Goodbye, two

I had a panic attack. Here it is the last day my baby is two and I forgot to take a picture (pictures) on her last day of being two! I feel like a horrible mom! How could I have forgotten? I was so focused on her birthday TOMORROW that I forgot to dwell on TODAY. Normally I get all nostalgic about one year passing into another that I snap a bunch of pictures to forever remind myself what "two" was like. This time I was so excited for Khloe to turn three that I forgot to be sad about leaving the "two's" behind. I guess that's okay! It was hard to dwell on Khloe being two anyways because she already thinks she's five going on six. So three seems like a breeze!

So I ran into her room to snap a picture at 11:30 p.m. just moments before two turned to three. Here is the last picture of our peaceful sleeping two year old (with her EOS chapstick that she loves to have in her pocket, or carry around with her, or sleep with or all of the above).

Tomorrow you'll be three baby girl!

To sum up your last week of being two, you did have a big week.
You continue to love and do well at gymnastics.

Your Little Pikes gymnastics class with Coach Mel

You're one of the few in your class that can do a bridge all by yourself! So proud of you!

 It's amazing to watch you accomplish these obstacles courses Coach Mel sets out for the class. The courses are usually as series of 10 activities that must be followed in order that she explains once and then let's the class go at it. You are so confident and independent out there!

 Chin-ups - five of them! Perfect activity for a little monkey!

And finally, drum roll please, a momentous occasion to wrap up the two's and move into the three's - WE ARE DONE WITH DIAPERS! You can hear a huge sigh of relief over here to be done with that expense and having to lug diaper bags around.

We PUSHED you, and instead of you calling the shots this time, we called the shots although it hasn't been pretty. Your success comes by way of not making a big deal about it; in fact we kind of just treat it nonchalantly like, You have to go potty? Oh okay. Go ahead. Let me know if you need anything. You like going potty by yourself so we give you space, only coming in to check on you - or sending Kayla in - when needed.

Privacy, a foot stool, books, and a book holder

This WHOLE potty training process (aka battle of wills) started out four months ago, and initially there was success. You knew exactly what to do, how to do it, and when to do it, but after awhile you just weren't into it anymore (aka stubborn) and threw a fit if you had to wear underwear, so we momentarily conceded. Two months later, round two began with more treats, prizes and bribery. I mean, C'mon! A Cherry Jam doll! But you stuck your stubborn ground. You've been asked by us at least one billion times "Don't you want Cherry Jam?" and you always answered, "No." No sense in pushing you, you'll learn when your ready.

The thing is, you would change in and out of underwear and diapers all day long. In fact, you would change your OWN diaper! I never knew if you had a diaper on or underwear on. Sometimes we'd put you into bed at night and you'd laugh and say "But I have underwear on!" or we'd be out shopping and you'd announce "I have underwear on!" And every day you'd make a point to 'ask permission' to go in your diaper. You had a good strategy while it lasted.

This time, the victory would be ours. It began weeks ago by telling you that on your 3rd birthday we were going to throw away all the diapers in the house. You were on board. During your birthday week we made a special trip to the store so you could pick out new underwear again, packed up your diapers and wipes to give to Alexis, and we're not looking back. You even got to open Cherry Jam FINALLY and you were so excited about it! You waived her around in the air, running around yelling "I got Cherry Jam! I got Cherry Jam!" Is this the same girl?

We're proud of you Khloe! You're a big three year old now!

(I just have to mention, because she's my last one, how incredibly cute a little toddler's buns are in little tiny underwear! Seriously!!! Parents, you'll understand. For 36 months that cute little booty-butt has been covered in a large crinkly, fluffy, padded diaper. Now there's just a cute ruffle-ly flower-y layer of cotton covering up those squishy, yummy little buns. Yes, I'm obsessed! And I just don't want to forget how adorable it is! I'll spare you the photo, just take my word for it.)

Pine River Nature Center

This field trip I was looking forward to all year - my two close friends, Sarah and Carrie, run this beautiful log center in the middle of the woods along the Pine River. Kayla and I had visited recently for the bat program and she had been asking to go back.

In no one's WILDEST dreams could we have imagined SNOW on April 15 the night before the field trip! I think snow on April 15 is a record! The boots and snow pants were packed away, so we hauled them BACK out because this day-long field trip included two long hikes through the woods.

Bundle up, it's cold outside!

It kills me to see them standing in this snow! The snow HAD all melted!

 Don't their field trip shirts look so cute? Katie requires the kids to wear them on a field trip - it helps identify them individually and as a group. Those are the same t-shirts I spent HOURS making with the students back at the beginning of the year. Katie added the names on the front and "Michigamme" on the back. They turned out so cute!

The theme of the field trip was frogs - they learned about their life cycle, how to identify boy and girl frogs and learned different species and their calls. They explored an outdoor pond and wrote about it in their nature journal. 

Katie does such a great job organizing field trips and experiences for her students. She's such a great teacher. The kids had fun; the trip was a success (despite the unexpected snow)!

A berry sweet 3rd birthday

Khloe,
We've been talking up your Strawberry Shortcake birthday party for a long time now. You definitely knew it was coming and were eager to talk about it to anyone who would listen. I know you were excited about the coming day, but you played it cool in your typical nonchalant attitude. Me? I was excited, and I didn't hide it.

We planned your party to be simple, small. Just an intimate get-together on a casual Sunday afternoon. Somehow that didn't happen. Before I even recognized what was happening your party grew in size and scope. Thank goodness for the team of people that help pull my crazy ideas together! I design, plan, organize, decorate, and shop; Daddy cooks and bakes. Kristi - bless her wiling brave soul - jumps right in and Grandma - what would I do without her? - helps pull it all together. And voila! I think we did a pretty darn good job of throwing a successful 3rd birthday party for you, Little Sweetie, in just a matter of days.

Just like we knew would happen, you THRIVED in the spotlight. We were SO happy for you to have your own shining moment. FINALLY the little sister gets ALL the attention and gets things HER way! We let you milk that all. day. long. We overheard you say to Kayla, "No Kayla, I want it. It is MY birthday." Yes it is. You go girl.

As soon as friends came to the door, you escorted them in, took the present (Or I think you took the present then escorted them in. Or maybe you just took the present.) and sat right down and opened it. It was so cute how you just took charge and executed that decision to open gifts right away. In fact, sometimes I had to slow you down because your friends weren't quite all the way in the house yet before you were opening their present. You were just so so excited and it was so so cute. We didn't hold you back.

The party guests! Mary, Katherine, Emma, Stella, Sophia, Gina, Gabrielle, Addison and Lexie

My Dad asked, "Do you have any friends that have boys?"

A birthday message from Stella

The present you opened from Lexie was a Sophia the First nightgown. The second you opened it (which was about 10 minutes into your party) you stripped down and immediately put on the nightgown. And so that's what you'll notice in most of your pictures - not very many in your red Strawberry Shortcake shirt we picked out but a whole lot in your purple nightgown. Hey, it's your party...

Just take a look at the BERRY good time we had!

The food was a hit! And why wouldn't it be? Just look at all these fun tasty treats!

The birthday girl's exclusive cup

 Ooooooh! You're very own Ameri-kenna-a doll from Addie and Ms. Melissa!

And the carrying case to go with it from Amy and Matt!

 This made you so happy that you brushed your teeth with it on and even slept with it. 

 (Everything you have on is new from your party - headband from Kristi, nightgown from Lexie and doll case from Amy. Someone had a berry fantastic birthday!)

Okay, so back to the party...

 See? Center of  attention. Eating it up.

Opening presents is so much fun!

Per your request - cupcakes

 Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you

 Yes, an extra big double Strawberry Shortcake candle in TWO cupcakes!

The best part of the day was spending time with so many great friends that think you're berry special Khloe!

 (We missed you Sadie!)

The Gumbis Clan 

Emma, you're hilarious!

Thanks for celebrating with us everyone! You made the day so berry special for us and for Khloe!

SPRING BREAK!!!!

Ahhhhhhhh! A nine day vacation. Kayla was counting this one down, looking forward to sleeping in, watching Frozen and having lots of family time. I can't tell you how nice it was for ME to have spring break too. It did not go unnoticed by me that I would sit down with my feet up at 7pm and read. That's a vacation! I NEVER get to do that at 7pm on a weeknight! Not when there's homework, practicing, lunches to be made, baths, reading, bedtime routines, and on and on. The girls (and this includes Kristi) were most excited about sitting down and watching Frozen together as many times as they wanted. Hey, it's vacation after all.

We didn't leave our house and travel anywhere, but we didn't need to. Aunt Kristi stayed with us for a week so that was vacation enough! Where did the last nine days go? Whoa, definitely flew by too fast but we were glad spring finally showed up for spring break. We made sure to get outside every day  - we tackled the yard that we could finally see after being buried under feet of snow for 4 months, got the cushions out for the deck furniture, lit up the bonfire, went rollerblading and rode bikes. Here's a little of our spring break vacation at home!

We cheered for the UK Wildcats during the National Championship game, we really did. Sorry they didn't win.

Bringing the happy to the hour with a 3pm rendezvous with friends at Freighters!

Yes, it was 70 degrees outside and we were HOT. It's been a long time since we could say that. It made us all soooooo happy.

Rabbit ear photo bombs. Thanks Kristi and Kayla.

 We took our first trip to the park in YEARS. Well, not really, but after this long winter it sure felt like it years. It was SO wonderful to just. be. outside. in spring clothes and play at the park, take a walk along the water and play at the beach.

Next stop... Lakeside Beach

 Khloe is demonstrating the proper way to wind up and throw a rock into the water. Just warning you though, you better take 10 steps back. That rock has an 80% chance of flying backwards and hitting you instead of the water. Just sayin'.

 I did it!

 Some got brave and ventured into the water. 

That doesn't look so warm girls!

Swim lessons started again, that's always a good sign that summer is just around the corner. This is Khloe's first-ever experience with a swim lesson, she is so brave and independent and loves it! Kayla's doing so well  in her class too, learning so many new skills.

There was another Lowe's Build and Grow workshop, this time to build a Recycling Truck. 

And at the end of a relaxing, fulfilling vacation...

...oh look, three tired kids all sound asleep. They love their Daddy! And Daddy couldn't have been happier with his two sweeties all snuggled into him.