Charlotte's Birthday Party

For several months now Charlotte has been telling me that for her birthday she wanted to have a pirate party.  I was hoping that the pirate thing would be out of her system by now, after all, they were pirates for Halloween, but no such luck.  Charlotte is still pirate obsessed.  I set about to planning a little party for her and her friends.

Last night after the girls went to bed I assembled and decorated Charlotte's cake and I;m happy with how it came out.  I learned a few things, messed up in some places, but it was fun to make and she was so excited when she came upstairs this morning and saw it on the table.

At her party we had a treasure map (that I drew up 10 minutes before the party started since the idea occurred to me while setting up) that showed Charlotte how to navigate her party.  We started with some coloring pages while we waited for everyone to get there and get settled in.  We then moved on to a pirate story.  We moved from there to building pirate ships.  I was busy helping assemble little egg carton pirate ships so I didn't have hands free to take pictures.

 I almost always include a pinata in the kids parties because every kid loves whacking at something, no matter their age.

 Charlotte got to start it and then each kid got a turn, youngest to oldest.  Lily took a few good whacks.

 Junior  was the last to get a go at the pinata and he killed it for us.

 That led to the best part, filling a goody bag with candy!

 The next stop on our map was a pirate picnic.  We had some little sandwiches, fruit, and apple juice.  I figured that I needed to feed them some real food before filling them with cake and ice cream.

  The last stop on our map was the treasure chest cake.

 After the cake was consumed we opened presents.  I love how these kids enjoy giving gifts.  They were all so anxious for Charlotte to open the gifts that they each brought for her.  Charlotte loved her presents.

When we got home the mailman delivered Charlotte's gift from Tyson and I, which was a box of musical instruments.  I'm already regretting it, but she's happy.

Charlotte's Birthday

Charlotte turned three yesterday.  I asked to stay little, but she refused and insisted that she must grow up.  We had planned a party, but it would be held on the day after her actual birthday so on her birthday we decided to have a fun outing to celebrate.  A few weeks ago we went to Jabbers for a little friend's birthday party and the girls have been talking about it ever since so we decided to go and play for Charlotte's birthday.

They have a toddler play area that was perfect for Gideon.  Look at that guy, growing up as well.

  This swing is a hit with all of the kids.

 Charlotte put on a little puppet show for me.  The elephant and zebra were friends.

 He hasn't figured out how to build with the blocks yet, but banging them on the table is a lot of fun apparently.

 Lily loves the construction zone.  This girl is a builder!  She spent a lot of time building a really big house (this picture is just the beginning of it) and then some boys came along and knocked it down.  She sobbed!  I could hear her from across the room.  One of the boy's mother was there, trying to help her feel better, but it took her a long time to get over the loss.  Finally I got her to start building again.

 She started working again when this other little boy came up to her and asked if he could build with her saying "I don't knock things down."  They played together the rest of the afternoon.

Charlotte is an independent player and entertained herself all afternoon.  She's also quite the builder, but when her towers fall down she just starts right back building them again.  This one fell down several times and she just smiled, picked up the pieces, and started again.

After Jabbers we got some pizza for dinner, because that was what Charlotte asked for, and then headed home for a quiet evening.  At least for the kids, I had to finish getting things ready for her party.

My Birthday 10k

Time continues to press on and I just keep getting older.  For my birthday yesterday I decided to celebrate by starting the day with the Barber to Boise 10k.  This is one of my local favorites.  The course is lovely, running along the Boise River for 6 miles and ending up at the football stadium at Boise State.  I ran it last year as my final 10k before shortening my distance due to my pregnancy.  It was great to have the same race be my first 10k back since Gideon was born.  It wasn't record time for me, but it was a good performance and I loved it.  The best part, I didn't go alone!  Tyson took the day off work and brought the kids along so everyone was there as I crossed the finish line.  Lily was terribly disappointed that I didn't get a medal though.

 I also got to meet up with a few friends from my running club afterwards.

 Another reason this race rocked was because I got to do it with my good friend Dave.  We have been friends since high school and he has been on an amazing journey to fitness.  In April, when I was 8.5 months pregnant, I ran the Beat Coach Pete 5k with him.  He asked a couple of months ago if I planned to do Barber to Boise, I told him that I would be running the 10k and told him to run it with me, AND HE DID!  I'm super proud of this guy!

 After the race Tyson took me shoe shopping.  I can hardly wait to put some miles on these awesome things!

....Twelve Months....

A year ago today I went to bed, feeling a little off, but ready for some sleep.  Charlotte had other plans.  I went into labor and at 6:59am our little Charlotte Elizabeth was born, weighing 8 lb 3oz and measuring 21 in long.  I can hardly believe that it has already been a full year.  This little girl has been such a joy to our lives and we are so grateful for her, I can't really remember life without her.

She continues to grow and develop.  Charlotte is currently 29 inches tall and weighs 21 pounds 15 ounces.  She walks everywhere these days, claps, waves good-bye, says "mama" and "dada", and climbs all over everything!  We've started weaning and she is taking to a sippy cup like a pro.  She prefers to drink from a normal cup, but she always spills so she only uses one of those while I hold her.

 She loves to play with her toys and she cuddles her babies and stuffed animals.

 For her birthday we gave her a sandbox, sans sand.  We'll get some sand this weekend and move it outside then, but Charlotte has enjoyed playing in it as it is.

 I see these girls having a lot of fun playing in here as the weather warms up.

 We are having a little birthday party for Charlotte on Saturday, but I still wanted to have a cake today, since it is her birthday.  I tried out a fun technique to frost it and had fun doing it.

 Charlotte had fun eating it so that's what matters.

 The birthday girl had a busy morning though and she fell asleep while eating her cake.

 Thankfully the sun came out so after nap time the girls and I went outside to enjoy the sun and get some work done.  Charlotte loves to swing and is happy to sit in the swing for an hour.

 Lily helped me clean up the last of the leaves in the yard.  She is actually really good with the rake and enjoys helping me put the leaves in the bags.

It has been a great day and we are so grateful for our little family!

Lily's 2nd Birthday

Two years ago we started on the most amazing adventure!

On Tuesday May 12th, 2009 at 10:42 pm Lily Ann came into this world weighing just 6lb 12oz and measuring 20 in long. She had a bit of a rough time getting here, but she has been such a joy ever since.

Today Lily is measuring 32.5 in tall and weighing 30 pounds. She loves to play, especially outside, and is so adventurous. Lily is the best big sister that any little girl could ask for. While she doesn't care to speak much (even though she can) and refuses to eat nearly everything, we love her dearly and we are we so grateful to have her in our lives.

This morning Lily got to open her present. She was very excited to see the little cars and was amazed when I showed her the ramps.

It took a while for me to convince her to get dressed and eat breakfast because she wanted to play.

We took a little trip to the zoo since it was going to be a beautiful day and we thought that Lily would enjoy it.

Here she is checking out the tigers.

And waiting patiently for mom at the petting zoo. Charlotte was getting kind of grumpy and needed to take a break.

At first she was a little scared of the goats, but she liked the babies.

She was very excited to get to feed them. She loves to feed Oscar from her hand so she knew just what to do.

She got a little excited with the other animals. I guess that we need to work on staying behind the ropes and off of the fence.

After the zoo, because we were downtown, we stopped by Guido's Pizza to pick up some lunch and then went up to Camel's Back Park for a picnic. For the first time ever Lily took a bite of pizza. She actually had a few bites. Normally she just munches on the crust and leaves the rest.

I've decided that I need a pair of sunglasses like hers in my size.

Afterwards we came back home, had naps and then went outside to play. She hopped right back on her trike.

She loves to store things in the basket and figured out to have the flap down when carrying her doll and up for everything else.

When we came back in she got right back to playing with her cars and ramps.

For dinner I made her favorite foods and then of course birthday cake. I even made Lily her own mini-cake. She didn't understand blowing out the candle, she just wanted to touch it.

She seemed to like her cake though.

And she was very happy to find the lemon filling.

Overall it was pretty much a perfect day.

*This should have been posted on the 12th, but blogger was having issues so it is a day late.

Story Time in the Spring

Spring has finally shown up here in Nampa, ID and we are taking full advantage of it! This morning we walked to the park and this afternoon we played outside in the yard. Since it was nice and warm Charlotte even got to come out and play.

We even had story time outside this afternoon. We spread a blanket under the maple tree and piled on.
I am reading one of my favorite books to the girls, The Little Prince. Lily usually sits through about 2 chapters and then is up and moving again, but we will get through it.
Because the weather was so nice and we were spending time outside Tyson and I decided that we would give Lily her birthday present 2 days early. I bought it nearly 2 months ago and I have been dying to let her play with it. Her friend Hailee has one and she loves it. I pulled it out and she climbed right on. She mostly pushes it with her feet, but she is starting to figure out how to pedal.

Lily's baby doll came along for the ride.
I can hardly believe that this sweet girl will be 2 years old in just 2 days!
Apparently Lily was planning to take her baby doll for a walk and needed to belt her in first.

I can hardly wait for Thursday! We decided not to have a party this year. Instead we are spending the day together as a family and having some fun outings.