Remember When...

This year St. Patrick's Day without a doubt was a "remember when" moment. I think people will remember St. Patty's Day 2012 for a very long time since it was almost 80 degrees outside. In a way, with the mild winter we had it didn't really seem odd that we were all in shorts. However, next year we will look back at these pictures and think "I can't believe how nice it was."

We celebrated the day by going to a neighborhood party a few blocks from our house. A couple that lives on a street with an Irish name threw their first Annual St. Patty's Day party.  They had a dog parade, chalk and bubbles, as well as a fire truck and ambulance for the kids to look at.  We were the first in line to view the fire truck, which was a good thing, since they got a call and had to quickly pack up and leave. The girls liked watching that - especially when the siren went off. The best part of the afternoon was the free samples from a cupcake shop that is soon opening up in the neighborhood. 

Happy Valentine's Day

We went all out and celebrated Valentine's Day this year. Ok not all out, but the celebration was stretched out over several day (well weeks). First, Brian decorated the living room, complete with red string lights and banners. Next, we made a trek to the store for the ever-so-important task of picking out Valentine's Day cards to hand out at school. The Saturday before Valentine's Day, the girls received a special package from Nana and Papa. On Sunday, we invited our friends over for a party complete with cookie decorating.  On Valentine's Day itself, the girls had a party at school. I don't know who was more excited, me or them. I kept logging in to watch them on the computer as their daycare has video cameras.   I was able to watch Allison hand out her cards. We had practiced the night before and she was able to recongize most of her classmate's names written on the cards.  Later that night, Brian and I gave them a special treat.  Overall it was a fun holiday.

Snuggles and Love

Tonight Amelia and I snuggled in my bed while we watched a slide show I made for her 1st birthday. As Mia and I watched the show, we talked about what was going on in the pictures and how old she was. I couldn't help but get a little teary-eyed. Later on Allison came up to watch her slide show and snuggled with me (she booted Amelia out of the room because she kept talking and ruining the show).  Halfway through the show, as the tears started to creep back into my eyes, Allison put the show on pause, leaned over and gave me a big hug. Ever so sweetly she snuggled into me a little deeper and told me that she loved me. Maybe it was the sappy music I had playing in the slide show, or that we have been telling the girls a lot of baby stories at bedtime, or the fact that I spent today on pins and needles waiting to find out if Allison was chosen at our school of choice (only to find out that the results won't be released until Monday), but I can't help be a little extra sentimental today.

Good Night Owl

Tired of early morning wake-up calls, I finally broke down and bought Amelia a "toddler alarm clock."  They have a built-in clock that you can set to turn green when it is ok for the child to get up. They are a bit pricey, so I had put off buying one for a long time. However I found the owl clock on sale, so I bought it. At the set time, the owl will light up in a green color. If the child wakes up, he or she can squeeze the belly and it will say "It's not time to get up yet, go back to sleep" and play soothing music - well not so soothing when you here it go off over and over again at 6 am.  I thought that might be a good feature for Amelia.

Amelia was very excited to get a new toy, which is the problem.  To her, it is a toy just like her glow sea horse; she could care less about staying in bed until it turns green.  We have some days she will proudly come into our room and show us the owl turned green, but most days she still arrives in our room at 6:30 am with all her "friends" in tow (she brings in about five stuffed animals and blankets.). Part of the problem is that we didn't think this through before we gave it to her and have not been strict about having her go back to her bed until it is time to get up. I think we are going to incorporate a sticker chart along with the owl. She seemed excited about that.

Outtakes 2011

Crazy demon child

After listening to Allison's excessive whining, Amelia's head is about to explode.

Why taking pictures after getting back from swiming and before I have had time
to change them and brush their hair is not a good idea.



Nothing like a sugar crash.

 

Amelia, I told you before, stay out of my room. You can't come through this door.  

Unintended shot.

Monkey See, Monkey Do.

Happy New Year

 

We started off our New Year's Eve party with a trip to the community center to go swimming. Allison and Amelia love it there and always have a great time playing in the pool. We came home afterward to make some of our favorite munchies and appetizers for dinner. While we prepped dinner, the girls decorated the toothbrushes they received in their stockings. They received a kit with an electronic toothbrush and several sheets of stickers. I was amazed at how long this kept them busy. We concluded the evening's festivities (around 8 pm) with the annual throwing of confetti (ripped up newspaper) and blowing noise makers. 

 

Even More Christmas Celebration

The day after Christmas we celebrated with Brian's side of the family. His brother is a police officer and had to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas, so we postponed our celebration a day. 

The girls had fun playing with their cousin, Faith, and opening even more presents. The girls were hyper from all the activity, so we drove around to look at Christmas lights so they could settle down before bedtime. We had to look at Clark Griswold's house, a house we had discovered earlier that week while driving around, one more time.