Farmer Matt Plants His Summer 2010 Crops

I can't believe I haven't posted pics of Matt's garden yet.. I'm really excited this year. We have a few new things and it looks like it's going to be a big success.. last year the pumpkins never panned out but this year Matt tried zucchini and broccoli (or brocky at Maddie calls it) and both are growing big and strong. My mom said she hasn't even been able to plant anything in WI yet, and we're already enjoying sweet peas.. just another great reason to pay a boatload of money to live in sunny CA! :)

Brocky


Zucchini


Carrots and Anaheim Peppers


Sweet Peas


I'll update with more photos as things progress.. the tomatoes look big and strong.. cucumbers I'm not so sure about, but hopefully Matt will keep talking nice to them and we'll be eating good this year.. I love eating from the backyard..

Reason number 203 to have a garden: you get take your kid outside after dinner and proudly show her what you've done and where her food actually comes from.

Mother's Day Celebration Continues

Yesterday my MOMS Club held their annual Mother's Tea/Fundraiser... yours truly was the auctioneer for the live auction! I had a blast and so did all the other ladies.... and we raised $1,300!!! Not bad for a bunch of stay at home moms! We had approx 13 items for the auction and like 30 raffles... I bid on and won two months at Gymboree (on top of the one month that we won in April at the 5k run so we now have classes throughout the summer). I also won a $40 bottle of wine, a mini-facial, a month at a local gym, and the title of "funniest auctioneer ever"!

We also discovered who our mystery moms were at the Tea... and I can't believe this but I received another gift!! My mystery mom really outdid herself... thank you so much Heidi!!

Here's what came one evening the week before Mother's Day.



This biscotti was soooo good and I'm really sad to say, I ate most of them by myself.. ugh! She also included thee cutest apron for Maddie! I can't wait for Miss Maddie to help me in the kitchen. What great memories we'll create, and daddy will be happy with all the chocolate chip cookies.

This is what she gave me at the tea...



seriously Heidi.. $20 was our gift limit. :) I told her I felt like I had a new boyfriend that was courting me.. flowers, chocolate, Oprah, and now coffee and a journal! She rocks and apparently she knows me really well.

Maddie teaching her baby how to drive



So cute until she decided to eat her face! :)



A gift for Ms. Bonnie.
Maddie and I have enjoyed our Horizon Hills Parenting class so much. We joined back in December and have really made some great friends and I learned allot about personalities, playing, and growing (both of us!). We wanted to show her teacher how much we appreciated her and I found a really cute idea online. I was so proud of my work and showed Matt.. he didn't think it much looked like a "B"... 10 minutes later, I realized her was indeed correct and I did it over... MUCH Better! Thanks Lovie!

BEFORE (along with a homemade card)



AFTER (much better!) It's allot harder to make a letter out of crayons than I thought.

Happy Mother's Day

I LOVE being a mommy! What a lucky person I am to be Maddie's mommy.

Many days I find myself second guessing decisions and wondering if I'm doing the very best for Maddie. I have a new found respect for my own mom as I realize what a hard job being a good mommy really is. Wheat bread vs white bread, not such a tough decision, but handling tantrums, and "unreasonable" outburts (and aren't they all?! - hee hee) certainly can make for a long day. Soooo when we have day like today, despite no nap, Maddie was shining as the star of the party, it makes all those tears and boogies so worth it. I'm truly impressed with the little girl she's becoming and it seems to be happening so very fast! She's 18 months already, yikes!

I'm glad to have a day like today to reflect on my new life as a mommy and realize my best IS what's best for Maddie. She's such a joy to have and I can't even begin to express the amount of love I have for her. Hopefully one day when she's a mommy she'll realize what I see now. There is no stronger love than between a parent and child. Makes me miss my mom even more. I love you mom!

I received an amazing gift this morning... a HD digital video camera that is sure to survive a one foot toilet drop, some drool, and most anything else a toddler could think to do with it. It's water proof and built for rugged handling. It's a Kodak Playsport and takes pretty good quality videos and still photos (still working on figuring out all the settings though). The best part is it's as small as a cell phone so hopefully I can catch Maddie being her cute self without being caught.. once she sees a camera of any sort, she wants to see photos and video of herself and doesn't care that she's the star of any new videos. One of those new mommy skills is heading off crying fits before they start.. not by giving in but by distracting as best as possible.

Anyhoo, I may not know how to send or receive a text message, but now I can record our lives in HD! :)



We were invited to brunch at Auntie Pam and Alyx's house and Maddie quickly became the bell of the ball as Pam's family fawned over her every quirky smile and word. She was LOVING it! She especially loved seeing her buddy Cobie, their dog.
She was quite a funny girl showing them how very smart she is and learning new tricks like the fist bump and perfecting her high five.

She didn't get a nap today and that really started to show just before dinner time, but she did so well for the couple of hours we were there and best of all, she was so busy with everyone else's attention, mommy got a break. :)

Happy Mother's Day (Daddy)!



Yesterday at a Cinco de Mayo party, Crista was telling another friend that Maddie could count to ten.. Yeh right! I laughed at her, until she showed us.. I still can't believe it. Thank you Elmo for teaching her. Elmo is a good mommy too! :)



Now I can't stop asking her to do it! :)



Some more dinner fun.. I call this one "chicken".



We've only sang the ABC's a few times but she catches on fast.. listen closely.



Happy Mother's Day to all my Mommy friends and family!

All Strawberried Out & Lucky Times

Monday, Maddie and I went Strawberry picking. Our original plan was to go last Tuesday but we were rained out... literally just before we paid and hopped on the tractor. We went with another Horizon Hills (the school I take Maddie to on Tuesdays) class as a makeup day and I'm so glad we did it.

Maddie had an absolute blast. She ate at least 7 berries in the field and I was having a hard time keeping up with her consumption! The field we went to had a lot of half ripened berries but with a bit of digging and poking at every bush, we found enough to fill our two containers plus feed the berry monster's desires! If anyone gets a chance to visit the Underwood Farms in Moorpark, I highly recommend doing so. It can be a bit pricey per person and seriously, $10 for a pony ride (is that really the going rate?) but the photos and fun are priceless!






Berry # 6 or 7


Proof that I was there!


Farmer Matt Jr.


Checking out the tires.. oh the sweet rolls on this girl's arms!


Playing in the wooden choo-choo


My girlfriend Sarah, Isabella and Maddie and I are making plans to go as well. We miss you guys! Maddie woke up with boogers today so it will be a bit before we see you again.. I hate the boogers! Mostly because we miss out on all the playdates and we get stuck at home or at our little park as to not spread the "love". Maddie and I drive each other crazy just sitting at home. I can only take so much Elmo and she can only take so much Oprah! :)

I've been absolutely spoiled the past few weeks. My MOMS Club has a Mystery Mom game going on right now until Mother's Day. Each person that wanted to join filled out a questionnaire, and was then assigned a mom. We're suppose to keep it a secret and surprise our moms with a surprise each week. So far I've gotten some really great things, including a perfectly sweet card this week. Next week we need to bake (or purchase) our mom a surprise and leave it at their doorstep. I dropped off a gift last week for my mom, parked one house down, and trotted to her front door, dropped it off and ran like (you know what!) back to my car. It was so much fun! My friend Tina and I used to play ding-dong-ditch to our parents (we had NO neighbors living in the boonies) and it totally reminded me of that... I had to pee when I got back to my car from all the excitement! Hope she enjoyed the gift as much as I enjoyed dropping it off! :)

First I received flowers, dark and milk chocolate


Next she asked a neighbor to bring over a mocha and cute pad of paper because we were playing outside when she drove by.


Finally awesome lotion, shower gel, and an Oprah magazine! (someone should tell her we were only suppose to buy one $5 gift.. that won't be me!)


To add to the excitement of my week, I found out this morning that I won a raffle from our Horizon Hills parenting class. Each class donated items or money to a theme basket and the school sold raffle tickets. I spent $10 total in my contribution and ticket purchase and came away with thee perfect basket for me.. the theme? BAKING!! It's filled with anything and everything including cook books, pans, measuring and mixing utensils, cake mixes, sprinkles, a beautiful apron, and best of all cookie cutters! It's ginormous and the pictures don't do it any sort of justice. It was a very successful fundraiser with $3,300 profit for the school and Matt is bound to get a few chocolate chip cookies out of the deal.

We bought lottery tickets for tonight and rubbed the basket for good luck!
Update: Just checked.. we only had the mega number so we only get like $2.. don't call us asking to borrow money cuz we aren't millionaires (yet!).




One last thing..

Cute Goat For Sale: Will shred any paper product you wish, or don't wish to be destroyed. Does not discriminate against toilet paper, work paper, or school papers (willing to rent to high schoolers to use as an excuse). Again, she's lucky she's darn cute!





Syrah's new napping spot, Maddie's changing table


She's fattening up nicely.. gained one pound since we got her!


The whole family seems to love her so despite her terror to the roll, she's staying! Poor t.p. is now kept in a drawer, incase you're looking!

Pee-Pee In The Potty and Bad Kitty

She did it! Maddie went pee-pee in her potty! (I spared you any photos) We used her Easter gift card from Grandma Doris and Grandpa Frank and bought her a froggy potty chair and a few big-girl potty books. After bath on Sunday, I asked her if she wanted to go potty. She said "Potty" and made the sign for it.. she sat down, then up again. I thought, "ok, this is way too early" but then she sat down again and a minute later was up.. she had gone! We called daddy into the bathroom to show him the good work and to praise Miss Maddie... what a very big girl.. not quite 18 months and getting to know what the potty chair is all about!

No, I am not delusional and do not think by any means we're close to her being potty trained. :) She's pretty young to start but it was a good opportunity for her to learn the sensation of going. Those darn diapers nowadays are sooo absorbent. Towards the end of the summer if she seems ready, we'll give potty training a real try and see how it goes, but no pressure from mommy...

Speaking of bathrooms, our newest member, Syrah has been obsessed with toilet paper. She unravels the rolls and shreds the remains to pieces... oh boy! Someone needs to teach her better bathroom manners.

She's also been waking Matt and I up all night long... just like having a newborn, right? I need to start poking at her during the day and attacking her every movement to let her know how it feels. :) She's lucky she's cute!

Maddie went on her very first boat ride on Saturday. We were visiting with some friends at their parent's harbor house in Oxnard.. It's Wednesday and Maddie is still saying "boat". It left quite the impression on her.
She was so relaxed, I thought for sure she'd fall asleep but the excitement of chips at Yolanda's (Mexican restaurant we docked and stopped at) kept her going. We had such a great time!






Check out the cheeks! They'll keep her face afloat!



Maddie has been learning her shapes and colors.. she knows the names of most of the shapes and is getting pretty good at getting them into their slots. Thanks to Crayola Crayons, she knows, yellow, purple, blue, and red.. of course she still gets them mixed up but it's funny to me that she even remembers the names... now if only she'd color on the paper instead of her clothes!

Thank You Easter Bunny!

This is Maddie at Old Navy on Friday.. she loved the "puppy" that hung out with the mannequins showing off their tardy cardies or whatever the sale of the week item was. She gave it lots of hugs... this girl NEEDS a pet!



So that's just what she got later that day!


Meet "Syrah"


Yes, like the wine.. her name was Princess when we got her and we decided to change it. Long story short about "Syrah".. At Christmas, Matt's company gave bottles of wine and one customer thought it was his daughter's name.. "how cute, you put her name on the bottles." Matt told me the funny story and then we both remarked how we actually thought the name was cute.. like Sarah, but different.

She's a tiny thing, hence her full name is "Petite Syrah"... only 7 months old but already she's showing us how sweet she is. Although active, she likes to sit on our laps and purrs (and drools) like crazy! She warmed up to Matt and I very quickly but is still getting use to Maddie and all her toddler noises. We think she'll fit in just fine. The first night I woke up several times to her tromping on my head wanted to play.
She's making a trip to the vet tomorrow for a health check and to get those killer kitty claws trimmed. I forgot how razor-sharp those things can be!

When you get a chance, come by and meet the newest Dimino family member.

We've had a rather busy weekend. Saturday Maddie attended her very first (and our first) egg hunt. The age group was 0-3 and let me tell you, good thing we started training Maddie early. Those three year olds are F-A-S-T. Matt and I managed to rush her to an open area and scoop up three eggs before they were all gone. She didn't seem to mind her basket being so empty when all was said and done. As usual, she had much more fun picking up branches and leaves.
It was a little chilly that morning so we added leggings to the outfit.





A rare family portrait


She did enjoy meeting the Easter Bunny and even went right over to him to give him a huge hug. Way to show all the other kids how it's done!



After the egg hunt and walking around to all the activities, we went to a local shopping center to pick up some groceries.. they also had a bunny there for the kids to take photos with. Again, no problems sitting on the big white bunny's lap... I guess if you come to the house in a bunny outfit, the kid will instantly be your friend.. no questions asked! Come to think of it, last year she was fine too.



After her nap, we dyed some eggs. Maddie is allergic so unfortunately she won't be enjoying any egg salad this week, but Daddy and I certainly will be!

She dyed this one white! (just kidding)



This is the one she mashed... fun until Mom took it away.




Here's what we ended up with.



Everyone knows today was Easter, but it was also my Lovie's (Matt) 37th birthday! Thanks to all the family and friends that called. We just hung out at the house all day and ate cake for breakfast!

Matt's cake.


He didn't care what it looked like so I thought I'd decorate it like one of his favorite things... a can of beer! I am taking orders if anyone else would like one.. :) It's the thought that counts, right?

Maddie did get a basket this morning. We just recycled a few eggs from the day before and added those wooden cars I mentioned in my last post and a few small odds and ends... She really liked the cars and played with them all day. Grandma Doris sent a Target gift card and three adorable outfits. I can't wait for warmer weather so she can wear all her new dresses.



Next year we'll probably hide the basket and do an egg hunt in the back yard but it was really chilly this morning.


She did wear the dress that Grandma Lena bought her. She said "pretty" when I put it on her... that doesn't normally happen with dresses so she must have liked it!



A few moms and I joked at the Noah's Arc exhibit about how it was "hands on" aka the kids are going to get sick in a few days.. Sure enough, Maddie had total boogers and high emotions all day. She was either laughing or crying and her nose was a faucet! Poor baby.. even worse we're going to miss all the fun activities we had planned for spring break.. YES! A one and a half year old has spring break! lol No beer and bikinis, but a few play dates and a class tomorrow.

I'll close today's post with two of my favorite photos from last year...
You're No Bunny, Till Some Bunny Loves You!


Happy Easter Everyone and Happy Birthday to the LOVE of my life!