Not ready for fall but ready for some football

I'm still in denial that summer is over! Trees here in Ohio are already beginning to change color. What?!? How can September be here in a few days?

Despite the fact that I'm not ready for fall I am DEFINITELY ready for football season to begin. This year we'll be closely watching two football teams. Our GB Packers and now also the NY Jets.

I have a feeling the Jets have a better chance of success this season. What team/s are you rooting for?

Always the last to leave

These ladies pictured here with me are my lunch bunch pals. During our church's Thursday morning Bible study we all stayed after and ate lunch together with our accompanying children (7 munchkins total). Hence our self-proclaimed moniker lunch bunch. Creative, I know.

After the study ended we continued getting together for bi-monthly summer playdates and monthly girls' nights out (affectionately abbreviated GNOs).

It has been SO refreshing and encouraging to chill with these fellow moms in the trenches! We are like giddy highschoolers during our GNO's and as this post's title implies we enjoy our time out so much we always linger until closing time.

Thus far we've had three GNO's. The first was rather conventional; we met at Panera, ate dinner, drank bottomless-mug-coffee and chatted it up. The second GNO we met for fondue dipping fun at The Melting Pot. To make a fondue night reasonably priced we only did the chocolatey dessert part. Y-U-M. For our third and most recent GNO the ladies came to my town and I showed them my favorite sights. Produce shopping at our local health market, bacon cheeseburgers as my fave mom-and-pop restaurant, and then coffee at the eclectic and artsy Jimmy's cafe (pictured above).

Do you have a gaggle of gals you hang with? If so, what fun activities have you done together?

Blogging Catch-22

We have had an incredibly busy week. I've had LOADS to blog about but absolutely no time! I can't count how many times I've begun a post and been called away only to leave my post unfinished and unposted.

I call it the blogging catch-22. Too much to blog about and too little time.

I am very much looking forward to a less-busy fall routine! This fall we'll have Bible study and library story-time weekly and a preschool co-op every other week. In between those commitments I plan on doing "Mommy school" with Chloe to teach her phonics. (I've finally decided on a curriculum: Phonics Pathways which I've checked out from the library. And I hope to continually renew it. I will be the bane of the Hudson library.)

What does your fall schedule look like? Can you believe it's fall already?!?

The big bash

Chloe's big ole buggy birthday bash went super well on Saturday! This party was by far the biggest I've ever thrown and I was more than a little nervous I'd forget something. We had plenty of food and it seemed like everyone had a fun time.

Thankfully my mom and grandma were here to help. I put them to work watching kids, cutting fruit, or making bug-shaped pbjs. And Clive was a doll during the whole thing. In fact he slept through most of the party! Poor guy didn't even get to swing at the piñata. Next year, buddy!

As the pint-sized guests arrived we directed them to play some pre-set games. Since the theme was insects we arranged three buggy games that the kids could play whenever there was down time. Kids could pin the head on the caterpillar (double-sided tape actually), fish for magnetic ladybugs, or hunt for plastic bugs. When asked later what Chloe liked the best about her party she quickly replied, "I liked hunting for bugs!"

Once the guests had all arrived and mingled for a bit we brought out the food followed by a winding caterpillar birthday cake made of cupcakes. Talk about easy peasy! And it looked so cute and was wonderfully simple to serve and clean up. Maybe next year we'll do a cupcake snake. :)

Next was piñata time! Matt gets total credit for the piñatas this year. He crafted them all from start to finish and rigged up the ropes. He even nestled them into the tree looking down at the kids. Matt made 3 piñatas for the party since there were so many kids. He wanted to make sure every kid got a chance to whack at a bee.

We hustled everyone into gift opening and then the shindig was over. A few guests lingered afterwards and the adults chatted over coffee while the little ones played with Chloe's very popular newly-given princess tea set.

WHEW! Many thanks to Matt, my mom, and my grandma for helping pull off a truly bug-tacular birthday party.

Happy third birthday, my sweet Chloe-bug!

Free membership in Freepeats this week only!

Be sure to take advantage of FREE lifetime membership this week only at freepeats.org. Freepeats is an organization started by the author of the amazingly helpful babycheapskate blog. Freepeats is similar to freecycle; members swap kid, baby, and maternity items by posting via a local forum. So far freepeats is available in 25 major cities. Check here to see if there's a freepeats near you. And read all about the free membership details here.

Hurry and take advantage of this free membership by Wednesday, August 20.

I'm curious to know how many of you are involved in freepeats. I've been e-watching it for awhile now but never could break down to pay the membership fee. I'm rejoicing (loudly) that I can join free. As Wayne and Garth would say, "Score!" Let me know what great items you receive through this wonderful organization!

Happy three year old birthday, Chloe-pie!

Today my baby girl is THREE YEARS OLD!!!!!

It's astounding. I'm more than slightly nostalgic and sad that my baby has so quickly become a little girl. At least she still has her chubby baby cheeks.

Last night I told her again the story of the day (early morning actually) that God brought her into this world. I admit that my eyes welled a bit when I closed her bedroom door and said, "Goodnight my two-year old."

My mom and grandma are flying in tomorrow and the big birthday bash happens on Saturday so I apologize ahead of time for my upcoming lack of blogging.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of my baby as she's grown over these three years.

Anyone else tired of seeing Hannah Montana?

I've been out shopping quite a bit lately as we prepare for Chloe's big third birthday party. In every store I am haunted by Hannah Montana's toothy smile.

Why is Hannah Montana plastered on EVERYTHING?!?! Purses, folders, shirts, pencils, binders, curtains, little girls' undies, board games, party plates, bean bag chairs, stickers . . .

Is there no end to the shameless marketing? It's as if girls have no choice but to like Hannah Montana. As Chloe grows I will try my hardest to steer her to role models that aren't being shoved down her throat by packaging and hype. (As my mom reads this I can hear her laughing as she recalls my days of mindless infatuation of such greats as New Kids on the Block and McHammer).

Who did you absolutely adore when you were a teen or tween?

Preschool resources

It's time to open the floodgates by asking you all out there in blogger land about preschool. As most of you have youngins' of preschool or kindergarten age, I'm sure you're swimming in resources!

Here are my specific questions:

1. What phonics program do you prefer and why?
2. What educational philosophy book/resource would you recommend?
3. What websites or other resources do you use for creative activity and craft ideas?
4. In your experience, what type of activities do you think are the most effective for 3-4 year olds?

I realize those are some loaded questions. Feel free to answer one or all of them! Thanks in advance for your input!

Waiting for my thyroid to die

Thursday I found out that I suffer from something called Hashimoto's thyroiditis. It sounds dreadful, doesn't it? It's an autoimmune disease. My body is attacking and killing my thyroid gland. Yikes!

According to my doc though, this is a common disorder. Once my thyroid burns out I'll have to take a synthetic thyroid replacement for the rest of my life.

The last few days my energy level has been incredibly up and down. I'm guessing the utter fatigue and contrasting adrenaline rushes are normal as my thyroid dies out.

Do any of you struggle with thyroid problems? I'm just beginning to research this so I'm open to any information and advice you can give me!

An update

Somehow a week has flown by and I've not blogged one lick!

My in-laws have come and gone (boo-hoo!) and we've had an activity-filled week. We had a truly fantastic visit with the in-laws; it was so sad to say goodbye and to think about all the changes that will take place before we see them again next year. Click here to see some pictures of the visit.

Clive is 7 months old now and changing constantly. He has two bottom teeth in and one top tooth pushing through. He is THE happiest baby ever! He's also incredibly easygoing and doesn't cry much (unless he's starving of course). Now if he would just lose the nasty habit of waking up at 5 a.m. . . .

Chloe turns three next week. I will be the mom of a three year old?!? She's very much her own girl right now with her own strange ideas and sense of humor. She's still as sweet as can be. We're doing a big shebang for her birthday party. An insect-themed party complete with piñata, bug hunt, and lots of little preschoolers running around in the backyard. Should be memorable!

As for us, Matt is plugging away at his dissertation. Chapter 1 is done and he's well into chapter 2. Progress is slow but constant. We celebrate our 6th anniversary next week and I've been diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease. Sounds horribly serious, doesn't it? It's not really though. It just means my thyroid is going to burn out one of these days and then I'll have to take a pill (Synthroid) which does what my thyroid should do .

What's going on with your family?

Anyone need baby announcements?

Now that Clive is 7 months old (where did the time go?!?) I should finally admitting that I will not get baby announcements sent out. Ah well.

So can anyone take these announcements off my hands? I have 18 blue and white polka dot cards, 20 blue envelopes, and 19 "It's a boy" stickers. Some of the stickers aren't so sticky anymore thanks to my dear Chloe.

I'd happily mail these out if you can use them. First one to comment gets 'em!

Did you send out announcements to proclaim your children's births?