Vocabulary

Listening to a toddler's vocabulary development is AMAZING.  And sometimes highly frustrating.

Most recently, Callie's favorite phrases include (but not limited to) the following:

1) No WAY, Mommy, No WAY! (despite constant reminders to say "No, thank you")
2) Hey, what's that? (for E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.)
3) OH MY GOSH! (When something is funny/crazy/cool)
4) Kona Hope Gwozlin BIRT-DAY (for some reason, ever since Kona's birthday, she adds "BIRT-DAY" at the end of saying Kona's name)
5) I see a ______ (when observing anything)
6) I DO I-SELF!!!  (for most things)
7) SNACKS PLEASE! (usually after refusing to eat much for dinner 15 minutes before)
8) JUICE!!! (all the time...despite constant reminders to say "Juice please Mommy")
9) Thank you Daddy (not all the time, but getting better)
10) I wuv you Mommy (at surprise times...melt my heart)

And she has started rockin' the nursery rhymes, like Jack and Jill:


And there's a book at Boom and Bops' house about a noisy farm, and the cat always says:

Weekend Wrap-Up: The Traveling to Tucson with a Toddler Edition

WHEW!!!!

We are home from a whirlwind 4 day trip to Tucson, AZ for our dear family friend Ellen's wedding.  It was SO much fun to be able to spend so much time with my family and the Suurmeyers.

And we also learned that traveling with a 2-year-old is...shall we say...challenging. :)

So I'll start at the beginning.  Of course, I took many more pictures than I could share on one blog post, so I will post a link to the rest of the pictures at the end.

Friday
11am flight...Mommy was nervous about nap time, but a certain toddler was excited to be in an airplane!

Waiting to hear from "the lady" when to put our seat belts on.

How nap time on the plane went down...for 40 minutes.  At least it was something.

After we landed, we had to wait to get into our hotel (a LONG time), so we went to explore a little bit of the U of A campus.  Palm trees, running and sunshine were awesome!

After a failed attempt at a 2nd nap, we headed to Ellen and Vince's house for a fun groom's dinner party!

Hanging out with cacti

Hendersons

All the Hendersons and Suurmeyers!

Saturday
Somehow, the weather in AZ was 20 degrees cooler than the weather in MN.  And rainy. We didn't do enough research and assumed the pool was indoors.  So we trooped down to go swimming, and alas!  It was outdoors and rainy.  We put Callie in for about a minute so she wasn't too disappointed, and then she went swimming in the bathtub in the hotel room.

So cold!

We had some time before nap time and the wedding, so we headed to the Tucson Children's Museum.  Definitely not as cool as the one in MN, but still fun.

Shopping with Boom

Fire truck!

Thankfully (and amazingly) despite a 2-hour time change and lots of routine changes, Callie was a really good sleeper the whole trip.  So after a 2+ hour nap, we headed to the wedding!!!

Congrats Ellen and Vince!

Fun wedding!

Sunday
On Sunday morning we headed to the zoo with Mari and Boom.  The coolest part of it was the "Giraffe Experience" that we just happened to walk past at the right time.



So fun!

Then we headed to a "Food Truck Roundup" and got some great food.

Mmm...corn on the cob!

After another good nap we got some ice cream...

Too focused on the sherbet to take a good picture

 ...and then headed to the Suurmeyer's rental house mansion and enjoyed spending more time with them.  I snapped a pic of the scenery on the way there.  Not what we're used to in MN!

Monday
This morning was slightly warmer, so Mari and I tried to take Callie swimming again.  It was still cold.

Then it was time for brunch and VERY large pancakes before heading to the airport.

Blueberry pancakes!

The flight home was more stressful (i.e. toddler refusing to do what either of her parents wanted her to do...sleep!), so we handed her off to Boom and she promptly fell asleep.

So we're home safe and sound and thankful for a great trip.  We learned that traveling with a toddler isn't really a VACATION, per say, but she did really well considering the circumstances.  I'm very thankful to my wonderful husband for taking her back to the hotel early 3 nights in a row so I could spend time everyone (and do lots of awesome dancing at the wedding!).  And I'm also very thankful to my fam for stepping in and helping with our little one when she didn't want to listen to her parents anymore.  It was truly a team effort. And thanks to the Suurmeyers for throwing another rockin' wedding! :)

The link to the rest of the pictures is here: Baby Goose Shutterfly Site

Time Management

This spring is kind of kicking my butt.

Work is crazy and will continue to be until June 8th.

I had the brilliant idea to train for a half marathon that will be on June 3rd.

And, of course, there is a bubbly, rambunctious and adorable toddler to raise.

So right now, our basement entire house looks like this:

Laundry...Toys...Clutter...Oh My!

I need a magical cleaning fairy to come.

Anyone...?  Anyone...?

Weekend Wrap-Up: Easter Edition

This weekend was lovely.  We did many Easter-related activities and spent time with friends and family.

Friday
I had the day off, so Callie and I headed over to Auntie Cat's house for some playtime and brunch with her and Grandma.

Helping Auntie Cat play the guitar

Ladies in green

On Friday afternoon we met Jenna, Andy and Charlie at the mall to go see the Easter Bunny.  I talked about the Easter Bunny the whole day.  I showed her pictures of her previous Easter Bunny visits.  I tried to bribe her with a sucker if she sits and smiles with the Easter Bunny.  You can probably guess where this is going...

We stood in line.  She watched other kids sit on his lap.  She saw Charlie and Andy stand up by the Easter Bunny (he wasn't too excited either).  When it was Callie's turn, all we got were screams and her clawing at me when I attempted to go near the bunny.  So, alas.  No Easter Bunny picture this year.  But after that, we redeemed ourselves and the dads took the toddlers on the choo choo.

Then on Friday night I went to Titanic in 3D with my sisters and Mom.  Many of you may know that Titanic has always been my favorite movie (I saw it 7 times in the theater in high school).  My sisters and I can quote multiple scenes from the movie by heart. So it was fun to see it again on the big screen.  At last the first hour and a half was fun. And we got to wear these awesome 3D glasses. :)

Saturday
We spent the afternoon dying Easter Eggs!

Let's get started!

Eggs in the egg dye

Taking the eggs out

So excited about the colorful eggs!

Sunday
We started the morning with a visit from the Easter Bunny.  Callie was happy that he came while she was sleeping left her presents without her having to see him.

Then we headed to G-ma and G-pa's for the first Easter egg hunt and brunch with them, Dan and Anna.  She was excited about finding the eggs, but not about the raisins that were in some of them.  The the eggs with the jelly beans got a much happier response.

What's in the egg????

The Easter Bunny came to G-ma and G-pa's house too!

Why not play with some power tools after brunch?

After brunch we headed to Auntie Cat's church for a fun Easter service that included her telling her faith story.  It was great!

After nap time we headed to the condo for another Easter egg hunt and meal with Boom, Bops, Yoda, Mari, Great-Grandma and my uncle Larry and aunt Mary.

Annual Easter picture...the toddler was not cooperative

Easter egg hunt #2

Reading with Auntie Mari and Great-Grandma

Bunny ears with Auntie Yoda on the roof

There you have it.  Easter eggs, bunny ears, and the joy of experiencing all the fun stuff through the eyes of a 2-year-old.  So so so so so so fun!

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day celebrating with family and friends!

Water Bottles, Cereal and Static

This week found me back at work and found Chris at evening trainings Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

So I had some quality time with my girl.

You know, to do things like go on a jammy walk with our new peace sign water bottle.

And, after one big puke session the night before, eat cereal for dinner.

And play in the plastic park tunnels so much that our hair seemed to be permanently crazy.

It was a chill week, and while I missed my husband, getting that one-on-one time with my crazy toddler was just what I needed to ease back into the craziness that is the last two months of a school year.

Weekend Wrap-Up: Spring Break Part 2

This weekend wrap-up needs to start back a few days.

Thursday
We went to the zoo with Kylie and Calvin.  The 2-year-olds had fun running around in cute hats.

I thought for SURE she'd take a long nap after running for 2.5 hours at the zoo.  Nope.  Hour ten minutes.

Friday
I managed to throw my back out, but decided to tough out a trip to the Children's Museum so we didn't go crazy at home.

After running around the museum for a couple of hours?  Nap time hissy fit and then hour fifteen minute nap.

Saturday
I don't even know what to say about Saturday.

It was a Big-Ridiculous-Temper-Tantrum-Hissy-Fit Day.  About everything and anything that could be hissy-fitted about WAS hissy-fitted about. 

One of those days where you look at your child and go, "Who is THIS kid and what did she do with my daughter?"

And since the nap situation had been not so good all week, we went to the condo to see if a change of location would work for nap time.  It didn't really.  She slept a little longer than at home (almost 2 hours), but not by much.  Maybe she was just too excited to wake up and play iPad with Bops.

Sunday
MUCH better.  We went to church with Boom, Bops and Mari.  She napped about 2 hours.  We played outside.

Hanging like a monkey

Sitting in a tree

We went to the park with Uncle Dan and Anna.

We went to dinner with Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Cat, Uncle Dan and Anna.  Callie enjoyed getting "squished" by G-ma and G-pa.

It was a good day.

Now spring break is coming to a close, and a busy two months of spring lay ahead.  Bring it on!