TBT- Happy Birthday Boom!!!

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOOM!!!!!  We love you!  Our first throwback today is, of course, a Boom throwback.

Then we have a dance class throwback.  The first picture is me with my first dance class (I'm the timid one in the back).  Then there is Callie with her class.  She was surprisingly not shy.  But it is pretty obvious now where she gets some of her personality from.

And lastly, a 1-year-old birthday throwback with me, Chris and Maya.

It was fun to do some different throwbacks this week.  Hope you enjoyed them!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Sunday!  The weather this weekend was ridiculously beautiful and we tried to play outside as much as possible.  I can't even begin to describe how fun it is now that Maya is bigger and can (sort of) play with Callie.  They are two peas in a pod, and never want to be too far away from each other. 
I love it.

Saturday

Besides Callie's first ballet class, (I posted about it after 11pm last night, so I'm not sure if it made it in time for the post to be emailed out. Click on the link if you missed it, it is adorable.) we didn't do a whole lot.  We did errands in the morning, played outside, and went to the park before bed.  It is fun watching Callie play with other kids.  She is becoming more talkative and will actually respond to them when they ask her questions.  And she does a lot of giggling, which is great to hear.

Sunday

Callie and Chris had their first Sunday School class of the year and Maya and I continued our napping tradition.  Then we headed over to visit Gi-Gi with Boom and Bops.

This afternoon/evening we spent more time outside and it was lovely.

And future Callie, if you are reading this some day, the reason that we have SO many more pictures of your sister is because when I ask you to look at me and smile, you ignore me.  Kind of like the picture above.  Maybe your sister will do the same thing when she is 4-going-on-5 and totally sick of me putting the camera in her face, but right now she is a ham.  So there you have it.

Speaking of Maya, she is doing so many things now.  Like:

1) Almost walking


IMG 2039 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

2) Ignoring us (in a totally adorable way)


IMG 2044 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

3) And lots and lots of waving (to anyone) and talking


IMG 2049 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

So fun.  So So fun.

On a final note- I did a good job with my Cincuenta September goal this week.  I ran 4 times and knocked out 14 miles.  It feels pretty good. 

Have a great week!

I'm a Dance Mom

Today was Callie's first ballet class.  If you remember, a couple weeks ago I took her for registration at the studio that I took dance at for 14 years.  I started there TWENTY-EIGHT years ago with Ms. Connie and spent the following FOURTEEN years taking weekly lessons from her.  I was also an assistant teacher for a couple of years, helping out younger classes.

Pre-K ballet in 1986....Senior recital in 2000

So needless to say I was very excited for Callie to start her lessons.

It was so adorable- just what I was expecting.  They did some stretching and Connie went over the "Mouser-cize" warm-up (a Mickey Mouse version of jazzercise) that they were going to do (the same one that I remember from when I was 4).  It was a lot of marching and skipping and bouncing and wiggling.

I took a short video of the marching, but then as you'll see, Callie noticed that I was taking video and stopped marching. 


IMG 1982 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Then there was time at the barre- plies and releves.

I mean...I couldn't handle how adorable it was.


IMG 1989 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

They got to do mat time at the end and work on somersaults and cartwheels, but I didn't take pictures for fear Callie wouldn't participate.  She did participate and did great.  I was very proud of her.

At the end of class she got a gummy bear and gave Connie a kiss on the cheek.  When we got home she was SO excited about ballet that she was jumping around the yard.

It is going to be a fun year in dance class!

FTPDF

Happy Friday!

It was a big week.  Callie started year two of preschool.  We met with her new teacher and saw her new classroom.  It is hard to believe that a year from now is kindergarten.  Last year's first day of preschool really doesn't seem that long ago.  Eeeeeeeek!

Maya is cruising up and downstairs constantly and finally letting us help her walk more.  Maybe it won't be long now until she makes the leap to doing it on her own.  She definitely has her own timetable for when she wants to do things, and I'm learning to be okay with that. :)

On to the pictures...

Favorite Thing #1: Tuesday with Daddy included a visit to see Mommy.

Favorite Thing #2: Wednesday at the library with G-ma.

Favorite Thing #3: First day of preschool!

Favorite Thing #4: Playtime on Thursday with Mommy and Auntie Cat.

Favorite Thing #5: Hanging out at Boom's house, a post-run wagon ride,
and cool shades.

Have a great weekend!

TBT

Hello!  This Thursday's throwbacks contain two usuals and one that's a little different.

Serious babies

Silly babies

Sisters...then and now.

Artwork by Callie- Part 2

Back in April I posted a series of artwork by Callie.

When she was sick last Friday, one of the activities that she did to keep her body calm was to draw some pictures.

Here they are, with her own explanations.

"It's a butterfly with polka dots and stripes."

"The waterfall and the car.  The car was just sitting by the waterfall with a
person in it."

"Shells with lines covering the shells because I'm pretending they are a
collection of shells."

Weekend Wrap-Up: The Labor Day Edition

Happy Labor Day!  We had a fun weekend doing some of the usual labor day stuff.

Saturday
Originally we had planned to meet my family out at the State Fair on Saturday. But since Callie was still nursing a fever, Chris ended up staying home with both girls while I went to the fair.  It was the first time I had been to the fair without a kid in about 5 years, so it was kind of awesome.  There was record attendance at the fair that day, so it would have been a nightmare having them there and trying to navigate a stroller through the masses of hot sweaty bodies that were EVERYWHERE.  So it ended up working out pretty well.

Food/Drink from top left (clockwise): Beer-garitas (yum!), corn selfie!, deep fried
peanut butter balls (intense), fresh mango with lemon juice and cayenne pepper (really good).

The highlight of the fair (for me) was THE SKYSCRAPER.  My dad went on this ride a week ago, so Laura and I decided that we could do it too.  It is a ride that goes 365 feet up the air and goes around and around at 70 miles per hour. 

It. Was. AWESOME.

And, of course, there is video evidence.  I posted this on facebook on Saturday night, but here it is again.  I think I have watched it about 12 times because it was just so much fun.  Laura was slightly less enthused than I was at the minute thirty we spent at the top not knowing exactly when we'd be launched back down. 


1321 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

I'd do it again in a heartbeat.  Dad, maybe you and me next year? :)

While it was nice not worrying about the girls at the fair this year, I did miss doing all the kid things we have done the past few years.  I look forward to having them with us next year.

On Saturday evening I took the girls to the park for a little bit.  It is always fun to see how much braver they get each time we go. 

This time Callie took a crack at pushing Maya on the swing.  It was adorable.


IMG 1834 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Sunday
We got the sweatshirts out on Sunday morning for a long wagon ride.  We also did some playing at home, playing at G-ma and G-pa's house, and dinner at Davanni's. 

Poor Maya, she's not going to know that pizza actually has cheese on it for awhile.  She always has to eat Callie's gluten-free pepperoni pizza with NO cheese because it is $13 and Callie never eats it all.
Thankfully she doesn't seem to mind.

The highlight of Sunday was the Lynx playoff game we went to that afternoon.  It was a do-or-die game for them- if they didn't win, their season would be done.  THANKFULLY, after being down most of the game, the clawed their way past Phoenix and ended up winning in the last few minutes.  It was one of the best and most stressful games I have ever been to.  It was awesome to have seen it in person.  They play in Phoenix tomorrow night, and whoever wins that game goes on to the WNBA championship.

Monday
Today was pretty chill.  We ran errands.  We played at home.  We got out the pool for probably the last time of the season.  We went on a walk and had dinner with Uncle Dan and Hanna. 

Maya's hair- it is getting epic.

Maya is turning into a little fish.  I mentioned awhile ago that she is a crazy person in the bathtub.  This video shows a little bit of what she does...just imagine a slippery naked baby body in a hard porcelain (?) bathtub flailing around 10 times more than this and you can see what we deal with during every bath.


IMG 1872 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Lastly, I have decided to (once again) do Cincuenta September (I did it in 2012 too). 

After all my half marathon training, I only ran 3 times in August.  So...I made myself a new chart, and am committing to run 50 miles this month.

I'm running a 10K at the end of the month, so I will be training for that at the same time. 

Hope everyone had a great weekend.  Happy September!