Fast and Slow...FAST and S--L--O--W

The 2-year-old birthday is a week from tomorrow. 

And yet, how is today only Wednesday?

Say what?  WHAT?!?!?!?  Time does strange things to my head.

Callie and I met our friends Kylie and Calvin for dinner tonight.  Calvin is almost exactly a month older than Callie.

The Cal Pals

They met for the first time when Callie was just a few days old...hard to believe that was almost 2 years ago.

Itty Bitty Babies

I'll just keep being in denial about time whizzing by (except this week...it is DRAGGING) and my baby becoming less of a baby and more of a little girl.  Thank you for indulging my denial by putting up with my myriad posts about it.

On to other things that aren't changing so fast:

Ki-Ki and Elvis are still a big hit. 

Daddy still likes to look crazy in pictures.

Yes, those are wine glasses next to the Nativity Scene.  Please don't judge.  It has been a long week.

We are still messy (someday the pampers boxes full of baby clothes will actually make it to the storage closet) and our toddler is still crazy.  Crazy brilliant.



So if this week could get a move on, and then Christmas break take a REALLY L-O-N-G time that would be great.  Thanks.

Babies

Almost a year ago Callie received two baby dolls as either birthday or Christmas gifts. 

It took almost a year, but they are the IT toys these days.

Tonight, she gave them names.  All on her own.   I'll let her tell them to you.



I have no idea where Ki-Ki came from, but I can explain Elvis.  Elvis is a blue cow at my parents' Lunds store.  She loves visiting Elvis, and therefore named a baby after him.

Weekend Wrap-Up

I love this time of year.  And I love weekends.

So here's what we did:

Yesterday was low key and lovely.  Callie and I went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a couple of hours in the morning, and then hung out at home for nap time and the rest of the afternoon.  We got busy...doing things like making Oreo Balls.  I found a great way to get the Oreo's crushed:

It did take a little convincing for her to not open the bag and actually eat an Oreo, but I managed to hold her off.  During snack time, Baby had to make an appearance.  So did a goofy face.

 We went to a delicious Italian restaurant for dinner with Josh and Alison. We may have high standards, but, to us, Callie was all over the place (in and out of the high chair, wandering around the table, etc.). The couple behind me told me as we were leaving that they had 3 boys, and wouldn't imagine bringing any of them to dinner.  They were very impressed by Callie and said the difference between girls and boys is huge.  So I guess we need to be thankful that when she is out of her high chair she isn't crawling around the floor or running all over the restaurant.  We were able to keep her fairly occupied with books.

Today was BUSY and also lovely.  While I had a coffee date with my friend Adrea, Chris and Callie went to hang out with the Wicks clan.

Lots of toys!

Crazy Dave!

I was also able to stop by and see my friend Casey's 3-week-old little guy Gianni.  He is adorable!!!

This afternoon the fam and I went to the TCGMC Christmas concert (amazing!) and saw my former piano teacher, who is the accompanist.  Then we had Mari's birthday dinner back at the condo.  Delicious!!!

Callie, Mari, and Josh

Checking out the tree with Bops!

"Helping" with the presents

 

Too interested in looking at the cake to pose for a picture with Mommy

I feel like I say this every week, but I can't believe it is December...I can't believe we have a 2-year-old birthday coming up...I can't believe it is almost 2012.  We are all looking forward to enjoying the holidays with all the family, friends and fun it brings!

Happy Birthday Auntie Wadi!

It is Mari's birthday today!  Happy Birthday!  We love you!

I thought for the picture I'd dig way back and find one of my favorite pics of Mari and Callie together...from April of 2010!

Santa Visit

If you remember our Santa visit from last year, you will remember it did not go so well...

Year #1--> Fail

 This year, I thought we MAY have a chance (a very small chance) of having better success.  We read books about Santa.  She has a little choo-choo with Santa in it.  We talked up Santa when we were on our way there.  She saw kids ahead of her in line sit on Santa's lap and then get a candy cane.

Alas, none of the preparation or background knowledge building was successful.

Year #2--> Fail

If you can't tell from the picture, she spent the whole 10 seconds trying to get as far away from Santa as possible.  But, boy did she love the candy cane after we were far away from the man with the scary white beard.

Maybe next year, third time will be a charm.

Or is it three strikes and you're out?

We'll find out in a year I guess.

CJ, M.D.

Both Santa Bear and Kona got to go to Dr. Callie for a check-up this evening.

The diagnosis?  They are both... "shy".

Weekend Wrap-Up

It is December.

How did that happen?

The countdown to Christmas has begun, and the Christmas decorations were finally unearthed from our cedar closet.  So here's the rundown on the weekend:

Friday
We went to pizza night over at the Koch's.  Callie and Christine had fun playing together, and the boys were around too.  They gave Callie a bunch of play instruments, so they all had fun playing with those in between pizza slices.  Yum!

Saxophone and Drum

Fun with the iPad

Saturday
We got out the Christmas decorations on Saturday morning.  Callie was excited about the little Nativity set.  We taught her about Baby Jesus et. al.,  but she was mostly interested in using the stable as a slide for all of them.

After a (short) nap, Jenna and Charlie came over.  We played at our house, drove (through the snow- my new car ROCKS!) to Edinborough to play some more, and went to dinner.  It was a really fun afternoon/evening!

Running away from the Mommies who were trying to get 2 car seats in 1 car

Zooming around

Not quite getting how the scooters work:

Dinner Date- What's up Charlie?

Playing Peek-a-Boo across the table

Sunday
Throughout this weekend Callie has battled yet ANOTHER cold.  So today was a crabby lazy day.  

Jammy time in the morning.

With a little dancing as well.


Then shopping for new boots so we could play in the snow and take adorable Christmas Card pictures.

Fail.

Not happy about the mittens

Not happy at all

So...no luck with the adorable pictures, and time for a nap.

The day ended much better, with some playtime with Daddy and Uncle Dan.  I got to go to "A Christmas Carol Musical" with The rest of the Gosselin clan.  It was great! 

Tonight we headed to church to be the Advent Reader/Candle Lighter family.  We got to light the "Hope" and "Joy" candles.  Pretty sweet, considering the middle names of our dog and daughter.