Owl Birthday Cake

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I made Molly's birthday cake on Friday night since we were planning to have her birthday celebration on Saturday. I capitalized on the fact that she's a) too little to really pick out her own birthday cake, b) she likes a lot of things but isn't hooked on one very specific thing, and c) she makes a super, super cute "whoooo" sound, so I decided to make her an owl birthday cake. I did some research on pinterest and found an owl cake tutorial. I followed it as best as I could with a few modifications here and there, and I think it turned out really well. In fact, I would actually go so far to say that I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. It totally looks like an edible version of a Furby! Remember those things??

 

Happy Birthday, Molly Girl!

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The first picture of Hattie in the swing is actually from the day before Molly's birthday. Doesn't Hattie look just so cozy in there? Soft blankie, gentle rocking, a pacifier... pure baby bliss. 

 

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Happy birthday, Molly! Our little girl is officially two years old! Matt was back in Canon City over her birthday (actually 1/31 to 2/4) so we delayed the birthday cake and gifts, but we still forged on with a few special things for her birthday. Molly, Alanna, Hattie, and I played trains for a while in the morning. Molly still struggles to get her trains back on the tracks after they derail, but she really likes playing trains. Later, I took the girls down to Wildlife Safari Village for a few hours on Wednesday morning. We met Melanie and Micah there, and I'm pretty sure we were one of about four groups at the village that morning. All the other mornings were beautiful that week - except for Wednesday, Molly's birthday. It was a little brisk outside, and a tad drizzly at the end of our time outside, but we still had a fun time seeing the animals and getting some fresh air. Because it was an early-release Wednesday, we picked up Charlie from school at 2. Molly skipped her nap for the day and spent extra time playing. Totally worth it! It looks like she has post-nap hair, but it's actually just what happens after she pulls out her hair ties. Crazy! She got in some good coloring time with Charlie at the table and played some Dominoes with Alanna after that. I made a few of her favorites for meals and we finished the day with one episode of Curious George, the one where he goes to a birthday party. So fitting! Except it wasn't because Molly didn't have cake or open presents on her birthday... I think she had a good day anyway.

January Quotes and Notes

Alanna:
- "Mom! You forgot to cut the tag off!" She was referring to the sticker on the avocado I was cutting.
- "Mom! I don't have my ears... (couldn't think of the word 'pierced')... I don't have holes in my ears yet!"
- "This must be the ball of crochet!" pointing to the ball of yarn while Matt's crocheting. (A few weeks after I typed this, I saw someone post an ISO on a buy/sell/trade facebook page saying: ISO leftover crochet string. What?! Crochet string? You mean, YARN??? It's not quite as endearing when said as an adult.)
- "What 'T' is that?" pointing to Hattie's outfit. Decoded: what size is Hattie's outfit? Like 2T, 3T, etc.. haha
- said "aglergic" for allergic
- I would say that at least 25% of the things that Alanna says on a daily basis start with the phrase "You must really..." I.e. "You must really like that cereal, dontcha, Mom." "You must really like to vacuum the floors, dontcha, Mom." She is such the talker. Not necessarily talking about stuff, just talking in general - especially so when Charlie is gone. When he's around, she talks a bit less because HE talks a lot as well.
- I have had to say to Alanna "You're not the mother. You're the child." a lot lately. A lot. She has some great mothering skills, but it gets pretty over the top sometimes. She will repeat what I say to the child I'm saying it to: "Charlie, turn around at the dinner table." If he doesn't turn around with in 2.7 seconds, she will repeat the phrase to him. I have no idea where she gets her unrealistic wait times in regards to a response or call to action.

Charlie:
- (while playing a photo game on his LeapPad) "Mom, this game is called Photo Fun Ultra. Not like Mickelo Vultra, but Photo Fun Ultra." Oh my word. When is he gonna let the Mickelo Vultra die already?!?
- "Daddy packed me skit-lets in my lunch today!" He really meant sixlets. :)
- I made the kids a quick dessert this week using crushed graham crackers, jello, and whipped cream, a classic Legge treat when I was a kid. I still love it! Anyway, after the first bite, Charlie said, "It tastes like pool water." I still don't know what he meant by that but he ate the whole bowl so I'm guessing he liked his "pool water".
- he overheard a conversation I was having with Grandpa (MY grandpa, not one of Charlie's grandpas) and asked me who was coming home from Arizona soon. I told him it was Ronny and Terri, but he must not have heard me very clearly or I mumbled because he then referred to Ronny as Brawny. As in, the flannel-shirted paper towel man.
- "I wanted to kiss Hattie on the body so I could transfer love to her heart." :) He said this to me after I had him kiss her head goodnight instead of her chest.
- I told Charlie that he did a great job coloring in the lines after he showed me what he was working on. He then said "Yeah, it's because I'm an illustrator now. I can illustrate books now!"
- Me: I haven't heard you say that you played with Audrey (Arnold) in school lately.
Charlie: Yeah. She calls me 'Charles' and says that she's going to marry me.
Me: (silent laughing while looking away) (long pause) What does that mean - get married?
Charlie: It means you're gonna have a baby.
- Charlie has been into saying the word 'Ewwwwww' lately in a classic school-aged kind of way. If he says it quickly, occasionally he sounds like Jimmy Fallon's 'Ew'. So funny!


Molly:
- as of 1/15, Molly can now say help, poop, me, cheese, please and is starting to repeat things when we ask.
- she pulls her hair out at least thirteen times a day. I put it in, she takes it out. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
- can jump and get both feet off the ground at the same time. Sometimes she lands with her knees locked so she has to catch herself before she falls backwards, but mostly she completes the jump and stays upright.
- I found her sitting on top of the coffee table one day. Neither Charlie nor Alanna have ever done that. Then again, we had the coffee table in storage for much of Alanna's toddlerhood so I guess that takes her off the hook. It's no higher than the couch so I'm not concerned - sorry, CAHcerned with her falling off. She hasn't done it since the one isolated incident.
- the girl still loves to dig in the drawers while I take a shower or do anything in the bathroom. I found teeth marks in my deodorant once. Ew. She tends to leave that one alone now.


Hattie:
- rolled over from her belly to her back for the first time on 1/15. She rolled twice in one direction and once in the other direction! And it wasn't how we placed her arms at all. It was all her! :)
- giggled for the first time 1/19 while Matt was holding her in his lap. He said the word disaster and gave her a little nudge and she giggled! It was adorable! She giggled four or five times after that but by the time I rushed over with the camera, she was done. Typical! It was such a sweet little sound!!
- she still has been cat napping here and there for about 25 minutes each nap. More often than not, she takes a total of three short naps throughout the day for a grand total of approximately 75 minutes. Seems like not enough for a 14-week-old but apparently she knows what she's doing. She sleeps awesome at night to make up for her lack of daytime rest (8:30 to 8-8:30).
- I put her in the bumbo for the first time on the last day of January. She did well and sat in it for 10-12 minutes before wanting out. I think she'll grow stronger and like the perspective change!
- she is starting to really practice using her hands and batting around at the toys dangling from her floor gym or her car seat. It's so fun! 

January Life

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 I managed to get Molly's hair put up in two stacked ponytails one day. It looked pretty sweet but it didn't last too long. I believe she pulled out the top two first and only one of the bottom ones, so for part of the day, she walked around with one quadrant of her hair pulled up into a little ponytail. Helpful!

 After her nap that day, I put a few of her pigtails back in before going outside to eat fruit leather and play. Yep, no jacket necessary! It was such a beautiful day! Molly's soft rosy-red nap cheeks are so precious.

 Alanna loves to ride things with wheels: her 12'' bike, the 14'' bike, plasma cars, the tricycle.... she often just goes back and forth between them all, up and down the driveway, over and over again.

 Charlie was looking straight up into the lightly cloudy sky - so bright! I love drawing with chalk on the driveway with the kids. Nowadays, our slate gets wiped clean every other day or so!

 Alanna was making Hattie giggle and giggle!!

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Week 14: The week Hattie discovers the graphic on her blanket and will. not. stop. staring. at. it. After 20+ pictures of me trying to get her attention, I was finally able to pull her attention away and look forward for a few. I love this outfit! I bought it at a mall in Albuquerque when Matt, Charlie, Alanna and I were there for a week-long training. Alanna was about a week younger than Hattie is now when we were there. Molly skipped out on this outfit since the seasons didn't match up. Holy smokes, dontcha just want to reach into the third picture and scoop her up?!??

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Oregon living has provided tons of beautiful rainbows but this one takes the cake. Perfect arch, super vivid, and picturesque blue sky and clouds behind it. It was like a postcard!!

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While I was digging around for the floor gym a week prior, I pulled out the Bumbo as well. Hattie is really strong with her 93rd percentile head so I felt like she could handle it. I put her in it for the first time and she lasted probably 10-12 minutes. Exciting! It gives her a good perspective change as well. Plus, Matt had to fly back to Canon City so it was nice to have an extra place to set Hattie when I needed two hands. 

Alanna has been a little puzzle fiend lately! This one is a quick one but she does 100 piece puzzles by herself and has for a while now. I seem to always be stepping over a puzzle on the floor, but I love it and encourage it. Who doesn't love a puzzle?

Country Grandma Part 2

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Grandma whipped up a batch of chocolate chip pancakes on Sunday morning and we sat and ate a lazy breakfast together. I love gathering around the kitchen table! An added bonus - it smelled like a true diner in the house with all the pancakes, eggs, bacon and coffee going on!!

 Baby Hattie and I are wearing hoodies - my signature style. Like mama, like baby! She is precious in her little jeggings.

 Grandma fixed Alanna's hair every morning. On Sunday morning, Alanna got an extra special hair-do. Grandma is a whiz with her flat iron! I told Alanna not to expect me to be able to recreate her look in the future. Such pretty ladies!

 While Grandma was here, I took the opportunity to dig out the floor gym for Hattie. She has been ready for a few weeks now but every time I think of digging it out of the box in Molly's closet, Molly is sleeping in her room. It's a great little space for Hattie to play... but who needs the dangling toys when your big sister just stands and hangs her head over you?!

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Happy birthday, Lake Grandpa!
On Monday morning before I even got up, Charlie pulled once, pulled twice, and pulled his loose tooth out on the third try! It's the bottom left, second from the front. It has been loose for a while and now it's gone. Nothing like starting out the morning like ripping out a tooth! He put it in a glass and put the glass by his bedside that night. The tooth fairy brought him a dollar bill which he was really excited about. Charlie thinks he has another loose one, a top front one, but he really doesn't. He just has dollar bills in his eyes now. :) 

We kept Charlie home on Monday so he could spend extra time with Grandma before we took her to the airport after lunch. After some more chatting, some more books, an epic game of Chutes and Ladders, and rocking Hattie in the chair for a while, we ate lunch and headed for Eugene. There were some tears at the airport and we came home to a quiet house. I felt like the kids looked at Matt and I like this is it? Thanks so much for coming out to see us all, Jean. We love you so, so much and miss you like crazy!

Country Grandma Came For A Visit

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Country Grandma came for a visit at the end of January to meet Hattie and get in some quality time with her grandchildren. She breezed in on a Friday and left again on Monday making it a very short weekend. However, what we lacked in physical time was made up for in quality of how our time was spent. We had so much fun together! The kids kept Grandma really busy; reading a book to Molly (and consequently all the kids who flocked over), playing Legos with Charlie (and consequently all the kids who flocked over), doing a puzzle with Alanna (and conseque... get it?!?), holding and snuggling Hattie, and then circling back up to the top of the rotation to fulfill the next child's request. "Grandma, and then can you..." was a pretty popular phrase for a few days!! The kids kept Grandma busy during the day, and Matt and I succeeded at keeping Jean up late just chatting - our favorite activity. :) 

Alanna asked Grandma to paint her fingernails rainbow colored which turned out very cute. Grandma even painted two of Charlie's nails, one blue and one green - Seahawks colors. Charlie told me after school on Monday that a few of his classmates were laughing at his fingernail polish and calling it stupid. He said he told them to stop, but they didn't. He told them to stop again and they did with a little help from his teacher and some lost recess time. Dang kids. Charlie was thrilled with his polish. It's not like he has his fingernails painted all the time and wears dresses for pete's sake. He was just so excited about the colors. Of course someone robbed him of some of the joy of that. He didn't ask me to take it off, though, so it must not have rattled him too much. I'm so thankful for that! In fact, as I type this two weeks later, I actually tried to scratch a little bit of it off today. He caught me red-handed and pulled his hand away so I couldn't get any more of it off. It's at the typical Julie stage where just a little bit is left right in the middle of the fingernail. But he still likes it!

Grandma brought a new book for each kiddo which were read numerous times together. Honestly, once we got home from Eugene on Friday, Jean didn't leave the house again until we left for the airport on Monday afternoon with the exception of one trip to the cul-de-sac to ride bikes and walk for a bit late on Saturday afternoon. Matt and I even snuck out for a short walk on Sunday afternoon by ourselves while Grandma watched the kids. We just had so much fun together. Have I mentioned that? We always do whenever we have visitors, but Grandmas and Grandpas are extra special visitors. 

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