Thursday, September 20, 2012

Ada Turns Three

The night before Ada's birthday, I hung up some streamers and balloons. We laughed when we saw how pathetic the decorations looked. It was kind of like a , "Waaw, waaw" feeling (I am not sure how to spell "waaw, waaw" Just think Debbie Downer).
 We have been prepping Ada for weeks that when she turns 3, she has to get rid of her binky. There would be days that she would cry when we asked her if she was excited to turn 3, and she would say, "I don't wanna turn three because I want my binky!" Most days she would just get big eyes and talk about how the binky fairy would bring her a present. No judging. 
So, birthday morning, I go into Ada's room and tell her it is her birthday. She jumps up so fast, starts taking her clothes off saying how she can't have a party in her PJ's, then hands her binky right over. She said, "Mom, I am three now, I don't need this anymore." I was shocked. But wasn't convinced. The day before I had decided that I wasn't going to rush the whole binky thing. Ada takes great naps, only had the bink when she is sleeping, so no big deal, no rush but we ended up throwing it away together later that morning.
I felt really bad because right away she asked where her friends were. We had to cancel the little joyschool bday I was planning because Ivy had a crazy contagious rash (Dang Hand, Foot and Mouth). I explained that we couldn't have friends over because Ivy was sick. After seeing her balloons and streamers hanging up, though, she got over it really fast.
 Everything was "Birthday" yesterday. Special
"Birthday" breakfast, "Birthday" balloons, "Birthday" lunch, etc. In fact, she started calling the balloons her birthday. She woulds say, "Don't pop my birthdays!"
I took Ada to get some donuts and the sweet Donut Spot lady gave her a bag of donut holes too (Not that we needed any extra sugar).
Ivy LOVED the balloons. I loved watching her attack them.

 I took Ada to Toys R Us to pick out a special toy to replace her binky. She had a cute stuffed pig and little Rapunzel Doll when she saw Dora. This wasn't as cuddly as the pig, but she was happy. She was so dang cute at the store. She would pick something up and say, "Oh, this one is perfect," or "That is for boys."
 We drove up to Scott's work so we could go out to lunch. He brought one of the presents with him so he could give it to her at his office. 
Funny story When Scott got into the city, as he stepped off the train and the door shut, he realized he didn't have the present in his hand (Good thing the gift was wrapped in Princess wrapping. They could have stopped the train because of a mysterious package). So he chased the train at a full sprint about 4 or 5 blocks to the next stop and was able to jump in the last car (in his work clothes, mind you). He made his way to the front of the car and at the next stop,  switched cars again to get closer to the driver. The driver actually got out of the train and found Scott and gave him his package. She must have seen him chasing down the train. 
Dedication folks, dedication.
 We brought cupcakes to Scott's work and Ada asked a few people if they wanted one. Both of the ladies said, "No thank you." Come one people, when a three year old offers you a cupcake...take it then throw it away if you don't want to eat it. 
 Just like her mommy
 I made a home made cake (which was not that tasty). Ada was lucky enough to spend her special day with both sets of grandparents. She was so excited that she was talking a mile a minute the whole night. I had to tell her multiple times to use her inside voice.
 Scott's grin looks slightly evil, but Ada sure looks adorable.








I can't express how much we adore Ada. As hard as she can be some days, she is so much fun and is so dang funny. I still am shocked at some of the things that come out of her mouth sometimes. 
On the way home from lunch with Scott the realization was setting in for Ada that her binky was gone. She told me that she didn't want to be three anymore. I explained that there was nothing she could do, that she was three now and her binky was gone. She got really sad. When I got her into bed, within a few minutes, she was crying for something. I am sure I went in her room at least 4 times within 10 minutes. I finally told her I would not be coming back in. So, the next hour and a half she cried. But some of the things coming out of her mouth were hillarious. At one point she started singing a song from one of her favorite movies, Peter Pan. "I can fly, I can fly, I can fly. Oh no, I can't fly without my binky (This is all while crying)."
Something else she said while sobbing was, "I'm a little bit sad, Happy Birthday!" And one other thing was, "Oh no, this is not really good." I am not going to lie, it kind of broke my heart. I was so sad for her. I feel like I took away the most important thing to her right now. 
I feel like she is growing up so fast and I really want things to slow down. Seriously, she changed so much in one day. Just today after telling her she could not watch Peter Pan she told me that I needed to be nice to her. That made me laugh!
Ada has so much fun energy and even though we have a really hard keeping up with her, I hope she never slows down. She loves her friends and family and gets so excited when people come over to see her. She is in love with her little sister and loves that Ivy worships the ground that she walks on. She gives Ivy lot's of hugs and kisses. She loves to give her Grandma Lovell a hard time and rub off any hug or kiss that she gives to her. Hehe...little stinker.
Ada is really starting to like girly things. On the way to lunch yesterday, she kept saying that she didn't want the "Him Song." I could not figure out what she meant, but realized it was a guy singing and she wanted to hear a girl sing. Every time a song came on that had a guy singing she told me to find a "Her" song. She loves pink and reminds me that everyday. Lately she has been big into saying things like, "I don't like boys." Where did that come from? 
Okay so one funny story before signing off. So, my sister taught her son the correct name for the male anatomy so when he and Ada have taken baths together (they are 3), he talks about his "ahem." Ada calls it his "Henis" I promise..this is funny. Innapropriate...maybe, funny, heck yes. So the missionaries came over for dinner the other night. Ada LOVES the missionaries. She was talking up a storm and all of the sudden I hear her bring up her cousin Lukey and how he has a "Henis" I didn't catch on for a second, but I did just as I was bringing food to the table and spit flew out of my mouth (Into the food) when I started laughing. The missionaries caught on fast and chuckled, but it was way awkward. I told Ada not to talk about Lukey anymore. THe next morning, she was kind of in a daze while singing a made up song that went like this, "My dad has a ......my dad has a ....." She snapped out of it when I cracked up laughing. I tell you, she is a really funny girl. 
Love her and can't believe she is 3. I feel like 3 is a big leap from 2. Such a blessing in our lives. We love you Ada Badayda! Happy Birthday

Saturday, September 8, 2012

How About a Little Saddleback Campground

Labor Day Weekend, we went on our final camping trip (I make it sound like we have gone multiple times this summer. Only twice). We went with the same friends from our first camping trip of the summer, plus two families they are related to. What a difference it makes having older kids to entertain toddlers. I would say the hardest part about the trip was Ivy wanting to crawl everywhere (which I didn't let her) and night time. I think that I can honestly say that I do not enjoy sleeping in a tent. I really do enjoy camping, I just never sleep well. Especially when both kids wake up during different times of the night, the baby is in bed with me cause she is cold, I have to pee but am too scared to get out of the tent, or I am freaking out that an animal will tear our tent (and us) to shreds. 

Oh, I forgot to mention that the drive up was the drive from HELL. Seriously considered turning back after we got lost 30 minutes into the supposed two hour drive. THEN, when we were withing 10 minutes of getting there, girls screaming, me close to losing it, we missed a very crucial turn and drove another 25ish min in the wrong direction. Once we finally got REALLY close to our campground, we had to turn around one more time to actually stop and ask for directions. By this time, Scott was inches away from spanking Ada, and I was inches away from jumping out of the car and poor Ivy was just so tired and hungry and had no idea why everyone was so mad. I had convinced Scott not to pack  a lunch for the drive because we would just stop at McDonalds. Well, we learned the hard way (or I did) that there are no Fast Food in that part of the country! Anyway, it took us just about three hours to get there when it should have been two. HUGE difference when traveling with little ones. 
Okay, back to the pictures.
Once we set up camp, we went on a little "Adventure" as we call small excursions

 It was super bright and that was one thing Ada had been SCREAMING for in the car was sunglasses. She still wanted them at this time cause the sun was so strong.
 Some of the group.
 Don't you just love Ivy's hair?

 Remember Bugles? I found some at WinCo for a buck. Ada called them "Finger Chips"
 Not even two hours on the camping trip and the kids are filthy


 Tinfoil Dinners, a must while camping.

 Even with the three warm layers AND Beeny, poor Ivy got really cold and ended up on the air mattress with me and Scott.
 Sweet Picture
 Sweet Face.
This is Ada's new smile for the camera
 After our first night in the tent. 
HORRIBLE I would say. Ivy woke up just as we were going to bed and her nose and fingertips were ice so I pulled her into bed with us. It was a really cold night so I never was able to really warm up and Ada woke up in the middle of the night and said she was done sleeping and refused to get back in her bed. Scott finally convinced her to go back to sleep, but the catch was, he had to go with her. So he snuggled with her on the ground while I shared the queen sized mattress with Ivy. Suprsingly, I didn't have to use the bathroom in the middle of the night (second night was a different story), which I was grateful for. Terrifies me to have to get out of the tent by myself in the dark when everyone else is sleeping but many animals are not.
 Trying to get warm in front of the fire



 It was so  nice having other's to help entertain the kids. Ada had a little crush on Logan
 We thought that Ivy would enjoy hanging out in the Pack and Play. Not so much
 These kids are trouble!
 Going out in the canoes. So much fun


 Not fair...Josh got the whole boat to himself
 Catching fish
 Ivy really wanted to play in the water...sigh...I finally gave in. She was a happy baby
 Ivy's new friend
 Went for a little hike. It ended up being longer than we anticipated and didn't bring any water. Ada was complaining about being thirsty just as some other hikers were headed back down the trail. As gross as this is, one of the really nice (and clean) ladies gave Ada her really nice water bottle to keep. Normally I would politely decline (I think I did too) but this Grandma was persistent about Ada getting some water. In the end I was grateful because it would have been a really long hike back to camp without the water.


 Ada's "Camera smile" again

 My sweet, sweet girls
 Anyone for a little ATV ride? 
 We took a little drive after our hike to check out another beautiful lake. 
 So gorgeous
 
 We let Ada stay up a little later our last night
 First and only family picture
So I have a funny story about the last  night. The campers next to us were a little WT (If you don't know what WT is...then ask someone). Anyway, they were getting really loud and crass with lot's of swearing (major F bombs). Ivy had already woken up a couple of times, and it was past quiet hours. I was starting to fume. Scott hadn't come in the tent yet, but as soon as he did, I put my shoes on, grabbed the flashlight, and headed over to their campfire where about 10 of them were sitting around it. They all stopped talking as soon as I walked up. I said something along the lines of, "Can you guys keep it down? You are being really loud and we have little kids. Plus quiet hours are at 10." They said they were sorry and I headed back. They stayed quiet for a bit, but the alcohol was kicking in and they continued swearing and talking as loud as they could for the next couple of hrs. Now, when I did this, I wasn't rude or anything, I asked them very nicely.
What makes this a funny story (I think anyway), was while we were packing up the next morning, Ada started playing on a tree stump really close to their site. I went over to get her and I hear someone singing, "Ding dong the witch is dead." Now, maybe it was a coincidence that just as I was walking over there, some teenage boy got a Wizard of Oz song about the witch, stuck in his head. But my gut tells me the song was for me. Hey, no one messes with my sleep (unless it's my kids)




We had so much fun and are glad that we had another chance to go camping with our good friends before the summer was over. 
Thank you Green Family for inviting us and letting us meet and hang out with your cool family!