Weekend Wrap-Up: The BIRTHDAY PARTY Edition

Happy Sunday!

As you may recall, Callie's birthday was back on December 22nd.  But because the holiday time gets so crazy and people are busy or out of town, we decided to do Callie's friend birthday party in mid-January.

Guess, what?  It IS mid January.  That came up fast.  Our big event from the weekend was Callie's birthday party on Saturday morning.  We had 13 kids (including our 2) come and hang out with us at a super cool indoor play place we have been to a couple of times.  The parents stayed to hang out and chat too...that is, when they weren't busy chasing after their children who were running around and climbing and swinging and jumping and having fun!

iPhone pictures of quickly moving children don't turn out very well.
Oh well...my oft used little subject stayed still enough for pictures, as usual.

We had all gluten-free snacks AND cupcakes.  I made them last night from a mix I got at the co-op and was a little nervous about how they would taste.  But the kids chowed down on them, proving that anything can taste good if you slather on enough pink and purple frosting.

Callie let everyone sing "Happy Birthday," and even smiled a little.
She is growing up!

She opened lots of cool presents, too.

It was a great time with our friends, and we're thankful for everyone who came out to celebrate, it was quite the crew:

                    Ciri- 6                    Callie- 5                     Charlie- 4                       Henrick- 4

                    Sydney- 4              Donald- 3                    Stella-2                          Elise- 2

                    Mabel- 2                Kylie-2                       Avery- 2                         Frederick-1

                    Maya-1

 

There was also a number of babies-to-be in attendance via their moms, which will make next year's birthday party that much bigger and more fun.

 

While we were having fun playing, Kona and her cousin Shambles were busy playing at G-ma and G-pa's house.

 

IMG 3509 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Kona is thrilled to having someone in the family who will actually play with her until she is exhausted.

As you can see below, her and Shambles were exhausted after their big playtime.  For us, the rest of the day was playing at home, and then G-ma and G-pa came over for dinner.

Oh yeah, and the girls found the cabinet I kept my pumping supplies. 
The supplies turned into megaphones and toys.

Sunday

We had our usual weekend morning playtime...complete with Maya's excitement with her stroller and (less visible excitement for) Callie's room.

What she IS excited about ALL THE TIME, is books.  You'll also get a listen to the whine that she uses to try and communicate her needs.


IMG 3539 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

After Sunday school and nap time, I took the girls out to the field by our house to play in the snow.  It was so fun to be outside without it being ridiculously frigid.

Callie on top of the snow, on the sled, and face planted IN the snow.

The girls in the snow

Maya standing in, walking in, sledding in, and EATING snow.

And then there was a little smack talking before snowball throwing.


IMG 3575 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

To finish up the weekend, Auntie Yoda came over to babysit for us a little tonight so we could go out to dinner for a little date.  Thanks Auntie Yoda!

Hope everyone has a great week!

FTPDF

Happy Weekend Everybody!

It is a 4 day weekend for me, as I had today off due to working 2 nights of conferences this week, as well as Monday off for MLK day.

First off, I want to congratulate my cousin Karl, and his wife Erica.  They welcomed little baby Gustaf a couple of days ago, and he is adorable (according to the pictures I have seen).  They live out east, so we probably won't get to meet Gustaf for awhile, but I look forward to getting updates about him from his proud Grandpa, my Uncle Joe.  Gustaf was the name of Karl's and my grandfather, who passed away over 30 years ago.  It is a very special name to us all.

As for the week, it was busy.  Maya was cranky the first half of it, with a fever on and off for a couple days.  She was also not wanting to eat much of anything and kept pulling at her mouth.  My theory is that she has teeth coming in.  She is much better now, thank goodness, because we all missed her cheerful self.  She has started figuring out when she is going potty in her diaper, and a few times has wanted to go in the bathroom.  She has also started reaching into the toilet, so that is fun.  Maybe potty training her will be a breeze...(OMG PLEASE LET IT BE A BREEZE. Though anything will be compared to her sister).

Callie had her 5-year-old checkup today and did great.  She is right in the middle percentages for weight and height, and passed all the doctor's little tests.  The shots were rather traumatizing, but eventually she got over them enough to enjoy the post-doctor's visit sucker.

On to the pictures...

Favorite Thing #1:
I stayed home with Maya on Monday, and eventually was able to catch her in
a playful mood.  Also, I unwittingly started her chapstick addiction after she
found my chapstick tube and was able to open it herself.  Now she wants it all the time.

Favorite Thing #2:
The face on the left was pretty typical the first half of the week, but after a mini-meltdown
I was able to get her happy again by reading books.

Favorite Thing #3:
Even though she didn't feel well, she could still manhandle poor Kona

Favorite Thing #4: Some activities while Mommy was at work

Are you thinking, what happened to your oldest child?  Well, I have to say that it is much easier taking pictures of the little one because she stays still a little bit more than the other one.  But I did catch a few pictures of her this week.

Favorite Thing #5: Callie snuggles

Favorite Thing #6: Playing Gi-Gi's piano

Favorite Thing #7: Lunch at Boom's house, and a hilarious "gown" to
wear at the doctor's appointment.  Also, some toys to play with in the
waiting room, followed by lots of hand sanitzer.

Finally, I bought the "Heads Up! Pictures" app for my phone.  It is a game where you hold your phone up to your forehead , while the other person/people playing try to get you to guess the picture that pops up by giving you clues.  Callie LOVES it.  The bonus feature of this game, is that it takes video of the person giving you the clues, which can be HILARIOUS.  Here is an example:


IMG 3450 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

She rocks at the game, and loves giving the clues.  If you hang out with us anytime soon, we NEED to play it. :)

Have a great weekend!

TBT

My first TBT is VIDEO!  I love video TBTs.  This one is a little different because it is all Maya.  I want to show how much babies learn and do in a year. 

Here she is January of 2014:


IMG 9354 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

And here she is January of 2015:


IMG 3336 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Now a couple regular TBTs:



Kids in Jammies = The Cutest

High chair girls with sweet faces

Happy Birthday G-ma!!

It's G-ma's birthday today! We went to visit her this afternoon to bring her a cupcake. Maya was still feeling a little under the weather and Callie had her crabby pants on so she didn't even come in for the first couple minutes.

They eventually warmed up and were happy to wish G-ma a happy day.

We love you G-ma! 

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Sunday.

It hasn't been too much of a happy Sunday for us today, though, since our little one has had a fever most of the day.  She has been a cling-on to me all weekend, and today it became clear why.  Poor baby.  She was pretty cranky all day, but was able to play a little bit right away this morning and after her nap at G-ma and G-pa's house.  By this evening though, she seemed pretty miserable and was just a little heater laying on me.  Hopefully the baby Tylenol and a good night sleep (*knock on wood*) will get her back to her usual happy little self.

Poor baby.

But yesterday was a fun day!  We started it off with some post-run stretching (yay, I actually ran 4 times this week!) and then, as we usually do, with a Starbucks run and errands...just us girls.

Both girls were super excited about the Yoda display at
Trader Joe's.  Callie was even more excited to find out his
name was Yoda..."JUST LIKE AUNTIE YODA!"

We spent the afternoon at the condo so Maya could nap, and Callie could play with Boom and Bops and go to dance class.

Then, to top off a fun day, the Helds came over for dinner and play time.  Those four kids are something else...and another Held baby will arrive in June!  So fun!

Mabel loved being a little Mommy to Maya.
Having them all in jammies made them extra adorable.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend.  If you think of it, keep our little one in your prayers.

FTPDF

Happy Friday!

It feels good to get back to a regular post after a couple weeks of craziness.  Also, it feels like forever since I have done updates on the girls.

Callie is so smart and funny.  The stuff that she says is kind of mind boggling at times.  My mom told me that today Callie wanted to change the names she had come up with years ago for the two birds that are often outside my parents' condo (Poopy and Doopy).  She told my mom that the old names were "too inappropriate" and decided to change them to Dot and Flappy. 

Huh?

So funny.  She is also calming down and settling in to her skin a little more.  She did great on her birthday with a big group paying attention to her.  She wasn't as nervous or self conscious about people looking at her (last year she had to open her presents under the kitchen table, this year she had no problem doing it in front of the group), and she wasn't super sensitive about people laughing.  She is sweet and caring and really thinks about things.  I'm always amazed by her questions and her creativity.

Favorite Thing #1: This girl.

Maya is also so smart and funny.  She is in the phase now where she is just a sponge...soaking up so much knowledge.  I LOVE IT.  She is learning new words every day and is so proud of herself when she uses the words.  She loves looking at books and just babbles away while shaking her body excitedly.  For example:

Favorite Thing #2: This girl reading books and using words.


IMG 3158 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

She also is getting more and more into accessorizing.  Especially with hats.  We have a lot of hats laying around (since it is winter, and all) and anytime she finds a hat, she puts it on.  She has a hat on A LOT.

Favorite Thing #3: This girl.
And her love for hats.

She also is just SO in love with Kona, as you can see from this video.

Favorite Thing #4: These two.


IMG 3190 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

It is ridiculous how cute they are together.  Kona is such a good and tolerant big sister.

As for the rest of the pictures...

Favorite Thing #5: Back home with the girls on Sunday

Favorite Thing #6: A "cold" day off and new matching outfits

Favorite Thing #7: After a lesson on acrostic poems, Callie came up with
this one for her sister.  I did the writing, but the words were all her, including
my new favorite word- YATASTIC.

Favorite Thing #8: Days with Boom and Pa

Favorite Thing #9: Can't get enough of the snuggles

Have a great weekend!

TBT and ARUBA MEGAPOST #4: 1/1-1/3

It is Thursday, which is usually a regular TBT post, but in order to finish up my Aruba wrap-up, I only have one TBT this week...tropical island style.

Now on to my last Aruba Post. (Here is post #1, post #2, and post #3 in case you need to catch up.)

Happy New Year in Aruba! 

The last few days of our trip were much more low key.  Those days were the reasons why I was able to finish FOUR books on our vacation.  There was lots of reading at the pool time, lots of reading on the beach time, and lots of general relaxing time.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 1st, 2015

We had asked our ATV guide on Tuesday for tips for how to find the hiking place we couldn't find on Monday, so we were able to successfully find it on Thursday morning.  It wasn't so much of a hike as it was 652 steps up a big hill they call the Haystack.  Tourist brochures call it Hooiberg.  The view was decent- but there were lots of tall cacti that blocked the ocean views.

 

Very many steep steps

The view

We spent the rest of the day lounging.  Some folks went to watch the Gopher game on the beach.  The rest of us found them later (which is miraculous seeing as we couldn't communicate with each other with cell phones).  We went to dinner at a delicious pizza place on the tourist strip.

Another fun day

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2nd, 2015

The guys golfed again in the morning, so the ladies went downtown Oranjestad to go shopping and have lunch.

I got Starbucks!
Lunch at the Pink Iguana

We did more lounging and then had another dinner by the ocean.  This one wasn't up to par with all the other meals we had (and the service was TERRIBLE), but we still enjoyed sitting out by the water on our last night in Aruba.

Marina Pirata
Great atmosphere, terrible service, not so good food

SATURDAY, JANUARY 3rd, 2015

I woke up early again and read by the pool. Then we spent one more short morning at the beach before we had to leave for the airport.  It was a great way to end a fantastic trip.

The picture of us under a cabana happened because all of a sudden there was
a downpour of rain.  It was obviously Aruba lamenting the fact that we were leaving.
It dissipated quickly, thankfully, and we got back to our beach lounging.

We had a long travel day back home, which included us almost missing our connecting flight in Atlanta and having to sprint across the very large airport.  Our luggage DID end up missing the flight and wasn't returned to us until 11:30pm on Sunday night.

But what a small price to pay for a wonderful week.

And the joy of waking up to these happy faces on Sunday morning was amazing.

Reunited and it feels so good.

A million thanks to my parents who made this trip possible- and to my dad who planned so many fantastic adventures and meals for all of us.  It was so incredible.

And again, thanks to G-ma, G-pa and Auntie Cat who took such good care of the girls so we could truly relax and enjoy ourselves while we were away.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some pictures of our adventures!  Back to regular scheduled posting tomorrow with the first FTPDF post of 2015.