Birthday Girls!

Kiely's birthday was back in August. I know, I know, that was two months 5 months ago... But at least I'm getting back to it. She really anticipated her birthday, and it was a little different, but exciting. I kind of decided to make, and Kiely wanted a castle birthday cake. She is all things princess right now... We are actually kind of getting sick of the whole princess thing, but I have a feeling that as soon as she's done with the phase, it will be Charlotte's turn. Maybe she can skip that one? ;) Anyways, I made the castle cake, and for my first time trying to do any sort of fancy decorating, I felt like I did a pretty good job. Her birthday was on a Sunday, so we didn't do anything too fancy, just the regular cake, ice cream, and presents. We got her a fishing pole, a little ABC tracing book that comes with a dry erase marker, a CTR butterfly necklace, and fingernail polish (purple and sparkly- two of her favs). She loved her cake, and almost didn't even want us to cut into it, but we told her that's what we made it for. (We didn't even eat half of the cake. We're not much of cake people. I think I might do a pie or cheesecake next year.) She loved all of her gifts, and still enjoys them, so that's a good sign. :) Kiely is such a big girl now. She knows how to spell her own name, mom, dad, and knows that Charlotte starts with C. We've been working a little bit on writing letters, too. Back in June, she memorized her first book- Something Special by Terri Cohlene. I can't remember if I've blogged about that before or not... but it was really cute. :) Kiely still has her long, beautiful, blonde curls, and is becoming more willing to get her hair done. She is a great helper, and also great at bossing her sister around. (Yep, she came first for a reason...) We have started teaching her a little bit about money and saving, so she has her own special money jar. One time I was talking about how I want to buy a house, and she told me she would buy a house with the money from her money jar. :) She continues to tell me that she'll do that. We love her so much and she has such a fun personality. Kiely is loving and kind, and likes to help take care of her sister.

Charlotte's birthday was on October 1st. It's so crazy how fast time goes.... Right now I'm kicking myself (ok not literally. :) for not getting to this sooner, but I'll do my best. :) Charlotte has been so different than Kiely, but she is so fun, too, and so sweet. She wasn't walking by one, but really probably could have if I had wanted to push her a little harder (and if she weren't so stubborn.) She was closer to 13 months if I remember right... Which I was ok with, because she's a handful. That little Charly gets into things so much!! (Sharlee- not to be confused with Charlie-I have to clarify that, because I said I wouldn't call her Charlie, but DaNae started calling her Charly, and I told her NO CHARLIE, so Charly has stuck.) We didn't really do anything too fancy for Charlotte's birthday, either. Maybe I'll start doing things a little more fancy when it will mean more to them. I made brownies (with frosting of course, because you can't have a first birthday without becoming ridiculously messy, and I'm pretty sure that by the time we got around to eating them, she was getting pretty tired. :) We of course got her some plastic stuff- a little puppy (she LOVES animals SO much!) that was supposed to be for her to walk around with/ encourage the walking... Kiely pulled it around a lot for a while instead, and Charlotte would sometimes chase it... Charlotte does play with it now. :) She also got some blocks, and a baby doll.  It was fun helping her open presents (and Kiely definitely took part in this-- Thinking maybe some of the gifts were for her, I'm sure.) When she turned one, she weighed just over 16 pounds- maybe 16.5. She's our little one. Still not even on the charts as far as weight goes! She's just like her mom, though. When I was one, my mom said I weighed around 15 or 16 pounds is all. (From looking at my baby pictures, you probably wouldn't believe it, because I was probably the chunkiest as a baby out of all of my siblings, but I guess as soon as I went mobile, it was gone!) Charlotte is a bit of a fireball. She still has a little bit of red in her hair- she's a little strawberry blond, and can get pretty upset about things at times, and she'll let you know with her shriek! (good thing she's so cute!) She really is so sweet, though, even with everything she does to cause mischief, and she has me wrapped around her little finger.

 

You can definitely tell the personalities of each girl from some of these pictures! :) I can't believe how big they're getting! Even since Charlotte's birthday! More posts to come... I will catch up! :)