Art genius + a little diva thrown in...

Kasen really likes painting and water colors are her current favorite.  She seems to like the process (the cup of water, the little strips with paint) and she LOVES the result.  I mean what 2 year old doesn't like a huge, watery mess?  This newest "masterpiece" was worked on for a good 15 minutes (a lifetime to our girl) and even though I kept trying to give her new paper, she insisted it wasn't done.

This video is such a good illustration of her right now.  You'll notice, the first thing she asks is "Can I see?" (or the Kasen equivalent).  These days we are lucky to get a picture taken before she is rushing up to view the outcome.  She is also becoming quite the stickler about things being clean.  I wish it carried over to her outfits, but right now she focuses on her hands and shoes.  It is funny to see her making a huge mess (and loving it) and then all of the sudden completely distressed by a spot on her shoes (or hands as you can see).  Oh and the singing?  She does that constantly.  Rarely a song we recognize, generally she just throws in a recognizable word or two.

Crocs

Kasen has a friend, Jake, who is 3 days older.  Maybe that explains why she is so attached to him... who doesn't like an older guy?

Kasen and Jake playing trains

I find this friendship can be used to my advantage...  "Kasen, you know Jake loves fish...", all of the sudden Kasen eats the fish.  "We are seeing Jake later today Kasen, but not if we don't get dressed...", sure enough she lays down to get dressed. 

The latest use of this friendship was in buying shoes.  Kasen has gotten REALLY picky about shoes and we were getting desperate for her to have another pair of shoes (especially a warm weather, easy to clean option).  We tried to buy her sandals for Easter and she freaked.  All you have to say is the word, "sandals" and she has a PTSD-like reaction.... "no-ee, no-ee, OUCHIE!".  She repeats this mantra until we promise her she doesn't have to wear sandals. 

Last week we were visiting Jake at his new house (which is way too far for Kasen's liking) and he was wearing his Crocs.  Kasen took an liking to them (even tried them on) and we immediately planned to go buy her a pair.  The next day, we were in the kids shoe department of Nordstrom ready to spend WAY more than usual on a pair of kid shoes.  Would Kasen even try them on?  NO.  She refused every girl pair until we went over to the boys section and found a blue pair (Jake's were blue).  Of course the plain blue (ie cheaper) were not in her size, so she was wearing a Lego pair.  I did not want to spend the extra money (or see her wear these silly Lego shoes with everything), but Karl saved the day.  Knowing yellow is one of her favorite colors, he convinced her these were the "yellow ones".

Did you notice I put black socks on her?  Yea, black socks AND crocs.  She is quite the fashion maven!  The best part of this purchase?  She makes Karl wear his crocs a lot now, so they match....

PEPS Birthday - Sprinkles Galore

We have been meeting with the same group of moms/babies since Kasen was a few months old (our PEPS group).  We celebrated the babes 2 year birthday at a local Gymboree.  Here is everyone:

Great picture huh?  Turns out getting a group shot of 2 year olds is about as easy as herding ants.  Or finding your keys after dropping them off a dock.  Point being, NOT easy.  In fact this was the only picture that actually contained all the babies kids (got to get over the baby thing).

After the kids had their fill of playing, they had pizza (which Kasen calls "pee" - she may do this for awhile since Karl and I laugh every time) and cupcakes.  The frosting was definitely the highlight of the cupcake experience.  You can see both Kasen and her friend, Sam, enjoying their frosting.  While Kasen chose to hold her cupcake and lick the frosting, Sam chose a face first attack.  Both seemed equally effective.

Did you notice the above cupcakes had sprinkles?  Kasen did.  Yesterday, she actually found the bag of sprinkles I used when making the cupcakes....  do you see where this is going?  I was washing dishes at the time and when I watched her fail to open the twist tie, I turned back to the dishes.  Sound like a bad idea?  It was.  The next sound I heard was the "tink, tink, tink" of many, many sprinkles hitting the floor.

I think the only one happy about the situation was Sterling.  Poor Kasen was pretty upset.  I think she expected cupcakes to come out of the bag with the sprinkles.

Art Group - Sidewalk Paint

My friend Rachel and I have been meeting once a week for the past few months.  Her son Sam is about 11 weeks younger than Kasen.  Since I wanted to be a little more purposeful about doing art with Kasen, I thought a planned meetup would give me the motivation.  I will say it has definitely worked.  We have taken the kids to the art museum and done numerous art activities.

Sam and Kasen enjoying the easels at the SAM

Working on her first contact paper "stained glass"

We try and get outside at every opportunity (especially in the spring).  The Pacific Northwest can make you appreciate the sunshine!  Today I didn't have a plan until my friend Becca mentioned that her mom just tried homemade sidewalk paint with her niece.  A quick Google search later and I came up with this recipe for Sidewalk Paint.  I tripled the recipe to create 4 colors.  It worked like a charm and the kids really enjoyed it.

Sam and Kasen got right into painting, Lucas needed some more convincing(he is at the edge of the picture with his mom).

It seemed to wipe off of Kasens' shoes without issue.  I will have to wait and see how the pants fared.  I though art paint brushes would get trashed, so I bought some small paint brushed at the hardware store.  Worked great.  Here is a close up of their master piece:

Pretty awesome huh?  (FYI the kids didn't make the circle, but everything else was all them)

Father of the Year

We got some great sunshine today for the Sounders game.  Here Kasen is wearing her new tinkerbell shades (which she loves - thanks Fogartys) & Karl is carrying his "be-ear" (Kasen has such a blossoming vocabulary).

Easter Egg Hunt

Kasen got to do her first Easter Egg hunt today.  Our friends from Viginia gathered at a park in Norfolk and "hid" some eggs.  The kids then went and "found" them.  Here are some pictures and a video of Kasen in action.  Thanks to everyone who came out it was great seeing everyone.  Happy Easter everyone.

Kasen's Birthday Party

On Wednesday Kasen had her official birthday party at a bounce house place in Williamsburg.  She was a little timid at first, but once her party guests arrived, she was all about the place.  She wasn't scared of getting in with the bigger kids (although it helped she had some big friends looking out for her - thanks Schroeders!).  She bounced, went down slides, ate a cupcake and opened gifts.  A great birthday party for our girl who is now "tewwww".

I'm 2

Today was Kasen's 2nd birthday.  She is able to answer the question of "How old are you?"  Of course she only knows how to say 2 numbers, two and nine, so the fact she is two is convenient.  We are currently visiting Nana and Pepe (Picard) in Virginia.  We went to Busch Garden and she got to ride a few rides.  She also got to meet some old friends of Debra and mine, Sara, Chad and their 4 kids Bella, Abby, Brendan, and Lilly.  They had a great time riding the rides and walking the park.  Some photos from the day: