June Updates

June Highlights!

Gabrielle's first dance recital-She did a great job up on stage and got to wear a sparkly dress with a tiara. She looked just like a princess. She had many, many family members in the audience which was a real treat!

Carter's 2nd Birthday Party-For several days leading up to Carter's Mickey Mouse party, I explained to him that lots of people would be coming over to wish him and happy birthday and give him a present. We also practiced singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out a candle. I must say, he was quite prepared for his birthday. He didn't get stage fright with all the guests, and he nailed the blowing out the candle part which can be tricky. He had too much fun opening gifts and wanted play with everything and not open anything else. Totally understandable!

We spent 4 weekends at the cottage and got new carpet and flooring in the kitchen. We also got rid of some dusty, old furniture and brought up our leather couches from the basement. The place looks totally different! We were very happy to say goodbye to the orange shag!

Gabrielle spent a week at VBS at the First United Methodist Church in Howell and loved it! She also spent a lot of time playing with our neighbor, Lilliana, and kept busy with gymnastics, too.  Mom got to have a fun visit with her good friends Kim, who was in from Florida, and Beth.  June is always my very favorite month!

 (It was the best I could get!)

I had to take a picture. Adam read a book while at the cottage!! It's a rare sight.

May Highlights!

May was a busy month as most months tend to be, however, there is something about spring that makes the calendar fill up!  Here are a few highlights from the month:

May 4th- Carter's first hair cut at Great Clips in Howell! Carter has pretty thick hair and was in dire need of a trim. However, he wanted absolutely nothing to do with getting his hair cut. He wouldn't sit on the booster or the chair and he would not wear a cape. So....that meant he had to sit on my lap without a cape. I left the salon looking like a golden retriever!! There was so much hair everywhere, including on Carter's lollipop that he would not give up! I will not be taking Carter to his next appointment. Adam gets that pleasure!

Before

After!

May 9th- Mother's Day Celebration at Gabrielle's Preschool! I was cordially invited to Gabrielle's preschool for a lovely celebration filled with song and dance and tasty sundaes. Gabrielle made me a T-shirt with her hand prints, a bird feeder, and a corsage made out of a styrofoam cup! It was sweet.

 May 16th-Field Trip with Gabrielle's preschool to the Howell Nature Center. We had a lot of fun on a tour of the nature center and saw many animals. Most of the animals were out and about and ready for a visit.

May 23rd-Gabrielle's Preschool Graduation!!!!  It was so sweet. The kids walked out with their mortar board hats with their rainbow colored '13 tassels to the song "Skiddamarinky-Dinky-Dink". It was the cutest thing ever. I can't believe my baby graduated from preschool. I was so proud!! She is so ready for  kindergarten, so it makes it easier to accept!

Gabrielle's teacher, Ms. Jayme

Having fun on the tire swing!

Carter and Gabbers both love old-school Scooby Doo!

15 Little Princesses...1 Little Prince

The highlight of the month was Gabrielle's 5th birthday party which was themed after her favorite princess, Aurora, from Sleeping Beauty. After considering all of the birthday party venues around town, we figured it was easiest to have it at our home. (Not really!!) However, it was the only place  where we could do whatever we wanted!! Gabrielle had 14 girls on the guest list, and every single one came! I had a feeling we would have 100% attendance! Thinking of 15 girls in our basement was almost enough to throw MOM over the edge, but I stayed strong. The key to a lot of kids is to keep them ultra busy the entire time. We ran out of time for the gifts, which was fine, because 14 little girls would have a hard time sitting through all that madness, so it was nice that parents arrived as Gabrielle started opening her gifts.

Gabrielle wanted all of her friends to wear a princess dress. I wish I got group photo, but I didn't. We bedazzled tiaras, decorated tiara-shaped cookies, got manicures, and colored Aurora coloring pages. They feasted on macaroni and cheese and tiara-shaped jam sandwiches. (Gabrielle's two favorites.) Gabrielle wanted an Aurora cake, so I managed to find one of those too. We also had pink ice cream and pink lemonade! They played pin the tiara on Aurora, musical chairs, hot tiara (think hot potato), and a lovely game of toss-a-marshmallow-into-a-bucket. There were no tears and lots of smiles, so all-in-all it was a great success and Gabrielle felt like a super special 5-year-old!! See the pics below!

Let's see, what else? Carter is continuing to be a charmer. He loves to take Gabrielle to preschool and wreak a little havoc. Gabrielle and her brother give each other a hug and walk down the hall to her room. On the way down, Carter likes to stop in the 3 year old classroom to look at the aquarium, and then he loves to play in the 4 year old room. He likes to look at the "pig" named Walter, who is actually a guinea pig. He also heads to the pretend kitchen and to the little couch. If I left, he wouldn't care whatsoever. I can't believe my 1 year old is ready for preschool!!

Happy Birthday, Gabrielle!

Bedazzling Tiaras-- Station #1

Aurora Coloring Pages-- Station #2

Cookie Decorating-- Station #3

Manicures--Station #4

Gabrielle's Bday Morning

Gabrielle's Real Bday-- April 12th

Carter loves this construction hat, and he loves getting in Gabrielle's toy pack-n-play! What a silly kid!

Somebody needs a haircut!!

Look at these cuties! Gabrielle and Carter with their cousin, Aili!

March Madness...creative aren't I?

March was a busy, long, and event-filled month...with an emphasis on long. Not that I mind--I love it when time passes slower than I think it should! The month started with a visit from Grandpapa. The kids had fun painting and making glitter slime with him. Gabrielle also started to play the game Memory that weekend, and I have played with her nearly every day ever since! (She is so good at it too--now she trash talks like, "I'm gonna rock this board!") Right after Grandpapa left, Gabrielle had kindergarten registration. Holy cow, I was not ready for that, but luckily, Gabrielle is more than ready, so that made the whole experience easier on good 'ol mom. She got to see her school and meet a couple of the teachers. There were centers set up and each child received a pug plush toy (and a bag of popcorn) as a welcome present. The dog was wearing a shirt that said "Class of 2026". I had never figured out her graduation year so that was a shocker for me. We also got to take a bus ride which was fun for both kids. Carter LOVES buses!!! When he gets excited he shakes, so he was doing a lot of shaking. He kind of talks like a caveman... BUS FUN! Again, mom was not ready to ride on the bus, but Gabrielle is sooooo excited.

Let's see--what else? Gabrielle had at least 3 playdates. She started gymnastics which she absolutely loves!! Carter also started gymnastics which he loathed. I actually had to get a refund. He didn't want to do anything except make a break for the door. Every other word out of his mouth was "hug" which means pick me up and get me out of here. So I did! We were able to watch Gabrielle at dance for the first time, so I got some pics of her in her little leotard being a little ballerina! Parents aren't allowed usually, so this was an extra-special treat for us... and Carter, too. He can always hear the music from Gabrielle's class, but we can't go in. It is rather frustrating! Carter watched her intently for 30 minutes.  But I am not fooled. If we got to watch every week-- he would start to wreak havoc! Normally, if the weather is nice, which it's usually NOT, I take Carter out for a stroller ride in downtown Howell and look for trucks.

I was the helper-mom at preschool--always fun to be at school with my girl. When I used to help at the beginning of the year in September and October, Gabrielle lingered pretty close and wanted me to play with her. Not this time! She totally did her own thing and played with her friends, and it was a pretty cool thing for me to watch. We brought in string cheese as a snack, and I got to go with her to Sonshine time with her too! Later that week, her preschool had an open house in which all of the students' art work was on display. She adores her teacher, Ms. Jayme, and I remembered to take one of the two of them, thank goodness! Gabrielle also had a dentist appointment. It was a bad experience for us. Without elaborating too much, Gabrielle is now only allowed to have the first appointment of the day when she has an empty stomach:):):) On the bright side however: No cavities!!! YAHOO!!!

The month ended with a lovely Easter celebration and egg hunt at her Jammie and Grandpop's house. Gabrielle celebrated her 5th birthday with the family, too! It was a super sweet sunshiney day! The egg hunt was tons of fun. Carter got to partake in the festivities, and he ran around with Grandpops and found plenty of eggs!

Until next month~ Enjoy the moment!

Colleen

Lately, Carter wants to watch "Wheels on the Bus" videos on YouTube.

Gabrielle with Ms. Jayme

Glitter Slime!!

Happy Early Bday, Gabbers!

I love this photo! She's smiling at her cousin, Cadyn. 

The hunt!

More Feb Fun

The month started out with a bang (see previous post!) but we managed to have a little bit more fun. 

The day after we got home from Disney World, Adam and Gabrielle went to the Daddy-Daughter Dance! It is the second year for them, and they both had a good time! Gabrielle was definitely more tired this year, but the poor thing got home late the night before from a whirlwind day of traveling, went to school all day, and then came home for a couple hours and then went to the dance. Gabrielle and her Poppy adore each other, so it's really sweet that they get their special night.

 The kids and I went to visit Woody the Woodchuck at the Howell Nature Center. It was a very interesting experience. Woody got woken up shortly before he was supposed to visit the children. The problem was that Woody was extremely grumpy and was biting and whistling at the handler. The handler was looking visibly stressed. At one point a child shouted something out, and the handler was like, "STOP!" to the boy. Then, the woodchuck jumped out of her hands and onto the edge of the table. We just happened to be in the front row, and I had to move my kids out the way, and then the handler put the woodchuck away and apologized profusely for his bad behavior.

Happy Valentine's Day 2013

So before I took Gabrielle skiing for the first time and I googled "how to teach your kid to ski" before we left. I thought I had a lot of skiing technique ideas in my bag of tricks, but it became very clear very quickly that I had absolutely no clue how to teach Gabrielle how to ski!! We were squabbling with each other, and I saw things ending badly within the first 20 minutes, so I walked her over to the ski school and signed her up for a private lesson. Let me tell you. It was the best decision EVER!! Gabrielle still randomly says, "I like Mike." This guy was a godsend. In 60 minutes, she was skiing and having fun! Woohoo! After the lesson, we were able to ski together for another COUPLE HOURS. Now mind you, we stayed on the bunny hill. There was no miracle that happened, but it was a good start. I was as pleased as punch. It was kind of surreal actually to be out there with my own daughter when I spent so much time at Mt. B as a kid and teenager! Now I just need to get Adam and Carter out there, and then Colorado here we come!!!!!!!!!!

Play date at Kids Gotta Play

Carter has been pretty funny. He is starting to understand the concept of feelings. When he lays down in his crib at night, he snuggles in and says he's happy and then says sweet dreams to us! It's pretty cute. If he's not feeling well, he says he's sick. If he's feeling needy, he asks for a hug. So sweet. He is also all about adjectives. He'll take a big sip of water and say "dee-wish-ious." He also likes to tell me how "huge" trucks are. I may add more here, but that's all I can think of at the moment!

Thanks so much for reading.
Think Spring!
Until March,
Colleen