First Friend Party

Leah has been getting several invitations to birthday parties lately. Instead of asking her if she wanted to go to a "party", I would ask her if she wanted to play at that kids house. She always said "no". She got an invitation for a girl named Emily's party and actually wanted to go. The party was at Pump It Up, and Leah had a lot of fun. She was slightly confused that the party wasn't at her house, because all the parties she has been to have been at houses. There was a large climby/slide thing which I thought would intimidate Leah, but she loved it. She had fun jumping and playing. She also ate pizza with sauce, which I thought was pretty impressive. 

Dance Pictures

 Leah had photo week at her dance studio. She got to wear her costume, have her hair curled, and even wear a little make-up. She was so, so excited. 

 Juliet threw a giant fit when Leah got to put on her "special costume". Juliet always wants life to be "fair". I had to dig into a bin of Leah's old 18-24 month clothes and try to find something similar. This is what we came up with. She was pretty happy. Leah's costume came with 2 options for hair pieces (the head piece and the 2 black bows). Juliet insisted that she should get the one that Leah didn't wear. 

Juliet loves to go to dance class. We sit with some regular people, and Juliet loves talking and playing with them. There is one "baby" that Juliet likes because he has nice toys. He let's her borrow them sometimes and that makes her pretty happy. Sometimes she watches the big kids dance. Other times she get's really sad that Leah's gone and stands at her studio door and whines. She's usually pretty quick to snap out of it, though. 

Sisters

 Two girls hugging. Leah is usually not into getting her picture taken. However, try to take just Juliet's picture and she jumps right in. 

 Spring has Sprung! We are finally back outside!! 

Painting Fun

 Leah has gotten really into Sofia the First. Last weekend we printed out lots of pictures and had her and J. Boo paint pictures. Juliet is normally super neat and spends most painting sessions using wipes to make sure she doesn't have any paint on her. This time, she decided to be adventurous and paint herself.   

 It was all fun and games until it was time to clean her off. Girlfriend was not happy about her makeshaft bath in the kitchen sink. 

 Leah was neat and tidy and painted beautiful pictures of Sofia. She takes painting and all art related activities quite seriously. All the colors have to be the "right" color. She works hard to stay in the lines. She works so quietly and artfully. She loves to paint and would love even more if we let her do it every day. 

Round Here

 I saved most of Leah's baby clothes, but I honestly wish I hadn't. I really don't put Juliet into many of them, and I just end up selling them at Mom 2 Mom sales. I would probably do better to sell them right away instead of letting them sit in a rubbermaid for 3 years. Oh well. One of the exceptions is the above dress. I remember seeing it on the Gap website and thinking it was so cute. Leah rarely wore it. It's hard to remember, but she didn't wear as many dresses before she turned 3 and deemed that princesses wore dresses, thus she must always wear dresses. Anyway, Juliet has worn the dress probably once a week this winter. It's so warm and cozy and cute, too! 

 2 girls love when their Daddy comes home. Sometimes they run and hide, sometimes they run and hug. Either way, it's pretty exciting when Daddy comes back. 

 In other news, we set up Juliet's toddler bed in our bedroom. She is so stinking proud of her bed. She gets very territorial if Leah tries to get into it. She has slept through the night one time in it (as evidenced below--she was waking up here--the camera was apparently in a weird setting because her head isn't see through). It's been up for about 2 weeks now, and she usually makes it to 2-4 am in the bed before climbing in bed with us.  

 Juliet got her first Matilda Jane Platinum tiered dress. And this was her face after she put it on. She was so proud of her "big girl" dress--she knows that Leah has a few of them. Leah got a little upset with Juliet's new dress and insisted on wearing it to school today? She wasn't happy when I said size 18 months probably wouldn't fit her too well. Instead she went to school in one of her own dresses. That ties like a halter top. I think the high today was 30. I made her promise to keep on a sweater. Daddy was the Celebrity Reader today, and I asked him to tell her teachers to keep the sweater on, too.

 For all the Frozen build up, Leah has only watched it twice since buying it. The second time was at our nanny's request. Leah did ask me to build an ice palace yesterday. Then she used her Elsa doll to recreate the "Let It Go" scene. 

 Juliet is allowed to play with Anna and Olaf. She has strict instructions to stay away from Elsa. :) 

 Just for fun--Leah singing some of Let it Go. She has the entire song memorized. A few nights ago she was up until 11:00 singing the song in her bedroom. She wanted to sing the entire song, exactly right. 

We Tried to Play Outside

 So sad that I haven't played with my camera since returning from vacation much. Juliet woke up from nap one day last week so excited to go outside and play. She's been really interested in Leah's tricycle, so I got her a baby version. Our kids don't seem to be very good at bike riding, as they have pretty short legs and are just very petite in general. Leah just really figured out peddling and steering last summer. I thought the baby tricycle would be pretty good for Juliet. She really likes it. 

 It was so cold that both girls were shivering within 10 minutes, though neither wanted to go inside. Juliet kept whining about "riding" and Leah was lamenting that our nanny never takes her outside (could have something to do with the Polar Vortex that came in January and never left!). We played outside yesterday, again, for around 20 minutes. We are so ready for summer and so very unhappy about the 8 inches of snow we are supposed to get tonight (unless it means a snow day--then I'm okay as long as it melts fast!). 

A Few More Memories

 Chris and I joke that big things happen to Jelly Boo in Mexico. Last year, she stood unassisted for the first time in the exact same location as she is above. This trip, for the first time, she started insisting on walking up and down the stairs without holding on and stopped nursing! I wanted her to make it until she was 2, but I thought that it was silly to encourage her to keep nursing, only to make her give it up in a few months. She inconsistently nursed on vacation (previously she had always nursed before naps and bedtime). She gave it up for real within the past week.

 Leah is such a traveler. She just gets it. Although a few times she said, "I wish we could always do what I wanted when I wanted". You and me both, sister! She's been missing vacation lately, telling me we need to go back!

Juliet is a very neat child. She hates having a dirty face or dirty hands. She notices stains on her clothes. It was funny to see her get so messy eating a desert on vacation. She is such a cutie! Leah always wanted ice cream, but Juliet doesn't seem to care for ice cream as much as Leah. She thinks it's too cold sometimes!

The Best Picture Ever

This picture print and new frame have already been ordered. I can't get over this picture of Juliet. I want to stare at it every day. Such a cutie! I will display this picture at her wedding. I'm so glad that I left dinner on the last night to take pictures of the sunset (Sassy Mae didn't want to come. She was too busy drinking her daiquiri and coloring in her coloring book).

I also really like the below picture. Hanna Andersson catalog girl!

Pool Girls

 Leah loved swimming in the pool. She loved walking in the wading pool, throwing her Barbie in and "saving" her, swimming in her tube, and splashing under the "mushroom cloud". 

 Juliet loved playing with water and transferring water between various buckets. 

 Juliet also loved making lovie eyes and all the tipsy adults and making them tell her how gosh darn cute she is. 

Girls and Their Grandparents

 The girls loved spending time with their grandma and grandpa. Leah always wanted to hold Grandma's hand on the way to lunch and dinner. They loved showing off and playing with them. On the last day, Leah said, "This is our last day, Grandma. I'm sad to have to go home. I'll miss you." So sweet. 

Our Vacation Days

We were up early on vacation. Usually by 6:30 at the latest. A few times Juliet woke up around 5. She slept so soundly, though. Vacation exhausted her. 

 We would wake up to this beautiful view. We got really lucky and got on one of the highest floors in the resort. The views were to die for! 

 After we woke up, we would head to breakfast around 7. Juliet loved the fruit and plain bread. Leah rediscovered her love of chocolate sauce, and had it every morning with her french toast and pancakes. Leah also loved the fruit this time (last year we had to bribe her at every meal). Both girls would get "done" with breakfast and I would usually take them out on the beach when the lighting was good to try to take their pictures. I was sometimes successful. 

Then we would go feed the fish and birds. Leah loved feeding the fish, and grandma loved feeding the birds. Juliet usually stayed on the beach with Chris. By the end of the week, though, she would come out and feed the fish, too. 

After getting all the sunscreen on, we would usually go play in the tide pools. Both girls LOVED to do this. Juliet taught Leah how to "pop" snails. Leah wouldn't do it at first, but then wouldn't stop. The snails weren't hurt, just moved to a new location in the tide pool. :) We would also look for other sea life like crabs and fish. One day Leah made an entire rock home for the fish. It probably took her an hour. She really wanted the fish to have a nice home. 

We would also look for sea glass and shells while the girls played. I would also look at the old hotel down the way. This hotel fascinated me! It's 1/2 of a hotel. This part is abandon--varying stories of why--Hurricane? Bad foundation? There are still people living on the first 3 floors, and you can see them lit up at night. It's also attached to a water park where people from the cruise ships go. 

We would also look for iguanas. Juliet had a really good eye and loved looking at them. The hotel people had one you could pet at the pool one day, but Juliet wouldn't. She did, however, love looking at them from a distance. :) 

After we played, we would usually head back to the hammocks. Both girls loved the daiquaries (virgin) and being pushed on the hammocks. 

 After that, we would usually hit the pool. Both girls loved playing in the pool. 

After lunch, the girls would nap. Juliet would fall asleep in 2 minutes. It was really funny. Grandma would come over and watch the girls while we went back to the beach. Chris and I would drink and talk. It was perfect. 

 We would get ready for dinner around 5. Both girls were better about the shower this year, but not by much. We usually ate dinner at the sit down restaurant on the resort. The girls would play and eat, and I would usually leave early with them to play chess in the lobby or play outside while my mom and dad and Chris finished. 

Or we would take pictures. I am so happy I got a new camera before vacation!

Then the girls would watch movies in the room while the grown ups drank wine and talked on the balcony. Juliet was beat every night! She was such a trooper!  

 There were beautiful sunsets every night. 

I love vacation. Next year we are doing Disney, so I am sad to not be returning for the next year. Leah kept reminding me that we were going to come back when she was 6. :)