Summer Turns 3

On Summer's birthday, May 5th, I took the girls to the Aquarium. We hadn't been since Ellie's 2nd birthday and I was pregnant with Summer. Summer's favorite part was the "fish." I loved the shark tunnel the best, but everything was awesome. 

I picked up this number 3 balloon at the party store the night before. Ellie and I also surprised her in the morning with two pink balloons. Summer woke up saying, "My birthday now?"

Summer's "3" shirt is from one of my favorite Etsy shops. 

Aquarium

Checking out the hippos

 Ellie was surprised she touched a sting ray!

Summer told me she wanted Jules pizza for dinner and cupcakes for dessert. We picked up the cupcakes from our favorite local bakery, Velvet Sky.

Favorites:

Food: Lime Chobani yogurt, Grandmom's green pasta (pesto pasta)

Phrase: "best!" ("Best Mommy!"), "dupe dupe dupe" ("dupe dupe high")

Toys: Barbies, dolls

Pretend Play: Mom and kid (her and Ellie)

Activities: coloring, swings, running, playing tag

Summer is so silly and loves making us laugh. She has started talking more recently but still comes up with her own phrases. "Dupe dupe high" for pushing her super duper high on the swing. To express her love for us she will say, "best Mommy!" If I give her a kiss on the lips that also ends up on her chin or above her lip she will grab my face and give me a gentle kiss again to make sure we only kiss on the lips. She loves to wear dresses and twirl just like her big sister. Speaking of her big sis, she loves to do everything Ellie does. Especially when we are taking pictures. If Ellie crosses her feet so does Summer. Recently Summer has started posing herself for pictures with her hands on her hips. It's too cute. Summer will not let me put her hair up. Sometimes she will keep in a bow or a headband for a short period of time. When I show her pictures how she used to wear her hair a year ago she will tell me no. She is still in her crib and since we moved the dresser to the other side of the room she hasn't tried to climb out again. She is still nursing about once a day. 

We love you, Summer!

Ellie's Last Day of School

Friday was Ellie's last day of school and her last day of Pre-School. I was really feeling emotional about it because she is going to Kindergarten in the fall. I don't want to think about this until the end of the summer when I need to. I told Ellie that I was sad it was her last day and she replied, "But, Mommy, I will spend all summer with you." I am going to soak up these days! 

I love the side by side pictures from the first day of school to the last:

She still loves to pose for the camera!

To celebrate her last day I took the girls to a Farm that we had never been to before. It's known for its ice cream and I wanted to treat them. Ellie convinced me to get the strawberry and I'm still thinking about it. It was so good! We also played a round of mini golf. Summer got a hole in one on the first hole! I wish I had captured her reaction on video. She screamed and jumped up and down. It was really hot that afternoon- in the high 80s and sunny. It was a fun day!

It is officially summer time for us!

Day In Our Life

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day in the 80s. It went from rainy and chilly to summer weather in a week. I'm not complaining- we needed it! Yesterday was a really good day. A preview to what our summer will look like as my girls are now 5 and 3 years old. I started out in the morning painting my nails (I realize if I get a manicure every few weeks I can maintain them myself and change the color when needed). The girls came in and wanted their nails painted, too. Since they are impatient with drying I turned on one of Ellie's favorite songs, "Uma Thurman", and we danced while shaking our hands to dry. It was quite a funny scene.

After dropping Ellie at school Summer and I went to Corner Bakery since I hadn't eaten breakfast yet. She is always so fun to hang out with. I really have enjoyed our one on one time together when Ellie has been in school this year. Overnight she started talking in complete sentences and her new phrases at the moment are "nothing" and "actually, yes" and "actually, no." But, in the cutest voice, of course. She is always making me smile. Next door is a nail salon and I was thinking we didn't have too much time that morning and I really needed a pedicure so I decided to take Summer with me for one. I was surprised by how good she was. She sat next to me the entire time and hardly made a peep.

I love my new sandals!

We picked up Ellie a little early from school because they had 12:00 hair appointments. Summer did great sitting on my lap, but was so serious and not loving it. Ellie was the perfect client. They both got about 3 inches off! Healthy for the summertime.

Summer has started copying Ellie with the hands on her hips. Too cute!!

Summer's shorts / shoes / Ellie's dress / shoes

We went home to use Summer's new sprinkler, but I couldn't get it to work so we just used the hose. As I was spraying them (and they were so excited) Ellie said to me, "Mommy, if you don't get wet you aren't having fun." So, I put on my bathing suit and they sprayed me with the freezing cold water. We had a lot of laughs. Then, the girls had lunch and Popsicles outside while I got some stuff done in the house. 

Summer's swimsuit

 Ellie's swimsuit

I am looking forward to our summer break, which starts next week. Ellie's last day of Pre-K is tomorrow! 

** Affiliate links included in this post. 

Mother's Day Recap + Motherhood Lately

As I've said many times becoming a Mom was the best thing that ever happened to me. The girls have made me a better person. I'm happier than I've ever been in my life and I love life more now that they are in it. I am more patient, loving, forgiving and overall more positive because of my girls. With motherhood comes tantrums, sleepless nights, whining and crying, and the girls hitting me or each other. It's not easy! Recently there have been a couple times when Ellie just does not listen to me at all and will refuse to do something when I ask her to, which makes it extremely difficult and frustrating when we are trying to get out of the door for school in the morning. Twice she has hit me and it really upset me- not actually because she hit me, but because I didn't know how to help her. As I always do during a tantrum, I told her I am here for a hug when she is ready. It just made me really sad that I didn't know what to do to calm her down. Both times I told her later in the day that we are not allowed to hit anyone and when she hits me it really hurts and makes me really sad. She seems really apologetic and after the tantrum clings to my side and tells me how much she loves me. These situations are very challenging, but it's so important that we (her and I and my husband and I) find ways to help her express her feelings in a better way. One thing I haven't done in a while is have a date with just Ellie. I think both girls need that and I want to do that as soon as I'm able to with my schedule. I also promised her that her Daddy and I would take just her to buy her a new bike (her big birthday present) and she is excited for that time with us. Summer also has a new thing where when she gets upset she sits down, crosses her arms and pouts. It's actually pretty cute. However, 80% of the time they are great listeners and very helpful and fun to be around!

My Mother's Day gift to myself was a massage Saturday evening. It was so nice and relaxing. Afterwards, I ate at my favorite sushi restaurant. Sunday we went early to my favorite brunch spot, Cake. They opened at 10, but they do not take reservations so we knew we had to get in line early. We were second in line and as they opened the line was down the block. The food did not disappoint (my favorite is their French toast). It was delicious and filled me up till dinner. After breakfast we walked to the playground to let the girls burn off some energy. Plus, today was the first day it hasn't rained in over a week. We missed being outside! This afternoon I had to get some cleaning and wash done and I went to the plant store for our new planters on our porch. We ended our night with dinner at my parents with my brother and his family.