Cinderella - probably the best "princess girl"ever invented. Ever.

We finally watched Cinderella last night. Needless to say, Scarlett loved it. In fact...all hell broke loose when the movie actually ended. I'm not kidding. Observe...

It was seriously hard not to laugh.

Drama. You have become a familiar face in this household.

The kids have been Warholized...

Want to be Warholized too? Click here.

Corn...

It's what's for dinner. A lot recently. Guess why.
Bubsy LOVES it.

Quarter rides at Quassy

The past couple of Fridays we've been going to Lake Quassy, which is a quaint little amusement park near us. They have a special on Friday nights where all rides are only a quarter. It's great! Scarlett was absolutely petrified of rides before this summer. We could get her on a giant slide and maybe a carousel, if we were lucky, but she would rarely sit on the horses...just the bench. Yeah. The bench on the carousel that doesn't do anything...that's where we were. But that's old news. Now Scarlett has a new appreciation for carousel horses because they're not just horses anymore...they're "princess girl horses." (Joe and I are geniuses.) The way we look at it, princess girls themselves do, sometimes, own horses. Maybe. Or at least ride in chariots drawn by these "princess girl horses." And the horses would definitely be covered in "pretties" and flowers like these horses are. Hey. It works. And Scarlett loves riding on her "princess girl horses." We're calling them princess girl horses - and you can't stop us. And there are also helicopters...And giant slides...And choo-choo trains, cars, dragon rides that go "up in the sky!" and spaceships. And Scarlett will go on all of them. Joe and I may currently have to be next to her, but we're working on that. Hey...this little girl is afraid of trucks, ants, and, at times, her own dog. This is a big step for her.

"Ooohhhhh...that's nice..."

Scarlett has started to appreciate things. She has started to appreciate shiny, new things that come in boxes...shiny, new things that come in boxes which happen to be sold in toy stores. A recent trip to the toy store had Joe and I laughing hysterically. Upon seeing something she found particularly appealing, Scarlett would dramatically suck her breath in and say "ooohhhhh...that's nice." And when she wasn't saying that, she was dramatically sucking her breath in and saying "oohhhh...daddy, mommy look...this is so nice." But lastly, Scarlett, upon finding something so incredibly appealing that she could hardly take it, dramatically sucked her breath in and actually said "oh my God. Look at this...this is so nice!"
(Is it wrong that I find this funny? I'm pretty sure it is.)

Now that's a bear of a different color!

If Scarlett were to be learning about bears at daycare, and she was given the task of coloring a bear at daycare - what color would her bear be folks?

Pink. And only pink. Her bear would be very importantly pink with not even a hint of another color despite there being buckets of markers made available to her. Man she is such a girl.

Holden is 2 months. I know. Already?!

As if having a 2 year old isn't proof enough, kids get big quick. Holden is officially 2 months old today. Can you believe it?! Man I love this kid...as much as Scarlett even - which I never thought possible before I met him. He's so completely different from Scarlett - and while that might seem obvious to some, it came as quite a shock to Joe and I. (People with more than one kid please back me up here and tell me I'm not crazy. Were you shocked at how different your kids were?) It makes sense. They're 2 different people, but man. It's shocking.
Holden is an awesome napper while we couldn't get Scarlett to sleep during the day if our lives depended on it. Scarlett, however, slept through the night at two months (God bless her) and Holden is still on his newborn "waking almost every 2 hours to eat" schedule. Holden will just stare at you for hours on end. He loves interacting with people and while Scarlett would constantly look around at the world as if taking it all in, Holden will look at you as if taking you all in. He doesn't seem as curious about his surroundings as much as he is about who is in his surroundings. He is a doll. And a flirt.
I questioned Holden's hair and eye color when he was born. I thought he would wind up with brown hair and brown eyes...but he proved me wrong. Holden's eyes are a bold blue - bold enough that I highly doubt they are going to change. Bold enough that a group of strangers this past weekend stopped to peek into his stroller and surprised me by commenting on how amazingly blue his eyes were. It caught me off guard seeing as I thought they were going to turn brown up until about 2 weeks ago. While Holden was born with a head of brown hair, it is falling out and we can see blond hair growing in. We've got a couple of towheads on our hands people.
Joe's new favorite hobby is putting Holden in front of Sports Center. (I let him. It's cute.) And Holden is still eating like a boy...meaning he doesn't stop eating. Ever, it seems. We've taken to calling him Munch because it seems like that's all he wants to do. (And his chubby cheeks and thighs are pretty darn munchable too.) So Holden is 2 months. Sigh. But with age comes fun new milestones...like this.

I'm so excited to hear him laugh...and to watch him grow. Holden, my Munchie-moo, we love you!

Scarlett's new thing

Sometimes Scarlett "forgets" to listen to her parents. We get it. She's 2. She doesn't necessarily want to be at our beck and call 24/7. Because of this, Joe and I have become the counting parents. You know the ones. We count to three, and if Bubsy hasn't complied with our request by the time we utter "three" - she's in trouble. Yeah...we're those parents. Here's Bubsy's new thing...

Mama - "Scarlett. Come here please."
Scarlett - "No."
Mama - "Scarlett. Now please."
Scarlett - "No."
Mama - "One."
Scarlett - [nothing.]
Mama - "Two."
Scarlett - [nothing.]
Mama - "THREE."

Mama walks briskly over to Scarlett. Mama briskly grabs Scarlett under her arms and brings her up to eye level so she can tell her why she's about to go into time-out. Just before Mama can get any words out...

Scarlett - "I happy."

Now what the heck am I supposed to do with that?!

Fourth of July weekend

We had quite a busy fourth of July weekend. Joe and I were determined to bring Scarlett to see her first fireworks show, despite the fact that every fireworks display started a good 2 hours after Bubsy's bedtime. So we did what every other [determined to have their children stay up way past bedtime] parent would do - loaded her up with sugar and hoped for the best. We went to the Milford fireworks which were awesome. There was a whole festival going on before the fireworks...with music and everything. Bubsy got down. She was the life of the party.And then she made this face. I have yet to determine whether I love or hate this face...but it's good - regardless.Nan and Larry showed up with Penny Lane. (Nan's dog - which used to be my dog - but which is now Nan's dog.) It was great to see them, but Penny Lane was petrified of the fireworks. They scared the *poop* out of her. (Very literally.) So they went home. Scarlett loved the show. We were naming all the fireworks' colors. Check 'em out...

Then on Saturday we went to Joe's Aunt and Uncle's house for a picnic. It was absolutely beautiful out so we went swimming (Well...Joe and Scarlett did). Scarlett loved it, and while she hadn't swam in a pool for quite some time I was seriously impressed with how comfortable Scarlett was in the water. I guess I'll have to suck it up(...but more importantly, suck it in) and put on a bathing suit. (Groan.) Swim lessons here we come!

I bought Scarlett a special Speedo bathing suit that has floatie inserts on the tummy and the back. ($6.99 at Marshalls!) It was hilarious. Despite the bathing suit's directions to not necessarily blow the floatie inserts up to the max - Joe blew them up to the max. She was bobbing around and giggling non-stop.

The pool was very relaxing. (Well...it looked very relaxing to me and Holden.)Basketball should always involve a boat...no?We literally had to drag Bubs out of the pool. And then, of course, there was Holden. Doing what he does best...chillin'.Well...and hammin' it up. Yes. It was quite the weekend. Even Scarlett's "princess girls" were beat.

Lighthouse Point

After Aunt Katrina and Grandad left last Saturday, Joe and I wanted to bring Scarlett somewhere pretty fun so that she wouldn't have such a rough time with them leaving. We brought her to Lighthouse Point - a beach in New Haven. The last time we went there Scarlett was not quite into the beach. Or the Sand/Water/everything it contained. To see that post, click here. Oh, the difference a year makes.) Man did Scarlett like the beach this year. In fact, I think we will be going here almost every weekend for the whole summer. It pretty much rocked and it felt like we were on a mini vacation for the day. Though next time, we'll remember the poor kids sand toys. And money for the ice cream truck. And food. But other than that it rocked.
Scarlett ran back and forth between the waterpark, the playground and the ocean. Joe and I could not believe that Scarlett liked the ocean. (I mean honestly. Doesn't she know it's gross?!) Check out this video! Scarlett walked out in the ocean until it was up to her neck! She literally led Joe out there as if she was a pro. You can see the point where Joe actually gets uncomfortable being out that far - and he's twice her height. He said the water was freezing and there was so much seaweed on the bottom that he was getting a wicked case of the heebie jeebies.

Even Holden was impressed.
Afterwards, Scarlett wanted to get "comb and wozy" (warm and cozy). So did Holden. Yay beach!! We'll be back. Probably this weekend even. And next. And next.