Where have all the naps gone?

I remember when Arielle used to take NaPs. It wasn't that long ago that she would take one nap a day very regularly. Usually she would sleep for 2 to 3 hours and I always dreaded the days that she just slept for 1. What happened to naps? I miss them so much. The weekends just aren't the same without them. Whenever I pick Arielle up from school I ask her, "Did you sleep at school today?" and she always says, "Yes." One day last week after her reply she added, "My teacher was rubbing my back." I coaxed more details out of her and was led to believe that the teacher was rubbing her back during naptime to get her to stop talking when she was supposed to be sleeping.

Which leads me to another topic. Talking. Another day last week when I picked her up one of her teachers asked me, "Does she talk in her sleep?" I had to think about this because it seemed natural to me that the answer should be yes, but the more I thought about it I decided that is about THE ONLY TIME that she Arielle does not talk. Arielle really does love to talk. In fact, Zak and I can barely get a word in edgewise when we come home from work because inevitably we WILL be interrupted by Arielle. Like every parent does, we taught her to say the words "Excuse me" when she needs to talk while someone else is speaking so she does remember her manners some of the time. Lately, not only does Arielle have a lot to say when she is awake all day long but she has to repeat herself to everyone in the room until they have each acknowledged her statements. Do you see where this is going?

In conclusion, I really do miss naps.

~Momma to Bug~

R.I.P. Elmo & Mermaid 11/13/2008

This morning Zak discovered that the Monster that lives in our house (a.k.a. Lexi) went on a chewing spree sometime in the middle of the night. Pieces of one of Arielle's Elmo slippers and a Little Mermaid figure were scattered all over the living room floor. When Arielle discovered what had happened she burst into tears! Funny thing is that she was more devistated about the Elmo slipper than the mermaid doll even though she had just taken it to school for show and tell and I haven't seen her wearing the slippers for months. It took some convincing that the slippers weren't going to fit her for much longer along with reassurance that we would buy new ones in order to stop her from sobbing.

~Momma to Bug~

All about the drama!

DrAmA. This pretty much describes our lives over the past week or so. Arielle is no exception. Lately she has started to act so much like a GirL with hormones and all! For example, last night (and every night before that) she was playing with the Monster that we call Lexi while we were eating dinner. Now I have told her over and over again not to do this because it just makes Lexi beg us for food more and more. The ironic thing about this is that she hardly ever pays attention to Lexi except when we are eating! Go figure. So after repeated attempts to get her not to touch or speak to Lexi while we were eating I finally had enough and I said something very bluntly and loudly along the lines of "Arielle, just IGNORE her and she will go away!"

What did she do next? She got silent the looked at me with a very dramatic pouty face and I could see the tears welling up in her eyes. It took about a minute before she started sobbing, then she pushed her dinner plate out of the way so she could put her head down on the table and weep. I KNOW that most of this was for attention's sake but I could tell that some of it was just pure hormones boiling up inside. Poor girl. She just needed to cry and this was the best excuse she had all day.

Just wait until you see what caused her hormones to get the best out of her this morning.

To be continued...

~Momma to Bug~

My Fireplace Mantel

The more blogs I read the more I get inspired to redecorate my

FiRePLaCe MaNtLe. I like the way it looks now but I know that is has potential to look A LOT BETTER! I also want to replace the wall candle sconces that are hanging on either side of it because they are so boring. I found these ones from Restoration Hardware that I would love to buy!

I am contemplating putting a BIG BaRn StAr on the back wall of the mantel. Although a lot of stuff in my house has a beach or tropical theme and a barn star is not that, I have always loved the look of them and feel like I can make it blend in somehow. I chose black because that is the color of my fireplace surround.

I couldn't do a decorating project without buying something SILVER. This assortment of Mercury Candle Holders from Pottery Barn is timeless.

I think these vases from Pottery Barn add a touch of FunK to an otherwise traditional arrangement.

I want my mantel to say, "Come in..RELAX...and enjoy our living room!" This sign is perfect!

These shadow box picture frames from West Elm are just my style!

Of course I could drive to the MaLL and buy all of this stuff in one place...OR...I can shop the thrift stores and/or discount stores' clearance racks and piece it all together over time which would save me lots of $ but not a lot of time. What would you do? What does your fireplace mantel look like? I would love to get more INSPIRED by your ideas!

~Momma to Bug~

Trick or Treat "Thank You" Monsters

This Halloween was definitely one to remember! Arielle looked so beautiful and grown-up as TiNkErBeLL and she truly enjoyed everything that this holiday has to offer! I have never been one to enjoy Halloween myself, thus I do not decorate or bake goodies and such so when she woke up and I told her it was Halloween I felt terrible when she asked me, "How come we don't have any decorations?" Note to self: Buy Halloween decorations for next year.

As we set out for trick or treating through our NeIgHbOrHoOd we met up with another little girl that was a little older than Arielle. Her name is Evelyn and she lives across the strett from us! The two of them joined forces and had such a fun time going from house to house each trying to beat one another to the doorbell and to the next house. I don't think either one of them forgot to say "THANK YOU" for the entire night, nor did they fail to tell us {their mom's and grandma's} that they remembered to say it! In fact, I think the entire neighborhood probably heard everything they said the whole night that is how loud and proud they were! At one point someone told them that they were little Thank You Monsters so Arielle decided to add Monster to the end of every Thank You. It was really cute!

We made it up and down every stretch of our our neighborhood and Arielle's pumpkin was filled to the brim with treats! After Zak examined every piece, she immediately poured it all out on the floor to see what she could find. We let her have a couple of pieces before bed and a few pieces after meals this weekend but she hasn't really been hounding us to eat that much candy which surprises me.

What I will remember the most about this Halloween is Arielle's reactions to the SpOOkY masks and decorations that we encountered. First, there was a kid with a white "Jason" mask on and he was wearing all black. The second he turned around as the girls were walking up to the house he was leaving, they ScReAmEd and RaN back to us and who can blame them, really? Then there was a person handing out candy in a similar costume that didn't talk and they had haunted house sounds playing on their porch. Arielle was hesitant to approach this house and even though I walked up hand-in-hand with her she turned and ran back to Zak as we got close to the person. Evelyn braved it though as she took the candy then ran! As scared as Arielle was as I was walking back to her {with candy in hand} she asked, "Mom, can you get me a piece of candy from them?" There were a few more scary masks along the way that sent the girls screaming back to us but then there was the last house of the night. It was a house on our street and they had a Halloween arch over their doorway that played HaUnTeD HoUsE SoUnDs the second that you walked through it. Arielle did not like that whatsoever but we talked her into going up the door with us. I thought for sure she was going to have nightmares that night and wake up screaming or crying. Thankfully that did not happen!

~Momma to Bug~

HaPPy HaLLoWeeN from our family to yours...

Wishing everyone a safe and SPOOKtacular night of celebration!

I'll post Arielle's Halloween pictures tomorrow after the mayhem...

~Momma to Bug~

Halloween's Past: Day Three

In the spirit of HaLLoWeeN I thought I would put together a post of each of Arielle's past costumes, one for each day before the next celebration.

2007 (2 years old)

"The Little Mermaid" This was the first year that Arielle picked out her own Halloween costume and who else would she pick but her favorite princess that shares the same name as her? Arielle really enjoyed every aspect of Halloween last year because she was old enough to understand what was going on. I remember so much about this year and will probably tell these stories over and over for years to come.

First, we took Arielle to a trick-or-treating event at a local event center and she had completely forgotten that people were going to hand out candy to her. The first few booths we visited the people reached out to put candy in Arielle's bag but she kept pulling it away and putting her hand out. I kept telling her to give them her bag so they could drop the candy in it but she wasn't doing it. I figured out that she thought they were going to put their hands in it to take candy OUT, not put it IN!!!

Then on the actual night of Halloween while we were trick-or-treating around the neighborhood IT happened. Somebody answered the door in a {very exquisite} WiZaRd costume. This was not a scary costume by any means but through the eyes of a two year old that was not expecting to see anything other than a regular person opening the door it freightened her. For the entire rest of the night before she walked up to a house to ring the doorbell she would tell ask, "There's not going to be a scary person at this house, right?" I'm not kidding, every house she said this and every time we had to convince her that it would not happen again, knowing full well that it could happen again. And it would have happened again if my maternal instincts had not kicked in. As we rang the doorbell of a very dark house I heard some rustling behind the door and could see scary decorations inside the hall so I knew immediately something BAD was going to happen. I stepped in front of Arielle and just as I made sure she couldn't see what was in front of her a person opened the door wearing a WereWolf mask. Of course I asked them to remove it before Arielle could know what was going on and they did so the crisis was averted! Phew.

~Momma to Bug~

Halloween's Past: Day Two

In the spirit of HaLLoWeeN I thought I would put together a post of each of Arielle's past costumes, one for each day before the next celebration.

2006 (18 months old)

"Pink Fairy Princess" Mostly what I remember about this Halloween was Arielle's new found obsession with CaNdY!!! Like any other child she was hooked from the moment she received her first piece and could not get enough of it. Of course we limited her intake but even at such a young age Arielle tried very hard to get as much as she possibly could get. Trick or treating this year was very, very COLD so we didn't stay out very long but it was long enough for Arielle's liking. The other thing I remember is that it was so hard to take pictures of her at this age. I couldn't get a good shot of her if my life depended on it. {You should see the professional Christmas pictures from this year..they are virtually non-existant but the ones we do have are horrible. She kept moving all around and she did was cried and cried for me to come sit with her and I was not dressed for it.}

~Momma to Bug~

Halloween's Past: Day One

In the spirit of HaLLoWeeN I thought I would put together a post of each of Arielle's past costumes, one for each day before the next celebration. I can remember each and every one of them like it was yesterday. Each year she is amazed at the cAnDy & cOsTuMeS. It was nice being able to decide what she should be for the first two years of her life but it's also fun to let her decide. This year she picked TiNkErBeLL but not after much ado. First she wanted to be a purple ballerina but she quickly changed her mind after a trip to the Disney store. There she picked a Minnie Mouse costume that we all thought was perfect for her! When we tried on the costume at home it did not fit so she decided right then and there that she was going to be Tinkerbell because Daddy showed her that costume at the store. I told her that she could still be Minnie, we would just have to buy her a bigger dress but her mind was set on Tink.

2005 (6 months old)

"The Little Monster" This was Arielle's first Halloween. I remember rushing home from work (I had just started working since she had been born only a couple weeks prior). I was so anxious to get through out dinner routine so we could take her out Trick or Treating for her first time! Zak and I carried her around the neighborhood even though we knew she couldn't eat the candy they were handing out. She looked so adorable scooting around the floor and I remember we all just smiled and pointed at how cute she was!

~Momma to Bug~

Casey Key Beach Views

Today we took a drive to CaSeY KeY. It was the only outing we took on this entire vacation that Arielle actually fell asleep in the car so we took advantage of the the extra time we had in the car to do some sight-seeing. Here are some pictures I took today as we drove down the only road on this small island which is located near Venice, Florida.

Enjoy the beach views!

We couldn't believe how GIGANTIC the houses were and most of them had little BeAcH CaBaNaS across the street literally a few footsteps away from their own private beach.

Here are some pictures of a couple of beautiful houses on SiEsTa KeY which is the island that my in-laws live on and is just next door to Casey Key.

~Momma to Bug~