Zoo with Vivian

Tuesday, I went to the zoo with my little Vivian and my Friend Claudia and her boy Greyson.  The elephant was right by the fence and that was really fun for the kids.  I wish she would have posed a little better for me though.

At Harmony Farms, Vivian just loves sitting on the giant “little people” animals.  I love that she just kept sitting on this horse.

She enjoyed sitting on the cow too but she wouldn’t sit on the sheep…I guess she’s realized that people don’t ride sheep…I’m not sure people ride cows though…do they?

Look at this boy!  Isn’t he getting so handsome?!

I love how intent Vivian is when she drives this little car.  She wants to do this more than anything and is very impatient to be the one who gets to be behind the steering wheel…I guess she’s my girl.

This next series was just funny of Vivian playing peek-a-boo.  I have a difficult enough time already getting her in pictures (case in point the one above is one of about 20 photos).  She just refuses to look at the camera…frustrating.  Thank goodness for digital cameras because I had a film one with Christian and I still have more good pictures of him up to the age she’s at because she won’t just look at me and hold still!

I had to add this funny cow picture.  I love her expression.

I have never actually wondered over to the whole horse area at the zoo but I’m going to for now on.  She adored this little wooden horse with the (super worn-out) saddle.  It took literally pulling her off to get her off of this thing.

On our way out, we decided to let the kiddos run through the water since it was so hot in the upper 90’s.  She did not want to go home until suddenly she was cold.  Poor thing, I didn’t know she’d think it was so cold at 70ish degrees once her body temperature dropped.  Goes to show, my kids are desert children.

If you notice, there are a lot of bigger kids in the water visiting on a school trip.  She was not at all intimidated by them and I was getting worried but she was really good and thankfully there were no collisions.

Thanks Claudia for the fun morning!  We had a great time.

Jared’s Birthday 2012

On Sunday May 6, 2012 Jared had his birthday.  We I was lazy and because we had a neighbor friend’s birthday party to attend, I didn’t make a special dinner or cake on the day and decided to let it be until the next day.  But, we did have present time.

Here’s the Birthday boy with the little girl who wishes the presents were for her.

My ham!Vivian’s cheese!

Daddy needs help…

Birthday kissing…kind of.This is what he’s been waiting for!

Love the expressions on their faces!

Christian working on his posture

Vivian took a real liking to this bag…I like how you can see Jared examining his books in the background…we know what he is excited about.

The next day, Monday, we had our friends the Davis’ for dinner and I feel like a dork I didn’t take any photos of them.  This is the cake we had for dessert.  It’s a black forest chocolate cherry cake.  Yum.  I had to figure out how to make the chocolate ganache (sp?) without milk so I was pretty nervous but it turned out super delicious.

Vivian is not happy she has to eat more dinner before cake.  Christian on the other hand, gobbled up his dinner faster than ever.

It’s no wonder both of our kids have so much personality, take a look at the calmest person in our family when there’s a delicious confection in front of him…practically barbaric!

Good thing the effect of fire calmed him down a bit…and no he’s not 311, it’s 32 but I couldn’t find my 2 so I improvised…I didn’t want the smoke alarm to go off.

Dentist Trip

On Friday the 4th, Jared and I had the “brilliant” idea to schedule all our family dentist appointments for the same day.  Jared took the day off and I pull Christian out of school early to go to see the dentist.  Christian was really excited and I have to confess that yes, this was his first official appointment with the dentist.   He actually has had his mouth looked into by the dentist before but not for an official appointment, just because he was with me at mine.  He was really excited to see the x-rays of his teeth and I was interested to see how long his roots are.  Since Christian got his first tooth after he turned 1-year, I have figured that he probably has teeth like mine, I didn’t lose my first baby tooth until I was eight or nine.  The dentist confirmed that this will probably be the case with Christian because he’s got some SUPER long roots on those babies.  So when Christian is in his teen years and still losing baby teeth, please, be kind.  I know how odd it makes you feel.

Thankfully, Christian came out of his appointment with zero cavities.  Daddy and mommy were not quite so lucky, but with different reasons.  (I was really happy to have had one of my fillings repaired and it looks so so so much better, I’m thrilled to have that fixed.  Sorry to any of you who may have had to see me smile with that awful looking thing on my tooth.  Yuck.)  Vivian even sat in the chair and let the dentist check her teeth too.

After the appointment, the boys got ready and went to Fathers and Sons and Vivian and I went and bought coconut “ice cream” and made brownies and watched a Barbie movie.  It was an eventful day, if not extremely fun (on my part).

Big Girl Bed!

On Monday April, 30, I decided that it was time for Vivian’s bed to be converted into a big girl bed.  For the last couple of months, Vivian has been very upset in the morning when she wakes up no matter how quickly it took for someone to retrieve her from her crib.  The best person to actually retrieve her from her bed was Christian because she wouldn’t cry for 10-15 minutes at him.  But she sure would be upset at Jared and I and after being so upset, it took a lot to calm her down and get her to start the rest of her day.

That first night, I had to lay by her for a minute but she was sooo excited about her bed being like brothers she’s done pretty well.  The best thing about having her transition to a big girl bed is that she wakes up super happy and comes and finds whoever she wants to see (sometimes me, sometimes Jared and sometimes brother) but she is always so happy.  I think her having the ability to be independent is what has made the difference.  That night as I went to bed, I started feeling super guilty that yes, I’m a procrastinator and I still hadn’t finished her mobile that I had started FOREVER ago… and now she’s not even in a crib.  Time goes too fast!

Here’s the mobile up close.  I really like how it looks in person better but I still think it’s cute.

Vivian is happy to now be able to tuck her toys into bed.  I had made the little matching pillow a couple of weeks before and she has been so thrilled with it, I’m glad I bought extra material to match the quilt my mom made.  It’s so cute.

Here are some cute photos of Vivian rocking her baby to sleep.  I love that she supports the neck…even if she’s a little wild with her swaying.

Later that day, after school, I had to take a photo of my two darlings simultaneously reading on Vivian’s bed together.  I’m so glad my sweet little ones love to be together and that they can read their own stories if they can’t agree on what book to look at.

End of April 2012 with the kids

After literally months of deciding what to do about curtains for Vivian’s room, I finally found blackouts that are white at Lowes…the only problem was they were kind of bland so I was very excited when I found some pretty polka-dot sheers  from Wal-mart (Target has some that are practically the same but for twice the price) that I put in front of her curtains to make the room have a softer glow when her blinds are up.  Here are some random photos of her playing in her room after I put up the sheers so they’re in the background so you can see the pretty effect they create.  She’s wearing her most favorite dress that grandma Jaydene gave her and it is pretty much always worn on wash day because as soon as I pull it out of the clean basket and she see’s it, she insists on wearing it right then and there.

 

On Thursday the 27, I tried a new class at the gym from 7:30 to 8:30.  When I came home, this is what I found.  Christian had been reading a book to Jared and I guess they both were exhausted and conked out.  So sweet.

The next morning, on Friday, I took Vivian to the splash pad for the first time this year.  She was a little nervous at first but she got into it after a bit. She really was much more into what all the girls were wearing as well as the playground behind the splash pad but knowing that this is Vivian, I wasn’t too surprised.

Watching some older kids with her friend Ava.

Debating on what to do…

After her escape to the playground she went to the top of the play set and refused to come down.  Lovely.

Deciding to come down so that she could “Wee!” (or swing).

Of course, it was when I decided that I was interested in leaving that she decided it was time to really get wet.  Ha ha, love her stance!