Julia's Recent "Firsts"

Julia has had several "firsts" in the past month and I thought I'd post a little something about 'em.

First Movie!
Julia had her very first movie theater experience at our awesome dollar theater. On a whim, Dan and I decided to take the girls to see the movie ??????? Julia basically sat on my lap for 40 minutes and then on Dan's lap for 40 minutes. It was a stretch to get her to stay seated for that long but she was totally fascinated by the BIG screen for a good portion of the time, then by her snacks, and then by jumping around on her Dad's lap/legs.






First time to wash dishes
At first I couldn't believe I haven't let her wash dishes before she was almost 20 months old. Then once she began washing them, my fears of a soaking wet child and a wet kitchen floor reminded me of why I didn't let her wash them in the first place. But the child had FUN.







First fingernail painting
Ellie decided it was high time to paint her nails a few weeks ago, and not to be outdone by her older sister, Julia made the same declaration. She watched Ellie have her nails done first, and then she let me paint her pointer finger before escaping and running off. Once I corralled her and stuck her on the couch, she rather enjoyed having her toenails "done," but opted out of having any more fingernails painted. She was ecstatic and showed her feet to everyone who could figure out what she was showing them. We had to wear her Tevas for the next week so her nails were visible. :)

Horsey Fun

The Spring weather has been beautiful the past few days. Yesterday we went to visit the horses (Julia's first time), ate our lunch in the back yard, and then ate our dinner out there too. I even felt so inclined to run and push the girls in the double jogger - and I got a little sunburn. Ah, the signs of warmer weather.

As mentioned, this was Julia's very first time to ever visit and feed the horses (which we call "horsey's"). This was old stuff for Ellie and she was pretty excited to head one block over and get to see her old pals again. Julia, on the other hand, was NOT too thrilled to be standing next to something that weighed as much as a car. After I fed him the apple pieces we brought with us - since no one else was brave enough to :) - Julia warmed up to the horse. Ellie handed her some grass which she shoved in his face and he ate! It was all over after that. She let me put her down and proceeded to run along side the fence, pointing at all the other horses, saying "nay nay," and even trying to get inside the fence. Ellie grew tired of the horses and began gathering grass and sticks to bring home with us as her treasure. Then we got the idea that since it was such a nice day, we would picnic outside. Since all parties were hungry, we left the horses behind and walked home for a nice picnic lunch in our back yard.









But today we have just been playin' and swinging and playin' and swinging. Ellie enjoys throwing her head back and watching the sky as she swings and Julia delights in swinging with her beloved baby. As I write this it is beginning to rain and shouldn't stop until sometime tomorrow (when we have an easter egg hunt scheduled, hmmm).

Happy Spring!

Julia's First Birthday Bash

It's a good thing Dan is watching Iron Man 2 tonight, otherwise I might have never got around to this...

A few weeks ago a good friend of mine asked me if Julia had turned one yet. Well... as a matter of fact, she had back in August. And then I realized that I hadn't put anything on the blog about it yet. Ah! It's NOVEMBER and she'll be 15 months soon. I'm a bad parent, aren't I? Yep. You know you're thinking it... Anyway.

I'd put off posting about Julia's birthday party because I hate postings that contain mass amounts of pictures. I am never quite sure what to do with all the images, so I procrastinate posting at all. Goofy, I'm sure, but a very real issue for me. Maybe I should see a counselor.

We decided to throw Julia her first birthday party back in Louisiana with all of our family present. Julia seemed like she would enjoy the "carnival" theme, so that's what we went with. We had a few games (ping pong toss was a big hit), lots of yummy snacks, and a most incredible cake made by Aunt Carol. Julia's great grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and immediate family were all present! To say the party was a lot of fun would be a serious understatement.

I went ahead and opened a Flikr account to put all of the pictures in because there are close to 200 from the party. I did not edit a darn thing, so sorry if you don't like your picture, family (and to be fair, there's a picture I don't like of myself in the mix). We love you and are glad you were there!

Just click on the link below or copy and paste it into your browser. Enjoy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/55676570@N02/sets/72157625219417691/

J's First Chalkboard Drawing

We've got this chalkboard that we don't use near enough in our playroom. Ellie was at school one day and Julia decided she wanted to draw on the chalkboard. So she did! And I realized it was a "first" so I blogged about it. :)

Hiking Family

The hiking outfit she selected.

The super-old pack turned out to fit Ellie better than Julia. Plus, it was purple!

NOT happy.

For real.

Not for real.

Dan actually had a day off this week (though he's working all weekend, blah) and we went hiking! I bought a reaaaaaallly old pack at a garage sale for $3 the other day and we decided to try it out. When we got out of the car and put the girls in their packs, Julia was NOT happy. But after a few minutes she warmed up to hiking and had a really good time. This was Julia's official first time to go hiking and Ellie's first time to actually hike! I think Ellie talked the entire time she was walking, she was so excited to be hiking, like the big people. Funny.

Julia's first sidewalk walk

I tried and tried to get a picture of her bloody little fingers, but this was as good as I got.

Here's the length of one street she walked.

Well it had to happen sometime or another. Julia went for her first walk this week. Since she's wasn't walking without assistance at the time, she got to push the cart. She loaded it up with her baby and her red tail panda and was off! About two houses down from ours, she fell and had a death grip on the handle bar, so she scrapped up her thumbs and well, all of her fingers in the process. She cried a little but wouldn't let go of the handle even for me to pick her up and give her a hug. This was a walk and it was serious business, dang it. So, she continued to walk the entire block falling down on her knees every 10 steps and with bleeding fingers. And yes, I said and entire block. Impressive girl!

Pumpkin Carving

Dan came home from work early yesterday and asked Ellie if she wanted to carve our pumpkin. She grumpily replied "NO!" but we proceeded anyway thinking she would have fun when everything got started. Silly parents, tricks aren't for 2 year olds. Apparently, Ellie wasn't kidding when she said no. By the time we figured this out, we were committed to carving the darn pumpkin. Oh well, it was still fun, Ellie-involvement or not. I did the drawing and Dan did all the work. It looks great!

Outdoor Painting

Call me a bad artsy mom, but a few days ago I realized Ellie had never painted before. She's used water on chalkboards, dot paints, done water paint books, but never actually used paint and a brush on paper. Eeek. We had to remedy this, so I took her easel outside and strapped a smock on over her beloved horsie shirt and she went to town. She only tried to paint me once :)