Pinkalicious Playdate

Melissa planned a Pinkalicious playdate for Anna Kate, Isabella & Hannah Sunday afternoon after church... we took them out to lunch and to see Pinkalicious the Musical!

Hannah, Kentia & Melissa.  -BELOW- Isa and Anna Kate, too excited to eat!





Waiting for the play to start. Anna Kate & Hannah got into a can of spray glitter in the car on the drive downtown ~ Anna Kate plastered the front of her hair pretty good. More than one casual observer made the comment that it was reminiscent of a movie that I've never seen, and that's all I'll say about that...

Anna Kate was ecstatic to run into Maren at the play. Maren was in her preschool class with Miss Barbara for the past two years, but she attends a different preschool this year. Anna Kate expresses weekly how much she missed Maren, Lauren & Bailey (her three non-returning preschool pals). She asks me all the time, "Do you remember my friend Maren?" I think it worries her that the memory is growing distant. I keep telling myself I have to arrange a playdate with them! AK's face just lit up when she saw Maren and her little sister Ansley. Anna Kate and Maren held hands down the aisle, walking out of the theater together.





Face-painting! Anna Kate instructed me to work around her cupcake when bathing her later that afternoon... tricky. Her cupcake was a little streaky at church that night, but it was still there!  -BELOW- Isabella, Hannah & Anna Kate after the show... it was super-cute and just the right length for a children's show. Although Hannah nearly broke into tears when the audience erupted into applause at the close of the opening number - she turned to me and exclaimed, "It's already over?!!"





Running around outside the theater. Anna Kate found that bunny in the playroom the night before... she didn't remember that it used to be the equivalent of her blankey. She never was blankey baby like Wesley & Carigan, but for a good year or two (from around 9 months until after she turned two) AK took this bunny to bed every night. She called it, "hippety-hop" because when she was a little baby I would demonstrate how a bunny would go hippety-hop, and that's what stuck. I remember many an evening searching frantically for hippety-hop so she could go to bed! I was a little sad she didn't remember, but my reminder but have resonated with her somehow because she wanted to take the bunny to church with her the next morning and refused to put it down for the rest of the day.





Anna Kate took this picture of Melissa & me ~ I had to crop it to center it, but otherwise not too shabby... especially considering I'm fairly certain she was not looking through the viewfinder when she snapped this!  January 29, 2012





Look it's... art.



Isabella wanted to take pictures with my camera after seeing me let Anna Kate snap some pictures, so I put my camera around her neck and the girls disappeared around the other end of Big Ugly. I couldn't believe it when I downloaded my pics later... Isa's pictures look like professional portraits!

We got home with just enough time for AK to roll around in the dirt in the backyard necessitating a speed-bath before heading out for evening service. And even though it had been less than two hours since the girls last saw each other, they were excitedly reunited in Bible class. Love how they love each other!

TWO!

... that's what Carigan answers when we ask, "How old are you, Carigan?" We tried to work on holding up two fingers but it just wasn't happenin', so we regrouped and worked on holding up one finger on each hand. She's a pro at that now. I was lucky to actually snap this pic at the right moment to capture a Carigan "TWO!" in action.





We had Carigan's birthday party the afternoon of her actual birthday. We went with a Minnie Mouse theme... Carigan loves both Minnie Mouse and Elmo, but we did an Elmo theme for Welsey's 2nd birthday, so Minnie Mouse was the clear choice. Anna Kate's 2nd birthday was Teletubbies, which Carigan has never seen even once because all we ever had was an old VHS tape and our VHS player broke a long time ago. But Teletubbies were already out of production for a long time before Anna Kate become obsessed with them. I had to work hard and be creative to plan that party! Minnie Mouse was much easier!

Carigan woke up with glassy eyes and a low-grade fever. There was no backing out of the party though, so we put ibuprofen in a sippy cup with some punch and she perked up very quickly and was a ham for the rest of the day.

Briana (a teen in our youth group and a budding cake decorator) did the amazing fondant cupcake toppers. She even wrote Carigan's name in Disney font - she's incredibly talented! I tried to make Minnie Mouse shapes out of my mints, but when I put them all on the plate together they just looked like a plate of mints. I tried adding a flower bow on each Minnie, but I doubt it helped... at least they tasted good!

I purchased the digital files for these wrappers on Etsy and developed a good kindergarten case of scissor cramp cutting out all of this, plus the banners and decorations! It was worth it though... Carigan was thrilled to be surrounded by "Meee Mou!" I love the way she says Minnie Mouse - for weeks I thought she was saying, "Ni Hao" which is hello in Chinese (Ni Hao Kai-Lan is a show on Nick Jr that teaches some Chinese). But then I realized she was actually saying Minnie Mouse... still sounds an awful lot like Ni Hao!





This has never happened before... the kids all just spontaneously posed for us. Usually you have to have several cattle ranchers on hand to herd this many kids into one shot, but they seriously just decided to pose on their own. It was the most bizarre thing - started with just the Hoyt girls and Carigan hugging and saying "Cheese!" and then the others started streaming in like a Pied Piper was playing! No one wanted to be left out. I have about 30 shots of this because I didn't know when to quit photographing a swarm of posing children... usually you snap until the group disperses but I just kept snapping and snapping because the mommy manual doesn't have a chapter on what to do if they keep posing!
Left to Right: Marianne, Anna Kate, Christian, Hannah, Grace, Emory, Katie, Jahna, Carigan, Emma, Cambelle, and Isabella.

Poor Wesley... he waited on the porch for 45 minutes for his friend Will to arrive and refused to come inside to join the other kids in the previous photo. I finally went to check my phone and sure enough, I had a text from Will's mom that Kerrigan was sick so they couldn't come. Wes was disappointed by finally decided to join the gaggle of girls for the rest of the party.

Anna Kate & Hannah.  -BELOW- Carigan's first time at the wheel - she's been a passenger many times but now that she's the big 0-2, she was determined to figure out how to make this thing go!

I took Carigan's foot and pushed down on the gas pedal - her face lit up when she realized she held the power in her foot! Everybody better watch out now!

Wesley & Cambelle.  -BELOW- Grace & Carigan

My one picture of the grown-ups - Grandpa & Mimi were there for Carigan's big day too!  I don't think it truly sank in with Carigan that this whole shin-dig was about her until we started to sing Happy Birthday to her - she got really shy and looked around like, "Why is everyone looking at me?" I couldn't get her to blow on the candles either, but we got close enough that together I think we managed to exhale the candles out.

"Cupcake" is a word Carigan has down verrrry well.  -BELOW- Marianne, Jahna, Cambelle & Emory

Carigan is the only toddler I've seen that was more interested in her cards than her presents! We had to coax her to pull out her presents because all she wanted to do was rip open envelopes and look at cards.  But with cards like this, who wouldn't? :o)

Finally getting the hang of it...

Wesley did get a little overwhelmed by all these strong-personality girls ~ Daddy had to crawl up into the treehouse with him and provide some manly solace!

Near the end of the party some of the girls came running outside and announced that they needed an audience for their show. The "show" consisted mainly of Hannah & Isa barking out orders at everyone while Marianne & Anna Kate twirled, but the audience was mesmerized nonetheless...

We're so blessed to have such treasured friends - they are always there to help us celebrate a joyful moment or to provide comfort in the midst of our sadder moments. They mean the world to us and are truly our family down here in Florida.

I think it's safe to say we officially wore her out... the next morning I was on the computer downloading these pictures and Anna Kate ran in saying, "Mommy, Mommy, Carigan is asleep on the ground!" This is definitely a first. This is the child that NEVER falls asleep on the go and will only sleep in her crib. Even as a little baby of only a few months, she could stay awake almost all day if we were out and about and not near a dark quiet room! I was completely shocked. When I picked her up to put her in her crib, little Minnie accessories fell off her back... she was literally asleep on top of her toys! I guess it was a good party. :o)

So long, farewell Kindermusik!

It's already begun... Michael and I had to sit down with a pen and paper and literally graph the kids' extracurriculars and force each one to choose ONE activity to participate in this spring and nix everything else. Anna Kate is headed back to dance... we took the fall off just because it's so expensive and because we were so busy running Wesley around to all of his t-ball practices and games. I wanted to see if she'd really miss dance or if she'd go on without missing a beat, but she really did miss it and lamented her loss all the time. So I called the studio and found a spot for her in a ballet and tap class that's for ages 4-9... the combo class she did last year was for ages 3-5, and I while the girls were stink'n adorable on stage in their costumes, I was really underwhelmed with what they actually learned. The teacher spent most of her time trying to round up the runners. We visited the ages 4-9 class the Monday before we left for the cruise, and Anna Kate LOVED it. It was much more technical and they actually worked on the bars and were doing their little plies and everything. AK was loving it! I was concerned about there being girls so much older than Anna Kate in the class, but there were a couple of other 4-year-olds and AK did very well during her visit. The teacher assessed that she was ready for the class. She even got measured for her costume for her recital this summer! So Anna Kate is a happy camper... I mean dancer. :o)

Carigan and I have been going to Kindermusik every Wednesday morning since the beginning of the school year. While Carigan absolutely loves it, I think it's pretty overpriced for just sitting in a circle and singing songs, but up until now it was the only activity that Carigan was old enough to enroll in where she could spend time interacting with other kids her age. Now that she's turning two, we've going to try gymnastics. It's actually cheaper than Kindermusik and I can sit and sing songs at home, but I can't provide a cool gym at home! So the Wednesday before we left for the cruise was our last day in Kindermusik. I brought the camera to try to record a glimpse of the fun we've been having all year.

The class is supposed to be like a mommy/child bonding time, but Carigan spends most of the time in the instructor's lap while I watch all the other mommies interact with their babies! She picked up real quick that Ms. Debbie was in charge, and she wanted to lay her claim... Carigan closely monitored both my lap and Ms. Debbie's lap. If any other child came close to encroaching on her territory, she was ready to hop up and run across the room to bump 'em out!




The scarves were here favorite music prop throughout the year. We were supposed to sway them during the slow parts of the music and bounce them during the upbeat parts of the music, but all the kids mostly just enjoyed putting them on their heads.

Carigan and Kerrigan - Heather and I wanted to make sure our girls had an opportunity to see each other this year, so we signed up together. But while Carigan was the wild and crazy girl in class, Kerrigan rarely left Heather's lap except to retrieve and return instruments and props. But she always smiled big when it was time for Mommy to swing her or bounce her. :o)





All the kids loved to clean up the toys... it was always Kerrigan's favorite part of every class! If only they loved to clean up this much at home!  The kids were supposed to imagine that the white felt (below) falling from above was snow, but Kindermusik needs to make an amendment to the Florida curriculum because NONE of the kids ever had a clue what they were supposed to be imagining. Debbie would always try to get the kids to lie down so she could drop the snow on them, and half of the kids (including Carigan) always started to bawl thinking we were trying to get them to go to sleep!





The parachute was a big hit, but they'd only played with it once before. All the kids except for Carigan and Kerrigan liked to lie under it... our girls refused to leave their posts on the outside.  We did make some good friends in Kindermusik and we'll miss them, but we hope to be able to arrange our own play-dates soon.





Miss Debbie ends every class by giving out stamps and singing good-bye to each child... they get a stamp if they sing "good-bye" back.  And as the semester has progressed, so did the stamping... by the the last class we were getting both hands, both feet, our tummy and our chest stamped. Carigan truly enjoyed Kindermusik and I'm grateful to have made some happy memories together.





The last day of Kindermusik was "Wacky Wednesday" at the preschool. Anna Kate picked out her own getup, right down to how she wanted me to fix her hair... and she was very specific! I think she was a winner!

Wesley has been doing Bricks for Kidz, a Lego-building class after school on Wednesdays as his extracurricular throughout the winter. He's getting ready to start ball again, but I'll probably let him stay in Bricks for Kidz because I just don't have the heart to tear him away from his beloved Legos! So much for the one-activity-per kid rule...