Savannah the Pirate!

I think last week was one of the busiest weeks I've had all year. Every single day, from Sunday to Sunday, we had something major going on.

And lucky you, you get to read about each day!

Today we will start with the Strawberry Days Pirate Party that I took the kids too last Monday. 

Starwberry Days, for you non-locals, is a week long celebration that my town does every June to celebrate our history and heritage. It includes parties, concerts, a boutique, food, a carnival, and it all leads up to the parade on Saturday.

Monday, the city held a Pirate Party for kids, and knowing Savannah, we just HAD to go! So, I dressed her up and went to be a pirate for a day!

They split everyone up into groups, and then every 15-20 minutes, they had us switch activities. Our first activity for our group was getting a photo with "Captain Jack Sparrow"

She was pretty excited!

 

 

Our next stop was the "Tattoo Parlor" because you can't be a pirate with out a tattoo!

 

Then digging for treasure!

 

And walking the plank! This was hilarious because they had a guy with blow-up sharks and was pretending to get their ankles while they tried to walk. Savannah made it halfway, then pretended to be eaten by the shark, and "fell" off the plank!

 

Lunch was supplied by Maceys. I think this was her first hot dog ever!

Her favorite activity was getting to play on the pirate ships! They had two, and they also had fog cannons, so she got to have a pirate ship battle! No 3 year old has ever been more in her element than Savannah was on that ship!

And of course, every pirate needs a parrot! There were other games, but with a half hour to go, Savannah was tired and just really wanted to keep playing on the ships. So I let her play on them for a little while longer (even though our group was done) and then she ran around the field for a while sword fighting with two older boys. 

She had so much fun, and I had fun watching her. Deagan was a champ and enjoyed munching on snacks in the stroller for most of it. I hope they do the pirate party again next year!

5 Years

At the end of May (and I'm just getting around to writing about it now?) Bryant and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary! We couldn't find anyone who could babysit so we decided to make it a family outing with the kids. We had no plans at all, and we just kind of went with the flow. 

I had class that morning, so Bryant and the kids came and picked me up down in Orem, and we started our adventure off by picking up a half-dozen bagels from Einstein Bagels. Their honey almond shmear is to die for! 

We then cruised up to Salt Lake City. We first stopped at the City Creek Mall and slowly meandered around. Savannah thought the river going through the mall was just about the coolest thing ever. 

We then found ourselves crossing the street and walking around Temple Square. We are usually only up there during the holidays when it's freezing and crowded (but so beautiful with all the lights!) so it was nice to be out in the sun with fewer people (3 wedding parties, one Asian tour group, and a handful of other people)

After walking around the grounds, we crossed the street again and found ourselves at the church history museum.

 

Bryant and I had stopped to watch a video, and I looked over and saw Savannah all nestled in on the replica ship bunks. I immediately freaked out and started chewing her out, telling her to get out. And then I noticed that there was a sign saying you were welcome to climb on and try it out. Opps!

 

We didn't know there was a kids play-area of the museum. That was a nice surprise!

 

Savannah especially loved the area that taught traditional Mexican dances!

After the Museum, we stopped at our favorite Mexican food restaurant for dinner.

I think Deagan ate his weight in re-fried beans.

We also decided last minute to take the kids to see the Muppet movie. Savannah loved it, Deagan was wiggly and so Bryant and I took turns walking with him in the back of the theater.

I remember when Bryant and I were heading home from our honeymoon in Florida and I thought "I want to come back here and do this all again for our 5th anniversary!" Little did I know that we would have 2 kids and crazy schedules and limited funds that would prevent us from doing that. But it turned out to be a pretty good day-out with my little family anyway. Besides, we plan on having plenty of anniversaries in our future to eventually make it back to Florida :-)

I love you Bryant! Thank you for an incredible 5 years together!

Happy Birthday Deagan!

My handsome little boy turned 1 last week!!!

I can't believe he is officially a toddler! It all just went by so fast.

We decided to have a small birthday party for him at a park with my family and grandparents.

 

Savannah absolutely insisted that Deagan wanted a spider-man themed party.

 

 

I thought he would tear into the cupcake, instead, he just made a mess of the frosting.

 

We had so much fun, and thanks to all my family for coming to his party!

I feel like Deagan has really grown up so much in just this last month. He started to walk about a month ago, and he cruises wobbly all over the place now. And he gets into EVERYTHING!

Example:

That's a TV remote in the toilet...

He also can say a few "sounds" (I wouldn't really consider them "words" just yet) 

He knows "Mama" and "Dada" and "Coco" (Our nickname for my brother Colter that Savannah came up with) And he tries to say "wassit?" (What is it?) And he likes to greet you with a great big "HEY!" or "HI!" when he sees you. And of course, there's always my favorite "Uh, oh!"

He's also the king of the meltdown. If he gets upset about something, he kneels on the floor and slams his head onto the ground. He's constantly got a bruise or 2 on his forehead because of this. He's also good at the "Back arch" and the "limp noodle" fits. 

Because of his ability to slam his head onto a tiled floor with no resulting consequence of pain, he also likes to head-butt people. I can't tell you how many times my glasses get knocked off my face because he suddenly thinks it would be funny to head-butt me. He is also a biter, and with 6 teeth, it HURTS! We took both kids to a movie the other day, and he bit Bryant on the arm twice, the cheek once, and my ear once. Then later that day, he bit Savannah square on the bum. I had to take him out of the grocery cart last night because he kept biting Savannah. He tends to head-butt and bite the most when he is really tired. He rarely gets fussy, just silly and belligerent. 

At his 12 month check up, he is, like always, right on track for everything. He is now 21 lbs, (about 52% if I remember right) and is 31 1/2 inches tall. He's in the 98% for height! And he's only 5 1/2 inches shorter than Savannah!

Deagan was walking around the room while the doctor was talking to us, and he told us that kids Deagan's age start getting a sense of stranger danger, and not to worry if he won't go to other people. Right at that moment, Deagan walked over to the doctor and lifted his arms up wanting him to pick him up, so he did, and DJ immediately started playing with his name badge and stethoscope. The doctor started to laugh and said "Well, I guess you're not going to have to worry about him being shy!"

Deagan has been such an amazing addition to our family. He is so funny, and he keeps me laughing all day long. He had me nearly in tears from laughing yesterday when he was chasing me around with a plastic pirate sword. He picks up on things, especially things his sister does, so quickly that it amazes me. He's a little trickster, who likes to play and tease. And even at only a year old, he has so much determination in him. I watched him a couple of weeks ago attempt to crawl down the stairs. He was terrified, shaking like a leaf, and quietly whining, but he did NOT want my help, and he was trying to put his feet down the first step, despite how scared he was. If he wants to accomplish something, he will do it!

I love you Deagan, thank you for allowing me to be your Mom, you are going to keep all of us on our toes!