Papa Visit

My dad was in a need of a weekend away and his birthday was coming up so he planned a long birthday weekend with his favorite little girls. As always visits with our family are wonderful but too short. On Papa's birthday we got the Happy Birthday banner hung, made pancakes and had a great morning at the park. When it came time to celebrate his birthday Sunday evening we were all a bit preoccupied. It literally wasn't until we were ready to sing happy birthday to him that it occurred to me that we hadn't even bothered to make (or at the very least buy him) a birthday cake. Have no fear, we stuck a candle in a pile of chicken wings and watched KU beat North Carolina to secure our spot in the Final Four. Way better than any birthday cake!

Baby J was ready for the big game but had to pass some time in the swing before the game started.

Gee, thank you Amelia for "helping" Juliet at the park.

Our fashionista continues to make us smile with her outfit selections. Here she is in her new Cubbies hat which Papa bought her. She frequently asks, "is it windy? If so I should take my hat." As the previous picture shows, she LOVES her Jayhawk track suit and Cubs hate. I do love them both but not together :). 

The birthday boy and his favorite oldest granddaughter  on his birthday morning. Papa was even decked out in Mardi Gras beads. Why? Because that is what Amelia told him he was supposed to wear. I wonder where she gets her bossiness from...

The Children's Museum is a perfect way to pass a rainy Chicago morning.

Fire women Amelia, ready to head into the burning building.

Amelia especially loves the water areas at museums. Here are her and Papa painting with water. Juliet  was observing...

Using scissors for the first time while making a "balancing toy" at the Children's Museum.

Happy Birthday Juliet

Baby J is technically not a baby anymore. Although with how tiny she is and just starting to walk she still is much more baby than toddler. Truth be told I'm happy to hold onto Baby J as long as possible! Below are pictures from her shared birthday party with Georgia who turned 4 on the 3rd.
 

Baby girl, here are some things about your first year I don't want to forget:

• Juliet is one loved little girl who spent her first year surrounded by family and great friends.
• She is an easy going babe.
• When she is ready to go to sleep. Put her to bed. Immediately.
• She is a little snuggle bug. This little girl loves to cuddle and when Mark picks her up from daycare she is frequently curled up with one of her providers.
• When Juliet is having a good stretch she is a great sleeper but the littlest things get her off and have us all awake at night. Seriously, she is a year shouldn't we be done with up all nights?!?!?!?!
• Ear infections. Enough said.
• She is a social lady. Her smile lights up a room and one look at her from a stranger and she is grinning ear to ear.
• She is in love with Ms. Gaby at daycare. Even before she could crawl if Ms. Gaby was on the other side of the room, Juliet would roll across the room until she got to her.
• Juliet did a great job helping GranAnn recover from major surgery. At five weeks old she obediently slept in GranAnn's arms while she recovered.
• Sisters - I think the girls are acting just like sisters are supposed to. Juliet seems to adore Amelia and wants to follow her and do whatever she is doing. Amelia adores Juliet and then the next second screams "MINES" while yanking away whatevery Juliet is holding.
• She has discovered the spice cabinet which was a favorite past time of her sister's.
• A round of "If Your Happy and You Know It" always makes for a happy little girl!
• Parenting two little girls and working is hard. Mark and I are tired. All. The. Time.
• She isn't staying any words yet. Maybe Amelia and I should stop talking so much so Juliet can start getting in a word or two...
• Loves vegetables. Hates fruit. Really loves mac-n-cheese. Wouldn't touch her birthday cupcake.
• She did it! She has us wrapped around her little fingers and has filled our hearts with joy!
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
  

  
  

Sunshine 2012 - Part 2

After a drive across the desert we arrived at Papa's house. EE flew in from Kansas for a long weekend under the southwest sun!

Amelia and her buddy "Cookie" got their photos taken in front of a cactus. Amelia was very interested in cacti and got great at pointing them out to us. Amelia proudly picked out here new giraffe pj's layered over her beloved M&M shirt...

Lets play a game of seeing how hyper daddy can make his daugters! Papa was all set up for his granddaughter's to visit and Amelia was super excited when she walked in to a tent and tunnel. Since we wouldn't let her take her kitchen with us on vacation (the mean parents that we are) at least she had yard full of toys!

As with the Chicago Zoo I'm pretty sure Amelia's (and EE's) favorite part of the Phoenix Zoo was the carousel.

Our Baby J is getting SO close to walking and loved trying out her new moves barefoot and in the grass.

This walking stuff is serious business!

On our last night of vacation after we put Juliet to bed we headed out to the fire pit for s'mores.

Maybe Amelia isn't as big as we give her credit for sometimes as her eyes just got heavier and heavier...

Sunggled up with Papa and her pink blankie it was clearly beyond her bedtime!

Sunshine 2012 - Part 1

We still haven't figured out a good routine for visiting family. Between Kansas, Minnesota, Colorado, California and Arizona we never have enough vacation time or money to make all the family and friend trips we want to each year. Why of course this is a good problem but me being the guilt filled person I am always worry that we aren't getting around to see all the family and friends we very genuinely want to see. This year we decided to try something new. We took a nine day vacation starting in Palm Desert then finishing in Phoenix. All in all it was a fabulous vacation and we thank our very generous hostess and hosts! After Southwest four our lost luggage (for the second straight trip, not that I'm keeping track) we were ready to start the first half of our trip in Palm Desert.

My inner Mary Ruth comes out before vacations when I layout clothes, make packing lists, etc well in advance of when a normal person packs. I suppose Amelia picked up on my actions and decided she of course needed to pack. Amelia loaded up her baby doll crib and pushed it around the condo telling us it was her suitcase. Why she is naked with a towel around her I have no idea.....

Once we made it to JuJu and Poppy's both girls took good naps and when they woke up they were ready to start vacation.

Fashion according to Amelia; pick out which ever clothes and accessories have the most colors and patterns then top off the outfit with lots of purple. Oh how I wish I had a picture of Amelia's outfit when she went on a special afternoon date with Poppy. He took her up to the clubhouse for a golf car ride and snack. According to JuJu she was wearing her princess dress with her Bears shirt underneath it and her winter stocking cap. Apparantly she got many comments on her outfit. Poppy treated her to a chocolate chip energy bar and her first Coca Cola. Not only was she in hog heaven she was wired when they got back!

A sunset round of golf with Poppy was well worth a four hour flight!

Amelia loved the putting course so we spent lots of time riding the golf cart to/from the course and watching Amelia perfect her swing.

By now you are probably wondering where Baby J was? She was busy going to urgent care to get a prescription for her pink eye. It wouldn't be a Lang Family vacation without checking out the local healthcare facilities. She didn't let her pink eye ruin her vacation!

A short two weeks shy of her first birthday we decided to do a practice birthday party with the grandparents. Poor Juliet was still bumming from her pink eye so she just kind of stared at the cupcakes

I know the day will come when I watch a car drive off with Amelia behind the wheel and Juliet in the passengar seat playing DJ but we are a long way from that! Thank goodness the golf cart wasn't on or I think the girls would have been ready to go for a spin.

Papa made the drive from Phoenix to pick us up for the next leg of our trip. The only complaint I have is that we weren't in either place long enough. So although we were super sad to say bye to California it was time to head to Phoenix.

January

We have no dull moments in the Lang household thus January has been no exception...

Amelia is wanting to grow up way too fast for our liking. She constantly wants to do what I am doing; put on make-up, put on chapstick, etc. Although I do wear clothes. Mark and I were starting to get excited that we were nearing the end of Amelia's latest "naked" phase. However the naked phase has been replaced with the change outfits phase. On weekends we can go through at least six outfits in one day. All of which are hand selected by Amelia. None of which match.

Seriously? It was nice enough in Chicago in January to go to the park. It was heaven for all of us to get out of  the condo, feel some sunshine and run off some energy.

GranAnn and her little girls ready to race down the double slides.

She is mobile! No more leaving Juliet for a moment to run and throw a load of laundry in. She is  crawling all over the place and tries so hard to keep up with her sister.

Play cooking and taking care of her dolls are  at the top of Amelia's favorites list these days.

The girls fighting over string cheese. Never mind that we had a full package of string cheese so there was plenty to go around. Being a sister to a sister I know darn good and well that this is just the very beginning of many years of pointless fighting....

Amelia making real pizza dough with her daddy so we could host Sophia and her family for a pizza party.

"Baby J what's wrong?"
We do try to give our girls nothing but the best nutrition; nursing, homemade baby food, organic milk, etc. However at some point you just have to introduce them to Kraft mac-n-cheese. So what was wrong with Baby J? We wouldn't give her any more baby crack aka Kraft mac-n-cheese. Watching her eat Kraft mac-n-cheese for first time was hilarious. She had Mark, Amelia and I all in tears. We would give her the bowl full, she would tip her head back, dump the mac-n-cheese on her face and shovel it in her mouth as fast as her cubby hands would move. I think the onesie is trashed and we have a carb and fake cheese addict in our house! Strike two against us in raising kiddos with healthy eating habits....

Christmas 2011

We celebrated Christmas in style with my dad in from Phoenix, Merrill from Lawrence, JuJu/Poppy from California and their favorite cousin's Georgia and Charlie. The girls were good and spoiled. I was feeling very cleaver after I put a bunch of their gifts away in a closet and thought I would just pull them out over the next few months. Amelia didn't ask for the hidden gifts so I figured I would get away with this move for one more year. Then out of the blue yesterday she starting asking for specific gifts. So much for that idea.....

Thank you grandparents for all the wonderful gifts!!! We have two very happy girls with all their new loot.

Gingerbread houses are becoming an Amelia/Papa tradition.

The final masterpiece.

Hitting the road to JuJu/Poppy's for Christmas Eve.

Ah, a family photo. Now we just need to all be in the same place at the same time, all showered, with someone who has a camera and actually get the girls to look at the camera.

Those four grandkids can turn a room upside down in 2.2 seconds. Add a room full of presents and platters of JuJu's cookies and they can really do some damage!

EE's favorite present this year, a new niece!

Merry First Christmas baby! All she wanted were her two front teeth and they came in just in time.

Amelia preparing her first beef tenderloin in "Papa's Kitchen" or so we allow him to believe.

"Papa's Sous Chef" was taking her lessons very seriously....

All Amelia wanted for Christmas was a Dora kitchen. I didn't want a Dora kitchen sitting in our small home so we opted for the IKEA version and were a bit nervous she would have a meltdown Christmas morning. Low and behold she had long forgotten the Dora kitchen she saw at Target and is in love with her new kitchen. She takes her cooking very seriously and pizza is her latest specialty. If you are wanting a pizza with pepperoni, M&M's and orange watermelon (aka cantaloupe) you know where to come....

Trying out a new hair style.