Bold at the Park!

We had a play date at the park with our triplet friends a couple weeks ago. The kids were very excited to see them AND play at the park; the moms were excited to have the kids super busy and very happy and just have time to chat- win win all around!

We started at a park near our house, the "spaceship" park, but it was filled with big loud kids so we left and went to another park that my kids enjoy over near our gymnastics class. It was pretty busy there, too, but a much younger and calmer crowd by comparison! We were much happier there. This park is what my kids call the "roller park" because it has a slide with rollers- they love this slide. This is pretty much all Annabel does there. But they also have diggers in the sand, a "train" to play around in, two awesome sections of playground equipment, and swings of course- all things that make a great park to my kids! We were there for about two hours and just had a great time!

Daniel was pretty much all over the place and super busy and never stood still for two seconds, so I didn't get to take many pictures of him...another time perhaps. Annabel was a busy girl, too, but she loves having her picture taken so she's easier to catch! I mentioned in Annabel's 26 month post how brave she gets at the park when there are lots of kids to watch and look up to- this was the park where it pretty much hit me that she's pretty brave in spite of the swarms of kids, she holds her own and tries so hard to be independent! She never asked for my help, though if I saw she was doing something new or something up high, I quickly ran over to spot her, because she is still only two, even if she thinks she's older and wiser!

Had to do a retake of this picture from last year! They are still so cute!

 This was one of those ladders high up that Annabel worked really hard at and she succeeded! It led to a high slide which she was thrilled to go down.

 The kids loved this roller slide! 

Daniel has really been into trying to go down slides in different ways- on his belly, head first...aiyiyi! He never tried these things before (of course Annabel tries them, too, now, because of Daniel); I'm guessing he gets these ideas from other kids...or maybe he's just being more adventurous!

 My brave girl climbing this chain ladder- she mastered it in no time at all!

Here's a video of Annabel climbing that ladder from the last picture above... (Don't have a heart attack, Grandma Cheryl- this was like Annabel's millionth time doing this- she was quite proficient by this time!) Enjoy my brave little girl's climb!

2013 Cavalcade of Planes

We hit our local Cavalcade of Planes back in the first weekend of June as we do every year. Except this year was unusual, very unusual- it was COLD that day! I literally had two coats on, the kids had their warm clothes and coats on and we were all still cold. So so strange. But we still had a great time as always, checking out all the planes, watching planes fly in formation, watching planes and helicopters take off and land, sitting in cockpits pretending to fly...we love going to the Cavalcade every year!

Annabel is 26 Months Old!

Our sweet little Annabel is 26 months old now! She's the most adorable, sweet, little girl you could ever meet! We love watching her personality really shine and develop these days. She's got cute ideas, cute words, cute little moves, and even some fire in her (if you know what I mean!)...we love her to bits!

So, a few new words, although there are a ton- these are a) heard most often or b) super cute, and sometimes both! Annabel loves to say "own"- as in my own, my own sunglasses, my own bed, my own puzzle (hence not Daniel's!), etc. "Stay" is another one Annabel will say when she just wants to stay somewhere instead of go out or when she wants me to stay instead of do some chore or something- she really asserts herself and makes her wishes known! "Now"- I'm sure you can figure this one out- Annabel of course wants something "now!" "New one"- I don't want that one, I want a new one. We love "kay" for okay- it just sounds so cute coming from her. And new this past week is "HEY!"- as in "Hey! Don't do that!" Again, this is just a cute word coming from a two year old, I think.

And in other communicating news, Annabel is finally starting to put two or more words together. It still sounds like separate words/ideas to me, but the concept is there. For example, she will say, "Juice, Mommy, Meijer"- and she is saying she wants "mommy juice" (which is how she specifies that she wants orange juice, because that's what I drink most apparently) and I have to go to Meijer to get more; so like I said, the words are there, they are in succession, but I'm still not getting the full idea of phrases or sentences- but maybe that's just me. I do think this is a huge step for her to at least get these words out all together in pretty much the same breath! It's very exciting to finally hear these ideas of hers put together.

Annabel's most confusing communication has to be when she indicates "not." I'm not sure when I will ever get this straight, it's taken a while for it to finally sink in what she's saying because it's part visual and part verbal so you have to be watching her closely. Annabel will shake her head while saying the thing she doesn't want- for example (shakes head) "Mommy", which means not Mommy, or (shakes head) "white", which means not the white ice cream. Like I said, this just means you have to watch Annabel when she talks, not just listen, because otherwise you'll think she does want the vanilla ice cream (because that's what you heard her say), you'll dish it up, and then you'll have a fit-throwing two year old who really just wanted "brown!" Fun times. If we could just teach her the word NOT, we'd save a lot of trouble!

Cute story of the month: One day a couple weeks ago, I dropped some coins on the floor. Annabel immediately picked one up and said "Bye!" and began to explain: "Money. Shop. Store," and then proceeded to go sit down in the front hallway and pretend to drive to the store, "vrrrrroooom" complete with arm motions, scoots and all! Too funny! 

One thing I love this month is that Annabel rarely wakes up crying anymore (well, except in the middle of the night). She just calls out "Mommy!" I love this new development- it's just so nice to finally have her waking up happy in the morning or after naps, and not always crying. It's much more fun to get a happy child out of bed! Annabel also insists on "Mommy, (shake head) Daddy!" If Ben tries, then there are tears; I have to go, which is okay because of course I love those good morning smiles, best way to wake up!

We also LOVE the way she's trying super hard to hold her fingers up for counting. She does it in the super cutest way; I think I have a picture somewhere which I'll try to post someday. Anyway, she basically puts her index finger down with her thumb and holds up the other two or three fingers, middle to pinky, and says "two!" It just looks so awkward, cute, and funny all at once! And those little fingers all squished together...I die. Too cute.

Annabel is falling asleep much more easily and quickly these days. She loves to read books for her bed/nap routines, and it must be several books, one or two will never do, and sometimes she insists on reading them "own" (by herself). We do love our snuggles with books! Then I'll put on a CD, she'll grab whatever random stuffed animal lovey she desires at the moment (Annabel has no specific lovey, it really is random and whatever is nearby, but they do have to be facing in and tuckable under her arms, and if she wakes in the middle of the night, you can bet they will ALL be in her arms waiting for us to come get her and them!) and we'll snuggle for about ten minutes and she's out, I can lay her down in bed, she might shift to her side but will go right back to sleep...so nice! Sigh. Now, if we can just get her to lay down and fall asleep on her own without the rocking and snuggling and falling asleep in mommy's arms. Still, I do love that snuggle time with her, I'm not in a hurry yet.

Annabel is also starting to sleep through the night a bit more, maybe 2 or 3 times a week, and when she does, we make a BIG deal out of how she slept in her own bed all night, and she's super proud, "OWN!!" with big smiles and her super cute new giggle! And yet Ben and I just look at each other and we both say how we missed her in our bed, too...it's bittersweet, those nights; so we still like the times she is in our bed, while at the same time, it's really nice to not get kicked all night by the two year old! We can get the best of both worlds now & then and that's great!

Annabel is REALLY into doing puzzles these days. She loves Daniel's 12, or even 24, piece puzzles lately. She is pretty good at matching up the pieces, too. She has a steady hand, a good eye, and she is just super proud and excited when she does get pieces put together! We're heading to the "project" store (Daniel's name for a local toy store) this week since they're starting their free summer crafts again and I'm planning to treat both Daniel and Annabel to a new puzzle, just for fun. Daniel is also super into puzzles these days; some days lately that's all he wants to do, round up all the puzzles we have in the house and put them together, huge floor puzzles, small puzzles, 12 piece, 24 piece, 35 piece, and even some 48 piece puzzles- it's tons of fun. And of course both kids are fiercely independent! No help needed from me, or from each other for that matter, ahem. Anyway, I know I can count on the project store to have some perfect 12 piece puzzles for Annabel and some awesome 35 or 48 piece puzzles for Daniel...I can't wait!

Annabel still loves to draw, paint, play with playdoh, read books, play with cars, play with food, pretend to shop, and she loves to go outside. Annabel still also loves to do whatever Daniel is doing, in fact she copies him like you would not believe. It's cute to watch her trying to do whatever he is doing, she's trying, she's watching at the same time as she's trying so it comes out all wobbly, it's pretty hilarious to watch sometimes! I love their sweet playing together moments. We love to sit in the kitchen and listen to them playing up in Daniel's room. And I just remembered another funny thing Annabel does- Daniel will say, "Annabel, I have something to tell you," and Annabel will cover her EYES, not her ears. TOO funny- cracks me up! Love it.

Annabel also LOVES our friends Delilah and Asher and their mom Patricia- she would play with them every day if she could, she's always asking to see them. They are like extended family to her. I've joked that when their family is around, we are third wheels and quite forgotten to Annabel- she will curl up in Patricia's lap, hold hands and play with Delilah and so on...never mind that I'm her mommy and still right there! Though I know she does love us all so, too! I've also noticed at parks and such, when there are big kids around and they are of the calm sort, Annabel looks up to them so much, she loves their attention, which they freely give out because she's so little and cute of course, and Annabel starts to get really brave and try things on her own, she seeks me out a bit less when there's company at parks. It's been interesting to notice. Again, never mind that I'm right there, too!

So that's our brave, independent, sweet, adorable little girl in a nutshell this month! Annabel has only to look at us with those bright blue eyes, smile that sweet little grin, and laugh those sweet laughs and giggles, and oh, her self-confidence and pride, those sweet sharing moments (which she's super proud of), those wonderful tiny kisses, those awesome hugs...and we melt. We just melt.

Daniel's Gymnastics Exhibition!

Today Daniel had his Gymnastics Exhibition. They do this at the end of the school year, regardless of when your child started the program, so since Daniel happened to be in the session that immediately preceded this exhibition, he got to participate in this (even though this was his first ever gymnastics class). He was actually pretty excited to do this, and a little nervous, too, I think, but really, it was just more gymnastics to him. And he did a GREAT job! He was such a hard little worker just doing his routines in there, like it was any normal class. We got to watch from the bleachers along the wall in there, and I don't think all the people in there even fazed him. He was really glad to finally spot us at one point, but he really didn't even look too hard for us. It was tons of fun to watch him be a busy bee and do all his fun gymnastics tricks. The coaches that were with him weren't even his regular teachers, but he did great and they supported him on the bars and as needed for somersaults and such. We had a great time!

This was one well run machine- about 6 groups with up to 8 kids each, two coaches per group, and the groups just rotated from one area of the gym to another with about ten minutes in each area, doing 4 areas altogether. Just like with Daniel's end of year program, I didn't take my eyes off of him once! I didn't cry this time though- it was just gymnastics fun and I had the biggest proudest smile on my face the whole time. I just had this sense of fun and awe in watching all this! At the end, the kids all got a participation ribbon which Daniel thought was pretty cool.

Annabel was very excited to watch Daniel, and a little jealous she didn't get to play, too. And just like during Daniel's program, her attention span was about ten minutes, but she still did so great. She LOVED finding Daniel throughout the whole exhibition- and she's good, she could always find him, eagle eyes she's got!

Here are some of the pictures I got...I'm not the greatest with action shots just yet, but here you go!

Ready to go...Daniel has his special exhibition shirt on!

 Annabel was SO excited to spot Daniel!

 Tail end of somersault one!

 Going in for another somersault!

 Upper arm strength does not run in my kids, but Daniel gave it his best shot with support!

 And now look, Daniel actually pulled himself up a bit on the rings! I was so amazed!

 They put in all these height supports for Daniel on the spur of the moment, so sweet, and look- he did it himself, he got himself up there!

 Daniel's group with their ribbons!

 My proud little gymnast! He didn't even want to leave to come home- he wanted to stay and do more! How awesome is that! Love it! Now if his summer classes would just fill up, he can keep going!

And here's a video of Daniel in his first area of the gym, the one I had the clearest shot at, it turned out...he did a great job! We're so proud of him!

Daniel's Big Boy Room!

Daniel officially has a big boy room now! We finally bit the bullet and got Daniel a full-size mattress and converted his toddler bed into a full bed. Daniel was still quite happy in his toddler bed and still fit it just fine of course, but the (crib-size) mattress was just shot, being almost 5 years old, so it was time.

(We almost got a full bed for Annabel, which I may have mentioned as a possibility a while back, mostly because I want her to learn to fall asleep on her own, but since she's actually doing better with sleeping, getting to sleep a little faster lately and going down a little easier, we decided to hold off for her bed for now. Good thing, because you'll see, we sort of learned a lot here!)

Anyway, Daniel is very excited to have a big mattress now and he just LOVES some of the new things we have hanging on his walls! Check it out for yourself!

We went back and forth on whether to get a box springs or not, I went back and forth on which mattress to get (oh the millions of choices out there...why must they complicate my life further?!), we ended up getting a wonderful mattress and deciding to get a low profile box spring, thanks to the awesome suggestion of our helpful salesperson...all things combined though, the bed was HUGE! I myself literally had to climb UP into it, Daniel needed a stool and also that little wooden side bar you can see as a step...SO...

We lowered the mattress- took out the slats supporting the whole shebang, put the box spring and mattress on the floor inside the bed frame...much better. Annabel can even climb into it- she's much happier! The super high bed was incredibly frustrating to her, because they play in Daniel's room all the time! It looks super low now, especially up against the headboard which now looks really tall, but like I said, we can all get into the bed now and that's just so much better! Daniel has been sleeping great in his new bed- no adjustment at all!! Whew!

The comforter was not easy to find! It was actually really hard to find comforter/quilt bedding with green in it, but when I saw this, I knew it was perfect. It's not too young, it's colorful and lively and very "Daniel" to me, it will grow with Daniel, and it lends itself to different wall colors someday, too. It's from Target, but only available online; I finally realized I hadn't looked there and I'm so glad I did! Daniel just loves his new big puffy blanket and even having actual sheets to use for a lighter blanket in the summer has been great, too. The other fun thing is that this set was called mix & match which means the sheets, fitted and top both, are half blue check and half green check, so Daniel can pick which colors he wants where- green is under his head, blue is under his feet, and blue is on top of his shoulders, green is on top of his feet, if that makes sense. Anyway, it was just a fun little feature that Daniel got a kick out of!  (I do already have Annabel's bedding, too, because I just absolutely fell in love with it, I had to have it and I didn't want to run the risk of it getting discontinued, and it too would grow with her...it's the most adorable little girl polka dot stripe combo with the perfect colors in it for her room...also from Target- LOVE! No peeks though...you'll have to wait...! So glad to have found a girl bedding that didn't have princesses and glitz and glam and even flowers all over it- this is just perfect! I almost just want to get her new bed already because of the new bedding!)

Here's a closer look at the new artwork above Daniel's bed, which of course he loves! They are ride posters from Cars Land! "Here's the ride I can't go on, the tractor ride, and the tire ride!"

Here's a bulletin board I made for Daniel's new big boy room with all the buttons we got from Cars Land (remember when I said I had plans for those buttons!), postcards we purchased there, and a photo of all of us in front of the Cars Land sign. I think this little project turned out great!

 

And I even got Daniel his very own bulletin board to decorate, too! Daniel LOVES having his very own place to put things up. He had "no time to lose, no time at all!" (his new frequently heard expression these days!) in putting pictures of his own up on his bulletin board. He even hung his Chuggington (train TV show) calendar up on the board- that's where he wanted it and he loves to cross off the days on the calendar.

We also finally hung his growth chart up on the wall. It had been on his door and was always flapping around and being generally annoying, so I'm really glad it has a special spot on the wall finally! We still have to make some actual marks on it, but the kids just love standing up next to it! Annabel's growth chart finally got hung in her room, too! She LOVES it- the umbrella ("bella") the girls are holding is the most interesting part to her right now. (This girl desperately wants her own umbrella, so does Daniel for that matter, Annabel is just much more vocal about it! Pink and/or Minnie, of course!) We love that her chart sort of goes with Daniel's, the whole beachy/boat theme.

Here's the wall opposite the bed with the bulletin boards. The tin signs and long dresser have moved to that wall. (The tall dresser had to leave the room, it's now in our room, which we knew would happen going into this whole purchase of furniture when pregnant, these rooms are SO tiny- ugh. Next house- bigger rooms for the kids!!!) Daniel also has his initial letters, a gift from a dear friend from when he was born, above the door. His Mickey picture from Aunt Christina and "Daniel" picture from Aunt Kathy are still in their special spots- no moving those! And you may have noticed the white shelves above the growth chart are still there, too- I just put away most of the baby things and put out or shifted some of the big boy things. And of course Daniel, contrary boy/pack rat that he is, wants all the baby things back. Aiyiyi! Can't win! He does like his new CD player, identical to Annabel's- has a clock- so nice! Daniel's library books, a little racecar box from Uncle Jason, that CD player, a lamp, a framed picture of him and Daddy, and a Cars Land framed picture of our family are all on top of the dresser. (And don't get too excited, it's not this neat all the time- Daniel loves to put lots of other "special" junk things, up there, too!) Anyway, Daniel's room really came together! We all love it!

Arboretum Fun with Uncle Brad and Aunt Rose

Last week, Uncle Brad and Aunt Rose were in town, driving across the country from California to their new home outside of D.C. for their new 4-year post. We're SO glad they stopped and stayed for a few days to visit with us all! Daniel and Annabel just LOVE them and they were so excited to see them. In fact, Daniel had been asking for days when they were coming, so their visit was much anticipated! We took it upon ourselves to entertain them on Wednesday when we had a free day and we took them to the Arboretum. We had a great time there, even if did absolutely pour while we were there; luckily we made it to the cafeteria for lunch before it really started to rain. And we even managed to enjoy some more fresh air after the rain stopped.

So we did the big maze, the toddler maze, roamed the Children's Garden, had lunch, browsed the shop (waiting for the rain to officially stop) and then roamed the gardens some more. We just really had a nice morning with Brad and Rose! Wish they could have stayed longer...but we wish them well in their new adventure and hope we can get out there to visit them sometime in the next 4 years!

Daniel's End-of-Year Preschool Program

Daniel's official last day of school was a week ago Thursday, and to celebrate the end of the year, the kids put on an End-of-Year Program for their families that Friday. We were so excited to go- Annabel LOVES going into Daniel's preschool (she thinks she can go now that she's two, she even points out that she already has a backpack!), Ben and I were looking forward to seeing Daniel sing all the songs that Mrs. Sandercock was always telling us he sings (never heard them at home!), and even Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Gary came, too. Daniel was a tad nervous- you could tell. But he was excited to wear his special "program shirt" that the kids all made to wear that day, and he was, of course, even more excited about the banana oatmeal cookies we brought to share at the reception (which were a hit- not a single one leftover!). When Grandma Mary Kay asked Daniel about his program later that day, the cookies were the first thing he mentioned- no surprise there!

Anyway, Daniel did a FABULOUS job participating in the program. He sang all the songs and did all the actions. I was beyond proud of him. I cried, happy proud tears of course, the entire program. I was just so excited to see him participating so well. He wasn't the happiest most comfortable kid up there, he wasn't the bouncy eager kid, but he worked so hard and he gave it his all, you could definitely tell that and that just melted my heart. He was SO brave. I loved every minute of the show and never once took my eyes off of Daniel! My mom later asked if I saw such and such kid or this or that, and the answer was no because I literally had eyes only for my son! Annabel LOVED seeing Daniel up there- she kept shrieking his name, but she was otherwise pretty wiggly, having an attention span of about ten minutes (the show was 45 minutes altogether, since the Kindergarten sang their songs, too)- still, Annabel did pretty well considering. Anyway, we were ALL just SO proud of Daniel for his participation in the program. My heart still swells with pride a week later, just thinking about it all!

We celebrated a great program by going out to lunch at Red Robin, a fave restaurant of ours. Daniel is still actually going to preschool, having enrolled in their Summer Program, still Tuesdays and Thursdays just for a few weeks- they're doing some fun, different things than they usually do in the school year so I thought it'd be fun for him to check that out. He likes it so far and has come home and hung his projects up right away! So it hasn't really hit me yet that Daniel's first year of preschool is over, and anyway, he goes another year. Now, this time next year, when he's officially done with Preschool altogether and on his way to Kindergarten...I might be more emotional then!

And now I've also answered the all too popular question these days...is he going to Kindergarten? The cut-off for Kindergarten enrollment in our state is Sept. 1st, and with Daniel's late September birthday, he misses that cut-off, which as a Kindergarten teacher, is totally okay with me! He'll get a little taller, he'll be on the older more ready side of things and I'm glad for all that, in all honesty! I get to keep him for myself a little more- and I love that, too! Daniel is actually all of a sudden very interested in doing "school work" at home- asking how to spell things, doing great at sounding out and breaking up words to spell on his own, asking what his writing says when it is random letters, or what other words say, loving doing the few workbooks we do have, and so on. He's really picked up speed and interest in all these things...all that he's learned this past year has just really finally clicked and it's SO exciting! So we'll keep him busy and moving forward for sure!

Here are some fun pictures from Daniel's Preschool Program day!

 What a difference 9 months makes...these two kids look so much older now, don't they?!

 Here come the preschoolers...Daniel is just walking in, in the back.

 Daniel's preschool class...ready to start!

 See my awesome little man singing and doing the actions?! Proud mommy moment!

 Daniel was just doing SO great!

 One of the best pictures I got and someone's hand is in it...still, you can see Daniel is actually into it, well, as into it as Daniel could be! I'm just so proud of him!