1st Day of Spring

The first official day of spring (the 20th) was quite the bi-polar weather day. It was sunny and nice for 15 minutes, then it would start pouring down rain, to be sunny again and then to eventually hail and repeat the cycle over again. During a break in the rain we went outside. Maisie went worm hunting while Austin and I checked out the blooms.

Spring is such a nice season wouldn't you agree?

The Salem Carousel

I have been on the lookout for where to have Maisie's third birthday. I do realize that it's still a month and a half away, but I really enjoy planning parties and especially so for little Maisie. She still remembers her second birthday, so this one will be really fun. I want her to feel so special and loved and I know that material things are not the way to do it, but I think the feeling of the party is what counts. I want her to feel the magic because those are things you remember. It's the traditions, the spirit of the holiday or occasion that really matter. 

Anyway, after promising to take Maisie to the Carousel the other afternoon, I realized that once we walked in and I saw how excited Maisie was, this was the place to have her party. They have a beautiful party room that is made entirely of windows. Half of it faces Riverfront Park and the other leads to the inside of the Carousel. It will be a beautiful celebration. We reserved a spot immediately because they were booked until early May, so now that's taken care of the real planning can begin.

Here are some pictures of Maisie at the Carousel last week.

Birthday Getaway

Last weekend, for my 25th birthday my in-laws put Austin and I up in a room at the Oregon coast for a mini getaway while they babysat Maisie. We left after Austin got off work on Friday and then we made our way to Pacific City to stay at the Inn at Cape Kiwanda. We had a nice dinner at The Pelican Pub and then called it a night. 

After we woke up, we made our way down to the cafe below the hotel and ordered oatmeal, bagels and orange/mango juice and ate in our room while watching Moonrise Kingdom before making our way to Tillamook. On our way out we picked up some fish tacos from BJ's and weren't disappointed with our friends' recommendation. After Tillamook (and tons of yummy cheese curds) we drove to Lincoln City to do some shopping. We were planning on some beach time, but it was drizzling and cold, so we kept warm in antique stores and the outlets instead.

It was a lot of fun to get quality husband and wife time together and a perfect way to celebrate turning a quarter of a century old.

p.s oh, and we had Mo's too. Haha as you can tell there was a lot of eating involved 

Our room is on the top left.

We're classy, we know. Yes. That's gatorade in wine glasses. Haha

View from our room.

Haystack Rock

March

I love March because the early signs of the impending spring are a lovely reminder that my birthday is just around the corner. All of the daffodils, tulips and blue bells start pushing their way up and litter the grass with pops of color that are quite a sight for sore eyes after the dull winter.

The thing is about March (at least in Oregon) that sometimes those flowers bloom only to be frosted over a week later and unfortunately are just too delicate to tolerate the cold. Fortunately, this has not been one of those springs. The flowers just keep coming and coming and now all the cherry blossoms (my favorite tree) are in full bloom.

I mean seriously check this out...

You people that I know in Arizona (you know who you are), you can just be quiet with your already 80+ weather, because 73 in Oregon in March is just fantastic.

Anyway, way earlier this month after the morning fog burned off Maisie and I went outside (it was still really cold) to see if we could find any signs of Spring. Sure enough little flowers were popping up and the trees had faint evidence of buds. I was so excited pointing out all the blooms to Maisie and telling her why the flowers were coming up. Needless to say she loves Spring.

She found a worm... of course.

p.s in case you're wondering, in the first picture of Maisie, its a piece of grass in her mouth not the worm. Haha glad I cleared that up, because she has been known to give worms kisses.

The Volcano

Maisie is crazy fascinated with volcanoes (or anything science related for that matter). It stems from our very first visit to Great America in Santa Clara. By a ride entrance there's a pyrotechnic volcano that spits out fire and smoke while simultaneously letting out a ground shaking rumble. When Maisie first saw it she was a little scared (hah, more like terrified) but we reassured her as we sat on a bench across the way and we talked about volcanoes. About how interesting they are and how they are like a mountain except that lava comes out. We had her at the word lava. Every time after that first visit she would look for the volcano and tell us about the lava and smoke. For months after she would tell us every morning that she had a dream about one. So I made a mental note to make a volcano craft in the near future so in January we finally did just that.

We took a recycled Gatorade bottle and started to paper mache (or for the French folk, papier-mâché which means chewed paper...yum) that bottle up until it roughly resembled a volcano. After a couple days of drying and a quick paint job it was ready for some chemistry action. I mixed up dish soap with red, orange and a little yellow food coloring, and then a couple tablespoon or so (who really measures any way) of baking soda and poured in some slightly watered down vinegar and braced ourselves for an explosion. At first it was a little lack luster, but with a little agitation we got the geiser effect we were looking for. It may or may not have sprayed the ceiling, walls and Maisie's cute pajamas.

 Maisie loved it. Today she asked if we were going to paper mache something really soon. So I think our next paper mache adventure will be making a globe since that's totally up her alley.

Without further ado, I give you the volcano...

Maisie, do you know what's going to happen?

Her answer:

Success!

Maisie has been diaper free (excluding sleeping times- i.e naps and bedtime when we use pull ups) for the last four days and has only had two accidents, one of which she was trying to run to the bathroom so I don't really count it because she sure was trying. She is comfortable using the potty for both types of bodily waste and insists on doing it herself. Other than the occasional reminding from my part, she has been doing it by herself. She loves all the praise and our "you did it!" dances. She beams when I tell her how proud I am of her.

Weeks earlier, I was starting to become discouraged with the whole potty training bit because Maisie absolutely had no desire to use the potty. Since her second birthday we have tried a handful of times to get the ball rolling, but to no avail. We would try to help her along, but the more we insisted the more she pulled back and started to become terrified of the whole concept. So, I was frustrated because I know how smart she is and I was convinced that once she did it one time it would click and she would be ecstatic with her big girl status. So when it was obvious that she was going in her diaper I ripped her diaper off and ran her to the potty. She resisted, but I timed it right and there was no stopping the inevitable. Sure enough potty happened and I twirled her around and kept saying over and over "you did it Maisie! I am so proud of you!" I also gave her some semi-sweet chocolate chips (5 for #2 and 3 for #1) and the reward on top of the praise was an instant hit. She immediately wanted to go again (and again and again). It's been smooth sailing since. Remember the pacifier weaning? That was all her idea with a little reassuring from us, she did wonderfully. Potty training just needed to be "her idea" and with our support she had the confidence to finally do it.

Needless to say, I am so proud of her.

Is it normal to feel a twinge of sadness too? Where'd my baby go?