Julianna’s First Recital
Julianna had her first recital this past weekend and it was a lot of fun to be a part of a watch. Here are some shots from the event:
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- Julianna striking her dancer pose
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- All smiles before the show
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- Julianna staying focused
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- Dancing!
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- The grand finale with all the dancers coming out
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- Grandma, Mom, and Julianna
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- Julianna going home
Trip to the Zoo!
Did a family trip to the Zoo on Wednesday and had a lot of fun. We went just with Julianna as Adrian at 18 months is just a little too young plus we'll do a trip this fall when he's 2, a better age. We spent 5 hours at the zoo, went at a good pace, and still only got to see half the Zoo (Africa side) so when we go back we'll do the other side. Julianna did great, not getting scared, and really loved the experience.
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- Julianna and Momma walking in.
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- First thing we saw were the Giraffe’s
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- We weren’t able to ‘Feed the Giraffe’s’ but Julianna loved the view and the ostridge
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- The Elephant’s came next and were moving about.
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- Again Julianna found a ostrich to look at.
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- Unfortunately these were the only Rhino’s we saw. The real one’s were no where to be seen.
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- Julianna loved the huge egg’s
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- And these guys
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- Family Photo even if Julianna wouldn’t look. :O
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- Julianna’s favorite, the flamingo’s!
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- Also loved watching these guys
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- Julianna being funny
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- Julianna loved the carousel
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- Twice!
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- No trip complete without ice cream!
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- Saw the giraffe’s on the way out…so cool!
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- …and she’s out!
Happy Easter 2015!
This year saw Julianna totally excited with easter and egg hunts. We did one at the house and two at Grandma Callicutt's. I captured the egg hunts on video and will post those this week (have a bit of editing to do first).
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- Smile for the camera!
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- That’s my boy!
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- What Adrian does best
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- Over the shoulder glance
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- Adrian’s special Easter ‘Basket’
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- Julianna’s Easter Basket
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- No basket is complete without a chocolate bunny
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- And Jelly Beans
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- Julianna tasting the chocolate
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- YUMMY!
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- Grandma and Adrian
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- Julianna running around…
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- …and around…
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- Cousin Ava and Julianna enjoying a cupcake!
School Valentine Show
Julianna had a great preschool Valentines show with great songs and her first trading of Valentines!
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- Ready!
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- Singing
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- Not Singing
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- In Between Songs looking cute
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- Throwing heart confetti
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- Checking out her Valentines bag
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- So many!
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- This one works!
Chef Mommy & Chef Julianna
Recently Julianna and I baked cupcakes together for the first time. They were chocolate buttermilk cakes with pink vanilla buttercream frosting. They turned out fabulous but for me the very best part was sharing the process with Julianna. She loves to help and is getting quite good with how to do basic things for baking. Enjoy!
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- Time to bake some cupcakes
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- We beat the sugar and butter together first
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- Julianna is excited about this part!
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- Almost done…
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- Now we add eggs
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- and another
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- Julianna holds the measuring cup steady for Vanilla
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- Now for dry ingredients — COCOA!
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- Stir it ALL up
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- Loves to stir
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- and stir
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- and stir
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- and STIR
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- Two of a kind
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- Time to taste the batter before baking
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- Into the baking cups
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- final licks of the spoon…yummy!
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- Pink frosting of course!
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- So pretty Julianna says
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- Must taste the frosting
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- so YUMMY
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- Waiting for baking — Julianna doesn’t love the wait so much 🙂
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- Our finished product
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- Taste test time
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- Dive In!
Little Baker
With cooler and shorter days upon us we are spending more time indoors which mean we have to let our creative juices flow. Recently I took some time to bake cookies with Julianna. She was 100% hands on and loved every second of it!
Enjoy!
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- First we add the dry ingredients…
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- Time to start the mixer
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- Then we add eggs…
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- Eggs, eggs, eggs — Julianna’s most favorite ingredient
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- Julianna is instantly a pro at this
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- Making sure we mix really well
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- Now add chocolate chips
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- And taste for quality control 🙂
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- Then roll into balls
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- And place on cookie sheet
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- Showing papa my messy hands
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- Proud little baker
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- Time for a taste test
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- Hooray — cookies are great
Muddy Puddles
With rain in the area for the last few days Julianna has had some opportunities to play in her boots and jump in puddles. She finally found a REAL MUDDY PUDDLE and there was no hesitation. She strategized on her approach and went all in! Julianna loves the rain and umbrellas. Here are few pics of her having fun. For those of you unfamiliar, Julianna's love for muddy puddles comes directly from her favorite cartoon "Peppa Pig".
Enjoy!
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- Lulu doesn’t love the rain like Julianna
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- Skipping in the rain
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- Oh I LOVE these boots
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- Raindrops keep falling on my head…
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- Who needs an umbrella?
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- Oh My! A REAL, BIG MUDDY PUDDLE
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- I’m going for it….
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- Splish, splash, splosh
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- That was awesome!
New Things This Week (09/07/2014)
This has turned out to be more of a challenge lately than I thought but I am dedicated to this new type of post and have running notes going on my iphone that I update as I see new things.
Here are some cool things Julianna did last week:
Asked to go to School
Starting Preschool can be a bit of a change for kids. We are starting week four and there are still kids that are crying in the morning line and throwing fits. So having Julianna ask to go to School was a big milestone such that it signifies that she really likes school and looks forward to going. Big win!
Carry Me
Julianna has been able to communicate when she wants to be picked since she was really small but actually saying it? And throwing in 'Daddy', well that's new! Nothing tugs at my heart strings more than asking for help by name.
A Booboo
Scratches, bumps, or a bug bite are now referred to as a 'booboo!' which is easily fixed with a Band-Aid and some no itch medicine. There's a name for that now and its name is booboo! Thankfully we don't get too many of these.
Color Things
Julianna has loved coloring for a couple of months now but has recently started to actually pick out items, say what they are, and then apply crayon to them. The colors don't seem to matter but she is picking out things and applying crayon to them. Who knows, next thing you know we'll be drawing inside the lines!
Help Me?
Like the 'Carry Me', Julianna has been able to communicate when she needs help for a while but now she can actually say 'help me?' and stick who at the end.
Slide
Preschool has a slide that Julianna loves to slide on. The difference between that slide and our slide is I wanted ours to last longer so it is taller and faster than a typical toddler slide like the one at Preschool. Julianna does not know this and recently tried out the slide by herself while I was watering some flowers. Boy, she was not expecting that! But being a trooper she did do it a couple more times with my help but still has to learn how to slow herself down a bit with the rails hehe.
Packing the Sand Bucket
Julianna has loved putting sand in to containers but recently has become very internally with packing and dumping sand from the sand castle buckets. Now if I would just discourage the stomping with the feet we would be all seat to make sand castles.
New Things This Week (8/24/2014)
Here are some things Julianna did last week:
Helpie!
This is what Julianna says when she wants to lend a helping hand, specially things that she knows like dishes (oh boy!) and putting things up. Practical use: 'I helpie, I helpie'. It is a hard request not to honor.
Step Stool Skills
The use of the various step stools around the house has increased as Julianna catches on how to use these to retrieve items and toys. Thankfully Julianna uses her Step Stool powers for good and has not yet figured out how to apply these new found talents in the kitchen. The day she understands that she can roll up to the counter and grab food items of interest is when all of those items will migrate up another level. We already lock the pantry.
Big potty!
We also saw Julianna shift from using the little potty to almost exclusively using the 'big potty'. Which is great since we already have the smaller potty seats attached to our current potties and makes it more consistent experience since she goes on big potties at school. Cleanup risks are also mitigated as Julianna likes to 'helpie' with the disposal of the small potty after using them which can be an adventure of its own.
I taste it!
Exploring her senses, Julianna has learned to 'taste' by sticking out her tongue. Works OK in most situations except drinks, that just leads to disaster as Julianna pours liquid over her tongue instead of in to her mouth. Plus there are some objects around the house that are not really food that we 'taste' like pages in books and the couch.
I Go fast!
While walking, Julianna likes to show how she can 'go fast' which is a run for her and a moderate walk for me. Now we know the association of 'fast' and rate of movement. Should be interesting to apply that to other things, see potty and picking up toys.
Woohoo!
When Julianna accomplishes we like to celebrate with a clap, cheer, and a 'woohoo' which Julianna has picked up on. The really funny part is that she says this without moving her lips which makes it pretty emotionless. You can check it out by click this link.
Wheels on the Bus
Julianna loves to kick, jump, and generally play in the pool during our weekly swim class. This week after singing the song 'Wheels on the Bus', Julianna really picked up on the 'Up and Down' lyrics and kept singing it for the rest of our time in the pool jumping up and down in the pool. It was pretty awesome. We sang that section of song probably 20 times. Since then Julianna has continued to pickup the lines in the song such as wipers, horn, and 'move on back!'. Check out this page for the lyrics.
Counting to Infinity!
While playing by her self, Julianna has started her numbers from 1 to as high as she can go which at this point is 12. All numbers after that are 19, true story.
Yoga Stretches
Julianna does Yoga on Friday's at her Preschool which afterwards she tries to show us some of the moves that they taught, basic stuff but pretty funny for a toddler nonetheless.
Pizza!
Not proud but Julianna has learned what the tasty cheesy meal item referred to as "Pizza" is. Since this discovery Julianna has offered it up as a suggestion when asked 'What do you want for dinner?'. Pretty awesome though we only do Pizza once a week.
That's all for last week, this weeks list is already in the works!
New Things This Week (8/17/2014)
Julianna since the day she was born has continued to amaze us with all the things she has learned and explored. It is of course all normal stuff but as parents it feels like we have the very first child ever born and that everything our child does is an amazing accomplishment. True Story.
So in an effort to document some of the changes and new things I'm working to dedicate doing a week (or bi-weekly depending on the week) on things that Julianna is doing that is new or changed. Here goes:
- Potty skills have significantly increased with the start of preschool and their efforts. Julianna is doing a much better job of 'holding it' and this weekend we had more than half of our bowl movements in our training potty.
- Piggy Back, Julianna has learned how to do piggy back riding without Papa having to hold her hands.
- Breaking Bread, good for feeding the ducks and turtles!
- "Yes", the word Julianna uses to answer questions, has gained popularity
- Coloring, something we now enjoy more than ever!
Those are some things from this week and last. We'll see what we can come up with for next week.