Snow Day!!

So last Thursday night Bella and I packed up all of her goody bags for her class to celebrate her birthday. (They don't allow treats anymore :( )  She was SO excited to have me coming in to class and celebrating with her friends.  

Friday morning at 5:30am we got a call from school saying it was CANCELLED!  We got 7 inches of snow through the night.  Which isn't all that much for around here but maybe it was the timing of the snow???  So we didn't bother waking the kids but of course Bella comes running in at 7 so excited for her day.  The hubs says, "Bella guess what it snowed!!  And you got a snow day today so there's no school!"  She just about burst into tears.  She was SO upset.  The hubs tried to appeal to her love of snow but through tears she cries, "But I love school!!"  I will be showing her this post when she's 16 and won't get up. :)  I assured her they would celebrate and I could still come to school Monday and she was able to calm down.  Later she made a snowman and all drama was forgotten!! :)

And now we have a beautiful winter wonderland to enjoy!

18 Months, really!?

I'm not even going to say it.

But I know you guys know what I'm thinking.

Baby Brooklyn is 18 months (Feb.23).

A little about Baby #3:

She is a terrible eater, but a great snacker.

I think if I put anything in a snack trap she would eat it, but sit her down at the table for a meal?  It's like pulling teeth.

Just this week we got her to have some chicken and hamburger.  Typically she won't touch meat with a 50 foot poll.  She eats most fruit and veggies are a hit or miss.  She'll love something one day and won't touch it the next, so I just never know what she'll eat.  I think she just likes variety so rebels a bit when I give her something the same, which is totally my thing. :)

She has become quite the snuggler lately.  She LOVES giving kisses and is quite hilarious with them, she gives them through her paci and all.

She is OBSESSED with shoes.  She is constantly asking us to put, any pair she finds, on.  "Momma, sue, sue, sue."

She is at maybe one of the most fun ages.  She is starting to listen to us a little more.  Thankfully, if we say no now, or give, or put down she has finally started to obey. We're still working on the the come here or stay here command.  Those probably aren't happening any time soon. :) And her personality is coming alive.  Another favorite of hers is to throw things away. Ha!  She loves being handed garbage and asked to throw it away.  What a helper!

She still isn't the biggest fan of being changed but its definitely getting to be less and less of a wrestling match.

She loves bath time with her sisters.  I just love listening to her belly laugh at their shinanigans in there.  She also is very good about getting out of the bath now. :)

She LOVED the little bit of snow we got this year.

She definitely hates being left out of what her sisters are doing.  The other night the big girls were on top of each other in opposite directions, pulling themselves across the kitchen floor.  Next thing I knew Brooklyn was climbing on top of them to be included, ha!

When the hubs took the big girls to the Father/Daughter dance a couple of weeks ago she cried for 10 minutes when they left. :(

She has become a lover of her paci. :(

We make her put her paci "night, night" when she gets up from bedtime and nap.  But recently she has taken to sneaking up to her room and getting her paci. I've heard 18 months is the ideal take away age but now that its here it makes me SO sad (and nervous).  She just looks so precious and snuggly when she has it and it brings such comfort.  SO pray for us as we attempt this transition soon.

She is OBSESSED with her blankie and babies as well.  She is constantly asking me to wrap her babies in blankets.
Her stats are: 22 lbs-the 25th%tile. and 30 inches-the 10th%tile.  Definitely a Domier! :)

She talking more and more, and we're catching more words every day.

I wish I could describe her personality to you.  She really is quite a ham.  Loves to laugh or make you laugh.  She's sweet and snuggly.  Constantly into everything and on the move.  She likes to test the boundaries but I believe she likes to please too. :)

She has four teeth on top in front and almost 3 on the bottom and I just noticed a molar on top starting to make its way through!

She sleeps 7:30-7:30/8 and naps from 1-3:30/4.

She still has the most adorable mullet, but it is tamed with sweet pigtails most days. :)

We love you baby girl 

and are just eating up your sweetness these days 

and cherishing every minute!!!

Brooklyn Blythe

18 months

A Love of Reading....

As a former teacher I have always hoped my girls would love reading.

I was so thankful that the big girls took to reading right away.

Bella just loves her new ability of reading on her own and she gets better and better each day.

Her favorites right now that she can read are Biscuit books.

Even more than Bella, Brynn has ALWAYS loved reading.  She can sit and look at books for hours.  I remember in the hours that Bella would be at preschool I would OFTEN find her in her, or her sister's, bed just looking through books.

She has picked up books' patterns way sooner than her sister.  She can often be found guessing at a word in a book a smidge sooner than her big sister.  I'm sure reading on her own is not too far in the future.

Now Miss Brooklyn has had me worried.  

She NEVER lets me read to her!!  Since she was an infant I've tried reading with her whenever I can and she rips the book right out of my hand and turns the pages so I can't read.

I was so worried she'd never let us read to her.

The funny thing is she LOVES books.

She is constantly taking them out, looking through them, handing them to us.

But she would never let us read them.

So about 2-3 weeks ago I notice her actually sitting a little longer, while I quickly got a couple of pages read.

And then the hubs told me he read a WHOLE book to her one night and even snuggled for a bit (another miracle in its self).

Can't tell you how happy it makes my heart to have them enjoy reading.

Hoping and praying it lasts a life time! :)

 So fun that she has also become such a snuggler lately.  Look at that face, just screams trouble. :)  

But she sure is adorable!!

Birthday #2!

The day after Valentine's Day brings a very special birthday.

Our second birthday of February.  Miss Brynnie Boo's!!! 

Bryanna Karina is 4 years old now.  

Unfortunately, her birthday was the day I started coming down with my illness that I've been struggling with.  So her actual birthday was pretty low key.  One of our traditions is breakfast in bed with whatever cereal you choose.  Her choice was Lucky Charms.  Sadly, that morning we had Bella's conference at school at 7:30am, so she didn't get to eat it in bed but she gladly gobbled up her LC when we got home.  Daddy takes the girls on dates for their birthdays.  Brynnie wanted Potbelly's but only because she wanted a shake, so he suggested McDonalds but said he'd also get her a shake.  She happily agreed!

Headed out for her date!

Sharing their shake.  Love this pic!

 The next day, despite waking up with no voice, I was determined to celebrate this little one's birthday with her at school!  She was so excited.

Coloring her birthday poster with her friends Kacy and Anna (both sweet little red heads :) ).

 I brought and helped the class make these as little party favors, they seemed to enjoy it. :)  And Brynn picked frosted strawberry Poptarts as her birthday snack.

 After her classmates sung to her, she picked out her birthday gift.

 After school, we went to pick up Bella and Brooklyn at our friends' Kaitlyn and Alyssa's house.  Miss Cheryl made us a delicious lunch and made each of us individual cookie heart cakes, so Miss Brynn got sung to again.

 I never really got a picture of it but I also made her her shirt, it has a big 4 on it. :)

 Miss Cheryl even sent us home with a giant heart cookie cake to have later.  She's too good to us!!

After nap/rest time the girls ended the day with gymnastics.

Brynnie watching her buddy Anderson play his video games.

Brynnie's buddies each made her a card for her birthday, she was VERY excited to receive them!

We had a wonderful 2 days of celebrating our special middle baby.

Happy Birthday Brynn,

we love you!!

 Funny thing is when I ask her how old she is she says 3 1/2.  I told her, you're 4 now and she says no momma not till all my friends come.  So she'll be turning 4 next Saturday officially. :)

Valentine's Day

  We had a low key Valentine's Day around here.  The girls and I woke up to a very sweet surprise.

   

A card and flower(s) for each of his four girls.  I know he never imagined he'd have 4 girls to swoon, but he does such a wonderful job keeping all his ladies happy. :)  We love you babe!  I wanted to get him a little something too but with no budget for anything really, I made him this:

I have been erasing and writing something new each day or so. :)

(if you're wondering about what I wrote, one of my pets peeves is right after I do laundry something always ends up in the basket seconds later.  I'd just like a day, an hour, of empty baskets.  So the hubs has taken to hiding his laundry a couple of days after I do laundry, but of course I notice.  Love him!)

That night the Hub's came home with heart shaped pizza for dinner, how adorable is that!?  It was a perfect, low key Valentine's Day with my love and our three little sweeties!

Anyone for a little Extreme Trampoline?!

So February 9th I planned a little birthday outing for my hubster.  His birthday fell on the Super Bowl this year so we celebrated as a family the night before and as a group a little after.  I kept wanting to do something different for him and this Groupon landed in my inbox about a month earlier for Extreme Trampoline.  When I saw the picture I thought it looked like a total blast!

So he requested dinner at Tom and Eddie's a new burger joint in town.  It was quite delicious!  

After our tummies were completely full we headed to Extreme Trampoline (not the brightest idea).  I had told the hubs nothing about what we were doing so he was quite surprised when we arrived. :)  Love it!  

So they make you sign your life away in a form and then have you watch a short informational video.  Basically in the video it assures you, you will get hurt. JK.  Here's the sign before you enter the gym. Ha!

Watching our video!

Anyway, at first we felt pretty ancient since there were only teenagers there but quickly we got over it and had a blast of a night.  At one point the teenagers asked to play us in dodge ball.  I refused but the rest of group agreed.  First game they KICKED our butts, the second game we won but I'm pretty sure they let us, which was very nice of them. :)

Here's the gym, they have 3 of these sections (pictured below) separated by age groups, they have two dodge ball courts, and 3 trampolines that go into a giant foam pit!

It was such a fun night, I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.  And I didn't even hurt the next day, so I was all proud.  Oh but then the next day, I could barely move, the hubs and I were SOOO sore!!  So fun to try something new and to celebrate another year with my wonderful hubby!

The hubs and I showing off our mad skills. :)

I have to say I took a way better picture, he took mine too soon, wasn't all the way up yet.  I swear I can straddle jump better than him, right?!

Happy Birthday Babe, I love you!!!

And thanks to our friends for being adventurous with us and celebrating the hub's birthday!

A Birthday Surprise!

Oh my.  I have been SO sick.  I don't get sick very often and when I do, its usually a day tops.  Well I have been out of commission since last Wednesday night.  In the meantime time and things I need to do are flying by me!!  So once again catch up time! :)
So we were going back and forth about what to get the girls for their upcoming birthdays.  We knew the friends and grandparents would probably have clothes and toys covered, so we were trying to think of something different.  For the last couple of months I swear every other commercial on their TV channel was for Disney on Ice's Dare to Dream show.  I thought it would be perfect and they of course begged to go every time we saw it.  In previous years, Brynn was still 2 or under and I just didn't think it was worth the price.  But now with them both a little older and the fact it fell right around their birthday, we thought it would be a perfect gift.  And our friends the Levins happen to be going too, so we all went together!

The girls were in HEAVEN.

Neither one took their eyes off of the show. And they enjoyed every moment, Rapunzel the most of course.  They put on a spectacular show.  If your kids are old enough, its definitely worth the cost.  It really was amazingly done.

Here's the girls' reaction to the news we were taking them!

Grabbing our royal lunch beforehand.  I know, Subway, very royal. :)

The princesses.

I think Bella was like this the ENTIRE show.

Brynn too, but at one point she came to snuggle on my lap. :)

Such a fun bday gift and one they still talk about to this day!

Here's a little video of Rapunzel and Flynn FLYING through the air on her "hair," video does not do it justice, it was pretty incredible.

Cough, cough.....

So feeling a bit under the weather right now.

Lots to catch up on,

but no energy to do so.

I'll catch up soon though,

until then.....

My Precious Birthday Girl! :)

Need Some Yummy Recipes?

Sorry kinda out of order here, but the Sunday after we celebrated the Hub's birthday was Super Bowl Sunday.  For probably the last, oh.... 13 years we've been going to one our besties' Super Bowl party, so this year was no exception!  We only needed to bring an appetizer or dessert but I came across 3 recipes that I thought people might really enjoy, so I got a little ambitious and made all 3. :)

Thought I'd share the recipes in case anyone else wanted to enjoy!

Instead of the hub's traditional Angel food cake for his b-day I made these, and they were a hit!

Nutella Cupcakes with Nutella Buttercream Frosting

I got the recipe from Jenna's Journey's blog.  You can see it here.  She frosted much prettier than I did, but hey I'm new at this! :)

Sin Dip

Next recipe I also got at Jenna's Journey right here.

Also a hit with the group.  I used a Panera Niche to hold it in and dip in to it.

Red Velvet Cheese Ball served with Nilla Wafers

Last but certainly not least, actually probably the biggest hit of them all.  And the plus, it's SUPER easy!

Recipe is right here.

Perfect for Valentines day! :)

Ha!  Sadly I didn't get any pictures of the us or the party goers.  Oops!  Had a great time as usual though!