Sissy Turns Two

Afton turned two at the end of April. It is amazing that she is all ready two years old, but at the same time, she has grown up so much since Eden has been born. 

Afton is a sweet girl who is so loving. A few examples of this come from stories from our neighbors.

One day Matthew (age 3) came into the house. Afton jumped up and down and squealed, gave him a big hug and smiled and laughed. Matthew gave her a hug back and said repeatedly, "She must just really love me! She must really, really love me!" It was cute, and yes, she does love him and many other little friends that come over. She greets them with a big hug and a smile. 

Matthew's brother, Gabe- age 7, told his mom. "I think Afton and I get along really well." "Oh- why is that?" asked his mom. "Every time I come to get Bridger for school she runs to the door and says hi and hugs me." 

She also loves her little friend Ashlyn, who I should have taken a picture with them together but didn't. They are so cute and hug when they see each other and laugh with each other and Afton will  gently guide her to where she wants to be and will turn her head to the side and get in her face and "talk" to her to get her to do what she wants. It just cracks me up. 

She is just like her song says, Sweet Afton. 

Afton had her two year check up and was 24 pounds 12 ounces and 34 inches tall, so she has gained 4 pounds and 5 inches over the last year. Wahoo!!

She has started to talk more since Eden has been born. She loves to say phrases more than individual words like "Ahh Cuuute!" and (gasping) "Ahh! Miiine!" 

She is mostly potty trained and now claps and says "Yea!!!" for everyone who goes potty.

She loves her whole family and has hugs for everyone. She is a happy, happy girl who always has a skip in her step. And when she is mad, her Johnson Scowl appears and you know you are in trouble. She loves changing her clothes, and recently loves to be naked. I will be feeding Eden and will look out the window and there is Sis who somehow escaped once again and is in the cul de sac naked running around or riding a tricycle. Uugh... luckily it is still kind of cute and permitted at this age. She loves her "Bubba" Eden and is very protective of her and who holds her. We love this little girl and all the happiness she brings into this house. 

Afton loves Elmo- she might love him even more if she actually watched Sesame Street. She has two books with Elmo and loves to read those. This is my attempt at an Elmo cake that I will talk more about at the end of the post. 

Bridger came home from kindergarten and said very seriously, "Mom. All day at school I have been thinking of how to decorate for Sissy's party and I have the best idea. Just let me take care of everything!" So, he started and just kept going. Oh, that kid makes me smile too.

 Here is what he did: 

Apparently the singing wasn't the best.

I love this picture of the birthday girl

We kept talking about the time when Carter turned one and burned his finger on the candle. The boys were both very cautious of Sissy not to do the same. 

Cute monkey from the Maxfields

Not quite sure why my kids think ring pops are the coolest thing on the planet, but they do. 

I love these Sing-a-ma-jigs. They might be annoying someday, but today she got two of these.

And two pairs of crocks, a swimsuit and a bunch of cute clothes. 

Of course she can't be the only one without a real pair of boots in the family. 

She loves these pink things and has worn them often.. with everything.

I love this girl.

She got this stroller and it took only a second before she constantly  pushed it the rest of the night. 

Afton went to the dentist for the first time in March. She was a great patient and held still with a wide opened mouth.
She did so well, they thought that she was three years old. 

Eden- 4 weeks- camouflaged in her bouncy seat. Luckily she too is happy and allowed me to get ready for the party.

I have to write more about this day before I forget that 4 kids has been an adjustment. I had two  hours to run errands while Bridger was at school and Carter was at preschool. I ran like crazy with the girls to get the five done that I had to do. I picked up the kids from school and made the cake, got lunch made, cleaned up. The only time I sat down was when I was nursing Eden and while I was doing that, I was of course reading to someone else or helping with worksheets etc. Carter wanted to help decorate the cake since Bridger was doing decorations. I had insisted on Carter waiting for me to finish feeding yet once again to color the frosting. I laid Eden down or maybe Sissy- who knows- and I came to the kitchen and found that the entire jar of black food coloring gel was empty and there was a big pile in the frosting bowl. Now, if you have never used Wilsons coloring gel maybe you don't know that they are sold in tiny one ounce jars and you only need a teeny tiny bit to color the frosting. Well, the whole jar was gone and before I could freak out, Carter came into the kitchen with his hands to his mouth crying and looking like he was about to barf. Well, surprisingly he didn't, but he was covered in black food gel. He had eaten a large portion of the plain gel and it was everywhere. It was in his mouth, down his hands, on the floor, I rushed him to the bathroom- obviously he had already been in there. There was a huge black smear across a towel, some washcloths, on the rug, all over the sink and counter.  I immediately put him in the tub and tried to get him clean. The bath water was black. His skin, mouth, tongue, teeth, shirt... anything and everything he touched was stained. I just threw it all away. I wasn't too mad because I just kept thinking, "Serves you right for not obeying!" Anyway, when he hopped out of the bath he just put on his PJ's (it's only 3 pm) and he jumped in bed and said, "Mom! I'm sick! and I am not eating ANY cake!" So, the frosting turned out to me a huge mess...and really black. I did get the cake decorated and the house cleaned and dinner made and Carter decided by 5 when it was time for soccer that he actually was feeling OK. The boys went to soccer then we had a party. I peed for the first time that day at 6:30 p.m. and thought, "Wow- today I feel like I'm a back being nurse working a crazy day on the Labor and Delivery floor." I had been stressed, didn't have a chance to eat lunch, I was going, going, going- running from kid to kid or task to task.  I hate hearing people say that moms have an easy or boring job, because we don't! Days are long and hard and stressful and try my patience and are rarely appreciated like I think they should be. BUT- with all that being said,  I do feel lucky that somehow in all this craziness, I find a lot of fulfillment and it brings my heart joy to see my kids happy and it makes any personal sacrifice or inconvenience worth it. Well, okay, mostly worth it. It was an absolutely exhausting day... that turned out great. And, I had the last laugh when Carter was shocked and scared when he had colored urine. HA!