Total Slacker

I have been a total slacker concerning the blog but it has been a mad house around here and by the end of the day my brain can't function enough to put sentences together.  I'm not sure my brain in functioning now but I need to post for "scrapbooking" purposes.

Cecilia my dear, you are 18 months!!!

I look at you and realized I no longer have a baby to hold in my arms.  I have an active, spunky, rotten, sweet, funny toddler on my hands!

Since your 1 year post you have gotten 4 more teeth making our grand total 6, you started using a fork to feed yourself, you've used the potty a few times, your vocabulary has increased (too many words to post) your favorite being 'no' and you brush your own teeth.

You love to sit at your table and play and color.

You loved playing outside this summer with your water table and taking walks around the neighborhood.

I think your favorite days are the ones you spend alone with Daddy.  There are always new tricks to show me when I get home.

I get this face a lot when you aren't happy and don't want to do what I want you to (like sit still for 2 seconds so I can take a decent picture) followed by a 'NO.' Your personality comes out more each day. Some days it has you and me nose to nose seeing which will break first and other days it has us curled up on the couch together.

  

You're beginning to like your new class at school.  You're learning so much there and we are pretty amazed at the things you pick.

 

You're a firecracker and we love it!  I think we have our hands full in the years to come but that's ok.

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Last night we went out with the family to celebrate Nanny's birthday at Red Lobster.  You were in a great mood and entertained us all!

I think by the end of the night you had cleaned 4 plates!  Who knew you could eat sooo much!

You opened up at the end of dinner and played around with everyone including the people at Red Lobster.

We ended our night as always at Stakz.

 There is nothing like a little birthday cake with triple chocolate topped with a few sprinkles!

The birthday girls.

We had lot of fun hanging out with family doing what we do best, EAT!

Grandparent's Day

On Sunday, Brent and I fixed lunch for our parents (his were down for the weekend) for Grandparent's day.

He grilled the pork chops while I cooked veggies.  We had a nice lunch and Cecilia managed to be very sweet and adorable for everyone.  She had an audience the whole day and was loving it!

We gave our parents these little signs as a gift...

(excuse the background.  I forgot to take a picture so I had Mom bring it when she picked me up so my legs was the best I could do ) 

It was supposed to be of her footprints but someone has a phobia about her feet.  I tried for a week to get her to do it and she screamed bloody murder and curled her toes each time.  I even tried in her sleep and she woke up crying.  She wouldn't even let me trace them.  She freaked as soon as I put her foot on the board. 

I finally had to wait until she was in a deep deep sleep to get her foot traced.  The child is nuts!  What makes it worse is I walked in Friday at school to find a picture of her footprints.  I was ticked!  I asked the teacher if she cried and she said Cecilia was a little hesitate but didn't mind it.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!  I gave her my story about how she acted all week for me and you know what she said, 'well maybe you should just bring it us next time and we will get it done.'  Why yes, actually you can have my child for the next 16.5 years because clearly she will behave for you! 

After lunch was done and gifts were given, playtime was necessary.

Cecilia had so much fun/attention that when everyone left, she laid in the floor talking to Wormie the rest of the night.

New Playplace

We have found Cecilia a new playplace...Sam's!

She stood and played with this kitchen for 20 minutes!  She turned the knobs, pick up the phone, put the phone back and turn the knobs again.  She did it over and over and over.  Guess who has a kitchen on their Christmas list?

We finally get her away from the kitchen only to have her do this in the book aisle...

She loved the oversized coloring books!

Who knew Sam's could be so fun for kids!

Not Playing Nicely

Playtime got a little rough yesterday at school.  Cecilia was on the receiving end of someone not knowing how to play nicely.

(notice small scratch on right eye)

I thought nothing of it until I put her in the bath and noticed 2 more places...

she got mauled! :)  Brent wants names so he can lay down the law with his/her parents.  Ha!  I told him he might not want to get too riled up because we have no idea if Cecilia provoked it.  She has been a little sassy lately so I wouldn't put it past her.  I've witnessed her sitting on some innocent little boy's head just trying to relax on a mat.  Bless his heart!  He didn't see her tush coming.

I would like to have seen it though because I'm sure Cecilia's reaction was extremely dramatic.  If Colt bumps her at home, she acts as if she has just been shot.  She knows how to work the dramatics.  (note my parent's are both saying 'wonder where she got that?' as if I had anything to do with it.)

Back to the Grind

Our good times continued to roll Sunday afternoon when we headed to Adventure Science Museum.  I went a lot as a child on school trips and thought it would be fun for Cecilia because of all the buttons she could push.

Clearly she was excited.

There was an area just for her age which turned out to be wonderful!  She enjoyed this little area the most since everything was just her size and it was contained so we didn't have to be right on her.

We ventured out to see what else the museum had to offer.  Buttons, buttons and more buttons to push!

My child (and husband) was in heaven!  She screamed when we pulled her off the piano but I promised her there were WAY more buttons to push.

She got over it quickly when she found a set of stairs she could claim and when her and Daddy got in the back of an ambulance.

We ended our trip back in the kid area for one last play.  She loved climbing in and out of the train and of course pushing/pulling whatever she could find!

That night, we headed to the Konow's to hang out with some friends while my parent's watched Cecilia.  It was a night of good food and catching up with everyone.  I didn't take a single picture because I was too caught up in all the talking!  That's what happens when you put a group of girls together!

Monday was spent hanging out huddled under blankets (thank you rain for bringing cold weather!) taking long naps and watching Mickey.  We managed to clean ourselves up to go to dinner with my parents to celebrate Brent's birthday.

But now its Monday night and I have to go back to work tomorrow. Staycation is over and I must get back to waking up WAY too early and spending WAY too much time on picking out an outfit each night. But as they say, all good things must come to an end.

The Paintin' Place

Saturday's activity took us to a cute little place here in town to paint pottery.

I wasn't sure if Cecilia would be in the mood or not to cooperate but after a warming up a bit, she painted like nobody's business.

She bounced between Mom and I a few times before finally settling and painting her masterpiece.

She kept getting distracted by the paint on her hands and her arm.  She would paint a second then stop and point to the paint on her arm.  It was clearly bothering her.

As you can see, I just let her go to town with the paint.  I wasn't going to force her to try and create something.  I wanted something that she did all by herself.  I don't think the people that work there could quite understand that.  They kept asking if I was going to put her hand print on it.  I had to tell them several times, no I was going to just let her be.

Cecilia seemed to have a good time so I think we will be back to again express our creative side.

Staycation

Brent and I took a few extra days off this week to hang out as a family and have a little staycation.

Night 1 we spent at the ballpark to watch some baseball.  This was Cecilia's first trip and we did it up right!

We had a balanced dinner...

and followed it up with a healthy snack...

Nothing better than nachos, french fries and funnel cake!

I laid a blanket out for Cecilia and I and she had the best time! 

She played with the toys we brought plus LOVED watching the kids run around in the grass area in front of us.

She lasted the majority of the game but the heat and exhaustion reared its ugly and it was time to go.

Day 1 included a trip to Jackson's Orchard.  Cecilia is finally old enough to enjoy all the fun things they have to offer.

Like driving the tractor...

Discovering the kid slide...

She surprised us both by LOVING The Cider Slider.

We both took her down several times and finally lured her away with the promise of ice cream. 

We had a really good time and enjoyed having the orchard almost to ourselves.

Today was also Brent's birthday.  He is the big 3-0!  Its funny how birthdays change after kids but he swears he has had a great day.  I've let him picked everything we've done so he has enjoyed a fried apple pie at Jackson's, lunch at Zaxby's, playing in the pool and Papa Murphy's for supper (I tried to get him to eat somewhere nicer, like a real restaurant, but he didn't want to.  Ha!  Such a simple man.).  I'm noticing most of the activities involved eating but that's ok, its what he wanted.

Now, I'm ready for bed because I've got 3 more days of staycation and fun activities.