0 Broken camera

My camera is broken...it won't turn on at all and it doesn't appear to be the battery, so I got nuthin in terms of pictures today!

It hit me like a ton of bricks last night: Georgia might be having her TERRIBLE TWO'S! Either that, or she is just a wild child. But her behavior is totally in line with this stage: temper tantrums, saying no, pushing boundaries, etc. I overheard Chad tell Georgia to "Be careful" this morning and I said to him "There couldn't be a bigger waste of breath." We both laughed. Georgia is a determined little girl and if she's going to do something, she is going to do it. We are trying to guide her along and teach her how to have fun AND follow rules at the same time. I don't feel successful at it, but I also keep reminding myself she is only 2.5 years old!

We went to church this past Sunday, which we definitely don't get to do enough because we are often out of town. But we went, and Georgia cried when we took her to the nursery. And then I cried throughout most of our service. I think I am having separation anxiety too! Thankfully, Chad took Leighton and Georgia to school this morning, because he told me she cried again, and she definitely needs the non-cry-baby parent with her then. I know she will love school and work through it, but it makes my heart sink to see her cry.

I thought surely once school started, Leighton would be tired at night. She hardly ever wakes up in the middle of the night, and she normally sleeps until around 8. So I assumed now that she has to get up earlier, she would be tired earlier. Uh, no! That girl was up until almost 10 last night, wide awake. I'm not sure what we are going to do about it. The good news is, she's always such a happy little thing that it doesn't really affect her mood.

I have confirmed that Leighton does indeed have a loose tooth. Her front tooth, which she has been telling me about for awhile, but I just assumed she was making it up. NOPE! I saw it wiggle. I guess I should send a memo to the Tooth Fairy to be on standby!

I'm off to pick up those little lovebugs from school now. And I will be taking my camera to get fixed pronto!

0 School

I was so anxious to pick up Georgia from school today to see how she did. With Leighton, I picked her up early on her first day, and then was called by the teachers to come pick her up early for a couple of weeks. I didn't receive any calls from Georgia's teachers today. When I walked up, she was getting her diaper changed, and she was crying. The teacher said the only time she cried all day was when she got her diaper changed. Other than that, she said Georgia was happy and playful. Yay! I'm so happy! (Because I actually cried for about an hour at the house today!)

I took pictures of the walls outside of Leighton and Georgia's classrooms...both have their names on them.

After school, I took the girls to TCBY for some yogurt. Georgia sort of went a little crazy and was jumping up and down and suddenly posing for me. It is possible Georgia was a little wild because not surprisingly, she did not nap at school. Why do I feel like school is going to mess up our AWESOME napping schedule we have for Georgia?! I hope she continues with her 2-3 hour naps, at least when she's at home.

0 Georgia's off to preschool

Georgia is at preschool today for the very first time, and I am sitting here crying at reaching this milestone! Wah! She's a big girl now. She has been so excited about school because we've been talking it up, and Leighton has been telling her how much fun she'll have on the playground. Georgia is in the Gray Dolphins class, and we are so happy it is located RIGHT ACROSS the hall from Leighton's class. I'm hoping they see each other throughout the day.

I made Chad take the girls to school this morning because I knew I would cry, and he just called to say Georgia gave him a kiss and ran into her classroom...no tears! I can and also cannot believe it. I will be curious to see if she makes it through the whole day without shedding a tear (very much different than Leighton's first days and weeks at school)! I let Georgia pick out her backpack for school and of course she chose a ladybug very similar to Leighton's backpack. I got them both new fabulous lunch bags...I will dedicate a whole post to that because I think it's worth it!

0 First day of school!

Leighton is quick to tell me this is NOT her first day of school cause she has been before, but it's her first day of school in the Navy Seal class! Monday, I took both Leighton and Georgia to school to see their classrooms and meet their teachers. Leighton loves her teachers, and she's so excited because Skylar AND Ava are both in her class this year. She's going to have a blast, and I truly am excited for her! It is a big adjustment this year...Leighton will be going to preschool every day, and Georgia goes twice a week. Big changes for our household, but we are all looking forward to it.

1 Rockport

This past weekend while Chad was in California, I took the girls to Rockport and we stayed with Megan and her two kids, Parsons and Beverly. I'm sure I've mentioned before that my family and Megan's family used to spend summers in Rockport playing together, so it is something both Megan and I hoped to do with our children.We had SO MUCH FUN! Beverly is 6, so Leighton and Georgia were fascinated with her and her "maturity." Parsons and Leighton are the same age, so they got along fabulously. It was so fun watching our little offspring play together.

Saturday afternoon, we headed over to Port Aransas to the beach. One of Megan's friends has a condo there and they had staked out a place on the beach earlier in the day. Leighton and Georgia got to ride the ferry for the first time (Leighton told me she saw a pirate ship). The beach was so fun (but a lot of work without Chad there to help me). Georgia and Leighton were all over the place! Now that Leighton is so confident in the water, she was ready to hit the water and play. Georgia ran right out in the water but got knocked over pretty quickly by a wave, so she was a little more timid the rest of the afternoon.

Leighton and Georgia loved being around Megan the whole weekend, and she was especially helpful at the beach. She was Leighton's water buddy and they held hands and walked out in the waves quite a bit. It warmed my heart to see my daughter with my oldest friend.

Leighton JUST got goggles this past week and she wanted to wear them in the water. We've been trying to convince her to get some since she started swim lessons in January, but she had just refused. Like all things with Leighton, it is just best to let her do something when she's ready to! I have to say, seeing her in goggles makes me smile and giggle because I think she looks so darn cute!

This was a lucky weekend for my camera: Leighton wanted to pose for pictures! (Maybe because I told her I wanted her Daddy to see what fun she was having at the beach.)

We played on the beach for a couple of hours, ate a picnic dinner thanks to Megan's friends, and then we headed back up to the condo for showers and a little more play time.

We got back to our place pretty late, and the girls zonked out. The next morning, Beverly read some princess stories to Leighton, which was so sweet.

Parsons and Georgia were playing with this train set and I ran to get my camera because I thought it was such a sweet moment. Right when I took the picture, I heard Parsons say "Georgia, go play with your own toys!" Kids crack me up.

We hit the Rockport beach Sunday morning, which was A LOT easier than the Port Aransas beach. There was hardly any tide, it was shallow, and very calm. The girls were able to walk pretty far out into the water and still only have it up to their knees.

We collected hermit crabs in a bucket, which Beverly called her Hermit Crab Hotel. We named all the crabs we found: Sassy, Rainbow, Sarah, and Hermie. Georgia was extremely hesitant to get into the water for quite a while, but she finally gave in to her adventurous spirit and went for it.

I realized I didn't get one good picture of Beverly...I'm so sad. She's absolutely gorgeous and sweet and I wish I had a picture of her to share. She did have some wonderful bits of wisdom that she handed out:

"I never know a 4-year old and a 2-year old could be so complicated." (Hey Beverly, I didn't either!)
"I have had that toy before, and it was not a success." (When telling Georgia not to pick out a Barbie calculator.)

1 Georgia on the potty!!

This completely wasn't planned AT ALL, but tonight for some reason, I gave Georgia a pair of panties to put on just for a moment for fun. We have gotten out Leighton's little tiny potty that she trained on, and Georgia has sat down on it a handful of times and giggled, but no real potty training yet. (After what we went through with Leighton, my motto is definitely WAIT till she's ready!)

 

Well, tonight, Georgia sat down on the potty and SHE WENT! I almost fell over backwards because I was not expecting it! She looked totally startled and she stood up right away. I FREAKED out and hugged her and called Chad and told him. She REFUSES to take the panties off now...uh oh! We may have opened a big ol can of worms! In any case, we will see what happens with this, if anything, but today is the official day Georgia went pee-pee on the potty for the first time! WOW!!

1 This and that

After Ava's party last weekend, we went over to Gordon and Leslie's and played over there and had dinner. When we got home, for the first time ever, Georgia fell asleep on the sofa. It was adorable. I was wondering if she would be one of those babies that would stay asleep while I picked her up and carried her to bed. Uh, my answer was NO. She woke up right away and screamed the whole way down the hall. Thankfully, she fell asleep again quickly.

Every night when Daddy comes home from work, the girls run around trying to find a good hiding place. Here they are anxiously awaiting his arrival under their dinner table. What cracks me up is when Chad walks in he says "Where are the girls?" trying to play along, and Georgia ALWAYS gives them away and yells "HERE WE ARE!!"

A couple of cute things Georgia is saying right now that make us laugh:
Penny the Poo = Winnie the Pooh
So Tonio = San Antonio
She also has been having me check under her crib before she goes to sleep to make sure there are no monsters hiding there.

2 Ava's birthday party

Saturday afternoon, all four of us went to the Pink Pokka Dot for Ava's 5th birthday party. It was SO MUCH FUN! The Pink Pokka Dot hosts parties for girls where they can "girl it up." The girls dressed up, had their hair and makeup done, had their nails painted, decorated crowns, had a tea party, danced, ate cupcakes and popcorn, and created their own glitter lotion. They all had a blast!

When we arrived, Georgia picked out a Tinkerbell dress, and went in the little changing area to put it on. And then she didn't come out for about 10 minutes. I thought surely she was pooping, but she was just hanging out. It was hilarious!

Leighton loved the dress she had on, so she wasn't ready to change out of it, but she got her nails painted right away.

After watching the other girls put on dresses though, Leighton was ready to join in the fun.

Snow White got her makeup done next. They all got to choose their eyeshadow and lip color. Of course, Leighton chose PINK!

Ava's brother Ben just turned 2, and he is such a little snuggler! He came up to me several times, trying to hold my hands, and he let me put him on my lap for the longest time. What a sweetie!

Both girls had their hair styled, and both sat perfectly still while it was being done.

Here's the birthday girl!

I loved that Leighton and Georgia both had on Snow White dresses! And I really loved Georgia's hair...it's never been pulled back like that before and I loved being able to see all of her pretty little face.

Lara and Skylar were also there at the party. Ava, Skylar, and Leighton are all in the same class at preschool this coming year, which is going to be so much fun!

Will Georgia ever let me do her hair like this at home? I doubt it, but it is so beautiful!

The woman painting nails asked me if Georgia ever gets her nails painted. I paint them all the time! She said she seemed like a pro at sitting still and letting them dry.

About halfway through the party, Leighton switched into a pink dress (of course).

Look at this adorable group of girls!

I think Georgia's favorite part of the party was the dancing...they did the Hokey Pokey, Chicken Dance, freeze dance, and more.

Here's Georgia saying FREEZE!

The party was smack dab at Georgia's nap time, so we sort of crossed our fingers and hoped for the best. Turns out, she was perfect. It was LATER that we received the effects of skipping nap time. Whew!

The girls were so excited to use REAL tea cups to have their tea party. (They were filled with pink lemonade.)

I can totally picture Leighton when she's grown up in this exact same scene...she looks so grown up to me here.

What a sweet little party! Perfect for this age and they really all loved every minute of it. We might be having a party of our own there sometime in the next few years!