Long Weekend

We had a lovely long weekend in CB visiting Brian's family. We packed up the van on Friday morning and began the 3+ hour drive. Before we had kids, Brian and I used to make this drive in about 3 hours with no stops. Now we usually stop at least once (and try to time it for a lunch break) so the journey often takes closer to 5 hours.

The past 2 times we went to CB, Grace got sick in the car (once just after we got out). She had never been carsick before, and we were/are really hoping this doesn't become a trend. We made sure to have a bucket and paper towel nearby this time! We were only about 30 minutes into our drive when Grace said her tummy hurt. We rolled her window down a bit and put the bucket on her lap. She was quite pleased to have the bucket and just started playing with it and wearing it on her head and laughing (and making Anna laugh) so I'm not sure if her tummy was upset or not, but the good news is that she didn't get sick!

We had a lovely weekend with family. Uncle Rob was home, and so was Jordan so he was able to meet Anna for the first time! We had nice visits with everyone, and lots of good meals. We also visited the farm across from Aunt Irene and Uncle Daryl's house. The sheep were having their babies so we walked over with the intention of just checking out all the little lambs from over the fence. After a few minutes, we saw a little boy sprinting up the hill towards us. He said we could come in and he would give us a tour! He was so sweet; he showed us around and gave us lots of information about his family's farm. About 90 lambs had been born in the past 12 weeks! We took a walk through the barn as well, where the last mama sheep was waiting to have her babies. Grace wasn't interested in touching any of the animals, but definitely enjoyed the experience.

Our drive home yesterday was one of the best we've had as a family of four. The girls slept for close to 2 hours, there were no complaints of upset tummies, and very little whining or restlessness. We stopped in at Zilla and Bampers' for a little visit and hung out in the yard while Grace helped Zilla with her gardens. Both of the girls were in bed last night by 6:30 with no complaints and both caught up on some much needed sleep!

Thankfully she didn't end up needing the bucket!

Gracie decorated her own cupcake. Sprinkles everywhere!

Anna in cousin Alicia's hammock swing. How cool would it be to have one of these in your room?

The girls weren't around but Aunt Alvina filled in and painted G's toenails - she requested purple, of course!

G hiding on cousin Victoria's bed

We played outside after supper at Irene & Daryl's and Brian found a couple Skip It's in the garage. So fun!

Playing outside past bedtime

rockin' out

Bedtime Moments

I was just snuggling with Grace while I tucked her into bed and as I was getting up to leave her room, she wrapped her little arms around me so tight and said softly "I just want you to stay here." Maybe she was trying to stall bedtime, but it was still so sweet! I love those little moments.

Mother's Day

Yesterday was absolutely wonderful. I slept in, we had my parents over for a yummy brunch (cooked by Brian) and we spent the afternoon playing outside. I didn't do any dishes and didn't change a single diaper all day. Just relaxed and had fun with my family. It was lovely!

I am so lucky to be a mom to two amazing little girls. They make me smile, laugh, and feel incredibly happy every day.

A picture of me on the envelope of my card

Grace picked out this bouquet when she was shopping with Aunt MaryAnne. Purple, of course.

This is how we spent most of the afternoon

I love this picture. It looks like they're sharing the chalk but in reality, Grace had just run up and grabbed the bucket, and Anna was holding on for dear life while Grace pulled her along trying to take it from her!

Anna was soaked by the end of the day after falling in puddles!

Finished off the day with some snuggles

18 Months!

It's so cliche but it is so true - time flies when you have kids! It's hard to believe that Anna is 18 months old already. She is a sweet, independent, hilarious little person.

At 1.5 years old, Anna:

• is a little chatterbox, just like her sister! I can't even count how many words she knows now. She is putting together more sentences lately, like "help me, sneakers, Mommy" and "DeeDee, where are you?" and my personal favorite, "I luh you, DeeDee!" She has the cutest little voice and I love hearing her talk. I think watching/hearing the girls learn how to talk is one of my favorite things about being a parent. It's amazing.  
• is funny. She has a good sense of humor and makes us laugh all the time. 
• loves getting baths, and will often protest when it's time to get out. 
• still doesn't sleep through the night! Considering Grace slept through the night from 4 months on, the fact that Anna is still up at least once a night drives me crazy. Usually it's a quick wake up and she settles back down easily, but come on, kid!
• is napping better. For the past few months she's been having one nap per day and usually sleeps for 1.5-2 hours. When I dropped her morning nap she started sleeping better in the afternoon. She still gets tired in the mornings but it's worth it to keep her awake until after lunch. She used to have two short naps a day, about 20 minutes each so this new, one long nap is great!
• loves to drink water! She has had watered down juice and doesn't like it - took one sip, made a face, and wouldn't drink anymore. I'm not complaining!
• is not a fan of sweets. We gave her a chocolate cupcake on her first birthday and she was not interested. We've offered her bites of other sweets/desserts since then and she usually spits it out. Clearly she takes after Brian on this one!
• likes most fruits, loves pasta, hates potatoes and eggs (just like her big sister) and is a big meat eater. She likes some veggies and we're working on getting her to eat more veg. 
• loves babies! She just adores her little cousins and is so sweet with them. She always uses this quiet little voice when she talks to Madeline or Kamryn, it's so cute. 
• enjoys spending time outside, but lately likes to do her own thing. She doesn't want to be confined in the stroller anymore, and will sometimes throw a little fit if we have to leave the playground before she is ready. 
• is in size 4 diapers, size 4 shoes, and is already wearing some 2T clothing. She's wearing some of Grace's old stuff that Grace just wore last Fall!

Anna, you are sweet, strong-willed, loving, and hilarious. I absolutely love watching you grow into this amazing little person. I'm so lucky to be your mama and I love you so much! 

Video

I don't take enough videos of the girls, and the ones I do take usually just end up in a folder on the computer and I don't do anything with them. I'm going to try to post more of them on here. It will be fun to look back at them later on and hear how cute the girls' voices are.

I took this video on my phone a couple weeks ago, the day after Anna learned how to climb up on the climber/slide in our backyard by herself. She was quite proud and for the first few days, every time she climbed up she would do a little dance. Grace loves watching this video and laughs every time. She thinks it's hilarious.

Wordless Wednesday (Selfie)

Anna's Favorite Tunes

Anna can be quite demanding when she wants to listen to a song. We have music going all day, usually a radio station playing through the TV using the Apple TV. As soon as I hook the laptop up to the TV to use YouTube, Anna starts her demands:

"No one! No one!" - She has loved the song No One by Alicia Keys since she was very young.

"Happy! Happy, Mommy! Happy!" - Happy by Pharrell gets her dancing. I like this song too but Anna would listen to it on repeat all day if we let her. I can see myself getting sick of this song pretty soon.

"All sing lays" - I like hearing her request this one the best. "Single Ladies" by Beyonce. Anna will shake her little bum and wave her hand around like in the video, it's hilarious.

Some Monday Ramblings

• Two Friday's ago, Grace and I spent the evening with some friends we hadn't seen in ages. It was great to catch up with Angela, and it was so cute watching Grace and Gabriella catch up with each other too!
  "I'm three years old, how old are you?" "I'm three years old too! My favorite color is purple, what's your favorite color?" "I like purple, and pink, and black." We went out for supper and then to Stars on Ice. We ended up leaving during the intermission because it was late but everyone enjoyed the first half of the show. 
• Anna is getting braver at the playground and on the slides/climbers in our yard. I try to just let her find her own way but sometimes she plops down on her bum to scoot towards the slide and she's right on the edge almost falling over backwards! 
• I love how much Grace and Anna love their baby cousins. They are so sweet and loving with Madeline and Kamryn. Yesterday Anna jammed Kam's finger in the drawer of their little cash register. Kam started wailing and I think Anna realized that she had something to do with it and then she started crying! Poor girls were both so upset!
• Anna has started copying Kamryn's laugh, it's so cute! Her laugh sounds kind of like a little cough. Anna will say "KamBam laugh" and then impersonate it. So funny. 
• I went out for brunch on Saturday with my sister and our friend Jenn. With no kids! It was so nice. 
• We spent the rest of the day at the camp with Zilla and Bampers. The girls loved exploring around the camp, throwing rocks in the brook, and blowing bubbles. The deck is pretty rotten and is going to be replaced, so we were telling the girls to be careful and trying to keep Anna away from all the really soft spots. Despite our efforts, she fell through! Thankfully she wasn't hurt, just a little scared. Zilla is going to order all the supplies for the new deck this week! 
• Brian was in a softball tournament all weekend so we went to watch a game yesterday morning. They lost and were out of the tournament after that, so after a little visit with Korryn, Mike, and KamBam, I took the girls home for some much needed naps. They both slept for several hours! I hung out on the deck for a while with my book. It was a lovely weekend!

Easter Recap 2014

Grace was really excited about Easter this year. She was pumped when I brought out the decorations, which isn't much! She started taking a couple stuffed bunnies to bed with her and kept asking how many more sleeps until the Easter Bunny would come. On Easter morning she walked out of her room and said sleepily "is it Easter?" When I said yes, she ran down the hall to the living room and was so pumped to see a few eggs hidden around the room! She could see from the patio door that there were some eggs hidden in the backyard and couldn't wait to go get them. But when I suggested we just go outside in our jammies, she said no, she had to "put on something pretty and something cozy." Um, who is this kid?

Something pretty and something cozy

The girls each got a few small gifts from the Easter Bunny but the real highlight was the egg hunt. We put Smarties, Eggies, and stickers in a bunch of plastic eggs and hid a few in the house, and most of them outside in the yard. They didn't get much chocolate other than that, and I'm glad I didn't buy more because I'm sure I would have ended up eating most of it myself! Grace loved the egg hunt so much I almost wished we had hid more eggs. She even let Anna find a few ;)

We spent the afternoon at Zilla and Bampers' house. It was a gorgeous day so we spent most of it outside, complete with an egg toss! I think we'll make it a new Easter tradition.

Welcoming the Month of May

Spring started last month but we are finally getting some Spring weather now as we enter the month of May. I'm still putting hats and mittens on the kids when we play outside, but at least we've been getting some sunshine and there is no snow on the ground! 

This was a rough winter for us - it seemed like there was always somebody sick! The girls (and Brian) are getting over colds now, and I hope this is it. I am so ready to break out the flip flops, spend days at the lake, and just be able to hang out outside without wearing multiple layers!