last blogger on the block

"Beauty Parlor"

2012-01-31T22:20:00.001-05:00

Ryan's gonna kill me for this, but I couldn't help posting these pictures. Last weekend the girls wanted to play "beauty parlor," so they set up their little shop on the craft table...

computer for check ins - check
clock for... hmm not sure - check
hair brush and comb - check
hair clips - check
hair detangler - check
decorative grass - check
hand-held mirror - check
mom's nail essentials bag - check

Once they were all set up in their new "beauty parlor," they needed customers. I have no idea where I was at the time - probably doing laundry upstairs - but I walked in the room to find this...

If that doesn't win Ryan the "Best Dad of the Year Award," I don't know what will. The poor guy is getting his nails painted by Ella and his hair done by Brooklyn. All I can say is, "lookin good hot stuff! I think hot pink is your color!" See what having three girls can do to a man? =-)

And, while we're on the topic of embarrassing moments, I'll tell one more funny story about Ryan (which only emphasizes the fact that he's earned the "Best Dad of the Year" award). A few years ago we put our house up for sale. One day we had some potential buyers stop by unannounced. As they were walking around the outside of our house, they passed the playroom windows (as pictured above), which sit about six feet above ground level. So, when they looked in the windows from outside, all they could see was Ryan, who happened to be wearing a hot pink feather boa around his neck, dancing around the playroom to some girly princess song. What they couldn't see was Ella and Brooklyn all dressed up in their feather boas, fairy wings, tons of jewelry, and princess shoes dancing around with him. It was hilarious! Okay, now he's really going to kill me. Ahhh, such good times.

One snowy day

2012-01-30T23:14:00.000-05:00

That's all we've had so far this winter... one snowy day. So, of course we had to take advantage of it. As much as I hate the cold and snow, I took the girls over to the golf course behind our house to go sledding. They got these sleds for Christmas, but unfortunately they didn't work so well on the dry snow. One has already popped. We still had fun though until Brooklyn started complaining that she was frozen.

Hearing Brooklyn whine about the cold brought back some serious memories of me sitting in the Sunrise Ski Resort lodge drinking hot chocolate because I was frozen solid (there may have been some whining about it, too, but I'm not saying one way or the other.) I'm sure my dad wasn't thrilled about spending $50 on my ski pass and another $7 on hot chocolate while I sat by the fire in the ski lodge at the bottom of the hill most of the day, but he never said a word. In fact, he'd make sure I was nice and comfortable by the fire and then he'd shake up a few packets of "boot warmers" to get them going before sticking them in my boots (hoping, I'm sure, that I'd eventually get back out on the slopes). He'd head out for a run or two and then stop in to check on me. Sorry about that dad.

Do you ever wonder if your kids are really sweating to death under all of those clothes? I'm guessing, since she's got a little of my blood in her, that she's still freezing cold no matter how many layers I put on her.

Since it was an uphill walk to the golf course, Ella and I pulled Kendall on the sled. Then, of course, Brooklyn wanted a ride, too, which didn't work at all.

Out you go Miss B., I can't pull you both!

Chores, round two

2012-01-29T22:03:00.000-05:00

New year, new goals, right? The girls decided they wanted to start doing chores... again. So I pulled out their cute little chore charts that I made them last year, re-assembled them (because, of course, they were played with rather than used for their intended purpose), and put them back into circulation. How have they been doing? They didn't even last a week. Round three? How do you keep your kids motivated to do chores?

Ella and I made this cute castle (not loving the hamster sticker though), stuck it on a box and then made the following chores...

We taped them on popsicle sticks and then put these princesses on the other end...

Every day, when she completes the chore, she flips the the stick so the princess is facing up and is happily enjoying her castle. At night, she flips them back so the pictures of the chores are on top.

Ya, she looks excited about doing the chores in this picture, but like I said, she did them for a week and hasn't done them since.

Brooklyn's are the same as Ella's, except hers are frogs instead of princesses. I don't think Brooklyn has done one chore yet.

Gingerbread Houses?

2012-01-04T13:51:00.003-05:00

I have a question mark by gingerbread houses because I want to know if anyone's gingerbread house has ever really worked? And by worked I mean actually stood up without falling down at least once? Why are they so hard to make? Why do the sides always fall down no matter how much or how little frosting you slather on them to make them stick? Why don't they ever look like the ones on the box?

Who cares, right? The kids still love putting them together and decorating them, which is what it's all about, anyway, right? Well, just so you know, next year I'm getting out my hot glue gun, glueing them together and then letting the kids go to town on them. Good idea, huh?!

Hanging out Asay style

2012-01-03T13:44:00.000-05:00

On Friday, the family drove up to see our Asay relatives in New Jersey. Every time we go we eat and eat and eat the yummiest stuff. This time it was some chili, cream cheese, salsa bean dip concoction. Very dangerous, but very delicious!

We all had so much fun hanging out with them for the day. The girls jumped on the trampoline, went hiking and hunting for treasures, and played games. I made myself comfortable by the fire nearly the whole time we were there and would have just spent the night right there, too, if the girls weren't getting tired for bed. Next time I'll bring my sleeping bag!

Aunt Shelley and cousin Connor. Ya! I finally got a picture of Shelley, but somehow missed getting one of Layne again.

Heading off on a treasure hunt.

Ashlee and Kendall had matching coats. I didn't get a picture of Greg either?

Bring it on!

2012-01-01T13:32:00.000-05:00

Yep, I'm ready for 2012, so bring it on.

Last night we celebrated the start of a new year by hanging out with our great friends at the local bowling alley. The kids had a blast bowling, eating pizza, making lots of noise with their party favors, and being silly with their friends. At 6:30 pm (yes, 6:30 pm), the bowling alley counted down the new year, dropped the balloons, and served sparkling apple cider in plastic wine glasses. It was awesome!! We were out of there by 7 pm, the kids were in bed by 8 pm, and Ryan and I were out cold by 10:30 pm. Ya, we're wild and crazy like that! One day we'll take the kids into New York City and celebrate until 3:00 am with the rest of the world - when they're like 20 years old - but for now, we'll enjoy the extra sleep!

Happy New Year everyone!

Ally, Lyssie, Brooklyn, Ella, Kendall, Ryan and Michael.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T22:41:00.000-05:00

This is what Christmas looked like for us! Hope yours was just as wonderful. Merry Christmas!

Kendall could have cared less about opening gifts... all she wanted was the food in everyone's Christmas stockings. She went from Cheez-it's to Animal Crackers, M&M's to fruit snacks, and then back to the Cheez-it's. And that was just breakfast!

Kendall LOVES this Laugh and Learn talking, singing, dancing dog (that, as you can see, Brooklyn so kindly opened for her). She's been rocking out with it all day long.

The girls were thrilled with the new play-doh items they got. Dried up play-doh is already littering the playroom floor! Awesome!

Who knew this ceramic tea set would be such a hit?! Brooklyn loves it and I'm guessing it might last another day or two before at least one piece gets broken. I hope not, it sure is cute and I love watching little Miss Brooklyn playing with it and being so "tea party'ish" in her mannerisms and speech. P.S. She also LOVES this Christmas dress I bought her. She wanted to put it on first thing this morning before we went down to open gifts. We talked her out of it of course, but she couldn't wait to get ready for church today when we were done opening gifts!

Of course, the minute this little pony came out of the box it was served a nice helping of hot chocolate.

My little artist in the making LOVED this Crayola Twister Crayon set. What budding artist wouldn't?!

She opted for coloring a masterpiece rather than opening another gift... well, for a few minutes at least. She even brought it to church.

Kendall didn't quite understand the tear-the-wrapping paper-and-see-what-the-surprise-is-inside-the-box yet. Luckily, Brooklyn opened most of Kendall's gifts for her. Here I am trying to give Kendall proper gift opening techniques. =-)

And the big surprises were the gifts Santa brought. As in previous years, Santa sent the girls on a scavenger hunt around the house to find their gifts, and this time around we ended up in our guest bedroom. The girls were so excited to see their new bike (Ella), doll house (Brooklyn), and pull toy (Kendall). Oops, gotta get a picture of Kendall with her Santa gift.

The girls took their new bikes (Brooklyn got one from me and Ryan) outside to ride immediately. Brooklyn had never been on a "real" bike before, but after an hour or so was doing awesome. I know she'll be a natural at it, and before long, her training wheels will be coming off, too.

After a yummy dinner, the kids jumped back in to their Christmas PJs and watched Polar Express. They were EXHAUSTED by bedtime! Me, too!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Countdown to Christmas

2011-12-24T20:04:00.000-05:00

Christmas is tomorrow. I can't believe it. It came so fast. Here are some of the things we've been doing throughout the month as we've been counting down the days to the biggest holiday of the year.

The dreaded Christmas card picture, although it seem quite painless this year. Imagine that. Kendall, who is usually our most cooperative and smily, was our difficult one this year. One day they will all be "in the mood" for picture taking (as Ella said she was this year.)

Christmas tree shopping - which we did quite early this year since the weather was so nice. We went to our usual tree farm called, Jugg Hill, where the girls picked out the best tree and then helped Ryan cut it down. Up it went with lights, ornaments and the star just the day after Thanksgiving. We thought it would be dead by now, but it's still alive and kicking and ready to finally be useful tomorrow morning (rather than taking up our whole living room and making a mess all over the rug - yes, I know, bah humbug! =-)

Kendall wanted this one.

It was Kendall's year to put the star on the tree.

The annual Yardley Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony and Santa Visit. We love small town traditions like this one, where the whole town gathers to visit with each other, see the town Christmas tree lit, and to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what you want for Christmas. Ella asked Santa for a new bicycle (blue, hot pink, white, and maybe a little black... to be specific); Brooklyn, who sat on Santa's lap for the very first time EVER, asked for a doll house; and Kendall - who thinks every random stranger dressed in red fur with white fuzz all over his face is her best friend - just enjoyed being in the picture this year.

I love this picture of all three kids, smiling, with Santa. That NEVER happens. Ella thought Santa would love a copy of this picture when she saw how cute they all looked in it. Of course he would!

The Yardley Christmas Parade - another local tradition we love included several interesting, random, musical "floats" and a final showing from Santa himself. This year Ella, Brooklyn and I became overnight celebrities when the Bucks County Courier Times took our picture while we were sitting on our front yard watching the parade and put the picture in their Sunday paper. Unfortunately, Kendall was napping and Ryan was working, so they didn't make the picture.

Our cute neighbors.

Shady Brook Farm Christmas Light Show. This was our first year going to one of our local farms (yes, mom, the one that has the ice cream you love) to see their annual light show. It was good, the best part wasn't the light show. After we drove our car through their light display, we parked and headed to "Santa's Village" to get some hot chocolate. This was awesome! They had an enormous tree all lit up, fake snow (Ella said they were bubbles) falling, Christmas music playing and several fire pits where we picked one, sat down, drank hot cocoa, ate funnel cake and enjoyed the festive atmosphere. Can't wait to do this again next year.

St. Andrew's Pre-school Christmas program. Brooklyn and her classmates sang songs, rang bells, and tired to dance all while the three year olds' parents video taped, snapped pictures and ooooed and ahhhhhed over their adorable little kids - of course, Ryan and I were no different.

Ella's Kindergarten gingerbread Christmas party. Since Ryan took the day off of work, I was able to go in to Ella's classroom to help out with the party. The kids made crafts, played with gingerbread playdoh, made baby gingerbread houses and played games. Then they got to pig out on lots of junk food like cupcakes, hot chocolate, cookies, and candy. Good times! No pictures of the party.

Sugar cookie baking and decorating. Total mess times three, but oh so much fun! ...

Christmas PJs - check (although they're not on yet); cookies and egg nog for Santa - check; eight carrot sticks for reindeer - check; note to Santa - check; children nestled in bed - check!

Ella reminded me that Santa would probably love a picture of him and the girls...

Now Santa needs to get to work!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-04T22:30:00.000-05:00

Well, once again I failed to get pictures of our Thanksgiving. This year I even set my camera out on the counter so I wouldn't forget, and sure enough, I forgot. Thanks to Shelley, who captured the moments that I missed. What would I do without her every Thanksgiving? The only problem is... she and Layne aren't in any of them. Way to go, Shelley.

It was nothing but good times and laughter, as usual, with Shelley, Layne and Connor here, who drove down from New Jersey. And this year we had the great pleasure of welcoming another guest to our group... one of Ryan's co-workers, and my new friend, Rhonda.

Thanksgiving is such a great holiday. Easy, no-fuss, friends and family time wrapped all together in a thankful spirit. Gotta love that!

I've said it before... I love Connor. He is awesome, and my girls love nothing more than to be chased by him around the yard.

Of course, having him teach them how to fish is great, too.

Ryan and Rhonda getting a good laugh at the girls screaming and running from Connor.

And I wonder why I never get dinner made... It's hard to move around a kitchen (even one as small as ours) when you've got a 15 month old attached to your leg!

Jumping back in time

2011-12-04T21:36:00.000-05:00

But just for a second. Just before Halloween we met up with our good friends at a cute little farm (for the life of me I can't remember the name of it) for some fun Halloween activities. The farm had hayrides, corn mazes, food, a balloonist, pumpkin picking, and a funny man doing a very strange pirate skit that lasted a very long time. =-)

These two look like they're up to no good...

Funny man, strange pirate skit... with two of the cutest girls to help out.

Pumpkin picking hayride...

So behind!

2011-12-04T20:32:00.001-05:00

Is it possible to wrap up a whole month in just one post? Ya, I didn't think so. Let me at least finish up my brother and sister-in-laws trip to PA.

Per my last post, here are the pictures of the girls last day of soccer (thanks for bringing your camera to the last game of the season, Nicole. You'd think their mother would have remembered hers on such an important day!)

The Tutu I mentioned before...

The Team and her awesome coaches...

The medals...

The team and their medals...

Okay, here's where I left off on my brother's trip. On Sunday, we sent them off on their own little family adventure while our family went to church. Little did I know it would become a very long adventure for them given the bad iPad directions. Despite the many detours and re-routings, these guys had so much fun exploring our beautiful countryside filled with rolling hills, old barns and farms, fall colors, and cute little towns.

One of my most favorite towns is called Lititz, which is where they stopped first. It's everything you dream a cute, quaint little town should be - unique boutiques, antique shops, delicious restaurants, playgrounds and ducks. They also have a small chocolate factory and a soft pretzel making factory that give tours and samples. Our favorite restaurant (although, we've never tried anywhere else) is the Chocolate Cafe where you can get chocolate covered strawberry milkshakes, chocolate chili, salads with chocolate infused dressing, etc. The place is delish and the woman who always waits on us is awesome.

From there, they drove to Hershey. My girls LOVE Hershey. It's such a fun place to hang out for a day, or two, or late at night three days before Christmas. No matter when you go, there's always something to see and do. Since the amusement park was closed, they visited Hershey's Chocolate World where they got to concoct their very own candy bar with whatever ingredients they wanted, and then design their own wrappers for it. They said it was so much fun, and I still can't believe we have never done that in ALL the times we've been there. Who knew.

I can't tell you how much fun we all had while my brother and his family were here. We got to go and do so many fun things together, and just hanging out with my bro and sister-in-law was great. But, I have to say the best part is seeing my girls and their cousins playing, talking, running, laughing and eating together. It just makes me happy and I wish we lived closer to ALL of our cousins so that we could have this much fun more often.

Here are a few final pictures from their trip - thanks for coming, guys! ...

These two are so cute with eachother. They hold hands when they're sitting in their car seats driving around town.

Woods' Visit - Day 4

2011-11-13T21:21:00.001-05:00

We started bright and early Saturday morning. Ella and Brooklyn play soccer at 8:30 am, so we didn't have much time to dilly dally around the house. It was their last game of the season (thank goodness cause it's getting way to cold), which meant they would both be getting medals!

At this age, I'm all about everyone on the team getting a medal, no matter how hard they play. However, honestly, I didn't think Brooklyn deserved to get one. She started off playing great, but then she spent most of the games standing on the field doing absolutely nothing, and one whole game in the car in time out. So, I felt like she needed to really play hard this last game and "earn" her medal.

In order to help her play her best, my mom gave me the great idea of letting her wear her favorite skirt over her uniform. I was willing to try anything and Brooklyn was thrilled with the idea because, of course, she still only wears skirts every day.

You should have seen the stares we got by the other kids and their parents when we showed up on the field. You would have thought Brooklyn was wearing a clown suit. Who cares, right? The point was, she played a little better and had a lot more fun than she had at previous games. And that's all I wanted.

Ella did a lot better this season than her first. The few games I watched (the girls played at the same time on separate fields), she was active and aggressive and tried harder. Is she going to be a future soccer player?... hmm, not sure about that one, but she's having fun.

(Soccer pictures to come.)

After the soccer game, we headed down to Adventure Aquarium for a day under the sea. The girls love this place and we always stop to see the hippos first. The aquariums full of sea life are amazing! We walked through the shark tunnel, pet sting rays, sand sharks and star fish, and learned a ton about penguins while they were being fed. What fun.

Why are hippos so fascinating? I love them, too, especially when they're swimming around in the water. I could watch them for hours.

My brother and his cute family.

Watching the sea life up close.

I also love this turtle. I fear the day when he gets old and dies. He's just so much fun to watch and is huge. There are lots of other cool fish in this tank.

I'm not sure if Ella is trying to touch the sharks or go swimming with them. All I know is she gets soaking wet every time. Even her hair.

Woods - Day 3

2011-11-06T22:01:00.001-05:00

On Friday, while Ella was at school, Ryan and my brother went golfing at and my sister-in-law and I hung out with the kids at the house. Once Ella and the dads got home we all drove down to the Please Touch Museum in Philly. It's so fun there and the kids had a great time. We had to drag them out at closing time.

After the museum, we drove into downtown Philly and wandered around trying to find a good place to eat. We happened upon a place called Continental, which, come to find out, is a famous chef's restaurant. I can't remember the name of the famous chef, but dang his food was good! It was a tapas type of place so we ordered just about everything off the menu that sounded good and shared it all. We felt a little ridiculous going into the place with a bunch of tired, hungry little kids cause it was a fancy, swank kinda place, but they were so nice to us. I highly recommend it!

Nothing like your big sister pulling you down the slide head first. =-) Kendall might look scared in this picture, but she's really actually smiling (I think.).

Kendall loved "playing" this little piano.

Future concert pianist?

Going for a ride on the merry-go-round.

Presley LOVES her daddy!

It's amazing that they're all looking at the camera (well, pretty much). We've discovered it's hard to get one like that.

I was finally able to get a picture of these two because they were strapped down.

Presley and Ella.

Woods - Day 2

2011-11-05T21:21:00.000-04:00

On Thursday, Ella and Brooklyn went to school and the rest of us drove to a cute little town called Newtown for the morning. After eating breakfast at a little cafe, we walked around and finished up at the Zebra-Stripped Whale for ice cream and chocolate-covered pretzels. This little goodie shop is so dang cute. I just love it.

After school, we threw the kids in the car and drove to Grounds for Sculpture for a picnic lunch and a lot of running around. This was an interesting place, a new adventure for me. The whole garden was filled with some interesting and questionable sculptures, most of which the kids could have cared less about. However, it was beautiful and they loved running around on the grass and through the trees.

We ate our lunch on this table, under this tree, near this pond, in the most beautiful, picturesque place in the park. It was a prime location and I didn't want to leave.

This was Ella's favorite sculpture...

Woods in town, Day 1

2011-11-05T20:58:00.000-04:00

My brother, sister-in-law, and their two kids have been here all week and we've been having lots of fun together. Here are some of the things we've been doing...

On Wednesday we dropped Ella off at the bus stop and walked down to Wawa for hot chocolate. We sipped and spilled hot chocolate all the way to our local playground where the kids ate wood chips and played on the equipment.

That would be hot chocolate all over Kendall's clothes. Not sure she got any in her mouth, but she doesn't seem to mind being drenched...

When Ella got off the bus we headed to Howell Farm, a "Historic Working Farm." The kids had fun running around and meeting all of the animals on the farm. They also loved the last bits of snow still on the ground from our random October snowstorm last Saturday...

Kendall taking a peek into the barn where there were two adorable little calves staring right back at us...

Ryan, unfortunately, had to work, so he missed out on the adventures...

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T22:35:00.003-04:00

Halloween is always interesting around our house because my girls choose the most random costumes. Ella decided she wanted to be the Pirate Princess from the one episode of Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Of course no one, not even Disney herself, has a costume for that character. Therefore, I had to come up with one on my own (and unfortunately, it didn't turn out super great).

Then there's Brooklyn who wanted to be a dragon, then a cow, then a zebra, and then finally settled on a ladybug costume from Target. It was cheap and someone had already swiped the wings and antenna from the costume package. So, she went to her school Halloween party as a ladybug. When she got home from her party and saw the two hand-me-down costumes I had pulled out for Kendall to wear, she decided she wanted to wear one of those instead of her ladybug costume.

That's not the end of it folks... so, on Halloween night, she had a brilliant idea (with the help of her big sister) to mix the two costumes like Boots does on Dora's Halloween (remember, he's a firefighter chicken?). Therefore, she trick-or-treated as a ladybug fairy (white fairy costume, ladybug "wings" that I made her). Go figure.

At least Kendall was easy. She wore the same butterfly costume Ella wore when she was just one month old. Of course, it was a little too small for Kendall, but I don't think she cared.

Thanks for cooperating, Kendall. I'm sure next year you'll be more opinionated about what you wear on Halloween night!

The ladybug costume was so cheap that it probably would have fallen to pieces if she'd worn it again on Halloween night anyway.

Pirate Princess, Ladybug Fairy, Butterfly. Plus, the two cute pumpkins Ella and Brooklyn carved.

Two of our awesome neighbors!

This year it was a little colder than usual because of the snow storm we had on Saturday. Luckily we have festive blankets to go with the holiday.

These two didn't do a great job yelling "trick-or-treat" or even "Happy Halloween" when the doors were opened. We'll have to practice for that next year.

Getting ready to head out to a few more houses.

Munching away on the goodies.

Even Kendall got a good share of goodies, which she enjoyed eating.

Ithaca is Gorges!

2011-10-29T21:39:00.000-04:00

Have you ever seen a t-shirt that says "Ithaca is Gorges?" This is why...

The Finger Lakes Region is full of these gorgeous gorges and Ryan and I were lucky enough to return to the area (kid free) last week and reminisce about the good'ole days when we lived there.

It's been six years since I've been back to the area and not much has changed. It's still one of the most beautiful places on earth and we visited just in time to see the leaves as they were changing colors. We hiked Watkins Glen and Treman Park - two of our favorites in the area - and ate at a few of our favorite restaurants. I think we're going to have to make this an annual trip.

Thanks so much to my in-laws for flying all the way out here to watch the girls for us so we could go on our little get-away! I'm still sick to my stomach that I didn't get any pictures of them with our girls (how do you not get pictures of your kids and their grandparents?), but as Ryan always tells me when I dwell on something for far too long, "let it go." So, thanks again Clark and Christy.

Good bye again

2011-10-06T10:57:00.003-04:00

Grandma Sugar and Papa Jim flew back to Arizona yesterday. The girls and I dropped them off at the airport and headed straight for ice cream to help drown our sorrows. It didn't help. While we were eating, Ella said, "mom, this isn't making me feel any better about Sugar leaving." I couldn't have agreed more!

We had lots of fun while they were here - we did a lot of antique shopping and wandering around cute little towns. We ate at fun new restaurants (and some of our old favorites). The girls helped bake chocolate, caramel and pretzel cookies, and made cute little witches' hats out of cookies, Hershey's Kisses and orange frosting. We even went to Sesame Place for their Halloween Spooktacular, which was tons of fun.

We're looking forward to them coming back to visit us again real soon. You said December, right mom?

The last time this whole gang went to Sesame Place it was August. It was hotter than heck and I was just one day away from giving birth to Kendall. This time, the weather was perfectly Fall and I could actually go on the rides. We couldn't have had more fun.

Note to self... Twirling Teacups are not for me (especially with Ryan driving!). I was sick for two days. I thought I was going to barf!

Ya, that's me ready to vomit... and that's Ryan in the background bragging to Brooklyn about how he almost made her mommy vomit! I'll ride with Ella next time who thought she was old enough to ride in her own teacup. Better yet, I won't get on the dumb ride next time!

Brooklyn always loves the Merry-go-rounds wherever we go. However, she DID NOT like the roller coaster we went on - she cried and screamed (the terrifying kind - not the kind like she's having fun) the whole time.

Giant bouncies are also fun.

Kendall loved the Merry-go-round for a few minutes. Then she wanted off.

The look-out tower.

What would a trip to an amusement park be without winning a stuffed animal?!

Fall Soccer

2011-10-02T21:45:00.000-04:00

Fall soccer season is in full swing and watching Ella and Brooklyn play is nothing short of hilarious! They both play Saturday morning at 8:30 am, so Ryan and I have been alternating between the girls. Last week I watched Ella play and score her very first goal. Can I just tell you how loud I was screaming and how high I was jumping?! I was so stinkin' excited and I got several strange looks from the other parents! The girl is getting pretty good... Look out, Hayley. =-)

Brooklyn has good weeks and not so good weeks. This week, with Sugar and Jim watching, wasn't her best week. In fact, I'm not sure she made contact with the ball at all during the game. She was more interested in the braids in her hair and posing for pictures. However, the last time I watched Brooklyn play, she played great, too. She also scored a goal - and who cares if it was in the wrong net, right?!

It's so fun watching these two attempt to play soccer. I hope they keep it up cause I think there's potential hidden deep, deep... deep down in there somewhere! =-)

Before each game, the kids warm up with a great guy who has them running all over the field. This is the only time Brooklyn got her foot on the ball, I think.

Throughout the whole game, Brooklyn seemed to be picking at her fingernails, wiping the snot off her dripping nose, pulling up her super big soccer shorts, or trying to keep from tripping on her extra long uniform shirt. Just about everything but playing soccer.

Snack time is always a hit.

We loved having Sugar and Jim at the game.

Ella looks like she knows what she's doing, don't you think?

Go, Ella, Go!

She looks like a soccer star to me.

Ella Turns SIX!

2011-09-28T22:36:00.000-04:00

My cute little Ella Bella isn't so little anymore... she's SIX. Where has the time gone?! I remember the day she was FINALLY born. I say finally because she was nearly two weeks late and then I finally just had to be induced.

Ella has been the joy and happiness in our family since the day we forced her out of my belly. She has so much light and, well, pure happiness that it just radiates from her beautiful face. We love her to pieces and are so blessed to have her in our lives.

To celebrate birthday #6, we broke from our usual backyard party tradition. Ella, being the crafting queen in our family, decided she wanted to go to our local pottery painting shop. So, she invited a handful of friends and we celebrated tonight by painting pottery and eating pizza and sandwiches at Color Me Mine. The kids had so much fun and, surprisingly, took their time painting. (I was afraid they would spend five minutes slapping on a bunch of paint and then be done.)

After dinner, we took the kids next door to Cold Stone Creamery and let them pick out their very own ice cream combination masterpiece. Yum! The kids had some great combos.

Here's the birthday interview I had today with little Miss-Six-Year-Old-Ella

Favorite thing to do? Read!
What's your favorite book? I don't have a favorite, well actually I do have some favorites. True books and Magic Treehouse books.

Favorite color? Pink, orange and blue.

Why do you like pink, orange, and blue? Because those are the Broncos' colors and I like the Broncos.

Best Friend? Ava... the school Ava.

Favorite subject at school? The specials, and I know why specials are my favorite. Um, because we get to have library and we get to bring home a book we don't have. And that's why library is my favorite.

What do you like best about being in our family? Because you got me Darly to play with and have fun.

Why do you like Darly so much? Because I had her the day before I was born.

Is that the only reason? Yes.

You don't like her because she's big and soft? Yes, and because I got her the day before I was born.
(P.S. Darly is her huge, pink stuffed hippo)

What's your favorite food? Macaroni and cheese and hot dogs.

Do you have a favorite restaurant? Ummm, no.

What's your favorite craft to do? I don't have a favorite one because I like them all.

What do you like best so far about being six years old? Mmmm, I'm old enough to have a goodie bag (holding her's up). Just kidding. I don't have one yet.

Then what did you like best about being five? Ummm, I don't have a favorite thing either. Actually I do have something I like about being five - losing my very first teeth!

What else would you like to tell me about yourself? Ummm, Mmmmm, thaaaat, I got a book when the toothfairy came, on her first visit to my house. Mom, can I have more goldfish?

Counting her six one-dollar bills from GPa.

Loving the needlepoint Christmas stocking her GG made for her. It is truly amazing. Thanks GG for such a treasure.

Taking a break from all the birthday huplah with Sugar and Kendall.

Testing out her new walking talkies. Come in, Michael? Come in, Michael?

Enjoying some of her new birthday gifts.

Making her hand print on a plate at Color Me Mine.

The party people (minus Erin) - Jamie, Brooklyn, Ava, Ella, Julia, Nani, and Michael.

Michael and Jamie spent a good amount of time checking out the ice cream selection and mix-ins.

Ella and her "best friend" Ava. These two were so dang cute together. I'm glad Ella has made such a nice new friend at school.

Michael is also Ella's best friend. She told us today that she is still planning on marrying Michael. Lets talk about that on your 25th birthday, Miss Ella!

Wrapping things up and ready to go home after a super fun birthday party.

New Jersey Asays

2011-09-21T15:00:00.002-04:00

Last Saturday the family ventured out of Yardley into one of the most beautiful places where our super fun relatives live. The place was New Jersey (yes, there's is a beautiful spot in the state), and the super fun relatives were The Asays.

We had the BEST time hanging out with Aunt Shelley, Uncle Layne and cousin Connor. They fed us great food, took us fishing at an adorable little pond, and then played with the girls at a fun playground.

I have to say Connor is the sweetest, most amazing kid I've ever met. He played with Ella and Brooklyn like they were the most important things on the Earth. He baited their fishing poles and helped them catch fish; he ran around chasing them while they screamed and squealed with delight; he showed them around the playground and went down all the slides. He is just so nice and the girls have so much fun every time we see him. Thanks Connor.

We can't wait to see the New Jersey Asays again soon!

Kendall is Kendall

2011-09-16T21:26:00.000-04:00

I'm feeling bad that Kendall hasn't had any quality face time on the blog in a while, so I'm posting pictures of just her. She turned 13 months last Friday and she's still the cutest little thing in the world. We all love her to pieces.

She's not walking yet, but she pulls herself up on everything and loves walking around the house while I hold her hands.

These little leg warmers that her Aunt Nicole gave her crack me up. Doesn't she look like she's going to school in her little outfit?

I know I'm biased, but she is seriously the cutest thing in the world.

She loves her daddy... well, she loves her momma more. =-)

Lately she's been copying everything the girls do. She wants to carry around a soccer ball all day (and hold it while she's in her car seat) now that the girls have started soccer. And, I found her lying on the couch today "reading" this book that Ella's been reading. I kid you not that she was making noises like she was really reading the book. It was so funny.

Brooklyn Starts Preschool

2011-09-13T21:05:00.000-04:00

Today was Brooklyn's first day of Preschool and she was soooooo excited to go. While the other 17 kids in her class were screaming, crying and being pried off their mothers, Brooklyn walked right through those big red doors without even looking back. I was so proud of her!

And, happy and excited for her, too! My feeling is not sad like some of the other moms. My feeling is... finally it's HER turn. Her turn to do something fun like her big sister, and to do it alone. Finally we're walking HER to school, picking out snacks when it's HER turn to bring them, and baking treats for HER birthday celebration in class. Finally it's HER turn to go on field trips, make new friends and have fun holiday parties. We're talking about how HER day at school went and what book HER class read on the reading rug.

So, you see why I'm excited? It's Brooklyn's turn to thrive and I think she will. When I picked her up from school she ran out the door with the biggest smile on her face. She told me all about the skunk at her teacher's house, how she was having so much fun playing that she didn't have time to eat her snack, and how some of her classmates never stopped crying.

Oh, Brooklyn! I'm so happy for you and hope you love school as much as you did today.

Last week, Ryan, Brooklyn and I went to orientation at Brooklyn's school. While the kids played (or cried) downstairs, the parents met with one of the teachers for an informational. Brooklyn, as you can see in this picture, was so happy to be at school and was begging to stay at school once the orientation was over.

Brooklyn couldn't wait to wear her new first-day-of-school outfit, so she actually wore it the day before school started. That's okay, she looked cute anyway and the shirt and shoes were new at least.

If these shoes don't scream Brooklyn, I don't know what does! She picked them out and she loves them!

It just so happens that our morning schedule works out great - we walk Ella to her bus stop and then walk Brooklyn to preschool. Kendall and I have two mornings a week to hang out together now, which is great.

Running out of school with plenty of stories and excitement from her first day.

Brooklyn and I on our shopping and ice cream date. She told me she was so excited to make new friends at school. I didn't dare ask if she was scared or nervous about going to school cause I didn't even want her to think there was any reason to be scared or nervous.

Water Anyone?

2011-09-08T21:06:00.006-04:00

We've got plenty of it right now and we're expecting more over the weekend. This poor town we live in gets flooded so often I'm surprised it hasn't been swept off the map completely. Luckily, our house sits high enough up an incline that we haven't had any flooding problems in the past six years... knock on wood!

This was the only street I could get down. The rest are roped off and guarded by police officers and fire fighters.

That's the Delaware River in the background. You can kinda see the Stop Sign - if you turn right or left on that you're on River Road.

On the left are two driveways - the houses are completely flooded.

There's the stop sign for River Road. That's the Delaware River on the other side of the trees.

The water level was all the way up to the garbage can. You can see all of the branches, leaves, mud, etc. that got washed up the road with the water.

It's Gone!

2011-09-02T11:35:00.004-04:00

Ella's tooth is gone. I can't believe it fell out just like that. One day of wiggles and then it just fell out. And now, the one right next to the big empty hole is loose too. What's the deal? You start kindergarten and all your teeth start falling out? Boy, the Tooth Fairy better make a stop at the bank for some crisp, new one dollar bills.

Kindergarten & Loose Tooth!

2011-09-01T23:05:00.000-04:00

Ella started kindergarten today, and the excitement in that little girl was seriously bursting from every pore! She could hardly contain herself.

It all started at her school's Open House on Tuesday. Ella, Brooklyn, Kendall and I visited her classroom, met her teacher, and located the library (where Ella hopes she will be spending most of her time during the day). The librarian told us the library has three copies of every single book in the "Magic Tree House" series, which nearly made Ella fall over backwards!

Wednesday, Ryan and I went with Ella to school for a one-hour informational with her teacher. It was just a handful of classmates (with their parents), who during the hour, got to know each other and the teacher a little better, and went on a short school bus ride, while the parents got a brief overview of the year.

Then today was the big day. All Ella could talk about was riding on the bus for the first time. She was really looking forward to this part of the school experience! So, despite the fact that Ryan and I had planned on driving her to school the first day, we decided to let her ride on the bus.

Of course, the WHOLE family went to the bus stop and we got there early enough to get lots of pictures. When the bus came, Ella hardly let the bus come to a complete stop before jumping right on. She sat next to an adorable little African American girl, who, we learned when Ella got home, was in first grade and shared a piece of candy with her.

Ryan was a wreck after Ella got on the bus and decided he was going to follow the bus to school just to make sure Ella got off in the right spot. Sure enough, as soon as Ella was safe and sound inside the school, Ryan called to tell me. He said Ella and the little African American girl got off the bus together and Ella was talking her ear off all the way inside the school. I wonder if that little girl will be hiding in the back of the bus next time. =-)

Ella was scheduled to get off the bus at 12:18 pm, so I headed down to the bus stop to pick her up at about 12:13. I walked out my front door and saw the bus waiting on the corner. I started running like crazy because if you're not there to pick up your kid at drop off, then they go back to school. Plus, how scary is that for a five year old (and her mom!)!

Luckily, Ella informed the bus driver that the lady running down the sidewalk was her mom, so the bus driver waited. Ella said they had already circled the block once, so I guess drop off is more like 12:05 pm. Phew.

Ella told us all about her day and the fun things she did on our walk back to the house - rug time, recess, library, snack, book reading, class pet, etc. Sounds like Little Miss Ella is going to have a great year in Kindergarten!! I'm so happy and excited for her and this new adventure!

Now, on to the part about that LOOSE TOOTH! When Ella got off the bus she was grinning from ear to ear - that's when I noticed the big gap between her bottom two front teeth had shifted over a tooth. After the initial hugs, kisses, and excitement of the school day, I said, "Ella, what's wrong with your teeth?" That's when I wiggled her tooth and found that it was REALLY wiggly.

Well, if I thought that girl was excited about school, it was nothing compared to discovering her first wiggly tooth! Holy cow, she couldn't believe it, and neither could I! Kindergarten AND a loose tooth all in one day! Instead of calling her dad, Sugar and Grandma Asay to tell them about school, she told them all about her wiggly tooth instead.

Ella picked out this outfit to wear on her first day of school when we went on our back-to-school date night. It looked so cute on her - all but the shoes. Darn shoe shopping - we couldn't find anything new in her size.

Waiting for that bus!

I'm looking scary without the "scary face." I was dressed and ready for yoga, just so you know!

She didn't even look back. At least we got a wave.

This is the African American girl Ella sat next to. Isn't she cute! That's Ella sitting next to her so maybe the girl isn't that little!

Ella is wiggling her tooth as she's telling Sugar all about it on the phone.

On our back-to-school shopping and ice cream trip, I asked Ella what she was most excited about for school this year and she said, "crafting and making friends."

I asked if she was scare at all, and surprisingly, she said "yes, a little." I couldn't believe it because it's soooo not like Ella to be afraid of anything, especially anything to do with school since it's one of her most favorite place to be! She said she was a little scared because she was worried her new friends wouldn't like her.

On our way out of the mall I asked her what she thought of her very first shopping trip (yes, mom, it was her first and I know you're having a heart attack right now) and she said, "I think I like crafting, sewing and reading much better." That's my girl!

Taking a tour of Ella's school.

Ella's kindergarten classroom... and the best daddy in the whole wide world!

On Tuesday...

2011-08-24T12:22:00.008-04:00

Ella built sand castles and moats that the waves washed away...

Kendall skipped her nap to splash in the ocean...
and dig in the sand, which she absolutely loved...
Michael lost his legs...
I tried to get a little color while making sure Ella didn't drown in the sea...
Allison and Alyssa laughed and played with us...
Brooklyn decided she was more of a sand person than a water person...
Ella rode the waves and body surfed like she had never done before...
we had the best day ever at the beach!

Grange Fair

2011-08-20T11:09:00.006-04:00

On Friday we went to the Grange Fair. It was our first year to go and it was so much fun. Imagine a small-town carnival with apple pie contests, games, rides, lots of food, and even a Fair Queen Competition. Then, throw in the 4-H aspect and you have tractor parades, pig and cow auctions, awards for the best looking goats, sheep, rabbits, alpacas, etc. It was a trip back in time!

I wish I would have gotten more pictures of all the animals and auctions and things, but I was so worried about stepping in something and even more worried about the girls touching the animals and getting bitten.

Swim Lessons

2011-08-20T10:31:00.007-04:00

The girls finished their big two weeks worth of swim lessons at our community pool yesterday. Ya, you can't learn much in two weeks, especially when the teachers are high school students who could care less if the kids even get in the water. In fact, I had to beg Brooklyn's teacher to actually dunk her head under the water, which the teacher finally did after a week and a half. So much for getting that little girl to swim this summer.

Brooklyn did make a few improvements, like using her "ice cream scoop" hands and arms and learning how to kick. Ella did great, too. She learned breast stroke and how to dive off the side of the pool. She will advance to the next level next summer... however, Brooklyn has to repeat level 1. Surprise, surprise. Apparently getting your head wet is a big deal when swimming. =-)

On the last day of lessons, the girls got to go down the slide (Brooklyn went down with her teacher, Ella went down by herself for the first time). Ella also got to go off the diving board. They both earned their certificates and a sucker.

Kendall can't wait to start swim lessons. She LOVES the water and is constantly crawling over to the edge of the pool and trying to get in. I finally decided to strap her into the stroller and walk her around the pool. Nice teeth girlfriend!

This picture is a little deceiving. Brooklyn's teacher is hugging her, but Brooklyn is really hanging on for dear life - not hugging back. Brooklyn is not super fond of the water - terrified, in fact. She did loosen up a little and actually walked on the bottom of the pool, floated on her back with some assistance, and hung on to the side of the pool to practice her kicks. Pretty good Miss Brooklyn - baby steps, right?! P.S. This teacher LOVED Brooklyn and asked if she could babysit her sometime.

Ella was an elephant as she was jumping into the pool.

As long as Brooklyn's head was above the water, she was okay.

Kendall's "Birthday Party"

2011-08-11T10:53:00.015-04:00

We threw Kendall the most elaborate first birthday party ever the other night... just kidding. But Ella and Brooklyn had just as much fun helping with the decorations, picking out and wrapping her birthday gifts, baking and frosting her cake, and singing her happy birthday as if it was the most elaborate birthday party ever. That's what's so great about this age... the simplest things are just as much fun.

Instead of an elaborate birthday party, we had a nice, quiet family party here at the house where Ella and Brooklyn could be as loud and silly as they wanted, Kendall could be as messy and loud as she wanted, I could be as obnoxious with my camera as I wanted, and Ryan could wear a birthday hat and not feel totally humiliated! That's a good party to me!

The Cake...

Ella and Brooklyn took cake decorating quite seriously. Gummy lifesavers around the edge of the cake and then around the #1 birthday candle in the middle. Brooklyn helped me make the cake and Ella decided on the frosting color (pink of course) and helped with the application.

Kendall loved the cake and the little gummy candies around it. She knew exactly what to do with it, too. She stuck her hands it in and when to work gobbling it all up.

Good messy fun.
She looks gorged.

The Gifts...

The gifts were hilarious, as were their wrappings. Ella made Kendall a necklace out of an old Valentines Day heart necklace she got last year. She put it in a clear golf ball box and wrapped it herself. Brooklyn chopped up a piece of paper into tiny little pieces using my paper cutter and then stapled them all together into a little book - "Kendall's first notebook" she said. She wrapped her gift in an Good Season's Italian Salad Dressing mix box taken from the recycling bin. Ryan and I gave Kendall music classes at Kids' Music Round, so I wrapped up a musical instrument in the recycled cake mix box. My mom gave Kendall a membership to the Please Touch Museum, which the girls wrapped in a recycled box (sorry mom. I know you would have done something much cuter, but the girls were on a roll). The cute, and nicely wrapped gifts came from Clark and Christy. They sent Kendall a fun little blanket with all sorts of fun things to play with on the corners, a soft box that has goodies hidden inside and some new little books.

The Decorations...

This was the extent of our decorating, but we had fun re-fluffing the tissue paper pom-poms we used for Brooklyn's 2nd birthday party.

The Birthday Girl and Party Guests...

Kendall didn't quite know what was going on. I think she thought we were crazy because of all of the singing, dancing, and kissing we were giving her all day long. She did not understand the idea of opening gifts and left it in Ella and Brooklyn's hands to take care of for her.
Lovin' it, hun!

Brooklyn... in her favorite winter dress.

Even Darly got to come to the party as Ella's special guest.

Happy Birthday little girl!

Kendall Turns ONE!

2011-08-09T12:22:00.001-04:00

I know... I can't believe it either. The thought just makes me happy, sad, relieved, depressed, surprised, excited. All of those things and more. Here are a few little facts about this sweet little bundle of Sunshine...

Favorite things to do?

Crawl, play in the bathtub and swimming pool (she love water), watch her two crazy sisters.

Favorite book?

"Love from my heart to a precious sweet little girl" - the book plays music and she loves pushing the button and then dancing to the music. It's hilarious!

Teeth?

Yes, nearly eight of them.

Favorite food?

Well, it used to be string cheese, but I think she's sick of it now. She likes just about everything we feed her - except baby food. She's SO done with pureed foods. I don't blame her, however, I'd like to get rid of the few things of baby food we have left. She's also LOVES using utensils. I'm teaching her how to "jab" her fork into the food to pick it up. I'm also trying to teach her not to turn the spoon over when it's full of food!

Bottle?

Well, yes, but today is the last day. She learned how to suck out of a straw at Macaroni Grill on Friday, (just before we had to take her outside because she was being too loud), so I think we'll skip the sippy cup nonsense and go straight to cups with lids and straws.

Formula or milk?

We started her on cow's milk about two weeks ago and I LOVE not paying a fortune on formula! Yippee! Plus, I can just walk down to Wawa and pick up more milk when we run out.

Best friends?

Ella and Brooklyn for sure. Her face lights up and she starts to get all squirmy when she hears their voices or sees them.

Binky or thumb?

THUMBS!!!! The girls sucks on it like there's no tomorrow! AND, I say thumbs with an 's' because she will suck on one thumb if the other one is occupied. She doesn't have a strong preference just as long as she has A thumb in her mouth. In fact, she woke up one morning with a HUGE blister on one of her thumbs. It was disgusting. I tried to bandage it up so it would heal or pop, but she took the bandaid and tape right off and went right back to sucking on it. It's going to be torture getting her to stop sucking her thumbs. I can't even get my three year old to stop!

Favorite word?

Right now it's uh, oh. She says it all the time.

Looks like?

Brooklyn, I think, but comments from other people are that she looks just like a baby doll.

Naps?

She's usually takes two still, but on mornings when she wakes up late, we just do one. She also is a great carseat sleeper. At church on Sunday, I just buckle her into her car seat, set the carseat in one of the empty Primary rooms and go about my Primary duties while she naps. It's soooo nice!

We love you so much, Kendall! Happy first Birthday!

One year ago today...

Ella and Brooklyn couldn't wait to meet Kendall for the first time (although, when this picture was taken, Kendall didn't have a name yet.) Brooklyn seemed so young at the time and she didn't quite get that Kendall was real and not just a doll.

My mom took this picture just minutes after Kendall was born. I think she looks kinda scary in this picture. Can I say that about my new-born daughter?

Summer 2011

2011-07-21T19:20:00.013-04:00

Aside from our fun vacation to Texas and Arizona, here are some other things we've been doing this summer...

Within one week of returning home from AZ, Kendall started crawling. I know it seems late (afterall, she's 11 months old), but I'm so grateful she didn't start crawling until we were home from our trip to AZ. I got a glimpse of what 5.5 hours would have been like by myself on an airplane with three kids - one of them just learning to crawl - when the four of us went to the movies last week. Crawlers do not sit on laps, even to watch a movie! Now, we'll work on walking, which she appears to have no interest in doing yet, even though she loves pulling herself up on her knees.

The girls and I have baked some of the things we love ... cupcakes, monkey bread, banana bread. Needless to say I'm not looking any better in my swim suit than I was five months ago when I was wearing my "winter coat." =-)

Nothing like a thick layer of chocolate cream cheese frosting to liven up that cupcake!

We've also been crafting like crazy. We've made salt dough cut outs, tie-dyed butterflies, rickrack flower rings, paper plate monsters, cricut animals, crayon hot rocks, and so much more. The girls have seriously painted everything they can get their hands on and they are now sewing their own purses and mending their torn stuffed animals. Every night I go blog surfing to find the next day's craft project and the girls and I are loving everything I find! Thank heavens for all of those amazingly creative women out there who are willing to share their ideas for FREE!

Ella's good friend, Julia, joined in the fun. Even with her "thumb-sucking cap" attached to her hand and wrist, she was still able to roll and cut out her dough. I need to get a few of those things for my two thumb suckers!

Ella finished her first season of soccer! Coach Ryan was there for every game (even the ones that were too FREEZING COLD for the rest of us wimpy girls to stay), to give pointers and help Ella understand the importance of actually kicking the ball in the direction of the goal, rather than making new friends during a game or picking dandelions.

So proud of that medal!

The Cabin

2011-07-13T21:53:00.016-04:00

Just a few of the reasons why we love the cabin...

You learn how to do things you've never done before...

You get to hang out with all of your aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandma sugar all in one place and all at one time (even if your daddy can't be there)...

You get to squeeze your "favite cuzin" to death on the porch swing...

You get to ride the zip line as fast as you want knowing your strong, brave cousin will be there to stop you before you hit the tree below...

You get to hear World War II stories from GPa anytime you ask (although he'd rather tell you the love story of how he and GG met)...

You get to have way more fun than you ever thought possible...

You get to use the neighbor's spa on a nice chilly day...

You get to lay (or get tangled) in the hammock while enjoying the beautiful weather...

You get to ride electronic cars till the batteries run dry...

You get to do pretty much anything you want cause Sugar says it's okay...

You get to see generations all at one time..

You get loved on by every person who touches you...

You get to spend time with those you wish you could see more...

You get to look really cute any day you want (but most of the time you don't even think twice about not showering or combing your hair)...

You get really cute pictures like this to remember such a great time (thanks Jim, I love this one)...

Golf Tournament Results

2011-07-08T22:43:00.004-04:00

It's the end of the week and today was the Jr. golf tournament. All of Ella's practice the past four days comes down to this. I signed Ella up to play three holes thinking that would take long enough, and boy did it ever! We both had so much fun, though, and I have to say, Ella is getting a little better at her golf game... when she actually hits the ball. Her scores on the three holes were 20-27-16.

Of course, seeing some of the other girls in her group play, it was clear Ella wasn't going to win a trophy. The winners in her group shot 19 for first place, 22 for second place, and 26 for third place - Ella shot a 63. The next closest to Ella shot a 35. So, like any good mom, I did my best to prepare Ella for the fact that she wasn't going to win a trophy even thought she wanted one soooooo badly.

Finally, the awards ceremony began. I continued eating my lunch and talking to my family... not paying one bit of attention to the announcer announcing the winners since I knew Ella wouldn't be one of them. So, you can imagine my surprise when Ella's name was announced. I couldn't believe it. I grabbed my camera and pushed my way through the crowd of parents to get a shot of Ella holding her first ever trophy. I had no idea what it was for (cause I missed the announcement and because I knew it certainly wasn't for her golf game), but obviously neither of us cared. SHE GOT A TROPHY!!

Would you believe out of about 80 kids ages 4-18, Ella won the trophy for Best Sportsmanship!? I swear it was her comment about being a dancer and not a golfer that made her stick out of crowd. Either way, she is on cloud 9 and I'm so proud. Way to go Ella!

She had no idea what sportsmanship meant. Of course she didn't care.

Look at that face! So excited!

Hanging out and ready to tee off.

Looking the part in her new golf shirt.

Baseball

2011-07-07T22:26:00.001-04:00

Every night, just after the golfers leave the golf course and before the sun goes down, we all head out onto the course to run around and play. One night all 20 of us decided to play baseball. I thought my girls knew how to play baseball... they don't. Aunt Lisa had to teach Ella how to swing the bat. Once she did, though, Ella would go chasing after the ball instead of running to first base. Once we finally got her onto first base, she still wanted to chase the ball after the next batter hit it instead of running to second. She didn't get it at all and it was hilarious. I may never live it down that my two girls didn't know how to play baseball.

I guess it doesn't matter that she doesn't know how to play as long as she's having fun.

Even with my excellent coaching skills, Ella still couldn't quite understand that she should run to the bases rather than chase after the ball.

Sugar and Chandler helped out, too.

Sugar, Taylor, Ella and Hunter all on first base.

After a little help from Aunt Lisa, Ella was good to go at bat.

Miss B, Ella, Kendall, Me, Brooklyn and Sugar enjoying the game.

Golfing

2011-07-07T21:48:00.000-04:00

Every year, White Mountain Country Club holds a Jr. golf clinic for a week, and on Friday, they have the big golf tournament. This is the first year Ella got to play. So, all week long the poor golf pros at the country club tried to teach my little Miss Ella how to swing and putt and eventually get the golf ball in the hole. It took A LOT of practice and A WHOLE TON of patience on their part, but believe it or not, Ella finally (kinda) learned how to play golf. Oh, her dad would be so proud.

As you can see, Ella has this habit of letting her follow through go all the way around instead of stopping where it should. When the golf pro told her that she couldn't spin all the way around on her swing, Ella replied, "Well, you know... the problem is, I'm a dancer not a golfer." Pretty funny, Ella.

Ya, she made contact with the ball. I think she looks pretty good in this picture!

Arizona

2011-07-05T00:40:00.001-04:00

Wow, we've been traveling for a long time! Newark to San Antonio, San Antonio to Dallas, Dallas back to San Antonio, San Antonio to Phoenix, and Phoenix to our cabin in Pine Top. We head back to PA on Saturday after almost four weeks of traveling. As excited as the girls and I are to see Ryan again (it's been almost three weeks since he left us in Texas), we're sad to be leaving the cabin, the beautiful weather, cousins, aunts, uncles, GG, GPa, Grandma Sugar, etc. We love it up here!!

When we arrived in Phoenix the girls and I headed straight for Habit Salon to get our hair done. The girls had never been to a real salon before (they usually go to a dumpy little kids place in PA) and went giddy with excitement when the assistant took them over to the sinks to wash their hair. That was their most FAVORITE part of the whole experience. They kept saying, "we got our hair washed in real sinks!!!!"

I hope Ella doesn't expect a blow dry every day now!

Brooklyn just couldn't believe she was getting her hair washed in a real sink. That's all she could say the whole time we were there.

Even Kendall was enjoying the real salon experience.

Once we were looking super fab, we headed up to the cabin. Oh, we love the cabin. Ella says it's her favorite place on earth.

Hayley, Ledger and Chandler

Kendall and Sugar hanging out on the patio.

It seems all of the kids LOVE these cars/quads. They drive them all day long. I can't believe Brooklyn is actually driving. Usually she prefers to be the passenger. Miss B looks like she's not so sure about the driver.

I think Presley is enjoying her corn on the cob.

Happy 4th of July...

2011-07-04T18:48:00.013-04:00

and Happy Birthday dad!

The girls and I are up at our family cabin in Pinetop, Arizona where we're having the greatest time ever with our cousins, aunts, uncles, and Grandma Sugar. To celebrate Independence Day, we went to a fun festival where they had games and prizes for the kids, cotton candy (disgusting) and snow cones, a playground, and lots of other fun things.
All the kids at the cabin.
Kendall had a ball at the festival, can you tell? Thanks Aunt Lisa for letting her take a nap on your shoulder.
Ella picked this pirate hat as one of her prizes.
Presley got a yummy snow cone.
The whole Felstead family waiting in line to play the ring toss game.

Brooklyn went fishing and won a glow stick. Pretty exciting.

Dallas

2011-06-24T02:37:00.000-04:00

Since we were already in Texas, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to fly up to see my Aunt Lisa and her family in Dallas. Of course, Ryan had to get back to work in PA so the girls and I went alone.

Aside from all of the fun stuff we did at their house, like swimming, playing with their dog Muffin, watching movies in their movie theater, tie-dying t-shirts, and playing in all of Chandler and Hayley's old toys and dolls, we went to Lego Land and this really cool indoor zoo/aquarium.

Lego Land had a really fun indoor play gym where the girls could climb up a huge tower, crawl through tunnels, and slide down slides. They had a huge castle with tables and Lego pieces so you could build your own something, a ride, a 3-d movie and other fun stuff.

The indoor aquarium was awesome! We literally walked into a jungle where exotic birds were flying all around. They had monkeys, frogs, alligators, penguins, sharks, flamingos, etc. The best part was the shark feeding. We sat inside a glass tunnel where the sharks swam and ate their lunch all around us. It was really cool.

Ella and Brooklyn feeding one of the birds.

The aquarium had so many cool, unusual, exotic fish.

Watching the sharks eat their lunch.

Chandler and Lisa taught us how to tie-die t-shirts. They turned out so good.

The girls swam with Chandler nearly every single day we were there. Lisa bought the little floatie for Kendall, but as you can see, Brooklyn loved it and never gave it up for Kendall to sit in.

Again, the girls and I had so much fun hanging out with Lisa, Brett, Chandler and Hayley in Dallas. It was non-stop girlie fun and I was kinda starting to feel sorry for Brett... kinda. He was so in love with Kendall that I think he forgot about all of the funny things Ella and Brooklyn were saying and doing.

San Antonio

2011-06-21T00:03:00.000-04:00

A few days ago, our family flew out to San Antonio, Texas to visit Ryan's sister Andrea and her family. It was probably the hottest week we could have visited Texas (it was a record-breaking heat wave), but we still had a blast. We loved having Grandma and Grandpa Asay there, too.

My girls love hanging out with their cousins... Abby especially. The three girls spent most of their time playing dress up and putting on "shows" for the grown ups to Michael Jackson's "Beat it". They also loved "reading time" with Grandma, who read book after book after book to a very captive audience! The kids spent probably an hour all snuggled together on the couch next to her while she read to them. I can't believe she didn't lose her voice. Thanks for keeping them entertained Christy!

One of the things I enjoyed the most while we were there was the hands-on children's museum. There was so much to see and do there and the kids loved all of the "experiments" the museum had. Ella loved this fish tank...

On another day we visited River Walk. We walked around, took a boat tour and ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant.

No trip to San Antonio would be complete without a trip to the Alamo. Did you know I have a relative who fought in the Alamo? Sam Houston was his name, and of course he died there just like everyone else who fought in the Alamo. Pretty cool, huh!

I love this picture of Brooklyn and Zachary. So cute.

Hello Miss Kendall.

All the cousins except Kendall... Abby, Ella, Brooklyn, Josh, Matthew and Zachary. What a great looking bunch!

Of course, the whole purpose of our visit to San Antonio, was to go to Josh and Abby's baptism. Would you believe I did not get a single picture of them with my camera (Andrea, will you email me one of your whole family?) However, I did manage to snap one of Zachary and Kendall while we were waiting for the baptism to begin.

Thanks for letting us destroy your house Andrea and eat all of your food. We had such a great time and can't wait to come back again.

"Impact"

2011-06-05T11:03:00.007-04:00

We made one this weekend at the Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure in Washington D.C. Our family has been walking the 3.2 mile route for five years now and every year we look forward to going.

This year Ryan's aunt Kathleen and cousin Garrett joined us for the race.

Friday night is Family Fun Night. The girls had the best time and I had a hard time getting them to leave the party at 9 pm. They would have stayed all night and painted.
I'm not sure Kendall had too much fun. She was exhausted when the party started - as if you can't tell from her eyes.
This year the girls were brave enough to get their faces painted. Wow, the artist was amazing. Ella loved being a butterfly and Brooklyn loved being a cat. I'm sure the hotel laundry staff isn't going to love what I did to their white washcloths trying to get the paint off these girls' faces.

Missing May

2011-06-02T20:55:00.013-04:00

May is a great month... it's got Mother's Day, my wedding anniversary, and my birthday all wrapped up into just 31 days. Plus, we did some other really fun things this month. So, you can understand then why I'm missing it already.

For Mother's Day, Ella and her classmates hosted a little "garden party" at their school playground for all of the kids' moms. They sang songs, served us cookies and juice, made us a funny little "cookbook," and gave us a pot of basil that they had been growing in their classroom.

For Mother's Day on Sunday, Ryan and the girls packed up a picnic dinner and we rode our bikes to a local park/playground and had a fun time just relaxing and hanging out together. The best part of the day was having Ryan around in the morning to help me get everyone ready for church (all morning meetings were cancelled). Now, maybe next year the Bishop will let him sit with us during Sacrament Meeting instead of on the stand. Wouldn't that be a treat!!

For our TEN YEAR anniversary, Ryan and I went to dinner at the Washington Crossing Inn. Nothing too exciting, but it was nice to have a quiet dinner where we could actually talk. That never happens at home! =-)

For my birthday, the family took me to "the crazy food place," which has kinda become a birthday tradition.

Ella and Brooklyn INSISTED I wear the pink birthday crown to dinner. You can imagine the looks I got from everyone at the restaurant. I'm hoping, the fact that I was with three little girls, explained it all!

Ella also graduated from Preschool... AGAIN! This past year has been awesome for Ella! She had a GREAT teacher, who couldn't say enough nice things about Ella at the graduation picnic, and great classmates. She loved every minute of school and I can only hope she has the same enthusiasm for it next year when she finally gets to start kindergarten.

Ella and her best friend this year, Julia.

Oh, and what joy that we were finally able to go to the beach. I think this was Kendall's first time. I think she loved it. She took a two hour nap in her little beach tent, which I've always dreamed of doing. We stayed all day and I had to drag the girls off the sand. They were exhausted and all fell asleep on the way home. It's never been so quiet in my car... EVER! =-)

And, the one thing I wish I had pictures of is our trip to NYC. Last Saturday, Ella and Brooklyn took me into NYC to see the Lion King. It was my Mother's Day gift. We rode the train and went straight to the Toys R' Us in Times Square. We rode the ferris wheel and the girls picked out little guitars to buy with their Easter money. We at lunch and then went to the show.

Both girls LOVED the show, but it was a little too long for Brooklyn. The whole last half she kept asking, "is it over?" I can't wait to take Ella to another one though. Afterwards, we went to the M & M store and dinner and then I literally had to drag them back onto the train to come home. They didn't want to leave. We had so much fun. Thanks girls for a special day.

Unbroken

2011-05-30T21:02:00.008-04:00

I've been reading "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand the past few weeks for my book club. It's given me an even greater appreciation for those who serve our country. I'm so grateful to all of the "warriors" (as Ella calls them) who have and continue to fight for our country. And, since it's Memorial Day, and I have two awesome grandparents who served in WWII, I want to give a shout out to them and tell them how much I love them. THANK YOU for serving our country!

Every year our town has a Memorial Day parade. This year is the first time we've stuck around to watch it because we're usually at our church picnic. We still made it - very late - to our picnic, but we were so happy to have the opportunity to say thanks to our veterans.

Arizona Adventures - The Last Three Days

2011-05-24T11:06:00.009-04:00

The last three days in Arizona were RELAXING. We swam, we ate lunch, we took naps, we saw cousins and reminisced about the past few days of fun...

Arizona Adventures - Days 5 & 6

2011-05-23T21:58:00.001-04:00

Easter in Arizona is awesome. Why?

1. The weather is nearly perfect - it's still freezing in PA

2. Most of my family - including aunts, uncles and cousins - come to town

3. We can usually talk the rest of the Asay family into coming to town, too

4. We have LOTS of Easter egg hunts

5. The girls can finally swim

6. I don't have to plan or cook any meals

7. The Easter bunny still finds us even though we're about as far away from PA as we can get

8. The girls actually look nice for church in their matching Easter dresses

Arizona Adventures - Day 4

2011-05-18T20:45:00.002-04:00

Day four was all about Little Miss Brooklyn turning THREE. The day was full of fun with the Asay family. From the playground to lunch to a movie to the big Bounce U Birthday party celebration. The girl was wiped out by the end of the day!

Brooklyn is a funny girl. She won't leave her bedroom in the morning until she's wearing a skirt or dress. She'll wake up, scoot to the edge of her bed where her clothes are waiting, get dressed, then run to the bathroom (and barely make it to the potty). Of course, she takes EVERYTHING off from the waist down to go potty (even her shirt sometimes).

Brooklyn is such a sweetheart, but boy can she be a huge stinker! One minute she's hugging and kissing Ella or Kendall, the next she's biting or hitting them. She is as loud as a girl can be, but says the funniest things. It's even funnier because she can't pronounce some of her letters.

Ella and Brooklyn are "Best Friends" until one of them does something wrong and then I hear, "fine then, we aren't best friends anymore!" She's funny about hair, too. Heaven help me if I put my hair in a pony tail. She'll throw an absolute fit until I take it out.

I love watching Brooklyn interact with Kendall. She adores her (most of the time). Brooklyn loves dressing up, playing with dolls, wearing jewelry, shoes, etc. She is a girly girl and doesn't like to get her hand's dirty. She also doesn't like to use public bathrooms that smell bad. She'll hold it till she gets home.

Favorite color - pink

Favorite food - pizza

Favorite restaurant - Mexican food

Wants to be - an astronaut

Favorite cartoon - Jake and the Neverland Pirates

Boy this little girl keeps me on my toes, but I sure do love her. Life without her would be... well, way too quiet and peaceful! =-)

Let the fun begin...

Birthday breakfast for Miss Brooklyn!

Arizona Adventures - Day 3

2011-05-11T13:43:00.014-04:00

Thursday morning was all about the cowboys! We ate breakfast at our hotel where the cowboys made their first appearance and caused a little mischief while we were eating. Then we watched them "perform" in the town's cowboy shoot-out where there were gun fights, horses, and some pretty funny acting. One of the cowboys got shot and when he fell over dead on the ground he landed in a big pile of horse poop. Yuck. "That costume's going to the cleaners," was all I could think.

Ya, that's sick.
This troublemaker didn't like my hat quite as much as his.
Ella wasn't afraid of this guy. Brooklyn on the other hand... well.
Kendall loves making this funny face. Oh man is she cute!

We left Williams and headed to a deer farm. This place had about 100 deer roaming around that you could pet and feed. So we got a few cups full of food for them and walked in to feed them. They immediately swarmed us and tried to eat everything we had in our hands and on our bodies. It was hilarious!! The Baby Bijorn straps that were hanging down went straight into a deer's mouth, along with the blanket I had around Kendall and Kendall's toes that were hanging out of the bottom of the blanket. They even chewed on the bottom of my pants. They were all over my mom, too, which was so funny because she is soooo not an animal person. Brooklyn, of course, was terrified! And, Ella, of course, was loving it.

They also had a camel that we got to pet and feed, reindeer, pigs, goats, etc. It's so funny because, you know when you go to the zoo and they have the farm animal petting zoo section that you totally try to avoid because it just seems really dirty and disgusting (and of course you don't want your kids touching anything!). Well, this place was kinda like that only we actually paid a lot of money to touch every disgusting thing they had and have all of our clothes sucked on by the deer. I think we were all feeling like a shower when we left, but it was tons of fun. Especially seeing my mom attacked by deer. That was awesome. =-) Neither of us could stop laughing, especially when a llama spit on me - TWICE!

Suited up and ready to feed the deer.
Ya, that's the llama that spit on me. You can see the smug look on his face.
Look at Brooklyn hiding behind her daddy. Too funny.
Now, this is the best picture ever. My mom is totally getting attacked by the deer. Look at her holding on to the cup of food. Cracks me up!!
This girl loves animals.

Ella making friends with the camel.

Arizona Adventures - Day 2

2011-05-10T21:51:00.001-04:00

Wednesday was rise and shine quite early (since we were still on East Coast time). We ate breakfast and drove to Slide Rock. The kids LOVED Slide Rock. We could have spent the whole day there and they would have been as happy as can be! The water was too cold to actually slide down the rocks, but the girls took off their shoes and splashed around to their heart's content. They also loved climbing on all of the red rocks. We'll definitely be going back there with the kids when the weather and water are warmer.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon around lunch time and went straight to eat at El Tovar where we had really good food like Navajo Tacos, burgers, mac & cheese. I'm sure it was our full bellies that made it so we could barely catch Brooklyn just as she was climbing up and turning around to sit down on the knee-high rock wall that sits at the edge of the Canyon cliff. I about had a heart attack. Can you imagine losing your child because he/she fell off the edge of the Grand Canyon? I can because it almost happened.

Once I got over the sheer shock of that incident I could finally enjoy the absolute beauty and majesty of the Grand Canyon. Holy cow, it's huge! There is no picture or words that do it justice! This was pretty exciting for me and Ryan. Neither of us had been to the Grand Canyon before.

We spent some time walking around the edge then went on a short hike down the canyon a bit (with hands firmly gripped on two little girls). After a scoop of ice cream and one last look at the Grand Canyon we headed to our hotel in Williams where we got check in, swam, ordered pizza and then went to bed. Ahhhh a super easy night. Love those.

Lunch at El Tovar.
This huge cut-out was on our way down into the canyon.

That's the little wall Brooklyn climbed up and turned around to sit down on. The other side of the wall is straight down into the Grand Canyon. You can see why I almost had a heart attack!

I wish the pictures really showed how amazing it it.

Arizona Adventures-Day 1

2011-05-08T22:02:00.000-04:00

I finally got all of my Arizona pictures uploaded onto my computer - all 800 of them. That seems like a lot of pictures, but when I think about everything we did in just 10 days, I totally understand why there are so many.

Since we had SOOOO much fun in Arizona and did SOOOO many fun things, I'm going to have to blog about nearly every single day we were there, starting with our three-day trip to the Grand Canyon...

Day 1 - Grandma Sugar, Jim, Ryan, the three girls and I packed up the Escalade (with 10 times more food than clothes) and headed to an animal park called Out of Africa, just outside of Sedona. Nicole, Presley and Cave joined us for the adventure.

Out of Africa was fun - tigers, lions, camels, snakes, bear, etc. - but the thing that made it so darn cool was the jeep safari ride. It was just like being on safari in Africa (or what I imagine it would be like). The animals came right up to the open-air jeep that we were riding in and the giraffe even stuck it's neck through one of the passenger-side windows of the jeep to the driver's side. How cool is that! We all got to feed it, too, which was really fun. We saw a camel, ostrich, buffalo, all sorts of deer, gazelle, zebra, an enormous ostrich egg, etc. Way cool.

After the animal park we drove to Sedona. Ryan and I are definitely going back to Sedona (ALONE). It's a cute town and it's nestled in the most beautiful area. Of course, I don't think the kids really appreciated the color of the mountains, but that's okay. We ate dinner and ice cream in town at a fun little open-air cafe and then went to our hotel room for a good night's sleep.

It took a while, but all three girls touched the snake.
Presley has her carrot ready to go. Now where's that giraffe?

The giraffe sticking it's head through the jeep window to the driver-side for more carrots. Giraffe have the weirdest, thickest skin.
Giraffes have the longest, curliest tongues, too. The girls and I got an upclose look at this one. Brooklyn was not loving it. She was terrified of the thing.

What a cool picture.
The kids also got to feed the tiger.

This was part of "Tiger Splash." Look how high that tiger is jumping. Crazy.

Sedona mountains... in the parking lot. =-)

Soccer... kinda

2011-05-04T14:24:00.012-04:00

Ella started soccer a few weeks ago. She definitely looks the part in her royal blue team shirt, black shorts and knee socks, hot pink and black cleats and hot pink and white soccer ball.

Unfortunately, she's not the most athletically gifted child on her team. Instead of getting in the middle of the action to get the ball, she stands on the perimeter and cheers on her teammates. Not only is she yelling, "get the ball, get the ball!!," while she is doing NOTHING to help her team score, but instead of running, she's skipping, hopping and galloping around the field. She's also so busy saying, "hi, my name is Ella, what's yours?" to everyone on the field that she has no idea where the ball is half the time. The whole thing is hilarious! I can't wait to see what happens at our next game!

All the practice in our backyard didn't help when it came time to actually play a game.
Ella likes to get a "running start" to kick the ball.
All least she made contact with the ball in this one. =-)
One of Ella's favorite fans (who is usually asleep during game time on Saturday mornings).
Taking a break with coach dad and assistant coach Kendall.
Dressed and ready to play. Ryan took Ella to get all of her soccer gear... new cleats, new ball, new shin guards. Of course everything she picked out was hot pink. Thanks goodness we have two other girls in this family who can use all of this stuff when Ella's done playing soccer... which will probably be at the end of this session. =-) I'm not sure she's loving it.

The first few game were awful. The weather was FREEZING!!! Icy cold and windy. Brooklyn, Kendall and I had to leave the last game because it was so cold.

Two Days In NYC

2011-04-08T20:33:00.014-04:00

The girls and I drove to NYC last Thursday for a little overnight adventure. Ryan was there for a conference on Thursday and Friday so I thought we would take advantage of his free hotel room. I have never driven into NYC by myself and three little kids in a giant "school bus" (aka. Suburban) before so I was a bit nervous. It ended up being a Piece of cake. The hard part proved to be getting around the city in the rain with three little kids.

We got checked into our free hotel room and within minutes Brooklyn was in her PJs, Ella had "unpacked" her backpack, and both girls were sitting on the window ledge peering out the window at NYC. After spending an hour convincing Brooklyn it was only 2 pm, I finally got her to put her clothes back on and to head out the door to go "exploring." The girls loved our hotel room so much, getting them out the door was quite difficult!

Once we finally reached the street, we walked by a strange man with two pet rats. One was sitting on his head and the other on his shoulder. They were supposed to be white, but after conversing with him a few minutes I learned he had dyed their fur a yellowish green for St. Patrick's Day. The girls were too freaked out to get a picture with him and I was too concerned for the drugged out looking rats.

Next we headed for the Empire State Building. Going through security was insane. Imagine being at the airport with a double stroller, three little kids, coats, hats, gloves, diaper bag, purse, stroller rain cover, umbrellas, Baby Bjorn, etc. Yes, all of that had to go on the conveyer belt - well, minus the three kids. But, we made it through!

Ella was a little nervous to go to the very top, but once there, she loved it. We walked around and around the top, and despite the rain, it was an amazing view.

Since Ella talked the ENTIRE 1.5 hour drive to NYC, Brooklyn didn't get a nap and so was very uncooperative during picture taking time. =-( On the way back to our hotel, the girls and I stopped for dinner at a little cafe Ella picked out. Not that great =-( We saw Ryan for a few minutes in the lobby before we went up to bed and he went to a business dinner.

On Friday, the girls and I loaded up the suburban and headed down to the Financial District where our friends (which happen to be our neighbors in Yardley) live during the week. We saw their adorable apartment overlooking the bay and Brooklyn Bridge.

Lucky for our friends - they can see the Brooklyn bridge from their apartment in the city and Brooklyn Asay from their house in Yardley!

We had hoped to go wandering around the area, but given the weather, we decided to eat everything in their house (sorry about that Kelly) and let the kids play. When Ryan was finally done with his work conference, he met us down at Battery Park where we took the ferry over to see the Statue of Liberty. (Well, Ryan and Kendall didn't end up going with us because we weren't allowed through security with Ryan's suitcase and the stroller. What a bummer!)

Ella and Brooklyn have been obsessed with seeing the Statue of Liberty for months now... ever since Grandma Asay sent them a book about Lady Liberty. Of course, they had to have these "crowns" too.
NYC from Staten Island.
After all the begging to see the Statue of Liberty, the girls weren't that impressed. Or maybe it was just the freezing cold, rainy weather that put a damper on our visit. Either way, the girls were ready to get back on the ferry within 5 minutes of being on the island. I made them walk all the way around the statue first. Brooklyn cried the whole time because she was so tired and freezing. At least I finally convinced her to let me get one picture of her with our beacon of freedom.

So, all in all it was a fun trip. Exhausting, but fun. However, remind me never to do it again by myself - free hotel room or not!

Ikea Love

2011-03-30T21:15:00.005-04:00

Yes, I LOVE Ikea and I really really really love my new Ikea closet. (Although, Ryan and I didn't like assembling the closet, but it was so worth it)...

For those of you who actually have a closet in your bedroom, this means nothing. But to those of us who live in houses built before the invention of closets, this is gold! By the way, how do you like my little dresser? I found it by a dumpster and painted it silver. Nothing like free furniture, huh?

Ahhh, organization. If only the rest of my house would stay as organized as this I'm sure it would feel like Heaven!
I even have jewelry drawers and a hanging bar for my necklaces. Yep, I like to lay in bed with the closet door wide open and just smile.
Look at that shoe rack. Beautiful. Looks like there's a clothes bar with a little room for a few more items. =-)

Planetarium

2011-03-29T20:40:00.013-04:00

The past few weeks, Ella has been learning about "outer space" at school. They built a huge spaceship out of cardboard appliance boxes and a mission control center complete with old telephones, keyboards, etc. The kids LOVED it and took turns "flying" to outer space every day. They also made spacesuits to wear while exploring space.

So all of this space exploration meant a trip to the Planetarium. As you can see from the picture below, my two girls were SOOOO EXCITED to go. (Although when we dropped Kendall off at a friend's house on the way to the Planetarium Ella started crying because she felt so bad Kendall didn't get to go with us.)

At the Planetarium, Ella and her classmates watched a really cute movie to learn more about the moon and earth... staring Elmo and Big Bird. Afterwards we walked around to see the different exhibits and pictures.

Catching Leprechauns

2011-03-24T14:02:00.001-04:00

The sign says... "Do Not Climb Ladder," and since leprechauns like to break the rules, we thought for sure this would lure one right on up. They were supposed to grab the coins on top of the tissue paper and fall right into the hat. Except I screwed up...

The girls and I made these leprechaun traps just three days after Valentine's Day in the anticipation and excitement that we would catch a real live leprechaun. Of course, I tried explaining to the girls that leprechauns only come out the day before St. Patrick's Day and they turn to statues if you catch them, but they still continued to check them repeatedly - for the first few days.

Then, we all forgot about them... all the way up until St. Patrick's Day Eve when it dawned on me that I forgot to buy little leprechaun statues to put inside the traps to surprise the girls St. Patrick's Day morning. Ryan and I called around to every store we could think of that might still have little leprechauns, but to no avail. Every place was sold out.

You wouldn't think this would be a huge deal, right? I mean, it's not like Santa Clause didn't show up on Christmas morning. But it was a huge deal!! The girls were so bummed we didn't catch a leprechaun and because I was so bummed about blowing the whole surprise and we were running late for school that morning, I didn't even bother making any green pancakes, milk or anything else festive.

What a lame mom! I totally blew it for the girls and for me. I have a whole year to try and get it right next time!

Thank goodness Grandma Asay sent the girls a super fun St. Patrick's Day package. It was full of books, necklaces, sunglasses, silly bands, (which they hadn't put on yet) and these cute shirts. Thanks for making St. Patrick's day so much better despite my major screw up.

I'm a professional photographer...

2011-03-19T21:39:00.021-04:00

Okay, maybe not, but that's the way I feel with my new super-sized, fancy shmancie, high-class, digital Christmas gift. Yes, this camera has far more features than I will ever need or ever learn how to use (with my amateur photo-taking skills), but boy is it fun to play with.

And, that's basically what I've been doing with it the past few months. I had one major set-back with the camera (which is why I haven't posted anything here in a month), but now I think I'm back up and running and ready to shoot my days away (because I have nothing better to do with my time than to take pictures all day, right?) At least I have great subjects, and there's nothing more I'd like to take pictures of than these three...

Here's to becoming a professional photographer - if only in my dreams...

Rainbows with sidewalk chalk. Love the crown, Ella.Trying out the "action" feature on my camera as Ella spins around in the tea cup.

Brooklyn woke up this morning and decided it was time to wear this Halloween shirt again. You can imagine we got a lot of second looks and funny comments about it throughout the day! (Shirt courtesy of Aunt Lisa five years ago. It was Ella's)

Brooklyn decided to get soaked in the rain.

Brooklyn is making faces at Kendall in an attempt to get her to smile for me. She only stops smiling when I pull out the camera.
That tongue says it all. I guess she's tired of being photographed for the day?

Would you look at that flower, Linds!? Aren't you proud of me?

six months old

2011-02-21T12:45:00.012-05:00

What can I say? This girl is such a doll in every sense of the word. She's sweet, happy, easy going, and soooooo adorably cute!! She has discovered that ...

sleeping on her tummy is way better than sleeping on her back;

playing with her toys isn't nearly as much fun as watching her mommy make funny faces and silly sounds;

baby food isn't all it's cracked up to be;

her toes taste much better and are more readily available;

warm baths are AWESOME;

and that her sister Brooklyn, although extremely LOUD, is actually pretty great.

At her six-month doctor's appointment (two weeks ago) she weighed 15 pounds 8 ounces, measured 26 inches long (I think), and looks absolutely perfect from head to toe.

Morris Arboretum

2011-02-08T20:36:00.002-05:00

Oh, I long for the day when the weather is nice enough to take the girls back to the Morris Arboretum. We had so much fun in September wandering around the gardens looking at all of the trees, flowers, and fun children's exhibits. The girls loved following the map and getting stamps at all of the major sites. Kendall enjoyed sleeping in her car seat the entire time we were there.

One day, the sun will shine again, the trees will be green and the flowers will dare to show their colorful faces. For now, I guess we'll continue putting on all 18 layers of clothing just to get the mail.

Reading the map and figuring out where to go next.
Up in the trees looking for birds.
Kendall was four weeks old. She woke up once to eat. Love that.
Can you see the girls climbing the tree?
Ella didn't make it too far before deciding she was a little scared of heights.
Brooklyn's listening for magnified forest sounds.
This bee hive looking thing is made entirely of sticks.
Not sure what Brooklyn is looking at on this plant, but the fact that it's green, alive, and not covered in snow makes me happy.
Ahhhh, the sun was shining.

Willy Wonka

2011-02-05T20:32:00.001-05:00

Does that name bring back memories, or what? I used to LOVE this movie so when Ella told me her teacher was reading Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to her class, I immediately opened my big mouth and said, "Oh Ella! Lets have a Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Movie Party with all of your classmates!" My little professional party-planner-in-the-making jumped on the idea and was soooo excited to get started.

The movie party started Thursday afternoon at 3:30 pm, and by 3:45 pm there only four kids left watching the movie... Ella being one of them. The rest of the kids were running around the house, jumping off the furniture and playing in the playroom. Plus, there were Skittles and M&Ms rolling all over the wood floors and popcorn, pretzel, and goldfish piles everywhere. It was hilarious!!

When's the last time you've watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? I have to admit, compared to todays' awesomely animated movies, Willy Wonka was rather boring. It just can't compete with movies like Toy Story 3 and Tangled. There was way too much dialogue and the whole story went right over their heads... well, all but four of them. If it weren't for those four pair of eyes glued to the T.V., I would have popped in a better movie to re-engage the rest of the class.

Despite the fact that only four kids liked the movie, they all seemed to have had fun because when the moms showed up to take them home nobody wanted to leave. And, well, that's a better way to gauge a successful party anyway, right?!

These were the invitations. I just bought Hershey's chocolate bars, printed the Wonka Bar picture from the web onto sticky paper and then stuck them on. The golden tickets were printed on this really cool gold paper I found at JoAnn. I took the chocolate bars out of the wrapper and slid the golden tickets inside so just the edge of the ticket was sticking outside of the wrapper. I thought they turned out pretty cute.

Here's the class.
This was taken about five minutes into the movie...
This one about 10 minutes into the movie... can you see how they're starting to lose interest? So funny.

Rice Cereal & Report Cards

2011-01-30T21:47:00.011-05:00

Kendall started rice cereal today. Yippee! It was a pretty exciting event (well, not really)! I think she loved the new flavor and texture of food in her mouth, but it was hard to tell because Ella and Brooklyn wouldn't stop yelling at eachother over who got to feed her. So, most of the time Kendall got two spoons shoved in her face and down her throat. Poor thing. She's such a good sport and the fact that she kept opening her mouth for more is a good sign that the transition to real food might be a smooth one. Can't wait to get started the good stuff... foods that actually have some flavor!

Of course the spoon is always a big hit.
Ella and Brooklyn were soooooo excited to feed Kendall rice cereal. For days they kept asking if it was time yet. Since everyone wanted to be there for her first bite, it took about two weeks to actually find a time when we could all participate.

Hmmmm, maybe she didn't actually get any in her mouth?

Ella got her report card last week and, as we suspected, she has been doing so great at school. Her super awesome teacher gave her great marks in all the different categories and even wrote the nicest note on the back. It said,

"Ella is a delightful girl with an exuberant spirit. She loves art and even her worksheets are turned in to me with color and decoration, so much so that sometimes I can't read her answers. She is cheerful and loving, a friend to everyone. She takes time with her work and is pleased when she is successful, which is most of the time. It is truly a pleasure to have Ella in my class."

When I met with Mrs. Vogel last week, she had nothing but nice things to say about Ella (which makes me happy, of course). I love that Ella LOVES school and her teacher so much. Thanks Mrs. Vogel for making a difference in this little girl's life.

Proud to show off her excellent report card (and the princess pjs from her cousin Abby). Never mind the fingerprints on the window in the background. Yikes! I'd better get Ryan on that right away. =-)

Kendall's First Haircut

2011-01-21T19:39:00.001-05:00

I finally took Kendall to get her first haircut last week. Those little wispies were driving me crazy and they just had to be trimmed. The new look is much better, I think. Ella, however, thinks Kendall looks like a boy now. I'm not sure her hair looked all that girlie before the haircut.

Brooklyn got her hair cut, too. Unfortunately, I wasn’t specific enough about what I wanted. Instead of side-swept bangs like she had before (and I LOVED), she got the most ridiculous, uneven, butch-short Ceasar (or Dumb and Dumber if you know the movie) bangs. I was about to say something to the hair cutter when Brooklyn said with the biggest smile while looking in the mirror, “I luv my air.” Well, if she’s happy with the cut then I guess I’ll have to be happy with it, too. Although, I find myself explaining to everyone why my daughter’s hair looks so ridiculous. Oh hair, please grow fast so we can fix you!

Before... lots of wispies!

After... nice and evened out.

Yikes Miss B., those are scary bangs. So glad you "luv dem" cause I would have been crying if someone did that to my hair.

Starting 2011

2011-01-19T21:03:00.000-05:00

Ya, I know I’m a little late, but here’s how we celebrated the start of the new year.

On New Year's Eve we went to a party at our friends' house. It was so fun... lots of adults and good conversation, tons of kids and toys to entertain them in the basement, plenty of delicious food to pig out on, and exciting poppers for the kids to explode at 9 pm when we celebrated the new year.

On New Year’s Day we had fun making gingerbread houses. Instead of making them out of graham crackers and homemade frosting like we've done in the past (and having two kids so upset because their houses won’t stay together), I forked over the $19 bucks and bought two gingerbread house making kits. Sooooo worth the money! The girls had a ball and I have to say, Ryan was totally into it, too.

Don't worry Kendall. Next year you'll get your very own to make.

Snowed in… again!

2011-01-18T20:58:00.004-05:00

We were snowed in again today. That meant no school, no tumbling classes, and unfortunately, no power for about 4 1/2 hours either. Not to worry... we kept ourselves busy all day (but the house is even more of a disaster now!)

We set up the girls' new club house that they got for Christmas... in our family room.

The girls brought nearly every toy from the playroom inside the club house - and as you can see a little was overflowing out the right side. Actually, Ella said that was the kitchen.

Ella made her first snowman of the season a few weeks ago. He's small, but cute.

Every year Ryan and Ella build a big snow fort and a stash of pre-made snowballs. Every time I come outside I get hit with one.

Ella can stay out in the snow for HOURS. She's crazy. I'm usually begging to go back inside for some hot chocolate after about five minutes (if they can even drag me outside in the first place!).

Brooklyn is starting to like the snow a lot more this year. We usually have so many layers on her that it would be impossible for her to get cold anyway.

Hersheypark Christmas Candylane

2011-01-10T21:31:00.002-05:00

This year, instead of spending a few days in NYC checking out the store windows and grand tree, we decided to go to Hersheypark's Christmas Candylane a few days before Christmas. I'm so glad we did because Hersheypark at Christmas is absolutely amazing!

The whole theme park is decked out in Christmas lights, all of the Hershey's Chocolate Characters are dressed in their Christmas best, and Santa and his reindeer somehow manage to take time out of their busy schedule to stop by for a visit. Plus, all of the rides are perfect for Ella and Brooklyn's age. And the best part of the whole trip was the whole place was EMPTY! I mean there was absolutely no waiting in long theme-park lines and sometimes Ella and Brooklyn were the only ones on the rides at all. It was FANTASTIC! We got to walk right up to Santa and his reindeer without a fight, too. Loved it!!

The girls were troopers because, I will admit, it was quite cold. The park opens at 5pm and we stayed till close at 9pm, so it was a chilly night - nothing hot chocolate can't cure (along with four cozy blankets). The girls had a ball riding on all of the fun rides (Ella loved the hot air balloons and Brooklyn loved the mini merry-go-round). They also thought meeting Santa and his reindeer was pretty cool (me, too).

When the park closed at 9pm, we decided to drive through Hershey Sweet Lights - a two mile drive covered in Christmas lights. It was pretty cool, but took forever! Those two miles took about 40 minutes. Yikes!

The next morning the girls swam in the heated indoor pool at Hershey Lodge where we stayed and then we all headed over to the Hershey Chocolate Factory for lunch and more chocolate fun.

On our way home we took a detour to Kennet Square (an adorable little town) and then Longwood Gardens, where they, too, have an amazing Christmas light display. This year, instead of ice skaters, they had a whole train display complete with waterfalls, bridges, tunnels, etc. It was awesome.

We made it home by 9pm, dropped the sleeping kids in their beds and then Ryan and I got to work on wrapping and assembling Christmas gifts. Such a great trip. Can't wait to do it again next year!

You have to measure yourself so you know what rides you can go on in the park. Ella's a Reese's this time.
Brooklyn just made it to the Hershey's Kiss line.
We looked absolutely ridiculous walking around the park with a double stroller and a single stroller with three kids wrapped up like burritos in blankets, but at least everyone was warm and happy. I had a few people ask me if they could buy the blankets off of me because their kids were freezing.Ella took this for us. It's nice to finally have a picture of just me and Ryan. I think our wedding day was the last time we had one of just the two of us.
Santa was AWESOME. I mean... he made me a believer! (I probably would still believe in him if my mean old sister hadn't ruined it for me all those years ago. =-)
Poor Kendall was so great the whole time even though she didn't get to go on a single ride or do anything fun. She slept in her car seat nearly the whole time. She is such a sweetheart!
Santa brought all of his reindeer and we got to learn all about them.
Kendall was infatuated with this funny little bouncy ball game... Can you see her staring at it?
I can see these two driving around like this in 90 years, can't you? Ella looks like she's driving Miss Daisy.
Since Ryan and I were too big to go on any of the rides, Ella took Brooklyn on them all and showed her how everything worked to make the cars go up and down.
Yep, it was cold. I wish that could have been me wrapped up. Luckily (and quite surprisingly, I might add) I wasn't miserably cold for once. Stubborn little Miss Brooklyn refused to wear anything other than a skirt and tights (no surprise there), so she was probably the coldest of us all.

Kendall had the warmest place.
This was Ella's favorite ride... the hot air balloons.

2010 Christmas Card

2010-12-27T21:02:00.003-05:00

Sorry if you didn't get one. Unfortunately, we didn't order nearly enough cards. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.

Best Christmas EVER!

2010-12-24T20:14:00.021-05:00

All day long we heard Ella say, "THIS IS THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!!" I have to say it was pretty awesome. There's nothing better than hearing your kids scream with joy and watching them jump up and down as they tear open a present and see what's inside. We had a lot of that this Christmas, especially now that Brooklyn is old enough to understand it a little better. I can't imagine what next Christmas will be like when Kendall gets it, too. Boy, the neighbors will need earplugs for sure.

The Asay family was very blessed this Christmas. After opening gifts from mom, dad, and grandparents, we discovered a note on our Christmas tree from Santa. He sent the girls on a scavenger hunt throughout the house and at the end was his gift to them.

Ella has been telling and writing letters to Santa Clause the past few weeks informing him that she would LOVE to get "a computer that plays games and movies." Lucky for her he delivered the most adorable hot pink mini laptop computer.

Brooklyn has been telling everyone who asks that she wants a car like mommys... meaning a Suburban... not a toy Suburban... a real Suburban the same size as mine. Ya, that's a tough one to deliver, but you know Santa. He has his ways. He left her a hot pink, two-passenger Jeep.

Kendall got a Bumbo... and yes, she was thrilled I'm sure! =-)

I have to say I'm pretty happy with my new camera from my mom, and the two rolls of tape my girls gave me. (Long story, but that's what I asked them for). Ryan loves his new suit and driver.

What a wonderful Christmas and how blessed we are for our family and good health. Merry Christmas.

Ella and Brooklyn making Santa's treat, which ended up being brownies this year because I forgot to take the cookie dough out of the freezer. Oops.
They were super yummy with peppermint bark Hersheys kisses on top and crushed inside!
Ella's final note to Santa... "Computer that plays movies and games."

What two-year-old is more excited about clothes than toys on Christmas morning? Brooklyn opened up this new pink coat and skirt and demanded to put them on immediately. She never took them off the rest of the day. She keeps saying, "I luv dis coat".

Daddy's little girls.

Ella's new computer.
Brooklyn's new ride, although she prefers Ella drive her around.
Kendall's new Bumbo. I love this thing.

The Nativity

2010-12-16T21:19:00.006-05:00

Tonight was the big night. Ella had her school nativity play and boy was it a long time coming. She has been sooooo very excited about it for weeks and of course, in true Ella style, she couldn't wait to get up on stage and perform! We've been rehearsing at home and she's been rehearsing at school with the rest of her classmates and it all paid off in a great performance tonight.

Ella was Shepherd #1 and had the opening line, "At that time, it was ordered that all must go to their own city to be counted. Mary went with Joseph to Bethlehem." The delivery was superb - clear and loud! Her amazingly wonderful teacher, Mrs. Vogel even made Ella a pink shepherd's costume, which of course, Ella loved.

After the play, the kids enjoyed treats, apple cider, and a whole lot of praise! Way to go Ella.

Ella giving the opening line.
All of the kids singing the final song in the program.
Ella standing tall and proud of her performance.
Having fun at the 'party' afterwards.
Ella's teacher, Mrs. Vogel, told me a few days ago that Ella had memorized all of the lines and actions to the play. So during rehearsals Ella was directing everyone and helping them remember what they were supposed to say and when. That was evident tonight. During the play Ella was still directing her classmates and feeding them their lines. I think she has the potential of becoming a director just as much as an actress!

The Girls...

2010-12-15T18:31:00.003-05:00

(Hanging out at the Dr.'s office)

Lets start with Ella...

Ella wants to marry her best friend Michael. I mean really marry him. That's all she talks about and when he comes over to play, that's what they play. They set up their little house, have a few babies, drive their cars to work, fix things around the house, cook meals, etc. It's funny, but a little strange, don't you think?

Ella LOVES school... and I mean L-O-V-E-S!!! We were supposed to go on a family trip to Ithaca the day after Thanksgiving, but when Ella found out she would be missing ONE day of school she went completely nuts. She literally started sobbing uncontrollably. Ryan and I were so caught off guard that we started laughing. When we asked her why she was crying she said she loooooooved school way too much and didn't want to miss even one single day. We didn't go to Ithaca.

Ella vs. Lella. So, Brooklyn pronounces Ella's name "Lella," and apparently it's starting to bug Ella. Therefore, Ella has been giving Brooklyn pronounciation lessons. So far there's been little improvement.

Ella loves to craft anything and EVERYTHING!! There is so much glue stuck to the craft table I'm not even sure if it will ever come off at this point! She loves bugs! We're raising ants right now and building ladybug playgrounds. She loves worms, too, and currently has a composting bin in the backyard full of them. And, of course, she loves Michael. =-)

On to Little Miss B....

Oh Brooklyn, you are so STUBBORN. We've been potty training now for three weeks, and can I just say, you can hold 'it' for a very long time. We haven't had an accident in over a week now, but I haven't had you volunteer to go potty on your own yet either. Instead, I have to watch for the signs, scoop you up off the floor, carry you to the bathroom and pin you to the potty. All the while you scream, "I don't have to go potty" until 'it' finally comes out. Oh the joys.

The whole issue you have with wearing skirts and/or dresses only is starting to get easier for me. I've just come to accept the fact that you will not let me dress you and that wearing only skirts and/or dresses EVERY SINGLE DAY is just fine. Luckily, you seem to have a pretty good sense of fashion (and apparently you think that I DO NOT). So fine. Wear your dresses and skirts and freeze your little bun buns off.

By the way, I am LOVING your new bangs!!!!! We should have cut them ages ago.

My sweet little Kendall....

Oh how I love you (not that I don't love Ella and Brooklyn, too)!!! Let me count the ways...

1. You're already sleeping through the night... 8pm-7am is working really good for me.

2. You made the transition to your new bedroom and crib a piece of cake for everyone involved (you and me =-)

3. You smile and laugh constantly. No matter which sister is screaming in your ear; no matter who I hand you off to at church so I can teach my lesson; no matter if you're throwing up all over the two of us all day (today)! You're just happy... and you make me really happy!

4. You're so easy to please and you very rarely, if ever, cry.

5. You're cute and pudgy.

6. You don't care that most days you don't make it out of your PJs.

7. You love me even when I'm driving you nuts with all of my kisses and "I love yous." Or, at least you're nice enough not to say anything.

8. You're absolutely adorable when you're sucking your thumb. Never mind the fact that you're going to screw up your teeth like Brooklyn. =-)

9. I love that you talk so much already... I'm sure it's your attempt at keeping up with your sisters. Good luck with that one.

10. I know you're just one of Heavenly Father's tricks to get me to have another baby. If they're all like you, I'll have 10 more. =-)

Busy, busy, busy

2010-12-14T20:54:00.009-05:00

This time of year is crazy! I wish it weren't so I could sit back and enjoy the Christmas music playing on my computer, sip a nice hot cup of cocoa and stare at my strangely-decorated Christmas tree.

Instead, I've been up for hours every night surfing Amazon.com trying to find a gift or two for the girls and hoping Amazon can ship it all in time for me to wrap it and shove it under the tree on Christmas Eve. Plus, we've got goodies to bake, crafts to make, school plays to attend, Christmas parties to dress for, etc.

And don't even get me started on the whole Christmas card nonsense. Yes, we are actually doing one this year, but of course, you probably won't get it until after Christmas since we just ordered it online LAST NIGHT! Ryan even talked me into paying extra for "expedited" delivery since we know you're all just DYING to get our card! Let me warn you... it ain't great.

All this craziness at a time when my focus should be on something very different. I mean, think about the Savior... He was born in a simple little manger, wrapped in cloth, and laying on a bed of hay. Simple! What's even more frustrating is trying to teach my little girls the true meaning of Christmas. I don't think they get it. To them, Christmas is all about Santa, gifts, lights, trees, etc. Will that change as they get older? I hope so.

I've been trying to incorporate more Christ-centered activities into our daily routine this year so I hope that helps, but if anyone else has any suggestions, I'd love to hear how you make this time of year more focused on Christ.

A trip to Sonic Drive In is always crazy when all 5 of us try to eat in the front seat of my Suburban because it's WAY TOO COLD to eat outside.

Let Christmas Begin!

2010-11-27T21:51:00.010-05:00

Christmas is in full swing at our house. It actually started last Friday. After eating our Thanksgiving leftovers, we packed up the handful of Thanksgiving decorations we own and pulled out the three huge 'Christmas'-labeled tupperware from the basement, plus several other boxes of goodies. I love seeing the same things year after year and there are a few things I absolutely love... like my snowman candy jars, my snowman cider server, etc. The girls love to help, too, which means we break a good 15% of our stash every year, but we have so much fun. We turn on the Christmas tunes and get to work.

On Saturday, we loaded the family up in the Suburban and headed out to Jug Hill Christmas Tree Farm where we hitched a ride out to the trees, borrowed a saw and cut down the perfect Christmas tree (according to Ella). We decorated our tree the way the kids wanted it decorated, which means the ornaments are randomly placed on the tree and several home-made craft projects involving blue painters tape and Elmer's white glue usually find their way on it, too. Yes, I have all of those fancy, lovely, expensive Christmas tree ornaments and decor stashed away in those tupperware, but for now, the tree belongs to Ella, Brooklyn and pretty soon Kendall. The tree usually ends up being an interesting "conversation piece."

This year I was on the ball (pat myself on the back) and started our Advent Calendar right on schedule... Wednesday, December 1st. I don't put little gifts, toys and/or candy in the pockets of mine. Instead, I write activities on note cards and stick them in. For example, today was "do something nice for your sister and surprise her." Yesterday it was, "donate one toy to Goodwill." On Thursday it was, "call or write a letter to your favorite cousin." The girls loved calling Abby and Presley (those were interesting conversations!). There are other things like outings to Sonic Drive In and an occasional treasure hunt to find a treat. This seems easier to me than buying a bunch of small little things and surprisingly, the girls are soooo excited to see the days' activity and then do it (even if it requires donating a toy to Goodwill).

So, I guess I'm keeping up with Christmas a little better this year... at least for now. (I guess it is only December 4th). Lets see if I can get those Christmas gifts bought and wrapped before Christmas Eve. Hmmm. I'd better get started right now!

We love going to Jug Hill. Yes that is a police van behind us directing traffic and making a seasonal crosswalk since parking is on one side of the road, and Christmas trees are on the other.

Hitching our ride out to the trees.

Yipee, we found the perfect tree. Not it's time to start sawing.

Kendall is saying, "It's way to freaking cold to be outside today!!"

Kendall got the honors of putting the star on the top of our tree.
Saturday was the annual Yardley Christmas tree lighting and Santa visit at the Olde Afton Library. We walked down to the library, watched Santa ride in on a fire truck and flip the switch on a giant town Christmas tree, then waited in line to sit on his lap. Kendall was even featured in one of the local papers. Such a super star!
Ella was THRILLED to sit with Santa and couldn't wait to tell him that she wanted a computer that plays games and movies. She also made him a craft. So thoughtful.
Brooklyn didn't want anything to do with Santa this year. We'll see what happens next year.
Isn't she the cutest?!

Gobble Gobble

2010-11-27T21:20:00.008-05:00

Thanksgiving came and went far to quickly this year. What a bummer because I love this holiday. I especially love every night at our dinner table when we go around and say one thing we're thankful for that day. The answers start off like, "I'm thankful for mommy." "I'm thankful for daddy." But once the kids have made it through all of our family members they start to get more interesting and creative. I write each person's answer down on little notecards and put them in our advent calendar. It's so much fun to look back on what we said in years past.

This Thanksgiving we were lucky enough to have Layne, Shelley and Connor Asay join us again. My girls absolutely adore these guys because they are super funny and good'ole Connor just plays and plays with them. The poor kid is probably so sore from having my girls climb all over him like he was a jungle gym.

Crazy enough we even had snow for about 30 minutes. That's never happened before, but sure was fun and great for setting the holiday mood!

Oddly enough, I didn't take a single picture, which doesn't surprise me considering I was still wearing my PJs, face not washed, teeth not brushed, hair not combed, and still cooking our feast in the kitchen when Layne, Shelley and Connor arrived. Once all of the food was ready to eat I made everyone wait five minutes so I could go upstairs and at least change my clothes. So, this year I'm thankful for Aunt Shelley and her camera. Thanks for capturing Kendall's first Thanksgiving for me, Shelley!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Sorry we missed all of you in Arizona this year. Looks and sounds like you still had fun without us. =-) I figured you would.

Layne, Shelley, Kendall, me, grumpy Brooklyn, Ella and Connor.
We're laughing because Brooklyn was very upset that we woke her up from her nap. You can see she wasn't up for taking a bunch of pictures.
Thank goodness Ella, Kendall and Connor were.
Little Miss Kendall... sorry I didn't take more pictures of you on your very first Thanksgiving. One day you'll understand.

Three Months Old

2010-11-09T20:49:00.010-05:00

Kendall turned three months old today and she is getting cuter and cuter every day. She is one big bundle of happiness, even when she's starving. (It seems like she's always waiting patiently for her turn with me.) She loves to laugh and smile at anyone and everyone, but particularly Ella and Brooklyn. Kendall just lights up and smiles at the sound of Ella's voice when we pick her up from school every day.

Kendall's eyes are still as blue as can be and her eyelashes, which were nearly invisible at birth are long and dark now. Her hair is still pretty dark, too, but I noticed tonight that it's starting to thin on the back of her head. She's getting more rolls on her arms and legs and is up to the size two diapers already.

Kendall still loves bath time (who doesn't!) and her playmat where she learned to turn over from her stomach to her back last week. Today she tried really hard to roll from her back to her stomach, but she didn't quite make it. I finally got her to sleep in her cradle (as opposed to her floor swing) this week, which is an absolute miracle. Truly! However, if you saw the way she was sleeping in it, you'd probably freak out. I ended up laying my super soft down pillow in the cradle and laying Kendall directly on top of it (on her back, of course). Then, I propped up one end of the cradle with a shoe box so it's on an angle. That's to help with her really stuffy nose. Crazy, I know, but she can't sleep in that swing forever!

Today, Kendall started speaking a new language... all sorts of new sounds, which was so fun and interesting to hear. I'm concerned about what our house is going to sound like when she actually does start talking. There isn't a quite moment in our house... EVER... when Ella and Brooklyn are home. They are usually talking at the same time and non-stop!! I can't imagine a third voice in there in a year or two. (I'll have to ask my grandpa Pomeroy (father to four girls) how he survived the constant noise.)

For now, I'm just enjoying my quite snuggle times with this little girl - they are few and far between and usually happen at around 2 am - but they are absolutely wonderful when they do happen. She is such a blessing and I thank my Heavenly Father for her every night!