Happy Birthday Daddy

Love,
 all your girls

Happy 2nd Birthday Annie

Annie's Cookie Monster 2nd Birthday Party was a huge success.  She had so much fun eating hot dogs, watermelon, and her cookie cake.

Playing outside in the dark was so much fun too.  The 60 degree weather made it seem more like a summer birthday party, than a party on Dec. 1st.

Annie enjoyed opening her presents too, but didn't understand why she had to keep opening them.  Her first gift was books and all she wanted was for someone to read them to her.

Happy 2nd Birthday Nee Nee!

Christmas Card Photo Take 1

This photo makes me laugh so much!

Each year on Thanksgiving we attempt to take a family photo for our Christmas card.    Even though this photo didn't make the cut, it does a great job of showcasing the girls' personalities.  Lauren - calm and patient, Annie - doesn't hesitate to let us know how she feels, Caroline - so happy and loves her hands.  I guess Annie had had enough by the time Aunt Stephie took this photo.

Trip to the Zoo

What to do on a 65 degree Sunday in November?  Why, take the family to the zoo of course!

Riding on the carousal is always our first stop.  

Annie's old enough to ride by herself now.  She really wanted to ride on the flamingo, but didn't get there soon enough.

Heading to go visit the polar bear, Lauren's favorite animal.

After studying the farm at preschool, Lauren wanted to be a cow.

"Boo," Annie's way of saying moo. 

Happy 3 Month Birthday Caroline!

We are so blessed to have such a smiley, content little baby!

Dr. Siegel was very pleased with Caroline's growth, ability to hold up her head, and social interactions at her 3 month check-up.  To top things off she barely made a peep when receiving her Polio shot.  We are still working on convincing Caroline that it's ok to sleep longer than 6 hours at night though.  Her happy and easy going nature during the daytime makes the waking at night much easier to handle.

We love our little Carebear!

Election 2012

Here's how our life has changed during the past 4 years...

Lauren 4 years ago after voting with Mommy.  She was about 6 weeks old in this photo.

All 3 girls voting with Mommy.
Lauren (4), Annie (almost 2), Caroline (3 months)
It was a chilly morning, but we enjoyed our walk over to the local elementary school to vote.

A daddy daughter date at Congressman Dold's victory rally.
Geoff even had a map and a red and blue crayon so Lauren could color in the states as the Presidential results came in.  Oh and Lauren picked out her entire outfit without any help from either one of us.


Not sure what the results will be as I post this entry.  Ironically though, I feel as tired watching these results come in as I did 4 years ago and will probably fall asleep before the final results just like 4 years ago.  I guess little babies just do that to you.  One thing I do know though is I wouldn't change a thing about the way my life has changed.  :)  

Halloween 2012

Carving Pumpkins with Daddy.  If you look closely I think Caroline is smiling at Annie.  Not only did we carve pumpkins, but we had a dance party and I made homemade BBQ sandwiches for dinner.  

Finished products!  Annie's pumpkin is on the left and Lauren's on the right.  Don't you love all the stickers on the side of Lauren's pumpkin?

Halloween morning

Quick photo before the "big" girls went to school.

What a happy little ladybug!

Ariel, a sleeping ladybug, and a roaring tiger

Our welcoming doorstep 

Our Little Pumpkins

Fall Fun

Last Saturday's cool, rainy weather gave Caroline and me an excuse to watch football together while Lauren and Annie napped.  Michigan's win made everyone in our house happy.  

Checking out the trains at the Botanic Gardens.  If you look closely you can see that all three girls had their pumpkin hats on.  Wonder where Geoff's pumpkin hat was?

When my sister, cousins, and I were little my grandma used to make "leaf roads" for us and then let us ride our bikes through the grass and along the "roads."  That's just what I did for Lauren and Annie today.  What great memories it brought back, especially on such a gorgeous day.

Annie tried on her Halloween costume before we went outside and didn't want to take it off!  I figured it would keep her warm enough, so why not let her keep it on.

This might be my favorite photo of the day.  Looks like we had a bit of a traffic backup on the "leaf roads."  If you look closely at Annie, you can see her hands are turned up and she is looking at Lauren like, "what's the problem here?"

Before we went inside for lunch we got the parachute out and enjoyed running under it, throwing leaves on top, and of course lots of fast moving rides around the yard courtesy of Mommy.

P.S.  Caroline was outside with us too, but because she was in the Baby Bjorn I couldn't take any photos of her.  The fresh air, sunny skies, and cozying up to Mommy made her a happy camper.

Lauren's Party

Lauren wanted a princess themed party, but made sure to tell us Ariel is her favorite princess.    

Our friend Sara was not only kind enough to come all the way here with her three girls for Lauren's party, but she brought her bounce house as well.  Annie LOVED jumping in it!

All the little girls were so excited when Princess Ariel arrived at the party.

Dancing with Ariel

Listening so attentively to Princess Ariel's story.

Group photo with most of the little ones.  Big surprise, Annie was no where to be found when it came to picture time.

Princess Ariel with the birthday girl

What's a princess party without decorating crowns?

Lauren's fourth birthday party was not only a birthday party, but a house warming and tailgate party as well.  We figured why not throw one big party and what a wonderful time it was!  So many family members traveled via plane from Florida or drove through snow (no, I'm not kidding) from Michigan to celebrate with us.   Thanks to all our friends who came and brought their kids to play too.   It was great visiting and catching up with everyone.

Happy 4th Birthday, Lauren!  You are so blessed to have so many people who love you.

Lauren's 4th Birthday

Last Friday Lauren turned 4 and we had a small celebration as a family before her huge party Saturday.  She selected this colorful cupcake from a local bakery.

Grandpa couldn't be here to celebrate with us so he came a few weeks early and gave Lauren this bird feeder for our front window.  We are still waiting for the birds to find it.  I bet the cooler weather will speed up that process. 

Lauren asked for a waffle with jelly and a peanut butter candle for breakfast.

Lauren and Annie at a local art studio.  Geoff took the day off and we spent the day making art projects, going out to lunch, preparing for Lauren's party, and watching The Little Mermaid.

Using sparkle paint.

Patiently waiting to open her presents.

Looks like the Pinkalicious and Fancy Nancy books were a hit.

Although I wasn't excited about the rain on the morning of Lauren's party, she was thrilled to have a chance to try her new rain boots and umbrella.

Stripes

Apparently stripes are the way to go these days...

Jeweled Acorns

Thanks to Mammie for this great craft idea!

Step 1 - Collect acorn caps while enjoying a wonderful fall walk.

Step 2 - Color the inside of the acorn caps.

Step 2 continued - Be sure to use a variety of colors, but only one color per acorn cap.

Step 3 - Ignore the marker all over your face and hands while pushing the acorn caps into Play Doh.

Step 4 - Squeeze Elmer's glue into the caps and watch the colors start to spread.

Step 5 - Throughout the next few days, watch as the acorns become jewels.  Then you can use these jewels to play matching games or even stack them.

Step 6 - Check on your baby sister.  Looks like tummy time turned into nap time!