one-on-one

Vivian and I took a mommy-and-me walk to the park about a week ago.  She had a blast kicking around the soccer ball, but she didn't let go of her blankie.  She also found a few treasures (weeds, leaves, and sticks) and gave me many melt-your-heart smiles.  A little one-on-one time is hard to come by with either of my girls these days, but that just makes it all the more special. 

you color my world

Yep, it's not even February yet, and we have started making valentines!  I want Emma Jane to "personalize" each of the 24 valentines for her classmates, so we had to start early! 

I've been saving broken crayons for awhile since I'd seen the idea of melting them into new shapes on Pinterest.  When I saw the silicone heart molds at Target, I knew this was the time to use those broken crayons.  While Vivian napped today, Emma Jane helped me take the remaining paper off the crayons.  I then cut them into small pieces and distributed the pieces into the molds.  We put them in the oven to bake at 250 degrees for around 15-20 minutes.  It takes about half an hour for the wax to cool and then they POP right out of the mold! 

Today we "practiced" the personalization and decoration of just one valentine.  I bought a package of adorable doilies to mount the crayons on, but I'm not sure if that was the right choice.  They are very delicate and not the best backing for a heavy crayon.  Emma Jane decorated a separate doily and I glued it to the back of the doily that supported the crayon.  (I mounted the crayon with a foam sticky.)  Emma Jane was so excited to "sign" the valentine and add foam stickers.  When she started tearing apart the hollow heart stickers before sticking them to the doily, I asked her why she would want to tear them up.  She quickly replied, "It wooks just wike the wetter J, just wike in my name!"  Can't argue with that logic!

I put the finished valentine in a clear cellophane bag and added a label that I printed up.  Now, just 23 more to go!  Wish us luck....I'm pretty sure this will take the 15 days left until Valentine's Day!

favorite hat

Vivian is in LOVE...with her striped winter hat.  She takes it off her dresser every morning and brings it to me to put it on her.  She would wear this hat all day if we let her.  I took a few pics of our cutie playing while wearing her favorite hat yesterday morning.  Oh how we love this silly girl! 

daddy's girls

These days my mommy magic is definitely out-ranked by Paul's daddy coolness.  Emma Jane loves to cook with her daddy.  She told her teacher that she wants to be a chef when she grows up and that her daddy is "the best pancake fwipper!"  When Emma Jane requested "sketti with real live meatballs" for dinner, Paul hit the cookbooks and went straight to the grocery store.  His spaghetti is always delicious, but he had never made actual meatballs from scratch.  Emma Jane was so excited to help him and it turned out to be very yummy, of course.

Vivian is usually a mommy's girl, but she is discovering that daddy can be a lot of fun, too.  She loves to dance with him after dinner and expects him to chase her as soon as he walks in the door after work.  Paul has been busy working on a fence for our backyard this past week.  Vivian stood wide-eyed at the backdoor for half an hour watching him saw wood.  Yep, in the eyes of our two thrill-seeking girls, this daddy is a superstar!

family of monsters

Emma Jane loves to draw, but her favorite subject right now is MONSTERS!  Today she made a get well card for Great Grandma Walker.  She insisted on drawing monsters, but I asked her to draw something nicer.  She said she would draw smiling monsters so they wouldn't scare grandma.  You can see these smiling monsters in the first picture, as well as three colorful suns and a brown flower.  The blue blob at the top was originally a cloud, but she turned it into a ghost.  When I asked her to sign her name on the picture, she took the lazy route and just wrote EJ instead.  She finally wrote Emma J, but it took some serious coaxing.  I guess that's what we get for giving her a double name! 

The second picture is a family of monsters that she drew on her dry erase board yesterday.  Notice the tall green daddy monster with something coming out of his mouth.  I asked Emma Jane what the daddy monster was eating and she quickly replied, "Icky, sticky goo glue!"  Okay?!?  When I asked, "What exactly is icky, sticky goo glue?"  She answered, "What monsters like to eat!"  Well, of course, that makes sense!

Emma Jane rarely writes her name upon request unless some sort of bribery is involved. She often gets the letters mixed up and insists that she wrote it correctly when we try to let her know it's not quite right. The final picture is the actual first time she wrote her name all by herself without any mistakes.  She didn't have any interest in writing her name until I helped Vivi "write" her name on another sheet of paper and made a big deal over it. Suddenly, Emma Jane picked up a crayon and wrote EMMA J without hesitation. A little competition gets this girl every time!

I hate to say it, but I'm afraid that Emma Jane's future teachers will have their work cut out for them.  She loves to learn, but it has to be on HER terms.  Mrs. Elizabeth, her current preschool teacher, assures me that this personality trait will serve her well later in life.  We know this is true and we are very proud of our strong-willed Emma Jane!

pish and cwocodiles

We took the girls to the zoo on Wednesday since Paul had the day off.  It's so nice to go on a weekday since you virtually have the whole zoo to yourself.  We started at the botanical gardens, rode the tram to the zoo, and spent most of our time at the aquarium.  Emma Jane was intrigued by the snakes, lizards, and "cwocodiles".   Vivian was thrilled to watch all of the large, colorful fish.  Vivi recently started saying "pish" while playing in the tub with her sea creature bath toys, so she was proud to repeatedly point to the fish in the aquarium and shout, "pish! pish!"  As always, both girls loved riding the merry-go-round and Vivian had a major tantrum when the ride was over.  No trip to the zoo is complete without somebody having a meltdown! 

Yep, Vivi did NOT want to get off that merry-go-round!

firsts for our second

I'm embarrassed to say that keeping track of the "firsts" with our "second" has not been one of my strengths this past year.  I wanted to use this post to showcase some of Vivian's newest accomplishments. 

Viv is walking very well now with just a few stumbles here or there.  She's been crawling up the stairs, but she also tries to walk up them like her big sis.  She likes to climb up into our kid-sized chairs, but she hasn't made it up onto the couches or big chairs just yet.  She recently surprised us with her kicking skills....she kicks around a soccer ball with pretty good footing.  This is something she did all on her own without any encouragement from us.  Future Mia Hamm?

Vivian LOVES to blow kisses!  Unfortunately, this means that she frequently slaps herself in the face.  She also waves like crazy when someone enters or leaves a room.  It's safe to say she loves her family, but she's a little confused over what to call us.  She's been saying "mama" for months but usually only when she's upset.  She started calling Paul "Dadden", which we thought was adorable, but Viv has somehow decided this is a good name for her mama and sister, too!  Whenever any of us walk into a room, she shouts, "Dadden!"

Viv continues to be an expert eater who consumes just as much, if not more, than Emma Jane at every meal.  There are very few things that this girl WON'T eat, but she does seem to be getting a little more choosy.  There have been a few times when we've discovered her throwing veggies on the floor in hopes of getting to the "good stuff" sooner.  Viv thoroughly enjoys cookies.  This has been one of her newest spoken words.  After saying "kkkk...kkkk" for over a month, she finally said "kkkoo-kkkie!" this week. 

Vivi loves to play with blocks and stacking toys, small cars and her dump truck, nesting dolls and puzzle pieces, BUT she also snuggles up with baby dolls and stuffed animals from time to time.  Right now her favorite thing to play with is a stack of colorful plastic spoons that we've put in a tin box...go figure!?!  Vivi's favorite books are "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown, "Blue Hat, Green Hat" by Sandra Boynton, and "The Very Busy Spider" by Eric Carle.  She loves to turn the pages and point to everything she sees in hopes of learning something new.

Vivi has only just begun saying a few words, but I'm pretty sure that her vocabulary is about to explode.  She babbles like a champ and with a chatty sister like Emma Jane, she'll be saying all kinds of things before we know it!  Right now her list of words includes mama, dadden, balloon, ball, duck, kitty, cookie, fish, and "room room" for her cars!

We love everything about our precious Vivian (including the hefty tantrums she's been having!) and we look forward to having many new adventures with her!