Chocolate, chocolate everywhere!

My baby girl, Charlotte, turned 4 this February. We were having a tough time deciding on a theme. We kept throwing around idea after idea, but nothing was sticking. Then, pushing our cart through Target, we walked through the Christmas clearance section. There, I stumbled on a roll of wrapping paper covered in hot chocolate mugs.

Eureka!

We would have a hot chocolate party. Charlotte loves hot chocolate, so she was totally on board. As we started planning it, it became clear that having the theme as hot chocolate was a little limiting, so we expanded to just have all chocolate. Charlotte was still very ok with this idea. This girl loves her chocolate.

We started with the invitations. I looked on Pinterest for some ideas, then made this one:

The meteorologists forecasted a huge snow storm the week before the party, so I went to the grocery store to stock up in advance. Man, that cashier must have thought I was the worst mom ever when she checked out my cart. Nothing but chocolate junk. (Actually, I think I had bananas and milk in there, too, so that totally makes up for the massive quantities of chocolate, right?)

Charlotte with all the chocolate before the party.

I didn't really have too many games or plans. I mainly concentrated on food. My friend Sarah had a chocolate fountain that I borrowed, and I actually baked a few things. (This is a huge feat for those who know me!)

A Minnie disappointment

Charlotte has always loved Minnie Mouse. Well, at least as "always" as a 3-year-old can. She snuggles with her stuffed Minnies. She plays elaborate scenes with her plastic dress-up Minnies. She dresses up as Minnie. And, she watches a lot of "Minnie's Bow-tique." If you don't know what that is, well, you probably don't have a child in the pre-preschool set.

Proof that Charlotte loves Minnie (because you know that's something I would totally make up):

Seriously? How little was she?!? Big sister helped make 3-week-old Charlotte into Minnie Mouse.

10-month-old Minnie Charlotte.

Posing ...

And more ...

And even more posing.

The girl even asks for Minnie Mouse pancakes.

She plays a Minnie Mouse guitar.

And, we'll one up that. Here's Charlotte dressed as Minnie playing a Minnie Mouse guitar.

She sleeps with Minnies.

And poses as a Princess Minnie.

And, makes silly faces when she's supposed to be sleeping with Minnies.

So, enough proof? Yeah, I know, Charlotte overload. But, the girl loves Minnie Mouse.

All of this is to show why, when I heard that the Disney Store at the mall was going to be doing a re-grand opening (not entirely sure what that is, but whatever), and Minnie Mouse would be there, I thought immediately of Charlotte.

Dancing her way through preschool

If anyone has ever tried to talk to Charlotte, well, you'll know why we've been concerned about her starting preschool. She doesn't talk to strangers. She doesn't talk to people she knows if it's a new situation. Sometimes she doesn't even talk to people she knows in familiar situations. This is Charlotte.

When I first started going to a mom's group two years ago, I had to drop her off in the childcare room. She cried the ENTIRE time I was gone. Entire time, people. She was still crying when I got back almost two hours later. At church on Sundays, she would refuse to go into the nursery. That meant sitting with us in the pews for the whole hour-long service.

I signed her up for gymnastics with her little friend Ella last November. She loved it when she was out there, jumping, turning, flipping. But, she refused to go out for her class until Ella was there. Every. Single. Time. Ella was usually late, so I would sit there with a clingy 2-year-old in my lap watching class until Ella showed up.

Ella quit gymnastics after one session, but Charlotte really loved it, so I knew we had to stick it out. It took a lot of time, but eventually she started going out without crying and fussing. Seriously, it took months, but it eventually it happened.

So, needless to say, I was worried about preschool starting. I had signed her up for the 3-year-old class at the same preschool Molly used to attend. As the time started approaching, I started getting more and more nervous. The week before preschool started, the school had a meet-the-teacher time. We had a 9 o'clock appointment to meet Miss Patty in the Panda Room.

Cory and I were both going to go with Charlotte, but I forgot the paperwork for the school, so I turned around halfway and let Cory take Charlotte. I was a couple minutes late and walked into the class to see Charlotte clinging to Cory and burying her head into his shoulder. She absolutely would not look at Miss Patty. She absolutely would not talk to Miss Patty. She absolutely would not take a picture for Miss Patty.

Do you think I'm exaggerating to make a good story? Yeah, no, I'm not.

This is the picture Miss Patty took to put on the wall. Lovely, no?

Alright, so after that disaster of a meeting, I got even more nervous about preschool. Being my baby, I've become rather attached to Charlotte. Meaning, not only was I nervous about how she was going to do, I was also nervous about how I was going to do without her.

The second half of beach week

The second half of our beach vacation roundup. Amanda arrives!

Almost every morning we spent at the beach, I would get up early, lace up my shoes, and head out to pound the pavement ... er ... sand. It was a little ridiculous how much I was looking forward to my morning runs, even before we got there. The first morning, I tried out a paved path not on the beach, but every day after that, I ran on the beach. It was awesome. Such beautiful views. And, I could take as long as I wanted because the kids were not going to be home alone. When  I got back to the house, I would sit on the porch, watch the ocean waves and wait until I semi-dried off.

Some mornings, I would read while I waited for the sweat to dry. Yup, that is the life. 

Wednesday was a very exciting day, as it was the day my best childhood friend and her daughter were coming to join us. Amanda lives outside of Charlotte, NC, now, so when my mom said we had space open in the house, I asked Amanda if she could come spend some time at the beach with us. Growing up, when we would go on vacation to the beach, we were sometimes allowed to bring one friend along. My mom thought it was easier (and way more fun!) for the kids to each have someone to play with. I always brought Amanda. So, needless to say, I was beyond excited when I found out that she could come. Her daughter, Mallory, is only a year older than Molly, so it was going to be great fun all around!

On Wednesday morning, before Amanda and Mallory arrived, we discovered some boogie boards in the laundry room of the beach house. We had been wanting boogie boards all week, so this was a very exciting discovery.

Cory helping Molly float on a boogie board. Floating is pretty much all she did on it. She didn't really understand the whole "ride the wave in" business.

Jake named the dragon on his boogie board Ocean. It was a little confusing to hear "Ocean knocked me down. Ocean hit my leg," until I was told about the naming of the boogie board.

Some moms and their kids. Amanda and Mallory arrived.

I wanted a super beachy picture. Instead, I think I look like I came out of the 40s. Oh well.

Mallory and Molly hanging out on the boards. 

Mallory figured out how to ride the waves, though.

Gathering water to work on some sand project.

Molly and Cory heading back out into the water.

A week at the beach (part one)

I'm splitting this into two parts because it was just that awesome. Oh, and there are about a million pictures. 

I grew up in North Carolina. And, many of my childhood vacations were trips to the beaches of North Carolina. My mom would rent a beach house, then us kids would spend a week splashing in the ocean and digging in the sand. I have lots of memories of spending time at the beach, including my one-and-only trip to the ER for stitches. (Darn you sharp-tailed sea creature, I still have a scar!) But, despite the emergency room visit, I still loved going to the beach.

Obviously, living in Kansas hasn't afforded us nearly as many opportunities to beach it up. Especially having kids. But, my mom had a big birthday this year and wanted to celebrate with a big family trip to the North Carolina shoreline.

So, July 14th, we packed everyone up and headed to the beach. My mom rented a house again, and 16 people were going to be staying in it. Many of those 16 people chose to drive to the house in Emerald Isle, NC, but we decided to take the easy way with two children and fly.

My dad also flew with us because he had decided to have neck surgery two days before we left, and didn't think it would be wise to drive. I'm not so sure flying was that smart, either, but he made it there and back and is still alive, so I guess it turned out ok. But, that explains the neck brace in all of these pictures. I promise, my dad's fashion sense is iffy at best, but not that completely crazy. :)

Molly, Charlotte and my dad after getting off our tiny plane in New Bern, NC.

We rented a car and drove from New Bern to Emerald Isle. The girls were dying to see the ocean. It was both of their first times to see or be at the beach. So, after unpacking, we immediately went down to check out the water.

Such a great view from the deck of our beach house.

Sea shells!

Our beach house is the one on the right. We were majorly intrigued by the monolith on the left. We finally did some cyber-stalking on it and discovered that it rented for a mere $11,000 a week. 

Some girls and their dad.

Whee! My feet in the ocean.

Having fun.

The girls then decided they needed to be in swimsuits.

Molly loved being in the water.

Charlotte decided the sand was more her speed.

Fitting it all in on the 4th

I love the 4th of July. Like, really love it. I'm not sure why. It might be because it's warm, unlike the other big holidays (aka Thanksgiving and Christmas). Or, it might be because it's been the one holiday where Cory and I have had the same tradition for practically our entire dating and married life. Or, it's just that it is fun. It is a fun, fun holiday.

This year, we had plans to do the same traditions that we do every year (Freedom Run and parade), then we found out the exciting news that Aunt Amber and her boyfriend Tom were going to be in town. Wanting to spend as much time as possible with them over the holiday weekend, we decided to tack on a 4th of July BBQ party at our house that same evening.

On July 3rd, we were talking with Papa, who had signed up for the Freedom Run, but then was told by his doctor that he shouldn't run anymore. So, we were trying to convince Molly that she should "run" the race with Papa. She wasn't having it. In fact, when asked why she didn't want to run it, she simply stated that she had already run a 5K. Apparently, she's a one-and-done girl. With 5Ks. Hmmmm ... we may have to work on that one later.

Anyway, out of the blue, Charlotte says, "I want to run, Papa!" Now, Charlotte's 3. And, I didn't believe for a second that she would really actually do it. I mean, she's 3.

The morning of the 4th, we all wake up bright and early, and Charlotte puts on her running clothes. I'm still not convinced. With as many races as Cory and I do, this one is special because it's the first one that either of us ever ran. I usually run the 10K while Cory runs the 5K. I always try to race it pretty hard. Well, not the year I was pregnant. That one I took kinda easy. This year, I really wanted to do well. I've been training even harder and gotten even faster. I was almost a little nervous.

We get down to the race and pick up our packets. Charlotte is still convinced that she is going to run, so we go ahead and sign her up. I'm a little mad at myself because I didn't take pictures of the packet sign up or anything like I did with Molly. Again, I didn't actually think this was happening. We pinned her number on and then met up with Amber who was going to run the 5K.

Now, the parade is also in the morning of the 4th. It's usually quite hectic for us to finish the race, get home, shower and get back before the parade starts. And, we have a corner that is ours. I mean, really, they should just put a sign on it saying "Laffety and Friends Parade Viewing." I'm not sure why they don't. But, since they don't, we have to place our chairs there early enough to save our spots. So, in the midst of picking up our packets, getting a number for Charlotte and meeting up with Amber, we also had to carry a bunch of chairs from the back of the car and put them out on our corner. And, I had to pee.

It was a crazy hectic morning, especially when we saw chairs had already been put in our spot. How dare they! Turns out, it was our friend Chris, who had gotten there at 5:30am to put out chairs. I honestly didn't think he would've gotten up that early, so I was very upset at the imaginary person who had the audacity to put their chairs in our spot!

Needless, to say, it was crazy and by the time I made it through the porta-potty line and to the starting line, I didn't even have a chance to turn my Garmin on before the race started. Plus, my iPod has been acting funky lately. If anyone has any tips on how to get it to keep playing music after I clip it to my shirt or after it goes to black screen, please let me know! I ran the first 3 miles with my iPod in my hand.

The one picture I got before the race started.

Despite all that chaos, I actually ran a really good race. I was keeping a steady pace of 7:09 and feeling pretty darn good. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that the weather was amazing. Low 60s for a 4th of July race?!?! Unheard of! I started struggling a bit on the second loop (the 10K is essentially two loops of the 5K course), but my pace stayed below 7:15. On the second loop, I actually got to see Charlotte and my dad twice on the course. They were walking, but looked really good. When I came up behind Charlotte and said hi, she tried to run with me. I had to tell her to stay with Papa.

I had a goal of 48:00 for my race. When I looked down at my Garmin with a mile left, I knew I had that in the bag with time to spare. When a girl passed me around mile 5, I didn't push too hard to try to pass her back. This would later come back to bite me in the butt. I almost puked coming up the last big hill, but turned the corner to the finish line and felt awesome. I knew I was going to be way under my goal. I kept going, but didn't push too hard. I waved at my family when I saw them cheering.

I crossed the finish line feeling pretty awesome with a time of 44:47. A PR by a minute and a half. (Previous PR was 7.5 years ago.) I was way under my goal, and I knew for sure I'd medal. They give medals for the top 5 places in each age division. I went to the timing table to get my official time before making my way to my family. There, I learned the cold, hard facts. I was in fact 6th place in my age group. 6th. And, they give medals for the top 5. Blech! And, the worst part? I was only 5 seconds away from the 5th place girl. 5 seconds?!?! Remember how I was going to kick myself for not trying to pass that girl? Or, taking time to wave? Plus, I found out that I was the 10th female finisher overall, but 6th in my age group. That meant that 6 of the top 10 finishers were in my age group. Talk about stiff competition. Geez. Not that I'm still obsessing on it or anything 4 days later ...

Molly had fun hanging out with Tom while we all ran.

While I was pouting over my 6th place finish. Yes, I admit I was pouting. We waited for Charlotte and Papa to finish. I had passed them for the second time right before I got to the 5 mile marker, so I knew they were on their way. When they finally turned the corner, you should've heard the cheers that erupted from our section. Eventually, even the people around us got in on the action. I'm getting a little teary-eyed just thinking about it. It almost made me forget about my 6th place finish.

My dad said Charlotte ran for almost 3/4 of the first mile, then ran the last .1 mile to the finish line. She walked the rest of the time, but never asked to be picked up or carried. She finished in 1:02:19. My 3-year-old. I was so proud.

All the runners. Amber did awesome and PR'd in her 5K. Cory had a goal of a 21:00 5K. He clocked in at 21:05 and placed 7th in his age group. We're both kicking ourselves for those darn 5 seconds. And, yes, Charlotte does have a mouth full of muffin. Running a 5K makes a girl hungry.

Easter in a thousand pictures

Ooofh. That is the sound of me collapsing on the couch and not moving. (Ok, well, actually I do have to get up to switch the laundry. Monday is laundry day in our house.) But, today we are spending our day getting back to our normal schedule and recovering from the oh-so-much-fun annual Strand-Lafferty Easter weekend.

So, for the past five years, my cousin Laura and her husband and daughter have been coming down to spend Easter with us. Five years. I can't even believe it's been that long. The tradition can't be broken because my girls now completely associate Easter with Penny coming to town. It's permanently locked in. (Hear that, Laura?)

As always, we had a great time, the girls had a great time, and we are already making plans for next year. The problem is, as is usually the case, fitting everything into three short days.

They got here late on Thursday night. We're talking so late that I was already in bed, and I made Cory wait up for them. Then, on Friday morning, I drag poor Laura with me to Bar Method class. And, to be fair to myself, she did say she wanted to try it. Though, I'm not sure she was thrilled that she made that comment. Especially during the class. She told me that she thought there were going to be more ballet-esque moves. Whoops. Not so much.

So, after I completely tire Laura's legs out, we decided to drag the whole family down to the Nelson-Atkins Museum. A friend of mine had told me about this scavenger hunt for children that you can print off the internet and take with you. It has pictures of different things (ie. cat, wagon, lobster, angel) that the kids can cross off as they find them in different paintings throughout the museum. I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but it ended up completely entertaining and engrossing the girls. They were totally invested in finding all the items to cross off. We started getting into it, too. But, alas, we ended the day without ever finding the damn lobster!

We decided to use some of our Bar expertise to emulate the headless statue. Jeans were a bit of a hindrance.

Working on the scavenger hunt. I believe this may have been around the time that Molly asked Laura why angels don't have to wear clothes, after seeing so many naked angels in paintings. Oh, kids. ;)

We had a really yummy lunch in the cafe in the museum.

Then, we headed outside to enjoy the absolutely gorgeous weather. It has not been warm here for spring at all. In fact, it snowed 8 inches a mere 5 days prior to this. So, we were definitely ready to enjoy the outside. The tops of my feet, however, were not. They got absolutely burned to a crisp. Darn paleness.

Family picture in front of the Nelson.

Whee!!!!

Pensively thinking about life and art.

Three giggly girls.

Laura had seen something about the giant shuttlecock sculptures months and months ago, so we took pictures in front of them.

Just cute.

Two mini models

A couple weeks ago, Cory and I sat together in a dark auditorium while tears filled our eyes. But, no worries. It was in a good way. And, if you know Cory, you know how very, very rare it is that there would be tears anywhere near his eyeballs. 

But, see, for the third year in a row, Molly was participating in the JCCC student fashion show. (Other shows are here and here. You can see how much she's grown, and you'll probably start crying, too. Ok, maybe that's just me.)

Cory's mom is the head of the fashion merchandising department, so we've kind of got an inside track to the modeling world. The past two years, Molly's walked in the "Little Dresses for Africa" segment of the fashion show, donning dresses made by students for the charity that sends dresses to African girls.

This year, as she is the ripe old age of 5, Molly got to model in two different segments. One of the student designers was designing a bridal collection. And, who better to be a flower girl than Molly? (Seriously, she would be an adorable flower girl, but this might be her only shot. She's getting older and no one is getting married! Hint, hint.)

Molly was very excited to be in the fashion show, especially when she learned that she got to miss school for the noon show. (I was a little hesitant about letting her miss school because I am anal that way, but, because it was her first time of missing any school, Cory convinced me that it was probably ok.)

At the rehearsal the week before, Cory's mom asked if Charlotte would like to walk in the "Little Dresses for Africa" segment. I was sure there would be no way she would agree. And, she proved me right. At first. Then, Mommmom pulled out the dress she would wear. And, it had puppies on it (some of the 101 dalmations as a matter of fact). From that moment on, she was sold. I still wasn't certain she would actually walk on the stage, but we figured we'd let her try. 

Unfortunately, we'd already agreed to go to a fundraiser dinner that took place at the same exact time as the evening show, but Cory and I were still going to be able to make it to the noon show. No way was I missing my babies walk across the stage.

At rehearsal. Practicing their waves.

Charlotte and Molly with Mommom before the show.

Charlotte sat with Cory and I in the audience for most of the show. Then, Cory's mom came and got her to take her backstage for the Africa dresses. Molly stayed backstage the whole time and even managed a costume change. She's getting to be such a big girl.