Happy Birthday Mary!

My Mary turned 3 yesterday!!! Happy Birthday sweet girl...did we just leave the terrible twos?!!! It's all relative, but they didn't seem too terrible to me:) You are fun kid for sure...a little timid (ok a lot timid), imaginative, and sweet. You love to play by yourself if it is before 6pm, but you come alive at night and..kindof like your daddy! Well actually you are a LOT like your daddy.

Vital stats: 38 inch tall (75%)
35 pounds (85%)
Things you've accomplished this year: Potty trained...whoohooo..one more to go! You can recognize your name and randomly pick out most of the letters and a few numbers. You love to color and draw. I've seen you draw an M and smiley faces. Your favorite activities are listening to music, dressing up, swinging, and we have to pry you away from the pantry most days..sorry. I love you Mary moo!!!



We had Mary's popcorn party last night! It was Hubs, Me, and Emmy VERSUS 8 three year olds plus Mary moo. We opted to have the parents drop off their kids from 5-7pm while we played, ate, and theoretically watched a movie! Mary has lots of friends that are boys, so I didn't think there would be alot of movie watching! The kids did GREAT!!!! The weather ended up being absolutely perfect (75deg!). My friend Amy threw in her bounce house at the last minute and the kids of course loved it! I can't believe we were able to play outside for an hour before dark in January! They ate pizza, popcorn, and cake and then settled down to watch a movie. They actually watched it for 45 min!!! Sheww...I'm all partied out for this month!!

Just doesn't look right...

Well this pic is pretty obvious as to what looks a little wrong! Sunday night was "layer night" at our Awana's program. I pulled several layers out of the closet, and we were done she wanted more. The final count was 24 layers:) I'm really proud of all the verses she has memorized this past year. They are sticking with her now, and I pray they will come to her mind when she most needs them. We almost had a hard time with the seat belt!

The next pic definitely doesn't look right to me. My sweet baby is standing...the first step toward toddlerhood. It has just gone by at lightening speed this year. He definitely thought it was funny....until he fell backwards!

Garrett: 8 months and a week (look how much taller he is than the girls)



Below!
Allie: 3 days shy of 8 months. Check out those squishy legs!

Mary: 10 months and 2 weeks. We love the play pen!

Froggy Fun

Allie wanted to celebrate her birthday at the pottery place here in town. The girls all painted frogs! We had a great time with the grandparents who all came in for the weekend. Thanks for coming!





Just in case you wanted to see more....

If you made it this far, this is unrelated, but I have to throw this in here! My BABY finally arrived. Yes, this book is my baby of the year(well besides Garrett!). I'm not the GREATEST at completing big projects, but this WAS BIG! I'm not posting this to gloat, but to inspire. Seriously! This was the easiest thing to do, and it will be a treasure for years to come. I spent about 30 min per MONTH putting this together on Shutterfly.com and ended up with 100 pages of pics from this year. It is a journal of all the highlights from every month. It is not overwhelming, it's just very simple. I'm so thankful Mando introduced us all to this last spring. If I can do it (as disorganized as I am and having such an "adjustment" as we have had this year), than anyone can, and that's why I'm sharing it!

Six Pics!

Happy Birthday Allie Bear! I think Jenn was the first to start calling Allie "Allie Bear", when she was just a toddler, but the name has surely stuck.

Vital Stats:
6 year visit today: 45 inches 43 pounds 47% in height 45% weight
Things accomplished this year: reading, bike riding, showering alone, diving off the board, starting kindergarten
Highlights for the year: (as spoken by her) Having a baby brother, riding a horse in Colorado, swimming with cousins at the beach, sleeping over with friends




I took this pic right before school. She looks so sweet and calm:) At six, she is sweet, but not so calm! The pics in the slide show are from snack time at school, lunch with our good buddy Little Lion and fam, gymnastics(threw in a video since I had it with me all day), followed by dinner at Allie's favorite pizza place. We picked a great night to go I guess. Emma Cate and fam met us there after gymnastics, and the party room wasn't being used. Em and Adam joined us, so we filled up the party room with just us! The kids could be as loud as they wanted. AND one of the local clowns around town showed up for family night. He made balloons for all the kids, and it ended up being quite a party.



This next clip is for Mando to watch...it was funny to me.

8 months

Well the #8 Serta Sheep was very appropriate for this month's picture. Garrett outgrew #8 much sooner than I expected. I don't know how big he is, but people that hold him say he's "solid". Sweet boy! It has taken 8 months for me to start getting him out more; we finally hung up a swing for him, and Mary requested yesterday that we "take a walk" (even though she insisted on riding). I don't know why it has taken me 8 months to get him outside more often, but he likes it! It's actually been cold here the last few days! When I took him to the grocery store this morning, it was in the lower 30's, and if he had top teeth, they would have been chattering. It took me back to my Rochester days. Every time I took Allie out in the winter, it was FREEZING and blowing snow and WAY colder than lower 30's! I can't believe that was NORMAL for us! Sheww...I miss my friends every day...but not the weather!


Mom, I'm really bored. Can we go faster next time around?

I like it outside even if it's cold!

Wheee..higher Allie!

Mom, don't sneak up on me like that!
Garrett is pulling up to the knee position but thankfully nothing more. He's not up on all fours crawling yet, but is all over the house in a GI Joe fashion. When he crawls, he can get into a sitting position by himself. I just forgot how fast they change, and life is going so much faster with the third!

Where's the Teeth?

We've yet to capture Garrett's teeth on "film"....until today.



not there...

nope, not there either...

The tongue is normally the problem, and who would have thought he was tongue tied at birth?

After a few tears, he produced. See them...just barely!

Thanks for the new duds we got for Christmas Nanna. We wore them to church today:)

The wheels hem on the bus dress goes up and down.

Isn't it funny ..for all you moms...how a certain outfit will bring back memories. I mean I've never gotten attached to my clothes, but I do get attached to my kids' clothes! Mary wears all of Allie's dresses, and this one has particularly gotten alot of use..why?? Because they both LOVE IT! Mary wore it for the first time today, and she immediately said..OHHH A BUSS!!! Allie loved to wear it to school all because of that BUS on the front. My sweet friend Gretchen sent it to Allie on her 3rd birthday, so that is another reason I love it because it makes me think of her. Miss you friend!

Mary after school today


She's become a real poser..see the bus on the front..complete with her "belle doll" in her pocket.

Allie on Mary's birthday the year before last January.

How weird..I just realized that this pic was taken on the day Mary was born..one year earlier. That was NOT on purpose! This was taken right before I went to the hospital ..I had been dressed up for church. Now for random pics...if you've made it this far!





What my kids didn't get on their heads in hair was transferred to their eyes in the form of lashes and brows!!!

Dropping of the ball....

Gum ball that is:) These were a big hit at our New Year's Eve party with our "small" group. Allie was saddened to find that her gum balls from Santa mysteriously vanished before this morning. I suggested she resolve to put her gum balls up higher in '09!

Little Lion catching a new year's hug from Allie (don't worry they were all in bed by midnight).

Ping pong anyone? She was just about to break out into a smile for me!

I'm not giving up on this one either. Little pumpkin literally turned around and poked her head in the sand when the camera came near. I snuck this one though.

The hubs worked the previous 7 days...so he looks pretty worn out. He's just glad to be off a few days with the kids.

The last ones standing or sitting I guess...Allie and Gbaby missing.

Ready for bed...the melt downs started soon after.

Happy New Year everyone!!