QOTD

A couple quotes from a trip to Target:

At home making a Target list, Callie started naming off random things that she thought we needed.
    Callie: I know!  A toothbrush for Callie!
    Me: Okay, we can get you a new toothbrush.
    Callie: (thinking deeply about the list) Hmm. What do we need besides Callie's toothbrush?


Later at Target, watching a little girl being naughty in the cart and not listening to her mom.
    Me: See that girl?  She is not listening to her Mommy.  That is naughty.
    Callie: Just like me!

Later, Callie was standing up in the cart.
    Callie: (so proud) Hey look!  I'm naughty like that girl!

We always knew she was a quick learner.  Now we just need to harness that for good and not naughtiness. :)

Baby Girls and Butting Heads

As I mentioned awhile ago, we know lots of baby girls now.  We have been able to see Baby Mabel (or as Callie says, "Baby Nabel") lots of times, but this week we were able to meet two other baby girls.  We met my friend Amanda's baby Elise yesterday.  She was born on May 11th.

Callie enjoyed seeing her, but REALLY enjoyed pulling out all the toys in her nursery and playing with them!

Today my friend Rachael brought over baby Stella.  Stella was born on my birthday this year, April 24th!

It was too close to nap time to get a good picture, but I tried.  Callie had fun showing Stella a couple of her toys.  And then promptly melted down.  And then promptly went down for a nap.  Whew. :)

Besides seeing babies, we've done other fun things this week too.

Hair cut!

Swimming lessons

Music class and then lunch with Auntie Cat!

Wabun Park!

We're also starting to, er, butt heads a little bit.  Everything, I mean EVERYTHING seems to be turning into a negotiation or battle (like putting her swimsuit on this morning, and putting sunscreen is ALWAYS a challenge, and tonight was another car seat battle that we ultimately lost). 

I'm just trying to breathe and nod and smile.  This is just a phase.  Until she's a teenager, anyway, right? :)

Weekend Wrap-Up

Fun weekend.  Fun fun weekend.

Friday
Went to T&C to do a little swimming and then had my fam and some friends over to our house for another BBQ.

This girl loves the splash pool

But would rather hang out on the side of the big pool

Silly Auntie Yoda

Hanging with the big peeps

 Saturday

Went to a late morning Lynx game (the first half of it, anyway, before nap time), and then the Minnetonka Summer Festival with G-ma and G-pa.  Saw a Police K-9 demonstration, listened to the Okie Dokie Brothers bluegrass band, and went to a petting zoo!  She LOVED  the petting zoo. 

GO LYNX!

Dancing with Grandma

Eating yummy pizza

Scootching on her butt down the hill instead of rolling

Baby sheep!

Baby cow!

Sunday


Went to an outdoor church service and picnic at Lake Harriet. 

Loaded with sunscreen

Rocking Baby Mabel

Bubbles with Charlie and Harper

Then another nap time disaster struck- she went right down, but only slept for 40 minutes.  Sigh.  That is not nearly long enough for anyone involved.  So Chris took her on a little outing so I could have some quiet time to myself (I was good and RAN today so therefore just cooling down and showering took up the entire nap time).  After an hour or so they picked me up and we went to run some errands. 

Callie. Was. Crazy. 

She was talking loud and nonstop in the car.  She thought she was hilarious.  When we went to the stores she was running around like a crazy person, yelling and laughing.  I kept saying things like "Wow!  What did you eat?" and "Too much cookie at lunch!", which leads me to my quote(s) of the day.

My QOTD today comes in 2 parts. 

The first quote was when we were still in the car and she was being crazy.

Me: No more sugar for you!
Callie: (super loud and excited, completely proving my point) NO MORE SUGAR FOR ME!!!!!

--then, later, after the 2nd time I wondered out loud what she could have eaten--

Chris: (somewhat sheepishly) We had ice cream.

It was Izzy's ice cream, which is delicious, but clearly MUST have some serious sugar/caffeine/hyperactivity drugs in it. 

Imagine this girl, unconstrained and running around Target.  It was quite the sight.



Let's hope she sleeps it off!

30-Months-Old: Mommy gets Schooled

My first full week as full-time summer Mommy is almost done. LOVE IT.  Well, mostly.  Read on.

Just in time for all of us to be in the "30s club!"  (Though 30 months sounds WAY better than 30 years...ha!)

Callie had I have had a super fun week, and had an especially fun morning today.  I was so excited to come home and blog about it.

And then the nap time battle happened.

And happened.  And happened.  And kept happening. And happened some more.  An hour plus of a (now officially) 2-and-a-half year old SCREAMING- babbling-screaming in a weird non-real-word yelling type of way.  Screaming for her stuffed seal Heena, then screaming even louder "NO HEENA NO HEENA" when I brought it to her.  Etc.  Etc.  Etc.

So, let's be real for a second.  Two-year-olds are so awesome and so fun.  But they can also be as frustrating and maddening as they are awesome and fun.

I'm learning as I go, even though (once again) my teacher brain pops up and tells me I should know how to handle this.  My teacher brain seems to gape at me saying, How is it than you can handle a small group of hyperactive 8-year-olds, but ONE toddler (YOUR toddler) is giving you a run for your money???

I have to keep reminding myself to not be too hard on myself.  Today, I definitely need more reminders.

But enough of my wallowing.  I want to show you how much fun we have been having!

First up is our adventure to the MOA today.  We rode lots of rides and went to Sea Life Aquarium.

Carousel

Silly faces!

Chillin' with Diego

Diego's bus

New turtle named "Tutti" from Sea Life Aquarium for the big 30-month-old.

We kept ourselves pretty darn busy the rest of the week too.

Tuesday- Mill City Museum w/ Boom

Tuesday night- Swimming lessons!

Wednesday- Making rice and beans

Thursday- Getting ready for our playdate

Playdate- Casey, Ciri and Gianni came over!

Thursday- Beautiful day for swinging at the park

 Looking over these pictures is making me feel much better. 

As does knowing we have a fun weekend ahead!

Happy Friday!

QOTD

Yesterday in the car on the way to Boom's house...

Callie: Where's Bops?
Me: Bops is working.
Callie: (thinking for a second) I work when I be older!
Me: Yeah, you can work when you are older.  What else can you do when you are older?
Callie: (thinking for a second) I be older and chew gum!
Me: (laughing) Yes you can.
Callie: I be older and drink coffee!
Me: (laughing) Yep!  Just like Mommy.

Clearly we're raising a working girl who will enjoy herself some coffee and then pop in some minty fresh gum!

Mommy's girl to a tee.

I. Love. Summer.

Today feels like my first real day of summer break.  It was just me and Cal.  We got to just play.  I'm on a summer high right now.

This morning we met my college freshman roommate and friend Kellie, her husband Scott, and their two kids Rylan and Reid at the zoo.  They live down in Iowa and we don't get to see them very often, so it was great to be able to have our kids play together and for us to catch up!

Callie and Rylan being pretend tiger trackers

Rylan, Reid and Callie playing at the park

Couldn't quite catch them at the same time...ever

Fun in the fountains!

Three kids under 4 photo-op FAIL

Callie and her new buddy Reid

Later on we played in the yard.  Just played.  So fun.

Then tonight we went over to Andy and Jenna's house for pool/play time with Charlie.  SO FUN!

"Baby Nabel"

Splish Splash!

SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH!!!!!

So if this "first" day of summer is any indication of what the rest of the summer will be, I CAN'T WAIT.

Weekend Wrap-Up: The Father's Day Edition

First off, Happy Father's Day to all the amazing dads out there...especially Daddy, Bops, G-pa and Papa.  We got to see all of them today!

On to the weekend...

Friday
I got to hang out with Callie and Boom all day, and then we babysat Sydney in the evening.  The girls had a lot of fun and I got a few adorable pictures (of course!).

Saturday
While G-pa and Chris continued to work on our bathroom, I took Callie to Southdale and then to G-ma and G-pa's house for nap time.  Then we went next door to George's house for a fun party.

Still a little sleepy after a good nap

Riding George's trike!

Sunday

Happy Father's Day!  We hosted both our families for a BBQ lunch in our newly-usable back yard!  Callie was an adorable hostess, of course, bringing people lemonade and condiment jars. 

QOTD: After nap time, we went to a few different stores. One of them was Dick's Sporting Goods.  She saw lots of kayaks in the window, and was excited about the "boats."  I told her they were kayaks and she said, "Yeah.  I usually ride in them."  I started giggling because she has she never even SEEN a kayak before, and she used the word "usually."  I don't know why, but I found it hilarious.

Anyway, tonight Dave, Cherilyn and Sydney came back over and we grilled some more!  Callie and Sydney are great playmates, but are definitely at the age where how to share things and being nice to friends needs to be explicitly taught.  Here is an example:



I keep thinking that I need to go to work tomorrow because I'm doing the Sunday night wrap-up.  But, I DON'T!  I'm sooooo excited to have so much time to spend with my girl. Though her stubborn side matches mine, so I hope we survive all the quality time.  Hahahahaha...stay tuned. :)