Jump and Play

Saturday we went to a birthday party at an indoor playground. The AC repairman left 15 minutes before the party started…and it was 45+ minutes away so we were a bit late. Caitlin had a blast celebrating Emma’s birthday.

Emma’s little brother was born a month ago. How Christina managed to pull off a birthday party with a newborn is beyond me! She is super mom!

Caitlin was the only kid at the party more interested in cake than icing.

Sean didn’t get any cake yet, but he enjoyed playing with the toys and spending time with Daddy.

I tried to prep Caitlin for the party by telling her we would “jump and play.” She took a little while to warm up, but she LOVED the floor level trampoline.

With all the fun at the party, the kids were all talk about the carousel and train outside.

It was a lovely party! Thank you for having us!

Post Potty Present

For those who are not at the chasing small children stage in their lives…or who have no interest in my daughter’s potty habits you have been warned!

Caitlin is in the middle of potty training. She has no problem peeing on the potty. At school she has been going through only about 7 diapers in 5 days. (Pre-potty training we sent 20-25 a week)
The one challenge has been poop. She would announce to us that she was going, but she refused the potty. “No. I go in my diaper.” We’d promised prizes. We begged. It wasn’t working.

Right after dinner last night I picked her up as soon as she started to announce her intentions. She protested a little, but I plopped her on her little potty and she did it. She was quite proud of herself and then she remembered: a surprise!

We continued with bath time and the Irishman took her to Target while I nursed Sean and put him to bed. The idea was to get a bag of candy or something she could have every time she “goes.” She insisted on wearing pants with her dress. The Irishman couldn’t find any, so she picked out what she wanted before they left the house.

As soon as they walked into the store Caitlin started her favorite game. He caught the tale end of it on his phone.

Here she is trying to decide. Thankfully we didn’t end up with a helmet!

Here is the end result:

Munchie mix, microwave popcorn, and princess bubbles.

Not bad for poopie presents!

Wordless Wednesday: Beach

Busy at the Beach

Like most two-year-olds Caitlin can be described as busy. The beach is no exception. She touched the stand and started playing.

How grown up does she look in this picture? The Irishman actually went back to the car to add more money to our parking meter as soon as we realized it was such a perfect beach day. I had a fear of Caitlin deciding to dart into the ocean without me, but she played in the sand and waited for Daddy to get back.

She loves to throw the sand. Thankfully we’ve convinced her to throw at the ocean and not at people.

And of course there is no place better than the beach for running wild!

We tried to get the kids together for a picture with Daddy, but there was too much fun to be had!

She took a break for some animal crackers and water…

but then was off to destroy a sand castle.

Is it any surprise she fell asleep in the car on the way home?

Teeth at the Beach

These were my favorite pictures of the weekend. We went back to the beach – this time with our umbrella and the good camera. Sean had just come up to sit under the umbrella with me after splashing in the waves with Daddy. I had a chance to take some close ups of my favorite ten-month-old.

We love our smiling, teething little guy!

At least we remembered the kids...

When we got to the beach on Monday we discovered that despite having lugged enough gear with us for a small army, we’d forgotten a few things. We had the umbrella and the umbrella stand….but the pole was at home. The kids’ hats? At home. The bucket and shovel were the same. I had the good camera with me, but the battery was dead. We only live three miles from the beach so we almost headed back home for things, but we decided to see how long we lasted.

We found a hat for Caitlin in the car. The hat for Sean we found in the car was too small.

It wasn’t long before we decided Sean needed the hat far more than Caitlin. We turned it inside out to try to make it a little more manly. At least the yellow bow didn’t show this way!

As for a bucket, we keep a tub of diapers in the back of the car. We won’t comment on the state of the backseat now that the tub has been reassigned as a bucket. ; )

As for the camera, thankfully our phones have some pretty handy cameras on them.

We were all smiles.

Sean’s favorite part was eating sand. It figures!

I took Sean up to nurse and we watched Daddy and Caitlin splash in the waves.

We did remember water and snacks. After playing hard for the morning we all needed a break!

My beach skirt became a makeshift tent when Sean nursed himself to dreamland for a bit.

We had a blast even with all our forgotten gear. I’m sure we will be spending a lot of time at the beach this summer!

Tuesday after school Caitlin was already begging to go back to the beach and the pool. Thankfully they were “closed” was enough for her, but I’m not sure how long we will be able to use that excuse!