The Greatest Show on Earth

We took Charlotte to the Circus at the Gwinnett Arena with my parents and Bryce's parents. I was actually super nervous that she wasn't going to like it, especially in light of the fact that everything lately has been "scary". The Wonder Pets are scary. Baxter and Lola are scary when they run around here like crazies. The Lady at the grocery store is scary. The guy at the park watching his son on the slide is scary. Like I said, everything is scary. I warned Charlotte that it would be loud, and there would be a lot of people and a lot of lights. My Mom had the brilliant idea of bringing her ear muffs in case it was too loud and it really came in handy. Overall, Charlotte did a million times better than I thought she would. I could see the concern on her face when the show started, but she slowly got into it, and eventually clapped her hands and pointed things out. No tears all day!

The circus was actually much better than I remembered it. It is amazing how technologically advanced the show has become!





Possibly another life saver. Between Popcorn and Swedish Fish we could distract her at a moment's notice!


The tigers were being sweet and licking each other, which Charlotte loved...however it was her (and my) least favorite part of the show.


Charlotte watching the tight rope.









YAY! The circus was a success!

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me feel happy.....

I stayed home with a sick girl yesterday, but all this sunshine does wonders for making us feel better. Here are our pictures from the park last weekend:

Her first time down a slide head first!

Pretty toes

We painted Charlotte's toe nails for Valentine's day. I painted mine the same color, but mine aren't nearly as cute!

Happy Heart Day

Today was happy heart day instead of Valentine's day because my heart was so happy. Charlotte was so adorable all day. She had ENTIRELY too much sugar throughout the day but was a complete doll about everything. She kept saying "Happy Baleytimes day!".


We got Charlotte this beautiful cupcake from fresh market.


She took one bite and said "I don't like to be dirty", so we had to cut it up for her.


A fancy boa (Fancy Nancy would be proud!)


SO CUTE!


Minnie and Mickey wind up toys and matching suckers.

Bryce also sent me flowers at work, which was a complete and total surprise. When they got delivered to my classroom all of my students said "AWWWW....your husband really loves you!". Then one of them said "Why aren't you crying?!".....honestly I think I was in shock! It is amazing how one little perk can put a whole new spin on your entire day.



What a lovely happy heart day!

Valentine treats for my friends

We spent most of the day Sunday getting ready for Valentine's day. I really could have cared less about this day before, but it is SO MUCH FUN with a little girl around! Charlotte loves all things Valentine's, and we even decorated with some hearts around the house.

Charlotte preparing her Valentine cards:









We also made PINK rice crispy treats with heart sprinkles on them for Charlotte's friends at Mrs. D's house, but someone kept stealing all the marshmallows:





We tried out a new recipe for peanut butter and jelly cookies. Pretty good, but totally kid oriented:



Here's our Valentine bags for our friends....filled with kisses, stencils, kaleidoscope, and yummy treats

In a big girl bed

When we were putting Charlotte's crib together and I could still feel her wriggling around in my stomach I seriously could not imagine the day we would be converting her crib to a toddler bed. Now that the day is here, I find myself reeling at how fast time has flown by. Her room has stayed virtually the same for the last three years and I am still in shock when I walk into her room and see the bed has changed. She was SO excited when she saw us putting it together, she kept climbing up and down and we must have said "Don't jump on the bed!" at least 50 times. Then she would land on her butt and start kicking her legs up and down-she was out of control excited! We talked to her over and over again throughout the day about not getting out of her bed at night and to call for us in the morning when she was ready to get up (and also threw in there that it isn't morning until the sun is out!). We went through our night time routine like usual-bath, pjs, read one book, drank some water.....but no cuddle time tonight. She usually tries to stall out and ask a lot of questions about her book but tonight at soon as I said "the end", she said "I get in my big girl bed now". She crawled in and I covered her up and she said "bye, mommy". Just like that! No kisses or prayers or anything, just a polite get out! Ugh. So I let her have her space and went to our video monitor and cried a little tear just thinking about how LITTLE she was the first time we laid her in there and my thought that "maybe we bought her bed too big" and now she is stretched end to end and doesn't need me around any more. Sigh.

Well, she almost doesn't need me around any more. She woke up four times throughout the night with "I'm scared", or "I bumped my head" (she's used to laying up against the bumper) but with a kiss and a tuck back in she went right to sleep. I just keep trying to remind myself that this was my job. To help her grow into her own person and not need us around any more. I just didn't know it would hurt my heart like this to see it happen so fast!

Cupcakes

I forgot to mention what Monica and Charlotte did while we were on our date night.....made cupcakes! They are absolutely delicious, and Charlotte cannot stop talking about them! When I walked into her room the next morning she screamed "You're Back!". Promptly followed with "We made CUPCAKES!!!". Needless to say, Charlotte wants cupcakes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack!

An awfully big adventure

I planned a date night to celebrate Bryce's birthday and his parents came over to watch Charlotte for us while we went out. We started out at Two Urban Licks, a place Bryce has been dieing to try since we saw it on a food network show. It's this very spacious warehouse that has been converted into a hip restaurant with a beautiful skyline view of Atlanta. As usual, we over indulged and ate way too much but I also managed to get a good table and free dessert by using a website called opentable.com. I made our reservations online and included a comment that we were celebrating a birthday. We tried the Hazelnut Mousse and the Espresso Creme Brule. I would go back just for those two things!

After dinner we went to the 360` Theater that has been set up in a tent outside the World of Coke to see Peter Pan. It was a very cool experience in a round space with seats all around the outside and the stage in the middle. I was also in awe of the acrobatics and special effects they did with projections. I was wistful for Charlotte at first thinking that she would have enjoyed the show, but by the end we were both glad we didn't bring her. The website said not for children under five but even the "older" kids who were there were scared. It was a wonderful show for adults though and we really enjoyed the night out on the town.

A Growth Chart of Peter Pan Characters



Bryce and I looked and looked at the gift shop but couldn't find anything to suit Charlotte. We ended up picking out an O-range sucker the size of her face and she couldn't have been more delighted. She got the cutest smile on her face and said "That's a really really big o-range sucker!". She licked on this thing for a good thirty minutes, and you can't even tell she's touched it. She might have a really really big o-range sucker for the next year!

Bryce's Birthday

Bryce's birthday is February 3rd, so Charlotte and I decided to celebrate him by making him his favorite kind of cake....an ice cream cake! When I came across this recipe for an Oreo and Fudge Ice Cream cake, I knew I had to give it a try-it was full of Bryce's favorite things! Charlotte and I stopped by the store on our way home from Mrs. D's house to try and be covert in our surprise cake but I definitely learned that the ride home made everything a little too melty to work well with. Charlotte didn't mind though, she loved licking the dripping mess from her fingers frequently. We washed hands so many times my hands felt chapped! Unfortunately, Bryce came home in the middle of our escapade and I sent Charlotte to the door to tell him to cover his eyes. Instead she ran to the door and shouted "Look Daddy, we makin' a cake!". Nice! Bryce was a good sport though and went to the other room so we could finish. We added an orange star to the top to make it a little more presentable since I couldn't get the topping just right and voila, a delicious icecream cake!


I tried to make a 2 and a 9 out of the candles!


Happy Birthday, Dear Daddy.....

YUM!