Toddler Tuesday: Revenge of the Molars

Junebug and I have been laying low for the past day or so.  We did a LOT of driving over the weekend and by Sunday evening on the way home I was having contractions every 10 minutes and was majorly uncomfortable for the hour and a half drive home (we detoured to drive past some homes that were for sale)

So therefore, I put myself on couch duty and have been supervising Junebug as she plays independently or watches Sofia the First.  Today, after a day and a half of this, I think Junebug went a bit stir crazy.  We went out to Shopko (bleh… wish it were Target instead) to pick something up quick and when we pulled into the driveway the meltdown began.  Lunch was HELL.  She screamed the entire time and didn’t touch anything in front of her.  She’s usually a great eater so I was pretty confused as to why she wouldn’t eat her raviolis.

We eventually came to the conclusion that her next set of molars was coming in.  How dare you molars.  How dare you turn my sweet little blondie into the monster that sat next to me during lunch???  Not cool.  Now that we understand the issue and have remedied it with some medicine and snuggles, she’s back to her cute little self and inhaled her lunch and took a good nap (so did I lol).

Hoping for a good rest of the day, week, weeks… however long it takes for those bad boys to come in.  The first one came in without incident, so not sure what happened there… Wish us luck!!!!

XOXO Megan and Junebug ❤

Frugal Friday: Free Events

Joseph and I love “free”… it’s good for our budget 😉

We’ve been trying to take advantage of “free” activities this summer when I’m feeling up to it so that Junebug can have a fun filled summer without us depleting our entertainment envelope on little kiddo stuff.  (We like dates, too, ya know?)

Today the library had a cute little Family Beach Day set up during the normal story time hours.  While we were bummed that Dada was at work and couldn’t make it to join us (Someone has to fill that entertainment envelope, right?!?) we still had lots of fun with our friends 🙂

Junebug’s First Tattoo

Coloring with chalk

Listening to a pirate story

Sponge toss game

Sea urchin toss (she so cheated and crossed the line to get that green one in 😛 )

Penny toss

After we drew a bunch of chalk fish on the walkway we used the squirt guns to “catch” the fish 🙂 Junebug really liked using the squirters!

Tossing water balloons with our buddy A. 🙂

We had a picnic lunch (thanks for sharing food with us K&A, momma slacked on that one, oops)

Cant have a beach day without freezie pops!

We got some prizes playing the games and Junebug was really bummed about leaving.  She had a little chat with the librarian saying she wanted to do it again.  So cute.  She loves Mrs. Spice, the librarian who runs storytime.

I really hope that wherever we move to has a library storytime and a librarian as awesome as Mrs. Spice!!!

xoxo Megan and Junebug ❤

WOW!

I had a couple friends share my blog because of the freezer meal plan that I shared last week Wednesday and got a notification that my blog view stats are skyrocketing!  Thank you to those who have shared Tiny Little Graces’ blog posts,  I’m so happy to see the growth 🙂  Keep on sharing friends!  Super thankful for the help!!!

Thankful Thursday: Getting Help

I HATE HATE HATE HATE asking for help.  Did I stress HATE enough?  I want to feel capable of doing everything that is on my to do list.

Unfortunately, pregnancy has a tendency of kicking me in the butt and saying “haha you cant hack it, go warm the bench”

It’s one thing for me to ask my husband for help, but it’s a completely other thing to ask others for help.  I feel so self conscious and like I’m taking advantage of others.  My mother in law graciously offered her services when we were visiting last week and hubs basically begged me to take her up on it… I surrendered.  SOOO yesterday I called and asked if she would watch Junebug while I went to the OB today.  Junebug LOVES to go to the doctor with me, but I figured a doctor visit and maybe a couple errands while I was out without a toddler would be good for me, especially with the cramping I’ve been having if I get too feisty with what I’m doing during the day (like, heaven forbid, vacuum the living room :0 )

So I went to the OB and Target by myself…. and drove past a house that’s for sale that we were thinking of looking at (total dud, btw, acre and a half my behind) while my cutie pie played dress up and read “Inderlala” (Cinderella) with her Gramma B.  They were playing when I got home so I started on my cleaning list and my mother in law joined me and we virtually knocked out the whole list 🙂

Don’t tell her, but since I’m still working on those darn freezer meals, I got a bunch of dishes dirty again right away lol.  (On the bright side, after the two meals I made today are in the freezer 20 of 22 meals will be completed!)

Hubs will be happy that there’s not as much for him to jump in on when he gets home with dinner tonight (I’ve been craving Chinese! Yum!) and we might actually get to spend some time together once Junebug goes to bed 🙂

I’m going to have to do a lot more surrendering in the next 6 weeks.  Preparing for a baby AND a move* is going to make this pregnant momma break down… but hopefully we’ll make it through!

XOXO Megan, Junebug and Pumpkin ❤

*It’s not super public yet, but since only a few people read my blog, I figured it wouldn’t really matter much anyway.  Hubs was offered and accepted a promotion at work!  Yay for him and all of his AWESOME hard work!  He’s truly a rock star and although he wont admit it, he’s totally an asset to his company and I’m glad that they’ve recognized it.  This promotion gives us some stability and allows for us to purchase our first home and settle down as a family.  We’re currently living in our third home since getting married and Junebug has been with us for each one.  Moving with a newborn was rough, and moving with a toddler was also rough…. and now we get the one two punch of having BOTH a NEWBORN AND A TODDLER!!!!! YAY!  BUT, this should be our last move for A VERY LONG TIME!  (Hubby’s friends will be super excited cause our bedroom furniture is SUPER heavy haha!)

What’s Cooking Wednesday: Freezer Meals

I have to admit, I think I bit off more than I could chew on this one.  Our freezer is not equipped to handle this many frozen meals, and I’m not even done yet.  But, my brain says “nest” and my fridge says “I cant handle all this raw hamburger”…. sooooo I’m cooking.  Tonight specifically, 5 meatloaves.  Please pray that there is room.  Seriously.  Pray hard.  Man do I miss the stand up chest freezer we had at our last duplex…  Hopefully we can invest in our own very soon!

I LOVE the menu plan that I’m using though and EVERYTHING so far has smelled SOOOOOOO good while I was cooking!  I’m super excited to try them all out! I was really tempted to save some of the spaghetti sauce and use it for a dinner this week, but when I did the grocery shopping for the freezer meals, I also got our regular groceries… so there’s other stuff that needs to be used.  We WILL be eating one of those 5 meatloaves though since I didn’t get enough ground turkey for one of my menu plan recipes.

This is the link to the blog I got the recipe plan from.

http://pregnant.livejournal.com/17071127.html

I currently have 5 bags of spaghetti sauce, 2 bags of lazy lasagna chicken, and 3 baked zitis frozen in our freezer. I’ve been frantically trying to use up other items from our freezer to make room… Just over 7 more weeks (give or take) before baby arrives!  Then I get yummy food with little fuss and a sweet little baby to snuggle!!!! YAY!

I’ll definitely update with a photo of our freezer once I’m done and update again when we try some of the meals!!!  🙂

Toddler Tuesday: Kidz Town

With the weather being a little too much on the warm side lately, we decided to set up an indoor play date with my friend and her daughter.  I was given the suggestion of going to Kidz Town, which is halfway between Kelly and I so it wasn’t a big drive for either of the girls.

We only paid a $5 admission for the girls and we got in free so that was super awesome! They said it was for all day too, so if we wanted to leave and go back later the same day we wouldn’t have to pay twice! What an awesome deal! We played for about 2 1/2 hours and ate lunch there. The girls had a blast! I’ll likely be bringing Junebug back there! Definitely worth the $5, especially with an indoor and outdoor play area!

Since I stay home with Junebug, she doesn’t get as much socialization as kiddos that attend daycare, so it was good for her to be with other kids and practice sharing.

Xoxo Megan & Junebug ❤

Spiritual Sunday: Hail Mary, Holy Baby

Junebug LOVES Mother Mary.  Like, it’s almost on the weird side how excited she is.  It’s pretty cool!

She chats with and hugs our Mary statue on our front porch.  She says hi to the big Mary statue on the way into church.  She points out Mary in the statues inside of church… She’s definitely a Mary lover.  She calls her Marys ❤

Today after Mass, she had to stop in front of the Mother Mary statue, stand on the landscaping bricks and she and Dada prayed a Hail Mary.  I was tired, hot and feeling uncomfortable from being at church (wooden pews and no ac don’t go well with pregnancy) so I watched them and then started heading to the car.

Junebug insisted that I come back and pray another Hail Mary with her.

I said to Joseph on my way back over to the statue, “She makes me holier every day”.  I truly believe that is the case.  This little two year old has encouraged my prayer life to grow every day.  I’m not only praying with more frequency, but more creatively.  We recently added a new prayer element to bedtime prayers (because she wasn’t quite ready for the actual nuhnight prayer) and I asked her what we should thank Jesus for.  We then list all the fun things we did during the day and any friends we were able to visit with.  This has been a huge blessing for me and I’m hoping that it’ll be a blessing for her as well.  If we’ve had a rough day, being able to reflect on the positives really brings me back into a better mood.  I’m hoping that this “Thank You, Jesus” reflection will help Junebug to be grateful and recognize her blessings in daily life, even for things as small as seeing a bird on the bird feeder or splashing in the pool.

I’m so blessed to have Junebug in my life, just generally speaking, but her influence on my spiritual life has been amazing! What a cool little kiddo I have!!!

Thankful Thursday: Free Patterns

Lately, my pregnancy induced insomnia has been teaming up with my crafters obsession to create some late night sewing parties.  I mean ‘crawling into bed at 2am and still not being tired’ type of insomnia.  I’ve had a couple of those nights recently and have decided that I may as well make the most out of them and get going on sewing up a few new pieces for Junebug’s wardrobe.

Currently, I’m compulsively combing through the blogs of some awesome designers with some SUPER cute little girls and some SUPER cute sewing patterns and tutorials.  These designers have patterns for sale as well as FREE PATTERNS!

I have to admit, I LOVE free stuff. Love it. Free patterns make my heart all fluttery and ok, seriously, it may be a problem.  These ladies are enabling me.

BUT SERIOUSLY.  When your kiddo gets excited when there are new clothes for her to wear in the morning, and says “Oh my goodness” in her sweet little voice and twirls around in her little dresses….. you cant help but to want to keep getting different fabrics and patterns and sewing until the wee hours of the night.

Junebug and I did a photo shoot yesterday with her newest pieces.  She’s just so proud of them, and so am I!  I’ve never been a pattern follower (for knitting or for sewing)… things just magically somehow came together when I would wing it.  But these free patterns and tutorials have been a lifesaver.  There’s very little guesswork involved (unless it’s a self drafted pattern- which I haven’t attempted yet) and they turn out sooooooo perfectly because their instructions are AWESOME.

So this Thankful Thursday, I’m thankful for the ladies that have put in their time and effort to provide these tutorials and patterns for us crafty mommas who love to sew for their littles.

Check out these amazing ladies!

http://shwinandshwin.com/

http://www.craftinessisnotoptional.com/

http://www.livingwithpunks.com/category/tutorials/for-girls/

Here are some photos from our little photo shoot.  Obviously not professional level by any means of the imagination, but at least they were done one a REAL camera, not with my nonfunctional cell phone camera! (Seriously, I have to stop dropping my phone. I swear that’s the problem)

I do apologize for the fact that some photos are sideways, as they weren’t edited before I put them up due to trying to beat the nap clock.  I will try to do edits tonight after Junebug goes to bed.  By the way, the pink dress…. Yeah, it’s a JUNEBUG dress.  That’s literally the name of the dress.  How appropriate!?  She’s likely going to wear that dress to our family reunion this weekend, unless I have another insomnia/craft obsessed night before Saturday and whip up a cute little sundress out of this super cute hawaiian print pillow case my aunt found for me.  I think that’d be fun.  Great, now I’ve just given my evening away 😉

Toddler Tuesday: A Peek Into Tot School

Yes, I’m aware it’s Wednesday (surprisingly 😉 )  However, hubby needed the computer last night to do homework, so that trumped blogging in my book.  Plus, I got to sew, so I’m not complaining at all!

I FINALLY got fresh batteries into my good camera (it’s about time) and took some shots of what we’re up to this week for Tot School.  We’re learning about farms, and Junebug is totally a fan!

Our current Tot Trays include: Cow Lacing Card (Dollar Tree), 4 piece cow puzzle, C is for Cow coloring sheet, Farm Nomenclature Card Matching, Clean and Dirty Animal Sorting and Size Sorting Animals.  We have a sensory bowl set up with dried black eyed peas, a shovel and Little People farm animals.

Here’s a few photos of Junebug playing with some Tot Trays and her Sensory bowl.  She LOVES doing the Nomenclature card matching.  She’s getting really good at matching things on the first try, which is awesome!  The sensory bowl was also a hit (until she started dumping the dried peas all over the floor) and was “feeding” the animals “num num num”.  So sweet!

Here is what our current set up looks like (minus the artwork, since she hadn’t done any yet at the time that we had taken photos).  We have our new alphabet and weather charts up.  We love the new weather chart!  The printable that we had been using for a couple weeks was just a photo of the weather, was tiny hand was hard for Junebug to participate with.  I’ll store that one away for later on when she’s a bit older.  This one goes really well with our weather song, since she can see the letters as we’re spelling out what the weather for the day is.  I wish it were in lower case letters, but beggars cant be choosers, especially since it came from the dollar section at Target 😛

We received our Catholic ABC’s curriculum in the mail this morning and Junebug was ALL about it.  We were outside playing and she snatched the book from me, plopped down in the grass and started reading to me about Jesus.  Apparently she’s going to be in charge of the Catholic portion of Tot School 😉  Tentatively, the plan is to cut out themed calendar time and art activities for Mondays and replace it with the Catholic ABC’s curriculum, since Mass will be fresh on her mind from the day before.  I then plan to incorporate parts of the Catholic ABC curriculum into our normal Tot School schedule.

How do you incorporate religion into your tot’s daily schedule?

Xoxo Megan and Junebug!

Thankful Thursday: Helpful Hubby and Target Visit

Hubby has been taking classes towards a safety degree for work. He also has been shooting with an archery league after work some days. He’s a busy guy… Leaving for work around 5am and coming home after 5… He’s such a rock star at helping me with the cleaning when he’s home 🙂

I’m so grateful for his help, especially while I’m pregnant. Days get long, backs and bellies get sore, toddlers don’t cooperate… So having help is so nice 🙂

On another note, for those of you who are doing home school or tot school, the dollar section at Target is a goldmine for school stuff right now! Calendars, posters, weather charts, pocket charts…. I had to control myself, the excitement of a new selection, especially school stuff, was just what I needed after a hard week.

. 

We ended up getting an alphabet chart, a weather chart, flag flashcards, kinetic sand and burlap letter stickers to use for practicing letters. I’m pretty pumped cause I’ve been looking for an alphabet chart at every Dollar Tree I can find when I’m out and about with Junebug 🙂

I’m excited to try out the kinetic sand with Junebug, especially since its beach week! She was awesome at the doctor visit today so I got her a special treat 🙂

Xoxo Megan