Finding JOY in the Journey

Happy Birthday Kelsi

Kelsi is officially 1 year old! Here are a few pictures from her birthday a couple weeks ago. In typical one-year old fashion, she has taken up walking! Her approach was so different than Jessica's. I have on video Jes trying and trying and trying (and squeeling as she tried) to walk. Kelsi just did it. It has been hard to get any attempts on video because she stands up, walks a few steps, sits down and continues playing. I'm always amazed how quickly she learns a new skill because she just does it. This week she has really picked up walking and has gotten quite good. Today she was making the cutest babbling noises. She is so fun. She is actually a very different person when her older sister is not around.

Eating her birthday cupcake.

I got this great (and easy) idea off the frosting bottle.

More please!

Playing with her birthday present. Jes has really taken to this toy and any time Kelsi tries to play with it Jessica says "No Kelsi! It's not your birthday today!"

Jessica!

Jessica has been a busy girl this month-both having fun and getting into trouble!

We went on a camping trip with my family in June. It went pretty well minus the first night. Kelsi WOULD NOT sleep. All she wanted to do was nurse all night long and whenever I pulled her off while she was asleep, she would wake up and cry and cry and cry. Usually that would just be really annoying, but with tents and campsites all around us... Not to mention my nephew who woke up SCREAMING with night terrors--twice. It was a rough night for all. Kelsi started crying again at 5:30am and she and I finally packed up and left when it got somewhat light and slept at my sister's house (15 mintues away) from 6:00-10:15. Anyway, she woke up happy for the rest of the trip- the next night was uneventful. We had a great trip. We were all pretty tuckered, though. This was Jes in the car on the way home.

Jes wanted to go swimming so I heard drawers opening in her room and didn't think much of it until I went in a bit later... She never did find her swimming suit.

She has picked up a lovely habit this month of dumping bottles of stuff out. This particular time it was a bottle of dish soap. Here she is cleaning it up.

Sweet little girl- We love her even if she can be a handful.

Potty Training

Jessica and her cousin Pyper have been potty training and both are doing really well. We had tried a few times with Jes over the past few months and they didn't take, but this time we are thinking it will. They are both doing great. It is a lot more fun for them to be doing it together and they encourage each other. Plus, they love visiting the treasure chest together.

Kelsi!

Kelsi is starting to really get into stuff- such as our kitchen cupboards

Under the sink

And when is comes to Spaghetti- she loves it!
....all over the place!

Liberty Park

I took the girls to Liberty Park where they have a fun playground with a splash area. They had a great time- here are some of the results

Hair

A friend introduced me to a really cool blog http://shedoeshair.blogspot.com/ (thanks JoLynn) with all kinds of hair ideas and directions on how to do them. We also had a haircutting and styling enrichment a few weeks ago. Since then I have been a lot more creative with Jessica's hair. At the enrichment I learned about these cool curlers. I had tried velcro rollers and she woke up without a single curl or roller in her hair. Then I tried a curling iron but was afraid of burning her. Then I finally invested in these (at Sally's). They are called "curlformers" and they curl either over night or these were in for 1 1/2 - 2 hours Sunday morning.

They stay in really well- She could even jump on the trampoline in them (and they would dry even faster)

Yea for Curls!!!

Everyday Girls

We have a playground right out our front door (literally). They really enjoy swinging together.
A girl in our ward is a yoga instructor and she has started teaching us Yoga on Mondays and Kickboxing on Wednesdays. It is really fun. We just go to the church gym and all the kids run around and play while we work out. Here Jessica is demonstrating yoga on our new mat.
Kelsi is now 11 mos old. I cam't believe she turns one at the end of this month. This year has flown by!
Jes is playing "horsie" on her bed. She really likes her bed. My parents made this bed for me when I was Jessica's age, then it was my sister Kelley's and now it is Jessica's. It is really nice because it has a lip on it so she doesn't fall out. When Kelsi gets bigger we are going to make a trundle bed out of a crib mattress on a board with wheels. We will have to make it strong, though, because knowing Jessica there will be jumping involved. For Christmas I made Jessica a Classic Whinnie the Pooh quilt to go with the peach bed.

Kangaroo zoo

We went with some friends to a place called Kangaroo Zoo. It is filled with bouncy toys. The girls loved it. I was surprised at how much Kelsi enjoyed it.

Kelsi is such a happy little girl.

March Memories

Jes was knocking on the door wanting to come out of "quiet time" and she was all packed up ready to go "in". Very unfortunately, naptime is a thing of the past but we are valiantly trying to hold onto quiet time.

The girls LOVE taking baths together.
Easter Sunday night Jes was running in circles faster and faster and Grandma deciphered that she was super tired so she sent her in with Grandpa to watch a Shirley Temple show. I think they both needed it.
Yesterday, Monday the 24th, Jes was playing and running outside when she tripped on the sidewalk banged up her face. So much for taking pictures this week in their Easter dresses.