I'm doin just fine. getting along very well....

Life has been the same each day. Nothing really that new. I work. Hang out with Q. We hit up parks, pools, libraries, run errands, and play outside.

At the beginning of the month we moved into our own place, and I love it. It took a couple days to get everything organized, but now we are just chillin. We are renting a two bedroom condo in south orem. It has great freeway access, and since it's on the bottom floor, we can just open up the screen door and hang out on the patio and play in the grass.  It makes us both very happy.

Last week, Kim and the crew moved down, and we've been able to hang out with them a few times. Q loves it. I think she gets sick of mommy time, and wants friends.

Q will start preschool in a couple weeks, and I am so excited for her. She is going to love it. Along with the academic stuff she will also have dance and singing. She has a few performances throughout the year and a recital at the end, so you know this mama is gonna be so happy!

I'm super stoked for the fall tv schedule to start up. I'm working on my tv lineup. There are a couple shows that I have seen ads for that I want to try and work into my schedule. I'll post my line-up when I get it figured out.

The 5th season of Dexter came out on DVD. I was lucky enough to have my brother Mitch send me the blu-ray discs he bought. I finished the season in two days. awesome.

anyone else watch "the sing-off"?


yeah...super excited!!

Anyway.
Just wanted to check-in.

If you leave me now, you'll take away the biggest part of me

So we have a little situation here, so I thought I would take it to the streets and see what you think.

Q has always been a big binky fan. Which has been nice. At around 1.5 years I was able to ween her down to only using the binky when she napped or at night. It worked rather successfully. When she would wake, she would hand over the binky, and not another word was said. 

Now, since our move, we have gone in serious reverse, and she wants the thing ALL THE TIME! and has thrown some major tantrums as a result of me saying "no".  I plan to take away the binky at age 3 (next month), but I don't know what to do in the meantime.  I cannot stand it when she talks with the binky in (a.it's hard to understand her and b.I have a fear it will affect her speech), so I try and make her take it out when she is talking...but that only works about 50% of the time.

So here is the dilemma....

Do I quit fighting her, and just let her have it whenever she wants and then take it away next month?

Do I keep my stance on "when sleeping only" for the next bit, and take it away completely at 3?

Do I just take it away completely now, and deal with the tantrums (since I am getting them anyway)?

Any advice or thoughts are greatly appreciated!

Feed the birds, tuppence a bag, Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag.

The other evening, Q and I went to a cute park near our house. She was super excited about feeding the ducks and playing on the toys. 

She laughed every time she threw a piece of bread into the water, and was so happy when the ducks would eat it.  She had absolutely no aim, but was really happy when the bread would land in different spots so all the ducks could have some food. 

 

I didn't bring nearly enough bread (bad mom), but she had fun nonetheless. 

After the ducks, we went over to the playground and rode the swings for bit. 

Then she found a cute little "friend" and played on the big toy for a long while. climbing the stairs, going up and down on the slides. She was in heaven. Plus, another little family, had a couple small dogs there, and Q just loved petting them. She even got crouched down, patting her legs and calling them "Sandy...come here Sandy, come here Sandy" (In her mind all dogs are named Sandy...thanks Annie). 

It was a good little evening. 

work..cover girl...work it girl...

PLACEkids Model Search
id#60674

free money and clothes? heck yes!

don't worry, if Q becomes famous we won't forget about you. haha :)

just like me, they long to be, close to you.

I've mentioned before, that Q is my little shadow. If I'm around, she doesn't like to be too far away. So when it's time for me to work, she is quick to set up her own little station next to me.

Q is a big fan of play doh, and I won some serious "good mom" points when I made this little rose for her. I guess all those hours watching cake decorating shows, gave me a good eye for play doh flowers. hahaha. 

Speaking of cute flowers, look at this adorable flower clip Q got from Piper. We had a fun play date with Piper and her daughter Harper, and not only did I leave with some great samples of some products Piper makes, but Q got this adorable flower clip. She was holding that thing the whole drive home. Rubbing it on her face, and saying "so cute. She gave it to me. How nice!". It was so cute. 

And we'll remember this when we are old and ancient. Though the specifics might be vague.

Every summer SLC hosts a Twilight Concert Series (not affiliated with those vampire books) in Pioneer Park. It's a free concert with vendors stationed around the edges.  One Thursday, I headed up to the concert with Cali, Joey, and Shane. I'm always down for concerts, and the appeal of "free" made it a must.  We got there, parked near the park in a sweet free parking space Shane knew about, walked to the park where we set our chairs and blankets up in a decent spot under a tree and far enough away from the stage to avoid the real concert craziness, then headed over to get something to eat outside the park.  Shane and I got something at this Thai place while Cali and Joey shared a delicious sandwich from Bruges waffles and frites. it was pretty hot out, but once the sun went down a bit, it made for a perfect night.
After dinner we headed back to our spot, to talk and people watch until the concert started. It was so much fun! There was a such an eclectic group of people there, and some real "gems" to stare at. It was the perfect idea to bring chairs, cause we could sit or stand, and just relax while we listened to music.

(this is possibly the worst angle for me, but I love the picture)

(cousins)

(I thought the evergreen tree background was so fitting for them)

(aren't they cute)

(it was a jam packed park)

Both of the bands were from the Portland area, which apparently has a big up and coming music scene, and I enjoyed both acts. The opening band was Typhoon, and the lead singer had a very cool and interesting voice. I really liked them.  The main act, and the one that Shane/Cali/Joey were excited to see was the decemberists.  I had a heard a couple of their songs before, and have since downloaded a bunch.  They were really good, and sounded great live. they did two encores, which was cool, cause the second encore was Cali's favorite song, and she was so excited she got to hear it!  After the concert it didn't take long to walk back to our car, and head out.  funny side story: on the way out, we saw a fight in front of the homeless shelter. and yes...we totally pulled over to we could watch.

what a great ending.  what a great night.