Grace Turns 4

I was going to wait until Grace's doctor visit to give an update but who knows when I will get around to typing so here are a few pictures of her birthday party.  We had it at jump zone close to our house and then went out for pizza with both families.  Paul's extended family still wants to do birthdays so this is what sparked this post-party.  My side just included Amy and fam, Scott and fam, and Papa Dave.  

Jump zone was great.  It was a quick party and of course I stressed for weeks on whether or not we should have dinner but we ended up just doing snacks and cake and it was perfect.  A few highlights from the party.

-Grace loved playing with Samantha Bolt.  Clearly I am not surprised since Sam can run around with the best of them and Grace is very active.  

-Grace hates being the center of attention and for the fourth year in a row refused to blow out her candle.  Hilarious.  Charlotte ended up blowing out Grace's candle.  We sang twice... once with Michael sitting next to Grace and once with Sam sitting next to Grace.  I think Papa Dave got this on video however I have yet to see it.  

-Aunt Amy cracks me up and was seriously flying across the bouncy dinosaur pit.  It was hysterical.  I wish I had this on video.  I have never seen her do this before and clearly if you can imagine a 33 year old who is as small as the kids, then you would understand why this is so hilarious.  Of course the kids loved it too.  Papa Dave was also in the jumpy pit and even asked me beforehand if wearing shorts would work with the slides.  I told him the adults wouldn't be in the jumpy things... clearly I was wrong.  Hahahaha.  Here are some pics and hopefully I get around to posting some stats and Grace updates tomorrow after her appointment.

I love Grace's hair here.  It's the before picture.  Her pretty hair wasn't going to last long at the jumpy place.

Grace's "Golden" birthday.  She is obsessed with the number 4 and got quite upset yesterday when she realized the shirt she was wearing was a 3T.  I couldn't get a Brave balloon in time so the giant gold 4 had to do.  I knew she would love it. 

Hard to get a good family pic these days but we tried.

The lineup... Sam, Char, Mia, and Grace about to jump off with Amy.

Julianne was a very good girl and slept in the bjorn the whole party.  Of course she was up during the pizza part but it still worked out to my benefit.

Grace was hiding behind Michael during her cake singing.  Hilarious.

Daddy's girls!

Grace wanted a Brave cake because originally she wanted a Madagascar cake but I couldn't find any party supplies.  We went through all of the aisles of the party store and she didn't want any of them.  That included Tangled and Cinderella.  We then went to Walmart to see if they had Madagascar stuff and when Grace saw Brave she got all excited and said she wanted a Brave cake instead.  Hence, the theme.  

Singing "take two."  We thought it Samantha helped Grace she wouldn't be shy and would blow out the candle.  

We were wrong.  Hahahaha.

So we had to have Char-Char do it.  She's not shy at all!

Meghan and Seamus (Charlotte's future boyfriend!)

Some of Grace's friends.  Amelia, Ruth, Charlotte, Samantha, and Grace!

The rest of these pictures are from the restaurant after Jump Zone.  We basically had the restaurant to ourselves and the kids entertained themselves in the hallway by the bathroom.  They played red light green light amongst other games.  

Charlotte was antagonizing Luke.  

See Char in the background?  :)

Charlotte was angry about something.

So cute!  Grace loves her Aunt Amy!

Ava sat by Julianne practically the entire time!

I love this action shot of Grace and Michael seriously sprinting!

Potty Training-Charlotte Style

Ok so I fully admit that we are not as psychotic about potty training the second time around.  Also, with Charlotte it should be called "Poop training."  She is doing great with the potty.  Sure we have a few accidents and we are putting her in a pull up at night and for naps, but she seems to be going on her own and she can do the whole thing.  Pants down, get on potty, wipe, flush, wash, definitely worth waiting until she is older.  However, she has had a ton of poop accidents.  The pros- it isn't on my floor and I constantly am not soaking up pee.  The negs- well come on... it's poop.  Enough said!

Charlotte's Antics!

Charlotte loves kissing Julianne.  It is really sweet and each time she says, "Hi, Julianne."  It is more like, "Hi Juli...ANNE."  In fact she gets upset if she doesn't think she are emphasizing the Anne enough.  I have called her Jules a few times to which Charlotte has replied, "No, call her Jules... it's Juli...ANNE."  Hilarious.  Charlotte gets yelled at a lot because every time Julianne is sleeping she tries to kiss her face.  Although this is sweet, any one can realize why this is a problem.

A few other Charlotte moments.  Paul decided that we should sit in the front row during church for them to be able to see and hopefully behave better only to have Charlotte try to give the Deacon her baby bottle during the Homily.

After Grace's birthday party, we went out for pizza with the family and Charlotte started saying, "Whatever" to everyone while crossing her arms.  I think she gets that from me.  She also started walking around saying, "That's not fair," over and over again.  Finally she walked up to Amy out of nowhere and said, "Don't you be mad at my sister," in a very accusing tone.  I wish we had all of this on video because it was awesome.

March of Dimes Walk

We had a nice morning walking with the Luchansky/Noble clan and then had lunch together too!  Grace was very well behaved and did great walking.  No stroller for her.  Julianne lasted a good while but of course she got hungry about 3/4 of the way through so we had to pick up the pace.  Thanks for letting us walk with you Nobles!

The kids got to play outside for a little while before we ate.  Of course, Grace thought this was awesome because she loves to be daring and climb and jump off of everything!

Julianne's First Bath

She is not happy about being naked but she calmed down as soon as the warm washcloth was on her.

Charlotte wanted to help with the bath too!

Grace was a very good helper and washed Julianne!

I love this!  Seriously... where is she going?

A Busy Month Cont.- The Zoo

Another part of Paul's week off was a trip to the zoo with his mom.  The girls got to ride on the carousel at the zoo for the first time and also got to go to the Dolphin show which is Grace's favorite.  I happen to love the Dolphin show too.  We always bring our lunch and eat during the show or while we are waiting.  Charlotte is very intensely staring at the show while eating her apple and Grace is having a ball.  It makes me so happy to see her having this much fun which is why we keep going to the show.  This was baby Julianne's first trip to the zoo and she wasn't as cooperative as the girls.  I tried to feed her during the dolphin show which was slightly awkward but then when we were walking around I had to hold her most of the time.  I brought the bjorn to the zoo but left it in the car.  Next time, I will definitely have her in it.  I've learned in the last few days that she loves it and she usually falls asleep in it.  Oh well, you live and you learn.  At the end of the trip Paul's mom wanted to buy the girls something from the store.  Grace picked out a small elephant and Charlotte picked out a small dolphin.  I made it a point to let both girls know that the dolphin show, carousel ride, and gifts are not regular occurrences but it was fun for that day.

A Busy Month- The movies and the Dells

Over Julianne's first month of life, she was very busy.  She has gone to the movies, the zoo, and Wisconsin Dells already.  I think the fact that the other two have been cooped up all winter and we needed to get them out was motivation for taking on these feats.  The movie was easy.  Julianne slept and then I fed her while the girls watched the movie and ate "pah-corn."  I know you aren't supposed to use your phone but I took this during previews.  The movie was The Croods.  Not a Disney film but it was cute.  Grace asked me with about ten minutes left if we could go home.  I attribute that to the fact that it was a late movie because she told me later she loved it.

 

 Paul and I decided to take the girls to the Dells for a night because he took a week off between an old job and a new job.  New job is going well by the way.  We stayed at a small hotel with a small indoor water park.  Nothing like Kalahari or the Wilderness for people who go to the Dells.  The water was up to my calf and there were only two slides.  Not to say I still didn't have anxiety.  Charlotte fell about 10 times because she wouldn't listen and walk but she only left with minor bruises.  They both loved it and didn't want to leave.  We also went to dinner at Great Wolf Lodge where they had a wolf character come to greet the kids.  Grace wanted to watch but did not want her picture taken with the wolf.  Rewind to Disney World!  Charlotte on the other hand wanted a million turns.  We also got icecream and they played in the arcade.  It ended up being a great time.  The drive was not bad however because of the weather and food/potty stops it took us a little longer to get there than it did to get home.