Weekend Wrap-Up

Well, we had our first real toddler melt down tonight with toddler #2.  She was having fun poking a little fork into some play doh, but when it was time to start getting ready for bed, Chris told her it was time to be done.

She took it hard.  She immediately freaked out and started shrieking (hmmm...wonder where she learned that?).  Once I took the play-doh away, it was over: screaming, flailing, making quite a scene.  Unfortunately for her, her older sister has toughened us up and the only thing Chris and I could do was look at each other and giggle.  One-year-old tantrumers are SO nothing compared to four-year-old tantrumers.

It will be interesting to see if this as an isolated incident, or the start of a new phase. 

As for the weekend...

Saturday

*We spent the morning decorating the tree.


 *Then we went to a Christmas celebration at G-ma's church.  Callie did some crafts, we had lunch, and even got to meet some wisemen and shepherds.

*While Callie went to dance class, Maya was ADORABLE.


IMG 1720 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

*Callie's attitude continued, though she had a couple of funny QOTDs.

Callie: (looking at the Swedish ornament) This is a weird ornament!
Me: It's Swedish!
Callie: It is made of sweets!?  I don't want to eat it!
----------------
Callie: (MAJOR ATTITUDE)
Me: (texting Chris about major attitude)
Callie: You're not texting Santa, are you?
Me: No, but thanks for the idea (continue texting)
----------------
Callie: I am NOT singing in the Christmas program at preschool.  Shouldn't grown-ups be the ones to do a program for kids?  They are bigger than kids are.
Me: But grown-ups love to watch little kids sing.  They think it is so cute.
Callie: NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO WATCH ME AT THE PROGRAM EXCEPT MAYA.

Sunday

*Maya continued her ridiculously cute behavior on Sunday morning.  This girl has been fawned over all weekend by strangers- at the Christmas party, at Lund's, etc. 

Picture on the left: her face once she realized Daddy and Sissy were home.
Picture on the top right: found on my phone- must have been a toddler selfie.
Picture on the bottom right: Cowgirl Maya.

*During naptime we decorated a gingerbread house. 

*Callie, Boom, Auntie Cat and I went to see a short production of "The Nutcracker," featuring Callie's (and my former) dance teacher, Connie. 

*We got our wreath put on the door, but that is about all the outdoor decorations our house will get.  Besides seeing our tree through the window, I guess.

And then there was wrestle time on Daddy.

As for our silly elves, Coo-Koo and Loony, they have been pretty creative this week.

Rappelling down the wall......stealing from the candy jar.......relaxing in Daddy's boots......sitting with the Mommy Juice

Playing Gigi's piano.....pointing out favorite princesses.......hanging on the lamp

Have a great week!

FTPDF

Happy Weekend!

We had a pretty chill week.  Callie has been displaying a combination of major attitude and sweet excitement about everything, mixed with an obnoxious amount of baby talk and irrationality.  Maya is babbling up a storm and continuously falling down because she wants to keep up with everybody but has tiny little legs.

As for the pictures, there aren't too many.  But here's what I got.

Favorite Thing #1: Pictures from the grandparents

Favorite Thing #2: Christmas things

Favorite Thing #3: Elf Show with Boom

Favorite Thing #4: Playtime at home- including an evening with Sydney and Kylie...
With four girls playing nonstop, this is the best picture I could get.

 Have a great weekend!

TBT

Happy Thursday!  Happy December!

I am really glad to be out of fall.  September, October and November were less than ideal months, but the magic of December is going to make up for them all...I hope.

Our first throwback of sweet Maya is leftover from November.

That FACE

Then we have a couple other cute ones.

Toddlers lying on the ground

Sisters cuddling (or...something).
Callie is wearing the same footie jammies.

Our Bedtime Routine

There have probably been thousands of blog posts about sleeping (or not so sleeping) kids written by bloggers.

I have been one of them.  We have had our fair share of sleeping issues, especially when the little one was a new baby.  Our older one was a good sleeper as a baby, but provided us with some good nap avoidance stories too.

But really, compared to so many other kids I have heard about, our bedtime routine has always been pretty short and sweet and solid.

These days, Chris and I have it down to a science. 

6:15-6:50ish: Play upstairs: Wrestle...read books...write words...fly off the couch...etc.

6:50-7:00ish: Get ready for bed: Toothbrush...potty...diaper...etc.

Then, as of lately, Callie joins Maya for her book before bed.

7:10ish: Callie sings her a song or too before heading to her room, and I finish rocking and singing with Maya. Chris gets Callie into bed.

7:15ish: I put Maya down and then head to Callie's room to say goodnight. We sing 5-8 verses of the "Banana Song."  You know the one: "Daddy daddy bo baddy, banana nana fo faddy, me my mo maddy, DADDY!"  Then she asks to hold my finger and I stay up for a couple more minutes snuggling in bed with her.

7:20ish: We are done and don't usually hear a peep until at least 6:30am.

Doesn't that sounds nice?

Now that I have thrown all that out in the universe, Maya will probably start going through a major sleep regression and Callie will probably start refusing to go to bed on time or start waking up at 5am.

So I guess I'll soak it in while it lasts.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Sigh.

5 days off went way too fast.

We are back to Sunday night before a crazy 3 week push til winter break. 

The weekend was as lovely as our Thanksgiving week.

Saturday

Callie and I went to the fancily decorated Bachman's house with
G-ma, Auntie Cat, Hanna, Nana and Aunt Jeanne.  Then we all had lunch
at Backman's with Papa.  It was a fun morning, though taking an
almost 5-year-old into a house with a lot of breakables wasn't
my best idea.



Because...the energy.  Is boundless.



After Bachman's we hung out at G-ma and G-pa's house and
did some impromptu knitting while the girls were playing with Pa.

And then we headed over to the condo for some playtime with Boom and Bops.

Sunday

 Maya and I got a lot of Christmas shopping done in the morning. 
She was a trooper and let me bring her to four different stores without putting up a fight. 
Though by the end she refused to sit down in her car seat.
Later on we had more playtime at G-ma and G-pa's.

I found this cute craft online, so Callie and I made "icicles" out of beads and
pipe cleaners.  We have them hanging on our front window.

This girl loves her doggy.

And I'll leave you with an ELF ON THE SHELF update every Sunday in December.  Those elves we have are pretty fun!  They fly to the North Pole EVERY NIGHT and come back in the morning to a new spot in our house.  They love Cheerios, they only talk to Mommy (who has to then tell everyone what they say...coincidentally they are often napping), and you can't touch them or they lose their magic. 

On the front table..................in the stockings...................by the chalkboard

This time of year is super magical and it is so fun to watch it through the eyes of little ones. 

Santa

For four years, the topic of Santa has brought about a mix of curiosity, fascination and total fear to our eldest child.

The first three years, the total fear came because the thought of actually meeting, sitting with and talking to Santa was, well...terrifying (when she was 2-almost-3 she absolutely REFUSED to go anywhere near a real Santa, so we had to settle for a fake one).

Then last year, with a little goading, the fear gave way to curiosity and fascination because of the better understanding that "Santa" brings her presents. 

Of course, we have evidence of the total fear (and Santa refusal), as well as  evidence of it turning around.

This year, somehow someway...she was psyched to visit Santa, and her sister was okay with it too as long as she got to stay on Mommy's lap.  We got the cutest picture of two smiling little girls with Santa that their ever was.

Though I may be a tad biased.

FTPDF: The Thanksgiving Week Mega Post

Happy Friday!

What a fun-filled week we have had. 

Callie is all about everything Christmas.  The girl loves winter, Christmas movies (year round) and...pretty much everything about the holiday.  She has been waiting SOOOOOO patiently for our Elves on the Shelves to come.  Last year Coo-Koo the elf quietly joined our family in December.  She found a new funny place to hide every day and Callie loved waking up every morning to find her.  She was so sad when Coo-Koo had to go back to the north pole after Christmas.  Then, in July, Maya got her own elf on a shelf from Nana and Papa!  Callie named her Baloony (very appropriate since the elf was a birthday present), Loony for short. 

I don't think it is a coincidence that our two elves' names are other words for CRAZY.

Anyway, this year Coo-Koo and Loony made their debut this morning, after Thanksgiving.  And Callie could not have been more excited.



Favorite Thing #1: Elves on the Shelves!
She found them and then proceeded to feed them cheerios for breakfast,
which I then sneakily ate so that when she  checked back awhile later,
they were gone.  SO MUCH EXCITEMENT.

As of yesterday, Maya is officially down to one nap a day.  Hooray!  We are still working out the kinks, but hopefully it will make life easier and she'll be more willing to sleep.  The past week has been a little rough in that department (i.e. an immediate FREAK OUT if we went in her room and turned out the light, signaling nap time).  So now we have to rearrange our brains for when we are able to schedule and plan things to do outside the house.   But it will give her more time to do what she does best...PLAY!



Favorite Thing #2: Play time (at Boom's house)!

And now for the rest of the week's pictures...there are many!



Favorite Thing #3: Shambles!
We have a new family member.  I have a "niece!"  Uncle Dan adopted this
little cutie, Shambles, last weekend.  She is an 8-week-old blood hound.
Kona is PSYCHED.

Favorite Thing #4: Baby Hattie!
My friend Emily had a baby in September, and we finally got over to see her
this week.  The girls had fun playing with Vera and Hattie, and Emily
and I had fun catching up and talking about all things GIRL.

Favorite Thing #5: Thanksgiving Morning!
We had a lovely Thanksgiving, starting with a yummy brunch and play time
at G-ma and G-pa's house.  Brunch even included a gluten-free cinnamon roll
for Miss Cal.  Maya was all about the ham.

Favorite Thing #6: Thanksgiving Afternoon!
We then headed over to my parents' condo for the afternoon.  We had a delicious
meal with Boom, Bops, Auntie Yoda, Craig, Auntie Mari, Bob, Barbara
and Laura.  We missed Great-Grandma Gi-Gi this year, but she was in our
hearts.

Favorite Thing #7: Christmas songs at dance class!  We went to dance this morning instead of tomorrow afternoon.  There is nothing cuter than 4-year-olds dancing to "Frosty the Snowman" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer."

IMG 1447 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.


IMG 1449 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Adorable, right?  Seriously.

Favorite Thing #8: Free bananas at the new co-op by dance class! 
And shopping there on a Friday when it isn't super busy!

Favorite Thing #9: Christmas Decorations!
Callie helped get out all of our Christmas stuff, so we put it out. 
Next step is the tree.  Hopefully we'll get that done next week.

Favorite Thing #10: A Gosselin gathering!

Tonight we had a great time with the Gosselin side.

  

Chris' cousin Carlos with...Maya, then Maya and Eliana,
then Maya, Eliana, and Callie, then Maya, Eliana, Callie and Piperlee.
Lots of little girl cousins!

 

Hanging out at the bar with Uncle Gus. 
Callie ordered a virgin screwdriver, while I got a much fancier (and more adult) drink-
I believe it was called "The Big Blue Ox" or something very Minnesotan.
It was delicious.

 

We tried to get the 4 girls together and the top picture was the best I got.
Then there was a cousins picture and a picture with Nana and Papa.

 Thanks to Karen and Gus for a great night!

 

Today ended by Chris coming home after a long day of work, bringing home a great Black Friday purchase.

 

Favorite Thing #11: No more gas station coffee for me!

My heart is filled with so much love and gratitude after this fabulous week.  Hope you all had a wonderful week as well.  Have a great weekend!