Milestone

A few weeks ago Bryn got her first haircut.

This is the before. It was getting pretty long.

We went to a great kids' cuts place where Bryn got to sit in a car,

and watch Dora. She loved it.

A full salon experience, she even got blown dry and styled...ooh, la, la.

This is where I should insert the darling after picture for everyone to "ooh" and "ahh" at. Unfortunately, this marks the date and time when our camera finally decided to bite the dust. It's been struggling for awhile, but up to this point it has always pulled through. Sadly, there seems to be no imminent recovery this time around.

I'm not sure if it's the new 'do, the recently claimed 2-year-old status, the rapidly approaching big sisterhood, a combination of any of the previously stated, or something different all together, but Justin and I have been alarmed by how much of a little girl our baby is becoming. She has grown up so much just since our return from Africa. Insert cliche, yet oh-so-true statement about growing up too fast. Sigh. Right after the cure for cancer is discovered and the solution for world peace is established, will someone please figure out how to keep my children young forever?

More Learning Time Fun

We have been having so much fun with this month's learning time theme: Plants.

We dyed carnations to help us learn that plants drink water.

(See video at bottom of post for final product results.)

Bryn is using dot paint to dot all of the S's on the Sunflower

Of course dot art is much too fun to stop at just the S's

Working on colors (actually, reviewing colors--she knows them already) using pom-pom balls

Art project

We even tied our snack into the theme

Tracing the letter S

Identifying shapes

A sensory/exploratory activity: I hid a lot of little objects like flower shaped buttons and beads, little wooden flower pots, etc. in the bird seed and let her search for them.

I also gave her a spoon, measuring cup, and funnel and let her go to town. She LOVED this activity. I was thrilled when she was entertained with it for 20 minutes, but she continued to play for nearly an hour. That's next to eternity in two-year-old time. Yes, there was lots of bird seed to sweep up after we were finished, but who cares?! It was super fun!

We ended up having to rearrange the bedroom so we could use the entire wall for our completed alphabet.

We've loved noticing the blossoms that are coming out and the flowers that are blooming around town. If we could convince the sun to join us more regularly we would really be enjoying it. We planted some of our own seeds that we've watched grow in our house as well. We love, love, love Learning Time!

*I must send a huge shout-out to my uber-creative and dedicated friends, Julie and Austyn, who pass along all of their brilliant ideas and all of the ideas they find on the internet (what did moms do pre-internet??). You guys are awesome!*

Happy Birthday, Brynerooskie!

Last year Bryn celebrated turning 1:

As sequency would have it, this year she celebrated turning 2!

Her birthday weekend started out with a trip into the big city. She has been wanting to ride on the subway train ever since we got back from Africa, so this was a very exciting event. We took her to the Toys-R-Us at Times Square that has an enormous ferris wheel inside. She was in awe for about a minute, then her 2-year-old attention span was directed to some other wonderful discovery.

Ridin' the Wheel (that's what the locals call it...just kidding). I read a warning sign while we were waiting in line that advised pregnant women not to ride. Obviously I live life on the wild side.

After the toy store we went to dinner where the restaurant staff sang to Bryn, sombrero-ed her, and presented her with an ice cream sundae.

The sombrero proved to be merely an obstruction to the ice cream and was promptly discarded. I like the girl's priorities.

The night before her big day we got everything set up for a birthday morning surprise:

She spent about 5 seconds being surprised and then went right to work baking "bread, cookies, ice cream, and German pancakes."

She got to choose her meals throughout the day, but had to settle for 2nd choice every time since her first choice was cupcakes. She loves German pancakes and requested them (as her 2nd choice) for both breakfast and dinner, probably because they are nearly as sweet as a cupcake with all the fixin's.

After breakfast we opened the gifts that had been arriving from grandparents throughout the week.

Conference was watched and a nap was attempted, but she either didn't want to miss a moment of conference or the birthday excitement was just too overwhelming to allow for a nap. Either way, the birthday nap was a no-go, which moved us right along to our next birthday surprise: hunting for number 2's around the house that led to finding the last 2 on a new tricycle (Thank you, Grandad and Kim!)! We took it out for a spin right away.

The birthday was wrapped up with cake and ice cream shared with friends.

Quite a day for quite a two-year-old!

Mommy and the birthday girl

Daddy and the birthday girl

Group shot

We LYMTTCT, Bryn!

XOXO

Perception of Ingratitude

It has been brought to my attention, and rightly so, that my last post could be perceived by many to be quite ungrateful of the many cards and gifts ($) we have been given over the years. In my attempt at sarcasm (which never did anybody any good, unless you're Ricky Gervais), I failed to convey the message I was intending to send: that I, Justin Malden, am terribly uncreative when it comes to showing my appreciation and love for Jill.

Of course I am truly grateful for the many loved ones who have been so thoughtful to us and who have helped us along our way. I only wish that we could adequately repay all of the kindness and love that we have received from both family and friends.

To My Lovely Lady, Happy Birthday

Let's be honest. After 21, birthdays are kinda lame. The childish excitement is all gone and the only milestones left are 30 (blah), 50 (old), and 78 (average life expectancy). The social custom demands that we celebrate one's birth by perusing the endless assortment of "another year older" cards, cat cards, and "this sexy [person] wants to give you a present you'll never forget" cards.-------------------Edited for an offensive statement--------------------------

Despite my pessimism, however, there is one birthday that I love to celebrate: Jill's. Recognizing that there are an infinite number of events that had to take place to ensure our present circumstance, I can honestly say that the day Jill was born is one of the most important days of my life. I regret that I didn't know Jill existed for the first half of my life, but I have found reason to celebrate her life and the blessing it has been to be a part of it since the day we met 14 years ago.

I celebrate her humor, her intelligence, her virtue, her honesty, her diligence in the gospel, her dedication to personal growth, her talents, her grasp of motherhood, her beauty and her loyalty and affection as a wonderful wife and friend. I aspire to be like her in every possible way.

Happy birthday babe, glad you're alive. - Justin

Learning Time

For the past month Bryn and I have been having "Learning Time" for a little bit each day. We both love it. She is learning the letters of the alphabet and the sound each letter makes. We also review numbers and colors, and sing songs. Our special focus this month was the body, learning different body parts, etc. During March our focus will be transportation, all the different ways to get from here to there. Lucky for us, New York is a great place to study transportation. During a quick trip to drop Justin off at the train station and a short walk to the library this morning we saw: a subway train, lots of buses, taxis, fire trucks, boats, yachts, lots of airplanes, a helicopter, and lots of cars of course too. Thank you, NYC! I am so impressed with how quickly Bryn learns. She amazes me!

When I was growing up, we had a bulletin board in my house that basically looked like the one pictured below (a little less elaborate, but you get the idea). I thought it was silly that my "teacher" mom brought such a classroom feel into our home.

Now, this is what Bryn's room looks like. Hmm...runs in the family??

We traced Bryn's body and then added body parts to the cut-out throughout the month.

It's About Time?

Be honest, have you wondered, "When are those Maldens going to get back to their baby makin'?" Well, wonder no more. The baby makin' is in full force and has been for the past 18 weeks. We're expecting this beautiful* bundle at the end of July (*note the usage of the more feminine adjective beautiful as opposed to handsome...that's to imply we're having a GIRL, which, in fact ,we are!):

This is how we shared the news with our families when we were visiting them in CA around the holidays:

We are so excited for "baby sister" to be on her way. Bryn talks about the baby in Mommy's tummy all the time, and has decided that we should name her The Gruffalo. She loves that book, so although it is the name of a monster, I'm choosing to interpret her name suggestion as a transfer of her affection for the book to the baby. :)