Leia always amazes me with her keen memory of details, especially about things that happened a whole year ago. This week I told her we were going to the hospital party at the park, and she remembered every detail about all the activities we did there last year, and was making specific plans to do it all again this year. She was especially excited about the ice cream truck, and made sure to strike a deal ahead of time that allowed her to get both an ice cream AND a slushee. She also made sure to tell me to bring money to buy them, because she's learning that she often doesn't get treats because I don't have any money on me! Luckily for both of us, the treats were free at this party! Last year she was distracted enough by other things, so I got out of having to deal with the mess of face painting. This year, the second she saw it, she was fixated. We couldn't do anything else until the face painting was completed. She also kept saying she wanted to ride a horse, which she has done before, but every time we got over there, she would back out. Definitely seemed a little nervous for some reason. She was really enjoying the music, and at one point I caught her on video dancing to the music with this sexy little hip swing. Totally ridiculous, and definitely not the moves of a 4 year old. Where does she get this stiff?? Leia, of course, refused to wash off her face paint that night, and proceeded to add to it the next day when we were painting. An innocent painting activity turned into a full body painting extravaganza, and the two of them were running around hooting and hollering like some Native American warriors! My brilliant sprinkler plan to get them washed up did not work, and Leia was refusing to take a bath. I finally had to drag her into the tub, and she screamed the entire time. We did hug and make up at the end. We had another yelling incident when the "tired" girls tried to abandon their bikes again on the way home from Nana's. They decided to switch bikes, and had a momentary surge of energy, but pooped out again quickly. But in the 30 seconds that I abandoned Arwyn to deal with Leia, the next thing I know, the poor kid is upside down in a ditch, underneath her bike. I was mad. I don't like all the yelling, and I think there are better ways to assert authority, but at the same time, Leia seems to think she's in charge around here, and somehow we've got to reign her in! And she does seem to understand that she's done something that she actually regrets because she's been coming back later and apologizing. So I guess the whole thing is just "To be continued." Leia has been fighting me about going to ballet, which is so bizarre, considering how much she loves to teach ballet and do ballet moves all the time at home (not to mention how good she seems to be at it). She previously said she didn't like leaving me and Arwyn to go to ballet; she felt like she was missing out on fun we were having together. This month they have both been in school on ballet days, so I figured it would be all good. But no. She's still trying to get out of it, and now she's finally admitted that it's boring. That is finally an excuse that I can understand. The class did look a little boring to me, and the repetition required to learn all those moves wouldn't necessarily be all that fun, even if the actual dancing part after you know the moves is. (Of course, the next time I asked she decided she wanted to stay in ballet and quit yoga, so I just don't know what to do!!??) Leia did do something else pretty funny this week too. She attached her watch to a little box and declared it her "Time Box." And when we asked what was inside, her response was simply, "time." The funniest part was when Arwyn knocked it over and Leia got very upset about that because, "time will fall out!"
Arwyn isn't quite as patient with procedures as Leia is (like haircuts, dentists, and doctors), but when she saw that Leia was getting face paint, she insisted on getting hers done too. However, she did NOT want the same as Leia. She choose Mermaid, rather than the Elsa that Leia chose. And she sat perfectly still the entire time! Amazing. Arwyn loved catapulting herself to the bottom of the bounce house slide, and spent most of the party doing hot laps there. She really wanted to do the dunk tank, "Water fight! I want water fight!" but we weren't really prepared for that one, so I had to do a lot of vetoing. She did ride a horse for the first time. She was very nervous at first, and insisted on holding my hand the first time. But she enjoyed it enough that she asked to do it again, still wanting my hand. But by the third and fourth times back, she was going totally solo and loving it! Arwyn finally overcame her fear and rode the 3-wheeled strider bike for the first time! I had a feeling she might finally want to try it because she saw Anya riding it last week, and I could tell she was intrigued. She's also so brave on the climbing wall. She was doing hot laps at the park, up the climbing wall and down the slide, all by herself, and so fast! Finally she did fall, and from the very top, but she was back up and climbing 10 seconds later, so problem. We had a fun painting day, and since we were outside I took advantage and did hand and foot prints of the kids for a keepsake. They thought it was so fun. After we finished my special one, Arwyn kept yelling, "More feet!" and they kept painting their feet and stamping them on new pages, over and over. And then came the body painting. At first Arwyn couldn't quite believe what Leia was doing, but she was happy to jump on that band wagon, ripping off all her clothes and going crazy, copying everything Leia said and did. Arwyn, on the other hand, was happy to take a bath at bath time. However, she became very upset when Leia started freaking out, and didn't quite know what to do with both of us. She just kept coming up to my back while I was leaning in trying to douce Leia with water, and she would hug me from behind, crying out "I luh you, Mommy. Leia sad." The whole thing was so traumatizing for all of us; I wish they would just cooperate and take baths like normal people!! Arwyn is talking so much these days, and everything she says is so cute. When I put on sunscreen, she's either yelling, "No uh-keen!" or "More uh-keen!" depending on her mood. At night, after I've laid her down in bed and start walking out, she's starting to call out to me "I luh you, Mommy. I miss you." and "I caught it!" about my kiss that I just blew to her. It's so sweet. She had her very first gymnastics class this week, which she absolutely loved. And she finally cooperated with my rule about not bringing trinkets to school. She really wanted to wear her watch, but I said she could only show it to her teacher, and then she had to give it to me to take back home. She ran straight over to Jenni, proudly held up her arm, and said, "I got watch!" Then she actually came right back over to me, handed over the watch, gave me a hug and kiss, and let me leave without issue. Yay!
This one was new...Hello Kitty Bracelet.
My beautiful Queen Elsa!
Leia and Giselle watching the action at the dunk tank.
So intrigued by the dunk tank; she really wanted to be a part of that water fight!
Selfie with my little princesses!
Petting zoo...bunnies, turtles, and ginnea pigs!
Loves painting her toenails, ugh.
Too tired to ride, and missing some clothes...what do I do with these two?!
Arwyn isn't quite as patient with procedures as Leia is (like haircuts, dentists, and doctors), but when she saw that Leia was getting face paint, she insisted on getting hers done too. However, she did NOT want the same as Leia. She choose Mermaid, rather than the Elsa that Leia chose. And she sat perfectly still the entire time! Amazing. Arwyn loved catapulting herself to the bottom of the bounce house slide, and spent most of the party doing hot laps there. She really wanted to do the dunk tank, "Water fight! I want water fight!" but we weren't really prepared for that one, so I had to do a lot of vetoing. She did ride a horse for the first time. She was very nervous at first, and insisted on holding my hand the first time. But she enjoyed it enough that she asked to do it again, still wanting my hand. But by the third and fourth times back, she was going totally solo and loving it! Arwyn finally overcame her fear and rode the 3-wheeled strider bike for the first time! I had a feeling she might finally want to try it because she saw Anya riding it last week, and I could tell she was intrigued. She's also so brave on the climbing wall. She was doing hot laps at the park, up the climbing wall and down the slide, all by herself, and so fast! Finally she did fall, and from the very top, but she was back up and climbing 10 seconds later, so problem. We had a fun painting day, and since we were outside I took advantage and did hand and foot prints of the kids for a keepsake. They thought it was so fun. After we finished my special one, Arwyn kept yelling, "More feet!" and they kept painting their feet and stamping them on new pages, over and over. And then came the body painting. At first Arwyn couldn't quite believe what Leia was doing, but she was happy to jump on that band wagon, ripping off all her clothes and going crazy, copying everything Leia said and did. Arwyn, on the other hand, was happy to take a bath at bath time. However, she became very upset when Leia started freaking out, and didn't quite know what to do with both of us. She just kept coming up to my back while I was leaning in trying to douce Leia with water, and she would hug me from behind, crying out "I luh you, Mommy. Leia sad." The whole thing was so traumatizing for all of us; I wish they would just cooperate and take baths like normal people!! Arwyn is talking so much these days, and everything she says is so cute. When I put on sunscreen, she's either yelling, "No uh-keen!" or "More uh-keen!" depending on her mood. At night, after I've laid her down in bed and start walking out, she's starting to call out to me "I luh you, Mommy. I miss you." and "I caught it!" about my kiss that I just blew to her. It's so sweet. She had her very first gymnastics class this week, which she absolutely loved. And she finally cooperated with my rule about not bringing trinkets to school. She really wanted to wear her watch, but I said she could only show it to her teacher, and then she had to give it to me to take back home. She ran straight over to Jenni, proudly held up her arm, and said, "I got watch!" Then she actually came right back over to me, handed over the watch, gave me a hug and kiss, and let me leave without issue. Yay!
Play date with our neighborhood friends (Genevieve, Kira, and Echo), and Mommy and Arwyn actually were able to sneak away!
Static hair!
So weird, it's time to do something important, but I can't find the kids anywhere!
Oh, there they are! Favorite new hiding place!
Balloon animals at the hospital party.
This one was new...Hello Kitty Bracelet.
It really did fit right over the wrist like a bracelet.
First make-up job!
When asked if she wanted "lips," that was a definite YES!
My beautiful Queen Elsa!
Holding very still and cooperating with all the artists requests.
Arwyn is so serious, this is all business!
And the final self-check in the mirror!
My beautiful Little Mermaid!
Leia and Giselle watching the action at the dunk tank.
So intrigued by the dunk tank; she really wanted to be a part of that water fight!
Ducks with tupés!
This awesome bounce house has a princess slide!
Oh yeah, the highly anticipated ice cream cone!
Showing off some of her excellent ballet skills!
She loves the lips!
Love these smiling cuties, and so happy that got to enjoy some cool face paint (it wasn't nearly as messy as I thought it would be).
Password = Arwyn
Arwyn does love to jump, and her heights have been getting a bit higher than a single stair, but when she launched over this slide and landed at the bottom, I was blown away!
Petting zoo...bunnies, turtles, and ginnea pigs!
Cute one of Leia and her best friend Mackenzie.
Arwyn and her best friend Julia. And I just love that silly alpaca in the background!
Baby goats for everyone!
Big smiles! So cool to touch all these crazy animals!
First time on a horse...looking pretty darn nervous about the whole thing!
Ok, it was fun enough the warrant a second ride, but still need to hold Mommy's hand.
This is definitely a kid who is having fun this afternoon!
Password = Leia
I guess she was feeling the music, and she really felt magical with her face paint, but her moves are not those of a 4 year old!
Ride #3, ready to go alone, but she's still stone face serious.
And ride #4, doesn't want to get off!
Password = Arwyn
We went over to ride the pony 3 times before she actually decided to do it, and then she insisted on holding my hand the whole way. But Arwyn got back on that horse 3 more times because she just couldn't get enough, and by the last 2 she was doing it all by herself and loving it!
Hey, who's that little mermaid in the mirror? She had a lot of fun looking at herself!
The morning after. Surprisingly enough, very little rubbed off on the pillow.
Nice morning for a little art session out on the deck.
Loves painting her toenails, ugh.
Learning bad habits!
So proud of herself!
These sisters are trouble...
Hooray, Arwyn finally forgot she was afraid to ride this bike...now she loves it and is a professional speed demon!
Biking down the street with her nightgown tied up behind her butt, wearing her robe, and some sort of lovey in the basket...I don't even know what to say about this ridiculousness!
Password = Arwyn
Arwyn was afraid to ride this bike since the day she fell off while I was still trying to build it. She finally saw some Anya ride it, and decided to give it a try. Instant pro, of course. And new she and Leia are having fun playing Red Light/Green Light on bikes.
Sister wrestling time on the trampoline!
Jumping huggies!
Password = Arwyn
Arwyn and Leia had a blast on the trampoline today, jumping and wrestling all over each other, and they kept it fun the whole time!
Too tired to ride, and missing some clothes...what do I do with these two?!
Tried to go for a fun little hike and picnic...
...but the two of them would only walk for about 4 minutes, so we had to turn around.
A little picnic on the tailgate instead. The three of them are so cute, hard to believe they could ever be a pain, right?
Kisses in Cooper's doghouse.
Human pyramid on Poppy!
Password = Arwyn
Arwyn loves to climb and is so strong and determined. She pulls herself up, and if she runs into trouble, she keeps trying until she gets to the top! Over and over. And when she falls, she's not afraid to get back up and do it again!
Leia's Time Box...make sure you don't drop it or you'll spill a lot of time!
It's a regular party when Mom leaves for work...hula dancing and fizzy umbrella drinks!
