List

I can't believe it's been 3 months since i've written on here. Thankfully i've had a few sheets of paper (from Hotel Playa Mazatlan) on my desk that i've been jotting notes on to, of everything I mean to write in here.

-In Mazatlan, Marea looked at all the green and red decorations and said,' Look Mom, it's Christmas in Mexico!"

-Evie started a new 'tick' in Mexico-part of the tourette's I swear she has-it's now "butt butt butt" (instead of 'beep beep', or 'quack quack', or 'dong'). I hope Butt is the worst it gets!! She's still stuck on that one, today!!

-Whenever we would leave the hotel to go walk around, Evie would say, "I want to go back to Mexico!" (meaning the hotel). Poor girl was sweating like crazy and just wanted to go in the AC or the pool!! I remember when Marea did this in Utah. The house was 'utah'.

-When we would order food, Marea would say, with a pout, 'Is it Mexican?" We tried to get her excited about Mexican doughnuts and Mexican pancakes and Mexican cheeseburgers, but to her, everything just tasted different.

-And 'Elmo is so mean, so mean, (at niiiiiight...) that when you get back from Mexico, he takes you out for Mexican food!!!'

Other fun things we did this summer:

-Sea world with Jonas and Harper, slushie drinks, and watching the bird girl dolphin show (and getting a bird girl barbie, too!)

-watching gymnastics competition on the TV and then going out in the yard to practice! I remember doing that, only Marea has a balance beam that we constructed out of wood, lucky girl!

-Evie constantly saying that she wants to hold a baby chick. Not sure where this came from!

And then there's the start of school. Where do I start with that? I'm almost emotionally ready to talk about it. Almost. Stay tuned!

June Madness

The summer season actually kind of started in May for us, with a trip to Palm Desert and then the annual (and last??!!) memorial day trip to Utah. But then June came raging in and it was really ON. So many wonderful celebrations; plus the pool season openers at the grandparents....and we were SO beyond busy. Birthdays included Grandma Dorothy's 90th celeberation, Grandpa Roger's backyard BBQ (Ribs, fruit salad and swimming...becoming a tradition!), Grandma Carole's boat birthday (Marea and Evie's first ocean fishing trip, lots of Mackerel to keep them entertained...and dolphins, which arn't even exciting to them anymore!), and last but not least, Marea's FIFTH birthday bash-face painting, a giant purple dinosaur jumpie, hot dogs, salads, snow cones, strawberry cupcakes and all of her favorite people on earth. We spoiled her rotten and it was wonderful and she deserved it all and I still can't believe that my baby girl is 5. She's always been more mature than her peers, but now I am really seeing a different kind of maturity; that of an older child who is becoming less selfish and less dependent. It's going to be a great year (followed by a great year, followed by a great year....seems to be a pattern here). And of course it was my birthday also, and I wished for a break from the everyday and spent two wonderful and refreshing nights in Palm Springs. I can't believe how great I felt after just two nights away where it was all about me. I came back with a new energy that everyone benefited from.

And with July starts the Tuesday night concerts in the park, truly a tradition now. It was so fun for me to watch Marea grab Sydney and Mia's hands and just jump jump jump to the classic rock on the dance floor. And Evie, right behind them, trying to be one of the 'big girls' the whole time. We're had plenty of pool days already, but now that June is over, I see many more relaxing pool and beach days in our future. Marea is an amazing swimmer now. She can dive down to the bottom of the deep end and get 2 or 3 diving sticks at a time. And she dives for quarters too, which is a big challenge because they are hard to see. Evie is right behind all the girls, and has come a long was also so far this summer. I had a hard time getting her to let go of me in the pool, but now she just gets her lifejacket on and climbs on in and swims all around. Part of this tradition is the popsicles, grilled cheese sandwiches, chips and juice that seem to be in endless supply. Not my first choice, but hey, we're making memories here. And if I told that to Evie, she would no doubt say, 'Why?'

Milestones

Last week was Marea's last week of preschool at Hilltop. Although I know the adventures that await her will be awesome, I am so sad!! She really, really loved her class and her teachers so so much; and she will definitely miss the whimsical playfulness of Hilltop. What an awesome preschool experience for my baby girl.

And, Evie is FINALLY potty trained!!!! I had my doubts that it would get accomplished, because she just seemed SO disinterested. But, after about 5 days she got it. And she is SO very proud of herself! And I am proud of her too; it wasn't easy with her (like it was with her big sis), but we stuck with it and she figured it out. Yea, Evie....you're a big girl now!!!!

The Big FIVE

There is lots of talk around here about Marea turning 5. She's pretty darn excited this year.

Here's her random list....of the gifts she wishes for and the party she wants.

-a bouquet of flowers

-her own tree to plant

-seeds: watermelon, zucchini, carrot)

-movies: aladdin, the little mermaid, the incredibles

-a special box for her 'picture pennies' treasures (pennies flattened with designs from the LB Aquarium and Palm Desert Zoo)

-a make-up case (ugh)

-a BIG BIG party with strawberry lemonade, hot dogs, pizza and salads (she said we can have wine a beer too!)

-the CAKE-it changes all the time...she's pretty much open to ANY flavor combination

-Face painting, and Sara painting fingernails, and a pinata with a HUGE candy list

And of course the guest list...well, she pretty much loves all our favorite people too!!!!! All the family (of course); Grethe and the babies; Lily (the dog); Juliana; Harper; Madison; Mia and Sean and Sydney.

Easy Peasy!!! I hope we can deliver!!! Because this girl deserves a special day!

The Music in My Ears

So here are Marea's 3 current favorite songs/cd's (according to HER):

-The songs from the movie Enchanted

-The songs from the movie Tangled

-The songs on the Wicked CD....which WAS my favorite (of the ones the kids like) and is her absolute favorite still. It was my favorite before it became her favorite and she is now requesting it ENDLESSLY so now i'm kind of sick of it. But, it is the cutest thing to see both her and Evie belting out and enjoying award winning broadway musical music. That and ABBA. I'm sure I have it MUCH better off than many other parents who are stuck listening to sesame street music over and over. I'll take it!

Evie also has her own 'music'. Well it's hardly that, but it's noise and it's funny. We are now referring to it as her 'tick' or 'tourette's syndrome'. First it was 'beep beep!'. Then it was 'poop poop poop!'. Then it was 'dong!' And recently it is 'quack!' Just random things that she belts out, whenever. Sometimes it's when she's excited, running around, playing, jumping....or sometimes it's when I correct her...it's very random and strange...but SO funny. Just one word that she attaches onto for a bit and uses in a very bizarre way. I can barely even find the words to describe it.

One other fun thing we've been doing lately...Rhubarb walks. Rhubarb is this very old lady cat who lives around the corner, who is ALWAYS sleeping under a car in the driveway or under the garage door. She is a moody old girl, who doesn't even make any noise when she meows, just her mouth moves. But every time we walk by, we stop, give out a call and Rhubarb strolls over for a very quick pet from the girls. The girls love it, and we go on Rhubarb Walks at least once a day right now. She reminds me a little bit of Homer, so it's just fine with me.

Sisters

Yesterday Evie asked me: 'Mom, what are we gonna do today?'

And Marea's answer was: 'Evie, you're going to the doctor to get 155 shots, and i'm going to Disneyland!'. HA HA!!!! If only all of their fighting was this funny.

They are definitely able to push each others buttons a lot these days. Most of the time it's a simple 'I don't want Yea-Ya to talk!' or, 'No singing Evie!'. These little things seem to turn into screaming matches that make me crazy. I've got to figure out this whole sibling relationship thing. What parts of it do I let go....and just let them duke it out...and when do I intervene? I guess it will be a learning experience for all of us. But Marea's comment yesterday definitely made me laugh. Probably because Evie didn't get upset. When I laughed it off and said 'We're going nowhere!', Evie just looked at me with those big, curious, happy eyes and said, 'Mama, can we go yes-where?'

Lots to report.....

Marea has been on a very interesting kick lately. She wants to cook, have a lemonade stand, or a garage sale, or build a house, for REAL. Every day, she comes home and wants to do one of these things. The cooking thing started when one day, while I was cooking, I gave her scraps to play with and she created her own 'soup'...lemon juice, celery leaves and ends, spices, and water. She squeezed, mixed and chopped for an hour. Then it had to be refrigerated so we could all eat it for dinner!! And she was quite serious. For days after that, that was all she wanted to do...make a soup. I let her do it another day, and on the third day I tried to show her how to really cook a soup over the stove. But she still had her own ideas and it wasn't quite edible, although Gary and I tasted it. She's still asking to make soups but I need to figure out a way for her to do this so that we're not wasting food. Since I don't really have all that many scraps every day, it can be challenging. I think next week i'll prep all the ingredients for a REAL soup while she's at school, and when she comes home it can be our project. I've also let her juice lemons before and then she got the crazy idea of having a lemonade stand...on a tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m. in the neighborhood. I tried to explain that I just didn't think it was a good time, plus we live in a cul-de-sac....in fact, we haven't done this one yet because the time just isn't right, but i've promised her one over the summer. Then, one weekend the neighbors were cleaning out their garage, and she got the idea in her head that they were having a garage sale, even though I told her otherwise. So then, she started dragging out her stuff, pulled herself up a chair and had her own 'sale'. And this past weekend, her and Gary started dragging out a bunch of wood and playing with tools. They ended up building a balance beam. But then the other day, Marea tells me that she wants to build a small house. So I had to explain to her the idea of planning such projects, and that we can't just come home from school and whip up a little house. Her ideas are hilarious, I just hope we don't break her spirit because they are a bit difficult to pull off the minute she suggests them, or because she's only 4 1/2 and needs a little more training!

What she is good at planning, though, is a party. She gets so excited about parties. First it was the tea party that she decorated for, weeks in advance. Then it was valentine's day, with the chocolate covered pretzels and strawberries. Then it was Gary's birthday, and we made a cake and decorated. And she's always planning more stuff....especially the next tea party and her birthday (she wants fireworks). She digs that kind of stuff. She gets so excited.

Evie is absolutely amazing me with her vocabulary. Full, complicated sentences and big words for a 2 1/2 year old! But one of my favorite phrases right now is one she pulls out in social situations, or when we're dropping Marea at school (often when she's on the swings) and it's "This is everybody?" It's very funny, and cute. Evie will be so excited to go to Hilltop next fall. She's all registered and ready! She never wants to leave that place, in fact, the other day, as I drug her kicking and screaming out of there, she bit me! She is so different from Marea in her approach to social situations and learning, I am excited for her to have the preschool experience and I can't wait to watch her take it on. She dives right in to everything she does, fully.

She's really turning into a big girl. She drew a real face today ('Sophie', from the angry book). Her hair is growing, she even needs a hair clip now. She's wearing 3t clothes....a full 6 months before Marea did. Now we just need to get her on board with the potty training, sleeping in and sleeping in a big girl bed. But she just seems like such a baby to me still!! Guess it will always be that way.

Updates

Evie is on a 'Mama' spree. The child must say some form it it thousands of times a day. Sometimes it's cute, sometimes its funny (when she sings it!), and sometimes it drives me crazy. I think she must just like the way it rolls off her tongue. Wait, nope, that's not it. She's just a huge mama's girl. I guess I can't complain.

She's also very LOUD. One of her favorite things to do right now is 'whistle'. She makes this high pitched, short screaming sound. ALL THE TIME. From the minute she wakes up, to the time she goes to bed, and often in bed. It's usually paired with running or jumping. She's happy! But hopefully the screaming will continue to be replaced by her absolutely amazing vocabulary. She can say anything these days. But she has yet to call Marea 'Marea', even when I ask. I wonder how long 'yea-ya' will last. I would be happy if it stuck around for a long time, it's a pretty cute nickname.

Marea is blossoming into quite the little girl. She's starting to understand empathy, and helping out, and that is really nice. She will occasionally walk up to me when I'm busy and start giving me a back rub. It's like she knows that I need it. She also had a pretty awesome experience at preschool the other day, involving two of her friends who didn't want to include another little girl (Bella) in their play. Marea stuck by Bella and decided that she wanted to play with her, even when her friends said they wouldn't play with her if she played with a 'baby'. Marea said that she knew it wasn't nice and that it made Bella feel bad. So she played with Bella for a few minutes and then preschoolers being who they are, well they all moved on within 5 minutes and everything was okay. But I was so happy that she was able to stand up for what she thought was right, and what she wanted, and didn't give into the peer pressure (which sounds so ridiculous when talking about 4 year olds). I hope she stays that way. And I was so happy with the way the teachers handled it. They talked with Marea about how it made her feel, instead of correcting the girls who were being 'mean'. The made the learning experience for Marea, who was open to it, instead of the other girls. Awesome.

Marea's obsession with 'Mama Mia' continues. While her class was sitting around talking about which songs they wanted to sing for music class the next day, Marea often mentions Mama Mia songs. So funny. Hey I don't blame her. 'Take me out to the ball game' (for the 20th time), is lame!!!

Marea also hosted a very fancy tea party at our house last week. She was SET on inviting Grethe (and boys) over for this tea party and bugged me every day for a week to call her and set it up. She spent about a week and a half prepping. We had real tea cups (purchased from an estate sale we went to), fancy serving dishes, and we made cupcakes and cookies and drank apple cinnamon tea. Then we both had to put on super fancy dresses (at noon on a friday) and make-up and heels. It was so cute I videotaped it.

Now she's getting ready for her first weekend away. She'll be heading up to Santa Maria with jackie and em to visit their grandpa, and spend time on their ranch riding the horses, the tractor, playing in the dirt and having fun. She is so excited she can't stop talking about it or packing. We got out the calendar today so I could show her she would be away for two nights, and she's all good to go....her eyes got so big with excitement. She's got her own suitcase now, and we had to pack two days early because she just could not wait. It's only two nights, but I will miss her SO much!!!!

A Visit with Santa

A tale to remember.....

On the morning I was taking the girls to see Santa, Marea and I started asking Evie "What are you going to ask Santa for for Christmas?" and Evie's response was, over and over again in her sassy big voice "A BIG ONE!" Of course Marea and I laughed and laughed.

And then we get there...and wait in line for almost an hour....and when we get up there, Evie was 'a little bit scared' (as she will now say when we talk about it). She barely grinned for the camera, gave me her 'help me mommy' face, and feverishly picked her nails until the photo shoot was over (which lasted about 10 seconds, I wouldn't torture them that long!) And then, Santa turned to Evie and asked her..."What would you like for Christmas?" And Evie, in a very quiet, small voice said, "a little one".

Marea asked for an 'art spin'. I hope she's been good!

Holiday Time!

A list of all the things we're doing to celebrate the season....some will hopefully become family traditions:

-Decorated a gingerbread house. Evie just wanted to eat the candy. Marea was pretty excited to make it 'exactly right'. (We did our best, it turned out good!)

-Setting up the santa's village. Marea really enjoys playing with all the little figurines around the village.

-Christmas shows. Marea's favorite one this year is 'Silly Elf' (which is just elf). Thank goodness, cuz Gary and I really like this one too! But other favorites are the Grinch and Charlie Brown Christmas. They both think snoopy is really funny.

-Decorating the tree. Marea loves all the special ornaments (not the balls, although she likes the sparkly balls) and Evie loves to break the balls. And Ick loves climbing the tree and batting at the balls to knock them off.

-Cookie baking and decorating. This isn't going so well this year. Evie just likes to eat the toppings as she makes a huge mess, and Marea has now become an expert at over-topping the cookies. This will be more fun when they get a little bigger.

-Boat Parade. We are heading down tomorrow to watch the boat parade. I remember how much I loved doing this as a kid, and now I hope we will be doing it with our kids for many years to come.

Utah-Fall edition

Monsters Vs. Aliens and the new Tinkerbell movie; water balloon fights; marea's solo dance performance followed by one with grandpa; our night hike, the froggie pool and big slide with auntie sam (and a doodie!); carving a pumpkin with grandpa and using veggies to garnish it; making caramel apple chunks. And making memories without a camera ever coming out.

Boogers and such

Marea: Eew, i'm not eating this booger, it's bloody.

Me: Marea, do you normally eat your boogers?

Marea: Yes

Me: That's gross.

Marea: But they're so slobbery and sweet!

Me, to Evie: Come on Honey!

Evie: I not honey, I wee-wee!

Ha!!!

Evie is also going through a "my tooth is loose" thing. She loves the little bear episode where he loses a tooth, and now tells us every day, that her tooth is loose.

Happy Birthday Miss E!

Today we celebrate you, Little Miss E, on your second birthday!

My heart still melts each day when I see you and we cuddle for some nail picking closeness. You still smell so sweet and baby-like to me. All your little parts, curled up on me-you still fit perfectly. Except now, you can get away-and run, and JUMP (a new favorite), and talk ('daddy smells!!" Ha!) . You can play with your sister, too. You will sit and play so nicely by yourself, always exploring a toy to the fullest. You know your colors already, you can count, and you LOVE to sing (CAW!). You make the coolest artwork, using the whole paper and all the colors. And you are still free of the complications that come with older toddlers who need more independence and power struggles. For now :)

You are perfect.

XOXO,

Mommy

Love Languages

Marea's most important love language is that of gifts. And i'm not saying that she knows she feels loved when we give her gifts-she's the lover, giving the gift. The sweet girl will gather up some of her stuff, when she knows someone is coming over, or she is going over to the house of someone she cares about, to give to the cherished person. Mostly lately it's been seashells; some for Grethe when we had them over for dinner, and some for Grandma Carole when she was having a sleepover (She also included a quarter for Grandma Carole). She's gathered things for Grandma Susan, Jackie, Emily.....seems to be when she's excited about seeing someone or something coming up. She's got a whole 'treasure box' now, filled with seashells, rocks, old jewelry, marbles, beads, etc., and these are most often her gifts to others. She's not especially social or friendly in group situations, but the girl simply ADORES the few that she has chosen as part of her tribe. Another thing Marea loves doing lately is going through Grandma Susan's junk. (Not the junk food...although calling her the "junk lady" regarding the junk food seriously cracks us up!) Marea loves looking at all the stuff I have deemed to be 'crap' that my mom has collected over the years. She thinks it is all so beautiful. After a recent sleepover, she returned home with a flowery cross-stitch circle thingie, an wierd looking old doll, a metal bun holder with pearls, and old seashells that I had collected long ago in Catalina. Today they went through all of her old junk jewelry and beads. Marea was in heaven. And Grandma was too; they spent a few hours just looking through everything. Grandma Susan said she is now going to give Marea all her junk in her will. Sounds good to me, as long as I don't have to go through all of it!

Evie has somehow managed to learn most of her colors. I have no idea how this happened as I was quite discouraged after how long and hard it was to teach them to Marea. Of course, Marea was mature in other ways that Evie isn't yet. Marea was very socially mature and could easily put puzzles together. Evie can't figure out a puzzle at all. But she can count a little and knows the colors. I love how everything just happens when it happens. Evie also has quite the musical ability. Ever since Marea took the Music Together class at Hilltop, we've been listening to that CD a lot in the car. Evie can make all the funny sounds at the right times, and has the melody and tune down. It's pretty amazing. I used to despise those songs, but seeing how can I when she's so joyful and happy when she's singing them? She knows the song after just a few notes, and will belt out the chorus. CAW!!!!!

July 2010 updates

So much to do, so little time. These girls keep me oh so busy in such a great way.

So we've been up to a lot. There have been sleepovers...Marea, Evie, Jackie and Emily all had their first sleepover at Grandma Susan's, complete with night swimming and drumsticks at 9:30 p.m. And Marea had a nice, long 24 hour stay with Grandma Carole and Grandpa Bill at their new house. And we had a sleepover here, our first one having Jackie and Emily over for the night. It went well, up to the point that it was 10 p.m. and Marea and Emily were STILL getting up, asking for water. But I suppose that was easy, compared to the sleepovers to come. I like sleepovers. I remember loving them as a kid and Marea loves them too. She's always talking about them, and who she would invite. Harper is often on the list, and Jackie and Emily are always on the list. She loves having people over. For such a quiet, 'shy' girl, she's surprisingly social. Evie is right there now, running and screaming with the girls.

We also had our first outing to the Aquarium with all the girls. Thankfully I had Lauren to help me. Taking all four of them was a lot of work. They like to scatter in different directions. It was hard to keep track of all of them. But we still had fun. Marea likes feeding the birds now. Evie would also like to feed them, but she's a bit too anxious and they just bite her.

We've had several birthday parties, Lauren's annual going back to college party, and lots of days hanging with our 'baby' friends. Summer is busy as usual and going well. We love taking the wagon for a walk, hanging in the garden, playing in the pool, we went to the fair (first ferris wheel ride for Marea! ), summer concerts in the park (and Evie laying on the dance floor), sun dresses all day every day with several changes, babysitting the turtles, baking from the princess and the frog cookbook, breakfast at the yacht club, watermelon eating parties...we keep busy and we have fun. We haven't done too many beach days since it's been the 'bummer summer', but yesterday we spontaneously drove down there for a sea shell gathering morning. Marea loves that kind of stuff. She is perfectly happy just strolling down the beach, checking out all the different shells. And when we got home, we washed them all off in the back yard and then she picked out the ones she wanted to share with her cousins. She's always doing that...choosing things she wants to give to others. She's one generous girl. She's been so wonderful lately.

Evie is talking SO much. She can put 4 word sentences together. Like the other night, when she was up with her fever, and I took her in Marea's bed to sleep with me, and she said, excitedly, "I sleep yea-ya's room!". It was cute, unfortunately it was at about 3 a.m. Her second birthday is creeping up on us, and I am not happy about that. She would prefer to be a big girl, though. She gets mad about sitting in her car seat or high chair, and demands to sit in "yea-ya's' seat. However, I am enjoying her exactly how she is right now. Running, jumping, playing with her sister...just an all around happy all the time kind of girl that is still a baby, for now. And if something goes wrong, 5 minutes on my lap, with her thumb in her mouth, picking at my fingernails, can fix anything.

Its HOT!

Evie is the queen of temperature gauging around here. Most of the time, though, she exclaims, "it's hot!" even when it's not. I guess I must of burned her when she was a baby, because she seems to be permanently scarred. If this continues, I will also be scarred, because hearing her exclaim that every meal I serve her is hot, over and over and OVER again, even when it is not, is pretty frustrating, because she often will not eat whatever it is because it's hot. And of course, it's also funny!!!

She is also starting to disagree with her bedtime. She will yell, "I paying!", and frantically start playing, as if too look busy. It's so hard to pick her up and carry her away to bed crying, even though it doesn't last long. Because it's just too cute.

Four

My baby girl just turned 4 years old.

I think it felt different for me this year because about a week before her birthday, I was cleaning out in her room, and I found myself packing away all the 'shoe jammies', realizing that there would be no more next year. Marea is just too big for them now. I know they still make them in size 4, but really she doesn't need shoe jammies anymore. They are for babies, right? Plus, she doesn't really like them anymore. Once in a while, she may wear them for fun, but she has a preference now, and all the will of a powerful 4 year old to voice it! She likes her princess nightgowns! Nothing else will really do, these days. So as I was cleaning out the shoe jammies, I realized that I had been doing a lot of cleaning out recently, mostly in her room, rearranging and changing things to fit who she is now. I put a lot of the stuff she isn't playing with anymore in Evie's room, and made space for her things in her room. She's into the 'little pieces toys' now, things with itty bitty pieces everywhere! (polly pocket, dollhouse stuff, games, etc). Her fantasy world is really expanding, and it's fun to watch her get into one of her little games, which she seems to play mostly in her head, with a few little props. Bye bye toddler toys, bye bye shoe jammies.

Another thing that is different is that I am relinquishing a little of my control!!! Of course it's slowly been happening, but now I am saying it! Over the past year, I still picked out much of what she wore, and there were several morning battles. But now, I've decided that Marea is a big girl, and who cares if she wants to wear a dress every day! Or, if she wants to change her clothes a few times, then that's okay too. It may be annoying, because it often means more laundry, but she is just doing something that she enjoys, and it's fun and important to her. So i'm not sweating it anymore. She can pick her own clothes, and I will advise her on what I think is best for an occasion, but really it doesn't matter that much. She cares a lot, and she needs that sense of power and control over herself more than ever before. And that is what is most important. I have also given up on my war against the princess dress up thing that she adores so much. I have let those darn princesses into our lives, but not too much, and I think we've found a happy medium. She's got lots of different interests, and the princess thing is just a small part of who she is. And she looks so darn cute in that Tiana dress she got for her birthday!!! I mean come on, it's better than that flowery 'tie dress' (as she calls it) that she wants to wear all the time! I can't believe that the size 4 dress that I bought at the Santa Cruz flea market for $2 when she was one has become her favorite dress. I guess I just knew way back then!! I still like it, but it's ridiculously stained. It's a perfect school dress, I really hope it fits her in the fall. She also fell in love with the pink swim suit cover up I bought her in Mazatlan when she was one. Good thing Auntie Sam just returned from a trip there, and was able to get her a few more in her size! So, i'm not sweating the small stuff anymore. Giving up a little bit of control. And giving her a little more....like, the control to wipe her own butt! I've decided that it's time! Now there's one thing I will happily give up! We're slowly working on it.

This year on Marea's birthday there was no big party. We had a small family party at home. Gary and I decorated the house the night before her birthday, so she would be surprised in the morning. She ended up waking up and coming out that night and seeing everything! Oh well. She really liked the decorations and balloons. On her birthday, we made cupcakes in the morning (froggies in the water), then took Evie to nap at Grandma's house so I could take Marea for a special trip to the nail salon to get her nails painted (see control paragraph above!). She REALLY LOVED that! I was glad to see her so happy to have them painted, since I have made it a special occasion only thing. She had rainbow nails with flowers. Then we went for a fun afternoon swim, followed by an awesome little party at our house with all her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

It was really a special, fun day of celebrating four with my baby girl. She is really becoming a big girl now.

First week of Summer 2010!

Now that Marea is in school, (although only preschool), summer break takes on a whole new meaning. I am excited for summer-what's new about that? I guess I am most excited about all the time I will have with my girls. I've got lots of fun things I want to do with them, and we're off to a great start. Here's week one:

Friday-Marea's last day of preschool for the year. An awesome day with a pizza party and song circle, and we received an incredible journal of her year. Almost made me cry. And then...off to a sleepover for all 4 cousin's at Grandma Susan's house! Complete with night swimming and late night ice cream. Marea was so excited she couldn't focus on the rest of her day because she just wanted to get to the sleepover! Gary and I had our own little party...we went out for drinks with Sam, followed by a late night 'parent' discussion...which is worse, bambi or the simpsons? It turned out to be pretty damn funny. Gary has lost that one!

Saturday-Fathers day celebration/lunch at our house with the Craig family. And it's not even father's day yet!

Sunday-Evie and Gary went to breakfast at the yacht club, while Marea and I went to Marcel and Olivers baptism at the Wayfarer's chapel in P.V. So I kind of got to show her where we got married. She loves hearing about our wedding and seeing the pictures.

Monday-Playdate at Christine and Chloe's with all our 'baby' friends (who arn't babies anymore!) followed by an afternoon of swimming and sun at our own house.

Tuesday-Grandpa Roger's birthday, dinner with the family.

Wednesday-Irvine Park Railroad and petting zoo..we'll escape the June gloom by running to Irvine!

Thursday-Beach day with Mia, Sean and Gabi. Marea's going to be happy to see her BFF's again.

Friday-Back bay nature center walk with the baby friends...i hope to be seeing a lot more of them this summer, I miss the girls!

Saturday-San Onofre with Mary, Geoff, Jonas and Harper...it's kind of a father's day beach day...I guess Gary wants to spend time with us this year!

Sunday-My birthday and Father's day...i'm sure we'll find something wonderful to do as a family.

AND then, My Baby Girl turns FOUR!!!

We're off to a great summer...can't wait!

The Blue Dress

So there's this blue dress up dress at school. Kind of a cinderella knock off dress. Marea wears it almost every single time she's at school. Playing dress up is her main kind of play at school. My favorite. In fact, playing dress up is a part of her life. Although at home we don't have 'dress up' dresses, she insists on wearing a dress almost every day. Clouds and rain are pretty much the only thing that gets her in pants. Sometimes its a struggle, because its just not warm enough yet for a summery sun dress every day. So, one day recently, as we were arguing over what she was going to wear, I said, what does it matter, if when you get to school, you're just going to wear the blue dress anyways? And Marea said "Mommy, you don't like that blue dress". Uh oh. She caught me. So I told her the truth, that I don't. We found a nice twirly dress I had got for her and I said that I liked it much better than the blue dress at school. And that day at school, (we were there together), she didn't put the blue dress on, and someone else did. As I was pushing her on the swing, and the other little girl was walking around in the blue dress, Marea said to me...."mommy, you're going to have to change your mind about that blue dress." And I said, why? And she said...."because it's so beautiful". I'm guessing this situation is going to play out a lot throughout our relationship. I just hope that it goes as smoothly.

Marea has been drawing a ton of rainbows lately. She is really working on them and they're getting better! And for the first time a few days ago, (while in San diego with Mary and Jonas and Harper) Marea wrote her name with all the letters in a line, just as it should look. It was awesome!

Little Miss Firebutt has finally figured out the firebutt thing. She knows that certain fruits mean firebutt. I'm not sure if she knows that's she's the one who gets "FIRE BUTT" and how it all relates in the big picture, but there is nothing funnier than pushing her in a cart in a store, and having her enthusiastically point out and say 'firebutt!' at all the oranges, lemons, grapefruit, juices, berries, etc., that give her firebutt. And actually, the firebutt has been improving! Hopefully it will be over soon and she will enjoy citrus like the rest of us. Speaking of shopping carts...has there ever been a child more difficult to contain in one? Evie never wants to sit in it! It's so dangerous and it's so hard to take her anywhere because she is constantly trying to stand up in the cart. She just can't sit still!

Evie is also very excited to announce "I did it!". She does it A LOT, and it's extremely adorable to hear her exclaim it with joy. She says it about so many different things....putting something in the trash, figuring out a toy, drawing a picture....whatever it is that she has done worthy of an "I did it!". May she always remain that excited to accomplish things!

One of the girls favorite things to do together right now, in the car, is make up songs. Marea say, "Evie, sing, 'i'm a rainbow' , and Evie will say 'i bain-bow', and Marea will say, "Evie, say, 'pretty flowers', and Evie will say, 'pretty floors', and Marea will crack up. It's pretty funny, and it can go on for a long time. Everyone also loves to sing part of a song, only to have Evie finish it. Such as 'twinkle twinkle little...... and then Evie responds with star. She sings a lot their favorite car songs in this way. It's just too cute. I love watching them have fun together.

Our Utah List

So, after a wonderful vacation in Utah, we sat down for dinner in Las Vegas and made a list of all the fun things we did in Utah. Here it is:

-Went to the Sand Dunes and dug a giant hole. Evie liked sliding into the hole. Marea was made into a sand mermaid.

-Marea learned how to swim in the jacuzzi. It just clicked. She was going under, kicking and dog paddling. Swimming isn't scary anymore. It's FUN. This is going to be an AWESOME summer.

-We went on a hike and Marea spotted a desert tortoise. Pure exhilaration!

-Marea and Gary made a pretty awesome fairy house.

-Evie and the bees. Night Night bees! Go away bees! No no bees! She has a funny relationship with bees.

- We found a nice sandy spot in the front yard, and brought out our sand toys and buckets of water. Evie liked just dumping the water out. Marea is so patient with her sometimes.

-We went to the froggy pool! And on the big waterslide.

-Marea and Uncle Robby made her a crown, out of the insides of bottle boxes.

-We got to play with Auntie Sam, too!

-We got more sand and rocks for Hilltop. The red sand is one of the most favorite play things at preschool. The kids play with it every day!

-Marea watched Mary Poppins for the first time, and loved it!

Now Marea keeps telling me that she wants to live in Utah. It would be wonderful.......