Random Thought Friday

Posted in Isabella/Munchkin by teamtradermom

1. Isabella has turned the corner from being a distraction when I’m trying to get things done to being my helper. Instead of the constant “hold me! hold me!” pleas I used to get (OK, sometimes still do), I can now give her a task and let her do it.

For example, when making dinner the other night, I told her to play dress up as that would really help mommy out.

Like, really.

So she did!

First she put on a pair of slippers.

Then she added the crowning touch.

OK 3 crowns.

Believe it or not, this kept her busy for the 15 minutes I needed to throw some ingredients together.

I also discovered a trick to both tiring her out AND getting help at the store: make her push the cart. She thinks this is so much fun. What she doesn’t realize is that she’s getting lots of exercise walking around Target multiple times and it helps me keep track of her since she’s right there in front of me.

Genius!

No worries, she manages to have plenty of fun too.

Like finding beautiful bags to hold.

And hugging pillows.

2. Over dinner, I asked Isabella today if she went outside to play in the snow. She said, “Not probably. It’s not impossible.”

Not sure if that means she did or didn’t. We have a little Riddler on our hands folks!

3. Speaking of The Riddler, CJ has a multitude of comic book posters in the basement. They used to hang in his man cave at the old house. In the new house, they’re just leaning against the wall, waiting for a home. Isabella saw one the other day that had every single Marvel character imaginable on it.

She was naming some of the more obvious character like Spiderman, Captain America, Hulk, etc. She impressed me when she could pinpoint Wolverine, The Thing and Thor. Then she blew me away when I pointed to this guy and said, “I bet you don’t know who that is!”

I mean, I don’t even know who that is.

Without hesitating she replied, “That’s Juggernaut Mommy!”

*jaw dropping*

I checked with CJ and she’s right. Little Smarty Pants.

Tomorrow I plan to set her down to do our taxes.

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20Feb2012

Dancing Queen

Posted in Isabella/Munchkin by teamtradermom

Isabella has always been a mover and a shaker. Even in the womb she was rolling and kicking a lot. The nurse joked at our first ultrasound that Munchkin was doing the can-can in there!

So it comes as no surprise that to this day she loves to shake her grove thing any time music is playing. She’s a lot like me that way. I’m “that person” who bobs and wiggles in their seat when good music is playing at a restaurant or bar. And just try and stop me from getting out on the dance floor when we go to the clubs.

Lately I’ve been fortunate enough to have my phone nearby when Isabella was “breaking it down” and have caught a few moments on video. I posted the one already from the Super Bowl party. Here are a few more for your viewing pleasure!

Warning: intense cuteness ahead!

Isabella dancing to the music from her toy lion.

Notice the fancy footwork she does in the middle and then her Bill Cosby hip action toward the end.

Here she is dancing to the “hot dog dance” at the end of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

The “Hot Dog Dance”–she even starts singing at the end!

And last but not least, today I caught her dancing to the music from her toy camera. She does some fancy moves in this one – using all the space and even mouthing some of the words. Look out Milley Vanilly!

She’s got rhythm, she’s got music…

I hope you enjoyed those as much as we did! We want them over and over mostly because Isabella likes to watch herself. But we never get tired of it either.

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19Feb2012

Polar Plunge (aka What the Hell was I Thinking)

Posted in Goals, Isabella/Munchkin by teamtradermom

I did it. Yesterday I waded into freezing cold water just for the fun of it.

OK so there was more to it than that. The Polar Plunge is a yearly event that sets out to raise money for Special Olympics. My work put together a company team of nearly 200 people and I was ~~suckered~~ talked in to participating.

The plunge started at 11 a.m. and we were told to arrive between 9 and 10 in order to get decent parking and breakfast.

There were 3 or 4 tents and my company had its own because by far we had the largest group of jumpers. The tent was heated but with all the people coming in and out, it was still chilly.

Isabella was a bit overwhelmed by all the people there. It was a lot to take in!

What she did like were all the characters present. This polar bear was the official mascot of the plunge.

Then there were a couple guys dressed up a super heroes. They actually wore those costumes in to the water! Isabella was really excited to see them! She kept saying, “Let’s go see the Green Lantern and Captain America!”

I don’t think they intended to be entertainment for the kids but they sure were for Munchkin!

We sat around for about 90 minutes waiting for the games to begin. Isabella started getting antsy but for the most part she did a great job!

Here’s the ramp leading to the water. We basically start at the orange cone line and head in from there.

A common misconception about the Polar Plunge is that you actually have to jump in the water. In fact, it’s just the opposite. There are signs all over the strictly forbid diving, splashing or running. Because the water is so cold (probably around 20 degrees) they want it to be orderly and safe for everyone.

As part of my shtick, I wore a shower cap and carried a rubber ducky with me. Next year some of us are going to get together and come up with a group theme like some of the other folks did. But since it was my first year, I didn’t really plan for much more than the shower cap!

Hot sexy!

At precisely 11 a.m., we headed outside to get started. I stripped out of my warm coat and pants because I was only going to wear a t-shirt and running pants for the actual plunge. The worst part was standing around waiting for your turn because it was cold and my nerves started to creep up. I started having second thoughts and wondered what in the world I was thinking when I signed up to do it. Then, next thing I knew, they were calling my group and it was time to run in!

I’m the one in the green shirt with the shiny head.

It took a while to feel the cold. At first it didn’t seem too bad at all! Then the frigid waters hit my, um, sensitive area ifyaknowwhatimean and HELLO! THERE IT IS!

We had to run out to a dummy set up on the edge of the ice and then turn around and come back. The whole thing took about 20 seconds.

The worst part was getting out of the water. Once the cold air hits the frozen water on your body everything goes numb. You can see in the above picture that I only got wet up to my chest. That was enough though!

They explicitly instruct you not to put your hands underwater because if you do, they would be too frozen to get your wet clothes off when you’re done.

That’s good advice.

It’s quite tricky doing the clothing change. For one, there are like 50 women shoved in this tent all franticly trying to peel off they’re frozen clothes as fast as they can. Then of course there’s the challenge of peeling off wet sticky clothes, drying off your skin and putting new dry clothes back on. There’s no way to do it fast. And forget about being modest. You have to pretty much strip down naked as fast as you can. No one really looks or cares. They’re too worried about their own frozen toes.

When I came out, I saw CJ and Isabella coming toward me.

That sight warmed me up more than my wool socks.

The whole thing wore Isabella out more than it did me.

All day she kept saying, “Mommy jumped in the cold water and went BRR!”

She also enjoyed wearing my shower cap.

All in all I’m glad I did it. The whole experience was a lot of fun and the actual going in to the frozen lake part wasn’t nearly as bad as I anticipated. I will definitely do it again!

Here is a link to the local news coverage of the event. You can see me and my green t-shirt pop up real quick in a few of the shots.

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17Feb2012

29 Day Organizational Challenge: Progress Update 2 {#29DOC}

Posted in Goals, House and Home by teamtradermom

If you don’t know what the heck the 29 DOC is, you can catch up by reading here and here.

Now, 2 weeks in to the challenge, it’s time for another update.

We actually got a TON done over the weekend. In fact, I’m nearly done!

As a reminder, here is a BEFORE shot:

And here are my goals for this project:

1. Simplify so that the room looks less cluttered

2. Use vertical space better

3. Unify color scheme with dining room so that the 2 rooms complement each other

4. Visually separate the 2 rooms while still allowing for easy movement between them

5. Keep costs down – try to use what we have first before buying

Last week we de-cluttered, bought some new canvas storage bins and some new ottomans to use for seating and storage.

This week we re-arranged, organized, re-labeled and decorated.

It was a job that took the whole family. I wanted to put in a new bookshelf (well, new to this room. It’s a shelving unit we already had from the old house that was just sitting in the basement here), hang up some valances I had ordered weeks ago that finally arrived, re-arrange the remaining furniture and toys and re-label the canvas bins. To do all this, we first had to move out a bunch of stuff.

Most of it ended up on the dining room table.

CJ got to work drilling holes in the shelving unit. We wanted to attach it to the wall to make sure Isabella couldn’t pull it over.

Isabella helped too by trying on Daddy’s safety glasses.

Once the shelf was installed, the books were moved over and we started hanging the curtains.

Then it was a matter of moving stuff around until it looked right to me. There was no real process for this part, just trial and error.

Here are the bins with their new labels.

These canvas bins don’t have a slot to put a label so previously I had taped one on. I didn’t really like how that looked though and it didn’t stick real well so I needed something else. I got the idea to make labels out of scrapbook paper and tie them to the handle from another blogger participating in the challenge. I love how they turned out! Oh, and not only did I write what goes in each one, I also put stickers of the items so that Isabella knows (since she can’t read yet)

The white stacking bins are a new addition to the room. They were previously used in Isabella’s old bedroom for clothes because her closet was so small. She didn’t need them in her new room so I repurposed them down here! I added the yellow and blue paper to the front to make them more decorative and fun and then attached tags similar to those on the canvas bins, for consistency.

Now for the big reveal!

I am really loving how it turned out!

The new corner shelf adds the height I wanted while also utilizing valuable space. The new bins fit in with the color scheme of the dining room to make the 2 rooms more cohesive. And the valances add that extra pop of color that also helps tie the playroom to the dining room! I also love that I was able to use items we already had so I didn’t have to go spend a lot of money! Having the labels on the bins is really working well too and makes clean up a breeze!

We are ever so close to being done!

After living with it for a week, there are a few tweaks I want to make. The books on the corner shelf need some help as right now they’re kind of stuffed on there. There are still many bigger toys sitting out that make it look messy. Not sure yet what to do with those. I also want to add some decorative items to the top shelves of the corner unit, to make it “prettier”, along with a rug for the floor.

I’m really happy that we’ve come so far so fast though. Definitely feels like we’re over the hump and what remains is simply touch ups.

I’ll be back next Friday with another update!

17Feb2012

A Day of Love: In Pictures

Posted in Holidays and Seasons by teamtradermom

I know I’m several days late on getting Valentine’s pictures posted. It’s been a busy week.

We had a great Valentine’s week in this house. It started last Friday when CJ surprised me with flowers in the morning.

They were there, sitting right on the leftover Chinese takeout, when I reached in the ‘fridge to get my water bottle for a workout.

Seeing and smelling roses is way better than fried rice.

Friday night was spent decorating and stuffing Isabella’s valentines for her friends.

I bought these cute little mailboxes at Target and then Isabella decorated them with stickers. I made a little postcard with a love note that we tucked inside, along with some fruit snacks and a granola bar. She LOVED making them and she kept calling me the Mail Carrier because I would “deliver” the goodies and she’d stuff them in. So much fun!

Saturday Ceige told us that he had a surprise waiting downstairs. Isabella and I hurried to see and found these waiting on the counter.

He didn’t make the donuts but he did write the little love phrases on them.

And we ate them with passion!

Later that day, Isabella’s boyfriend and his parents came over to celebrate the holiday with us. This has become a tradition ever since the 2 kiddos were born. Here is our first Valentine’s together.

And last year:

Ah, they grow so fast. Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of them this year. Oops. I did however remember to get a shot of the AWESOME cupcakes they made and brought over!

That was a cherry filling. So good.

Isabella dived in face first. Literally.

On Sunday I made blueberry heart pancakes for breakfast. Sort of.

Admittedly, it’s not my best work, but it’s the thought that counts right? Isabella enjoyed them anyway!

I also made a heart brownie that Isabella helped me decorate.

And by “help”, I mean she pointed to a spot on the brownie and told me what to put there.

The Big V Day itself was fairly uneventful given that it was a Tuesday and I was at work for most of it. There were lots of cards exchanged from all parties, we had dinner at grandma/grandpa’s with the larger family and then came home to open one last present.