Happy Valentine's Day!

We celebrated Valentine's Day all month long it felt like - so many crafts and so many sweets. But on Valentine's Day we went to the Museum of Youth's special event (can't believe it was all free!). They had face painting, parrots!, cookie decorating, a complimentary breakfast, valentine crafts, storytime, a helicopter in the parking lot and of course all the activities at the museum. We didn't even make it to half the events but Liberty did enjoy sitting very still to have her cheek painted (out of alllll the choices she picked a hummingbird which I thought was so cute). She also can't stop talking about the "purple parrot, sit arm" (that sat on her arm). We also had a lunch date with our Valentine, Cameron, at Pita Jungle. Liberty is very attached to the puppy dog stuffed animal Poppa and Jo got her and her "Puppy dog movie" aka LADY AND THE TRAMP that my mom & dad got her. I truly love this holiday - it's so nice to celebrate those you love.

From 2012_2_14 - Valentine's Day

Zoo with Grandma Jo and Grandpa Ted

For Christmas one of the gifts we gave the Wyatt grandparents was tickets to come down and do the ZOO! Liberty had a blast and keeps talking about the carousel ride and the camel's pooping. I was so happy to have the Wyatt's with us this particular weekend because it unexpectedly coincided with Cheetah Girl's surgery. Our cat had a blocked intestine (her fault for eating one of Liberty's bath foam toys) - and she had to have emergency surgery. It was really helpful to have the Wyatt's around so Cameron and I could take care of Cheetah and not drag Liberty to the Vet more than I already had!

Lots of crafting up in here

Liberty and I have been doing a lot of valentine's day crafting. I haven't taken a lot of pictures but here is a small video I took while she painted on canvas.

From 2012_2_2 - Painting for Vday

Saguaro Lake Boat Cruise

One of our gifts to Gpa for Christmas was a boat cruise out on Saguaro Lake. And look who he brought as his guests? - us! Liberty was jazzed about the boat ride but also clapped when she thought it was over (only at the HALF WAY point) so 1.5 hours right at nap time wasn't the brightest idea...but we had a good time enjoying the Arizona sights, being on the water and hangin with my dad.

Liberty at 21 months old.

just some family notes to remember our growing toddler by...



Potty training. She's been in panties since Jan 1 (diaper for nap/bedtime - although she's surprised us with waking dry and going pee right away too!). She stays dry and only pees in her potty, with the occasional accident (maybe 1-2 per week). She poops almost everyday in her panties, with the occasional miracle (maybe 1-2 per week). haha. She tells us the second she is pooping so I hope we are really close to getting that resolved soon. Otherwise she gets an A+ and was (pee) trained in the 3 day bootcamp method.

Decided to wake at night for a couple weeks in a row to snuggle. Mommy only. Not cute.

Is nuts for her pillow pet puppy which she has named HENRY (from the Daddy & Me lift the flap book where they build a doghouse for Henry) lol. This is the first item she has named.

Is taking MESSY MONSTERS art class via Gilbert Rec. Friday is our day to stain our clothes and get glitter in our eye.

Is OBSESSED with the alphabet. If I threatened to shoot Elmo in the head, or throw her ABC's overboard she would plead for mercy for the ABCs. If you ask her to identify or find any letter - she can. (capital only). She can also do the sound of about half of all the letters. Mainly thanks to this DVD from our neighbor.

Knows colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, brown, black, white, grey).

Can count to 3. Can identify 1,2,3,4,8,9

Thinks "going out to dinner" means going to Chipotle. She says "RICE! BEANS! MEAT! APPLE JUICE!"

Her memory is out of control. If I tell her we can go to the park when she wakes up - the first thing she tells me when I fetch her from her naps is "AWAKE! PARK. WALK." followed by other instructions such as "SHOES. ON. GO. WALK. PARK. RACE. AWAKE!" This happens with a lot of different topics. It takes both Cameron and I to swing her in a blanket like she likes to do so she'll bring me the blanket and say "SWING. DADDY. HOME. NO. WORK." Yea, when he comes home from work. Or the boat cruise with Gpa... "AWAKE! BOAT! LAKE. WATER. RUSTY" (gpa's dog).

Other favorites: House/Dance music, especially featuring Uncle Andy (see post below). Trains with Daddy only, her "Elmo Poop Movie" (Elmo in Grouchland - Cameron's least favorite movie) which she got for a rare poop success, water painting on the driveway with the neighbor girls, lollipops, petting Cheetah, brushing her teeth and Dr. Seuss/PD Eastman books.

Our Little Raver

Uncle Andy makes a cameo in a house music video and Liberty was in heaven! She wanted to watch that video over and over.
First, on the computer:



So, after we watched it on the computer we put it on the TV which she thought was a great idea:

From 2012-1-19 - Andy's music video

And I'm also posting this video especially for Poppa - she now says "THERE YA GO" (ah ga go) a lot thanks to you! Adorable. (and it cracks me up how devastated she is when the music stops due to technical difficulties)

From 2012-1-19 - Andy's music video

Meet Baby Lily!

My sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on 1/12/12 (COOL!). We went up to Flagstaff on Saturday to meet Lillian Elizabeth in the hospital, and then we visited again on Sunday when the family of 4 was at home. Kelly has most of the pictures on her camera but my camera had a few I'll share here. Who doesn't love newborn pictures?!?! She's a little angle fairy. WAY WAY tinier that I remember newborns being (she was 7 lbs 3 oz and dropped weight like they do). Liberty was a 9 pounder so maybe I'm just predisposed to chunkers...so Lily's daintiness was adorable to see.

Zoolights

We promised Liberty we'd go to the zoo only to find out it closed at 4pm on the day we wanted to go at 3:30...so she accepted a trip to cosmo dog park instead. While we figured out the Zoo was closed we also discovered it was the last night for Zoolights (Jan 8) so we said what the heck, we are members, let's go. It was better than I remember it being and Liberty liked it (but this is coming from a kid who enjoys free dog parks).

Capri Dress and Anniversary #7

Cameron and I were married Jan. 7 2005. We celebrated our 7 years of marriage with a posh dinner out at NOBUO at TEETER HOUSE in downtown Phoenix. Thanks Gma for babysitting Liberty (sorry she wet her pants and made you do crafts all night). Cameron and I love to try new adventurous restaurants together - and this Japanese tapas place was awesome.

From 2012_1_8 - Zoolights

When we honeymooned in Italy a few months after our wedding, we bought a little white embroidered dress on the Island of Capri (near Positano). It has always been one of the most special souvenirs we ever bought - we knew one day our daughter would wear it. It has hung on the wall in Liberty's room and we took it down and put it on her and played outside.

From 2012_2_1 - New Years Day Photoshoot in CAPRI dress

From 2012_2_1 - New Years Day Photoshoot in CAPRI dress

From 2012_2_1 - New Years Day Photoshoot in CAPRI dress

From 2012_2_1 - New Years Day Photoshoot in CAPRI dress

(pre-haircuts for both of us)

and my favorite...(future blackmail)...peeing on the potty outside:)

From 2012_2_1 - New Years Day Photoshoot in CAPRI dress

Hi Yasmin!

We met up with our friends the Heppner's for lunch at Joe's FarmGrill. They brought sister Yasmin (Andy's giiiiiiiiiiirlfriend). It was fun to meet her!

LIBERTY AND SIENNA with YASMIN:

From 2012-1-8 - Lunch at Joe's with Heppners

CAMERON, BECKY, LIBS and SAMINEH, JOSH, SIENNA:

From 2012-1-8 - Lunch at Joe's with Heppners

First Haircut

I trimmed Liberty's hair for the first time. The mullet is transforming to a cute bob. I was sentimental over this milestone but I'm happy with the results.

BEFORE:

From 2012-1-3- First Haircut

DURING:

From 2012-1-3- First Haircut

AFTER:

From 2012-1-3- First Haircut

From 2012-1-10 - Miss Photogenic - ha!