...birthdays galore!

i am soooo glad my girls weren't born any closer together than 4 weeks! how would i ever handle the parties?!? we have been sooo busy over the last month with Maelie turning 1 (YAY!!) and Miss Haven FINALLY turning 4 (YAY!!).

Maelie had a bird party. the idea came from her room decor. and the fact that i am obsessed with birds! birds and polka dots. it was a lot of fun to put together. i did all pastel colors, which worked out great for spring. i was able to get a lot of decor and goody bag stuff from the Easter aisles at Target. i decided to NOT to a full dinner for her party (something new i'm trying!), so we kept it simple with strawberry and lemon cupcakes and a make your own ice cream sundae bar. the toppings were amazing...mini M&M's, chopped peanuts, chocolate and caramel syrup, crushed oreos, bananas, whippped cream and cherries! so much fun! and doing cupcakes gave me a reason to buy a cupcake stand (finally!) and a Wilton cupcake decorating set! and i think the cupcakes turned out pretty good...buttercream frosting with colored sugar sprinkles. all those years of watching Martha pipe frosting on to various baked goods paid off!

for her bday, we took her to Deanna Rose Farmstead - funnest place EVER! the weather was great and everyone had a great time. Adam's mom even came along. she got so many fun presents and had a fabulous day. her bday also gave me an excuse to make a fabulous felt birthday crown!

after i had recovered from Mae's bday, i had to start planning Haven's bday. *sigh* this year, i decided to forgo the usual big to do and take her to Worlds of Fun. sounds easy...right?? actually, i had a harder time NOT planning a party than if i would have just allowed myself to run crazy! all i kept thinking about was how horrible of a mother i was to not even have a proper bday party for her firstborn child. however, all my stressing about it paid off...she had the best time ever! she rode every ride that she was tall enough to ride and never complained about all the walking. the really awesome thing was that there were hardly any other kids her age there yesterday, so on most of the Camp Snoopy rides, she was the only kid and got to stay on for way longer than if there would have been a line! we even got to have Panda Express for lunch - her favorite!! (although we had to stand in line for 30 minutes for it...but we won't go there!) overall, i think it was the best decision for the age she is right now. she amazed us with her bravery on the grown up rides and her stamina. we were there for 6 hours and not a whine outta that kid!

i did want to do something with family for her bday, so we had Adam's side of the family meet us at the Elephant Bar for dinner. Haven loves that place and she is obsessed with elephants right now (she wants to be an elephant veterinarian when she grows up...how great is that?!?), so i thought it would be the obvious choice for a restaurant! she chowed down on chicken stir fry and had a strawberry sundae with a candle for dessert. Lolly and Grandad came for dinner and her Uncle Drew, Aunt Lauren and cousins Oliver and Ezra came for dessert. she wore her purple birthday crown with the number 4 on it and her yellow tutu (her favorite color right now!). she looked smashing!!!

adam and i are exhausted and glad that we don't have to do another party for our kiddos for another 11 months! usually, i begin planning right away, but with so many changes coming up over the next year, i should probably hold off for a while. we are so lucky to be the parents to two beautiful and charming little girls!

"...show me your grades!"

i am really loving that Haven can tell me what she does in the Jacob's Well Loft. her class is made up of 3, 4 & 5 year olds. they start out in a big circle and sing a song. so she taught us the words the other day and the last line she sang was "show us your grades". Adam and i looked at each other and just started cracking up. i asked her if it was supposed to be "grace" and she said "No, it's grades". tonight while i was putting her to bed, she started singing it again and sure enough! "show me your grades"! so funny!! she also told me tonight about the calming feather. i had totally forgot about that! when they need the kids to calm down and be quiet, they choose one kid to go around the circle with the "calming feather" and tought each kid with it and make them magically quiet. sounds silly, but it really works! i got to sit in on one of her classes once and the kids took this thing so seriously! so she told me tonight about the boy that got to do the calming feather today. each kid also has their own prayer blanket and she told me that she was dragging it on the floor and one of the teachers told her to pick it up...but she had this tone like "can you believe they told me to pick it up?!?" that kid and her tones!

another funny thing she has started is telling on mommy and daddy. last night, as we were leaving Planet Sub, she asked me for a drink of my soda. i told her no, because i knew she had already had some and i don't like her to have very much. so she turns to Adam and says "Daddy, mommy isn't obeying me!" wow. that kid has some nerve!! Adam and i laughed about that for quite a while!

Maelie is shaping up to be one busy kid. she just doesn't sit still! she is almost totally off of formula (YAY!!) and is starting to not make that nasty face when i give her milk. her hair continues to get curlier and curlier...it is so strange! i am already getting anxiety attacks just wondering about how i am going to handle her hair as she gets older! Haven's is so easy....perfectly straight....no worries. but curls?? what do i know about curls?? this should be interesting!

i think i am totally ready for her birthday. i have the invitations made and sent, cupcake mixes bought, cupcake toppers ready, custom made iron on that reads "Maelie is One!" bought, gift bags ready, presents purchased... what else am i forgetting?? i still can't believe this year has flown by so fast! she is totally in full cruising mode. i think she is going to get brave enough to start letting go any day now!

she has started waving hi and byebye and gives high fives too! i started trying to teach her how to blow kisses tonight, but wasn't too successful. repitition is the key, so we will resume tomorrow!

overall, they are completely perfect girls and that make me laugh (and groan!) every day! i can't wait to see what comes out of Haven's mouth tomorrow and look forward to MaeMae getting brave and taking off at a full run!

i've finally broken my silence...

ok. i knew it would happen. it was inevitable. and i have a lot of excuses. good ones. ones you would have to spend a lot of time coming up with if they really weren't true! Adam got a job (August). our house got broken into and all of our current, up-to-date technology was stolen (September - flat screen TV, laptop, dig. camera, jewelry, 14 DVD's). i had surgery (September). we put the house up for sale (September). we went to Cali for vacay (October). another surgery (December). the holidays. our desktop died tragically (January). see?? i told you! we have been crazy busy.

ok. so there's really no good excuse for letting my public documentation of my children's lives go unattended for a good 6 months. but i'm back. so let's get on with it....

Haven - GOT INTO PRESCHOOL!!!!!! ok, so not the hardest thing to do, i will admit. however, when the school i wanted to get her in opened for public enrollment, they only had 1 spot in the 4 year old T/Th class. *insert nail biting episode 1* i paid the $50, filled out the paperwork, and prayed to Jesus. and it worked!!! 2 weeks later i got a call saying that she got the spot! so she starts in Sept. YAYAYAYAY!!! the visit was hilarious. Haven just walked in like she owned the place...playing with toys, getting out books, drinking from the water fountain, saying hi to other kids. sometimes i wish she were a little more timid. i know it is good for her to be so brave right now...lord knows i don't want to be the parent of "that" kid. you know the one that clutches their mom and screams their lungs out when she tries to drop him off in the church nursery. ug. i will never have to deal with that. but i am also afraid that she is a little too bold. i don't want her to immediately talk to people she doesn't know. we will definitely work on that in the future!

she is doing great on letters and can spell and write her own name. she also writes MOM and DAD, which is adorable. i think she might be ahead of some of the kids when she starts school because my mom always brings preschool level stuff for them to do. she is also working on writing numbers. i have a teaching clock that i bought a while ago and we started working on time, but i think she will need a firmer grasp on the concept of time before we will get much farther.

she just this week started sleeping in her bed without the "gate"! i can't believe she has done so well - hasn't fallen out once! now if we could just get her out of pull-ups at night, we would really be set!! she also moved up to a booster in the car this weekend. Maelie was reaching the limit for her carseat, so it seemed like a great time to make the big switch. she thinks she's a really big kid now!

Maelie - wow...how time has flown! i can't believe i am already planning her first bday party! in just 6 weeks, she will be one! i have picked out her party theme, the invitations, and other small things. now i just need to get a venue and time and date worked out. i am still deciding if i want to spend big bucks to have her cake made or if i will just give her a big cupcake. she only turns one once, so i am leaning towards having it made (and if we all know how i do things, i will end up doing this thing big). Mae has 6 teeth, just started pulling up to a stand yesterday and has curly hair! i don't know what to think about the hair...neither Adam or i have curly hair. i could have just said me there, but i'm being nice to Adam. when he had hair, it wasn't curly. :o) my sister Stacy has really curly hair. has all her life. so it must be that gene peeking through. i can't wait to see what it's going to be like as it gets longer!

right now we are in the clutch of an awful stomach virus, so she is not really eating much of anything right now. however, when she is able to keep food down for more than 5 minutes, she loves puffs, cheerios, and yogurt. i have been trying to introduce her to more foods (whole peas, cheese, etc), but then the whole barfing thing started. (it's been a traumatic couple of days around here....the dogs both got a faceful of it Sunday night).

overall, she is a perfect baby who is only interested in doing things she probably shouldn't be doing (eating dog food, standing up at 10 months, etc). i am so excited for her birthday. it will be so great to celebrate the one year mark of my miracle baby!

so i did it. i have effectively broken my silence. now i am going to really keep up with this thing. pinkie swear!