Roxy

We got Roxy from the farm on Friday. Leah was so excited to check out a cat again. She was a little, little thing. She was very sweet and relaxed. She let Leah put her in a backpack and take her for a walk on Friday night. She loved to hide under the bed and jump out and pounce on our feet at night. The girls HATED this. They were so annoyed. Leah actually burst out in tears on the last night. But, they both loved playing with her besides this. 

She had the sweetest little face. As always, I wanted to take her home forever. Chris is always the voice of reason. 

 Leah wanted to take lots of pictures with Roxy. She loved her so much. She slept with her the first night, but woke her up at 5 AM trying to play. Leah was super annoyed with this, and wouldn't let her sleep with her again. Leah takes her sleep seriously, and likes to have a predictable routine with her sleep. :) She doesn't like to be woken up before she is ready in the least. 

  Juliet is always a little slower to warm up to animals, but she did. Since Leah banned Roxy from sleeping with her, Roxy would often try to curl up next to Juliet at night. Case in point.

Raspberry Picking

 It's totally normal to pick raspberries in fairy wings, right?! Leah "earned" these wings with her chore chart last week, so she's been wanting to wear them everywhere. I can't say no because I know the window is closing on her wanting to do things like that. I was picking her out school shoes and I felt like I needed to be conscientious about what the other kids would be wearing. It was sad. 

 The raspberries were delicious and the girls liked picking them (though I think they ate a pound out in the fields that we didn't pay for)--The basket that Juliet is holding is the basket the girls and I shared. The basket Leah is holding is the basket Chris was using. For the first 20 minutes, as soon as I put raspberries in the basket, they would take them out and eat them. I had to ditch them with Chris to actually get berries in my basket. 

Christmas on the Farm

 This week Leah celebrated "Christmas on the Farm" at Real Life. She was so excited to go. We got an information letter which asked everyone to come in Christmas-y clothing. Leah was even more excited. She picked out her dress and hair piece and was counting down to the fun. When we got there, she was the *only* kid dressed Christmas-y. I asked if she wanted to take out her hair piece, and she looked at me like I was crazy and said, "NO". Ha. She got a lot of compliments and a lot of candy from the celebration. She came home and shared it all. What a fun day! 

Summer Fun

 Getting dirty with watermelon and brownies. Standard. 

Ann Arbor Art Fair

We never go to the Ann Arbor Art Fair. It's always really hot. If there's one thing I hate, it's being hot and being crammed in with other people. One of my biggest pet peeves is feeling other people's sweaty skin push against me in a crowd. However, this year it fell in the middle of another "polar vortex". Score! 

 Every year I buy the girls a hand blown glass ornament. It's a fun tradition that I started because I wanted a tree full of glass bulbs. They love to help pick out their bulbs. I figure, if they want them when they are older, they are theirs. If not, score for me! This year each girl got to pick out their bulb early (usually we do it on Etsy in December). They loved selecting them. Although Leah was remorseful that she went for the first one that caught her eye, because later she found one with a tree inside of it that she really wanted. I told her we could look next year. :) 

We had fun walking around, eating galeto, and shopping. And, we didn't break anything (though there were a few close calls with Juliet the Destroyer who loves to tough everything she sees). Juliet even used a porta potty which amazed me! 

Potty Training Juliet (2 years, 2 months)

I feel like I need to document the process of "poppy" training Juliet. Lord knows I will want to look back at it when it is time for #3. I'm just going to say that potty training is my Kryptonite. I like to think that I am a calm, focused parent. When it's potty training time, though, I become an entirely different person. I am so much more stressed and rattled. 

We started playing with the idea of potty training Juliet in May. She was waking up with dry diapers regularly (about 50% of the time), so Chris would put her on the potty right away on the weekend mornings that he was home. Truthfully, I wasn't thrilled with it. I like our routine of all laying in the bed for 20-30 minutes and cuddling and talking. Once they go potty, they quickly want to get dressed, go downstairs, and eat breakfast. Anyway, Juliet would pee on the potty right away. She was really comfortable with it (which was the opposite of how Leah felt about the potty). 

After doing this for a few weekends, I started experimenting with putting her in undies in the morning. She would do okay, and even stayed dry for 5 consecutive runs to pick Leah up from Princess Camp. On the last day of Princess Camp, I changed her into a diaper for nap. After nap (she woke up dry and refused to go on the potty), she went pee in her diaper, then took it off and gave it to me! "Change me!", she said. I said, "no". From that moment on, we were done with diapers. 

At that point, she was really upset with the decision. We spent a memorable Friday evening tag teaming her in the bathroom. She would get super upset, throw her head back and scream loudly. She would shout "NO WORK!" over and over. She looked like a wild, feral child. It took a couple of days to break this. The thing was, we knew she could do it. She had done it. Regularly. She just didn't want to going through the process. 

From the start, she was reasonably dependable with pee. There were a few accidents here and there, but atleast they genuinely felt like accidents. Like many kids, poop was the issue. There were several days of poop problems. The worst was when she held it in for days, refused to try on the potty, and then put herself in time out to poop (under the guise of being put there for standing on her chair, and refusing to sit down during dinner). There were several poop accidents that all thoroughly disgusted and annoyed me. Leah even told me to be calmer and nicer. 

However, it's been 2 weeks, and I feel like we are there. The poop issues have gone away. During her birthday party (stimulation overload), she stayed dry and told me every time she needed to potty. I am so excited to have her potty trained. I forgot how much nicer it is to not have to deal with diapers. 

So, I guess when I come back to reread this in a few years, I want to tell myself to remember how relatively short the experience is. It's worth it. 

Birthday Extravaganza

 Two sweet girls getting ready for their party. We've planned, talked about, and counted down to this party for months. Leah kept trying to claim it as her own, but Juliet was quick to correct, "My Anna Party!". The girls wore crowns and Elsa and Anna clippies in celebration of their Frozen Party. 

 A sweet family photo. I love all these people the best. I like to get a nice picture before the party, because we are rarely all together during the party. Plus, with a bounce house and 80 degree weather, it's easy to look disheveled. 

 Leah eating her dinner in the presence of (cousin) Trevor. She loves him so much, but gets so nervous around him. 

 Juliet was happy that other people were on the swing set. Her favorite thing is to be pushed on the tire swing. 

 The girls and their Frozen cake. Leah is protecting hers because Lukey had the gall to say that he wanted some of her cake. Leah insisted that she got the cake all to herself. Don't worry, Juliet was happy to share her cake. When I asked Juliet what she liked best about her party she said, "Lukey and Anna". 

 I made their cakes for a party for the first time ever. I was pretty happy with how they turned out. They each had an "ice palace" cake. I wanted to put on little Frozen characters, but everything Frozen related is so over-priced and impossible to find right now anyway. The girls loved their cakes. 

 I think Lukey is giving me the stink eye because he knows he got some of Juliet's cake, and not Leah's. The blue ice cream was a hit with the kids. I thought it was nasty. 

 Opening presents. These girls got so much. They are really lucky to have so many people that love them. I made my mom hide some of the presents last night after they opened them. It's better to spread out the toys and games in my experience. Leah hasn't even asked about them today. We will certainly use and appreciate them, though! 

 The crowing jewel present for Leah Bean. The Elsa dress. 

 Wow. 

 Both girls also got "FurReal" pets. They LOVE them. Leah has been walking around with her cat, treating it like the real think all day. 

 The girls also got new clothes for their Bitty Babies and immediately changed their outfits. They are good little Mama's. 

 Oh my God. Leah looks about 12 here. The leg cross?! I'm dying. 

 Leah got a new CD player and some CD's. She entertained us with some lovely dance moves. 

 Juliet got her own Barbie car, and couldn't have been more thrilled about it. She was waiting for this toy all week. She needs to learn how to steer, but when she can't steer, she just pushes. 

 She was so happy, "My own Barbie car!" she kept saying. 

 There was a costume change and then Princess Elsa did more dancing and entertaining. 

 Juliet likes Doritos just like her Mommy and Grandma. It's a curse. I made Chris throw them away, because the rest of the bag wasn't going to last long between Juliet and I. Leah thinks they are gross. 

 Birthday girl had to get the crown and her kitty for one last picture.