Muffin (and her parents!) had a wonderful time in Florida. I'm too lazy to write up about the whole trip but will post a few highlights:
- Spent a week at Disney's Wilderness Lodge. Love taking the boat to Magic Kingdom!
- Had some wonderful dinners with princesses and characters
- Muffin was recruited by Captain Jack Sparrow for training as pirate ( see video here!)
We had dinner at Cinderella's castle while the fireworks were going on, it was an amazing view! We had a private storytime session with Mary Poppins (thanks AAA!)
After Disney we went to visit my sister and her family in St Pete area, where Muffin got to hang out with her big cousin (he's 17!) We then drove to Miami to visit my parents, and also saw my brother and his family. A good time was had by all ;) I think a highlight for Muffin was playing with her cousin A, who's only 6 months older. At one point the girls went hiding in the bathroom where they found my makeup bag and… well, thankfully I don't have much makeup but its clear they had no clue how to use an eyeliner, LOL!
The weather was a bit cool for Florida, but we had one day that was thankfully warm enough to go to the beach. Here's Muffin enjoying the beach at Key Biscayne. The water was probably about 1-2 ft deep for hundreds of feet, just enough for a little Muffin to enjoy a nice swim... 
Now we cant' wait to go back!!
We had a wonderful almost spring-like weather this past weekend! Muffin and I took advantage of it, and visited a local park on Saturday where she had a blast with the swings and play areas. Then on Sunday, I wanted to work on preparing the garden for spring, but what to do about Muffin? Hmmmm, how about asking her to fill up her wagon with sticks, and offering her money for doing this? Hooo boy did she like the idea! It worked out so well, she had fun (for the most part) picking up sticks while chatting with me (play-acting chat, sigh). And I was able to do the hard labor for our garden bed. YOU try to pretend to be characters while shoveling and hand-rototilling the soil. It was hard! Hey, I deserved another dollar for my work too ;) But she was SOOO happy to get her "green square rectangle with a face on it" (her words). And I was happy to discover Child Labor. Bwahahaha!
Muffin had a wonderful day on Valentine's! We'd made some crafty presents for Muffindad the night before, and she was so excited about it that we woke up Muffindad just to give him his presents. (Sorry, no extra sleep for Muffindad!) We had heart shaped French Toast (cut into shape by Muffinmom) for breakfast, then went to a fun birthday party that afternoon. After nap, we opened the rest of the presents for everyone and had a fantastic dinner at our favorite Tex Mex restaurant, Tinga Taqueria
So of course on Sunday, Muffin asked me if it was Valentine's day again. LOL! I told her no, and she wanted to know why? YOU try to explain it to a 4 year old who wants more holidays!
Last night Muffin was playing with Muffindad, and unintentionally punched him in a 'sensitive spot'… ouch! Muffindad grabbed Muffin and told her to please never hit him there again because now he had a big boo-boo that hurt a lot. To which she replied - do you want me to kiss your boo-boo and make it better?
Eeeck!!
Of course we explained that she couldn't kiss the boo-boo but she could hug and kiss Muffindad to make him feel better. And she did.
Children's innocence… gotta love it!
WARNING - May be TMI! We always check when Muffin goes potty to make sure she's truly clean (especially after the time she smeared poop all over the tub... )SO today I was sitting in front as she's wiping. She likes to look at the TP after wiping to check its all clean... well, after her first 'check' I suddenly noticed that something went flying and landed on my pants. Yep. A nice chunk o'poo. Oh they joys of parenting .... This ranks right up there when she was a 2 month old and pooped on my hands as I was putting diaper rash cream on her tushy. Anyone have funny poop stories?
We had an unexpected sad surprise Saturday in the week hrs, when DaddyMuffin sadly discovered that our kitty had used up one of his lives. We suspect he must have had a heart attack, because he was completely normal and apparently healthy until we discovered he was gone. :(Muffin took it very well overall, I am proud to say. . We told her after she came back from playgroup Saturday afternoon. lAt her request we went to the basement to check our cat's favorite sleeping spot and verify he indeed wasn't there. We told her that our cat was very old, and had gone to heaven to become an angel with God, and now can play with all the other cats in heaven and have a lot of fun. She had many questions about Buster playing in heaven: who opened the door so that Buster could go to Heaven? Where is Heaven? Can we get a new pet? Why will he sit on a cloud? What will he eat? Will God feed him? ...
We drew a picture of an angel cat - I used my third grade drawing skills to draw a cat, per her direction (she told me what to draw and what colors to use), then she taped on a couple of dried leaves as wings. One day we'll go pick out a new kitty at an animal shelter, with her help of course! In the meantime DaddyMuffin will print out a picture of Buster for her to have as a sweet memory.
Thanks to everyone that donated to the Children's Specialized Hospital for Muffin's birthday party! We took the checks over and they thanked her by giving her a sparkly new teddy bear. We collected a total of $330 in donations !!
It was such a gorgeous summer day, that we decided to follow up our good deed by having a nice little picnic lunch. Yum! As you can see she was hamming it up to the camera.
What a weekend! The whole family went to Wisconsin this past weekend for the wedding of MamiMuffin's goddaughter. It was a wonderful time, we got to see old friends and meet new ones. We partied all weekend, literally! Muffin did wonderfully the whole time, though she was extremely bored by the wedding ceremony (which I can understand from her point of view). Muffin got to meet her godmother for the first time since her Christening, and it was love at first sight for both :) Her godmother was quite busy being the Mother of the Bride, but she always made a point of listening to Muffin. It was so sweet to see them both together!
A few tidbits from the trip...
• While at the airport restroom, Muffin informed me (in a very loud surprised voice) that this bathroom had "magical toilets" and "magical faucets" because they worked by themselves. Thereafter, every public toilet was inspected to see if it was a magical toilet or not. LOL!• While driving into Wisconsin from the Minneapolis airport, we stopped at a convenience store for a drink and snack. Here's what Muffin had to say when we walked into the store: "I didn't know they had food in Wisconsin!" She said it so sincerely too!
• While getting ready for the wedding, MamiMuffin went to get my nails done at a local salon and Muffin came along to get her fingernails done too! She spent the rest of the weekend showing EVERYONE her beautiful nails, especially the thumbs which had a flower painted on them.
• After the ceremony she requested to go for a nap (!!) and promptly fell asleep when we got back to our hotel room. We did make it down in time for the end of the cocktail hour, and she had a wonderful time making new friends and dancing with everyone from kids to the bride (see picture!). She missed out on quite a few naps and she did wonderful (no temper tantrums, meltdowns, etc) though she was tired. Today she is determined to get her nap in, now that she's home.
• One of the couples at our table turned out to be neighbors of Muffin's godmother, and they were generously offered to do a playdate with Muffin and their 4 yr old daughter. This was a much needed playdate for Muffin, I think she was missing playing with kids her own age and really enjoyed this playdate. Thanks Dawn!
• The music for the wedding was fantastic (it was a salsa band - and they were smokin'!) but it was quite loud. Muffin asked me (on her own!) for a pair of earplugs to wear while dancing (note the yellow plugs in her ears). Smart girl!
• Special thanks to Titi Ali for the beautiful necklace she made Muffin to match Muffin's dress. Muffin loved it!
All in all, a fun trip, but it was nice to be back in our cozy beds last night.
Spent the weekend doing prep work for Muffin's birthday party next week. We were were very lucky and grateful that a friend lent us her almost 11 yr old daughter to be a mother's help and play with Muffin while DaddyMuffin and I did our house/yard cleaning work. Of course Muffin had a fantastic time playing with Sarah, and she seemed to enjoy herself too.
Muffin will be having two parties on Saturday - a morning party for her playfriends, and an afternoon party for family friends & relatives. In part we made the decision of having two parties so we could manage the crowds inside our house, in case of rain. But it would be so much more fun & comfortable to be OUTSIDE!! Right now the forecast for Saturday reads: Partly sunny with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid 80s. Chance of rain 30 percent.
Let's hope that rain percent goes down by the weekend, or that at least the rains hold off until late in the evening! We're looking forward to sharing Muffin's special day with all our friends and family (and perhaps a surprise princess visit? Hmmmm...)
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