Thomas and Austin

Lizzy was pretty excited about carving "punkins" as she calls them. Right now she is going through a phase where she asks what people's names are, and also inanimate objects as well. She asked me when we got the pumpkins what their names were. I told her that they didn't have a name and we needed to name them, so I kept saying names and asking if that was his name, each time it was "no that is not his name", until I came to Thomas for her pumpkin and she said "Yeah that is his name." The same thing for Nellie's pumpkin until I got to Austin. So we named our pumpkins Thomas and Austin.

The girls really enjoyed pulling out all the seeds and the squishy stuff.

Nellie loved being able to be up on the table hanging out and was very interested in what is inside the pumpkins.

Nellie was so cute. She has started saying "Cheese" when she sees a camera and smiling really big.

Lizzy thought it was pretty neat to see the pumpkins all lit up.

A Cinderella Party!!

Friday was Lizzy's 3rd birthday, which of course she has been looking forward to for about 6 months now. I threw her a Cinderella party of course, all though for a short time she wanted a Strawberry Shortcake party. She eventually came back to Cinderella which I always knew would happen.

I made her a Cinderella cake which took me about three hours to decorate. (I know I can't believe I spent that long on a cake either, but I am a perfectionist and the cake was really, really hard to do.) Plus I didn't want her to look like Cinderella's ugly stepsister, which I was afraid of because I am really not the greatest cake decorator. It turned out pretty good as long as you don't look at the picture of what it is really supposed to look like.Any way it was worth it because she loved it, even though by the time it was time for cake and ice cream she was so overstimulated she wasn't interested in eating it. I like how she had to hold her magic wand in one hand and her doll in the other while she blew out her candles. Nellie didn't have a hard time eating the cake however, she devoured her piece and started squealing for more. Lizzy loved all of her presents, She got a Princess Sleeping bag/air mattress in one. (she has been sleeping on it every night since.) She got a Cinderella Dress-up dress from Grammie and Poppie , and a shirt, socks and plate, bowl and cup (all princess of course)from Grandma and Grandpa. Our friends the McCall's gave her some My little ponies which she also loves. She definitely made out like a bandit. It turned out to be a great birthday for her.
It was so cute every time I would say "Happy Birthday Lizzy" she would say "Happy birthday Mommy" very sincerely. I am just glad that I am done making that cake and I don't have to make another for about 9 more months.

Three Whole Years!

I can't believe my Lizzy is three. It literally seems like yesterday that I got to hold her for the first time and knew my life was never going to be the same. I have had the best time being her Mom. She was one of those babies that came here smiling. She really was smiling from the time she was a week old. I think because she is the happiest person I know. She is so completely full of life and fun. She always has a smile on her face and a hug to give someone. She is just the sweetest little girl. She is so concerned about others. If she does something wrong she always tells me "Mama I am so sorry." She is always giving compliments and tells us how much she loves us. She loves to sing and knows too many songs to count, and can be found singing all day long. She loves her sister and her Daddy so much. She loves to discover the world around her, and I think that is why she is so mischievous, she just loves life and everything in it. Everyday I feel so lucky to have been blessed with such a sweet and special girl. I love you Lizzy Lou!! Happy third birthday!

Smarshmellows

Kevin was at Presidency meeting and I really needed the girls out of my hair while I cleaned up dinner so I gave them each a bag of "smarshmellows" as Lizzy calls them. Nellie thought it was the neatest thing ever that she got her very own bag, and they both decided that eating them under the table was the very best place to eat them. I love these little gals!

A few more pictures

Nellie trying on her Minnie ears. She is such a little doll

Eating at Knott's, Nellie was so tired but she still enjoyed eating her mashed potatoes.

When we left Universal, we stopped at the Dodger's Store and Kevin got himself a jacket he really wanted and couldn't resist getting Lizzy a pink Dodger's hat. She looks so cute wearing it.

Universal Studios

Friday we went to Universal Studios. We decided that next year 3 days of amusement parks is enough. It was really hard to get the girls up early to go. They were so grumpy and tired from going non-stop the last three days. The other thing was Universal is more for older people and not for little kids so it was hard to keep them really entertained. We decided to head back to the hotel pretty early and it was a good thing too because we ended up being in traffic for almost two hours with two crying kids the whole time. Man was that fun. We did have fun though, Nellie loved meeting the dog Morgan who plays a lot of parts in T.V. It looks like she is scared here, but she is actually squealing in delight. She wanted to squeeze the dog and we had to keep holding her hands back.

Lizzy was very excited to see Dora. She has liked Dora forever, and although she is into princesses more she still likes Dora a lot.

Yes, she likes Sponge Bob no matter what I do. I don't even know how she got introduced to the show, but somehow she did. I just try to dissuade her from it.

We finally got a picture of just us without the kids. The first one in years.

Knott's Berry Farm

On Thursday we went to Knott's Berry Farm. It was really nice because there was nobody there and we walked onto every ride. Nellie was in hog heaven when she saw Snoopy. She is obsessed with dogs right now and whenever she sees one she starts woofing. She went right up Snoopy and tried to hug and squeeze him. She could have stayed there all day. The kids had a lot of fun because there was no waiting around just lots of rides. We went to the Chicken Dinner restaurant that night at Knott's, the food was good, but by that time the kids were so tired that dinner was pretty miserable, they just needed to get back to the hotel and get to bed. They were majorly sleep deprived on this trip.

Notice Nellie still hanging onto Snoopy, she really liked him.

Lizzy had a lot of fun hanging with her cousins Carson and Conner.

One of Nellie's favorites. She got on that tramp and kept getting up and trying to jump. A bigger kid would make her fall but she would just laugh and get back up. It was probably her favorite ride. I think because she got to do what she wanted to do.

Nellie had fun riding the big trucks.

Lizzy and Brinlee on the airplanes. They had fun being in control.

Disneyland

We spent Tuesday and Wednesday at Disneyland and California Adventure. The first day we spent the entire day at Disneyland trying to fit in everything. Of course we didn't so we had to go back the next day and see the princesses (the absolute most important thing.) Before everyone thinks I am one of those crazy moms who pushed the Disney princess thing on my child I will set the record straight. I didn't. I actually thought it was annoying when other little girls were so obsessed with princesses and I tried to keep Lizzy from becoming one of those little girls. But she discovered them on her own and I decided that I needed to just let it go and let her like what she likes. I can't believe how much fun Kevy and I had watching the girls and the excitement they had about things. I have never had that much fun at an amusement park. Lizzy loved all of the rides, especially Pirates (she sings Yo Ho Yo Ho, a pirates life for me, all the time now.) and Small World, which she of course sings all the time too. She really loved going and singing with the princesses and dancing with them. It was so funny because after the princesses left the stage she tried to follow Cinderella off, because "I need to see Cinderella and go to the ball" They have a line where you can stand and get to meet three of the princesses and take your picture with them, the thing that stinks is that you don't know which ones it will be, and you could get stuck with Pocahontas Mulan and Jasmine. No offense to them, but these are not the princesses Lizzy wanted to see. Well Kevy being the good Dad he is went and stood in line for over an hour for us so we wouldn't have to, so Lizzy could meet the princesses. Lizzy got to meet Mulan, Belle and Sleeping Beauty. She loved it, but when she got to Sleeping Beauty she said to her, "Where is Cinderella, I want to meet Cinderella." The poor girl playing Sleeping Beauty didn't know what to say.Lizzy got a new dolly so she was good to go for pretty much the whole day.

Nellie really seems to love the princesses don't you think?

Princess Lizzy sitting on her throne. We don't have any pictures of her with the princesses because our camera broke that day,so now if we want pictures we have to order the ones online that cost an arm and a leg.

Nellie with her bag of popcorn. She carried that thing all over with her. She loves popcorn. I tried to get a better picture but this was the last one before our camera broke. Good thing we brought our old camera with us, so we could take pictures the rest of the trip.

The girls were very into their fruit bowl I got them. That is the thing I hate about eating out all the time on vacation. It is hard to get the girls to eat all the good food we normally eat.

Nellie and her cousin Conner at Mickeys house chillin'

Lizzy and Carson making a wish in Minnie's well

Polishing McQueen.

All the older cousins.

The Beach

Last week we went on a trip with Kevin's family. We flew in on Monday to L.A. and went to the beach straight from the airport. The girls loved it. Lizzy couldn't believe how much more sand there was than in her sandbox. Nellie loved the water and even though it was freezing she wanted to go running straight into the waves. I had to be holding onto her all the time because the minute I would let go she would go straight for the water. She also loved the birds. She chased them laughing and squealing like crazy. I love it when the girls experience something for the first time, seeing the excitement and enthusiasm that they have for it is the one of my favorite things about being a mom.

State Fair

A few weeks back we took the girls down to the Kansas State Fair. We left Friday afternoon and stayed the night in Wichita in a really nice hotel or ootel as Lizzy calls them. She loves staying in hotels now. Everywhere we went that day she would tell people that she was going to a ootel that night. Thank goodness she isn't like she used to be when it comes to staying in hotels. When she was about 18 months the thought of having to stay in a hotel sounded worse than a root canal, becuase she was so horrible when it came to going to sleep. She would scream bloody murder for an hour or more. This time they were both really good at the hotel and went right to sleep when it was bedtime.

The next day was pretty cool, but that was better than burning hot. The girls loooved the animals. There was a petting zoo where we got to feed the animals and Lizzy was brave enough to let them eat out of her hand. Nellie didn't say much but for her that meant she was having a really good time. We went to some pig races that Lizzy loved, they were playing songs before it started and Lizzy just started singing along and clapping with the beat. She is so cute, she loves to sing more than anyone I have ever seen. Lizzy got to ride a pony again, and we had lots of food. It is getting really fun taking the girls places now because they are both getting so big and understand things so much more. It makes me so excited for the holidays. the girls playing around in the hotel room

Daddy and his girls. I love seeing Kevy and the girls together. He is so sweet with them.

Lizzy enjoying her popcorn. I couldn't get her to try the cotton candy, she thought it was too weird.

Nellie loved it, but it took some time. Everytime I would try to give her some and it would touch her lips she would turn her head away. But then she saw me eating it and decided she wanted to try it, so I would give her some and she would turn her head away again. This went on for a few minutes before I was finally able to get her to put it in her mouth and after that she couldn't get enough of it.