Halle’s been telling me lately that she’s not “big and little” anymore, she’s just big. Last night, she decided she was too big for pull-ups at bedtime, so she wore just panties, like a big gir. She was dry this morning and was very excited when she told Daddy that she doesn’t wear pull-ups anymore because she’s a big girl. She’s running around the house right now screaming, “I’m a BIG GIRL!!”

I was just talking to Keri about this the other day (whether we should be trying to ween the girls from the pull-ups). And we both kind of felt like it really wasn’t important this young and the comfort of knowing they’re protected at night was a good feeling for us. But if Halle’s ready, then I guess it’s time after all. I just hope we don’t have a zillion accidents ahead of us. Unlike Annabelle who wakes up dry almost all the time, Halle really took advantage of wearing a pull-up. So it’ll be interesting to see if her will to be a big girl will really keep her dry at night, or if she’s just not ready biologically yet. Wish me luck!

Halle’s been saying so many grown up phrases lately. Like when I straightened her hair and she sadly said, “I don’t know what to say.” And just now, when she saw the straight-hair picture, she said, “I don’t look so good like that.” She also says things like, “I’m not sure I’m happy right now.” And, after watching a “My Friend Rabbit” kid cartoon movie, I asked her if the cartoon was good and she said, “I don’t think you would like it. Only I like it.”

My favorite thing she says, and she says it a lot, is, “You make me so happy.” Or, “Daddy makes me so happy.” Or, “My sister makes me so happy.” She also likes to tell us in length all the things she’s going to teach Elena when she gets bigger. “When Elena gets bigger, I’m going to show her how to walk, just like me!” “When Elena gets bigger, I will show her how to put the movies in the DVD player carefully so they don’t break.” “When Elena gets bigger, I will show her how to be patient while the computer games are loading.” She’s so grown up already!

Tried this easy weeknight dinner and it was delicious. Light, easy (only takes 25 minutes from start to finish), low in calories, and very tasty. I served this after Jason’s volleyball game at 8:30, so I was forced to take this picture using flash. As far as food photography goes, I know this is terrible. :)

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (9 oz.) refrigerated cheese tortellini
1/4 cup KRAFT Roasted Red Pepper Italian with Parmesan Dressing
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained
3/4 lb. cooked cleaned medium shrimp
1 bag (6 oz.) baby spinach leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
2 Tbsp. KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

COOK tortellini in large (4-qt.) saucepan as directed on package. Drain in colander; set aside. Heat dressing in same pan on medium-high heat. Add garlic; cook 1 min. Add tomatoes and shrimp; mix well. Bring just to boil. Stir in spinach; cover. Simmer 1 to 2 min. or until spinach is wilted, stirring occasionally.

STIR in tortellini and basil; simmer, uncovered, 3 to 4 min. or until sauce is thickened, stirring occasionally.

SERVE topped with the cheese.

Halle’s second dance class was a surprising success considering she woke up at 4:30 am this morning for the day, would not take a nap, fell asleep as soon as we pulled into the parking spot at the studio, was literally holding her eyelids open with her fingers at the start of the class, and fell back to sleep within 5 minutes of returning to the car. During class though, she was her usual happy self and did everything that was asked of her. When class was over she said, “Dance class makes me happy. That was so much fun.” Hooray!

Last Wednesday was Halle’s first dance class. It’s a 3-4 year old Ballet/Tap/Gym class and I really had no idea what to expect, from the class or from Halle. Halle has always shown an interest in dancing, and the performing arts in general. She’s not shy at all when it comes to dancing or singing or putting on a show in front of a room full of her friends or complete strangers. So I thought this was a good fit for her. But she’s also the type of person who won’t do something if she doesn’t want to, or if it scares her, so I wasn’t sure how the gymnastics part of the class was going to be for her.

Before we got into the studio, Halle met a little girl in the parking lot. The girl, Kaylin, asked Halle if she wanted to be her friend and Halle smiled and agreed. They held hands as they walked in to the studio together and stayed that way for 15 minutes while we waited for the class to start. When the teacher walked in, I was instantly pleased. I could tell immediately that she was the perfect person to teach young girls. Sweet, patient, fun, adorable. When the teacher led the girls into the studio and had them all sit against the wall, Halle made sure to sit right next to her (Ms. Brianna) with Kaylin on her other side. As the class went on, Halle and Kaylin continued to find each other and sit by each other every chance they got. And at the end of the class, they gave each other a big hug and kiss. It’s nice to see that Halle has no trouble making friends!

As far as the class went, it really went well. Halle listened and tried to do everything that was asked of her. She genuinely enjoyed every minute of it. I was impressed to see her doing shuffle-ball-changes in the very first class, letting the assistant teacher help her into a handstand, and doing three assisted somersaults (she doesn’t do them on her own yet). She had a light airy bounce to her step throughout the entire class as though she was walking on clouds, and a huge smile on her face. Her second class is tonight. Hope it’s as successful as the first one!

When I was going through the Hive photo shoot pictures to post on Facebook yesterday, Elena came and sat on my lap while I had this pic of her and Corgan up on the screen. She got very excited when she saw it and I said, “Do you see Corgan?” and she pointed right at him. Then she said, “Corgan” clear as day. :)

They are so freaking cute together!!

As I’m sure you know by now, Elena turned one on Saturday. We had a pool party for her, which turned out absolutely perfect. The weather couldn’t have been better. Elena couldn’t have been in a better mood. The guests all seemed to have a genuinely good time. We had TONS of good food, for dinner and dessert. I was really happy with the way the decorations and everything came together. Everything really was perfect. Erica posted her (awesome!) album on Facebook, and I’ve also posted my pics in the gallery. Here are a couple of my favorites of Elena.

I absolutely LOVE her bithday girl dress!

Hamming it up at the pool

Posing with Mommy right before birthday cake

Enjoying her birthday cake (sort of.. she really didn’t have that much interest in it)

I took her to the doctor this morning, and all is well at her one year visit. She’s in the 45th % in weight (20 lbs 4 oz), 40th % in height (28.5″), and everything looks great.

At one year, Elena is still a crawler. She pulls herself up to standing all the time and has started to let go, but can only support herself for a second or two before falling. She’s into everything, especially our tupperware cabinet. She loves the water. She eats regular people food and drinks only out of sippy cups and straws (we dropped the bottle about a month ago). She sleeps through the night in her own crib. She only really says two words, “Mama” and “Uh-oh”. She’s definitely a Mama’s girl. She’s starting to sign a bit, but not consistently yet. (I need to get better at signing with her more often). She has a great sense of humor, and loves to crack herself up by putting things on her head or doing other silly things. She brightens our life with her beauty, sweet personality, and adorable smile. We love her so much!

We went to Chuck E. Cheese today. I think it was Halle’s second time ever going. We had gone once with the Gallers in North Carolina when Halle was younger and she wanted nothing to do with any of it. I was happy to see at 3 years old, she absolutely had a blast. She wanted to do everything. She enjoyed it all. When it was time to turn in her tickets, she wanted three small toys. A Chuck E. Cheese toy for her, a little sheet of Chuck E. Cheese stickers, and a purple spider for Annabelle. She had EXACTLY to the ticket the right amount of tickets to get those three things. :)

Also want to say thanks to Christina for suggesting that I get in more of my pictures with my kids. I’ve been trying to do that lately and I’ve got so many pictures (like the one above) that I treasure now!

More Chuck E. Cheese pics here.

I’m ready to commit to a half marathon. I’m going to start training for the Jacksonville Marine Corps 1/2 Marathon on October 4th using this training plan.