While much of our family was in town for the holidays, we decided a trip to one of the girls’ favorite museum was in order – the girls never tire of this place! B practiced her jump shot (at one point, she made 5 in a row!), and M practiced her surfing. I only have video of B’s hoops skills, so you’ll have to settle for M’s surfing.
B also demonstrated her hula hoop talents! One hoop was just not enough to challenge her…
Apparently two hoops were not enough to challenge her either…
M had a great time taking care of her Daddy…
…and her dogs…
But the highlight of the trip was theater time! M gave quite the puppet shows (and always came out to give a bow!).
And B delighted us all with her short skits.
I know I have been slacking – I will try to do better. It really would help if I tried to do more frequent, smaller posts! This one, however, won’t be particularly small, as it covers the whole Christmas season. The girls had a GREAT time – this is the first Christmas where both girls were really aware and excited about all that was going on around them. These years of childhood are what makes Christmas so magical!!
We started by decorating, of course, which meant wearing silly headbands, picking out a tree, and decorating it.
Then we had to decorate the windows (we all agreed M did a great job (all by herself!), especially for a 2 year old).
And test all the Christmas music toys…
We also had to bake the cookies…
…and decorate them…
And deliver the neighbors’ gifts (in style, of course…).
We also received a surprise gift from my friend Bertil in Sweden – Saint Lucia costumes for the girls!
The gift season started early with a trip see to Frozen on Ice!
Cool Aunt Karen came over to talk about Hanukkah and teach the girls how to play dreidel- it was a hit!
Then our guests started arriving. Fun craft time with Mimi and Tatie Kat was in order.
B also helped Mimi make the Christmas dinner napkins – beautiful!
Christmas Eve included Afternoon Tea from Mimi!
Then…Christmas morning… there is no way I could or was even going to try to get pictures that captured everything, but here are a few moments. What Does the Fox Say toothbrushes…
New Frozen headphones, and a few layers of new Christmas clothes.
New Frozen pjs!
And Frozen dolls! (catching on to the theme yet?)
And Sven!
Princess book for M from B
The next photographer in the family?
It was a wonderful Christmas!
The beach is my happy place…and if the girls’ reaction to the beach during our latest trip is any indication, it may well be their happy place too! Most mornings, I got up early (that’s a pretty big deal for me as mornings and I are not what anyone would call friendly…) to see the sun rise over the water.
And whenever I could, I also made sure to be down on the beach to see the sun set.
Jason took some gorgeous shots, but I’ll let him share those.
The girls stayed with Nana and Poppa the first part of our trip, while we worked. I’ll do a post with some of those pictures next.
Then, the second part of our trip, B’s buddy and family came to stay with us for a few days.
First up – Halloween (my minion and wicked princess)!
The consensus is that my old neighborhood is a cool place to trick-or-treat!
The day after Halloween it was cold, so we went inside and visited a cool kid science museum – it had a wind chamber simulating a winds from a strong Cat 1 hurricane.
And M could have spent ALL day with these stackable plates.
We also went to a fun tourist trap (tho probably much more fun when not mostly closed up for the winter).
While there, we got some kites. Our first attempt was only minimally successful because the wind just wasn’t that strong.
But the next day, Tia arrived just in time for some good kite flying weather!
We also went to the zoo – Go Gators!
We all seemed to like the “kitty cats” the best…surprise, surprise…
Of course, we spent as much time as possible playing on the beach.
One day, while M was napping, B and I challenged ourselves by seeing how many different pictures we could make using a circular shape in the sand (made by a Frisbee). I think this baby B made was the best.
Some days, bathing suits were just not necessary…
Occasionally I got a good candid or two of the girls just taking it all in.
Copying her sister…
The last day of our trip we went to an air museum. The girls LOVED the simulators they could play in. Once they found them, we just stayed there…
Jason and I left the girls with Tia one day so we could do a day trip – we decided to rent bicycles to enjoy the absolutely gorgeous weather.
I think we wore them out!
During the portion of B’s school break where we had visitors, we packed in A LOT of activities: the farm, the fair, some football, a fall outing, etc. It was a BUSY week…just the thing B needed to distract her from her heartbreak (no, I am not exaggerating) about not getting to see her teachers. Here are some snapshots of all our fun.
I think this is the only photo we have of the girls and grandma and grandpa from this visit. Which is crazy, but such is life, I guess. Most pictures are of the girls!
We went to the farm over multiple days. We did the cornmaze with just B,
and we did the hayride several times,
and (of course) we took our annual fall pictures.
Jason’s masterpiece:
But really, the girls spent most of their time at their favorite spots. For B, that meant climbing the hay bale mountain (which M experimented with), and for M, that meant playing with “her” tractor.
We also spent a day at the fair. Grandma, Grandpa, Jason, and M only stayed for the morning, while B and I also stayed for a goodly portion of the afternoon. I can officially declare her my roundy-round ride buddy. yay! Here are some shots from our fun day.
This is some kind of plant “person”…
B’s special treat ride.
M was fascinated…sort of…
A favorite ride from the previous year…still a fav!
I have no idea what this is.
My roundy-round girl! We rode this ride (and various versions of it) about 4 times.
The beloved slide…
It was a GREAT visit filled with lots of activities. We sure missed seeing them go (but I wonder if Grandma and Grandpa were ready for a rest?)!
Well, for the first time since Jason was away at college while I was still in high school, we were apart for my birthday. The girls and I still had a good time – went to one of my fav restaurants for dinner (I wasn’t about to cook, ya know…), where they give out these twisty sticky things you can make all kinds of stuff with. The girls made glasses…
Please forgive the granularity – it was getting dark and my phone does not allow the flash to be used for selfies…
Jason picked up my requested cake when he returned, and I basically got to celebrate my birthday over the course of a week (with presents, cake, and two dinners scattered throughout. I had a great time and have much to be thankful for! But am most grateful for the opportunity and ability to work part time so that I can spend precious time with my girls.
(participating in the writing celebration in B’s class)
(enjoying the beautiful fall weather)
M is so expressive – on any given day, I may see some or all of these faces.
And then there are those curls…
The main source/cause of all those expressions…
It is official – we no longer have any babies in our house. Just big girls that sleep in big girl beds! B transitioned to her new bed in August, and loves it! We had to wait a bit for M. First, I had to mentally prepare for getting rid of the crib. Here she is in all her cuteness, napping away in her crib shortly before the transition.
More importantly, however, we had to sew the velcro onto the mattress so the bed will stay attached to the murphy bed door when it is closed. And I do mean “we” – no way I was going to sew all that myself.
It basically took us 8 days, where we spent an hour or so each night sewing approximately two inches of the heavy duty velcro to the mattress. Something like this:
So far, it was worth the effort – it seems to stay pretty well (a vast improvement from when we just relied on the sticky part of the velcro when we did this for B). M was VERY excited to sleep in her new bed.
And she slept quite well.
Naps have gone well too!
Her prize for being such a big girl and staying in her big girl bed all night:
She has been great – much better than we expected. She does not get out of her bed in general, and she never leaves her room. I don’t know whether that is because of the flip flops, or whether she just understands that she is supposed to stay in her room, and I don’t care. It has worked out great! The crib is now officially packed away, and the girls are now settled in their “big girl” room with their big girl beds. They do very well together!
P.S. Now that we officially no longer have any babies in our house, I suppose we should retire the Baby 2 category. Future posts will continue to use the Mackenzie category for M.
The last half of August was a whirlwind of more visitors (Mimi and Tatie Kat), tennis lessons, and karate testing. After Mimi and Tatie Kat arrived, I apparently didn’t take too many pictures since I really don’t have very many. Here, the girls were playing some dramatic game in the back yard while rolling down the hill.
The clothes were a mess by the time they were done, but they had a marvelous time! They also enjoyed playing with all of Great Grandma’s costume jewelry – Mimi and Tatie Kat brought it back with them since Great Grandma doesn’t really use it anymore. M felt all the jewelry at once would be the best choice…
It is a little fuzzy, but this pic really reminds me of my Grandma for some reason – something about the earrings and the way she is holding her face…
While here, Mimi and Tatie Kat recovered our bar stool seats in the kitchen – no more holes or stains. HOORAY! Tatie Kat had to head back earlier than usual for an appointment, so unfortunately she missed Afternoon Tea with Mimi (B’s requested memory gift for her birthday). B also requested curly hair, so…
It did not stay curly very long, but long enough for Tea. We did a little better the next time (she wanted curly hair for school pics), but it still was gone by the time I picked her up from school.
Back to Tea…all dressed up and ready to go!
Our delicious tea plate:
Since I had told them we were celebrating B’s birthday, they even brought out a special treat for her!
Sooooo full…
We enjoyed the beautiful weather and grounds a bit before heading off to the base ball game!
Wardrobe and venue change…
B even ran the bases with her buddy Hawke! There was much talk at the end of who finished first – as you can see here, B held that honor!
The next day, B tested for her orange belt. It was a bit sooner than expected, but since she had the opportunity, she wanted Mimi to see her do it. Here she is showing her new-found bridge skills, and sparring with Hawke right before her orange belt test.
She worked hard and passed with flying colors – that smirk on her face cracks me up!
The next day, Mimi had to head home – bye Mimi!
The following weekend, we closed out summer with some relaxing time at the pool and some practice sessions at the tennis court. B has taken a couple of lessons (and watched some Wimbledon and US Open) – she really seems to enjoy it. And she seems to be picking it up fairly quickly! She likes to do her hair like her favorite player – anyone want to guess who that is?
Tennis was so exhausting today…
For the second kid date night, Jason took M to dinner.
B and I stayed home with Tatie Kat to do science experiments. Both girls were super, super excited. I think kid date night is a raging success…
We had all our materials lined up on the kitchen counter for three experiments:
First up: color changing milk. We used milk and cream to see which would work faster Basically, we put 2% milk in one shallow dish and heavy cream in another shallow dish. Then we added one drop of each of green, yellow, red, and blue food coloring (around a center point, where each color represented the corner of a square). B loved how a soap dipped q-tip made all the colors go crazy! And we learned that the colors moved faster in the milk.
Here the are in the cream:
Next up: making a tornado using water and some dish detergent. We had three different typed of containers: a Tropicana OJ jug, a 2 liter soda bottle, and a pickle jar, and we asked the question of which container would make the best tornado. B picked the pickle jar and I picked the soda bottle. Unfortunately for me, the soda bottle was tinted green, so it made it very hard to see what kind of tornado resulted. We decided to just focus on the pickle jar, which made excellent tornadoes.
We put a little glitter in the pickle jar to try to help us see the tornado, but our glitter was too heavy. Next time we will use finer glitter.
Last up: exploding bags. A little water…a little vinegar…a little baking soda…a ziploc bag…and BOOM! We did this one until I ran out of vinegar, and even tried it in a gallon sized bag (had to do that one twice because the first time we only but enough “ammo” in to blow it up tight, but not enough to pop the bag).
We had a great time – B loved all the experiments! Both girls have already asked when the next kid date night is…
While Nana and Poppa were visiting (and shortly before they arrived), Jason and I got to work finishing up the girls beds. A couple of weeks before they arrived, Jason and our friend Steve assembled the loft bed over the toddler bed. Before the loft bed was assembled:
After the loft bed was assembled:
Jason spent pretty much the whole weekend before they arrived filling nail/screw holes and sanding everything down to get it ready to paint. I forgot to take a picture of him all covered in saw dust…rats…But here is everything all ready to paint.
I took off Tuesday while Nana and Poppa were here and spent the whole day painting while they took care of the girls. Day 1 was just for the primer…
including all FOURTEEN slats supporting the loft platform…
About halfway through the day, Jason said: “you know oil-based paint doesn’t come off skin like water-based paint, right?” Uh, no…no I didn’t…I hadn’t ever used oil-based paint before…
Goo-gone works wonders…
I spent day 2 (I took off Thursday too) painting the real colors on (with water based paint this time). This was way more fun, as I could see how things were going to turn out. I originally swore I would only put one coat of brown on those blasted slats under the bed…but I just…couldn’t…let it go. One coat of brown just wasn’t enough, even if I was the only person who would ever see/notice it under that bed. I finished most of the major painting on Day 2, which left us with:
Days 3 and 4 (Saturday and Sunday), Jason and I both worked on touch up and cleanup (you can see in the photos above that the knobs on the murphy bed still need to be painted, and we needed to touch up where different colors are adjacent to each other). We also needed to paint the rim inside the Murphy bed and paint the brown stripe along the bottom. All of these little details took less actual time to do, but took more calendar time because we had to wait for things to dry. Anyway, it turned out GREAT! Voila!
We let it air out for a few days, and started putting the girls’ stuff back in the following weekend.
Each cross-stitched birth announcement Tatie Kat did for the girls is hung in the appropriate space. We still have a few touchup things to do (beanbag/cushion for B’s reading area (in the corner near the empty shelf, where she will store some books), secure the velcro to the murphy bed mattress so the mattress will stay attached to the murphy bed door, finish and hang the new curtain over the playroom door, actually put M in the murphy bed (see mattress issue), maybe put some rope lights under the loft base so M can have more light, etc., before we are fully done, but the hard work is over. YAY!
