Birthday Girl

Curley's Cupcakes had its third anniversary party recently.

Hiding under Nana's table before the festivities began...

Showing off a little. Look at me! (We watched a lot of Olympics gymnastics...)

My "smile pretty for the camera" face.

I got to Nana's early to set up and Kyle brought the kids. When R walked in the house (like 2 feet in the door) she yelled - This is the best party ever! No one was even there yet. I hang on to moments like that when she refuses to take a picture with me. :)

A little birthday lovin' from Cousin Bailey.

The only decorations - some fun cupcake liner streamers. Thank you pinterest.

Curley decorating her first cupcake of the day.

Post cupcake #1 - the sugar coma starting to set in. No worries - she rallied for more cupcakes later.

Please take a cupcake home! Or seven. Please take 7 cupcakes home!

Mamas, kiddos, cupcakes, icing, sprinkles, fondant. Win!

Snuggling w/ Nana, dressing up with Bee - yeehaw!

Owen and Dahdo studying some game instructions. Serious work.

Thank you for coming to my party!!!

(Two special thanks: To Nana for hosting the party - AGAIN! And to Bee for helping make R's actual birthday - while we were in Banff - so special - her first real mani/pedi and shopping at Nordi's - oh goodness!)

Cannon Ball!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All summer had been leading up to it. Swimming lessons. Stories of the fearless cousin who went off the board earlier in the summer. Meeting Michael Phelps (yes, I know he's a swimmer, not a diver). Watching tons and tons and tons of Olympic aquatic events. (Could they possibly have any more events?) And it all lead up to this...

The Scene.

The Walk.

1. 2. 3. Go!

Woohoo!!!!!!

Splah.

Over here Buddy!

And now with Nana as coach.

Look at that form! This needs a name...

Strategizing.

Proud boy.

The Owen.

And lest you forget (like we often do) that Rebecca is actually 2 years younger...she actually works pretty hard to keep pace with big brother.

Ready?

Ready!

Now we just have to work on Maggie. But I think you have to walk before you swim. More on that later...

A (much needed) Cold Front

Tomorrow morning (very early!) Kyle and I catch a plain to Calgary, Alberta, Canada. We're headed to Banff for an anesthesia conference and some much needed R&R. Without. The. Kids. [Huge smile.]

The last time Kyle and I went away together - just the two of us - was when we went to Italy in September of 2010.

 

And although Kyle's taken quite a few guy backpacking trips, the last time he and I got away together to do any real hiking was in 2007 (say what?!) when we went to Oregon.

Can't wait to give you an update. And share pictures. And report how the kiddos did with the grandparents - 3 shifts - pray for them! 

Owen + Five New Posts Below

This is my m.o. - a digital cornucopia of posts in one day. Then blog drought. Then another cornucopia. So - read on dear followers...It's pouring and Owen is just the beginning! :)

Kyle has been keenly aware that he's only got 1 more year before his little boy starts kindergarten. Can you believe in 12 months he'll be packing up to move away and we'll only see him at holidays and maybe in the summer for the next four years? Oh, yeah. That's college, not kindergarten. (Sorry honey, I had to poke fun a little.)

Anyways, there's been lots of GREAT father-son time happening recently - which, despite my sarcasm - I totally applaud. Best Dad. 

Anyways, here is Owen helping Kyle clean his deer rifle one day when the girls were napping and I was busy doing anything but helping clean the deer rifle.

Owen's favorite song these days is the 1978 hit "Just What I Needed" by The Cars. Thanks to Daddy again. He will sing it for you. Even the synthesizer parts.

Owen's favorite book right now (and has been for a while) is Ferdinand. What we recently discovered however is that he has it memorized. Word for word, page by page, with intonation just like when I read it. It's awesome. I just sit there and turn the pages and he "reads" it to Rebecca. Wait a minute - why am I needed to turn the pages?!?! Tomorrow night I'm going to have Owen put Rebecca to bed!

A little bit of Mommy time mixed in to his special Daddy time - Owen helped me make Katie's famous spinach and beef enchiladas a few weeks ago - he pretty much browned the meet all by himself and helped with all the measuring and mixing. The best part was even though we have had them before he was SO excited to try them and "liked them so much more" this time!

Most of the time Owen is kind of the best big brother possible. He is so sweet to his sisters...but he recently learned the definition of the word "provoked" when he stuck his finger in Maggie's mouth (for no reason) and she bit him back. Lesson learned. Not too long after Maggie was crying about something else and he said to Kyle "that sounds familiar..." and went to give her a toy. Sweet boy.

Reed on for more updates...see you next month! (Just setting your expectations low so I can hopefully exceed them.)

Extrovert Extrovert Extrovert

So, my eldest daughter is an extrovert. Perhaps no one is surprised. I guess I'm not really - but both Kyle and I keep finding ourselves ah-mazed at just how much she seems to be one these days!

At Laity Lodge she would walk up to every person between us and our destination and say without prompting:  

Hi, I Rebecca. I two. What you name?

Hi, I Rebecca. I two. What you name?

Tonight we met Bee and JoJo at the 'teria for dinner because Kyle is on call and he is the only reason I "cook" "meals"...they were running late so we were waiting out front and Rebecca started a conversation with no fewer than 12 senior citizens...

Hi, I Rebecca. I two. What you name? This is Maggie. This is Momma. This is my Mermaid. Bee give her to me. What you name? I have birthday comin' up. 

Lather, rinse, repeat. 

She is also quite perticular about "my things" (her things)...She can occupy herself for a surprisingly long time packing suitcases with toys, clothes, pantry items, office supplies and other things she's not suppose to get in to. She will get out every toy bag, purse and basket she has and fill all them them with "my things". This basically means that whatever room she's on is going to get emptied on to the floor while she packs. Beware. Piles piles piles. And even after she's packed she likes to pile up the piles so don't mess with her piles. (I bet sometimes that's how I look to outsiders.)

The good news is she also likes to "clean". (Not clean as in pick up the piles and piles of toys/clothes/kitchen items she just emptied onto the floor and mixed up in various containers - but don't worry, she has to anyways.) The cleaning she prefers to do is basically wiping things down. The girl would use an entire box of baby wipes on the piano if I don't keep an eye on her. Unfortunately, now that we put the ixnay on the wipes, she started improvising. with. spit. 

Packing, cleaning and dressing up. Definitely a little girl. Her favorite self-created outfits include are:

1) pink "party" dress she wears for at least a few minutes every day + big socks of Owen's + Owen's old brown merrill's + lots of dress up jewelry

2) undies + (no shirt) + Owen's socks on her hands and feet + multiple purses packed with all sorts of "my things" + a (clean) pullup on her head - maybe 2

3) a dress + a skirt on top of the dress + all of my workout headbands around her forehead hipster style + purple toms (purposefully) on the wrong feet

Here she is sporting Pam's squishy flip-flop heels. I have "tall shoes"! Oh boy. (Notice the bag packed full of Pam's toiletries and a watering can filled with stuff from their pantry.)

Other funny/sweet things:

She is quite the encourager. The other day we were on a walk and Owen was riding his bike and she kept yelling "good job man!" "you doin' it!" and "Owen!!! too far!!!". And when Maggie pulls herself up she says "good job Maggie - 'dat my talking 'bout!!!" I love that one.

I like this picture. Corndog in hand. Staring down the veggies. Willing them to turn in to ice cream.

That's my girl.

Pool Time 2012

I think I mentioned that Owen and Rebecca took swim lessons with the same Miss Amy from last summer at the beginning of the summer. Great fun and great progress for both of them. Thanks again to Bee and Nana to helped us get them there every time!

Owen loving the flippers because they make him go so fast! (Just don't forget to use your arms!)

 Working on side-breathing so he can go further!

 Thanks Miss Amy! We love you!

Now it's Rebecca's turn (she always wanted Owen to go first).

I think she's actually yelling - it's my turn Owen!

Woohoo going under!

High five!

And of course at our last lesson (where I plan on taking pics) it starts raining not too long into Rebecca's lesson so this is the only one I really got of her in full stroke. But you can see she's getting it!

The rain...and a potty break.

Thanks Miss Amy! We love you double!

Both kids have enjoyed some one-on-one pool time Nana recently. What a treat. Owen is getting braver and braver at jumping in to the deeper water. Diving board by the end of the summer???...