being able to climb into the engines and ring the bells on the old-school firetruck. Our little guy fell somewhere in the middle. The Sheriff hesitantly took it all in but would have no part of kicking the fireman's boot when he showed how he puts on all of the gear, nor would he actually get inside of the firetruck. I can understand that; it is after all a great deal larger than the ones in his books!

It was totally worth it though, and while I bet the firefighters thought, "Oh geez, these mommas and their cameras!" I love having these pictures to flip through with W to keep him acquainted with some of our nation's greatest heroes and the work they do to keep us safe.

Several of the kids toured the inside of the station while we hung out in the garage and never quite made our way in.

The highlight of the occasion was definitely seeing a truck leave. The kids were quite impressed.

Especially this little guy. I think he was the last to move from that window.

And as if the fire station didn't make for a great enough morning, one of our good friends is an E.R. nurse and hooked us up with a visit to the hospital's helipad where we met some of the crew and were able to get inside. You'd think it would have been the best experience of The Sheriff's short life due to his love of helicopters.

You'd think wrong. After a long morning, and again, with everything being so big to a little guy like himself, it was just too much. Yet again, I'm so glad we went and he'll have pictures to remind him of just how cool the experience actually was. Thanks again Ann!

I tend to think he was just upset because the option of sitting in the pilot's seat wasn't mentioned. No?

Hopeful Voices

It's National Infertility Week, a week brought to my attention by my dear friend Erin, and couldn't let it slip by without acknowledging the mark it's made/continues to make on me. I realize that there's no need to bring the problem to your attention as you most probably have friends, sisters, cousins, children, coworkers on their own journeys with infertility.

I just wanted to pass along a song I've always clung to but one that especially now resonates so deeply in my heart. Without faith, I have no idea how I'd manage to keep myself grounded and spirits in the places where they need to be. Sure, I have bad days. Sure, I get angry, upset, confused, anxious, heartbroken. Anyone struggling with infertility knows these emotions on a monthly basis, yet because of my faith I also get reassured, calmed, comforted,  and uplifted to fulfill the roles God has chosen for me right now.

"I'm not my own. I've been carried by You all my life."

PSA -- Put Down Mr. Grey

Ladies, just for a night. Ok, not the whole night; that's asking a little much. I read the books; I get it. I promise he'll be right there when you get back.

And your PSA -- It's the first day of the NFL Draft!

Pardon the mess! 

 "NFL what?" you ask. "And there's more than one day of this mess?"

Yes, the first day of the Draft, the day 32 teams (give or take based on trading for picks and whatnot I suppose) select a new, hopefully fruitful, playmaker for their team. (Cowboy is reading this going, "fruitful? No one uses the word fruitful" to talk about these guys.)

Regardless, yes, what used to be just a weekend event is now stretched over a three day period and serves as a nice opportunity to grab a cold beverage, snuggle up with your man (unless he's not so much the sportster), and watch to see which new players you'll be rooting for on your hometown team next Fall.

You don't have to know much; in fact, nothing really at all. Consider it more of a learning experience where you will hear the names of players that just may be front and center come Sundays in October, Andrew Luck in a Colts uniform battling the Texans twice for example.
Plus,  you'll learn such terms as Mr. Irrelevant.

It'll be fun. I promise. Maybe not the draft so much, but embracing someone else's interest. Sure, you can whip out a blog post while watching, play WWF if you haven't already given that gig up, or catch up on emails. I will be! (I am now. We had some extra afternoon play date fun and got home later than expected.)

And Mr. Grey? He's not going anywhere. Well, unless you rented him from the library and then perhaps you are excused. There are due dates on these things after all!

In the meantime, can't wait to see who our Texans grab!

Bath Time: If It Walks Like a Duck,...

Quacks like a duck,
looks like a duck, 
it's a duck! 

jloupe's awesome IG photo of a duck relegated to the outdoors.

You've heard some version of that before right? You know we like our ducks around here. There was a first birthday party planned around them, and they are currently in the running for toys of which we have more: ducks or copters. 


Then there's this Douglas Adams version:


If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands.


That makes me smile. In fact, I might just teach The Sheriff to quote that one someday, but let's get back to the ducks. I am very well aware that they should not be in the bathtub in the first place because they can get all moldy and whatnot, and we have thrown several away for that reason. But, in my defense, the kid has this special bond with them. Each has been affectionately named after a family member or friend, and he strangely remembers these after one naming ceremony. My mom has a set at her house and he named those (differently than the ones here) and remembers. I would love to be inside his head! 

That pink one is Kailey Duck, right next to her mom, Mrs. Ann Duck. And God bless the soul of "Sheriff Duck" (the one next to Kailey and part of W's nickname namesake) who is no longer with us.

The ducks currently in the tub are in desperate need of some cleaning or replacing, and while wasting valuable nap time today on the computer, I decided to Google my options. Lame, so lame.

Yet my search proved fruitful at last with the advice in the post Glue Gun The Rubber Ducky. Yep, clean your current ducks well with vinegar and whatnot or buy some more, but either way, glue gun the mess out of the holes at the bottom to avoid water getting stuck in there. Genius, just genius. Momma's got a weekend project on her hands!

The Fleeting Mom of The Day Award

After Tuesday's post, you guys made me feel like a mom rock star, and I am so grateful for your kind words. I still have to respond to your comments; I'll get there.

Tuesday itself, however, proved no joke, and quickly swiped my glowing mom moment away with the brush of...

No. It wasn't a brush at all but more of an open-handed slap in the form of unexplained toddler grief that began over the choice between blue socks or white socks to get ready for the park and ended an hour later when he saw me playing with what I call an old-school-army-man-guarded oil platform complete with helipad for the accompanying helicopter. That's quite the description. I'll give you a second for it all to sink in.

Better yet, here's a picture of my handiwork.

Awesome right? Yea, that would stop me in the tracks of my worst tantrum too!

Let's go back to the issue at hand. Tuesday morning kicked my tail. I kept my calm which some, ok myself included, will call success, but what the heck happened with my sweet boy? And why couldn't I do something to "fix" it sooner?

I have no idea what went wrong. I just know that for an hour, yes and hour, he wanted to do the opposite of what I offered. The redirect technique offered no assistance. He simply cried to do what it was that we were just doing, no matter what it was and then cried if I tried to accommodate to do the other thing I had offered. I tried ignoring him for a while, and let's be honest. I kind of suck at that. Maybe I should have ignored him longer, but I feel like such a complete jerk doing that. He wasn't lashing out and throwing things (or himself).  He was simply crying and confused it seems, and nothing I offered could fix that. In my heart I felt that ignoring him was ignoring the opportunity to help him work through his feelings. Maybe I thought about it too much!

I wouldn't say I failed as a mother this Tuesday, but surely I went wrong in a couple of places for his fit to have lasted so long. I don't mean to sound whiny. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, and I realize that mothers every day, every hour, are going through the same things. So, what's working for you?

Do I continue to offer him choices? I've read that's it a good way to give them the opportunity to exercise some independence. Perhaps I just limit the times during the day that I offer this chance.

I've got to do a bit of research, you know, read the books, check all over this Internet playground. I'm sure Pinterest offers her own perspective. I kid (sort of). Today is Wednesday, and we are also attempting the park at some point. Here's to actually making it there instead of getting derailed by socks!

It's 9:44 pm -- A Tale of a Paci-less Night

*Update -- It was 9:44. This is  me recapping a little project called Mission De-Paci which took place a couple of weeks ago, and despite shortening a few naps here and there, has gone splendidly. That night Cowboy noted that I should have live tweeted/blogged the event. Ha!


Back to the post, a post which I could have titled "How to Lose a Paci in Three Days" and give you all sorts of wonderful advice for this process. That, my friends, would be a hoax because I think our efforts had nothing to do with it. The Sheriff reacted as he did and other children may or may not do the same. Regardless, this is how it went down. 




It's 9:44 pm. And there is no noise coming from The Sheriff's room. No noise coming from the monitor.

Granted, it has been like that for the past 45 minutes. Silent.

Before that though, there were 45 minutes of tearful "Mommas" coming from behind closed door number 1 preceded by me walking out of the room to grab a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich (cookies and cream) and a glass of my favorite red wine.

Funny that this whole pacifier idea started and ended in my tears. I still remember the night, oh about 22 months ago, when I was at my motherhood's wit's end because I did not know how to help W get some rest and gather a few Zs myself. Breastfeeding mothers are told not to use a pacifier for a month to avoid nipple confusion and by all means, I didn't want that horror right! I recall my tear-stained, sleep-deprived  face telling Cowboy, "I'm just going to do it. I don't care. I'm giving him a paci!" And that we did.

How handsome is he right? This isn't right when we started using the pacifier but a decent picture I found. Apparently we use the world's strangest pacis because we always got comments on how odd these were. I don't know. I just grabbed a few different ones from the store and tried one out.

At some point I guess we used another kind because I found this lovely picture as evidence. Oh, Sheriff, with the deer-in-headlights look already!

Then we did what all parents end up doing and threw several pacifiers in the crib at night and watched in awe on the video monitor while he found one our conveniently placed, we-don't-have-to-get-up-to-get-it, little suckers of comfort.

I don't have many recent pictures of him with a pacifier because he just used it for sleeping and to save our sanity on long car trips to the homeland and back. Back to the story.  The hour had come. Momma had to put on her big girl panties and make this happen.

In my head it would have been great for J to be the one to take on that first nighttime routine without it, but W has been a little Momma happy lately for bedtime. so it would have to be me to avoid any more drama. He was down to 2 pacis which he deemed blue one, green one--genius I know. I snipped the end of the blue one the day before and he didn't seem to mind but wanted to have the green one in his mouth and hold the other. He'd been doing that for a while now.

I really wanted to wait until he was old enough to understand trading them in or sending them to some new baby or cousin who would need them or throwing them away himself because he was now a big boy. Those concepts mean nothing at this point, and we decided we were just going to go for the gusto!

The evening came and I snipped that green one as well. Yes, I do realize they can choke on the plastic if they bite it off, but he doesn't bite his pacis and in my plan I also realized that I would not allow him to sleep with these broken pacifiers overnight. He just needed to know that they didn't work.

All went fine when he realized they were broken. He just wanted to hold both of them. I thought this wouldn't be a problem. He could go to sleep and I'd sneak into his room and grab them when he was knocked out and wow, this was going to be simple.

At 8:00, the time he's normally slipping off to dreamland in his bed, we were on our third reading of The Little Blue Truck, a book we've since purchased since our library copy is so beloved.

He kept closing his eyes, pacis in both hands and then look at me and say, "Momma." It was the sweetest but  most heartbreaking thing ever. He knew something was awry but could not verbalize it. He had his pacis in his hands so he couldn't ask for them. And he was trying to be so brave, so very brave.

We held Harold (the helicopter from Thomas).
Momma held Harold.
We wanted Harold back.

We got "cold milk" and read The Little Blue Truck again.

All was done holding both green and blue one in his hands. Finally he closed his eyes while I rocked him, and again I thought, this is so easy. Not so fast, my friends. The minute I'd put him in the bed, his hands would instinctively put those pacifiers in his mouth, and of course, they were broken so he was upset. We went through this 3 times when I realized that the pacis had to go. We put them on the table in his room. Rookie mom mistake!

Come on! He knows they are in the room! At this point he wouldn't even let me hold him in consolation, so I did what any gotta-lose-this-paci mother would do and brushed them on the floor with my hand then kicked them behind the door so I could turn on the lights and show him they were gone. Simply gone. I felt terrible, but it worked.

Sort of worked. He wasn't having and cuddling or rocking any more so I kissed him goodnight, told him how much we loved him, and walked out of the door. Cue the "Momma" cries, ice cream sandwich, and wine.

He cried for about 45 minutes. We weren't going to let it go past an hour, but at that moment, he stopped crying and stood there, yes, just stood there silent, in his crib for another 45 minutes. He made no noise; he made no attempt to escape. It was the most bizarre thing and had us cracking up while watching him in the monitor. Sorry, W, if you read this later, We weren't laughing at you. Ok, we were, but you were being too funny.

After 45 minutes, he made a small noise, and curled up in that cute baby's butt in the air sleeping pose and drifted away. He slept through the night. I wrote that correctly--through the night!

I was so worried he'd wake up looking for his pacifier, but has not one time since we've gotten rid of it. So interesting since when he had them, he would cry if he couldn't find one in his bed.

Anyway, the second night was the same routine (without all of my attempts to appease him first) and he cried only 30 minutes or so and stood up for 30 minutes or so. The third night was normal. In fact, the morning of the 3rd day he said "bye bye paci" on his own and we were like, "yep."

He's been such a brave little boy, and we are so very proud! Cold turkey worked for us, and I'm so glad that I snipped and threw away all of them, so as a mother I had no temptations. Heck, if I had one in the house I would have broken it out this morning during an hour  long tantrum that a paci would have resolved in minutes! 

I've got to give a little shout-out to W's Nanny (Godmother not caregiver) who was so proud of him as well and sent him a little gift for being such a big boy. I'm certain that he did not get the correlation (and I wasn't going to mention the word "paci" again for dang sure!), but he was so excited to check the mail after his nap and the gift made momma's heart smile too!

Mission De-Paci (The Short Version) for people like Michelle.


1. Pick the right timing for you and your child, and if you pick a weekend, then change your mind, that's ok. We did say we'd try about a month ago and I'm so glad we waited. We have needed it since then!

2. Do some research and ask around for ideas. Decide on your method and follow through. Cold turkey worked great for us!

3. Be brave and have support via your spouse, family, or friends if a child crying your name breaks your heart.

4. Ice cream sandwiches and wine work wonders. And heck, share some ice cream (not your wine, folks) with your little person the next day!

What I Love About Mondays

Mondays are fresh beginnings for the journey of another week, and the overachiever in me enjoys filling a planner with meals to make, appointments to attend, play dates to enjoy, or simple at home fun to be had (courtesy of Pinterest of course) and occasionally my own random spurt of creativity, by which I mean a crapshoot of randomness which fingers crosses results in 30 minutes or so of playing.

This post began in my head earlier this morning with a list about Mondays, but as the day progressed and this thought popped up during my Pinterest browsing, I think I'm taking a different approach. Maybe I'll change the title, but probably not. It's still Monday, that fresh start, and after a day in the dumps yesterday (which stunk because it was probably the prettiest TX day we'll have all year!), I need the refreshment in my head. So let's wander through a few "things" going on around here lately.

Source: etsy.com via Susan on Pinterest

Just for Today -- Being Back

Thanks again to  Nicole  for lots of things, this post idea among them! I haven't blogged in a week, and you probably haven't seen me commenting on your posts much either. We had a friend in from Kansas ( who thanks to, The Sheriff now says "Rock Chalk, Jay Hawk, KU" whenever you pull out a camera. It's really the cutest thing ever.) Where was I? Yes, we had a friend in town, and now my computer  isn't working correctly (rightfully so) since being dropped months ago and having had to be rebooted (is that the correct word here? I think not. Software reinstalled? You get the idea right?). Perhaps I finished that sentence; perhaps I didn't. Regardless, it's time to stop this rambling and get to it already for a post that is a bit like a list, but at least once started will have some sense of order. Maybe. If we're lucky! 

TODAY:

Outside my window... I'm hopeful for the promised storms this afternoon. I've got a big agenda of ironing during nap time. Let the good times roll! Wait, that's the wrong one. Instead let's channel Garth, "Let the thunder roll." 

I am listening to... The Sheriff's verbal exploration via the monitor. Currently on repeat "wait Daddy's jeep. Wait Daddy's jeep." Hope you are coming home early J! Someone must know it's Friday.

Within these walls... I feel a sense of peace. There are two coffee filter toddler rainbows still hanging on the window from St. Patrick's Day. What beautiful reminders they have come to be!

Between a trip to LA for Easter, hanging out with our visitor from Kansas, and as many trips to the park as we can fit in a week before it gets too hot, it seems that we haven't been home much for any new toddler activities. But I'd say we are doing just fine! 

Within my heart walls... I think that peace mentioned above within the walls of our house is in some way connected to the peace within my heart. I've been waking up early for some prayer and down time before Wyatt wakes. I could surely wake up even earlier than I am, but baby steps here, people. Let's not get talking too crazy early. But I've been thinking a lot of Fr. Tom Allender's book God Loves an Unmade Bed: Spirituality for the Imperfect and connecting some of the messages to my own relationships, even the relationship with myself. What beauty there is in loving the love within and giving it away. 

I am certain... that prayer works, and He's listening. 

I have am wondering... whether I'll keep up this blogging bit. I haven't blogged in a week. I haven't read too many blogs this week. Sometimes I wonder if I read about the lives of the Saints (holy people not football team) or some equivalent if I'd be using my time more appropriately. I don't mean that to be insulting of course, but it's a thought that definitely is considerable right?

And I need to evaluate what I want out of blogging. Perhaps that idea needs its own post. 

I appreciate.. tiny moments and baby ducks, and if they happen to cross paths, even better. 

From the kitchen... We had lots of leftovers this week meaning little cooking time for me! Loving that, and I can't wait to share next week what I found. It's simple and will be on the rotation for sure. Let's keep our fingers crossed that I decide to blog long enough to fit it in! 

I am grateful... for the prayers of those who lift my name up without me even knowing it. They are powerful, and again, He is listening. 

I am praying for... the special intentions of my family members. 

Picture thoughts I am sharing...

Can you fit two toddlers in a Cozy Coupe? 

Evidence says yes. 

And then there's this look. I believe an Astros hat paired with a Texans t-shirt creates a look for what the sports world deems a "homer." 

I'll take it. You should here this kid say, "Root, root, root for the Astros!" 

Happy Weekend! 

Pin-sanity Toddler Style

I feel like Pinterest is getting a bad rap lately because as moms we see all of these ideas, activities, crafts, styles, and the list goes on, and we can't do everything or have everything. I'm ok with not doing it all and not having it all, and I don't feel like less of a person because of it. Eleanor Roosevelt was right on in her statement that "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."  

My only qualm is that Pinterest can make this mom thing too easy sometimes. Yep, I said it. (but playfully of course!) 

I can find a recipe with ingredients I have on hand and never have to think up something myself. I can look for a crafty gift for a friend without having exhaust my own creative juices.  It gives me permission to look inside the "box" of my computer screen to find fun things to do with The Sheriff instead of using my imagination and think outside the box. 

 If anything, it makes me lazy! Ok, that might be a bit of a stretch.

I do appreciate Pinterest for all that I can make it do for me, and The Sheriff helped me to test out a few Pins lately, and I'd say we had some memory making fun. 

First up was balloon badminton which for us wasn't so much badminton as chasing around a balloon with a paper plate on a popsicle stick.

Source: handsonaswegrow.com via hands on : as we grow on Pinterest

Did he like it? Yes. 

Was he ready to do the activity over again the next day? Not so much. I'm guessing this is one to break out on rainy days.

Our next activity involved outside and water, so what's not to love. I think we'll have a summer full of different variations of this! 

Source: playcreateexplore.com via Ann-Marie on Pinterest

And Momma decided to leave Daddy a little message on his BBQ pit just to soften the blow of us playing with water all over it. Love you J! It needed cleaning anyway!

I don't know about you but I'll keep loving Pinterest all summer for its cool summer salad ideas (summer beverages for that matter too!), and fun things to do with W when it's just too hot to play outside or too pretty to stay inside!

Oven Roasted Pasta Primavera

I'm telling ya; Kroger keeps sending coupon packets with recipes included, and they've been hits around here. Keep them coming!

Today I've got to pass along this quick, easy weeknight family pleaser. The recipe says that it serves 4-6, but with just our little family of three, we had plenty of leftovers which was just fine by me. I definitely thought it looked like more than 6 servings.

Without further adieu (or pictures, sorry) I give you...

Oven-Roasted Pasta Primavera:

Ingredients:

1 zucchini, sliced
8 oz. fresh mushrooms, quartered
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium red or yellow bell pepper, chopped
1/4 c olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt (I'm pretty sure I used more than that, but you know the drill with the salt around here...)
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 pkg. (12 oz.) Johnsonville Chicken Sausage Three Cheese Italian Style, sliced
12 oz. uncooked pasta (any type)
Parmesan cheese, grated

Looks healthy and easy right? The hardest part is chopping up the veggies and here's to hoping nap time is long enough! I'm certain you can sub. any sausage but this one is healthier than most and quite tasty in this dish.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a shallow baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine the chopped vegetables, oil, salt and pepper; toss to coat.
3. Place vegetables in greased pan and bake for 30 minutes or until veggies are tender and lightly browned. Mine took about 37 minutes or so. Stir veggies occasionally.
4. Sprinkle sausage over veggies after roasted and bake another 5-10 minutes until sausage is heated through.

5. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions, and after draining, place in a large bowl.
6. Add sausage and veggies mixture; toss. Sprinkle with Parmesan and enjoy!

Houston, We Have A ...

WINNER for the blog birthday give away. A great big thank you to all who took the time to comment and enter!

Choosing a winner went a little like this.

Since I had all of 9, yes nine, as in not even double digits, enter to win a free (shipping included) adorable toddler shirt, I went all high tech to choose a winner.  (Yes, readers, that is a passive aggressive attempt at shaming more of you for not entering.)

Then I put them in here.

Next, I had this guy pick one while I tried, clearly unsuccessfully, to get him to sit still long enough for a clear picture.

The Sheriff took his role seriously and drove around with the pulled winner's name proudly in the back of his dump truck until it was time for bed.  And of course helicopters serve as dump truck drivers in their spare time.

As it's a bit unclear in the picture above, congratulations Natalie of the one and only From  Corporate to Domestic.  I can't wait to see what you pick out for that handsome fellow of yours!

Thanks again to KY Girl's Crafts for sponsoring this give away!

On the Road Again

I've posted before about our trips between TX and LA, trips that themselves aren't going anywhere any time soon as we are staying put for a while and we have no intention of not seeing our families.

Today, you can find me on the virtual road as I'm guest posting over at Tiffany's blog and sharing little road trip tips that I've discovered along the way. (And if you've got more tried and true backseat toddler tricks, you better leave me comments, my friends!)

Hop on over to find out what I've dubbed The Two Ms of traveling with little people. 

Toddler Tuesday Linkup -- Easter Edition

I just recently found Jennifer's blog over at Life and the Greenhouse, and I am loving the recipes, but more so, her heartfelt commentary on being a mother.  And now she's got this fun Toddler Tuesday link-up where I can find more ideas for hanging out with The Sheriff (as if Pinterest wasn't enough!), and share things I've tried that have succeeded or perhaps even failed. Come on; you'd want that warning right?

We haven't done much in terms of The Bunny, Easter eggs, baby chicks, and all of that jazz, but he's young. He doesn't get it all, but we did do some Stations of the Cross eggs (the fastest Stations we've ever said mind you!), and did a bit of plastic Easter egg fun. I'm sure we'll dye some real ones at some point this week.

Happy Birthday Give-Away

If you know me, know me, you don't expect a birthday present on your actual birthday. If you get it within the month, you are loved, so very loved.

Now that you know that little tidbit, let's get to the birthday. This little blog o' mine is 3 years old! Well, it was 3 years old on March 20. So in typical Cajun Cowgirl fashion, the celebration is a bit late.

To celebrate, I've got a fantastic giveaway, especially for you mommas looking for cute spring/summer shirts for your little ones and even you ladies looking for sweet gifts for your nieces, nephews, or your best friend's wee bit you love to spoil!

This Happy Birthday Give-Away is from KY Girl's Crafts, an Etsy shop I've come to love!

Don't be fooled; you won't find only sweet, frilly, girly things in this shop, but lots of awesome appliques for your little ones.

The Sheriff celebrated this past football season (well, until the Championship Game) in style thanks to his LSU shirt:

He was also quite the stud at Christmas-time in this truck shirt and we ordered a bit big, so I'm looking forward to him being able to wear both shirts next year.

Ok, ok, I'll get to it!

Martha is offering a shop credit of 1 shirt from the $10.75 listing (shipping will be included).  Hop on over and check them out. Then enter below. Best of luck y'all!

Here are the details:


1. For one entry, visit KY Girl's Crafts and leave a comment here about your favorite piece for your own little one or perhaps for a gift. It doesn't have to be from the $10.75 collection, but that's what you'll win.

2. For another entry, tweet about this giveaway and come back to leave a comment telling me your twitter name and that you've shared.

3. And if you are super excited to win and want a third chance, drop a note on your blog about this giveaway and leave another comment with your blog link.

(Be sure to leave a different comment for each entry.)

Giveaway ends at 12:00 am Saturday, April 7, 2012, and the winner will be announced the following Monday.

Evolution of An Easter Eggstravaganza

Can I just say before we begin that I love what people are doing with the whole "eggstravaganza" thing? Silly word play just makes me happy.

This Saturday our neighborhood held its annual Easter celebration, and while we missed the fun last year while attending the city's eggstravaganza (there it is again), we were ready to partake in some hunt action closer to home. I'm so glad we did because it was a definite winner! A friend in our women's group organized and executed such a great family day, and I am so thankful for her vision and dedication. This post is picture heavy. Just warning ya!

First things first. The hunt.
The Sheriff was at the cut off line for the first group so he had to practice his patience, and wow, Momma was impressed.

Can you find a blue one? Can you find a pink one? Can you find a white one? (You get the idea. Distract...distract...distract...from the fact that he is indeed currently not allowed to do the one thing his parents promised him we'd do when we got there.)

Momma nervously looks at the "egg-hunt coordinator" for a pity admission.

 Well, we're still here, so let's pose for Daddy. And by let's, I mean one of us.

I'll make silly faces at the camera as you pry my fingers off. Good plan.

But finally...

We're off! 

I'll take this one.

 Check it out Momma. There's something inside.

And that was that. I was pretty impressed that he didn't mind leaving the egg hunt area. I think this little lady helped a bit. Say hello to W's neighborhood bestie:

We can't wait to show them the next one when they are going to prom together. Well, several proms. She's an older woman! 

Either that or they'll end up like brother and sister or a Joey and Dawson.  Regardless, be still my heart!

We made our way to the bounce house and W dared to enter the big kid zone while Ella aborted the idea last minute. He had fun making his way across the thing like this until a big kid got the best of him and he made his exit in the arms of the teenage volunteer manning the air-filled accident waiting to happen to all-too-brave toddlers.

 But in typical Sheriff fashion, he found bubbles. Who cares if I had to sign up for a lifelong paper mess of an investment firm mailing to get my business?

At the end of the day (ok, just the hour) we had a toddler willing to sit next to a blow up bunny long enough for Daddy to snap a few shots of his go-to crinkled forehead face. Cheers!