Cleaning is Playing

No, I don't make my child clean her own toys. My child chooses to clean her own toys. Ziva watched me clean her chalkboard one day and has been obsessed with cleaning it herself. Saves me time.

Stop and Smell the Roses

Kissing the Rose?

Your turn.

Barns are for More than Animals

Ziva found a new use for her barn. I like how she is looking at a barn animal book as she is sitting on a barn.

Crafty

I wanted to take a moment and highlight my "Aunt" Janie. She has been a friend of my mothers for years. They bought bell bottoms and ironed their hair together. Here in the present Janie has found herself to be very crafty. More impressively she takes the time to make stuff for others. Below are just a couple of items we have gotten from her. Thank you for all your hard work Aunt Janie.

Ziva's 2nd Birthday Card. Those are real buttons.

Inside of Ziva's card.

My birthday card from this year. The designed was all hand folded by her.

Apron for Ziva's birthday. She loves wearing it.

The Birthday Video

I want to start by saying that we do not think it is cute when children throw temper tantrums and we always cringe when such wins money on AMV. Having said that, here's the documentation of Ziva's birthday party meltdown. I truly believe it was out of fear and being overwhelmed more than being a bratty kid. Of course what parent wouldn't tell themselves that. Smile...sigh. This video is our second attempt to sing to Ziva. We just pushed through. The first time Jason set her down and she ran away. That did not make it to video. It was the funniest part but I was too busy being concerned for my child...and my reputation as a parent. Lord forgive me. Here's what y'all missed.

First Hair Cut

It was very impromptu. I had stopped by and talked to Lina (our Italian stylist-seriously she's from Italy-I love talking to her about the differences of Americans and Europeans-anyway) about trimming Ziva's hair. Really just taking a tad off the ends of the curls on the top. So they sit better. Well, I took Z by to show Lina what I was talking about when out of no where Lina says "It's nothing, look" and starts cutting. She didn't cut much at all. Jason almost passed out. I'm glad she did it the way she did. We have been discussing this for weeks now and I was ready to do something about it. The back of her hair looks better. The curls aren't getting tangled in each other. These pictures are us "remaking" the situation. Even though Ziva was in my arms when it happened and she didn't have a clue what happened.

"No Clue"

It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To!

Apparently, Ziva found all the attention, once directed only on her, too much. It's probably my fault because I didn't talk to her about it. Never crossed my mind. When everyone gathered around her and started singing to her, Ziva flipped out. She started screaming and crying. She finally escaped to her "fort" were she hid till Jason drug her out. Again we sang. Again she cried. Poor little thing. She was happy once she was left alone. She loved all the people there but hated being the center of things. Once I figure out my new "flip" camera I will down load the video. It is funny.

"Nooooo!"




You can see her in the corner of the picture struggling to get down.




This is the picture just before she broke from Jason, dashed through the crowd and hid in her "fort." She even held the flaps together trying to keep us out.

Jason making her pretend to blow out the candles. I am a little sad because I didn't get any sweet in front of the cake pictures.

Finally, left alone.

Note: Look at how the adults randomly put their cups on the kids table. That's safe.

Party Fun

These are only a handful of pictures taken from the party. So many to chose from. Grabbed a couple.

Jackie and Ziva

Hiding in her tent with Ashley

I know it looks like Ashley is feeding Ziva dip with a spoon. She's not but this picture cracks me up.

Hanging out in the "fort" with daddy.

New purse.

Reading break time.

Daddy at the kids table.

Joshua Light. His twin wasn't feeling up to pictures.

Happy Birthday Ziva Grace!

Birthday #2 has come and gone. It was exciting and sad (b/c she keeps getting older) all at once. She loved it. I choose a circus minus the scary clowns theme. I really chose it because of the coloring. I knew Ziva would love all the bright coloring and since it's not part of her everyday life it would stand out. That it did. I think though that Ziva thought the decorations were called "happy birthday." She kept pointing to them and then would say "happy irthday" or something close. Jason helped a lot since I'm already so prego that climbing on a ladder isn't the best thing right now. Didn't he do a good job...under my close supervision.

Let's take a moment and discuss the huge circus tent in my tiny front room. I actually picked that up for Ziva before Christmas. It helped inspire the theme so we held it back for her birthday. The night before when we (or Jason only) put it together we were in for a big shock. The thing is huge. It did not look that big on the box. It had kids on the picture with it and it wasn't much larger than they were. So now I have a circus tent in my front room that Ziva calls "fort." Awesome! It is also a lot more complicated than I planned. So there is no popping it up for an afternoon.

The colors of the cake were suppose to be bolder and more primary but it tasted good. I think next year I will try to do the cake myself. Go ahead and laugh, honey, but I am being serious.

Random Holiday Cheer

Reading the paper with Poppy.

Go Hogs...barely win!

Peppermints are great. Why do I hardly get them mommy?

Christmas Spoils

First off, our child got way too much for Christmas. I guess that is how it goes. I don't post these pictures to show off what she got but to show how she had to investigate everything. It was so cute and so fun. And very calm. Ziva actually had to throw away the gift wrapping as she carefully tore it from the present. Drove Jason crazy. Made my job easier.

"Hmmm...what is this?"

"Mmmm, plastic cheese pancakes."

Stocking time.

Note: In my family stockings were done last. In Jason's family they are opened first. Guess whose family tradition won out?

BLING

Reading one of her new books with daddy.

Z actually stopped and "read" these once she opened them. We had to take them away so she would open other gifts.

Okay, so matching tshirts aren't the coolest but I had to get them these. Several months ago Jason taught Ziva about "forts" and she has loved them ever since. It is one of their favorite games together. So this tshirt so very perfect.

"The Perfect Chair Fort" by Jess Fink from www.threadless.com.

Threadless is an awesome tshirt website.

Twins would be no issue for Z.

Twas the Moment Before Christmas...

This Christmas was one of the many to come where giving and "setting up" the gifts, that were for others, was more fun for us than opening our own gifts. Not that we believe that Christmas is all about the gifts, but it is fun to stand back and watch. This year we started our own family tradition of reading the story of Christ's birth before we opened gifts. We did this in Ziva's room since we knew once she made it into the front room with the unwrapped gifts there would be no waiting. Below is the scene set by Jason. He put together the kitchen, which came in many, many, many more piece than we thought and really than were necessary. The doll cradle and highchair were refinished by Jason. They were at my grandmother's house until she past away this past year. Since they had been for the grand kids to play with and I have the only little girl right now they were given to me. Jason sanded them and repainted them. He did a really good job. He did a really good job on all the gifts, as well as on leading our little family's Christmas.

"Waiting"

Maybe one of the only times Jason will be up before the kids on Christmas.