Spring break Friday

More than any other day this week, Maisie has been looking forward to today most of all because she knew that we were going to pick up Maya this morning and head to the horse farm where the two of them, along with two other friends, will be attending horseback riding camp for a week in June.

Maisie and Maya loved meeting and petting some of the horses.

Hand in hand the girls toured the facility.

They met the ponies that they’ll be riding this summer.

And they went off exploring the grounds with some of the girls working at the farm.  

They met one of the two older horses who roam free at the ranch.

And pretended to be horses in the indoor rink.

Maisie had a smile on her face the entire time we were at the barn.

The girls gave farewell pats to the horses and said their goodbyes until they return in June.  

Maisie is super excited and can’t wait for horseback riding camp to begin.

We returned home for a lunch of dumplings and carrot sticks with dip.

Then we spent time wrapping eggs in silk ties to make Easter eggs.

We rolled each egg in the fabric and then with tiny rubber bands, twisted the ends to secure the fabric. 

The eggs looked so pretty all twisted in their fabric and we couldn’t wait to see how they would turn out.

While the eggs cooked the girls played.

It was fun to see the eggs once the silk was removed. 

Maisie and Maya with some of the eggs that Maya took home.

The color on a few of the eggs was just too light so Maisie took her markers and crayons to those while I finished unwrapping the remaining cooked eggs.

Maisie with a selection of our silk dyed eggs.  Overall they came out really well and it was a fun and easy project.

Post number eight and still going strong in my quest to blog each and every day this month as I’m participating in M3’s Spring Fling! 30 posts in 30 days.  Thank you to everyone who is commenting, it’s nice to know that people are reading and enjoying Moments with Maisie.  Again, a big thank you to those who have commented or emailed blog post suggestions.  I will be posting some recipes, cooking tips and bentos after the fun and busy days of spring break ends.  Please keep the ideas coming, I love all the suggestions.

Spring break Thursday

Our original plans for today included meeting up with some FCC play group friends at a painting studio where everyone would paint a canvas and then we’d all go out for lunch together.  The owner of the studio sort of flaked on us and even though the gal who was arranging the day booked and confirmed the day, the owner at the last minute realized that it was spring break week and oh, she’s not going to be open.  When we found out that our original plans wouldn’t be happening, Maisie and I made plans to meet up with one of the gals and her daughter for pottery painting and lunch but unfortunately the little girl came down with something and after a visit to the doctor yesterday those plans had to cancelled.  So, plans for today just kept changing and changing but in the end Maisie and I had a fun day together, just the two of us.

Our day started out really well as Maisie slept until 7:15 which is really late for her and allowed me some extra rest.  Then she just wanted to eat a granola bar and watch a show while lounging in bed. PER-FECT a great way to start my day!!

A little while back I bought a DS “game” for Maisie and tucked it away thinking that I would put it in her Easter basket.  This morning we were looking at some books and I was thinking of taking her to the library but then I remembered the “game” and decided to give it to her.  Junior Classic Books and Fairytales essentially turns her DS into an e-reader.  I thought that Maisie would really enjoy it but she absolutely LOVED it, carried it with her all day and was hooked!  Today she read Rapunzel.

Maisie looked so grown up, legs crossed, reading her e-book.  What has happened to my little girl, she’s growing up too quickly!

Since all of our plans got cancelled for today I thought that I would use a Groupon and Living Social deal to take my girl out for lunch and a treat on the cheap! 

On our way to lunch there’s a house that we pass that does over the top holiday decorations and today we checked out their Easter display.

It is always fun to see their holiday displays and I’m always thankful that someone else does this because I couldn’t even imagine the time, work and effort that goes into getting it all up and then taking it all down and packing it away.  Very fun though.

Here is Maisie still reading while waiting for her lunch.  It was a gorgeous day here in Georgia and so nice to be able to enjoy our meal outside.

After lunch we headed out to Scoops which is a charming ice cream, coffee, candy and cake shop.  Maisie’s favorites are the chewy candies.

The shop is a lot of fun and they have a great party room with gumball tables.

Jars, walls and racks of candy, there’s really something for everyone.

Maisie has attitude in front of the fresh made candy case. 

We had a nice conversation with the owner Pam, she is just darling and was so sweet with Maisie.  

We then ran a few errands and didn’t return home until late afternoon.  Both of us had only eaten half of our lunch so we had those leftovers for dinner, played a round of Game of Life and then it was bedtime for Maisie after another fun filled day.

We have great plans for tomorrow and Maisie is super excited so she quickly went to sleep and I hopefully won’t be far behind her.

Today is day seven in my quest to blog each and every day this month as I’m participating in M3’s Spring Fling! 30 posts in 30 days.  A big thank you to those who have commented or emailed blog post suggestions.  So far a lot of people are asking for recipes, cooking tips and bentos so I will be doing those.  Please keep the ideas coming though as once the fun-filled days of spring break are over I’ll be needing all the help I can get!

Spring break Wednesday

Maisie spent a couple of hours this morning at her friend/classmate Maya’s home.  Maisie was a bit hesitant about staying at Maya’s house without me because other than when she goes next door to K & A’s house, I’m always with her on play dates.  Once at Maya’s the girls were all giggly and smiles and Maisie forgot all about me as she immediately ran off with her friend.  After a few minutes of talking with Maya’s Mom Cecilie, I headed out to run an errand and do a little cleaning at home. 

It seemed really weird and lonely for me to leave Maisie and not have her with me all morning.  I’m not really sure why I missed her so much today as she goes to school and activities without me all the time.  Maybe it’s just that it’s spring break and I sort of had it in my mind that other than gymnastics she would be with me all week.  I don’t know…but when it was time to go an pick up my girl I was one happy Mama.

Two hours after leaving Maisie I returned to Maya’s house and the girls were eating a lunch of peanut butter and lettuce sandwiches.  I have to say that peanut butter and lettuce seemed a bit weird to me and I’m not sure that I would even want to try it but it’s one of Maya’s favorites, Maisie ate it and it’s healthy enough so who am I to judge???  I did ask Maisie if she would want peanut butter and lettuce sandwiches again and she said “no thank you.”  Even though she doesn’t want to eat that sandwich again I have to say that she was a good little guest and did eat what was served.

Maya’s house is right near Maisie’s gym so we had planned the day so that I could take her straight to practice.  We arrived a bit early so Maisie had time to eat a string cheese, even though she had finished eating lunch not even 20 minutes earlier, and also hang out with fellow gymnast Kaylee.

I can’t believe that spring break is half over, the days have been busy, fun and are flying by.  Our plans for tomorrow unfortunately just had to be cancelled and postponed so I’ll have to think of something fun that Maisie and I can enjoy together without too much out door time as the Georgia pollen is really bothering both of us.

Today is day six in my quest to blog each and every day this month as I’m participating in M3’s Spring Fling! 30 posts in 30 days.  A big thank you to those who have commented or emailed blog post suggestions.  Please keep the ideas coming as once the fun-filled days of spring break are over I’ll be needing all the help I can get!

Spring break Tuesday

Today Maisie and I met up with friends from our from our second and third kids cooking class, Jenny, Kelley and Kevin (and Kevin’s friend Antonio) for a fun play day.

Our morning started when we met at a local bowling alley.  It wasn’t until we were getting ready to leave that another group arrived so it was a little weird being in a very quiet bowling alley but it was nice having the place to ourselves. 

Kelley and Maisie were so sweet helping each other with the heavy balls.

Maisie lining up her shot.

Checking out Kelley’s roll.

Jenny hugging Maisie and Kelley while the boys bowled. 

Maisie loved the feel of the fan blowing her hair.

Antonio and Kevin.

All the children had fun and bowled well with Kelley & Maisie both ending the game with the exact same score.

After bowling everyone was hungry and Maisie chose the local Chinese/Hibachi/Sushi place and it was a big hit with all the children.  Receiving balloons at the end of their meal was an added bonus.

After lunch we headed to Jenny’s home where the girls had fun drawing and writing notes to one another and playing.  Maisie was in no rush to leave at the end of our visit.  The entire drive home Maisie told me that she missed Kelley and asked when they would play again, how soon could I arrange the next play date and how long would it be until we could put a date on her calendar…Guess she really enjoyed her time with Kelley.  I know that I really enjoyed the day as Jenny is as much, if not more, into cooking as I am so we had lots and lots to talk about and we’re looking forward to a shopping and cooking day together for us while the little girls play.

Once home Maisie couldn’t wait to play the Game of Life, it’s her new favorite activity.

Today was another fun day for Maisie & Mama and now I’m five down and 25 to go in my quest to blog each and every day this month as I’m participating in what M3’s has now dubbed Spring Fling! 30 posts in 30 days.  Thank you to those who have commented or emailed blog post suggestions, please keep them coming as once the fun-filled days of spring break are over I’ll be needing all the help I can get!

Spring break Monday

Eammon worked from home this morning before his flight and Maisie kept herself entertained and tried her best not to let Baba travel alone.  Actually Eammon and Maisie played a few rounds of hide and seek and Maisie found Eammon’s suitcase to be a great hiding place.

I on the other hand would have loved to play hide and seek especially if Nurse Terrie never found me. 

Once I returned home Maisie showed me that she had some new words that she wanted to teach me.   Do you think I should be worried about her choice of words??

I was then given an oral math test which she had prepared for me.

She even had a complete answer key.  First real school day off and Maisie must really be missing being in her class.  I love that she enjoys school so much and wants to play school when she’s not there…but her tests are hard!

Because all the children are on spring break Maisie’s gymnastics practice is on a special early schedule this week.  So a little after lunch we headed to the gym for her 3 hours there.

She makes it look so easy.  Very luckily for her too, all of her gymnastics, splits, back walkovers, kart wheels she does just as easily and as well both righty and lefty. 

After dropping Maisie at the gym I had to get petrol as my low fuel warning light was flashing and I was on fumes.  Now don’t laugh because I’m pretty positive that most people reading this blog pay a lot more to fill up their car but I drive a Prius and this is my most expensive fill-up ever, I was totally shocked to see that ‘3’ as the first number.  Thankfully with spring break I’ll get a week to ten days off this fill-up so I can’t complain too much.

I picked Maisie up from the gym and then “splurged” on dinner at IHOP because I can be a real “big spender” and treat my girl when it’s children eat free after 4PM  ;-)  After dinner we returned home and played Game of Life.  Maisie loves playing the game on my iPhone so I thought it would be fun to play the board game.  I forgot how much was involved in the game so it took a while for me to re-familiarize myself but once we got into it we had fun.  I’ll tell you though, the game is a great way to practice math and reading skills.  It didn’t take long for Maisie to get the hang of paydays and that if she had a career that paid $50,000 and she had three $10,000 pay raises, that the bank owed her $80,000 and she counted it out each and every time. 

Well four down and 26 to go in my quest to blog each and every day this month.  Oh my though, I fear that by the end of the month when Maisie’s on her regular schedule of wake up, eat breakfast, go to school, come home from school, do homework, go to gymnastics, come home from gymnastics, eat dinner, wash up, go to bed, I’ll be desperate enough for blog material that I’ll be posting daily pictures of seedlings growing and even for me, the blog will be about as interesting as watching grass grow.  So, if anyone has some blog topic suggestions I’d love to hear from you.

Sparkles the Pegasus

Maisie has never attached to any toy, blanket or object and isn’t even a real toy lover as she much prefers to be active, do projects in a school workbook or pretend play in her kitchen and now her doll house.  For years Maisie and I have walked through toy isles and she would never ask me to buy anything for her.  Then back the end of January, we were both adjusting to her being back in school after seven weeks off, her new three hour/three days a week gymnastics schedule and having work done in the house making our family room and kitchen unusable for days and it was late Friday morning, she was being such a good girl, had completed all her school work and was so well behaved even after being cooped up in the house with work people so we decided to make a quick run to Wal*mart to pick up a few items.  While walking through we passed a take 50% off the clearance price toy table and I stopped to take a quick look.  Well Maisie spotted this large 19-inch tall white horse and for the first time EVER asked if I would buy a toy for her because she loved the horse.  Well she had been such a little star, so well behaved and good and seeing that she had NEVER asked for a toy before (or since) and the fact that the horse after the additional 50% off was only $8, I just had to say yes.   

Maisie immediately named the horse Sparkles and plays with her all.the.time, she does love this horse.  Today though she decided that Sparkles was magical and should sport wings and be able to fly.  So Sparkles is now Pegasus Sparkles and is having a grand time flying her way through the house.

Yesterday after Maisie’s fall* we weren’t able to make it back to the car dealer to pick up my car but it wasn’t a problem as I had no where to go last night and thankfully they’re open on Sundays!  So this morning after Sparkles became a Pegasus, Eammon took Maisie for a couple hours of playtime at Chuck E. Cheese’s.  After that we all headed over to pick up my car and then we enjoyed a quick and delicious late lunch at Tin Drum before heading home. 

Today is a gorgeous sunny, breezy and warm day but we have a pollen count probably in the couple of thousands as everything outside looks like it has a dusting of greenish yellow snow.  Despite all the pollen, after lunch Maisie helped me pull her car seat from my car and vacuum up all the raisins, goldfish, cheerios, miscellaneous crumbs, crackers and debris and wipe & vacuum as much of the pollen off the dash and interior before it started settling again.  After that short time outside though we were both wheezing from the crazy high pollen count and retreated to conditioned space. 

Maisie spent the rest of the afternoon working on her computer, playing with Pegasus Sparkles, dressing up, playing school, decorating and redecorating the rooms in her doll house, helping Eammon pack and just being an all around fun and great kid…Love my girl!

I can’t believe that the weekend is almost over but it’s spring break this week so Maisie and I will have some fun times and activities together.  Yeah fodder for my 30 days of blogging!

* Icing Maisie’s bruise seemed to really help as today it doesn’t look any worse (or better yet) than yesterday but she’s not complaining of any pain and soon it will heal.

This is so me!

Yesterday M3 set herself the challenge of posting everyday this month to her blog and I was quick to wish her luck and tell her that she’s a better blogger than me.  But here I am on the second day of April ready with my second blog post and well shoot, I’m just going to follow her lead and try to post each and every day this month.  This should be quite a challenge for me as I am not always…well how do I put it…focused, organized, all-there.  The following little video is a perfect example of how I get through my day so wish me luck on this daily posting gig!

I laughed so hard when I saw this because it is such a PERFECT example of me!!

I looked back at my blog to see what was happening last April 2nd and how funny to see that it was the day that Steve and I started our seeds for the garden. 

We beat it by one day this year as yesterday he and I got some of our seeds started.  We’re so colorful this year!  We have more seeds to start but for now we have butternut squash, jalapeno peppers, scotch bonnet peppers, Jimmy Nardello peppers, watermelon, gala melon and long beans.

Our garden is one giant pile of wood chips right now but very soon it will be bursting with fruits and vegetables and our neighbors will be pretending that they’re not home when we ring their doorbells trying to pawn off bags and bags of produce.

This morning bright and oh-so-very-early the gutter guys arrived to finally complete our roofing job which was started back in early November!!  Between Thanksgiving, us being away most of December in Aruba, then Christmas, New Years, and then my putting it off because of dealing with the burst water line, our schedule, being sick and all the bad weather, well Jupiter must have aligned with Mars as we were home, the gutter guys had an open day and there was beautiful dry weather so the work was completed.  Hallelujah, so glad to have the entire roofing job finished.

After the gutter guys arrived we took my car over to the dealer for its 30K maintenance and then the three of us headed down to Buford Hwy for a dim sum brunch which was just wonderful.  All the waitresses fawned over Maisie and kept trying to speak Mandarin with her.  It was funny as they kept telling us how much of me they saw in her face.  They said that she looked a mix of me and Chinese and kept giving the big, very white, English/Irish guy (Eammon) funny looks as to where he fit into the picture. 

After brunch we headed home, Maisie and I ran a few errands while Eammon rested and then once home again, Eammon took Maisie to the playground. 

While Eammon was on the phone with me checking on the status of my car and when he’d need to take me over to pick it up, poor little Maisie fell and scraped & bruised her chin. 

Eammon brought her straight home and we got ice on the bruise but within minutes of her falling it started turning black and blue.  Hopefully with icing it, it won’t get much worse than it is currently and we’ll stay accident free from here on in.

Off to Cold Stone to get some ice cream because ice cream heals all hurts.

 

 

 

Spring break

Spring break for Maisie began Thursday afternoon when I picked her and her friend/classmate Maya up from school.  These two girls though have a routine and without a word or any prompting from me, the first thing they did when we got home was to pull out their homework and get all their work completed.

They enjoyed doing their work together and It didn’t take them long and they were finished.

Then they were off to play…I think in this picture they were a Mommy and baby lion but who could keep track as they kept changing what they were playing but they had a blast and were well behaved so it didn’t matter.  The two of them loved spending the afternoon together and were both sad to say goodbye when Maya’s Mom came to get her but the girls will get together next week over spring break and they’ll play some more.

My Grandfather made this doll house for my Mother when she was a little girl and then I used it when I was a little girl and it has been tucked away for years just waiting for the next little girl to be ready for it.  It still had the original paint and was in need of a bit of a facelift so over the past week I’ve worked on sanding and painting it in the colors of Maisie’s choosing.  Today the paint was finally dry and Maisie had a blast setting up all the furniture and playing with her new doll house.

Maisie spent a few hours playing with her new doll house and I was so happy to see her enjoying it and having as much fun with it as I remember having as a little girl.

Tonight Eammon returns from a week long business trip so Maisie will enjoy the first weekend of spring break with Mama & Baba before the Mama & Maisie activities of the week begin.