Happy birthday, Penny Jane!

Ahhh, how things change.

Penny's first birthday:

Penny's second birthday:

Last year we were hunting for sunscreen for the guests. Today we were making sure our pants were tucked into our boots so we didn't get snow in them.

We had a party planned for today, but because of the snowstorm we had to cancel it. Most of the guests were coming from either Denver or Colorado Springs, and snow accumulation here are really unpredictable; we didn't want any of our guests to get stranded on their way home. So the party is rescheduled for Wednesday, and today we just had our own little family celebration. PJ chose a double fudge cake and pink vanilla icing with sprinkles, and the girls helped me bake them, of course:

I'm not sure what made the difference, but WOW were the super light and fluffy. They were so airy that we ended up with 36 mini cupcakes and 23 regular sized ones! And I even forgot to follow the high altitude directions; usually when I do that they sink in the middle and are really dense. Weird.

After they were all out, we headed outside to frolic in the snow:

It was really nice out, despite the fact that it was still snowing. It must have been hovering just at 32* because part of the driveway was already melted and the snow actually packed! No powder! So that means we got to build a real snowman:

After I'd frosted them, I let Penny Jane decorate with the sprinkles. It was so cute watching her apply them tiny finger-pinch's-worth at a time:

And then, of course, this evening we did the candle and singing:

She blew out the candle all by herself on the second try!

So now I have a two year old. It's already proving to be a very different experience this time around. She is just *more* than Abby was in a lot of ways, behavior-wise. She's already throwing tantrums, already much more feisty than Abby was at this age. Three was the tough year for Abby. I think it's going to be this year with PJ. But with a face that cute:

giving you kisses (and occasionally licking you) how bad can it possibly be?

The Sensory Room

It was recommended to us by the folks at the STAR Center that PJ (and Abby, too) be enrolled in a gym class of some kind because muscle input can help with sensory issues. We looked into them and realized we'd be spending around $100 a month if both of them took classes, and that just seemed a little nuts. So we started thinking about it and doing a little research, and decided to build our own sensory room in the basement.

The STAR Center gave us a ton of handouts and recommendations for stuff to put down there. Jumping is a big help with sensory stuff, so we decided to go all out. For PJ's birthday we bought this:

Needless to say, this has been a big hit today.

And speaking of PJ, her language is growing by leaps and bounds. This is a conversation she had with Dan after her first round in the bouncy house. Dan was in the kitchen making a snack, and PJ was sitting on the floor watching TV. Out of nowhere she says...

P: I love my bouncy house daddy!

D: You do?

P: Ya! Thank you daddy.

D: You’re welcome darling.

P: Daddy hugs?

D: You want a hug?

P: Uhh. (This is her version of yes.)

D: Of course honey.

[wonderful hugging]

P: Happy Birthday daddy.

D: Well, it’s your birthday honey. Happy Birthday to you. Your birthday is Friday.

P: We have a party?

D: Sure we’ll have a party.

P: Hats?

D: You want hats?

P: Uhh.

D: Sure. I think we can find some hats.

P: Thank you daddy.

*melt*

The post in which I brag about how awesome my kids are

The girls are sick, again. Just colds again, thankfully--with PJ's exacerbated by some heinous teething--but regardless we've been sticking close to home to avoid spreading germs. I've been trying to take the kids out to places with indoor play areas at least once a week, but this week that obviously didn't happen. Both them and I were starting to get some serious cabin fever, so today I decided to figure out something we could do.

Normally if I'm looking for somewhere to go get a treat and hang out for a bit, we'll go to Crowfoot Valley. They've got a nice little back room with couches and toys, and the girls love going there. But again, because of the germs I didn't want to bring them there and have their snotty hands all over the toys. So instead I decided we'd bring our entertainment with us and go downtown to Dazbog. We packed up their backpacks--PJ's adorable ladybug one with the Nintendo DS and Abby's big-girl one with her Bugsby and book and her magnet dress-up bears. All three are toys that can each play, and they can both play with the bears at the same time, so I figured these would keep them both happy for at least half an hour.

We got drinks and muffins (one blueberry and one lemon poppyseed, yummy!) and set up camp in the back corner. Unfortunately, the only spot left with armchairs that actually had arms was right next to a lady sitting at a table doing a Bible study. I was worried we'd be distracting, so I pointed her out to the girls and we talked about how hard it is to think straight when kids are being loud. I figured if we had to leave, then at least we'd gotten out and gotten a treat and seen the light of day for once.

The girls hopped up into the two armchairs and took their plates on their laps. They both sat and ate for five solid minutes, looking around silently and occasionally drinking their little cups of water that I'd tucked next to them in the seats. When they were done, we swept up the crumbs (someone needs to invent a pocket-sized Dustbuster, I would totally get one) and got out their toys, and for the next HOUR they played quietly, sometimes together but mostly on their own, and they required so little from me that I was actually able to concentrate enough to work on learning a new crochet stitch. At one point the lady looked behind her at the girls, then looked at me and said, "They are so good!" I was so proud of them!

When it was time to go, there was no complaining, no pouting or tears. They helped me clean up, waited patiently while I gathered our trash and cleaned up their seats again (muffins are so darn CRUMBLY!), and followed me out like little baby ducklings. Into the car without a struggle, and home we came.

On the way to Dazbog I started wondering if I was nuts. Sick kids aren't known for their good behavior. Sick two- and four-year-olds are especially challenging when they're under the weather. But wow. I was so impressed and proud--and relieved. This opens up a whole new set of places we can go to get out of the house for a while. Suddenly all the days that we can't go out to 'kid places' don't seem to daunting.

Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum

(My apologies on the giant images--I'm taking them straight from the web since I can't download them to my computer, and no matter how I set the parameters they keep coming up this way. Sorry!!)


When we were here on vacation last January, Dan and I went on a drive with the girls one afternoon to sightsee in the mountains. We stopped in Golden, a little town with a quaint historic main street that holds restaurants, an indie bookstore, and one of only six quilt museums in the country, the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.


It might not sound that exciting, but wow, these are absolutely beautiful works of art. They have a permanent collection of over 300 quilts, and lots of temporary exhibits, like their current one, "Wranglers Among Us", which is made up of quilts made by men, from retirees to high school students. It's a small place, basically just one big room, with about twenty quilts on display (at least right now), but I could have stayed there for an hour. Unfortunately, we barely made it 30 minutes because the girls were not quite as enamored with the quilts as Dan and I were. (Sorry there aren't any pictures, they don't allow photography in the museum.)

Across the street and down the block is the Golden Quilt Company, a sweet little fabric shop with tons of beautiful fabric and quilts for sale on the walls. Between that store and the museum I was pretty darn inspired--inspired enough to let Abby choose her own pack of fat quarters to buy so she can start her very first sewing project. Hopefully we'll have lots of pictures of that to post someday soon!

Our morning adventure ended with a dead car battery that Dan successfully jumped in the midst of snow flurries with a booster pack he bought ages ago as part of our car emergency kit. Boy was I thankful for his foresight! (And for a product that did what it was supposed to with zero fuss.) Three cheers for handy husbands!

We definitely want to go back in the spring when the weather is a little warmer so we can wanders the main street and check out the museum again--WITHOUT the girls, if possible. Or at least with girls who aren't teething and whining about how hungry they are. :)

Abby is reading!!

What's really funny about all this is that, in the two days before this happened, I read two separate articles about children learning to read. They were both talking about how direct instruction of reading isn't always necessary, and that merely providing children with answers to their questions about language (what letter is that, what is that word, what sound does that letter make) and reading to them as much as possible will, in most instances, lead to the child learning to read herself.

And she did--in OfficeMax, of all places.

We were waiting for a fax to send, and the girls were wandering around the copy center area. The trash can was labeled TRASH, and Abby went over, looked at it, and sounded out, "T-R-A-S-H." We haven't done any letter stuff at all in weeks, so this came seemingly out of nowhere. "Good job," I said. "But when we see an S and an H together, they make a new sound, SH."

Abby looked at the letters again. "T-R-A-SH."

"That's right," I said, thinking she would move on to something else now. But instead, she sounded them out again, faster, but with the sounds all still separated. But then she stood up a little straight and said, "Oh--trash. Trash!!!"

After dinner that night, we started writing more words. Or, more accurately, *she* started writing them as I spelled them out for her, and then she'd sound them out. We did all the three-letter "ap" words (cap, sap, zap, etc.) and a few "ob" words (Bob, cob). Then tonight she asked to do more, so we did a few "at" words before she got bored and wanted to move on. But tonight's words came much more quickly and easily to her--she ran the sounds together much more readily.

She is so proud of herself, and I must admit I got a little teary watching my little baby read. On top of all this is the fact that we've started doing a children's catechism with her in the evenings, and she's already memorized all the answers to the first seven questions. That little sponge of a mind is working overtime these days!