Heat Wave

It's hot.

Like really, really hot.

I will admit I am kinda a wimp when it comes to heat but I did grow up here in New England so this weather is no surprise. Things are a bit different though. Growing up we had a pool in the backyard, our house was only one floor and every room had either a fan or air conditioner.

Fast forward to our current house. Last year we had 3 air conditioners in our two story home which kept things nice and cool - as in I could wear a sweatshirt and I was comfortable. Well you all know by now that we are headed down south to Virginia in about 3 weeks but we are actually moving out of our current home in less than a week. So as one air conditioner at a time has died on us we really didn't sweat it because our new house has central air conditioning.

Well we are sweating it now. Yesterday was 104 and our last air conditioner is on its last leg. Its pushing air but that's about it. The second floor of our house is so hot the thermostat doesn't even reach that high - meaning we are topping 90 up there. Of course all the bedrooms are upstairs making it unbearable to sleep.

We finally broke down last night and dragged our mattresses downstairs. Oh yeah, we have a family slumber party planned for the rest of the week. The three of us rolled around whining about the heat last night. It wasn't pretty.

It appears we are due for a slight cool down today but I'm not optimistic. Yikes!

What are you doing to keep cool?

Red, White and Blueberries

We finally got a bit of a break in the epic heat wave we have been having in Connecticut {did I mention I am not leaving our air conditioned home in Virginia until October?} and it was just in time to go blueberry picking. Oddly enough I don't think I have brought Mad picking since our first summer in Connecticut so she was more than due for a little blueberry fun!

Lots o' blueberries

I am getting better at taking pictures! I love this one!

Manual labor builds character.... right?

Is this a big guy mom?

Don't kneel in the blueberry fields!

She kneeled in the blueberry fields.

A Piece of Home

The movers come in exactly 24 days, which means I am officially in a total state of stress. Yikes!

We are trying our hardest though to make this move easy on Maddie. It's technically not her first move but it will be the first one she remembers. Of course she has had all the usual questions about the move like "will we bring my bed? And what about the bathtub?". After reassuring her that yes her bed will come with us but she will have a new bathtub in the new house we decided that we should bring a little piece of Connecticut to Virginia with us.

After picking out the perfect rock from the backyard Madison spent a few days this week painting her perfect masterpiece. I took a Sharpie to it when she was done to add our city, state and years we have been here. After a quick coat of glossy Mod Podge we now have a piece of home to bring with us to our new home!

Summer To Do's

Everyone in the bloggy world seems to be making a Summer To Do list and we certainly couldn't be left out of the fun! So while cooking dinner this week we grabbed a piece of card stock, Maddie's new markers and set to work.

Lots of fun little weekend activities made to the list with just a few big ones.

We tried to keep the list rather do-able this summer due to that one BIG thing we have to do!

Of course we have another special day on the list too!

The Little Artist

Maddie has always enjoyed coloring and drawing but in the last few weeks it has become an obsession. She is constantly doodling away and I am always amazed at her artwork.

We ended up taking a trip to replenish her dwindling art supplies and stocked up on new markers and paper. By dinner time that night she had made all of these masterpieces!

Milo and his lady friend

Madison in her garden

Daddy in the rainstorm

Flowers and roses

Milo and his lady friend

Madison and her friend Anne

It's amazing to see how quickly her artistic skills are evolving!

What's your little ones current obsession?

Memorial Day Weekend in Pictures

cause' I am feeling lazy you get pictures

Geowhating?

Exactly.

Geocaching.

Have you heard of it? Probably, I am usually the last one invited to the party.Anyways geocaching is our new hobby. We have spent the last 3 weeks trudging over the river and through the woods looking for hidden treasure.

Basically geocaching it using latitude and longitude coordinates to find a specific spot where there is or at least should be some sort of cache hidden. We have successfully found 6 caches as of this weekend. They have ranged from small pill bottle and film canisters to Tupperware containers to personally the coolest one yet a teeny tiny little magnet with a strip of paper in it.

We have even started a little geocaching kit in the car so we are always ready to go. We have a small stash of goodies to drop too. Some of the caches have little trinkets or coins in them that you can snag in return for dropping something else in.

I think the coolest part is where are discovering all of these amazing new places right where we live! This past weekend we found a an old hidden mill which happens to be about 5 minutes from where hubby and I shared our first apartment. We had no clue this place even existed and it was awesome!
We have been using hubby's Blackberry to track the caches so far but he just ordered us this awesome GPS that will {fingers crossed} work better and is a bit more rugged for the woods!

So have you been geocaching yet?
What's your favorite part or coolest find so far?

What I Learned On Our Road Trip

Portable DVD players are invaluable during a 8 9 10 hour car ride to Virginia and a 8 9 10.5 hour ride back home to Connecticut.

Letting your child watch movies and eat junk for 3 days straight doesn't make you a bad parent it makes you a resourceful parent.

If everyone you know tells you not to live in Hampton Virginia listen to them.
Apparently they really mean it.

As beautiful as the 2 story house with the picket white fence is in the picture it pales in comparison to seeing the broken down jalopy next door and the drug dealers across the street waiting to rob you. We won't be renting that house.

Schlotzky's is just as delicious as I remember and yes Madison we did eat there twice.

House hunting may not have led to finding the perfect house but it certainly led to finding a whole lotta not perfect houses.

After spending the entire day finding nothing but the wrong house a Sonic Peanut Butter Fudge milkshake is the only thing that holds back the tears.

Reasonable bedtimes fly out the window when sharing a hotel room with your 3 year old child. Normal bedtime: 6:30pm. Hotel bedtime: 10:30pm.

Lack of sleep in said 3 year old leads to a complete meltdown when it comes time to change into clothes for the day.

Seeing a zebra's bottom at the zoo was my daughter's highlight of our vacation.

The Navy Lodge think a reasonable breakfast to go consists of a muffin, bottle of water and warm green hard boiled eggs.

There is always traffic at the George Washington Bridge in New York. No matter the day or time there is traffic.

Madison apparently has this insatiable need to scream echo, echo, echo, echo whenever using a public bathroom.

Only one pee accident on a road trip with a 3 year old is considered a success.

Hearing your child yell from the hotel room "I had a little accident" while you're in the shower is never good.




We are home.
We may not have found the perfect house for us to rent in TWO months when we move but at least we know where we don't want to live.
Road trip to Virginia: Success.

Maddie Says

While rushing out the door for school this morning I told Madison she needed to grab a coat.

Unfortunately she couldn't remember where she put her pink coat so I said just put on the green one.

And Maddie said "What? My green coat? No way! My friends will think I am a cucumber!!"

She wore the green coat anyways.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Who? What? Coffee first.

Madison's imagination has always been very ......I don't know what to call it. Maybe fanciful? I am not sure what to call it but her imagination is amazing {at least to me!}. Yesterday morning before I had even turned the coffee pot on she was demanding a jar to hold her ladybug.

Umm what? Where did the bug come from? Wait where is it?

Mom! Charlie is right here!!!!
{showing me the nothingness in her cupped hands}

Ohhh I see!
{I need coffee before I can deal with this}

Next with a Tupperware container in hand I heard alllllllll about Charlie for the rest of the morning. She fed him {invisible} grass, provided him with {invisible} water and then proceeded to teach him tricks. Rolling? Check! Sit? Check! Tap dancing? Double check!

Within the hour the one ladybug grew to about 10 ~ not quite sure because the names were being thrown at me quickly. I believe one was named Summer.

What a fun age she is at now. Our tantrums have becoming fewer and fewer and our fun times have been fantastic!

A scooter of her own

Don't get me started - I know she is spoiled. We just couldn't resist this time though.

Hubby and I had been eying the Radio Flyer My 1st Scooter last year for Miss Maddie but never ended up getting it. Then we were browsing at Walmart this past weekend and low and behold there was the absolutely adorable pink scooter - on SALE.

Say no more. Into the cart it went and since then I have only seen the back of my little girl as she scoots past. I even found her yesterday morning riding her scooter completely nude in the living room. Well then.

Madison still hasn't really got the hang of riding her bike but she LOVES the scooter!

It's Official

See that big blank empty wall?

That empty wall means it is finally official - We.Are.Moving.

The powers of above have finally made it happen and we now have orders.
Off to Virginia we go!

We have been waiting since Christmas for our official orders and they have finally been written. Time to back up our life here in Connecticut and head down to Virginia!

It's exciting,
nerve wracking
and
stressful
but it will be a new
adventure!

We are planning a mini 'vacation' early May which really is more of a house hunting trip with a stop at the zoo! Madison is uber excited to find the perfect house for us! In the meantime I have been spending my time taking everything off our walls and patching holes - or the grunt work of a military move! Major bonus though is that we do no packing, hauling or unpacking.

Funny Days with Mommy and Maddie may be a little slow in the next two months with our upcoming busy schedule but have no fear I won't be gone for long!

Preschool Update

Miss Madison has been a preschool kiddo for two weeks! I am going to say she loves it but truthfully I have no clue. She pretty much refuses to talk about it! Occasionally I hear little bits but she always tells me after class "I will tell you about school tomorrow" and in our house tomorrow never comes!

She does seem to like though. Her teachers (yes teachers, she has FOUR) say that she is doing very well and she gets uber excited every Tuesday and Thursday when it is time for school.


Preschool started off on a good note with her too- her first day was Hot Cocoa Day and they had hot cocoa for snack and made a hot cocoa art project! I did hear a bit about this past Tuesday though because they learned a song all about groundhogs and she was eager to sing it allllllll day long.

She seems to have made quite a few friends too, although I don't think any of them actually know her name. Every day someone calls her Alison, Mackenzie or Madelyn. You know how three year olds can be!

Mom, mom there is a new girl in class! Yeah? What's her name? Ummm..... her name is Mashfkjsghswguh. Oh Madelyn? Uhhh yeah Madelyn!

I think she is most excited about her upcoming Valentine's Day party though! We are making some homemade pink glittery playdough for her classmates next week and she has been talking about for a while now.

All in all I think preschool is a good fit for Madison and me! I am loving my mommy time!