And Then Life Got Really Busy and I Forgot to Blog

Well, I haven’t really forgotten. Let’s just say blogging is that item at the top of my to do list that I haven’t gotten to recently.

Since I last blogged BACK IN APRIL, our daughter finished her first year of kindergarten:

Last day of kindergarten

We embarked on an epic road trip to New Mexico so our daughter could attend mural camp (where Gramma is the program director) and we could visit family:

Family photo
Mural camp
Mural camp
Mural camp with Gramma
City of Rocks
City of Rocks
Cousins by a petroglyph at City of Rocks
Family at the City of Rocks

Then there’s the awesome everyday stuff: ballet and swim classes, mama-daughter ice skating dates every weekend (since December!), beach trips and pool parties, park outings, bike rides, and daily walks after dinner.

Teaching her brother about jumping off park benches

Oh, and we finally got around to night-weaning the toddler. (At 30+ pounds now, we figured mama getting sleep was more important than him continuing to eat every hour, all night long.) I’m feeling soooo much more energized now that he’s just breastfeeding every hour during the day. (Really.)

Breastfeeding at City of Rocks

Hence the blog post.

May this trend continue…

His First Birthday

Happy birthday to our sweet, happy boy!

Happy first birthday to our boy

This past year flew by so fast.

Newborn baby's first weeks at home

Wasn’t he just born?

Happy first birthday to our boy

At one year old he’s an adventurous climber and explorer, yet coordinated and steady on his feet…

Happy first birthday to our boy

Loves music and dancing…

Happy first birthday to our boy

Crazy about carrying, dropping, and throwing (!!!) balls…

Happy first birthday to our boy

He loves playing outside and exploring the natural world (i.e. picking up rocks, trying to eat acorns, and carrying around little sticks or leaves)…

Happy first birthday to our boy

Curious about food preparation and cooking, which means he’s always near our side (and wanting us to hold him) when we’re working in the kitchen…

Happy first birthday to our boy

Loves to eat everything, although he’s particularly partial to braised meats, fresh fruits, and greens sautéed with garlic…

Happy first birthday to our boy

Skilled at drinking from a straw and enjoys blowing bubbles in between sips…

Happy first birthday to our boy

Chats all day long (no surprise there!), though we’re just starting to understand snippets of what he’s saying. He now clearly enunciates the words mom-mom, dad, big sister’s name, up, ba (for, you guessed it, ball), more, and done…

Happy first birthday to our boy

Loving and cuddly, he adores running towards us with his arms outstretched, ready to give us hugs. (He also gets terribly affronted if Daddy doesn’t pick him up the moment he walks in the door after work. How dare Daddy try to put down his bag first!)

Happy first birthday to our boy

His world revolves around observing and playing with big sister, and he wants to do everything she finds interesting…

Happy first birthday to our boy

Happy birthday, sweet boy! We so love you.

Love,
Mama

Solar System Birthday Party

In the past our daughter has insisted her birthday party be about dress-up and princesses and tea parties, which is all well and good, but frankly it’s not really my thing. Each year I’d hope for a literary or science theme (cause that’s how I roll), then gracefully support our daughter’s desire for pink and pouf and finery, with tricycles.

Solar System Birthday Party

Imagine my surprise and delight when our kid announced that this year she wanted a “solar system tea party” theme. It quickly became just a solar system party when I pointed out, gently, that our little girl doesn’t particularly like drinking tea. Ahem.

Now a space, galaxy, astronomy, planet, solar system themed birthday party sounds like a whole lot of fun to me! Throw 20 kids, plus their mamas, in the mix and we’re talking about a whole lot of crazy fun (in our little house!)…

We made solar system lollipops (using these stickers) to go with glow-in-the-dark sun, moon, and stars temporary tattoos, glow sticks, and chocolate earth balls for the goody bags:

Solar System Birthday Party
Solar System Birthday Party
Solar System Birthday Party

Our homemade cake featured our daughter’s favorite constellations Orion, Sirius, and the Little Dipper (with Polaris):

Solar System Birthday Party
Solar System Birthday Party

Our banner, made using NASA photographs of moons, planets, stars, and nebulae, hung proudly above historical photos of the birthday girl:

Solar System Birthday Party
Solar System Birthday Party

We displayed some of our homeschooling projects, which I’ll blog about in more depth soon:

Solar System Birthday Party
Solar System Birthday Party

The kids colored constellations of the night sky (photocopied from this coloring book) and made spiral galaxy mobiles:

Solar System Birthday Party
Solar System Birthday Party

The sunny, warm weather allowed for outdoor scooter and bike fun for this sweet group of kids:

Solar System Birthday Party

The most perfect day!

Solar System Birthday Party

Six, Say What?!

Our little girl young lady turns six years old today!

Happy birthday to our daughter

She’s full of sass and fire, keeps us on our toes, and brings such tremendous joy and love to our lives.

She’s a passionate reader…

Happy birthday to our daughter
Happy birthday to our daughter
Happy birthday to our daughter

Kind, loving big sister and friend…

Happy birthday to our daughter
Happy birthday to our daughter

Brilliant, endlessly curious, and dedicated student…

Happy birthday to our daughter

Talented cook and able helper…

Happy birthday to our daughter
Happy birthday to our daughter

And fun, strong girl…

Happy birthday to our daughter
Happy birthday to our daughter

We love you, sweetheart.

Happy birthday to our daughter
Happy birthday to our daughter
Three cheers for the birthday girl!

xoxo,
Mama