Happy Birthday Chamae!!!

Chamae turned 2 today, I can't believe it!!!  I had to make her the traditional Barbie cake, and since she's getting into Princesses, I made her a "Cindabella" cake.  She loved it!  It was my first time working with fondant so it was a little iffy, but she liked it, and that's all that matters!

 We had Hannah and the Hiatt's over for dinner, presents, and cake.  Chamae loved it, but I think she would have been happy with less presents!  She would get stuck on her kitty and puppy purses she got from Lenna and Hannah and forgot to open the others.

 Showing Granny her kitty purse.

 Chamae 2 years ago today.  She still loves "Buster" the puppy.

 One year ago today, barely rocking the piggies.

 Christmas Day.  Now her piggies are too long!!!

We love having Chamae in our family.  She can be a little sassy pants, but she is also super sweet, smart, and hilariously crazy.  What Chamae is doing now:

-talking up a storm, and you can understand most of it!
-knows her colors and has since she was about 18 months
-can sing her "abc's" along with multiple other songs
-can count...sometimes
-Remembers names and faces very well
-eats like a champ
-She can strip all of her clothes off, but can't dress herself (lack of motivation?)
-has peed in the potty a few times
-knows basic shapes
-wants to do everything herself "No, that's my turn!"
-makes us all laugh when she says things like, "what the heck", "darn it!", "oh my goodness", and "Cindabella"
-gives the sweetest hugs and kisses before bed before telling me to "go away" and then calling me back for "mo' hugs!"
-dances adorably to songs like "Bangarang" and "Gangnam Style" and requests them often
-already teases and upsets her brother
-teases and upsets her parents
-gives a sideways grin to get out of trouble
-continues to be irresistably adorable

Christmas

We got snow a few days before Christmas.  It was so pretty and fun to play in!  And we didn't get stuck at the bottom of a hill, because we don't live on one, woot!!!

 

 Hannah gave Donovan and Mason snowboards, and they're both getting pretty good at it, but I don't have pictures or video of it.

 We had some friends and family over to decorate gingerbread houses.  It was a lot of work, but the kids enjoyed it, and the adults enjoyed chatting.

 Chamae loved it even more without pants.

 Christmas morning was pleasant and lazy.  Chamae was up at 7:00, but Donovan didn't wake up until 7:30. 

 Donovan got a scooter and can't wait until he can try it out...outside.  He has already ridden it in the basement.

 Striking a pose.  Such a stud in his Barcelona kit.

 He got a LOT of non-fiction books (his favorite...and yes, he calls them "non-fiction" books and knows exactly what that means!)

 He also got one of his Papa Glenn's favorite books that we have read a chapter out of everyday since Christmas.  It's a fun one, I recommend it!

 Chamae got Dora sheets!  And a really cute quilt from Granny, but I haven't taken a good picture of it yet!

 Pretending to sleep on Dora.

They had a great Christmas!  It was a fun day and they are still enjoying all their presents.  Chamae has been enjoying her Disney Little People Princess Palace and Donovan has put good use to all of his new paper!!!

November family pictures and Donovan's mad dubstep skills

When Brad's fam was in town for Thanksgiving, we got family pictures done.  I only have access to a few right now, but these are a few of my favorites.

I don't know if you can tell, but Chamae was actually upset in this picture.  She looks like she's laughing, but she was crying.

 Chamae couldn't stand being excluded!!!

 I'm not a fan of my face in this picture, but Chamae's more than makes up for it.  She is a character, but you won't see it in real life unless she has time to warm up to you.  She is nuts at home with just our family, or Hiatt's, or her bestie Lola's family (Keller's).

Donovan watched a video of someone doing a dubstep(? I think that's what they call it...sort of like the Robot, but not...).  He is fun to watch, the kid loves to perform!

Donovan's Acting Debut

The Kindergarten classes at Donovan's school had a musical performance this evening.  It was based on Mr Roger's Neighborhood.  Donovan was asked to be Daniel the Striped Tiger.  I never thought a child of mine would be brave enough to speak in front of so many people!!!

 

Before he had to go to his classroom to get ready.

 

 During one of the songs.  I couldn't get many good pictures of him because he was on the floor with the other kids that had speaking parts, and one little boy kept blocking my view of him!

The video of his speaking part was too long to upload, so you'll have to settle for the last song when he realizes the Hiatt's are there watching:)

 

Haaaalloweeen

It was so fun to have 2 kids excited about Halloween this year!  Last night, Donovan said, "I wish it could be Halloween every day."  I told him it wouldn't be as special, so he said, "If it were just 2 days in a row, it would still be special."  I'm not sure about that.  It was a lot of work!  But fun!  I love trick or treating with my kids...even when Chamae is being a pill...more on that further down...

Donovan has been itching to get to the pumpkin patch, so we finally set aside a day to go, and Brad ended up not being able to join us, so the kids picked out his pumpkin...which he never actually carved...

 Chamae was more excited than she looks here.

 
 We got so many pumpkins!  I thought they were going to fall out, so Donovan tried to keep them in the wagon.

 Donovan drew what he wanted, and Brad cut it out for him.

 Chamae found what she wanted online and I drew it freehand so Brad could carve it.  Can you guess what it is?

 Chamae's friend Lola's birthday is at the end of October, so she had a little witches party.  It was so cute!

 Donovan wanted to decorate cookies, so we invited our friends over for dinner and decorating cookies the day before Halloween.  It was entertaining, as always.

 I put the girls in the tub, just so they'd stay out of the mess!

 Chamae was supposed to be Hermoine Granger this year, but she wouldn't wear the scarf that would have tied the outfit together, so I had to start from scratch and decided she'd be a witch.  We had left her hat at Lola's when we header to the library to trick or treat in the morning, so we just did crazy hair.

 That night, it took me telling her she could wear makeup to convince her to wear the witch hat.

 Donovan made an awesome Harry Potter!!! Brad scheduled a late practice, forgetting it was Halloween, so we stopped by to show him their costumes before heading out.

 The cousins before going out.

 Seriously, has there ever been a cuter Harry Potter?  He'd make such a handsome nerd.

 The witch that wouldn't let anyone help her with her bucket, even though it contributed to her tripping multiple times.  I would try to help her and she would growl, "no, mine!"  Seriously, she growled...every time.  Little stinker.  After a while, her bucket was too heavy and since she wouldn't let me carry it, I took her back to her cousin's house to pass out candy while the rest of the kids kept going.

 The seasoned professionals.

Kolay came over and took some pictures of the kids for me.  There were some super cute ones!

 

 

Don't mind Donovan's long hair. 

 Donovan had a Friday off of school after PTC week.  So we went to the zoo, of course!  The aquarium is even more awesome than it used to be.  They have added a touch tank, among other things.

 Chamae loves the zoo!

 One of my recent projects.  Our living room has been really bare, so when a friend offered a coffee table and end tables for free, I took them!  Not too cute, but they were free!

 I ended up painting them a cream color and used chalkboard spray paint on the ugly tinted glass.  I think they turned out pretty good and they work in that room!

 We have a lot of trees all around our house, so we haven't had a leaf shortage.  They are all over!  The kids love to rake them up and jump in them!

 They continue to love drawing.  Donovan LOVES to draw with chalk outside, and Chamae is starting to follow in his footsteps.  I have to watch her if I let her draw on paper in the house though...she likes to draw on walls.  Thank goodness for magic erasers!!!

 At the last home game (which was also Sophomore recognition), the marketing people made cutouts for all the coaches and sophomores.  Joyce and I grabbed the 2 Brad heads.  I put ours on the mirror in our room :) He's so handsome.

This isn't the best video of Donovan playing, but it gives you an idea.  When he's playing "real" soccer, he is really aggressive and gets after the ball!  I'm loving it!  I didn't get any video of him during their Saturday games, but I'll try to get some in the spring when I coach his team (is it silly that I'm excited to coach 5 year olds?)

 

I just have to post a story about Donovan before I forget about it.  The other day, when Brad was out of town, we were planning on having popcorn and hot chocolate for a movie night.  Donovan had been a little disrespectful and mouthy that day, so he was getting in trouble quite a bit.  I had finally had enough and told him if I heard another whine or disrespectful word come out of his mouth, we would cancel movie night and wouldn't have hot chocolate or popcorn.  So of course he said something a few minutes later that got him in trouble.  I told him no more movie night and he threw a fit.  After he calmed down he pleaded with me to give him another chance.  I was being very firm and told him "no" and to not ask me again.  So he started being sweet and asked me again in a very nice voice.  I said, "no" again and he looked at me with his really sad eyes and said, "Mom, I'm trying to repent, but you're not letting me!"  After that, how could I not give him another chance?!?  Little stinker.  I gave him an hour to behave and he was a perfect angel the rest of the night.  I know I should have stuck to my original threat, but he brought up a very good point.  How could I not forgive him when he was trying to repent?!?

About Chamae:  Our pretty little lady has been a good mix of delightful and difficult!  She is such a sweetheart, but also likes to get her way and is a bit of a diva about it.  She is such a nut and makes us laugh all day, but can also be such a pill!  She is so full of life and energy!!!  She is the child that likes to run away in the store giggling.  I get a lot of sympathetic smiles from other moms.  She also loves to say hello to strangers.  You can tell they love it.  She is so cute!  Her funniest phrases right now are: "what da heck" (my personal favorite), "oh man!" (when she doesn't get to to something), "darn it.", "read book mommy?", "EIEIO (insert odd object or person rather than a farm animal)", "Sunbean?" (when she wants to sing Sunbeam of course), "Jacket on!" (she is like her mother and loves to wear jackets...but not shoes).  She actually says a lot and talks all day long.  These are just things she says often.