Friday Favorites - Ollie Edition

Hi people!  It's Ollie taking over my mama's blog again today! I'm getting to be such a big boy and I asked nice with one of my new words "please" (though I say it "peas") and mama can't resist me because I'm so cute, so here I am!  I'm going to share my five favorite things right now.  But they're not going to be my favorites for much longer because I change my mind all the time.  #toddlerlife

Garages - I love garages!  My grandpa's garage is my favorite.  It's big and open and he lets me run around in it.  He has all these cool tools and he gave me my own piece of wood.  My daddy's garage is pretty cool too but it's messier than grandpa's, so for some reason that means I can't play in there. The first thing I notice when we go to anyone's house is their garage! I just loving saying the word garage over and over again, though I pronounce it "ahge".  G's are kind of hard, I haven't gotten those down yet.  

Abby and Elmo - I still love me some Elmo, he is awesome.  I have an Elmo sippy cup and and Elmo toothbrush.  I also love Abby the Fairy from Sesame Street.  Mommy says it's ok for boys to like fairies.  Abby is bright and pretty and I get to watch her while I'm having my morning snack, so I like her a lot.  I also still like Mickey Mouse and Curious George and I like Daniel Tiger too. But Abby and Elmo are my favsies.  Sesame Streeter for life.

Park - One word about the park.  SWINGS.  I love to swing!  As soon as we come around the corner from the wooded area at our park I get really excited in my stroller and start saying "swing! swing!" until daddy takes me out and lets me run across the field to the playground.  And my favorite is when daddy is pushing me in the swing and says "zoom" - I like to say zoom too!  Cause daddy pushes me high and fast!  I also like going down the slide.  The first few times mommy had to help me, but I'm a big boy now, I can do it myself!  And there are so many puppies at the park!  I love puppies.  I got to pet a really nice puppy there last week.  It was the best day ever!

Books - I love books!  I like to pull all the books off my bookshelf to decide which one I'm going to read.  Daddy bolted my bookshelf to the wall, something about not wanting it to fall down on me. When I find the book I want I hand it to mommy and say "mama read" and she does.  My favorite books right now are The Tickle Tree, Pajama Time and Farmer Dale's Red Pickup Truck.  Mommy does funny voices when she reads Farmer Dale and it makes me giggle!

Playing peekaboo or just "boo" - I love peekaboo, I have loved it for a long time, but now I can do it too.  So instead of mommy or daddy going peekaboo to me, sometimes I jump out and go "boo" to them!  I like to hide behind my mommy and peek around her and go "boo".  It is so funny! I am hilarious.

And now I'm going to go, my other favorite thing at this moment is mommy is not working today! That means she gets to play with me all day.  She says we're going shopping at a sale where we can get me some clothes and toys for cheaper.  I don't know what cheaper means, but I know that I like the sound of getting new toys!  Bye bye!

Friday Five - Nostalgia

So I don't know what it is, but in the last few weeks there have been several things that have been sparking memories of my youth - and I have to say it's been kind of fun riding down memory lane just a bit.  I thought today for a Friday Five, I'd highlight a few of them.
Music - New Kids on the Block are coming here in concert again and one of our local channels is giving away concert tickets.  So naturally, they decided to play "Hangin Tough" in it's entirety on the radio the other day.  This gave me the brilliant idea of starting a New Kids on the Block Pandora channel.  Best.Idea.Ever.  I put it on in the afternoon at work and it totally makes the day go faster - I've heard great old songs by not just NKOTB but also Paula Abdul, Boys II Men, Mariah Carey.  Oh it takes me back.  My tween self is happy.
TV - I'm sure by now everyone has seen the Saved By The Bell reunion on Jimmy Fallon.  If you haven't I'm going to leave it here for you.  Best eight minutes I've watched this week.  I have seen every episode of that show more times than I can count and this sketch was incredibly well done!

Cosmetics - I saw an article this week that Bonnie Bell Cosmetics is shutting down.  While I can't tell you the last time I bought a Lipsmacker, I will say I was sad to hear this.  I know most of my friends are bummed about never getting a Dr. Pepper flavored Lipsmacker again, but my favorite was always the Strawberry.  It will be strange to not see that end cap at Target any longer!
Shopping - Speaking of things closing down, I also saw a couple of weeks ago that Deb stores are closing.  I never bought any of my formal dresses at Deb, but I always at least looked at them every year when Prom season came round.  I remember owning a few pairs of shoes from there and some other cheaply made clothing because where else do you shop when you're 16?  I remember when I was a lot younger and thinking it was the coolest store ever because it had pink carpet.  The mall will not be the same!
Games - Again, old news here by now, but I have been kind of addicted to the fact that you can now play classic Apple games like The Oregon Trail on the internet.  I remember Computer Lab day was like the best day in school and it was because of games like this.  So it's been fun reliving this as an adult, though I have to say, using your own family names as an adult is a little unnerving when you see something like "Oliver has typhoid" or "Pippin has died."  I started making up fake names after that, ha!

So anyway, I have been kind of stuck in the late 80's/early 90's over the last couple of weeks here and it's been kind of fun remembering those carefree days!  I love where I am now, but there's nothing wrong with going back in time just a little bit!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Five on Friday - Current Favorite Songs

I love music and I have a wide variety of music that enjoy.  Most of my favorites would fall under alt-pop or even a bit of Top 40 with some indie stuff thrown in too.  Fortunately we have several radio stations in my city that cater to just about every mood I get for music!  I thought for fun I'd share a few of my favorites that I always crank up if they come on while I'm in the car.
I Bet My Life - Imagine Dragons  I haven't always loved everything from Imagine Dragons, but there is something about this song that just puts me in a good mood anytime I hear it.  It's just got a happy, upbeat, feel good vibe going.

Taylor Swift - Out of the Woods
This song from her new album isn't getting much radio play yet, but it's my favorite.  I like the other songs that are getting air time, but there's something I really love about this song - maybe because it reminds me of something Debbie Gibson would have sung back in the day and it reminds me of sitting in my room as a pre-teen and rewinding and fastforwarding through cassette tapes to listen to my favorite songs!  Whatever it is, I just can't help loving Taylor Swift or this particular song!

Brandi Carlile - Wherever is Your Heart
Brandi Carlile can almost do no wrong in my eyes.  I've been a fan of hers since she was first on the music scene.  She's got a great folk vibe and she is absolutely amazing live.  Her songs tell such wonderful stories.  This new one is a bit on the catchy side, but I really like it.  I can't wait for her new album.

Ellie Goulding - Love Me Like You Do
Apparently this is going to be on the 50 Shades of Gray soundtrack.  At any rate, I love Ellie Goulding, and when I first heard this song the other day I had to find it online so I could listen to it again.  It also has a quality that reminds me of music I listened to as a teenager so maybe I like it because it makes me nostalgic?  I'm not sure what it is, but I do like it.

The Decemberists - Make You Better
This is another group that can pretty much do no wrong to me.  Nate and I are huge fans.  And this video is all full of win because it has Nick Offerman (aka Ron Swanson from Parks and Rec) and it's so tongue and cheek and funny.  I had a chance to stream the entire new album from these guys this week and like pretty much everything they do, it's super awesome.  They're coming here in concert in March and I'm all sorts of regretful I didn't try to get tickets actually even though we've seen them live before.

So there you go, a peek inside my musical head!  What kinds of songs are currently on rotation for you?  I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!!

Friday Favorites - Ollie edition

I haven't talked as much about Ollie on the blog lately - no good reason other than just not enough time with other posts I wanted to get up this week.  He is actually changing by the day right now, this age is so much fun.  I miss the monthly updates in a way because I'm seeing changes even from his birthday to now.  Anyway, I figured a good way to share a little bit about him right now is to do a Five on Friday with his current favorite things!  So here we go!

The first item is this Elephant by Fiesta Toys that we received back in our July Bluum box.  When I saw this guy in that box I had high hopes that Ollie might choose this as a lovey, because from the time he was pretty little he's gravitated towards elephants and this seemed like a great size for him to cuddle.  I had no idea if I started giving it to him if he would actually like it - and at first he really didn't seem to care for it at all, but then suddenly this became the one thing he decided he needed to have naps and bedtime.  He loves this elephant. He cuddles it, smiles when he sees it. When he was sick we had to wash it and substituted a stuffed cat instead and yeah...not the same.  His other favorite stuffed toy is a Curious George doll, but I'll talk more about that shortly.  We've already had to make some repairs to this elephant too.  This is his number one lovey and I kind of love that.
The next item on the list is the Baby Banana teething/training toothbrush.  We ordered ours off of Amazon but I believe you can get them at Babies R Us too.  We got this early on when he first started showing teething symptoms, but at that time he preferred Sophie the Giraffe and the Infantino teething monkey instead.  Within the last couple of weeks though, this banana has become his favorite teether, I think it's because he can get it further into his mouth where his molars are coming in and it helps massage the gums.  Not to mention, it's gotten him pretty used to the idea of brushing his teeth, so he doesn't fight us when it's time to brush his teeth for real.  The only problem we're noticing is that the bristles are starting to break off a bit from all the gumming and chewing he's been doing, so we have a new one on order.  He also asks for this one by name - either "babana or nanana".  
The third thing on the list is Curious George.  We don't let him just sit and watch TV all day, but one day he was up from a nap and acting a bit restless and my mom turned on PBS and the Curious George cartoon was on and he seemed very taken with it.  He won't necessarily sit for the entire episode, but he loves the music and he seems to really love George.  We read some of the George books for him too and he likes most of them.  For his birthday he received a stuffed Curious George and that is definitely his second favorite lovey, sometimes he cuddles both George AND his elephant (which resulted in poor George also getting a bath after Ollie was sick.)  I loved the Curious George books when I was young too, so I love that Ollie loves him!
Fourth up we have Puffs.  Oh my God, Puffs.  Whoever invented this toddler snack is either a genius or should be drug out into the street and shot.  They're a great filler when we're out and about and Ollie gets hungry or the food isn't coming fast enough at a restaurant.  But boy, he gets them as a snack in the morning and the afternoon and if you don't offer them - he will ask for them or look for them and if he doesn't get them, he gets pretty upset.  Sometimes we even have to hide them when we cut him off! His favorites are Gerber Graduates Strawberry Banana and Apple Cinnamon, Ella's Kitchen Puffits in Raspberry Vanilla and Happy Kitchen's Sweet Potato O's.  He also likes Snapea Crisps, which are not necessarily geared toward toddlers, but we've found almost every toddler we know really likes them as well!  We knew he was feeling better after he was sick when he started eating his puffs again!
Finally, we have a pair of Carters shoes.  After Christmas I took him over to Stride Rite to get fitted and get some good shoes to help him with learning to walk.  I love the shoes we bought there, but after learning his size I also picked up a pair of shoes at Carters and right now he seems to actually prefer the ones from Carters.  These are the Carters Every Step Stage 3 Walker shoes.  They're super easy to take on and off and I think because they're a little softer all around he can better feel what he's doing and they work well for him to still be crawling too.  He still wears the Stride Rite shoes too, especially when we're out and about because they are sturdier, but he wears these Carters ones a lot around the house and they're working pretty well.  He's getting good at walking with only holding one hand and he has taken a few small unassisted steps here and there, so I think we'll have a full fledged walker on our hands soon!
So there you go!  Such simple things, but such is the life of a 13 month old!  I'm sure while these things are his favorite today, that might not be the case even a week from today!  He's ever changing at this age! Have a great weekend everyone!

Friday Five - Finding Christmas Cheer

All right!  Pity Party is OVER.  I'm back, I'm finally feeling human, I can drink coffee again (!!!) and my family is all on the mend.  So thanks for indulging me in my sob story yesterday, but like the Grinch, my heart grew three sizes times two overnight and I'm ready to get my Christmas on.  So today's Friday Five is dedicated to finding my Christmas spirit again!  Here are five ways I'm doing that!
Christmas Music - This one is like, duh.  Buddy the Elf says in the movie Elf, "the biggest way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear."  Thankfully we have a station here in my city that plays Christmas music 24/7 from about Thanksgiving until Christmas and many years I don't give in until the week before Christmas, but I've pretty much had it on my car non stop this year and this morning I cranked it up loud and sang at the top of my lungs, including silly songs I don't even like that much like "Do They Know It's Christmas?"  Oliver thought I was nuts on the way to my parents this morning but I don't care.  I was rocking it out!
Secret Santa Swaps - I had a chance to participate in two different blog/online Secret Santa swaps and my sweet Secret Santa's were awesome.  I feel horrible because I forgot the first girl's sweet note at home and she is also a blogger - so I'll try to update later with her info, but I got the most wonderful gift from The Great Christmas Exchange that I signed up for on Elfster.  Here is a peek at what my Santa sent me:

She sent a copy of Gone Girl and I cannot wait to read it so then I can watch the movie.  She sent me some Cheerwine which is a soda that  I guess is manufactured in her home state of North Carolina and will not be made for much longer, so this will be a treat.  She sent me a book for Oliver which I thought was so sweet.  And she sent me this beautiful owl scarf and 2015 planner - which is the perfect size, I had been looking for one like this, it can go in my purse or my desk at work!  To my sweet Santa if you're reading, I still owe you an email and I look forward to getting to know you better.  Thank you!

I had a second Secret Santa swap through a blog group I'm part of on Facebook.  I was matched up with the delightful Britt from Taking Control.  We found out we both have a lot of similar interests and ended up getting each other very similar gifts!

She sent me this gorgeous gold scarf that I wore on the blog yesterday, some beautiful stationary, thank you notes and pens, a beautiful flower hair piece, a notebook and pens and not pictured are some awesome cookies she sent as well!  Thank you so much Britt!  These are all awesome goodies!

Santa - How can you not get in the Christmas spirit when talking about Santa?  I realized I never shared Oliver's Santa picture here!  It's a picture of the picture so sorry for the reflection.  Nate hasn't scanned it into our computer yet, but I think it's pretty dang cute, he did so well that day!

Holiday Gatherings - We are going to have a chance to go to a family holiday gathering this weekend and also a gathering with some friends we haven't had the chance to spend much time with in quite some time and I'm looking forward to both.  Nothing gets you more in the holiday spirit than celebrating with people you love!  And one upside to having just gotten over this nasty bug - I lost some weight (first world problems right?) so this chick is going to do some holiday eating without guilt!
Christmas Movies - And finally, nothing gets me more in a holiday mood than a good Christmas movie.  We watched my favorite - Home Alone - already last weekend, but there are so many others that I think we'll have to pick another one tonight!  I also look forward to introducing Oliver to one of my all time favorites - A Charlie Brown Christmas.  I will have to do that in the next day or so. So there you go!  Sure, I'm still behind on a few Christmas things, but hey, there are 24 useful hours in every day and I will get it all done in time!  Hope you all are finding Christmas cheer in the hustle and bustle of this very busy season too!

Friday Five - Oliver's Favorite Books

We've been making it a point to read to Oliver pretty much since he was born.  Nate even brought me a book to read to Ollie when we were still in the hospital - Oh the Thinks You Can Think by Dr. Seuss.  We would kind of read to him when he was a newborn, but we started making it part of his bedtime routine by the time he was about 3 1/2 to 4 months old.  It's been fun watching him actually start being interested in the books - he'll let you know if he doesn't like a book you're reading, he'll try to close it or he'll whine.  But if he sits still or even starts to giggle when you open up the book, you know you have a winner.

He mostly loves his board books because he can grab them and help turn pages and well, chew on them and stuff.  I thought for fun I'd share a Friday Five of his favorite books.  One of these is a new to us book, the others have been on repeat for quite awhile now!

He loves all the Sandra Boynton books for the most part, but his favorites right now seem to be The Belly Button Book and Moo, Baa, La La La.  He has enjoyed Barnyard Dance too and many nights we read the Going to Bed Book as the last book of the night.  
I find it almost funny that he'll actually sit still for Hop On Pop - it can be a long book, but I think he just loves all the words in it.  It's fairly fast pace too, which is kind of another requirement in his books.  He doesn't like it if we're not turning the pages very fast!
Another Dr. Seuss favorite of his is Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?  Again, lots of silly sounding words and it's a pretty quick read.  The copy we have is a board book too that is nice and small, so he can grab it pretty easily.
Finally, we have The Pout Pout Fish.  I think I've talked about this book on the blog before.  We tend to read this one to him on days he is a little on the cranky side, but it often works to cheer him up. Spoiler alert - the fish does get happy at the end!
Overall we find he really does like stories that are engaging, a little faster pace, lots of color and fun words.  There are others I didn't mention like Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Goodnight Moon that have been favorites for awhile now.  He really loves the Curious George cartoon on TV and we now have a bedtime book based with George that he seems to like.  And again, you can't go wrong with Sandra Boynton.  I'm just so happy he enjoys being read to and flipping through his books - we hope that means he will be a good reader eventually!
Any moms care to share your kids favorite stories?  We could use another Christmas gift or two!

Friday Five - Christmas wishlist, beer edition

I still love doing gratitude posts but after doing up TIGF pretty big for the month of November I'm giving myself a little break and have decided to be greedy today instead and talk about my Christmas Wishlist.  I found five items I wouldn't mind seeing under the tree (psst, hey Nate) and somehow they all ended up beer related.  I think maybe it has something to do with the fact that we're doing a Beer Advent this December (thanks to Alice from Dining With Alice for the invite!) so maybe I just have beer on the brain or something.  Here are five beer related items I think are pretty nifty:

I actually saw this shirt at the I Like You booth at the State Fair this summer and have been kicking myself for not getting one.  I noticed the I Like You store in Minneapolis has these, so if Santa doesn't bring me one perhaps I need to go down there!

This shirt from the Beer Dabbler store in St. Paul is pretty cute and kind of funny.  There's another one that talks about designated drivers, but I think the "another round, that's what she said" is a little more fun.

These bottlecap necklaces, again from I Like You, are super cute as well.  From what I was reading, each one is a little different.  I love my home state and my city, so I'd love to sport one of these!

This plaid sweatshirt from the local beer publication "The Growler" is too fun.  And it's plaid.  You all know how much I love plaid.  This looks like it would be super warm too.

And finally, from one of my favorite MN breweries, I have been telling Nate for months now that I'd love a sweatshirt from Indeed Brewing - not only do we love their beer, but we also both tend to say "indeed" a lot, so it just feels appropriate.  Not to mention, Nate has a t-shirt from there, Ollie has a onesie from there, I think it's time for me to match!
I gain nothing from promoting these local businesses, I just really think these items are super fun.  I could think of a few other things I wouldn't mind having, but we'll just keep this to a Friday Five list this week.  What's on your wishlist?