The Busy Day

Every year Valentine's Day is a busy day in my family.  Valentine's Day, my birthday, and my parent's anniversary are all on the same day.

This year, I woke up to tons of balloons, tulips, a large caramel mocha latte, and pink iced cinnamon rolls.  Talk about feeling loved! I gave Caleigh her Valentine's tote bag of goodies from Chad and I and Caleigh and I gave Chad his shirt and new paint brushes, paints, and canvases from us!

Chad was off of work so we dropped Caleigh off at preschool and then chilled until it was time to pick her up.
We picked her up from school and investigated the enormous amount of Valentine goodies she got from her classmates.  I could tell quite a few moms had been on Pinterest looking for ideas this year!

We went for a light lunch together at Chili's right after school.  It was so good.  I love their queso dip and salsa and their Southwestern eggrolls.  Yummy!  I knew I was in for a huge dinner so I didn't want to eat too much!

After Chili's, we dropped Caleigh off at her Nonnie's to celebrate Valentine's day with her and Chad and I went to see the movie Identity Theft.  We debated on what to see and I am so glad we chose this movie!  It was incredibly funny!  I could have done without the snake scene but other than that I enjoyed every second of the movie!

We picked up Caleigh and then headed home to start to prepare the crazy good meal that my mom had purchased for me to make on my birthday!  Mozzarella bites, salad, steak, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, and yeast rolls!  On the way home, Mish and Thomas call to invite us to eat at their house with them.  We take our food over and we have our delicious meal with them.  Mish and Thomas even gave me presents that night!  I love my new 31 tote!

This ended my actual birthday day.  We came home and all crashed for the evening.

That Saturday is when we celebrated with the rest of my family.  My mom made the traditional spaghetti dinner and we all exchanged Valentines, birthday and anniversary presents.

One of my "presents" from my mom was to be able to go out shopping and pick out the present I wanted for myself from her while she and Chad babysat earlier in the week.  I rarely get to have such a treat so I was more than thrilled to go shopping and take myself to get my nails done!

My Valentine's gifts to my sisters families and my mom and dad was Pinterest inspired as well!  It was strawberry and chocolate chip lazy cake cookies!  I assume they were a hit since I didn't hear any complaints about them.  I taste tested them and I was very pleased!  I also gave them chocolates and I have the kiddos giant swirl suckers and balloon on sticks!  Granny gave them the most loved present, pillows and blankets!

As an anniversary present I got my mom a tote bag.  I think she liked it!

Once again, I had an amazing birthday.  I feel so blessed to share my birthday with a day that celebrates one of the things that matters to me most in this world, LOVE.

Picture Day, Farm Day, and The Fairy Tale Ball

Caleigh has been pretty busy these last few weeks of pre-school.  First of all, she had her class picture day.  She really liked her new dress, boots, and headband that I got (for a steal @ Children's Place) her to wear.

Next up was Farm Day.  They got to crack eggs, butter and eat toast, squeeze and drink orange juice, dig in dirt for vegetables and fruits, and play with farm toys!  She loves this day.

She had Farm Day at school last year as well and I found a pic from then and put it next to the one from this year.  It is amazing how different she looks after just one year!  (Note sippy cup in her arm last year)

Most recently, Caleigh attended the Fairy Tale Ball.  She had the opportunity to dress up as a princess for the day and have a class party and as well as dance and sing songs with her classmates.  We took her to try on costumes from some of her favorite Disney princesses and she decided that she didn't want to dress like any of them and instead wear a dress that she calls her "Ariel" dress.

She had tons of fun dancing and singing with all of her friends.  The Fairy Tale Ball is something she looks forward to each February.

Doing the Tooty Tot

The 4 Wheeler

Ok, so for Christmas this year Caleigh asked for a 4-wheeler.  She was adamant about it and kept on asking for one.  I was against the idea in the beginning but after some coaxing from a few people and some reassurance about the safety features (adjustable speed, kill switch, remote kill switch, etc) I decided that maybe a small one would be ok.  

Caleigh could not believe her eyes on Christmas morning and couldn't wait to get on and ride.  However, I don't think she realized the power behind it and very quickly found out how powerful it could be by crashing through the gate in our backyard!!!

As you can hear, after the crash she wanted off quickly.  And then she didn't want to get back on! She was instantly scared of it.  It took lots of coaxing to get her back on again.  After a few "lessons" Caleigh started to slowly gain confidence in her driving ability.

No matter how confident Caleigh feels in her own ability, her favorite thing to do is ride WITH her Mish or Thomas.  She likes the speed when she isn't the one controlling it.  Here's why.

In order to get to ride with Mish, she has to practice on her own.  The more she has practiced, the better she feels about riding.  Here's one of the first times she actually felt like she was riding all by herself and she was so proud.

She's ridden a few more times since this and has become much more comfortable with herself.  I, on the other hand, grow LESS comfortable the MORE comfortable she becomes.  Go figure!

The Witching Hour

Caleigh has officially given up naps.  This really started happening in September of last year right after school started back.  We were so busy over our summer that she was often tired and took naps or fell asleep on her own throughout the week.  When school started again in August, it was a transition time and she would nap a few times a week with few objections.  Then came September and her "anti-nap" stance.  She would vehemently protest napping of any kind during the day.  On days when I absolutely believed that a nap was necessary, I would battle her until she fell asleep.  Other days, we skipped the nap altogether.  During Christmas time, Caleigh became ill with the stomach bug that seemed to be going around.  Resting and naps were frequent during that time period but that was due to overwhelming exhaustion.  Then January arrived and good health returned and naps departed for good.  I believe there was actually one nap during the whole month.

This has lead to what we now call "Caleigh's daily witching hour."  When the clock strikes 3:00PM each day, I think Caleigh's brain demands a break.  When Caleigh doesn't stop and give her brain and body that break, it overwhelms her.  She becomes whiney, ill, cranky, disrespectful and she can't be pleased.  For at least one whole hour, she is, well, she is monster-like.  No matter what she is doing, whimpering accompanies it.  I've tried to make it a point to have her relax during that time but quite often this causes he to think that I am trying to force her to nap so she fights back and becomes more agitated.  Unfortunately, I have to just ride it out.  And that can make ME cranky!  LOL!  It is a cycle that I know will be over soon enough but that doesn't make going through it any easier.  I have tried reasoning with her and even tried explaining to her why she feels so different during those times but to no avail.

So, her "witching hour" continues daily for now.  I don't even have to be near a clock and I can tell you when it is 3:00PM based on my daughter's behavior.  So, if you call me and it is near that time, then expect to hear lots of whimpering, whining, and crankiness.  And I'm not saying it will be all from her either.  ; )