Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dads out there! And a special Father's Day wish to Stephen the wonderful hard working father of my babies! We love him and appreciate everything he does for us. The kids adore him and love playtime with Daddy!

Toddler Life Update

My baby officially turned a year and a half yesterday. I am in complete disbelief that we are here. We have a 30 month old son and a daughter who is a year and a half. She has personality and attitude that can fill a room. He is my sweet and observant child. I am so proud of the intelligence they both possess. There isn't much Lorelai cant repeat or say. Some things are pronounce with the adorable little mistakes early talkers make and I love it. She doesn't shy away from attempting to conversate though. She can be a little timid with outsiders as far as one on one communication. She isn't too shy to be herself and show them what she is made of though! Her favorite thing is dancing! Anytime there is music the kid will dance her little heart out and I love watching her do so. She likes shoes and clothes and usually insists on picking out what she is going to wear. She likes the idea of hairbows but wont leave them in. Her hair has gotten so much longer and thicker. It has beautiful and wispy curls at the ends. She is working hard at learning to eat well with utensils. She can count to 2 and then will jump around to other numbers. She recognizes and points to numbers up to 10. She is learning shapes with her brother currently and knows circle, oval and star. She will point them out when she finds them in our daily life. She is about 30 pounds but we have her check up this coming week and I will know exactly. She is loving, bubbly, bossy and all around the best definition of a little sister.

Finn as I said is quiet and observant. He will utter some words here and there and shows plenty of understanding for what we say but isn't a talker. He likes to observe those around him or even get into his own little world. He must have an amazing imagination because he can just be quiet one minute and totally cracking up the next. I cant tell you how many times Ive wished I could see in his head when this happens. He gets so tickled at himself sometimes! He is incredibly coordinated. I don't have to hover over him because he can conquer obstacles with a lot of grace. He is a ladder master at the park. He is obsessed with slides and will do one 20 times over and laugh just as hard each time. He is just in love with being happy. He likes trying to take things apart to see how they work. He wishes he could get into Daddy's electronics and have a field day. He has the eating with utensils thing down. Drinks out of normal cups perfectly but still most often gets sippy cups because he likes the way liquids poor out of normal cups. He still loves cuddles and kisses.

They still share a room and have their beds next to each other which they seem to really like. They seem both comforted by that and sleep great. When they wake in the morning they will play in their room a bit before knocking on the door to be let out.

They are also both officially potty training. We are still in early stages. The kids' cousins visited over the last few days and are a little older, so they made for good influences in that department. It was a big step to have them here and get our kids more interested.

This is pretty much the life of our toddlers currently. They are healthy, loving, both have a decent stubborn streak and amazing.

DIY Nail Tips?

Tonight I am up perusing Pinterest. I'm looking at nail art. Lately I have come into enjoying paying more attention to my nails. I'm not one to go have my nails done and I don't like wearing acrylic ones. I have been enjoying doing my own and adding designs, though. Im not awesome at it but they have been coming out acceptable so I keep trying. Eventually, Im sure Ill have my techniques down. Growing up, my parents didn't really allow us to paint our nails. My dad didn't like it and my mom couldn't stand the smell(she was uber sensitive in the sense of smell department). So I was use to maybe having clear or light pink on here or there, but for the most part they have been all natural. Ive been blessed with healthy fast growing nails, so a lot can be done with them. It's one of the reasons I choose not to do fake nails. I like my own.

Im looking through Pinterest for some fun summer designs. It's mid June so I want something fun and representative of that. Then come early July I'd like something American Patriotic. Do any of you reading this do your own manicures? Do you have special techniques or tools you could recommend? I didn't grow up getting much practice but have been enjoying it. I'd like to get better. I find doing my own nails is relaxing and therapeutic. It feeds my creative hunger. So if you can offer any words of wisdom, I welcome you to share!
My nails for Disney World, my first attempt at any design, ever...so no harsh judgement please, haha.
http://instagram.com/p/X26dnCBRd_/#

Hashtags...What's the Deal?

OK, this hashtag thing....What is going on? Im kinda being driven nuts by some friends who post hashtagged words as half of their status updates! Why is it important to use so many of them? If you gotta use it, is it unreasonable to post maybe like 2 of them and call it a day? I don't use a twitter, mostly because I don't have enough interesting things to post that often. So maybe that's why I don't get it. If it's a Twitter thing, then why is it spreading to other places like Facebook? I'd be happy to have input/ opinions on this subject. Maybe Im missing what really makes it cool? I didn't want to vent this on my Facebook because a couple of the people are good friends. One of the reasons I have a blog and don't tell friends about it is so I can have a safe place to vent sometimes. Haha. I can be pretty opinionated but I find my friendships more important than the need to spout out what Im thinking sometimes..haha.
So again, if anyone wants to enlighten me on the subject, I welcome it! Thanks for reading my ridiculous post yet :)

Rainbow Baby Shower

Saturday morning, I posted a preview to our day. Now I would like to go back to that subject and talk about the day.

Over the last 3 months, I have been hard at work getting ready for the diaper shower of my best friend. They are having their 4th baby, so the idea was not to have a huge shower since she has 3 previous babies, but to have a small celebration of a new life. I think every life should be celebrated, so even if its a small diaper sprinkle or a welcome party, I believe in every baby getting a party. So that's what we did :) This baby came after a miscarriage so it has received the nickname Rainbow. They do not know the gender. nor do they have a picked out name. This is how the shower looked:
The games we played?
Guess how big Mama is with string.
2Adult baby games-Who can drink their bottle of juice the fastest(crazy how difficult that actually is) and who can make the best diaper of toilet paper on their friend. To protect the pride of my lovely friends I will not post those pictures here, but if you get the chance include these games at your shower. They are fun and hilarious!
Of course how many candies in the baby bottle
We made collages from magazines of what baby will look like(those always turn out funny)
And we did a version of the clothes pin games but with leis, wanted to have the color, plus I never know what to do with all the pins after the party. Leis can be taken home for kids to play with.
It was all very fun and colorful. My goal was to make it pretty and the rainbow theme she wanted without it looking like the inside of a 3 year olds coloring book.

The Decorations:

Preparing to Celebrate Rainbows!

Up late again...
This time it involves prep work for throwing a baby sprinkle for my best friend. I just wanted to give a little preview of my next post. That one will be after today's party. This is her 4th baby, so we aren't making it into a huge shower. However, the day is gonna be pretty big because two of her other children will be having a big water party for their birthdays, as well. The theme flowing through all of this? Rainbow! So expect some colorful pictures to come! As well as more details about our day!

 

Welcome Texas Summer!

Our last couple of weeks in pictures:

One day of our almost daily visiting spots. So cheap and easy fun! Taking advantage before they are old enough to ask for more expensive outings :)

 

She is now 28lbs

He is now 25lbs...That's right, sister finally outweighs him. He is lucky his height is keeping up.

We had our first go with normal markers(I have let them use Color Wonder, which they have done well with, so I thought I could let my guard down.) This is how it turned out. I took a quick potty run while they were quietly coloring. Of course, he would choose the red one, too. I came back and about had a heart attack before I realized it was ink. We are back to Color Wonder unless I can sit right there the entire time.

 

My husband got himself a motorcycle, recently. Finn thinks its sooo cool.

We spent the Sunday before Memorial Day at the zoo. We are trying to let the kids walk stroller free as much as possible lately. I'm really wanting them to get more practice staying with us. They are both getting a lot better. I'm so proud of them both.

This is Lorelai and her cousin Blaze. He is the son of family who stayed with us shortly.

This is what their Memorial looked like. We hung out with some family about half an hour from us. We grilled some chicken, burgers, hot dogs and ribs. We had some potato salad and corn on the cob. It was delicious and a really fun day.

Enjoying her corn on the cob.

Her first attempt at a tricycle.

Having some late lunch at McDonald's with my loves. I prefer taking them to the park. Lately, we have had quite a few afternoon/evening storms. This was one of those days. They desperately needed out of the house, so this was our backup.

This is his cheese face :)

 

Everything has just been typical, "day in the life" around here. I love it that way. For me that is comforting. Tomorrow we plan to go for some water fun! Our Texas summer has definitely arrived. It is time to give it a proper welcome! I'm hoping to post soon with a developmental update on both kids. I have been writing stuff down to keep track. I will probably do it around the 14th. Lorelai turns 18 months and Finn will be 30 months. Seems like a good time to talk about all that they are currently doing.