Some Video

I had to post this, watch Emma how she walks on the beach with her shoes on....she's so funny.

And then her playing Table Tennis with her daddy, was the first time she experienced it and I was surprised how she'd attempt to serve.  She enjoyed this and Cornhole.

Our Summer Vacation

 

We went on our summer beach holiday this past weekend.  Rod and I both recall our holidays to the coast  when we were younger and how much fun they always were, so we want to create those same memories for our girls growing up.

Rod's work schedule has been super crazy, we've only had him home for the weekends since May.  Every week he has had flight delays, so it's late nights returning home, early morning wake ups when Emma comes to our room, and then it's non stop, as all Emma wants to do is play with her daddy the entire weekend and things like mowing the lawn needs to be taken care of.  Then to leave on Monday again at the crack of dawn....no rest!! As for me it's also on the go 24/7, if it's not the girls, its the house....so as you can imagine we were really looking forward to this long weekend away, time to do nothing but sit by the pool or at the beach and just enjoy our family time.  Funny how easy things seem when you run everything through your mind.  But between naps, meals and bedtime for the girls it still feels as busy as if we were at home, at least I didn't have to cook though!

Myrtle Beach is about 3 hours away, we left on Emma's birthday.  We intended leaving around 5:30/6pm after Rod's work was done and having an early dinner.  But things got pushed out, after skype calls from the family to wish Emma Happy Birthday, eating dinner, bathing kids, blowing candles for Emma's bday and packing all the last minute things, we finally left at 7:30/8, after turning around and having to go back home for something we forgot - will that ever not happen?

Addi slept all the way to Myrtle, but Emma was way too excited, she stayed awake until about 20 minutes before arriving.  When we got to the hotel the kids got their second wind and were wide awake, both jumping around and laughing.  Tough to settle them down and get them to sleep, poor Addi was probably confused as to what the time was....finally around 12 or 1 Addi settled down and slept, but Emma did not sleep until 2am!  Always so exciting to be on holiday - I think she takes after me that way, I get way too excited when I go on vacation.

So in Rod's mind what he had envisioned for this trip was to sleep in late, swim with Emma the entire day and just hang out with her.  He got to do the swimming and hanging out part.  We were hoping on a miracle that the kids would fall into vacation mode and their clocks would set to wake around 8am (in my mind I'm thinking please let those darkening curtains work!) but of course that would be too good to be true.....our wake ups were at 7am, which wasn't too bad, gave us an early start and the chance to enjoy more of the day!  In my mind I envisioned sitting by the pool watching Emma and Rod, catching up on my tan and maybe a magazine, holding Addison who would sit ever so still next to me watching her sister and daddy swim.  Instead I got more of a room tan than a sun tan Addi needs her crib when it comes to sleep, although on the last day I managed to nap her in the Ergo carrier while walking along the beach - to have the life of Addison - nothing better than falling asleep to the sounds of the ocean and be carried.  All reading material was forgotten at home.  And as for Addison sitting still, hmm I forget we're not talking about Emma here, we're lucky if our little monkey can sit still for 5 seconds....she was using MY babyrolls as leverage to climb to who knows where - my head, the table behind me, the chair back..... pulling at my bathing suit and getting so excited watching her sister swim.  The pool water was pretty cold more so for me than Addi, so we just hung outside of the pool for the most part.   

Emma loved the pool, thats where she wanted to be all the time!  When we asked her if she wanted to go to the beach, she'd say no.  Because Rod and I wanted to walk on the beach she was forced to, silly girl went from, " I love Myrtle Beach!" to "I don't like Myrtle Beach!" in less than a second!  And the facial expression as her feet touched the sand - with shoes on mind you - was as if we were dragging her through sludge. Thankfully she can tolerate the solid sand where it's wet.

washing off the sand that never got on her feet

We're hoping that with more trips to the beach, she'll overcome this 'fear', one day!  Although I'm thinking that Emma is our citygirl!  Addison will probably be the one game for the beach and getting her hands and feet dirty, maybe convincing her big sister that it's not that bad!

 

 

The weather wasn't the best, we had a grey/overcast day, a rainy day and then the sunniest day was the day we left, isn't that always the case?
Our days would consist of early morning walks and breakfast on the beach, Emma swimming with dad while I napped Addi in the room, finding a nice spot for lunch, afternoon naps, more swimming, dinner, more swimming then sleep.  With the girls we were forced for an earlier bed time which was a good thing and Rod and I managed to fit in a nap which we wouldn't usually get, so overall is was pretty restful although really busy with the girls on the go during their wake time and Addison isn't even walking yet!   We had one day of rain, which was a bummer as we really could not do anything - everything is outdoors in Myrtle, I think we ended up eating most of the day trying the local food....

Overall a wonderful family getaway.  We had such a fun time, Emma didn't want to go home, kept saying, "I don't want to go home, I want to stay at the hotel".  We eventually had to tell her we had no more money and the lady at the hotel told us we had to leave. :)  Everything with Emma these days is, "But I want to Mom!", or "I have to Mom!"

Holidays are never long enough!  But it's always good to come home to your bed and to eat more healthy.   After all the fried foods on offer, our bodies were craving vegetables when we got home.
Can't believe our Summer is almost over, can already feel it's not as hot, and the sun is rising a little later and setting a bit earlier.  Summer sure whizzed by!

Smiley Addi

Emma and Daddy feeding the ducks and fish

 

My two girls!

 

I love this little munchkin!

 

YES! to breakfast on the beach!

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Emma

This weekend we celebrated Emma's 3rd Birthday!  Such a fun morning!  We hosted her party at a venue called DefyGravity, this place consists of trampolines in a huge room where you can go crazy and jump all over the show.  They also have a dodgeball enclosure and a huge foam pit to jump into.  When we first looked at this venue I thought it lacked the child appeal and didn't think Emma would like it, but after looking at the party room I came out to see Emma jumping on the trampoline and she was so happy.  Rod immediately said, we're having the party here.   Emma had been looking forward to this party for so long, it couldn't come soon enough for her. 

From the time I asked her what type of cake she wanted (back in June) and what she wanted to do on her birthday we had been invited to 4 birthdays, each time she would see a gift wrapped up, she'd ask if it were for her, I felt so bad each time saying no, it's not for you, it's for so and so for their birthday.  She kept asking when it would be her birthday. Firstly I told her about the months, that her birthday was in August, and when August came she would say, "now it's my birthday?" I eventually made her a countdown, tearing off the number of days left till her party.  So soon as she woke up on Saturday morning I asked her what day it was, she said Saturday, hooray it's my party! And asked if her friends were going to come ot her party.  Such a huge smile and so happy!  Getting dressed and brushing teeth was such a breeze, wish it could be her birthday everyday!

When we got to Defy Gravity, Emma wanted to head straight for the trampolines, so very excited!  First we had to go to our party room, and set up, everything was...the cake for me?  the balloons for me?  the party for me?  Poor child sounds so deprived, like we never spoil her, but the great thing is that she seems so grateful for everything, something I wouldn't expect from someone so small.  Eventually all the guests arrived and we could go jump.  I wasn't sure if all the kids would jump for an entire hour, I had set aside crafts for the kids incase they got bored from jumping, but every kid jumped the entire hour and everyone had so much fun!  Emma did not stop, she wasn't her shy, timid self, which was great, she was even game to jump into the foam pit with Rod, which I would have thought would have been daunting for her.  But she did it over and over!
 

in the foam pit

When our hour was up of jumping, Emma snuck in every jump she could before clearing the floor.  It was so worth having her party there.  So wonderful to see all the kids sit down after jumping, and devour their pizza's and gulp down their juices....such tired little bodies.  One thing guaranteed is that they'd all have good naps that day!

We wish the party could have lasted longer.  After packing up our things and leaving, Emma looked at the room and said, "My party is all over now?"  She wasn't sad, but I was when she said this. 
She then carried on to say, "Thank You mommy for my party!"  Then I knew she had a great time!  Just like I know she enjoys my cooking, when she starts eating and two bites in, she'll say, "Thank you mommy for making a nice dinner!" So, Party - successful.

Such fun planning for her party...back in June I had asked Emma what type of birthday cake she wanted for her birthday.  She immediately said a castle cake, so I googled Princess Birthday Cakes and so many ideas popped up!
After looking at tons of images, watching youtube videos of how to make a castle cake, how to lay fondant etc etc, debating doing regular icing or fondant, baking test cakes and eating them....I felt pretty confident that I could pull this off for Emma.....until two weeks before, Emma told me she did not want a castle cake, but infact a Dinosaur Cake...are you kidding me?  I thought in my head, too bad girl, you're getting this castle cake whether you like it for not.

After last years cake, I learnt a few things, so had to give it another go this year, initally I just wanted to buy a cake but the more I looked online that more I was convinced that I could do it myself.
Until Friday night, first mistake was that I made the bottom tier of the cake a bit higher than I anticipated and ended up not knowing how much fondant to use to cover this....then at 11pm when I laid the fondant on the final cake it began to tear!! AHHH!!!!!
Had no idea what my back up plan was if this cake did not turn out!  So a bit of a panic attack and with Rods help and him calming me down, we managed to cover the cake with just 2 subtle cracks, which in the end I didn't even bother trying to cover up, made it look more homemade.  I was happy with the final result, and Emma's reaction to the cake was priceless and so worth all the effort.  Although  I did think to myself, that maybe next year we'll just do a regular square cake with icing, or if I've set an expectation for Emma, her and Addison will have to have a joint party every year, so I just have to do this this once a year. :)
The thing with these cakes, you start getting more and more ideas, so you tend to get a bit carried away....

So much fun though on all fronts!

Emma you turn 3 today (or in your world, 2 years months - we need to work on that), we cannot believe you're growing into this "big" girl!  We love you so much!!  Your laughs, smiles, enquiring mind and imagination brings us so much happiness, a different type of happiness that makes our heart sing everyday!!  We are so lucky to have you in our lives.  We hope you have the best day ever!!   Happy 3rd Birthday!  Love Mommy, Daddy and Addison  xoxo

This video is of Emma spelling Happy Birthday Emma!

More photos from Emma's Birthday Party

Peek-a-boo Addi

Days have been busy, and even though I stay up past midnight I haven't been in the mood to blog.  So weird that I have to feel in a particular mood to post something.  I dropped my laptop and now cannot access my photos, nor did I do a recent backup, so you can just imagine how I feel about that!!

Hopefully i'll be able to retrieve them somehow!!

This video was on my camera, and thought I'd share it.

Little Addison playing Peekaboo!  she's beginning to understand so much more lately.
Can't believe she's 9 months now!  She's pulling herself up now to standing, slowly gaining more confidence to climb the stairs, although stops 2 steps up and wants to sit and push back!

I've been busy preparing for Emmas birthday, which I'm really excited about.  Emma too.  Ok, maybe more me than her, haha!  Our dining room is out of bounds until Saturday and everyday Emma either pretends to make her way there, or asks if she can go in there and just gives me this smile, because she knows she's not allowed to go in.
Can't believe she's 3 next week. 

Will post more soon.