Show Me Some Love!

Art Beast

This morning we ventured out in the pouring down rain with Lori Anne, Maddox & Will to go to an art studio downtown called Art Beast. From their website: ArtBeast is a drop in arts exploration space for children featuring an open studio, arts classes, and arts exploration rooms for children under 6. The open studio features tables, easels, and clay mounds where young artists can work. Surrounding shelves are stocked with paint, papers, objects from nature, recycled tidbits, glues, crayons, glitter, scissors, an array of brushes, and an even wider offering of objects from which to make art. Arts exploration rooms include rooms to explore dramatic arts, music, and movement. Dramatic play spaces changes monthly so children can explore the creation of story lines with ever changing scenery, props, costumes, and puppets. A music exploration space offers instruments from around the world so that budding musicians can strum, form drum circles, or form a band for the afternoon.

The kids had a lot of fun painting, dressing up & just being creative. I'm bummed it had been raining in the morning because they have a courtyard in the backyard where you make mud pies and give baby dolls baths & other fun activities. We had a fun morning!!

Play Date

Today Carter had 2 of his friends from school come over to play. They are twin boys, Daniel & Ryan. Carter had a lot of fun with them. They played Legos & wii, had lunch & then played more wii, Nerf guns & did a magic show. They are really good boys & got along well.

Moving Everywhere!

Kate was really on the move today. She would go from one end of the family room to the other. She usually ends up against one of the couches or the tv cabinet! This morning she rolled over to the table in the family room & the bottom half of her body was underneath the table!!

She has been getting up on her hands & knees but she has not started crawling yet. (I'm not ready for that!)

The past couple of nights she has been crying a lot when I put her back to bed after her feeding around 2:30am. She will roll over to the side of her crib & lift up the bumper & lay there screaming. It's like she knows I will come back in the room because I can't leave her under the bumper. Smart little girl!! (That bumper is about to come out of the crib!)

When I went in her room this morning to pick her up she looked so cute looking up at me. I went to grab the camera & when I came back she had lifted the bumper up & was looking out of her crib!

Winter Break

Carter is out of school this week for Winter Break. We haven't done too much yet, but we have some fun things planned for later in the week. Yesterday Carter was able to play with Drew for a few hours while his family was snowboarding. They had fun playing the wii.

This morning Carter & Claire had appointments at the dentist for cleanings. The hygienist asked Claire what flavor of polish she wanted & she picked strawberry. After she put it on Claire's teeth she licked them & said "Mmmmm.....delicious!" It was hilarious!!

Both kids did such a great job. Kate was awesome as well. She didn't make one peep; just sat in her stroller smiling at people.

Like such a good Mommy, after the dentist we went & got cupcakes!!! (What was I thinking!!)

Last week there was a Groupon for a shop called Icing On the Cupcake. It was a really good deal & I thought it would be a fun treat for the kids. They were delicious!!! I wish I had more!!

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Claire is doing an awesome job with potty training. She hasn't had an accident since the 2nd day we were training. We're still working on staying dry during the night & I know that may take some time. I have her wearing the training pants & plastic pants over them when she sleeps, so she definitely feels it when she is wet. The past couple of nights I have been waking her up when I feed Kate & I take her to the bathroom. She is then able to stay dry. I am so proud of her!!

Kate Is 5 Months

This month Kate has started sleeping a whole lot better. She usually awakes between 7 and 7:30am, takes her first nap at 9am (for about 1 hour-although the past few days she has been sleeping from 9am to noon!) and another nap about 1pm (again, for about 1 hour). Sometimes she has a late afternoon nap around 4:30 or 5pm. She has a bath around 6pm and is bed between 6 and 7pm. It is such a relief to have her sleeping in her own crib now!! Some days she still cries for a while when I put her down, other days she just puts her head down & drifts off to sleep.

I love it when sometimes I am nursing her & she starts drifting off to sleep. I will kiss her hand or her head & about 2 seconds later she gets a big smile on her face. I just melt!

Kate is rolling around a lot more.

Kate is full of smiles & likes to hear the sound of her voice.

Thankfully, she doesn't cry in the car anymore!

There are some days she still wants to be held a lot.

Kate had a pretty bad cough but luckily it didn't turn into anything else!

We love Kate to pieces!!

Saturday

This afternoon Jeff, Kristen & kids came down to our house. Cory, Jeff & Kristen took the kids over to the park to practice for softball while I stayed home with Kate as she took a nap. In the evening Dominion was played while watching the NBA All Star weekend. Cory was so generous to stay home with Kate & Claire (they went to bed) while the rest of us went to pig out at Leatherby's! Love the Black & Tan!!

It's Never Too Young....

to instill a love for reading!

"I'm A Big Kid Now!"

This morning I started potty training Claire. She is doing a fantastic job! She's only had one accident & is catching on so quickly! I'm proud of my BIG GIRL!!

2010 Blog Book

We received our 2010 blog book in the mail today & as soon as I opened the package the kids wanted to look through the book. It is so fun to go through & read about our year & look at all of the pictures. I was so happy when there was a Groupon a few months back for Blurb. For $20 you could get $60 worth of product from Blurb. That is an amazing deal!!

This is my largest book yet....280 pages. That's 100 pages more than last year. I hope there is another Groupon this year!!

Sweet Sisters

Valentines Day 2011

What a day! It started off with 2 sick girls in the middle of the night. Kate has a REALLY BAD cough. She sounds awful. I heard a little rattle in her chest so I called the pediatricians office this morning & we got an appointment for 9:30am. Luckily, when Dr. Gould listened to her he said it was not in her chest, but it can change quickly so we need to keep a close eye on her. She has these coughing fits that last for what seems like forever (really only a couple of seconds!) and her face turns bright red. Dr. Gould also listened to Claire & said that she has some wheezing. He gave me a sample inhaler to try with her. I also had him look at my throat since it has been hurting for 2 1/2 weeks. It didn't look infected so he suggested trying some Zyrtec to see if it might be allergy related. Not bad to get 3 Dr. visits for the price of one!!

When we picked Carter up from school he said that he had a great day. He dumped his Valentines bag out on the floor & said it was like Halloween! He painted a picture for me that had a heart & 2 hands. He also drew a picture of the 2 of us & wrote "Happy Valentines Day. I love you."

Since the girls & I weren't feeling well I didn't make anything for dinner. Cory picked up a Maui Zaui pizza from Round Table for dinner. We'll have to go out another time.

John bought the cute outfits that the girls are wearing. (Doesn't Claire look so thrilled....poor girl isn't feeling well!)

A Fun Weekend

John came from Calgary this weekend for a visit. It was fun for Cory to have his best friend around for a few days. They've spent a few hours (ok, maybe more than a few) playing PS3 & Wii. The kids have loved having him here to play with as well. He spoiled them each with a new outfit too. On Friday they walked to Mikuni's to have sushi for lunch. In the afternoon we all went to the park. Carter rode his bike all the way there & back home. He found some friends from school & they played in the sand for a while. Claire loved being pushed in the swing & Kate enjoyed her umbrella stroller. She took a nap in it for a while. Today Cory & John played golf at Bass Lake. They were gone pretty much the whole day. Tonight we bbq'd rib eye steaks & I made some delicious roasted veggies. We had zucchini, asparagus, carrots, fingerling potatoes, grape tomatoes, red, yellow & orange sweet peppers & after they were done cooking I sprinkled crumbled feta cheese on top. So good!!!

The weather was perfect all weekend and tomorrow afternoon John will head back to the cold in Calgary.....and I think we're about to get some rain in a few days. Boo!!!

On The Mend

Claire is starting to feel a bit better. She still has a crazy cough but her nose has stopped running for the most part. (Thank goodness!! It was getting a little old to hear "Mommy, wipe my nose" all day long! At least she doesn't wipe it on her shirt or hand!!)

Finding Her Feet

Kate recently discovered her feet & she loves to grab onto them now. It's fun to hold onto her feet while she has them up in the air & wiggle them back & forth. She giggles with delight!

She seems to have caught a little cold now...runny nose & some mucus when she spits up. No fever yet & I'm hoping she doesn't get one. She has a little cough too. It certainly is making it's rounds around here. She is sleeping wonderfully now. She goes to bed between 6 and 7pm & lately has been waking up 2-3 times a night. Usually around 11pm, 3am & 6am (which I guess is technically morning, but she goes back to sleep until 7am). Today she took a 3 hour nap!! I got so much done!! Kate is getting around while laying on the floor. She's not crawling, she's either rolling over or just scooting her way around. It's so funny to put her down & leave the room to come back & find her on the other side of the room!! Sweet baby girl!!

It's Official.....

Carter can now ride his bike without training wheels!!! Let the cheering begin!!

Cory has been working with him for the past couple of weeks. First he took the pedals off so that he could push himself around & then the pedals went back on. Thursday afternoon they took the bike out again & he rode it by himself!! He still needs to work on steering straight but he'll be there soon. I am so proud of him!! I guess a new bike & helmet will be on his birthday list!

The Best Big Brother

It's so nice to have Carter around to entertain Kate! He loves to play with her & she loves it just as much!!