Jessica loves swimming lessons

Jessica hammed it up for the camera last night as Jim came to one of her swimming lessons.

She danced and sang on the mat and took many extra jumps into the water.



She took big leaps during her mat walk.



She zoomed down the slide into the water.



And, she even did a little swimming.

Jessica goes to her first circus

This past weekend, Jessica went to the circus. When you ask her if she had a good time, the answer is yes and she goes on tell you that she saw elephants, giraffes, tigers, horses, and clowns. There weren't any giraffes at the circus, but the rest of her list is accurate. She really enjoyed the pre-show animal open house. She alternated running between the zebras and the elephants (with all of us hoping to keep an eye on her / catch up with her).



The biggest excitement for Jessica during the show was the elephants. She liked them the best (or so we think as she screamed elephants at the top of her lungs whenever they came out). They were pretty spectacular.




And, we were one of those parents that bought their child an astronomically priced light wand during intermission. How else are you supposed to keep them entertained? I'm happy to say that she still plays with it at least.

Jessica enjoys her new school

Jessica has really taken to her new school. She loves painting and comes home with lots of artwork each day. This week, she also had fun doing dress-up and playing ring around the rosie with her friends.

Jessica draws things

Ever since Jessica started her new school, she has started to draw "things" when she colors. I think that this is because the older kids say they are drawing things, so she has started copying them. Sometimes they are people, sometimes they are animals, etc. This was a drawing she did tonight. It was our first family drawing (mommy, daddy, and Jessica). I can definitely see the resemblance.

Jim perfects his homemade pizza

It is yummy too!

Jessica loves her Play-doh

Jessica got a lot of fun Play-Doh items from her Aunt Jenny and Uncle Brent for her birthday. She absolutely loves playing with it. I think she likes it because she finally can play with a "knife".

got 3D?

Disney was full of 3D attractions. We could hardly get Jessica to keep the glasses on, but she sure looked cute in them.

Fun rides at Disneyworld

Jessica loved the rides at Disneyworld. Her most favorite rides were the horsey ride (i.e. carousel) and the Dumbo ride. We couldn't walk passed the carousel without stopping for a ride and thankfully the Dumbo ride had a very short wait so she could do it a few times.

lunch with the princesses at Cinderella's castle

At Disneyworld, Jessica had the chance to have lunch with the princesses at Cinderella's castle. Jessica's Mimi made her a special Sleeping Beauty outfit for her to have lunch in. It had a Sleeping Beauty top and a skirt with the three good fairies on it. Jessica sure loved to twirl around in it and she got many compliments.



When the princesses came out during lunch, it was almost as if Jessica was simply too shocked to say anything-- especially when her most favorite princess (Sleeping Tootie) came out.

Disneyworld (August 2009) - Character Bonanza

A good portion of our 4 days in Disneyworld was spent waiting in lines for Jessica to meet the characters. Luckily, there were multiple adults who could wait in separate lines and speed this whole process. This trip we had to focus on the character meet and greets as she recognized them and even asked to meet some of them specifically. We even did some of the characters twice. Despite her lack of smiling in a good portion of photos, she was excited to meet the characters. In the beginning, I had to get in the photos with her. That was exciting. Towards the end of the trip, she was doing it on her own, hugging the characters, and had even started to smile. One thing we discovered was that Jessica was into the autograph book and signing. She liked handing the characters her book and pen and demanded them from me as soon as we stood in a character line. I don't think that she understood the whole autograph thing, but she definitely wanted to do it too. Here are a few photos that the Disney photographers took.

Disneyworld (August 2009) - Welcome to Magic Kindom

After a few days in Captiva, we got up super early and drove to Disneyworld where we spent four days. We spent a good portion of the trip in the Magic Kingdom. These photos were from the first day at Disneyworld as we entered the park.




I have to say that I am shocked the photographer was able to get the Tinkerbell photo to work. They add Tinkerbell after the fact and Jessica had to hold her hands still in a certain position while the photographer got her picture. Jessica seemed to do it for about one second, but they still got it to work.

our captiva, florida vacation (august 2009)

Earlier this month, we spent a week in Florida. We were in Captiva for a few days (beach time) and then spent four days in the land of mouses and princesses (aka Magic Kingdom). In Captiva, Jessica really enjoyed the beach and the water. She loved wading and swimming in the water regardless of whether she was in a bathing suit or not, had fun doing bubbles on the beach, loved watching the dolphins swim (although we're not sure she actually ever saw the dolphins), and found that smashing sand castles mom had built was really fun. Here are some pictures from our trip to the beach.

Jessica's friend Isabella turns 2!

Today, Jessica's friend Isabella had her 2nd birthday party at her house. Jessica had lots of fun playing outdoors on the playset, hanging out with mom and dad, and finding ways to avoid Brent (in between and around mom's legs worked best). Jessica's male anxiety still exists in a very strong way.

Jessica enjoys her ice cream cone

After downing 2 1/2 slices of pizza for dinner (before swimming with her friend tonight), Jessica enjoyed a tasty ice cream cone later in the evening. Pizza and ice cream are key food groups, right? As you can tell, Jessica really loves ice cream.

Jessica has fun at gym

Jessica had fun at gym tonight. She loved playing in the tunnels, riding the train, and swinging.

Jessica goes to the airport to see airplanes

This afternoon, Jessica and I spent time at the airplane museum and local airport watching the airplanes take off and land. She loved seeing the airplanes in the sky.

Jessica's first dollhouse

Jessica just got a dollhouse this weekend. I had taken her to the library where they had one and I couldn't get her to stop playing with it. We found a super sale locally, and next thing we know, she has a furnished dollhouse at home now. It's been a huge hit so far as she has played with it morning, noon, and night. Her favorite activity is putting the dolls to night-night in their beds. Besides playing with the dolls and furniture, she likes to play peekaboo through the open spaces too.

Jessica had a good mentor in Mimi

Tonight, Jessica got her ironing board set that we had ordered a while back. We had bought her a washing machine and iron as birthday presents since she really seemed into both of those tasks around the house. All weekend, she watched her Mimi do lots of ironing. It seemed to rub off on Jessica as she set out to iron her baby's clothes tonight.

Jessica's second birthday party

Jessica enjoyed her second birthday party this weekend (even though her real birthday isn't until later in the month). She had a princess themed party filled with tutus and tiaras for the girls and capes and crowns for the boys. There was bubbles, swinging, and bouncing in the bounce house. Plus, extra yummy cupcakes (according to Jessica). Fun was had by all the little girls and boys who attended.






Later in the day, Jessica opened her presents. Anything that had princesses on it was a big hit including princess books, a princess phone, and a princess outfit. She also had lots of fun with her beads, puzzles, and Mrs. Potato Head.

Jessica has fun in the sun

On Sunday morning, Jessica had lots of fun swimming with Leilani. And, later that day, they had lots of fun "painting" with water. They enjoyed doing that activity and letting us all know.

Jessica spends the 4th of July swimming with her daddy

Jessica had a very fun 4th of July swimming with her Daddy and blowing bubbles. She wanted nothing to do with mommy while in the pool. She only wanted to jump and swim with her daddy. We had to teach her to wait for her daddy as she jumped once before he was ready.

swim lessons with Isabella

This is a photo from before swim lessons tonight. Jessica seems to finally be enjoying the lessons and is even doing okay with going under the water.