This is the first year we let Adelaide decide what kind of party she wanted and of course she needed to keep sister in mind. Her first response was an orange party, she really is a little Vol at heart. The second request was a castle, not to be mistaken with a princess party. We aren't quite sure why but when we went on vacation to Hawaii, Adelaide became completely fascinated with castles. She told everyone that she had a castle in Florida, Alabama and Hawaii. We of course had to throw a little pink into the party for little sister and there it was, an Orange and Pink Castle Party.
We've been preparing for this birthday for weeks and it's finally here. After a week of constructing the main attraction and an evening of baking it is time for the guests to arrive! The girls had their matching monogrammed dresses (love etsy) and they wore their hats too (surprise).
The castle was made with appliance boxes courtesy of Grant's job, a bunch of zip ties and Target had a bunch of angry customers if they were looking for orange or pink tissue paper that week. We were really nervous about the castle withstanding a dozen kids, but surprise it stayed fully intact for three months after the party too.
We had friends and family from all over join in the castle fun. The biggest fear with throwing a party is that no one shows up, not the case here. The kids all seemed to have a great time and everyone was super generous and loving with the girls.
On to the important part of the day...CAKE! Each year I torture my dear Mother-In-Law Stephenie with cake baking and decorating the night before the party. This year I did help the cause by baking the cake in advance which was a good thing since we were also trying to clean up the construction mess while we should have been decorating. We did it again...a homemade castle cake! Penelope wasn't a real fan of her cupcake, but cousin Brooke did an excellent job painting her hands with it.
Last but not least there was one BIG surprise gift from Mommy and Daddy...a Jeep. We have learned that it's a good thing keys aren't going to be in A's hands for many years and that P doesn't easily get whiplash.
At the end of the day everyone was exhausted and there was one happy Mommy.
Oh and thanks to the little photog for the day, I didn't pick up the camera once.
The girls birthday party is a few days away so what did we do...start a construction project! There is one thing in the house that I hate is the fireplace area. Love the thick mantel that lines the entire wall however I hate this odd tile job that they have happening. Not only was it ugly, but it wasn't safe for the girls. So we have a company coming in to fix it all up for us. Poor planning on my part though considering it will be completed the day before we have a bunch of people in the house for a party. Here is how it started...
We were relieved when Penelope decided to kick the bottle habit at 11 months, but the day that P decided she loved milk Grant and I jumped for joy over our new pay raise. Now if only we could stop buying diapers I would feel like I just won the lottery.
When you are three months behind your blogging you sometimes have to just sum things up in a quick post so that people stop bugging about your lack of posts. So here we are, three months behind again and wondering why and how I allow this to keep happening.
The girls are getting much better about playing together and without adult interaction. August in Florida isn't exactly the time to play outside, but there were a few mornings when the girls were able to jump out of bed and go play for a little while. Most of the time we are stuck indoors so we make the most of our new found space in the house.
One of Adelaide's favorite theme weeks at camp this summer was space. She brought home a moon buggy and told us all about going up in the air. She also came home with some interesting songs to teach us. Everyone is loving A and P's new school, she comes home with the craziest stories somehow.
Adelaide went to the Little Gym every week and now I believe it is time for P to start going too. She is starting to use the appliances as objects to hang off of.
P's temper is also showing these days. If she doesn't getting what she wants when she wants it there is a full on theatrical event including screaming, crying and throwing herself on the floor. You can find pictures of Adelaide doing the same things on this blog from a few years ago.
Accidents and injuries oh my! Adelaide falls down all of the time which isn't anything new. To make matters worse she is a picker and a scratcher so she is always covered in bandages. P also has her share of injuries, but those mostly occur at school. P's best friend is Benjamin, the problem is they have a love hate relationship which means they are either egging each other on or biting one another. Thankfully Benjamin's parents are as understanding as we are with all of this.
Important lessons in life...learning to say hi and hello while on the phone.
Eat, eat, eat - this kid takes her Italian side to heart when it comes to noodles.
Pranks and hijinks - when we found the crayon on the wall we immediately knew who wasn't to blame. Didn't take long to find the real guilty party.
Baking, eating, coloring, playing and everything else leads to the occasional nap with Daddy.
One of Penelope's favorite activities is to clean out my closet. That includes wearing my shoes and putting on every piece of jewelry she can get her hands on. So I thought it only appropriate to take a few pictures of Little Marie in her finest pearls and the headband she wore in her first photo shoot.
Pictures by Mommy
If you notice how different P's eyes look in all of the pictures it is because they kept changing colors up until recently. They were from hazel to now a baby cow brown.
Hey, Hey it's Penelope's birthday!! One year of excitement with Penelope and the time went by incredibly fast. There were tears of joy when she was born (Mommy of course), uncontrollable excitement at her arrival (Big Sister) and I would assume pure panic at having three women in the house (Daddy).
Penelope has turned into quite a precocious child that seems to be doing just about everything ahead of schedule. The one thing she isn't doing at exactly one year is walking. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it is purely her laziness or possibly an inherited stubborn trait that keeps her off of her feet. She is taking steps and then she will start laughing hysterically and fall down. We know running is right around the corner.
One year doctor check up came back with stats of 21 pounds 11 ounces (55th percentile), 29 and 3/4 inches (75th percentile) and 12 and 3/4 inch head. All of that means since her last check up at 9 months she gained over 2 pounds and grew almost 2 inches. Our big girl is slimming down, but she has been wearing 18 month clothing for months.
So on to the birthday weekend, since the girls birthdays are only a few weeks apart we decided to hold off on a party until closer to A's birthday. That didn't mean that we were going to hold off on all of the celebrating. We spent the day at our community pool, ate cake before we went out to dinner and then had just a few presents. We discovered that my little eating monster isn't really a fan of cake, mostly icing which is not a trait she got from her mother.
Birthday Party pictures to be posted soon!
up and down the slide all by herself
good girls share
yes, on the counter with their shoes, oh well
I love rice!
Auntie K tried to eat her cake so Daddy took care of her light work
