Christmas 2012 Memories and Recap

There are fewer things a toddler loves more than opening presents, and A is no exception to that rule. I felt like we spent the whole month of December opening gifts and trying to find places to put the new toys. Fortunately, since she's mostly into puzzles, books and similar activities, those kind of toys don't take up much room. We did get her a trike, however, and that seems to be taking up a lot of room in the living room.  We started out our "Christmases" with J's family Christmas the Saturday before. A made out like a bandit, with such awesomeness as snow fort builders, Sesame Street memory games, the classic Fishing Game and her favorite - Violet from Leapfrog. I normally don't like talking and singing toys, because they're annoying, expensive and get neglected after a few days. This one is the exception. This little purple dog is A's new best friend - it even says her name! She knows her favorite food, color and animal and sings to her at night. A-bug sings along with all the songs and actually has mini conversations with her. She just loves that thing. It traveled with us all over the state of Virginia.

Which brings me to stage 2 of our family Christmas this year. On Sunday, we headed out to make the long journey to VA, where my mom grew up and where we have always gone for Christmas since I was a little girl. There's something magical about spending Christmas in the mountains, and it's always beautiful, even if there's no snow. My grandparents only get to see A and now K every 6 months, so it's very special to spend Christmas with them and all my cousins, aunts and uncles. We always have Christmas Eve dinner all together, eat brunch on Christmas morning and have my grandma's family's reunion on Christmas night. In case you didn't gather, there's a lot of eating :) A got a lot more adorable and fun gifts, including a totally cute winter parka from Emmy, coloring books from Uncle Trev and Mimi, and tons of clothes from Great-Grandma Moore, Uncle Trev and Uncle Zak. K also received lots of adorable clothes and some really sweet toys. A also received a little red trike from Great-Grandma Moore that she wanted to ride everywhere - we were more concerned about her running into the wood-burning stove, but she managed to avoid it the entire vacation *whew*.

Friday after Christmas, we headed over to the eastern part of the state to see my cousin get married. I could tell many stories about this leg of the vacation , but I'll summarize by saying that the hubster is even farther from letting me rent an RV someday to camp in than he was before this trip, and that's saying something lol. But we had a good time, got to see my dad's side of the family and a beautiful wedding. A fell in love with "the princess" who was actually my cousin's new wife, Kim. She loved the big, beautiful dress and veil, and wanted to take pictures with and talk to the princess all day. She was very sad when we had to leave the princess, but it was very sweet and adorable. We were also able to meet up with a friend of mine and meet her sweet family that night. Living 15 hours away makes the ability to visit few and far between, so we took advantage. She has a daughter close to A's age, so we had a great time and the girls loved playing together :)

Sunday we headed back to my grandparents for a few more days. Josh and I got to see Les Mis, without the company of any small children, which was very nice. We spent more time with family, which was lovely, and packed up to head back home on Wednesday morning. It was a long trip back, and we were very ready for our own bed, but all in all, it was a wonderful, family-filled Christmas.

Now it's time to put away the Christmas decorations, find homes for the new toys (and donate many of the old, but don't tell A-bug that!) and figure out what to do with all this candy, since we're trying to eat better in this new year. Today, I will try out one of my Christmas gifts, Zumba for the Wii, and later this month, I will most certainly enjoy my Spa Day from my lovely husband. My parents gave us extra cabinets for our kitchen which we are extremely grateful for, and will be installing shortly :) It was a great holiday season, but I'm glad to be back to our regular routine. I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas break as well!

A with Gigi and Grandma

Playing with her snow fort builders :)

Opening up her new best friend - Violet :)

Playing with a new toy with Emmy

Reading a Christmas morning story with Mimi

Smiling big before family pictures at the wedding

A with her cousin Grace and Granny

A and "the princess," Kim and my cousin
Paul, who was the groom.

A with Uncle Zak and Tita

Making silly faces with uncles Trev and Zak

Kisses from daddy <3

Meeting Missy and her daughter :) A was all worn out lol

Great-Grandma Moore and my sumo baby boy

Mr. K and Papa Moore

Auntie Gail with K and A

Papa and A 

Comedienne in the Family

Everyone loves to tell me how funny and entertaining A-bug is. Trust me, I know. Here are some classic examples from the past couple of weeks.


Several days ago, this conversation happened while I was changing her diaper.
A: "Look, mom! A star!"
Me: "Yes, Aria a star! Is the star purple?"
A: "Yes, mom! Good job! Star is purple!"

Yesterday, A-bug was having a crabby day early on and she told me, "I can't like him (K) today. I tired."

Earlier this week, A was playing with her magnetic dress-up doll which she loves. Every time she got a complete outfit on her, she would say to her doll, "Oh, you're so pretty!" And then, when she would start to take the clothes back off she would say, "Please, excuse me!" as if she was afraid the doll would be offended that A was removing her clothes. It was hilarious.

Today, A-bug stood at the window watching all the rain come down. She looked up at my sadly and said, "It's raining, mommy. I cannot go play outside." I felt so bad, I almost let her go out. Almost.

One of A's favorite things to do on the computer right now is to watch the iTunes visualizer to The Piano Guys. She gets very upset if we have to turn it off to do something else lol. You should see her dance to "You Don't Know You're Beautiful." It's pretty awesome.

Today, A slipped and fell while doing something she's been told over and over not to do - try to climb into K's crib. Of course, she hurt herself and was devastated, but instead of getting angry per her usual MO, she reached over, held K's hand and said to him, "It's ok Ky-Ky. I cry, but it's ok." I almost laughed out loud.

Recently, A likes to pretend that cookie cutters are hats for some reason, so all morning she's been putting cookie cutters on K's head and singing happy birthday to him lol. He's not impressed.

Josh: "A, do you wanna play the cello when you get older?" A: "Oh cello! Yes daddy, i lub cello! I eat strawberry cello (jello)!" LOL

Playing with some of mommy's old jewelry while mommy
finished sorting the laundry. Gotta distract her lol...

I love my silly girl :) 

It's beginning to look a lot like...

CHRISTMAS! Yes, it's here. Even though the snow is not, we must carry on and pretend that it's Christmas time. Well, I guess it is Christmas time, but it sure doesn't feel like it. We've had weather mostly sitting in the 40's, sometimes even warmer, and it just makes the Christmas lights feel premature. But alas, it is truly December.

Every Christmas, we go with my parents up to Bronner's Christmas Wonderland to take pictures, buy ornaments and get a picture with Santa. This year, we once again made the horrible mistake of going on  Saturday. We really gotta do something about that. It was incredibly packed out. I was shielding K's head from strangers elbows, and we definitely needed a leash of some sort for A-bug. It was just nuts. But we did get our ornaments and our pictures with Santa. A also discovered the Sesame Street display, which made the wait for Santa much more bearable.

So here are some shots of our annual Christmas weekend tradition. What are some annual traditions that you have with your kids?

Family Picture :)

Playing at the Sesame Street display

Had to give the giant Big Bird a hug :)

Every year, we gt a picture of A with these
ear warmers :)

Me and my baby girl

She was not so much thrilled with Santa

K was cool with him, though

Facebook Snapshots

The past couple weeks have been kinda crazy here, and I haven't been able to blog nearly as much as I like. I have, however, had the time to write quick statuses on Facebook about the funny and entertaining things that have been going on in our family. So while this may be redundant for all my Facebook friends, it's nice to consolidate all my statuses about our family in one place every once in a while.

11/20/12

Me: "Aria, what does C-A-T spell?"
Aria: "KITTY!"

11/19/12

We have worked really hard to teach Aria to share... unfortunately, she was under the impression that this also applied to her cold. Kylar and I are both partaking in the runny nose.

11/13/12

I hung up candy canes above our staircase for christmas...aria has been trying for a half hour to reach them. Only 4 feet too short lol...

Not on Facebook

Scene: *Mimi holding a screaming baby K*

A: "Mimi, put Ky-Ky in his chair. He fine. Put him there."

Scene: *me blasting choir music and singing along*

A: "Mommy, no singing, please."

Me: "do you want me to turn on the radio?"

A: "Yes please, mommy. No singing, mommy."

K's "wide awake face" that we normally see around 11 each night.

A's artwork from Sunday School. She's so proud of it that it's
now hanging on my refrigerator :)

Making Me Laugh

There are few people who can make me laugh like A can. Seriously, such a funny little human being. I have no idea where she gets this outrageously funny personality, but we're never bored at our house! Here are some of the funny things she's done and said over the past few days.

My mother recently sent over a box of cookie cutters after cleaning out her kitchen. Being incredibly busy with a fussy baby and a house that looked like it had been hit by Sandy, I hadn't had time to go through them yet... but A found time. They're now her new favorite things to play with. The cutest thing? She calls them "cookie dutters." :)

K has had some serious issues with colic or acid reflux recently, which means we spend a lot of time burping him so as to keep him from spitting up as much (for the record, it's not working.) Now, whenever I'm holing him, A-bug walks up and starts patting him on the back saying, "Burp, Ky-Ky! Burp!" She even tries to burp her stuffed Abby and Elmo. So far, no luck, but she's not giving up anytime soon. I also love when she sees he's awake and says, "you're awake, baby boy!" Our little imitator....

As her vocabulary grows, A starts saying complete sentences. My favorite thing ever is when she sits next to K's bouncy seat where he chills out during the day, and just strikes up a conversation with him. "Hey, baby Ky-Ky! How doin'? Get good sleeps? I lub you!" It's adorable. This morning at breakfast, after I gave her her usual blueberry yogurt, she says, "Mmmm, I luuuuub blueberries, mama. Do you?" and then proceeded to take a massive bite of blueberry yogurt lol. She just cracks me up.

The other day when I was nursing K, I noticed something on his head. When I started rubbing it, I noticed it was dried yogurt from A had kissed him after breakfast and gotten yogurt on his head. It all makes both my heart and my face smile. I love my kiddos, and I love the ever entertaining dialogue that goes on in our house. I can't wait until K joins the conversation... if he ever gets the time to get a word in ;)

Twinkle Pink!

I had to write this down before I forgot, or she stopped doing it. Aria's favorite character in all of this world - besides Elmo - is Abby-Cadabby, also from Sesame Street. She has the little doll, and is even going to be her for Halloween tomorrow. Abby's show on Sesame Street, Abby's Flying Fairy School, is really geared towards kids A-bug's age, and teaches them basic logic skills. One of the phrases they say all the time is "Twinkle Think!" whenever they face a particularly puzzling problem. Now, whenever A is playing with her Abby doll, costume or doing anything with her ABC's she says "twinkle pink! twinkle pink!" - it's like her 2 favorite things combined: Abby and her favorite color, pink. It's so cute, I hope to catch it on video soon. If I can't, I hope I don't forget the cuteness of the way she says it :)

One Month... Already?!

Today, my baby boy is 1 month old. Already. Crazy talk. This past month, I have been reminded of what extreme sleep deprivation is all about, how much newborn spit up and how much money I will be saving by nursing this baby instead of using formula. I've also learned for the first time what it's like to really cuddle with a baby... A-bug was never really into that. I've learned that Gripe Water really does work for some kids, just not A. I have come to appreciate nap time on a much higher level than ever before. I have gained a whole other skill level when it comes to multi-tasking. I have eaten more leftovers than food prepared that day (and thank you VERY MUCH to everyone who was a part of bring food to my fridge.)

I have also learned that it is indeed possible to love your second child as much as your first, and that your heart doesn't run out of room. I have watched some of the most adorable moments happen between A and K, and I'll always treasure those nightly kisses she gives him. I have been reminded of how wonderful a feeling it is to watch your new baby carefully studying your face and cooing at you. And there's never so much cuteness as when a newborn yawns and stretches out that teeny-tiny neck, scrunches up his little wrinkly face and momentarily turns himself into ET :) 

Here is some of the adorable-ness that's gone on in our household in the past month :)

Getting kisses from his big sister :)

All dressed up for his first trip to Grandma and Papa's :)

4 generations! Plus Uncle Mike :) 

Chilling outside during the October Indian Summer

I'll never get over those dimples

Sacked out in his Flannel Hoody - just like daddy :)

Piled up in all the blankets :)

I just love this little face :)

Such big eyes :)

Digging to Find China

There are fewer things A loves about playing outside more than getting to play in her turtle sandbox. She loves feeling it between her toes and using her little shoves to scoop up and dump out the sand. Tonight, her and Josh were out playing in the sandbox, and Josh was using a couple fingers to dig around in the sand. He told A, "I'm digging to find China!" A pushes his hand out of the way, puts her eyes right down next to the hole he had been digging and shouts to the top of her lungs, "CHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINA, where AAAAAAAAAAARE you?!?!" repeatedly. I was actually inside, but could hear her through the windows. I ran outside to find out what in the world she was doing, and Josh was sitting on the deck rolling with laughter, and little A-bug had her hands up like she was looking for something with the most confused look on her face. This post really has no point other than this was something hilarious I didn't want to forget :)

My little sickie eating fishies

Today, I think my A-bug is sick :( We kinda had a rough start to the morning as it was because I didn't sleep when it was dark out last night and didn't fall asleep until just before J got up for work. Thus, I didn't get up right away when I heard A over the monitor. One of the benefits of her sleeping in her "big girl bed" now is that she can get up and read books or play with her animals if I don't get her up right away, and today that's just what she did. I heard her read a few books out loud, and then she much have gone back to sleep because she was dead quiet for another couple of hours. I most thoroughly appreciated the extra hours of needed sleep, but when she woke up again at 11, I knew I had to get both of us up.

When I went downstairs to get her, she was laying in her bed reading books, but was happy to be out of her room. She still seemed rather dazed, for having the extra hours of sleep, but I didn't know exactly how long she'd been awake before she told me through the monitor that she wanted to get up. I also assumed that she would be hungry out of her mind, but when I tried to feed her breakfast, she didn't even get through one container of yogurt before she said she was done. That was my first clue that she was sick. A-bug never turns down blueberry yogurt. 

When the dark circles under her eyes didn't go away, I knew she wasn't feeling well. And then when I went to change her diaper, she got goosebumps all over and tried to put her pans back on while saying, "cold, mommy! cold!" At this point, she doesn't feel warm anymore, but she still won't go anywhere without her blanket wrapped around her.She's also been clingy today, but since the move, I really don't consider that to be incredibly unusual. 

As per usual, whenever A isn't feeling well, she gets to eat Goldfish on the couch while watching cartoons, even in the afternoon when she usually doesn't get to watch TV. While I'm not fond of the fact that she looks like she's about to cry every time I turn the TV off, it has enabled me to get a lot done today - including 2 blog posts :) Considering just last night we got our dryer fixed and had been without one for almost a month, I have laundry up to my armpits.  I have finished 2 loads, with another one each in the washer and dryer. I've also got the walls in the basement and the stairs going down there all wiped down. It's amazing how much cleaner a lemon-scented All-Purpose can make you feel when you walk into a room. See? I told you I was getting a lot done today!

Despite getting all this stuff done without the usual interruptions, I'm missing my usually energetic and spunky toddler... it's just weird with her not wanting to move off the couch or wanting to eat everything in sight :( Get better, baby bug. 

Waiting for Fall...

Here in Michigan, Fall lasts about 2 weeks. Not even lying. So sometimes, we have to pretend it's Autumn, even when it really isn't quite yet. Like now. It's been in the 70's for the past week or so, which is a definitely step in the cooler direction from the 90's we've been having all summer, but it's still not Fall yet. But I LOVE Fall. I love the smell of the leaves falling and the trees getting ready to fall asleep for winter. I love the pumpkin and apple cider flavored foods and drinks, and the fact that it's ok to put caramel on EVERYTHING in the Fall. I love sweaters without big coats, scarves without gloves, and hats without earmuffs. I think I love it so much because it reminds me of my favorite time of day - dusk. The calm before everything falls asleep, the noise of the crickets, the sudden cool down. Essentially, Autumn is the dusk of the year. And I love it.

This is the first year we will have our own yard to rake up into piles of leaves, whether to burn them into that delicious scent or to jump in them and turn into 7 year olds again. I'll be able to dress A all up in her flannel clothes (of which we have a lot, due to living in the frozen tundra of the north) and let her go run and play with all the crunchy "leebs." She will love it. I also can't wait to take her back to the cider mill for ""do-no's" and fun with pumpkins. We both seem to have an obsession with pumpkins right now, although mine is mainly in the decor and food area, and A just wants to throw them everywhere.

If you haven't figured out by now, I'm one of the most sentimental people on the planet. I want to turn every little thing into a memory, and take approximately 382 pictures of said activity. This desire has only gotten stronger during this pregnancy. I think I'm driving my husband crazy. Because of this desire to make every moment count, I've been spending lots of time after A goes to bed on Pinterest, trying to get all the greatest Fall activities on our calendar before I have baby K. I want to make sure that I spend as much one-on-one time with the A-bug before her little world is turned upside down. I want more mommy-daughter time, even though she'll never remember it.

So....what are some of your favorite Fall activities to do with your kids? Growing up, my favorite tradition was going to the apple orchards of mid-Michigan, but in southeast suburbia, there's not a lot to choose from. I'm still looking for one that has all the fun activities that I enjoyed as a kid. I also used to spend HOURS with my grandpa raking leaves and jumping in the piles when I was a kid, and those memories are so precious to me, especially now that he's passed on. I love sipping caramel apple cider, eating caramel apples and making yummy caramel cookies. (I'm really needing some caramel about now...) I just want A to have these fun memories, too... So what are your favorite memories? Traditions? Are you trying something new with your kids this Autumn? Let me know! There may be an upcoming contest for Fall Family Fun coming soon... * hint hint* ;)

Pictures from last Fall

Mini Play Date

Our good friend Kara nannies for this adorable little almost-2 -year-old, and today they came over for a mini play date before nap time. I always worry about A when it comes to play dates, because she's really not around other kids her age all that much, and I'm worried about how she'll share (or not share...) Today she was in a sharing mood, apparently. She did very well letting little Colin play with her toys, which is a big deal. She's pretty possessive, and tends to get confused when other kids play with her toys, especially her books or puzzles. But today, she did just fine. Until....

We had just finished snack and Colin had eaten lunch. A was running in and out of the screen door playing with Kara's dog, Lincoln. No problems, really. Then she hauls off and hits Colin on the head. Now granted, she's barely 2, and it didn't seem to hurt Colin at all; he just gave her a funny look. But she hit him. And that's just not something we do in our family. We do not physically hit, ever. So... I tell A to give Colin a hug and say "sorry." She runs the opposite direction, saying "no no no no!" Something else we don't do in our family. Finally, I'm able to corral her back into the kitchen, and she gives Colin a hug and says "sorry." You would think all would be well, but alas, in all their 2 year old clumsiness, they fell over while giving each other a hug. This produced more tears from A, and it was about this second that we decided the play date was over.

I'm sitting here typing this as A is in bed for nap time, hoping and praying that this hitting thing was a one time fluke, and - even more so - that she's not doing this when I'm not around. I'm really not sure why she hit him, and since she's 2, she may very well have not had a reason. I'm starting to see a trend in actions with no reason from her. And there's just no logic in asking a 2 year old, "why in tarnation did you do that?!"

Did you child ever go through a hitting or biting phase? Or maybe they had another inexplicable, destructive habit. Like I said, I'm hoping this is a one time thing, but what are we going to do if it isn't? Especially if there's no rhyme or reason for her behavior? If and when I figure this little conundrum out, I'll let you know. Not making any promises, though....

Oh, the words you will say

Sometimes, I get so wrapped up in blogging all of our projects and the major events that I forget about the everyday little things A does that make her so special. There are so may quirks and aspects to her unique little personality that I don't want to forget, I need to remember to write them down more often.

Today, we took A to one of her favorite places - Ikea. There's something about all the showcase rooms, the wide aisles to run down, all the toys and play stations and - of course - the FOOD that has her giddy from the moment we announce our trip till she collapses from sheer exhaustion when we get in the car to go home.  Today's trip was no exception. She most thoroughly explored every square inch of the showcase floor, but was about ready to have an emotional meltdown halfway through the downstairs warehouse floor. Fortunately, she pulled herself together just long enough to get a couple new lights for her room and inhale some fries and chicken tenders.

She's also talking now more than ever. I mean, there's never really been a time when she didn't talk, but now her little babbles are starting to make sense. From the time I hear "mommy, WAKE up!" first thing in the morning until she says "night night, mommy. Lub ooh." at night, she's just full of adorable little statements. She can now ask for specific foods for meal times, whether it's "oh-mee-lou" (oatmeal,) a "butter sack-ich" (peanut butter toast,) or "chi-chi's cecil" (Cheerios) for breakfast or "ta-berries" (strawberries,) "ooh-ger" (yogurt) and cheese for lunch. She has now also finally figured out the difference between milk, juice and water, but 9 times out of 10, she'll ask for milk over anything else. Some other cute food words she says are "chalk-it" (chocolate,) "copy" (coffee,) and "muffy" (muffin.) One word that blogging cannot properly convey the humor of is the specific way she says the word "BAAAAAAAACOOOOOOOOON." It pretty much sounds exactly like I just typed it, with a low growly aspect to it. Makes me think that we definitely have a tomboy on our hands. 

Something else she's just started to do in the past couple of weeks is putting groups of words together to form sentences that are actually understandable to us as parental units.  She's been saying things like "I like it" and "I did it!" for a while, but now she can ask us to read her a book, and sometimes a specific book like "Elmo Lub Ooh" (Elmo loves you,) "Lub ooh to an to" (I love you through and through,) "Night night moon" (Goodnight, Moon,) or "Happy kiss me" (Veggie Tale's Merry Christmas.) Many of her favorite books, she has "memorized" and has started to figure out when we skip pages - whether accidental or intentional. 

A has always preferred playing with and reading about animals over Barbies or dolls in general. She can now make most obvious animal noises, as well as a few unique ones. Her favorites are hooting like an owls, "skeeking" like a mouse, "kacking" like a duck and moo'ing (always with great enthusiasm) like a cow. She's also working really hard on her fish face, which is incredibly entertaining to watch. She's also decided that she doesn't like "icky bugs" although she doesn't mind lady bugs or ants for some reason. She has an odd fear of flies and crickets as well - I think it's their odd modes of movement that kinda creeps her out. 

There are so many other little things she does that I am going to try harder to capture in words before it's too late. I've personally never met a funnier child in my life, and I hope to remember all these hilarious little quirks she has.

Shopping with Mimi

Loving her Elmo phone she got for her birthday

I mean, seriously, with this face? How cute is she?!

Reaching to grab the airplanes that fly above our new house

The Toddler Wars: Episode 3 - Life-Altering Changes and Adjusting to Them

So, I really did have every intention of blogging my way through this move. Which, thinking back, is a very funny thought. I'm not really sure where I thought I would find the time or extra energy to post everyday about our new house. Obviously, it didn't happen. We originally thought we would be moving into our new house within 2 days. Also a very funny thought. The house ended up being uninhabitable, (which will be completely outlined in a later post) and we had to move in with J's parents for a couple weeks. I also spent a long weekend up at my parent's house with Aria, and we finally were able to move in 16 days after we closed. Again, more details on the move and reno will definitely be coming. Just needed to provide some context.

I don't think it's a secret to anyone who knows anything about toddlers that they don't like change. They don't like when their routine changes, especially when it changes repeatedly over the course of a couple weeks. Poor Aria went through a toddler's worst nightmare during this move. Between the old apartment, her Wardell and Halleck grandparent's houses and the new house, she stayed in 4 different houses over 2 weeks. Talk about traumatizing. By the time we were moving into the new house, every time she got into bed, it took her a while to figure out that she was supposed to be sleeping.

She was also not at all used to the fact that not only was J gone all day, but so was I. We spent all day everyday over at the new house trying to get it to the point where we could bring Aria into it. While we were killing ourselves for her own good, she didn't understand at all why we kept leaving her behind. Some days, I would only see her around lunch time for an hour or so, and many of those days, J wouldn't see her at all. It was definitely rough, but all that hard work has really paid off.

Overall, she did really well, however. She's never been one who adjusts to schedule changes well, and we were bracing for the worst. "The worst" didn't really come until the last couple of days, when I think she just gave up on trying to figure out what was going on in her little life. We had a couple major meltdowns towards the end, but really, it could have been worse.

By now, she's pretty much completely adjusted to the "new house," as she still calls it. She is still incredibly clingy when new people come over or when we leave her with a Sunday School worker or babysitter. She gets very nervous if we walk out of the room without letting her know, and it's even worse if we "hand her off" to someone and walk away. Panic will most certainly ensue. In a certain twisted way, it makes me feel kinda loved, but of course it's a stage that we're hoping she outgrows soon. I'm sure her Sunday School teachers feel the same way...

Mommy/Daughter Dates

The farther I get into this pregnancy, the more I get worried about having a new baby in the house. How will Aria react to a new little one? Am I ready of TWO of these tiny humans? Will I be able to spend time with both of them the way I want to?

Aria chilling at the pool like mommy :)

I've heard these worries are perfectly normal, and I sure hope it is. One of the big things that will change is obviously how much time I'll be able to spend with Aria. While I know that I will LOVE having a new infant to snuggle with, there's still a little bit of sadness that I won't get to spend as much one-on-one time with my baby girl.

In order to ease my guilt about this matter, I've purposefully been trying to do things just with her, or even just spend more time with her during the day. She really does prefer to play by herself when it comes down to it, but if I make an effort, she will eventually include me in whatever she's doing. I especially like sitting in her big rocking chair with her, reading book after book. ("Book after book" is far better than the alternative, same book 137 x's in a row, which also occasionally happens.)

Aria enjoying her monster cookie
from Starbucks

One day earlier this summer, we had one of our special mommy/daughter dates. We had to go somewhere mundane - honestly, I  don't remember exactly where - but I decided to make it special, and took a detour to Starbuck's on our way home. They have these huge oatmeal raisin cookies that Aria just thinks are the bomb. For the duration of this pregnancy, I'm not really allowed to drunk much coffee, so Chai was on the menu for me - another one of Aria's favorites, courtesy of Mimi's spoilings. It was so nice outside, we sat at their picnic tables with our cookies and my Chai, and "talked." It was great. I can't wait till she's older, and we can chat for real. She was so adorable trying to get the chai up the straw and the cookie was bigger than her face.

I plan on taking her to the Detroit Zoo before the summer is up, and we've been taking lots of trips to the pool, just the two of us. Sometimes, I'll take her outside to play with bubbles and run around, and even a trip to Meijer can be a huge event for her, thanks to Sandy the Horse still only costing a penny to ride. It's these little memories that she may never remember, but I'll always have them to cherish. And soon, we'll have double the memories to make :)

The Toddler Wars: Episode 2 - Respectful Rebellion

I've always known that how you talk to your kids when they're learning to speak is how they will communicate with you. Thus, whenever we talked to Aria, we would use "yes, ma'am," "no,ma'am," "please," and "thank you." We're also really conscious about saying "you're welcome" and "excuse me" very clearly to Aria, so that she will learn how and when to use these as well. She's finally reached the age where this is really starting to pay off, and it's been really adorable to hear her say "tank ooh" and "geesey" (excuse me) in their proper contexts.

However, it wasn't until this past week where the "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am" really entered her vocabulary. And it entered with a bang. As I have blogged before, Aria is at that stage where she now understands the concept of disobeying. When she was younger, the thought never really occurred to her to disobey. This was  a lovely time, and she was a perfect child. Ok, not really, but it was nice. Now, she's two. And she thinks it's cute to disobey. I have no clue where she got that idea from.

Aria's epic "sad face"

 Anyways... all that to say, last week, I asked her to stop jumping on the couch. A rather reasonable request, I thought. Apparently, not to Aria. She was enjoying herself far too much to be deterred from her jumping. I asked again more forcefully; "Aria, sit on your bottom right now." The response I got? "NO MA'AM!"

It took all my self-control to not burst out laughing at this rather respectful rebellion. I mean, wasn't this what I had wanted by talking to her that way since birth? It just didn't go down quite like I had imagined. (She still got a time out, despite the cuteness, by the way.) 

Although I was glad that all that effort had finally (sort of) paid off, it reminded me once again how closely my little booger is listening to the words I use, and how I talk to her. "Oh by careful, little mouth what you say" because your toddler will shortly be repeating it, and it may not always be quite so cute.

Birthday Party Recap

Well, it's now Tuesday after Aria's 2nd birthday party, which was Saturday, but I'm just not getting around to blogging about it. This is mostly because I couldn't stand my house being such a mess any longer, and I spent most of yesterday pulling everything back together.

The party was a success, for which I was glad. It's really the first party I've pulled off by myself, although I did get a LOT of help from my mom. She's definitely the party-thrower/entertainer of the family. I just wanted to give Aria a nice party, and had NO idea how much work it would be. But it was fun, and now I'm glad it's over :)

I loved the way the burlap and mason jars came out. We used a simple light aqua plastic table cloth and made burlap runner to go down the middle. We wrapped pieces of burlap around mason jars and tied them up with a pink gingham ribbon, then filled them with hot pink daisies. 

IBC Root Beer and candy sticks

I really loved the way those turned out. I had my husband tie the pink and blue candy sticks in groups of 3, and we put those all along the burlap runner at everyone's spot for their party favors. I also hung pastel pink, green and teal paper lanterns from the pavilion ceiling for some dimension, and liked how that looked.cf

The Pinterest idea I use to make
Aria's special vase. It looks great
but was WAY harder to do than I thought. 

For food, there were a few changes to the menu I had posted about earlier and wanted to do. We decided to nix the homemade cheese sticks, mostly because of time constraints, and put a veggie plate in it's place (although the day of, we actually forgot the veggies in the refrigerator, so I've been eating a lot of broccoli lol.) We still went with the homemade chicken nuggets, and I was glad we did. They ended up being pretty easy and tasty! I ended up going with a different recipe than I had posted before, because after experimenting, my mom found out those others didn't have quite enough flavor. The cinnamon sugar tortilla chips and fruit salsa were a big hit, and I will most definitely be making  those again for parties and family gatherings. And then there were the sweet potato fries. *sigh* They were tasty, although I could not for the life of me get them crispy. So they looked like limp little orange worms in the bowl. But again, they really were tasty.

Stewart's Orange soda, Cream soda and
IBC Root Beer in a big tin tub was a hit,
and I loved the way it looked.

Having the party at the park really was a great idea. The kids all had plenty of room to play and you really need that with a group of toddlers/early elementary-aged kids. And we had the perfect weather. It was sunny and warm, without being too hot - which was definitely a concern this summer. The guys brought a football and had a good time throwing that around while the moms and kids played on the playground. We also had one of our family favorite games, ladder gold, and that was a big hit as well. We had made a bunch of water balloons, but didn't actually use them until most of the younger kids had left. Aria and her friend Ellie had a great time with them, though, and all the "big kids" (my brothers, husband and dad) had a blast throwing them at each other.

Overall, we had a blast, and I hope our guests did too. I'll post a couple recipes below, as well as some pictures from the day.

Panko-Crusted Baked Chicken Nuggets

 (special thanks to my friend Margee for this alternative recipe. It turned out very tasty!)

Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Sugar Chips

(warning: it is not this pretty, but it really is DELICIOUS!)

A group of the adults chilling

My mom made this great sign for us to
take pictures with. This is a shot of all
the kids who came for the party.

Family Photo <3