Callie Turned 3!

Last month, we celebrated Callie's third birthday. Can you believe she's 3 already? I can't. She is growing up so fast. She's becoming more like a little girl and less like a toddler. Here's what we did on that special day:

 She woke up to birthday decorations that morning.

 Then we went a little out of order and opened presents.

 Her favorite was this doctor kit. A couple months before her birthday, her cousin Hailey introduced her to playing doctor and the Doc McStuffins show. After that, I would find her using old ID cards to play doctor with, so we got her a doctor kit of her own.

 She had her pancake breakfast, but that didn't last long before she was back to playing with her toys.

   Jason left for work and we headed on our usual walk, but today we brought bread to feed the ducks, fish, and turtles.

After our walk, we had a party with her friends at a nearby park. As you can tell by all the sweaty, red faces, it was very hot. One of my friends is a photographer and she took pictures at Callie's party for her present. I was so excited for the pictures and so grateful to not have to worry about taking pictures.

Callie's Friends (and their siblings)

Later, after Jason came home from work, the party continued with dinner, more cupcakes, and play time.

Girls' Cruise

Back in June, my Mom treated my sisters and I to a cruise in celebration of our college graduations. We left our kids home with our husbands (which was an adventure in itself). It was a much-needed break for all of us and it was so much fun! My awesome mother-in-law, who is a travel agent, specializes in cruises, so she found us the perfect cruise and helped us find a great beach in Cozumel.

We sailed on the infamous Carnival Triumph. In case you missed this story, back in February the Triumph had a fire in the engine room, leaving the cruise ship and its passengers stranded at sea for 5 days without power and with some serious plumbing issues.  I won't go into details about the conditions, but let's just say we were all relieved to hear that the ship had been completely renovated.

We had rooms with balconies, which we LOVED. It was so nice to have our own private little place to see the ocean. We even had the door between our balconies opened.

We all went on a cruise in 2008 with our families, and this Chocolate Melting Cake is what we dreamed about for years after. We made sure we had it every night on the cruise. We occasionally ordered another dessert to try, but this was always hands-down the best. 

We stopped in Cozumel, where we spent the day at a beach lounging, swimming, and playing on their water toys.

We had such a great time!

Summer

Busy season is upon us. Jason is working later now and has been working at night on weekends to lighten his load on weekdays. I feel bad that he usually works after I go to sleep until around midnight on weekends, but I'm so grateful during the week when he comes home at a decent hour.

The girls and I have been enjoying playing with friends and swimming! Jason likes to go swimming with us on Saturday's. Callie did not have very much swimming experience prior to this summer, but she's made some great progress, especially with Daddy's help. She started out with arm guards and a floaty ring in someone's arms or on the steps. Now, she just wears arm guards and can kick herself around the pool. We're working on blowing bubbles, but we still have work to do.

 

Madison, on the other hand, prefers to walk around the pool. She gets impatient in the pool and wants to do her own thing. I need to get her some arm guards or a life jacket so she can have more freedom in the pool.

Lately we've also had lots of birthday's, party, and fun trips. Stay tuned for posts on those!

Bow Holds and Headbands

 A while back, I posted this picture of Callie playing her "viola". If you'll notice, she's holding her "bow" in the wrong hand, her hand is halfway up her "bow" and she's just holding it in her fist.

Busy season is upon us. Jason is working later now and has been working at night on weekends to lighten his load on weekdays. I feel bad that he usually works after I go to sleep until around midnight on weekends, but I'm so grateful during the week when he comes home at a decent hour.Today, she grabbed her "viola" once again and said, "look at my bow hold, Mommy!" She is now holding it with her hand at the end of the "bow", and is holding it between her thumb and fingers. I was so impressed! This happened without any direct teaching on my part. I guess she actually learns something playing around in the same room while I teach my violin lesson every week. 

A couple of weeks ago, while working on rhythm with my student, Callie decided to clap and count along with us. She wasn't quite clapping on the beat, but she got the idea. It's amazing what a 3 year old can pick up just being exposed to music, and in this case teaching music to someone else.

Madison loves to wear this headband. Anytime she sees it laying around, she puts it on herself and wears it for a significant period of time. She won't wear any other headband I put on her for very long, but she likes this one.

C and M

Callie walks up to Madison and asks, "Do you know who touch my car?" with furrowed eyebrows, cheeks raised, and head tilted to the side (a signature Callie facial expression that amuses me).

When Madison stares blankly back at her Callie continues, "you touch my car and that makes me sad," with the same expression as before. "But I fix it, so don't touch it," she orders with raised eyebrows. All the while Madison just stands there in silence, not sure how to respond.

I love my soon-to-be 3 year-old. She knows exactly what she wants, down to the very small details. I love that she interacts with her sister as if she understands everything Callie does.

I also love my 14 month-old. She's a wild card. Sometimes Madison goes with the flow and lets Callie do and say whatever she wants, but other times she stands her ground and fights back with everything her tiny body can muster.

I love that such tiny people have such strong opinions and such defined personalities.

Madison's 1st Birthday!

About a month ago, Madison turned one year old.

We started with our tradition of a pancake breakfast.

Of course Callie had to imitate me, feeding her baby and taking pictures.

Then there were presents (which, like all of Madie's other toys, Callie has adopted as her own).

Our original plans of going to the aquarium fell through, so we did the next best thing:

A bath with her big sister and her new and old bath toys. Baths are one of her favorite things.

When Jason got home from work, we had had dinner and playtime at a park. The girls loved crawling around together on the playground.

As you can see, Madison thoroughly enjoyed her cupcake.

I can't believe this girl is already one! As far as her stats go, she continues to be tiny in weight, is now short, and still has a big head, but I think she's perfect!

She walks more and more. A month later, walking is now her preferred mode of transportation unless she is in a hurry, in which case crawling proves to be quicker than her little toddle.

She loves anything I eat and likes most other table food I put in front of her. She loves chicken, rice, cous cous, ice cream (thanks, Daddy), green beans, and applesauce. 

She had 5 teeth when she turned one, but she just got her sixth this past week.

She still goes to sleep at 7:00, but has been sleeping in later than 7:00 (Jason normally wakes her up a little before he leaves for work).

Since she turned one, I have started weaning her off of nursing. I absolutely loved nursing with her and it definitely created a strong bond between us. She believes I am 100% hers and doesn't approve of me holding or hugging anyone else (including Jason); however, she is becoming slightly less attached (when she's in a good mood). She recently started going to Jason willingly and a few times has even preferred to be in his arms instead of mine. I am very attached to her as well, but it is nice that she's starting to go to Jason more so I can have a break every once in a while.

She brings so much joy to our home and to everyone she meets. I love my little Madison so much! 

A fun surprise

My Grandma Black came to Texas for just a couple of days in order to be there when my uncle received his Silver Beaver Award by the Boy Scouts of America. My sister called me one morning to let me know Grandma was in town and to see if I wanted to go with her to visit Grandma. I was so excited that she was in town! We had a nice visit. I miss living so close to all of my grandparents. It was so nice being able to visit them any time while living in Utah.