fluttering into four!

Our Emma Jane is officially a four-year-old!  She was so excited to celebrate her special day with friends.  Emma Jane has been planning this party for MONTHS!  She chose a butterfly theme and helped pick out many of the decorations and goody bag contents.  Our little artist also hand-stamped butterflies on the goody bags and painted the butterfly clips we used for one of the party treats.  Having a pool party was a MUST for this little fish and she had a ball!  Although the day started out with rain, we were lucky to have clear skies for the party.  Thank you to all of our wonderful friends who were able to attend and make this day so perfect for our birthday girl.    

Happy Birthday, Emma Jane!

We love you!

boogie baby and camera hog

Vivian loves to dance and she boogies every chance she gets.  I have been trying to capture our dancing queen on video for weeks now.  I finally caught her in the act while watching a show the other night, but her big sis had to steal the limelight.  Regardless, I thought this video was pretty funny, not to mention typical of the sister dynamic in our house!  Make sure to watch little Vivi in the background...she's quite entertaining!

mommy song

Vivian loves to "sing" and she made up this little diddy while shopping at Lowe's with yours truly the other day.  I call it the "Mommy Song" and she sings it on a regular basis now.  It's good to be loved!

uh oh!

This pitiful picture was taken when little Viv accidently fell into the dog toy basket and couldn't get out! Of course, I had to snap a picture before pulling her out. I know, I know...bad mom! Anyway, the expression on Vivi's face in this particular picture is exactly how I have felt these past few days after I made a horrible mistake in regards to this very blog.

If you haven't noticed, ALL of the pictures in every one of my 450+ blog posts (over 3 years worth) have disappeared. Poof! Gone! After a folder of over 500 pics popped up on my new smartphone, I absentmindedly deleted the folder thinking that I was only deleting them from my phone. Apparently that was not the case! Somehow all of the pics on my blog were placed in a folder and sent to the picture gallery on my phone. I'm still clueless as to how this happened and devastated that I deleted the folder. I have since restored a few of the most recent blog posts, but will be working hours on end to restore all the other posts. The good news is that I still have all of the pics stored in various other places and the journaling for each post is still intact. Many sleepless nights are in my future, but I am determined to fix the problem and then find some way to print all blog posts so that my hard work and precious memories will not be lost!

18 months

Our precious Vivian isn't a baby anymore! She turned 18 months old a few weeks ago. It's hard to believe that she has been in our lives for a year and a half, but it's even harder to remember what life was like without her. She is an absolute joy. We are excited to see her change and grow each and every day. She LOVES her family. Every morning when I come into her room, her first words are "Mama, Dadden, Sis, Loula, Woof!" She says our names in succession like this repeatedly throughout the day. Although I admit she is mostly a mama's girl, she really just likes all of us to be together. If Paul leaves, she cries. If Emma Jane leaves, she cries. If mama leaves, she has a meltdown! She doesn't like Loula to be outside without her. She stares at Loula through the backdoor and tries to let her in.

Vivian is a very enthusiastic dancer. As soon as she hears music, she starts shaking her hips! She's also beginning to sing a little bit. It's so cute to hear her trying to carry a tune. Some of her favorite songs are "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and "Old MacDonald". Of course, like most babies her age, she loves to say all of the animal sounds. Viv loves reading books with us and has really become opinionated about which books we read to her at naptime and bedtime. She will plow through her baskets of books until she finds just the one she wants. We hope that this love of reading continues like it has for her big sis. One of her favorite books right now is "Doggies" by Sandra Boynton.

Viv's vocabulary has really taken off. She is parroting most of the one and two syllable words we say and has begun to piece words together into short sentences. She'll say, "Come on, Sis!" or "Hi Loula!" We are proud of her sweet manners. She almost always says "Pease!" when asking for something and says "Tanks!" when you give it to her. Lately she's been counting everything. It's so cute to hear her saying "one, two, free..." we haven't gotten any further than that just yet!

Vivian knows how to throw a temper tantrum! She is definitely learning how to let us know when she is upset or frustrated. She's even had a few time-outs and is learning how to say she's sorry. From her temper tantrums to her infectious laughter and unexpected hugs, we love our sweet Vivian to pieces!

a day for mom

Since Paul had to work on Mothers' Day this year, he and the girls took me on a picnic at the capitol the day before. We enjoyed a yummy lunch and had a "ball" exploring the grounds. Emma Jane loves to climb the trees on the capitol grounds and Paul took some great pictures of the girls with their mama! We stopped for icecream on the way home. I've never seen little Vivian so excited! She impatiently boo-hooed while waiting at the table for her icecream, but as soon as she spotted her daddy coming towards her with it, those tears turned into giggles and bounces of pure joy!

grooving girls

We have been going to the Rhythm and Blooms concerts since we moved to Columbia.  The concerts are held at the botanical gardens every Thursday night in the month of May.  Last Thursday we met some good friends for another night of music and fun.  This was the first time we attended a concert that was actually held in the outdoor amphitheater they have in the gardens.  Emma Jane and Vivian had a ball dancing with their friends.  Vivian danced her little heart out ALL night long.  It's hilarious to watch her groove to the music! 

 

this little pigtail

Vivian proudly wore her first pigtails earlier this week...

Say cheese!

Pat your knees!

Touch your toes!

Off she goes!

 

Out and about to show everyone her new do!

pink pup

   While researching dogs a few weeks before Loula joined our family, Emma Jane told us she wanted a pink puppy.  Of course, we told her that this request just wasn't possible.  Little did we know, her wish would come true!  Emma Jane's pink chalk drawings were obviously very interesting to our curious pup.  Loula came over to check them out, rolled all over them (which did NOT make Emma Jane very happy!), and instantly became a pink lab puppy!  The centipede crawling along the sidewalk also became victim to the pink dust.  Little Miss Pink Princess was thrilled!