HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAIA!

(she insisted on having all the candles on her cake and well, why not?)

At 3, Kaia loves...

icy drinks (slushies),
rainbow ice-cream,
building castles,
letters and numbers,
Dora the Explorer,
beaded jewelry, and
stickers.

Kaia does NOT love:

brushing her hair,
washing her hair,
loud noises or
eating supper.

Happy Birthday to Kaia!

Kaia's birthday is actually tomorrow, the 25th, but because that falls on a Monday we decided to do the birthday thing today. And well, what can I say? My Kaiaarahi Soleil is loved (and by that I mean spoiled - though I was asked to point out here that it was actually a birthday gift to both of the girls). She had been saying for weeks that she wanted a swing for her birthday and so her Nana and Papa said they would get her one only they didn't just get a swing - they decided on getting her the whole playground! Look at this and you'll see what I mean.Papa and Daniel spent, quite literally, the entire day putting this together. Kaia helped too - she just loves playing with tools. We had a little barbecue for lunch with cake and presents afterwards. Kaia absolutely loved her backpack I made for her (and I was so pleased with how it came out). She's been filling it with her toys and wearing it pretty much constantly which makes me happy. She's pretty proud to have a camera of her own too, though it'll take awhile for her to figure it out I think (there are quite a few buttons on it).
It was a great day overall and I know Kaia had a blast which is the most important thing. I think we'll be spending lots of time out here this summer.

Summer is on it's way!

With the warm weather fast approaching (and a few beautiful sunny days so far), I decided to make the girls each a nice summer sundress. I had some fabric lying around and for some reason I have been in the mood to sew lately, and I also saw this tutorial online which inspired me to create these. So easy and super cute. I made some modifications to the pattern - I used leftover fabric rather than buying bandanas, and I added two loops instead of one to the back for the ribbon tie as well as adding on some found embellishment afterwards. Everything I used was upcycled so to speak so the best part of it all? Besides all of the contrast-y goodness (I can't help it. I love things that don't match), it only cost me $2.50 to make both of them! (I had to buy some of that no-roll elastic). Adorable.

Can you keep a secret?

I just got this pattern for a toddler sized backpack from happygiraffe on ETSY. I had been wanting to make Kaia a backpack for a few months now but haven't had the time to draft my own pattern (or the patience for that matter!) and wasn't able to find one to buy. Of course, you can find tons of patterns for backpacks, but not little ones for little bodies and this one will fit her just perfectly. I am going to make it for her birthday and give it to her along with one of those kiddie digital cameras. She's always after mine and it's beginning to incur some damage so the intention here is to keep her little paws away from my camera, while still letting her explore and learn to take her own photos. I can see her now - packing up her little backpack with snacks and a drink and her camera for photos along with whatever else she deems necessary on a day out. We should have lots of fun with this over the summer. I'm very excited about it.

It's crazy to think that another year has gone by already and my little baby girl is turning 3 years old. I read this quote somewhere - ages ago - and it's always stuck with me. I'm not likely to get it exactly right but it went something like this:

"When you are a parent, the days are long but the years fly by..."

How very true.

She's walking!

What goes around...

We've had a rough few weeks here in the Greenwood household. First I got quite sick - it forced me to spend a few days in bed and I'm still not feeling totally 'over it' yet. Then, of course, Sabine got sick who then passed it on to Kaia. Sabine had a pretty bad cough and a runny nose for a couple of days but it definately hit Kaia the hardest of us all. She had a horrible fever for a few nights, lots of hoarse coughing and trouble breathing, and understandably, her sleep schedule has been off ever since. We're all much better now - enjoying the warm and sunny weather and getting back into the swing of things...

Priceless.

This is, so far, Kaia's best attempt at avoiding bedtime.

My name is...

Kaia has known her full first name and middle name for quite some time now but it was only recently that I thought she should really learn her last name as well. I tried to tell her that all of us - Mommy, Daddy, Kaia and Sabine - all have the last name Greenwood but she wasn't satisfied with that. Now, if you ask her what her name is, she will confidently reply, "My name is Kaiaarahi Soleil Pinkwood." Too cute.

My Birthday Girl!

We had a little birthday party for Sabine this weekend since her birthday was on Thursday and it pretty much passed by as a regular day. Kaia, Sabine and I went over to Nana and Papa's house for our first barbecue of the year (yay for that!) where Sabine had her cake and opened a little present I made for her. She did quite well with her cake - grabbing it with both hands as soon as it was put in front of her.

Sweet Innocence.

The other day Kaia said to me "Mommy?".
To which I replied, "Yes, honey?".
And she said, "I want wings".
"You want wings!", I exclaimed.
And then she spun around with her hands held out and said,
"Yes, so I can fly!"