The warm days bring such joy to my sweet, bubble-lover's heart. She got so excited to get outside that she only got half dressed. Pajama bottoms and red and white polka dot shoes? Yes, please.
I spend plenty of time separating these two, but moments like these give me such hope for their sweet sisterly friendship in the future!
One afternoon, I went downstairs to work, and realized it was awwwwfully quiet upstairs (Colette was asleep, but Miss Anni had given up pretty early on on the napping or quiet time idea). I found this sweetie curled up with all of the mail tucked in around her.
No pictures of the babies today... I spent all day at my first wedding back (while I kept shooting over the past year, I took the year off from weddings to give our family plenty of Mama time during Colette's first year). It was a beautiful, beautiful, wedding.
Oh, that pre-birthday chocolate cookie cake. I love those cheeks, messy or not!
A certain second-born turned a year old today. One year ago today, Colette Therese made her way into the world in a beautifully normal way. She has brought joy, new challenges, new successes, and a whole lot less sleep. We love our little Lettie bug. While we are throwing a party this weekend (which, we all know that first birthday parties are as much for the parents as for the birthday girl), we had a great family day of celebration. We met up at Daniel's office for Mass and lunch, and then both girls took awesome naps after... which was both unusual and great!
Then, we cleaned, made cupcakes, and got ready to celebrate some more!
While our pasta sauce simmered (because I'm pretty sure the messier the meal is, the more Colette loves it), we opened a few presents. Anni picked out this adorable little pull toy several weeks ago.
Anni was a big fan of opening her sister's presents for her... not as big of a fan of having to share those presents afterwards.
Then came dinner and cupcake time. Colette was fascinated (and needed a little help to not grab that pretty flame)!
The whipped cream confused her for a minute (who doesn't like fresh whipped cream?!)
A little more examining and some help getting a bite, and she was quickly over that fear.
Yep, a very happy, well-fed toddler! (Did I mention she started walking a few days ago?!)
A three-year-old's rainbow. Thank heavens for warm winter days!
Valentine making was a big production this year... we couldn't miss anyone... and I have a lot of family!
Some sweet St. Valentine's Day snuggles!
Lately, Colette and I have been taking long walks on warm days when it's just the two of us. Oh, how nice it is to stretch my legs.
See that big ole bruise on poor Anni's head? Let's just say she and Daddy are a little worse for the wear after slipping in some oil. yikes. It was quite the way to wake up from a morning nap, I can tell you!
Colette was fascinated by her buddy's head (well, first his hat, which she stole, and then his little dome).
It's St. Valentine's Day, Sts Cyril and Methodius Day ooor just another February 14th, depending on who you are! We didn't do too much extra today, but Daniel got to take the day off to make up for some evening classes he was gone for last week, so that made the day special, no matter what! He had a rose waiting for Anni this morning, and let me nap from when Colette got up to 8:30... it was amazing!
Anni spent yesterday afternoon crafting some rather adorable valentines. Yep, they didn't get mailed until last night, so they'll be late, but, what's a mama to do... get them done early?! Not happening... or rather, didn't happen.
-2-
Recently, I thought it was starting to look like Anni's eyes weren't tracking together, so, given my family's history and the fact that we really should have followed up on her original eye appointment long ago, we headed into our very, very favoritest eye doctor (we travel an hour to Daniel's hometown to see him, he's that good). Apparently, I had no clue what I was talking about, because, after being a perfect patient, the doctor said she has 20/20 vision, eyes are converging correctly, all is well. woo! He pointed out that eventually, she probably would be near-sighted due to her genes (Daniel and I both wear glass/contacts), but, for now, she's good to go. I have to admit that a teensy part of me thinks she'd be downright adorable in little glasses, buuuuuut, seeing is better.
-3-
In honor of Colette's first St. Valentine's Day outside of the womb, let's do a little comparison. You ready?
Anni in 2010 (around 9 months):
Colette, today, at 11 months:
-Four-
This:
-Five-
I think all public bathrooms need one of these wall mounted chairs for littles. I don't think I need to go into detail to let you know that it totally saved my bacon at the grocery store a couple of weeks ago. Germy? Probably. Less germy than the public bathroom floor or any other option I could think of? Yep!
-Six-
Do you think we would be better parents without the internet/social media? Sometimes I wonder. I appreciate the connection, the distraction, and well, skype (as well as a host of business reasons, but that's another thought), but, just wondering if the distraction, pressure and time-suck is worth it.
-Seven-
Brand new outfit for my little blog... what do you think?! I love how fresh it feels, and that my photos get a little more space to breathe.
Someone re-discovered the mirror, and, oh, did she crack me up!
Finally got a photo of her standing all on her own! Anni is, of course, cheering her on with cheese in hand... a beautiful day in the life.
One of St. Colette's feast days snuck up on me last week. We celebrated with what we had on hand, apple muffins! A Poor Clare would approve of a super simple celebration, right? Either way, Colette enjoyed it!
The shoes we wear the most, all in a row.
Anni seems to think the place to be is under the rug. Drives me crazy, but there's no real harm, so, under the rug it is!
Last week, I pointed at the snow and told Colette that it came from the sky. Ever since, her new favorite spot has been standing on the couch and pointing out at the sky.
I attempted to get a photo for some valentines today... it was... frustrating to say the least (photographers really aren't lying when they say that their kids are the hardest to photograph... it's the truth). They're darling, no matter what.
P week was filled with awesome books (definitely some new favorites from our library picks!), a picnic filled with all kind of "p" foods, and a craft that Anni and little Lettie are in love with!
I realized we had a ton of "P" books of our own, and then did a little hunting at the library with the reading list from our 26 Letters to Heaven book. I loved having a huge pile of "p" books to pull from all week. I've been trying to make it to the library every week to keep adding fun, new, books to our stash.
Our grab bag this week was mostly food: pizza, pretzel, pear, pickles and, some non-food things, too, with the penguin and pelican.
St. Patrick, pray for us!
And on to my favorite p activity: our picnic with peanut butter sandwiches, pita chips, pretzels, peas, pears (oh, and cheese and hummus... but that doesn't really go with the theme).
Even Colette got in on the party, though she mostly just wanted to watch the crazies.
I loved our craft, too! We made these little prayer cubes. We took wooden cubes and painted them by using them like stamps and pressing them straight into the different colors. Afterwards, Amy and I wrote different prayers on each side. I should have grabbed a photo of hers, because it was much prettier than mine, but, you get the idea!
