More spring cleaning

An uneventful weekend and more spring cleaning got down. Spent most of the weekend cleaning and getting more ideas on my list of "what to do when it warms up". Several items of furniture needs to be repainted (Bailey's dresser and old bookcase) and I might think about painting Bailey's crib since she is part beaver and she has done quite a job on leaving teeth marks on it. Eventually I will paint our bedroom and that should be it on painting of rooms for a while, although the bathroom could use some touching up. The list keeps growing...

James needed some quiet time to work on his homework so I packed up Bailey and headed off to my parents for the day on Sunday. My mother had a nice surprise waiting for Bailey when we got there.
There is Me-Me and Bailey having a tea party with the kitchen set I got to play with long ago. It's missing a few handles and needs a coat of paint but still works. Neither one of my parents could remember how old the kitchen set was but considering it's metal and all the food that was painted on the inside door was name brand items still around today but with old looking logos, I think it's the same age as my middle sister, Terrie. Either way Bailey had a blast playing with the kitchen set and as you can see is quite the little hostess. Although I see myself heading to the store sometime soon, she needs play food. Plenty of dishes but no food for her kitchen and shopping cart.

James and I both have Friday off due to our daycare person moving to a new house. Not sure what we will do, head out of town or stay in town. Guess I better end the blog and start planning something out.

Purging is a four letter word

My company may not pay as much as Embarq does but I do get a lot of holidays off, 12 to be exact. So I spent my holiday off purging Bailey's room of some toys and clothes, this is not exactly how I wanted to spend my day off but it beats saving it all up for the weekend. As I was cleaning and rearranging Bailey's room, I discovered she wasn't the only one that needs to purge out their belongings. We've only lived in this house a little over 3 years and it's full. It's going to be one big garage sale come spring if I don't get all lazy and just forget about it.

Over the weekend Bailey and I attended my cousin's baby shower in Fredonia KS along with my mother and middle sister. I made my mother drive since I needed the two hour trip to finish the last baby bootie up. The hats & booties were a big hit so I heard, I spent my time at the babyshower acrossed the street entertaining a two year in a park due to she was very tired from her trip and was getting very loud at the party.

It was a girls weekend at the farm and Me-Me was a big hit as usual due to a new shopping cart toy she gave to Bailey. The farm house isn't very big but she managed to put few miles on the shopping cart, pushing it all over the house.
On the drive home Bailey kept herself entertained with the new doll bag that Me-Me made for her. She looks like the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland but in pink.
Since Papa stayed home to fix his farm truck so that he can finish up his beans, we'll take her down to see my parents on Sunday. He missed out on the crying for 5 miles when she discovered that we weren't going to Papa's house after meeting back up with James in Louisburg, Ks.

Carpooling with a toddler

It will be a sad day next Monday when we say goodbye to Rabert. Rabert is what James calls his car and we have chosen to only have one car payment in these tough economic times. So we used the money from both our cars to get a newer & bigger car with one low payment. Eventually we will have another vehicle to call our own again but it will have to wait till we have enough money saved up to just pay for it in cash. I'm determined to start paying for more stuff in cash this new year.

Carpooling isn't a big deal to us, since James had shoulder surgery back in May, we got use to driving to work together since only one of us could drive for a month. So no big deal, right? Well back in May James wasn't in school so now two nights a week I get to drop him off and pick him up at night. I kind of got a preview of how this carpooling and Bailey will work tonight.

Bailey: "Where's dada?"
Me: "At school, we're going to pick him up."

Repeat this conversation for 10 miles.

So it's really not a matter of how much I get saved up before we get another car, it's just a matter of how long will I last. Good thing I have a portable DVD player and season 2 of Spongebob, it might be the only thing from keeping me from giving in.

A busy week and the return of cold weather

Cold weather has return to the midwest again, after fighting the cold wind home I realized it's only Monday and this work week is going to suck.

A couple of weekends ago Bailey and I went to my late grandmother's farm in Fredonia, Kansas to visit my uncle Jack and his family. There isn't much to do out there in the country for a toddler so I always bring a sack of toys along for the trip. Guess I should have known with Bailey that she keeps herself entertained pretty easily. Since it was a nice warm day we spent some of it outdoors picking up sticks.

She could have spent all day gathering every little stick out in the yard but eventually she had to come in to play with an old kitchen set that my aunt had around.

Last Sunday we rewarded Bailey with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese for earning stickers for good behavior. We invited her day care friend Alex to come along. When we arrived I was first with watching the two kids in the toddler area while James went to go pay for the pizza. No big deal, I was able to keep them both entertain at the slide and Bob the Builder ride. After James arrived with more tokens, I went to a game that I know I can win tons of tickets from. James and I usually win most of the tickets so that Bailey can at least get something more than candy. I don't think I was gone for more than a couple minutes when I see James dragging two kids through the maze of games looking for me. Well, the two toddlers may have been a bit too much for James but at least Bailey and Alex had a good time.

This coming Friday Bailey and I will be back in Fredonia to attend my cousin's baby shower. The last photo is taken from the porch of my grandmother's house in 65 degree weather, I'm hoping for nice weather again like the last visit.

Happy New Year to you and Spongebob

New Year eve was pretty uneventful except for the common cold. Wednesday night was basically spent trying to catch a toddler and her runny nose. Usually when Bailey doesn't feel well she'll be all clingy and want to snuggle. Usually. Other times when she's sick she gets a wicked case of insomnia and can't go down for a nap, even with me telling her we can't go to Me-Me & Papa's house till a nap has been taken.

So we rang in the new year with watching the Spongebob movie for the second time, waiting for someone to fall asleep. I guess the excitement was too much for James.

Here are a few more pictures from Christmas.