Helicopters.............

Quick post tonight. We had a pretty good day, we went and saw some helicopters up close and personal. Madeleine was apprehensive at first but then warmed right up as she started running in and out of it and all around it. She even got to see a few take off and she would stand there and yell, "Helcopt!" The only bad part, tons of grease everywhere and she managed to get a few spots on her shoes and clothes. The best part of the day was having lunch with her daddy. Well, that and the milkshake ;)

I'm going to keep it short tonight because we have gymnastics in the morning and an Easter egg hunt with our play group. I'm super excited about gymnastics class! Do you think I will get ugly looks if I request a little Beyonce'?!?!?! What? No?!?!? Maybe I'll play it on our way there. Also, she has these cute leopard print shorts that are toooooooo cute but Morgan vetoed them because he thought they were too short!! Excuse me sir, she is 19 months old, and you are already starting?!?!?!? <insert eye roll> Maybe I'll save them for her second class, the one he won't be attending! ;)

Good night!

Music Class........

Yesterday we had our first mommy-and-me music class. SUCCESS! Homegirl was in her element. We got there about 10 minutes early and there were a few people already there. She instantly went into shy mode which had me really worried that she wasn't going to dig this class. Once class started she got into it. Mommy on the other hand got a little headache. It was controlled chaos! The teacher, Ms. Ann, was really nice but she was very soft spoken and she had a Russian accent. If she was giving instructions there were usually about 5 kids talking or banging on a drum. Plus, the lady next to me knew all the songs and was singing at the top of her lungs. To the point that the kids started looking at her instead of Ms. Ann. Hey lady, PIPE DOWN!!! There really should be cocktails served at these things ;) I will say that it was the cutest thing to see Madeleine grab her tambourine and shake it really hard because she was so excited by the other kids. Later that night, when she found her tambourine in her toy box, she came running to Morgan and shaking it really hard and yapping away. Too cute! I only snapped a few pictures right before class. 

I thought for sure this chick would nap hard because of her busy morning. NOPE! She only managed to nap for 15 minutes, into my run, and then a train passed by and she woke up saying "Chooooo Choooo!" and never fell back asleep!

Today we are headed down to the base, so that we can see some helicopters up close. Madeleine is obsessed with them. Whenever she hears one, she stops what she is doing and looks up and says "helcopt" and then moves her arm in the air. We figure she will enjoy seeing them up close and personal! Plus, we get to see daddy for lunch and that makes our day even better!

Y'all have a good day!

Texas On My Mind.........

I have finally worked out the dates for our trip back to Texas. This trip it's just going to be Madeleine and me and Morgan is going to stay behind. I wanted to go for longer than a weekend and he couldn't take that much time off and I think his nephew is going to come and visit him. So, he'll get to spend some quality time with him doing guy things.

I did have to decide to visit at the beginning of the summer. So hopefully this California weather hasn't made me all soft to the TX heat! Be kind to me, Texas! One of the reasons I'm coming back in the summer is, one of my best friends, April, is having her third child and it happens to finally be a GIRL!!! YAY!!!! A few of us throwing her a baby shower in Austin. I started to do a little browsing for baby girl stuff and it made me realize how much Madeleine has grown! (Um no, this does not make me want to have a second one any time soon!). But it does make me wish we lived closer so that the girls could grow up together and be the best of friends. Hopefully, they will grow up and be besties just like their mommies.

While it will be baby-palooza down in Austin it will be Wedding-Fest in Dallas. I mentioned before that my best friend, Lindsay, is getting married next year, and I'm pretty sure her mom and I are more excited about planning it than her. To kick her butt into gear we are going to try on wedding dresses!!! YAY!! Hopefully, it doesn't turn into this scene!

Not only will we be trying on dresses, but we're going to see the wedding venue. Her mom sent her an email yesterday giving her a timeline and she has to make a decision by May 15th. Finally! I love her mom!! We are planning this wedding with or without her, haha.

Besides spending time with my best friends, I plan to soak up as much time with the family as well! And, chug as much queso, tortilla chips and margaritas as I can!!! I miss Texas!!

TV Drama........

I have never made it a secret that I am a TV addict/junkie. I watch reality TV, Scandal, Grey's Anatomy (unfortunately, I am hooked on this show!), any housewives franchise and pretty much anything on Bravo.

When we first moved to California, Morgan made the suggestion of not getting cable so that we could read, do outdoor things, and save more money. Clearly when he said, "we" he meant, "me!" I know his little game! (I was convinced he was trying to kill me!<insert the dramatics>) So, we got the basic cable with only about 15 stations!! Kill me!! I thought for sure he wouldn't be able to last without ESPN and cave in an upgrade the cable. Boy, was I wrong! Apparently, while he was in Afghanistan he didn't watch it out there so, he was ok with just reading the highlights on the web. Now, me on the other hand, I was like a junkie looking for her quick fix. I caught myself watching re-runs of Seinfeld, Parks and Rec, anything! I knew I hit rock bottom when I started watching a Maury episode about "Are you the baby-daddy?" (If you're wondering, he was not the father!)

Then, I discovered this little thing called, Roku. Oh boy, oh boy has it saved my life!!! We can now watch netflix, hulu plus, amazon TV/movies and most importantly.... I can watch any of the Housewives franchises for a small fee. And, we were able to get some of her shows like, Yo Gabba Gabba and Tinkerbell.

When we first got it, I will admit, that the TV was on all the time!!! I was hooked I watched both seasons of House of Cards in about 2.5 weeks! I caught up on all the housewives. I let Madeleine watch Yo Gabba Gabba while I made dinner. And boy did she get into it. She would even ask for the TV to be put on.... And that's when it hit us. We were letting her watch too much TV.

We decided that we wanted her to play, explore, read and learn more, instead of sitting in front of a TV all day. So, we bought a climber/slide/jungle gym off Craigslist, bought a crap ton of outdoor toys, sidewalk chalk, and I made homemade play dough. During those times when she gets a little fussy in the evening we head outside. The great thing about our backyard  is you can see it from three different areas. It also has doors leading outside from the living room, dining room, and kitchen. Sometimes I'm able to actually cook dinner with her playing outside. I have constant view of her!!

Don't get me wrong, we let her watch cartoons a few hours a week. She watches Sesame Street in the mornings and then afterwards I tell her to turn the music on and she goes to turn the radio on. I love it! And by no means am I judging anyone if your child watches TV. We just personally think at her age she should be playing and doing activities to help her learn. And believe me, if I need to get a little something done around the house and the toys/outside aren't working, I am not afraid to bust out the Yo Gabba Gabba! Thank God for the creators of that show! And, you bet your little butt I will be using my iPad for cartoons when we fly to Texas in June, hahaha!!!

When my mom came to visit us I thought she was going to die! She likes to have the TV on at all times even if she's not watching it. I'm pretty sure she thought we were being cruel. But, as soon as  Madeleine went down for her nap, she went straight for the remote, hahaha. And, I'm pretty sure she let Madeleine watch hours of TV while we were on date nights (I'm not complaining because mommy had several margaritas!!).

You may ask, "How has this impacted your TV habits?" Well, I watch less during the day but I'm still watching my crap TV at night. Let's just hope Madeleine doesn't take after her mommy in this category :)

Two Week Hiatus........

While my mom was here visiting, I took a two week hiatus from blogging. Usually when my mom comes to visit I try to stay off social media (I try!), limit my phone calls and, only check my email once a day. I try to just live in the moment with my mom. My best friend thinks I seclude myself and ignore her phone calls ;) Most of my friends have their mom in the same city and they get to see them every week. So, when my mom comes I try to take in as much of that crazy lady as I can.

I'll spare you all the play-by-play of everyday but we did a lot of eating, shopping, going to the parks, and tons of playing outside! It was great to see that Madeleine still remembered her. She even managed to call her granny. I'm pretty sure my mom teared up when she heard it. Mommy and daddy even manged to sneak some date nights in, as well. My mom has a fractured shoulder so we would normally leave after I bathed Madeleine and got her in her pajamas. There was one time that we came home and Madeleine was still up watching Tinkerbell. Only granny would let her stay up past nine!


The visit was great but, of course there were just a few hiccups. First, Morgan managed to get poison oak on 80% of his body during some training. That man is highly allergic to poison oak and poison ivy. I swear if he just looks at it he gets a rash! Well, this time it was all over his body! It was like he saw it and just threw his whole body into it. He usually gets it every other year, so we are kind of used to it. Luckily, I never get it but we were a little scared because we have Madeleine now. He pretty much didn't touch her for two weeks. I pretty much made sure he didn't breathe on her, hahaha. Of course, this terrified my mom. Anyone that knows my mother knows she a big old scaredy-cat!! She wouldn't touch anything Morgan touched and if she did she scrubbed it with hot water and soap. Poor Morgan, it was like he had the plague!

What else happened..... an earthquake happened 50 minutes away from us. Not only that, there was a small aftershock that we felt.  In my mom's head.... the whole house moved, the ceiling almost caved in on her and, it lasted a whole minute. What it actually felt like.... I thought Morgan was shaking his leg in bed and it lasted maybe 5 seconds. The dog didn't even wake up. I'm pretty sure that she got no sleep that night and she prayed all night long! The next day she watched the news all day and kept saying, "They say a big one could be next!" I lied to her and told her we have an earthquake survival kit. I probably should get started on that before the "big one" hits.

Well, that's all for right now but here are some pictures of our little cutie pie. I'm going to try to keep up with blogging more. See y'all later!

These were at the mission in San Juan Capistrano. I'm pretty sure my mom spent 30 minutes in the chapel praying that an earthquake wouldn't hit.

Spring........

So, Spring is here and with that comes my long list of things I want to clean or organize. I usually make long lists and make sure that I include, "everyday tasks" that way when I haven't exactly accomplished all the others at least I have managed to "sweep." I know I'm only cheating myself, but whatever! I've also noticed that over the years my spring list becomes a lot of chores for Morgan. LOL, he's lucky he has me to keep him on track ;)

My mom gets here tomorrow and I used that as a good excuse to get started on parts of my list. One of my items was to get a better hold on Madeleine's drawers and closet. She manages to get into her dresser everyday and pull everything out and drag it around the house. I will find shorts outside, in her toy box, and under my bed. By the end of the evening I've manged to throw everything all bundled up into a drawer. Not only is this a problem, but I actually haven't put away any of her old clothes away in storage boxes. So, she has tons of old sizes in her dresser and closet. I knew it was a problem when, I put her in a shirt that was a 12 month size and it became a belly shirt. She kept sticking out her belly and rubbing it, hahaha! She looked like a little Buddha ;)

So, today Morgan was nice enough to take Madeleine out for pretty much, all day while I cleaned out her room. It was almost therapeutic. I folded and color coordinated her dresser and closet. Put away old clothes and reminisced about those cute little outfits. I even managed to find some clothes I apparently bought a while ago that are her size now. Bonus! Lets just hope this little lady can stay out of mischief and keep her drawers organized!

Also, while they were gone I managed to clean my fridge and freezer, sweep, mop, vacuum, clean my make-up container, and all kinds of other things! It's been a while since I've cleaned the house by myself. When I'm cleaning the bathroom, I'm usually running back and forth from the living room to the bathroom to make sure she's not getting into anything. It's exhausting! The only thing missing from my kid-free cleaning session was a cocktail. But, I'm pretty sure if cocktails were involved I wouldn't have gotten most of this done. But, Beyonce' and I were singing a couple of duets together!

While Beyonce' and I were cleaning our little hearts out <insert pity> Morgan and Madeleine were apparently having a blast. They went to the park, went downtown and had lunch, washed my car and even went to a late, late lunch. Ugh! I know this is going to sound petty but, I kind of wanted Madeleine to give him a hard time. HAHA. I know, I know, that's mean. But, I'm being honest! She will give me the hardest time, all day and, she is with him all day, and she is a little angel! She even managed to eat!! He took her to get a burger and she actually ate a little. Granted, I don't want her to eat burgers but, the fact that she tried something new and didn't put up a fight, really pisses me off! Lol. I made that girl a sandwich and used a cute little flower cookie cutter to make it more appealing and she turned her nose at it. So, yes, yes I wanted him to struggle a little! I will admit that it looks like she is enjoying herself.....

 I'm going to call it a night because we have a big day tomorrow! Granny is coming to town!

Avocado Pudding......

Well, in case you guys were wondering, Madeleine's still on a milk strike. That little girl is a stubborn one. I wonder where she gets it from? I'm guessing her father ;) I did manage to get her to drink a few smoothies with milk, so that's something. On a more positive note, she is eating more. Not significantly more but more than usual, and that's progress!

Last post I mentioned that I came across this pin on Pinterest about picky eaters. She had some great recipes and I tried one out today. Avocado Pudding. I know what you're thinking....YUCK! I was extremely skeptical and in my mind I immediately was saying, "Oh hell no! This is going to be nasty!" The picture she posted made it look appetizing. So, I gave it a shot.

(Sorry, the light in my kitchen is horrendous! It kind of just looks like poop. HA!)

My verdict: Delicious!!!! And the best part, Madeleine LOVED IT!!! Her little lips were covered in pudding. It definitely had a peanut butter richness to it, so if you like peanut butter this recipe is for you.

Avocado Pudding: Recipe from thediva-dish.com/

1/4 cup Peanut Butter (I bet it would taste great with almond butter, yum)

1/3 cup Agave nectar

1/8 cup Cocoa powder

1 medium avocado

1 tbsp Coconut oil

1 tsp Vanilla extract

dash of salt

Mix all ingredients in food processor or blender.  

*I added a splash of water to make it a tad bit smoother

In other "news" I have started binge watching Orange is the New Black. It makes me want to never, ever, ever break a law again! I mean, not that I was smuggling drugs or anything, hahaha. But, I don't even want to get a speeding ticket for fear of getting thrown in jail. I know, I'm dramatic! 

Well, I'm starting to ramble. See you tomorrow.