Mommy and Me Monday – Photo Booth Fun

I’m sick again.
Feeling like crap.
Behind on posts, especially my Project Flawless12 posts.

Sometimes you just can’t catch a break.
I guess this is one of those times.

Last week, Baby and DH had a long weekend planned to PA to visit the in-laws. I was staying home with Jed. I had planned a fun four days with my little man, and of course the latest plague attacking my body put a stop to that. Our fun was a little more low key than originally planned, but lucky for me, Jed took it in stride.

We didn’t make it out to the park since the weather turned chilly, but we did make a trek to the office to pop in to a good-bye party for my dear friend and fellow Graco blogger, @GracoKelly. One of the highlights of the party was a super fun photo booth…complete with props!

Now, if someone could get Jed to actually look at the camera, we’d be golden.

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Mommy and Me Monday – A Walk in the Park

It was only last week where I was reading tweets about Punxsutawney Phil predicting there would be six more weeks of winter. Frankly, if six more weeks of winter lets us continue to enjoy the mild temps we have had the last 3 months, I am ALL FOR IT!

Sunday was another Spring like day. The sun came out from behind some gray clouds, and we all enjoyed a good long walk on our closest section of the Big Creek Greenway. Anytime we can get away with short sleeve shirts in February, is pretty awesome.

After a nice lunch and a little rest we were ready to start prepping for the big game!

How did you spend your day before the Super Bowl started?

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Mommy and Me Monday – By Golly, I think He’s Got It!

Jed’s been learning to ride he bike he recieved for Christmas. Being three, he’s still learning that to keep moving, you have to keep pedaling. The lesson his sister is still trying to learn as well.

Round and round in circles he went this afternoon. With only the occasional push from Mommy or a spare hand to help turn the corner, it looks like Jed is really getting the hang of his bike.

It’s nice the mild weather is cooperating too.
Shining sun and warm enough for a sweatshirt.
Yes, please!

What was your family up to for fun this weekend?

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Mommy and Me Monday – Grilled Deliciousness at Chick Fil A

I love days off from work. Some days DH wrangles the kids so I can sleep in a little, and other days I enjoy sipping coffee and reading tweets while listening to the kids make pancakes with Daddy. Today was a little different. Our entire family was loaded in the car and on the road by 8:40 AM. A feat sometimes in itself.

We were heading out early to meet up with my friend, Maria, from Mamamlicious Maria, at the Chick Fil A Vinings. The location was a little bit of a drive for us, but worth it because, Maria was hosting a family-friendly get together to check out the new options for the Chick Fil A kids meals.

The new meals now include the option of grilled chicken nuggets and Buddy Fruits applesauce. The new grilled nuggets were a total hit with Baby…she even ate Jed’s. Jed, however, was more interested in getting back to the slide in the indoor play area. There was plenty of food, fun and giveaways! We even had a visit from an adorable Chick Fil A cow.

The kids had a great time playing while I chatted with some of the great moms and dads from our Georgia Social Media Facebook group. We left after a ton of fun, and a little bribery of Chick Fil A’s hand spun milkshakes. Everything in moderation, you know.

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Mommy and Me Monday – Holiday Party

Taking some vacation days around the holiday was not only fun for family time, but I was able to take some time and volunteer to help out with Baby’s class holiday party. The classroom parents did a fabulous job organizing 4 stations for craft making and game playing.

How cute is this edible marshmallow snowman craft? I smell a Pinterest post.

One of the highlights of the party for the kids was the pass the gift game. Similar to the Hot Potato game, children gather in a circle and pass a wrapped gift to music. When the music stops, the child holding the gift get to unwrap a layer of wrapping paper to reveal a surprise.

I thought this was an awesome idea. To explain further, the first gift is wrapped in paper as normal. The next step is to layer the next surprise with the first wrapped gift, then wrap as one new gift. Keep layering and wrapping until you have enough layers to allow every participant to unwrap a layer of wrapping paper and receive a surprise. Of course to save any arguments among the children, the gifts were all similar with slight variations. Fun pads, holiday pencil packs, word search books, and card games all make great gifts to layer. You could even do this activity as a game at a birthday party instead of/or in addition to the usual take away goody bags.

I ended up giving it a try myself, wrapping a ten layer gift, and taking it to my friend’s Chismukkah (our own combination Christmas and Hanukkah) family party, and it was a big hit with all the kids! Even the older ones! It’s definitely an idea I will be reusing again.

Were you able to visit your child’s classroom for any activities this year?

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Mommy and Me Monday – Happy Birthday!

My youngest turned three right before Christmas.

Jed is fiercely independent, strong-willed and has a wild dare-devil streak in him a mile long! If he’s not leaping between the sofa and coffee table, you will probably find him plotting his next adventure move.

As wild as he is, Jed is also my snuggle bug that loves to watch Disney movies and sit with me while I work on my laptop.

Happy Birthday Big Boy!
You make our family complete.
Thanks to Daddy for taking the pic so I could be in it!

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Mommy and Me Monday – Yellow Daisy Festival at Stone Mountain

Since Baby and I had such a fun mommy/daughter date strolling Arts on the Creek last weekend, we decided to do it again. This time we asked some friends to join us, and Saturday before lunch we headed out to the Yellow Daisy Festival at Stone Mountain.

The festival is set up within the event meadow of the park with more than 400 artists and crafters gather to show and sell their beautiful work. And if perusing art isn’t enough for you, there is live entertainment, Children’s Corner activities, clogging and even crafter demonstrations throughout the event.

As with any festival there is the usual fair fare. There are so many vendors participating here that there is a huge area set up as a food court complete with tables and chairs under a large tent to escape the blazing Georgia sun. At alternate stands you can find BBQ, Burgers, cheese steaks, quesadillas, Funnel Cakes, Roasted Corn and Corn Dogs.

Doesn’t this turkey leg look delicious?

I have to admit it wasn’t mine. The yummy looking leg belonged to a sweet young woman sharing our table, and yes I did ask to take a picture of her turkey leg before she dug into it, since my pork BBQ nachos or Baby’s corn dog were no longer available to be photographed.

Under the canopy of trees we wandered around shaded trails oohing and ahing over the art, and made our way over to the Children’s area for the routine face/arm painting. The girls loved their colorful wearable art.

We all had a long and exhausting but absolutely wonderful day, and are definitely planning to attend again next year. Good news is the dates are already scheduled for next year’s festival. We can mark our calendar now for Thursday, September 6 through Sunday, September 9, 2012. You should do the same! It’s a festival worth attending. Want more info check out this full festival guide for 2011 here.

What’s your favorite festival to attend with (or without) your children?

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Mommy and Me Monday – Disney Summer Social

There are few moments in your life that are truly magical. To me, Disney defines the term magic. I have so many happy memories from childhood through adulthood that revolve around Disney and trips to Walt Disney World.

This past weekend I had an opportunity to experience a little bit of Disney magic with my family right here in Atlanta. The Disney Summer Social was held at the W hotel and a hosted by the lovely, dynamic duo of Leanne Jakubowski and Jennifer Wilkes.

Upon arrival, we found ourselves amid a sea of pirate, princess and traditional hats of Mickey ears. There were tables offering coloring, crafts, face painting, balloon animals and assortment of toys to inspire creative play.

I tell you what.
Disney throws a fun family party.
They had the wide variety of age groups covered so all the children could easily participate in the activities. Baby loved trying to hula hoop, and Jed could barely be torn away from the assortment of Cars2 toys and colorful bowling sets to eat his lunch.

The kid friendly lunch of sliders, chicken skewers, pizza triangles and fruit kabobs was a huge hit, but the dessert really knocked our socks off. Assorted mini cupcakes and plentiful Mickey themed treats were awesome! Everyone enjoyed nibbling on the variety of ears available.

We spent a wonderful day playing and connecting with other local bloggers and their families. Thank you so much Leanne, Jill and Disney for hosting such a memorable event.

To see more pictures of the festivities, please feel free to visit my blog’s fan page here. There is even a picture of me sporting the most coveted set of magical ears this side of Orlando.

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Disclosure – I attended the Disney Summer Social event with my family. I also received some fun Disney surprised when leaving. I received no other compensation, nor was I asked to blog about the event. I chose to do so on my own out of my personal love and appreciation for Disney. All opinions expressed are my very own.

Mommy and Me Monday – First Day of School

Summer isn’t over, yet for us in the south school is getting back in session.
That means first day of school for Baby!
This was BIG!

For the last two years, Baby has attended a Primrose School. Aside from the excellent curriculum, one of the main reasons for choosing the school, was for the convenient after school care.  If DH would start working we didn’t want to be scrambling mid-year for day care. I dropped Baby off each morning, and DH picked her up in the afternoon.

This year was the start of a new beginning.
The adventure of the big yellow school bus.

Baby has been over the top excited about riding the bus and starting class at her new school. She will be moving from room to room for her academics, art and music and loves that there is a real cafeteria. When Pop pop was in town he even bought her a new icarly lunch box! Yay!

I cannot believe how much Baby has grown from her first day at Primrose, only 2 short years ago.
See for yourself!

It’s crazy how different she looks, but still the same.
She’ll always be my Baby.
And if you want to see how Open House for Baby’s new school went, you can check it out here on the Graco Heart to Heart Blog.

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Gwinnett Braves Baseball – Big Day for Big Boy

Even though we have been in Atlanta going on two years, I have never gone to a Braves game (sadly, this includes both the Atlanta Braves and the Gwinnett Braves). Jed is only 2. We figured no way would he be able to attend and still have us enjoy the game.

A few weeks ago when my parents were visiting from Florida, DH and I had the freedom to go to a game together. It was a great afternoon of sitting in the shade, sipping beer, eating peanuts and relaxing.

While there, I had a thought.

If we sat four across in the back row of the stadium we could attend a game as a family, contain Jed and minimize disturbance to others.
Sounds doable, right?

A few weeks ago, we put the plan to the test! We went to see the Gwinnett Braves as a family of four.

Jed did AWESOME!

We started out walking around the stadium and checked out the kids play area.

Unfortunately, Jed was not tall enough to go in any of the bounce houses.
Note to the Coolray Field staff…your revenue would more than likely increase if you designate one of the bounce houses for toddlers when it’s not too crowded.
Just a suggestion.

There were many treats.

Jed loved all the excitement of the game and fun action in between innings.

Around the top of the 8th inning, Jed was finally losing steam and decided to sit with me. His eyes were closed shortly after.

It was a great day.

At what age did you take your child to their first live sporting event?
Did everyone have a good time?

I’m also throwing this out there for my Mommy and Me Monday post since I am actually in the picture with the kids thanks to a nice stadium employee that offered to take our celebratory family photo. Yay!!!

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