We're over halfway through the first month of 2012 and finally settling back into a "normal routine" (whatever that means for us). Our Christmas decorations are down and packed away for next year and we FINALLY put the tree out by the curb on January 9th, lol. It was getting to the point that I thought about just keeping it and making it a Valentine's Day tree ;)
WOAH! What's that!?!? Yup, that's right! After days of small flurries, we finally got some snow on the ground! It wasn't much and it didn't last very long, but it was enough to make some small snowballs and Arianna catch some snowflakes.
Ari is back in school today after a four day weekend and I'm hoping that there won't be any more school breaks or holidays for a while which I suppose officially makes me a mom. Don't get me wrong, I love having Ari home, but she gets so thrown off when she's out of school for long periods of time. She thrives on routine and school has become part of that. She's doing so well in school and I'm incredibly proud. I'm not sure if something specific changed or if she's just coming out of her shell a bit more, but she comes home from school and actually enjoys telling us about what she did and what she learned. Before Christmas break, she would come home and tell us that she didn't know what she learned and when we asked her what she did we always got the same two answers,
"Nothing" or
"I don't know." We knew that she was learning because we saw the progress in the school work that was being sent home, but it's so much more fun to hear about it straight from her mouth. She also gets along very well with other kids and loves spending time with Noelani. We had her over after school last week and they "grew" popcorn!
I had given them some popcorn to snack on and they decided to plant the kernels and grow some more!
Popcorn is shy and doesn't like to be watched while it's growing (hey, it was the best I could come up with!) so they busied themselves drawing pictures of each other.
There was a lot of, "Oops! I forgot to draw your hair! You look like a boy in my picture, bahahahah!" and "I'm going to draw you with three noses!"
Look what "popped" up!
I really wish I would have thought to video this because their reaction was adorable! They got SO excited when they saw the popcorn.
On another Arianna note, over the weekend I was struck with the realization that in less than one month, I will be celebrating my first baby's FIFTH birthday! It just doesn't feel like it's already been five years since I became a mama for the first time. She requested a Disney Princess birthday party which I've been planning and am excited for. I keep feeling guilty, like I should have done something bigger and more special for her fifth birthday (I had originally always said that I wanted to take her to Disneyland or Disneyword), but I keep reminding myself that she's such a simple child and what I'm planning is exactly what she wants. To be princess for a day and surrounded by her closest friends. Oh and cake. She wants cake. Yup, definitely my kid! She's also getting a late birthday present in the form of her grandparents coming out to visit in March and I think Grandma and Grandpa definitely outdo Minnie and Mickey!
Lucy is doing great as well. Some of you may have noticed that I never did a 13 month update for her. That wasn't an oversight, I'm going to start doing her updates three months at a time. So I will update on February 25th when she turns 15 months. I've been keeping notes so that I don't leave anything out, but I figured that this would be easier than trying to keep up with monthly updates and photos. Just a few tidbits- she is currently a little it over 21 pounds and 29 inches putting her in the 45th and 41st percentiles. She has learned how to blow kisses, is working on saying "thank you", and has cut not one, but TWO molars! She's been a busy little lady and we'll let you know what else she's been up to in a couple of months ;)
That's about all for now as we've got a busy week coming up! Noelani is coming over tomorrow after school and will be with us through Friday afternoon while her mom is out of town on business. Originally her dad was just going to bring her to us each morning and pick her up in the afternoon, but we all decided that it would be easiest and more fun for the girls to just have her stay the entire time. This will be Arianna's first time having a friend stay over and she's super excited! I'm sure plenty of amusing pictures and videos will be taken over the next few days. I will also be taking the girls' Valentine's Day and possibly St. Patrick's Day pictures sometime in the next week. Yes, I know it's super early for both, but I put off our Christmas pictures so long that it was Christmas Day before I actually took any and they were rushed and I wasn't happy with them. So I'm planning ahead since I've got some cute themed ideas to do for these next two holidays!
