May

Hard to believe May is almost over and Fiona is going to be five years old in less than a week over and Fiona is going to be five years old in two days. And Victoria will be six months old. We brought the high chair out of the garage tonight because the Bumbo seems a little unsafe for her now. She stretches herself almost all the way out of it.

So what happened in May?

Fiona decided to have a lemonade stand:

Our lemon tree is producing lots and lots of lemons. Somehow John and Fiona started talking about lemonade and she had the idea to have a stand. Fiona made the sign (we told her how to spell it, but she wrote all on her own) while John made the lemonade. I fished out the cups and we all sat outside waiting for customers. Victoria stayed in the shade because it was a very sunny day. Some of our neighbors stopped by and over paid for a cup, but complete strangers driving down the street also stopped, and one car turned out to be a mom I know from nursing group. Cups were 50 cents each. Fiona made over $14 and decided to donate it to the Humane Society.

We went to the wedding of the friend I have known the longest. We met in fourth grade when we sat back to back in class and realized we also lived in the same small apartment complex. Then I moved and two years later she walked into my sixth grade English class. It was meant to be. The wedding too far for us to drive just for the day, so we spent two nights in a hotel at a surprisingly child-friendly resort hotel near Los Angeles. Fiona loved the pool and spent a good deal of her time there. The wedding was her first and she did great. Sat quietly (except for asking questions about what was happening, which is ok), behaved during cocktail hour and dinner, and told me when she was tired and wanted to leave. I am very proud of her. Victoria was her usual cute self.

The room had two double beds. Fiona chose one and slept in it by herself. It was her first time sleeping in a bed not her own. Previously, she always slept in the Pack-n-Play when we travel, but this time the Pack-n-Play is Victoria’s bed. In typical Fi fashion, she had no problems at all with the sleeping arrangement.

We had a “resort view” room that also included an ocean view.

 

A view while walking the grounds at 5:30 in the morning:

 

The downside of all of us sleeping together in the same room is that when Victoria wakes up at dawn (she does this every day and I am very tired), I need to take her out so she doesn’t wake up Fiona. I put her in the Ergo, put a jacket over my nightgown, and went for a walk around the hotel. Very few people are up and about during that time. I had a very nice chat with a lady at reception and enjoyed seeing the different parts of the hotel when there weren’t lots of people milling about.

The wedding featured fire dancers and a giraffe at cocktail hour. Fiona LOVED it and followed him around:

We both wore flowered dresses and pearls, and our shoes were very similar.

All in all it was a very pleasant if expensive weekend, capped off by an air show just before we left that seemed for the benefit of hotel guests.

One day, Fiona stayed home from school because she had a fever. We decided to play pin the tail on the donkey:

 

Everyone played, even the dolls.

She also enjoyed playing with monster teeth:

One night, Fiona came to me, slightly panicked because her shorts were stuck on the fan somehow. She claims she did not throw them. Hmmm, I’m a bit suspicious.

We went to Members’ Night at the zoo, as is our annual tradition. I took some photos of the animals, mostly the alligators because they so rarely are out and about. And the sunset over Montecito:

John’s birthday and Mother’s Day coincided this year, so I gave him some gifts and made pancakes for my parents and John and Fiona. Victoria did not eat them because she is still on a liquid diet.

We went blueberry picking twice. Each time, we picked three to four pounds of blueberries. They were eaten within a few days.

You used to be able to feed carrots to the goats, sheep, and alpacas but sadly there are fences that prevent a person from feeding the animals directly.

Victoria and I visited John for lunch one day:

I chaperoned Fiona’s class field trip.It was a lot of fun:

We went to a park after to have a snack. One of the kids in another class has an uncle who is a police officer. He had some of his workmates bring their vehicles by for the kids to look at. Here is Fiona, the motorcycle cop:

 

John bought a large set of Tinker Toys at a yard sale. He and Fiona built this vehicle with a crane:

Even though Fiona’s birthday is not until Wednesday, we had her party this past weekend. When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she told me all she wanted was a party at the local bouncy house place and particular type of cake. So that is what she got:

 

I swear it was not a rave, even though some of the photos look like it.

There were just over 30 kids (friends and classmates and their siblings). Including adults, it was almost as big as our wedding. 

 

I was worried we wouldn’t have enough food, but there was plenty left over.

Fiona was so tired by the end (of the two hour party) she hardly smiled when everyone sang Happy Birthday to her. I think she forgot why she was there. She’s not used to that much attention and I think she was a little taken aback when she realized everyone was going to sing to her. Sometime during all the fun she was having, she forgot it was for her birthday.

I’m not sure where we are going to store all of this:

Fiona got her very first nail polish:

I have some videos I want to post, of Fiona during her Happy Birthday song, her dance class “recital”, and of Fiona reading to Victoria. Unfortunately, Youtube changed something about the web addresses of videos and the program I use to write my posts, Windows Live Writer, is not recognizing them, so I am not sure how to upload them right now. As soon as I figure it out, I will post them.

Our first vegetables of the season:

The zucchinis are oddly shaped this year.

Last, a whole bunch of pictures, mostly of Victoria, but some of Fiona:

 

 

 

 

   

 

  

Victoria continues to delight us with her easy smile and belly giggles. She is so much fun and such a good natured baby. I hope she never changes! She rolls all over the place and moves around. I leave her in one place and come back a minute later to find her in a completely different place. She chews on EVERYTHING, but I think her favorites are her left thumb and right big toe. I can see the hint of sitting up and what will later become crawling. I just cannot believe how much I love this little one. I didn’t think it was possible to love two different people as deeply as I love my two girls, but man do I ever. Fiona is a fantastic older sister. Victoria lights up when she sees her and always tries to reach her. If she is crying, seeing Fiona will calm her, and Fiona makes her laugh! It is truly heartwarming, and as Fiona’s teacher says, fills my bucket. On Friday, or sometime during the weekend, we will give Victoria her first solid food, butternut squash puree from the squashes we grew last year (that I peeled, cubed, and froze). I cannot believe it’s already time for that. She is growing up so fast!

I’ll leave with this last photo: