Daddy/Daughter Dance-Valentines 2009

Tonight is the annual Daddy/Daughter Dance at our church. It's a chance for all the daddies and their princesses to spend some one on one time together, and of course, it's a chance for the princesses to get dressed up. Our girls have been looking forward to their date night with Daddy and they began the night by picking out their dresses, shoes, tights, hair bows and accessories (princess wands, necklaces, rings, etc). And don't forget the sparkles, there are sparkles all over their faces and necks. Daddy got all decked out in a shirt and tie and he looked dashing! He transformed himself into the royal carriage's coachman and our van into the royal carriage. He whisked the princesses away to the ball and they should be dancing as I type. Finn and I had some mother/son bonding and he is now drifting away to sleep, so I get a few precious moments alone to write you all!! Happy Valentines Day!!

Happy New Year 2009

Never a dull moment at our house :)

Ainslie's 3rd Birthday!

Ainslie turned three years old yesterday, January 13th, and she is so excited because she now thinks she is old enough to ride roller coasters. Each visit to Sea World has brought the question, "Can I ride the roller coaster?" We answered, "When you're older." Our mistake! She knows she's older now and so she must be able to ride the coasters. Ahhh, toddlers!! Always keeping us on our toes.

We celebrated her birthday on Saturday at Incredible Pizza where we ate pizza, cake and played lots and lots of games. Uncle Gary and Aunt Elizabeth as well as David, Michelle, Bailey and Brandee joined us for a fun day. We stayed about 5 hours and when we finally emerged we half expected it to be night time...apparently we tuckered out the kiddos as you'll see in the last pic.

The night before her actual birthday we tucked the kids in bed and waited awhile until we thought they were asleep. I started decorating the house with streamers and balloons and out pokes Maisie, wide awake and asking to help. We hung a happy birthday banner and decorated Ainslie's door. Finally, off to bed. I woke that night with Ainslie crying, asking for Daddy. Daddy went in and brought her into bed with us (3:30am) along with two toys and a book that she had in her hand. She couldn't sleep and was still awake a 4am when I caught her trying to sneak out of our bed. You see, she had seen the decorations and wanted to check them out. I corralled her and settled back down. At 4:30 I was awakened to a strange sound. I went out in the hallway and found Ainslie playing on her new push-scooter which we had left outside her door for her to find in the MORNING when she woke up. She had also discovered the bag attached to the front of the scooter where Craig had hidden some candy. She was eating candy and riding her scooter at 4:30am! Anyway, back to bed again and she finally fell asleep close to 5am. Back up at 6am for a school day!!! We were off to school, where I pinned a ribbon on her that said, "Kiss Me It's My Birthday!" She delivered the cookie pops that we had baked to her classmates and they sang her Happy Birthday. The day ended with all of the family together celebrating our sweet little Ainslie!

Dec. 26th, Happy Birthday Finn!

Finn's 1st birthday was today. I can hardly believe it has been a year since he was born. He is growing so fast and each day brings many new 'firsts.' This week he began clapping his hands, actually clapping with open hands and making the noise. I have been so eager for him to do that and now he claps at everything, and it's really cute!! He stood up on his own, from a seated position, for the first time yesterday. He is so proud of himself that he wants to do it all the time now. He is really enjoying this newfound freedom, and of course, learning all about falling too! His vocab is increasing and we swear he is saying "Elmo." He points at what he wants now and says "Mo" (more) and as clear as day says Mama when he wants me. We are really working on "Dada" now as we can't let him say Elmo before he says Dada!!

Today he ate a smidgen of cake, opened his presents and we took him downtown S.A. We ate dinner on the Riverwalk (did I mention it's 81 degrees here today?), took some pics with the river and Christmas lights as background and enjoyed all the signts. He had a wonderful first birthday and we look forward to tomorrow's 'firsts' and all those to follow!! Happy Birthday Bud (as Ainslie says). We love you Finn!!

More...

More Christmas

I can only post 5 pics per post, so here's another so I can post some more...

Fa la la la la.....

Christmas Day; what a blast!! Seeing this day through the eyes of my children was incredible. We woke at 6:30 am and the girls, Craig and I headed downstairs (Finn was still sleeping after eating at 5:30 and heading back for some zzzz's). The girls got downstairs and instantly went to their stockings. They were so excited to see that Santa had come. They went and checked out the plate of cookies and milk and saw the leftover crumbs and empty cup. "Mama, Santa ate the cookies!" What wonder!!

Christmas Eve night we went to church together and the kids got to sit in 'big kids' church' with us. It was great. After we got home, we decided to gather around our advent wreaths and light the last, Christmas Eve candle. We did, said our prayer and then the girls' got to blow out the candles. Well,,,,,Maisie leaned over to blow hers out and she leaned too far. Her hair touched the flame and lit on fire. She got so scared (and I screamed) that she flipped her head back and her hair flew over across her face and lit the other side on fire. I put it out with my fingers and I almost burst out laughing. She was fine, of course, but a little scared. Craig and I almost couldn't contain our laughter, because we could NOT believe that had just happended. Maybe you're thinking, that's not funny. But it was, poor thing. Anyway, we relit the candles and showed her how to blow them out without standing directly over them. Christmas Eve was almost a disaster:)

Back to Christmas: we opened presents for hours. It was great. The kids would open a present and then want us to open it so they could play with it. They couldn't understand why, at some point, we said let's just finish opening and then you can play. I hope our kids never lose that desire to enjoy each gift as they receive it.

Anyway, it was a long, lazy, relaxing day spent in our pj's. The girls' and I baked a birthday cake for Jesus and Daddy spent many hours taking items out of boxes, putting things together and taking the girls' out for a spin on their new scooter (Maisie) and big girl bike (Ainslie). Finn loved crawling all over the place and playing with toys, boxes, ribbons, wrapping paper, etc. The kids' fell into bed that night; happy and tired!!

(The pictures are: Christmas Eve family photo taken at church, Girls and I outside sprinkling 'reindeer food' & glitter for the reindeer to see our home, all 5 stockings, Maisie/Ainslie holding milk and cookies for Santa, Maisie as she first sees her stocking on Christmas morning)

Merry Christmas!