Happy Birthday Kona Hope!

Hard to believe this cute dog is 6 years old today!

And just for fun, here are the past 2 years of Kona Hope birthday pictures:

2011

2010

Weekend Wrap-Up

Chris went with his buddies on a guys trip up north this weekend, so it was just me, the toddler and the boxer holding down the fort.

I'd say that the toddler had two things on her agenda for the weekend.


1. Refuse to eat anything other than goldfish crackers, cheddar bunnies, and maybe some raisins.  And a fruit mash-up here and there.


2.  Do the exact opposite of everything Mommy says, especially at mealtimes, but really all the time.

Friday
I was so tired after the long week, that all I could muster up was a popcorn and movie night (yep, Care Bears...AGAIN).

But the popcorn was very delayed as the toddler decided to refuse to eat her soup.  Or her fruit.  Or her cheese.  Or anything Mommy tried to get her to eat.  It finally came down to her needing to eat a bite of banana in order to get some popcorn.


It wasn't happening so we moved from the high chair to the couch and started the movie, with her holding her little bowl with the banana bite, with the understanding that all she had to do was eat the banana to get some popcorn.  I started taking pictures because I wanted to capture the fact that I was enjoying a big bowl of popcorn while she was being stubborn, but just as I clicked, she ATE THE BANANA!

Banana down the hatch

Yay popcorn!

Then I just kept taking pictures and annoying her while she was watching her movie.

Seriously, Mom, ENOUGH!

Saturday

 We headed to the condo in the morning to see the fam.  We went to lunch and Callie had fun eating spitting out her pizza and making funny faces across the table to Laura and interpreting Boom's Etch-a-Sketch art.

Freak out face

Crazy eyes

A face

 We headed home for a nap and got to play outside in the BEAUTIFUL weather when she got up. 

A picture we sent to Daddy- Hi Daddy!

Then we headed to an indoor water park with Jenna and Charlie and had a blast playing around in the pool.

Two little fishies

We tried to grab a quick dinner at Noodles afterward, which was another episode of the Callie and Charlie show.  You can tell by their faces that they were enjoying driving their mommies a little crazy.

Hahaha!  We have the power!

Callie refused to eat anything and my rice krispie bar bribe failed, so she barely had dinner and I ate the entire 500 calorie rice krispie bar.  Awesome.  Then, when we got home, she pooped in the bath tub (after I said MULTIPLE times, "Don't poop in the tub!"  I guess if I had the suspicion it may happen, I should have made it a quicker bath...).  Double awesome. 

Sunday

We did a little shopping and walked Kona to the park.

This may be my new favorite picture

Playing in the field

I don't even want to talk about nap time, I'll just say that the daylight savings switch was not my friend today.

Daddy got home this afternoon, and after I made it through a 6.2 mile run, we went over to G-ma and G-pa's house for dinner and a little Kona birthday party.  She turns 6 tomorrow!

Our annual DQ cake celebrating Kona H.

Ironically, after refusing to eat most of her dinner, and everything else this weekend, Callie had a blast playing with her dishes with Grandma and eating all sorts of imaginary foods!

So I think my next strategy may need to be telling her to do the opposite of what I want her to do at all times, and hope that this food-refusal thing is just a phase.

Hope everybody had a nice weekend and got outside to enjoy the sunshine!

This Week

Pros
1. I learned I can still do a headstand (what I was able to do years ago when I went to Core Power pretty often).

2. Toddler looks adorable in her new (upside down) sunglasses.

3. It was 50+ degrees today and we went on a stroller walk outside.

Cons

1. Me being sick and feeling crappy
2. Toddler snotting and coughing all over the place
3. Toddler taking 45 minutes+ to fall asleep tonight (after only napping for one hour earlier in the day) and laughing in my face when I go upstairs and tell her it is time to sleep...LAUGHING IN MY FACE...

Is it really only Tuesday??? :)

Weekend Wrap-Up: The Thankful Edition

It has probably been obvious that it has been a blah couple of weeks.

And after I had my little vent session I felt a little bratty.  But what do ya do?  It was how I was feeling at the time.

The reality is, our little 2-year-old is amazing like 94% of the time.  It is just that darn 6% that sticks in our minds sometimes.  But as my dad said today, most people would give their right arm for an amazing 94%.  So true.

We had a great weekend.

Friday
It started with a pizza dinner at the Koch's house.  Callie had a blast playing with Christine and Michael, and got a bunch of new Little People toys to bring home.

She manages to find an iPad wherever she goes

Saturday
Saturday was busy.  We started off by going to get our church directory pictures taken.  I prepped her ahead of time, saying that we were going to church and were getting our picture taken and needed to smile really big.  We practiced.  A lot.  She knew what to do.  However, for the first bazillion shots, she was stone-faced.  Nothing made her smile.  We managed to get a few good ones, some pictures ordered, and leave before a total meltdown or expensive camera equipment destruction.  Whew.

We headed straight to Donald's 1st birthday party!  We could only stay for a bit because it was nap time, but it was fun to see the adorable birthday boy.

After nap time we had some great playtime with her new toys.  She also enjoyed me blowing in her face creating "wind."  Whatever entertains, I guess!

Saturday night we headed to G-ma and G-pa's house and got to hang out with them, Auntie Cat, Nana, Papa and G-ma's sister Terese. 

Playtime with Daddy

Books with Auntie Cat

Sunday
This morning Callie and Chris went to Como Zoo while I went to an A-MAZ-ING brunch buffet with my friend Adrea. 

Free mimosas!

After a great 4 mile run with a neighbor, and a long nap for the toddler, we headed to the condo, had a very...uh...busy dinner at Davanni's (busy = refusing to drink her juice and instead preferring an open water glass with lemons and taking the lemons in and out of the glass and getting herself and her mommy wet in the process and entertaining Bops and 2 aunties by making mommy very tired) and then church.  At the condo she conned Bops into giving her a ride in the basket.

"Up high Bops!"

 Then she conned Mari into it later.

"Please, Ma-yi, Please"

So all in all, I'm thankful.   I couldn't have asked for a better weekend.  It was just what I needed.

ABCs

Watch out, this may be the cutest ABCs you've ever heard!



She's a little rock star even when battling a super stuffy/runny nose and a cough.

Happy (Almost) Friday!

Surrendering

We went to church on Sunday and Pastor Chris' sermon was about surrendering.  More specifically, surrendering control.  He used many different examples of this, one of them being in parenting.

It could not have been a more perfect message for me.

I've blogged about this challenging toddler business before, and the lack of control is what is getting to me.  Big time.  Why can I not control this little person?  I am a teacher.  I should be able to figure this out.  And yet I have seriously NOT been able to. 

So I've just finally came to the conclusion that, despite by irrational thoughts that it shouldn't be, parenting is hard.  Even with a relatively easy kid like Callie.  It is totally new territory- we are learning as we go, and she is doing the same.

Pastor Chris ended his sermon by saying that surrendering is a process.  A habit we have to practice.  So everyday I'm praying for a little more patience, and a little less need for control.

My mind keeps coming back to this Sara Groves song, "Remember, Surrender."  If you have a few minutes and want to hear to a beautiful, peaceful song, have a listen.



Thank you for reading this blog, and in turn, supporting us through this phase in our lives.  :)

Weekend Wrap-Up

It is late.  So this Weekend Wrap-Up will be brief.

First off, shout out to our college friend Angie, her husband Jason and their 3-year-old Reese who welcomed another little boy, Drake, on Thursday.  Congrats!!!!

On to the weekend.  Here are the pics.

Dr. Seuss event at Target with Charlie

Dinner with Sydney

Books with Pa

Beanie Babies with Aunties

Cute in the kitchen

And we were treated to a couple of performances this evening:





It is WAY too late for me to be awake considering the busy week ahead...so I will say goodnight!