Valentines Day 2013

See these two? What a pair! The best of friends and sometimes the worst of enemies. It really is my hope that they'll be close for the rest of their lives. Maybe not always friends, but comfortable and loving toward each other. There is nothing sweeter than the love and support of a sister. 

Above are the heart puppets we made the week leading up to Valentine's Day. Below is what our table looks like OFTEN. Always covered in paper and stickers. My girls love nothing more than to create and Valentine's Day is the perfect holiday for fun paper crafts.

Below is a quick snap shot of the breakfast room set up their Daddy created for his girls. He's loving and thoughtful, everyday, but especially on Valentine's Day. His love for them, makes me love him even more.

Coralee's First Birthday

Coralee shared her first birthday celebration with her Daddy. Our theme was "head bumps" because it's their thing. They give head bumps. Noggin lovin' is another term we use to describe their affection. No matter what you choose to call it, I LOVE it and it melts my heart every time I see them do it. I'm not naive enough to think we're the only family to share this affection, but I thought it was super special that we were able to make it our party theme.

In sticking with tradition, I made Coralee's birthday hat. It's a simple, vintage inspired black and cream design. I found it funny that most of her first birthday matched her Sip-N-See party. Something about Coralee, apart from her name, screams a message from the past. All the beauty I see in things that grow better with age. Happy Birthday my sweet. I love you. And so do all of these beautiful people...

 

 

Children's Christmas Books

I was so excited to start a new Christmas tradition with the girls! Reading one Christmas story every night leading up to Christmas. Here is a sampling of those we read and enjoyed. 

A Firefighter's Night Before Christmas by Kimbra Cutlip
My girls love this book because it says "firefighter." They love all things firefighter, especially Daddy. Any firefighter family would enjoy the humor and holiday spin of this story.

Room for a Little One by Martin Waddell
Beautiful illustrations. Sweet captivating story of hospitality and love. Held Adalyn's (2 yrs old) attention.

The Story of Holly & Ivy by Rumer Godden
This sweet story was a tad too long for one evening, so we broke it up into two readings. Marin enjoyed this magical story about making wishes. It did NOT hold Adalyn's attention. Lovely illustrations.

The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett
A story that causes self examination. Good lesson in kindness.

The First Night by B.G. Hennessy
This simple book held Coralee's (11 month old) attention. Smooth words, paired with pleasant illustrations. 

Hand Print Tree Christmas Cards

This was our Christmas card for 2012 and what FUN we had creating it! One afternoon we skipped naps to make hand print Christmas trees and another afternoon we splattered a canvas in red and green paint taking pictures with reindeer antlers. That canvas hung on the wall of our family room for a week afterward (ha), but it was worth the effort.

Getting a shot of all three girls at once is an almost impossible feat, so we opted for individual shots of them displaying their age in paint covered fingers. Baby Coralee often holds out her pointer finger as a greeting. We call it her "ET Phone Home" and I was really hoping that she would cooperate, but I ended up having to just chose a photo showing just how beautiful she is (grin).

We did have ONE almost winner photo with all three girls. What's even more funny is to imagine the crazy, silly, chaos happening behind the camera to get these beautiful smiles.

Painting or Naps?

I posted this photo on Facebook with the caption "We skipped naps today to paint. I hope I don't regret this decision!" And I can positively say that I don't regret it at all because the adorable tree below was the result of that decision and became the theme for our family Christmas Card. I love the photo above because it captures (beautifully) an average day during the holidays. The girls busy with an activity surrounded by the sparkling glow of Christmas lights. Even Coralee is joining in the fun from her post under the table.

I really dislike nap time as I often feel like a prisoner to the routine. Don't get me wrong, I love the quite time that comes with resting children, but most days the work involved in getting them to nap and the lure of the outside world makes me dread the deed. So, some days we skip. Wish I could say that it always results in inspirational Christmas art, but that's just not reality.

The Tooth Fairy Stage

It's happened. My first born lost her first tooth. I'm having such a hard time dealing with my feelings about this stage.
Excitement for her and for instituting new family traditions
Sadness because she's growing up so fast and I'm worried I'll blink and she'll be finishing college.
Shock that I'm old enough to have a child loosing teeth.
Pressure to come up with the worlds greatest, most fun, meaningful tooth fairy traditions.
Love because I have a sweet little one who is growing into a beautiful little lady who believes wholeheartedly in fairies, princesses and the color pink. 

So, here you have it folks a tiny, magical, pink, glittered letter from the tooth fairy and two gold dollars. Let's hope it sparks her imagination and carries us all down a road full of magical tooth fairy filled years.

Marin's Mermaid Birthday {The Party}

That is the cheesy grin of a girl who had to wait a REALLY long time to celebrate her fifth birthday. She was sick on her actual birthday and we had to postpone her mermaid party. But finally the day came and we picked up balloons, finished making the mermaid clothespin doll party favors and headed to the pool for a splashing good time. 

 How cute are these mermaid tail cupcakes? We cut the tails from sour strips and tucked them into the blue icing. Marin helped and by the time we were finished our fingers were sticky and our tummies ached.

First View of the Ocean

Ocean, meet Adalyn. Adalyn, the ocean.
See that face? It's amazing how the excitement of a child can change everything. I've never been much of a beach person, but after our trip this summer, I'm changed. We spent countless hours on the beach, and we had to tear ourselves away when the sun began to set. We couldn't have asked for a better first experience. We had such a wonderful, fun filled time. The girls LOVED the beach and we all talk about the fun we had. I'm thinking this will be a summer family tradition.

Our Summer

This summer we...

 shopped for plants for our new patio flower bed.

took swimming lessons

 had an accident with the toy broom and enthusiastic playing that resulted in very little sleep for mommy, lots of guilty regrets, a trip to Urgent Doc and scar on baby A's eyebrow.

Lots of baking dates between mommy and the girls.

Upgraded A to a forward facing car seat.

Grinned and cried when Adalyn's curls were trimmed off during her first haircut.

Learned to sit up AND crawl.

Took multiple trips to "our zoo" (as Marin calls it). 

Attended vacation bible school at church and dressed up as sword wielding warriors.

Started solids. (sort of)

painted our fingernails (Marin's "Now that I'm five can I..." request)

Got SUPER excited about our new Kindergarten curriculum every time something new arrived in the mail.

Plus a family trip to the beach and many lovely, days with family and friends. Looking back we had such a wonderful summer, but I'm looking forward to fall and the cool weather that comes with it.