We're Baaaaaaaack!

YES! We are finally back - with more blogs to follow. It has been a CRAZY couple of weeks for our family and moving.

We were all set to move on FRIDAY THE 13th! Of course, here in Buffalo it has barely snowed all winter.....BUT, we had to wake up to a snow storm that morning! We hired movers to come move all of our stuff (big items) from our apartment to our house that morning. I had everything planned. I let Noelani sleep in a bit, and was going to take her to daycare so that we could move everything and get her bed set up before she came home that day. About 5 minutes after waking up and looking out of my window, I knew it was going to be a problem. It was a complete white out. Not even 2 minutes later did Antoines phone ring, and the movers cancelled. They wouldn't be able to come until the next day.

That brought us to Saturday - which meant Noelani had to skip dance. I don't like doing that because she loves it, but there was no way I would be able to handle all of the moving and arranging someone to take her. I needed help, cause Antoine had to work and couldn't take off!

Needless to say, this Saturday will be 2 weeks since our move and we are having Noelani's 2nd birthday party!

Because we had to wait an extra 2 weeks to have her party, I took her to Candy Kids Spa the weekend of her birthday so she could do something special. The following week, we went to Disney on Ice.

Here Noey is starting to get her pedicure

Getting ready for a candy facial

AND, after a manicure!

This Candy Kids Spa was seriously the cutest place EVER! She had such a ball, and we will definitely be going back again!!!!

This past Saturday, we went to Disney on Ice. This was also another birthday gift in addition to the Candy Kids Spa. Mommy & Daddy took her. We were front row rinkside. Noelani was SO excited when I told her she would see Mickey & Minnie and the princesses!!

I made a Princess Tiana bun in her hair, and threw in a tiara headband that I got her at The Childrens Place around Christmas time. Nana had bought her some princess tattoos and she found them earlier in the day, so we put one on her cheek.

Her auntie bought her some new princess sneakers, that she HAD to wear. So here she is all dressed up and ready to go!!

She had no idea what was about to happen! She kept saying "open" pointing at the curtain they were behind. But OH MY GOODNESS, when Mickey & Minnie came out, she LOST her mind! I have never seen her so excited. She was screaming and jumped all around!!!! I had to grab her by the back of her hoodie because I literally thought she was going to lunge over the side of the ice rink!

Safe to say she had a good time!! She picked out a "T-Belle" cup (aka Tinkerbelle), that was filled with a snow cone. Don't let the picture decieve you! She barely ate any (for $15!!!!) before it dumped on the floor, and she was left with about 2 inches of PURE sugar juice!!!

This Saturday will be her birthday party and we are so excited! I've had ALOT to do in order to get the house ready....but it will be worth it once she gets to hang out with her little friends and celebrate!!

We LOVE Play-Doh

This girl LOVES....I mean LOVES her play-doh. It wasn't until maybe a month or two ago that I figured she was ready for it. She's pretty good (usually) about putting stuff in her mouth now and so I figured it was safe at this point. Last week, I had 5 days off of work and figured we would spend one full day of doing NOTHING. By that I mean, no tv, no running errands, just lounging in our pj's all day. The first thing we did that day was pull out the play-doh (while still in our PJs).

SIDENOTE: Yes, as you can see, my child has a slight obsession with Dora in the background there.

This literally kept her busy for at least an hour! We made a snowman, tree, I brought out the cookie cutters, and we even made "jewelry" as you can see below:

Daddy had to work that afternoon, and he came home with a surprise for Noey. He bought her a Cookie Monster play-doh set (AND Santa might just be bringing her a jumbo pack of play-doh and an Elmo set). Daddy spoils her (even though he doesn't like to admit it!), they were supposed to BOTH be for Christmas, but he caved and gave her this one early.

She was in her glory. In fact, when it was time to clean up, she was sooooo sad. She had big crocodile tears and didn't want play time to end. One cute little thing she does when she plays with ANY craft, whether it is coloring, or play-doh, or just plain concentrating on a puzzle, is she smacks her lips hahaha! She has this little lick she does and smacks them together almost like shes ready to drool hahaha! I guess it's just her "concentrating" hard on something.  

At any rate, I cannot wait for Santa to bring more play-doh. She absolutely LOVES it, and I have found it's a new way for me to get stuff done in the kitchen (cooking dinner and washing my dishes!!!)

Catching up!

BOY do I have some catching up to do with blogging!!! I guess I will start with the oldest and then make a few posts until I am current.

This was a first for both Noey & I. We went on our first horse drawn carriage ride. Each year, the plaza by us has Christmas events for the kids. Everything is free (except Santa pictures), so we went to check it out.

They had "Hawk Creek"  there, which is a wildlife rescue organization. They had a few owls there - which is one of Noey's favorites! The picture below is of her looking at a 9 year old owl. She was the cutest thing I've ever seen - I thought she was a baby at first!

There was a cute little section where the kiddos could make a "craft" and Noelani was all about that! Anytime she can get her hands "dirty" she is all about it. 

She was so proud of it when she was done - my little girl is getting SO big!!!! He (the ornament) is now hanging on our door to our apartment. He was just too cute to toss! (Did I ever mention I have a huge issue with throwing away her artwork? This poor kid will probably have BINS full by the time she enters college!)

I don't know much about reindeer, but I have to honestly say, these poor things looked terrified. I felt completely terrible for them! I only let Noey walk over and as soon as I snapped this picture I could tell they were so scared. I kind of even made a comment towards their "owner", something to the effect of, "these poor guys don't want to be here, they are so scared". It really made me sad.

She looks terribly miserable here, but I assure you she wasn't! She was checking out the face painter. After we had a quick visit with the SCARY clown, Noey decided she wanted to get her face painted. I wasn't too sure how she would do, because I didn't think she would understand to leave her face alone. I was basically right in that assumption because two seconds after she got it done, she scratched her face - ah well, there's always next year, but it was cute while it lasted!

This year has really been a lot of fun! I actually cannot believe a year has flown by SO fast. LITERALLY, just a year ago, my baby could not even walk! Now she's running around, taking dance class, and telling me what SHE wants to do! Funny how time flies when you are finally a parent! This time last year, we were moving into this apartment. There was a huge snowstorm and Noey & I were stuck in the house for almost a week, without anything to do - we were literally still unpacking everything and the cable and internet hadn't even been turned on yet!

The holidays have been so much fun and I cannot wait until she opens her gifts on Christmas. She is finally getting a bit excited when I show her snowmen and Santa. She may not fully understand the concept of Christmas (Jesus' birthday) - but she sure as heck knows what a present is - haha!! 

I cannot wait to do other Christmas events with her. Sometimes I miss my little bitty baby, but most of the time I am just so excited that she is growing up and able to do all of these fun things now!!!!

Santa arrived by firetruck!

Today, at our mall, Santa arrived! He came by firetruck and there was a little parade that followed him to the food court. I really thought Noelani was going to be afraid of him! I had been prepping her all week, pointing out snowmen and Santa Clause items at the stores. This morning she held up a decoration that was of Santa, and screamed SNOWMAN! Hey - I guess she was in the same "family" haha!!

The marching band played right before Santa came in

We got to the mall about 45 minutes before Santa arrived. Noelani had dance class this morning which ended at 10:30 and Santa didn't arrive until 11:30. As a WONDERFUL side note, I was able to get Noelanis outfit for her 2nd birthday!!! I won't share it yet :) But it is p.e.r.f.e.c.t! Last year, my sister bought her first birthday outfit at the same store and it was perfect too.

When we went outside, they had Frosty the Snowman, some bears, and puppets for the kids

Santa arrived on a firetruck! They circled the parking lot first.

Noelani has been scared of firetrucks until recently, so I took the opportunity to explain it to her up close!

We stopped on our way to the food court, and there is a section in the mall with "rides" for the kiddos

There was a musical show, and Noey just LOVED it!! She was dancing right along with them!

We took a break from the "Santa" activities to ride the carousel in the mall, then we caught a bite to eat. Afterwards, Uncle Larry and Auntie Amanda spoiled her by buying her a bag of cotton candy. JUST what she needed - sugar! 

After lunch, we decided to "try" to visit Santa. I was totally not prepared, because I honestly thought she would be terrified. I would have dressed her up and bought a picture if I knew she would do so awesome! Guess it looks like we will be going back soon for pictures! We went in line and I had my camera in my pocket. My sister had me leave the line to give her the camera and Noelani FLIPPED. She started crying, thinking she would miss Santa! As soon as it was her turn, she ran right up to him, hands in the air and sat in his lap!!!! I know I keep repeating it, but seriously I am shocked. Aren't kids at her age supposed to be afraid?! Haha -I'm telling you all, I have the happiest easy going baby girl in the world - LOVE IT!

Santa asked her what she wanted, she replied and said "baby". (Uhm kiddo, I hope you mean a baby doll!!!) He asked her if she wanted a Barbie...she said yes (Although I'm not really sure if she understood that).

Santa then gave her a sucker and she was on her way - happy as can be!!!! I will have to see when Santa is at our other mall - Christmas is going to be so much fun this year! I always tell her lately, "maybe Santa will bring you this" when we are in the store and shopping. This chick loves to shop! I mean seriously, when we pulled up to the mall today she screamed "SHOPPING!!!!" She cries if we drive by Target and don't stop. I've created a monster. 

Maybe next year she will understand to SUCK the sucker, not bite it! I think this was gone in 2 seconds flat!

Frosty was in the food court while she was waiting in line for her balloon hat.

And here she is - getting a reindeer hat!

She wore this hat all through the mall! She kept pulling it down over her eyes like a helmet haha! She wore it through all the stores and all the way out to the car. The wind was blowing so hard, she started yelling "STOP.IT" to the wind.

Sadly, one of the antlers popped, and that caused a spiral of a meltdown. By this time it was 2pm, and we had been up since 5:30am. It was MUCH over due for a nap time! Unfortunately, as a full time working Mama, I don't get to enjoy naps. While she fell asleep in the car on the way home, I managed to do my grocery shopping while my mom sat in the car with her. Once I got home, it was time to put away all of the groceries and she was ready to go again! LUCKILY though, today, once Dada came home, this Mommy took a nap for about an hour. I was beat. 

Fall is finally here!!!

WARNING: This is going to be a picture heavy post - don't say I didn't warn you!!! 

I am still sick...but, with a weekend this nice, I couldn't just sit around and make my poor baby sit in the house! SO, I sucked it up and yesterday I packed her a lunch and we went to the playground. Dada was working, so I picked up grandma and we brought Jazmin (our chihuahua) and Noey to the playground. 

As you can see in the photo below, bread is pretty much a waste in my house with Noelani. I read somewhere before that you should try presenting a food to a child around 10-15 times before really ruling it out. SO, I periodically make her sandwiches with bread. She ate a quarter of a slice and that was about it - at least she ate most of the bologna!!! You can also notice, the diva has on some Dora bracelets. 

This is a new little playground they redid by my moms house and I have been meaning to take her here, so today seemed to be the perfect day. She started off on the bigger kids set, but after she realized it was a bit too big, we ventured over to the age appropriate set for her. It's really adorable and this little setup is specifically for kids ages 2-5. It's really cute with different climbers for their size. There's also a little section with a Train that she enjoyed. I thought the bongos were cute too!

We stayed there for about 45 minutes to an hour and she was really awesome when we went to leave. It's hard to predict lately how she will react. She gets very overly emotionally lately about certain things - so I anticipated a meltdown. I also anticipated a meltdown when we left gymnastics that am, but it didn't happen - maybe because Nana was there too! We went home and her and I crashed for a nap for a couple hours!

When I least expect it.....

My little smarty pants always amazes me. The things she picks up and says crack me up sometimes!
Just yesterday, she decided she had enough of me trying to get her to nap. As I was trying to get her to sleep (at my parents house on the couch) - she kept grabbing a blanket off of the back of the couch so I said "no no you cannot keep grabbing that" and moved her arm. As I said that she replied quietly from behind her binky "SHTOP.IT" (stop.it)  - Bad parenting moment: All I could do was laugh!
Today, I tried to once again get her to take a nap this morning and when I finally gave in to her laughs and giggles in her bed - I walked in and she said her FIRST complete sentence/question!....I was amazed. I asked her a good 3-4 times..."What did you say baby?!".....and she pointed at her nightlight and said:
"Do you see dat???"

This is a paw print from the TV show "Blues Clues"

Noelani is BIG on the tv show Blues Clues right now. I happen to really like it for her because they do a lot of sign language on it (which she has been using since she was about 9 months) and it is very educational in the aspect that you get "clues" to find out the answer to the question posed in the beginning of the show. Whenever there is a "clue" you will see the above image on t.v. When the host sees the "clue", he opens both of his hands and closes them really fast as he says "BLUES CLUES...BLUES CLUES". Noelani loves this show and whenever there's an ad for it on t.v. she does this motion I spoke about with her hands and screams "CUES CUES" aka Blues Clues.

Today, we were getting ready to go shopping and for YEARS I've had the below magnet. When we moved into our current place, we just so happened to have a metal door, so I placed this magnet on the door in case I have to write myself a "don't forget me note" (which I tend to write a lot of these days lol!).

As my sister and I were putting on our shoes, we hear Noelani screaming "CUES CUES CUES CUES". I stopped and saw her doing the open/shut hand motion with it as well. I looked around and thought maybe she figured the man on the dog treat bag looked like the host haha!! Then I noticed.....my baby thought she was seeing a "Blues Clues" paw print!!!!!!

She was so darn excited she had found a "Clue" so I had to play along. I told her to hurry up and get Dada so she could show him. She RAN like the wind into the living room and said "Dada Dada" screeching. When he came into the kitchen I said "Noey! What is Blues Clues trying to tell us? We are going bye bye....what do you think we need?"....(The keys were on the hook next to the door) - so I said...."Ohhhh we need our keys to go bye bye!!!!".....

I grabbed the keys for her and she just grinned ear to ear! The simple yet such exciting things that make her happy, make my day. I love the little things that make her smile xoxo

Amusement Park Fun

Yesterday, we took Noelani to her first Amusement Park. She had a BLAST!! I wasn't sure how she would do, because at Easter time she went on a carousel and was totally scared by it. Yesterday, this is the same ride she chose to go on first - and she was all smiles saying "weeeeeee" the whole time.

We went as a family, along with Antoines Aunt & Cousin and his Mother & sister. Noelani's aunt is 10 yrs old and her cousin is 14. Noey thought she was such a big girl and hung out with them all day. Of course, the girls had a ball with "baby" Noey and taking care of her all day.

In the above video, she is in the cart with the girl in the orange shirt (Ashley) - as you can see, she didn't have a single tear! She's a daredevil!!!!

The only time Noey cried is when she tried going on a ride by herself. She was ok, but then she spotted me and started crying. After that, we didn't attempt putting her on anything else by herself. After going on all of the rides, we hit up the waterpark there. Of course Noey had a ball!!! Any time this child is by some water, she is in heaven!! All in all, it was an awesome day. We had alot of fun, and were all very sleepy by the time we got home. Noey went to bed at 7:30 - but of course got up this morning, no later than 6am - yeah this little girl does NOT sleep in!!.....YAWN.....hopefully I can get a nap in today!

Before we went, I prepared myself and went with my mom and sister for a mani/pedi!!! I think I need another one now haha!!! My mom is having hip replacement surgery on Tuesday so she wanted to have one done before then......it was a nice time with my mom and sister - I'm a VERY lucky girl to have such a close relationship with them both!!! <3