Elle's Half-Birthday

We celebrated Elle's half-birthday last night, and she was so excited because it happened to be the same day that the movie, Tangled, came out on DVD. So, we had a Tangled-themed celebration, complete with decorations (per the half-birthday girl's request! She even remembered that I had tied something around Lauren's chair on her half-birthday, so Elle, of course, needed a special decorated chair also!), her special meal request (quesadillas), a Rapunzel barbie present, and a game (pin the frying pan on Flynn Rider). We did have a little scare while she was blowing out her candles, and her hair caught on fire. Luckily, daddy saved the day--I'll have to post the video when I get a chance! Elle always loves her moment in the spotlight, so she was in heaven! I can't believe my little girl is 4 1/2. She even looks so much like a little girl now and not a baby!

Cleaning out my phone...

Some of these are really old (like right when Ava was born), but I just cleaned all the pictures and videos out of my phone and there were some cute ones in there. I love my girls!

Ava laughing...

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day was always a fun holiday in our family growing up, and I miss the parade and all from Augusta, so I like to do a few fun things to celebrate with the girls. The week leading up to St. Patrick's Day we did a countdown and did crafts and discussed different things about the holiday each day (like information about Ireland, St. Patrick, shamrocks, leprechauns, etc.). Then, after our visit from a leprechaun in the morning, Elle and I made a rainbow cake to have for dessert after our Irish dinner, and as you can see, my little helper thoroughly enjoyed her job:

And here are a few pictures on my baby in her green, just because she's so cute and I can't get enough of her little chubby cheeks! This was at the end of the day, so she's a little sweaty (we had a beautiful, warm day here!) but still adorable as always:

We had a visit from a sneaky leprechaun this morning...

Happy Half-Birthday to Lauren!

We celebrated Lauren's half-birthday yesterday (she's 2 1/2). It was a couple of days late, since we were busy over the weekend, but she didn't notice, and since she's the middle child, I always love the opportunity to focus just on her. And, she certainly relishes the attention! I decorated the table while she was napping, and as soon as I told her what we were celebrating, she kept yelling, "It's MY happy-birthday!", especially any time Elle tried to steal a little bit of the attention. Ha! It was a perfect day to focus on Lauren because during craft time yesterday morning, she stood up on her chair at the kitchen table and proceeded to fall and use the side of her face to catch herself on the table! The poor girl! I was really worried that she had cut herself all the way through, but after a visit to daddy at work, we all calmed down. However, she was in pain the rest of the day and didn't eat much until it was time for her pink cupcakes! But, this is why her face is swollen/bruised/cut in all the pictures. My mom happened to send a headband with a cake on top and we got it in the mail today, which worked out great for Lauren to have a special half-birthday "hat". We had one of Lauren's favorite dinners, followed by a couple of presents (a princess shirt and a small Angelina Ballerina doll) and a game (we played pin the cupcake on Lauren's mouth!). Half-birthdays have become one of my favorite traditions. I don't spend much time at all preparing (I decorated with things I had in the house, used cupcakes I had in the freezer, and gave her a present from the gift closet), but the girls are always so excited about it, and I love that they get an evening all about them.

Here are some pictures from the evening (Oh, and Lauren only refers to herself as Gracie, so that's why it's on the sign. We said we would never start calling our kids only by their middle names, but then, Lauren decided she wanted to be Gracie and it's just stuck!):

Just some cute pictures and a story...

My girls love to play dress-up, so it's pretty much a daily activity in our house, and they were being particularly goofy the other day, so I got some cute pictures. Elle and Lauren were being soo sweet to Ava too! She loves watching them, and though she's still a little unsure of Lauren sometimes (one too many whacks on the head!), she thinks Elle is hilarious!

Isn't she just the cutest?!? I know I'm biased, but she is the most adorable baby, and it doesn't hurt that she's happy and smiling almost all the time (well, except when I'm trying to take a picture, of course!).

And these pictures of Lauren are so funny because they really show her goofy personality! Kyle keeps saying that she's going to be like Jim Carey when she gets older because she's so good at the facial humor.

And I have to add one little story from yesterday because it really blessed me...Most every night before the girls go to bed, we read from a book called ABC Bible Verse. Basically, it has a short bible verse for the girls to repeat and try to learn and then there's a story that goes with the Bible verse to illustrate what it means. And while Elle is really good at repeating the verses after me, it often seems like she doesn't understand the story or that she's just not listening. Well yesterday, we were in the car driving home from running errands and Elle said, "Mommy, let's talk about our ABC Bible verses!" I told her that was a great idea, so I asked her which one she wanted to talk about (she's never said this before). She replied that she wanted to talk about the B verse. I could not remember what the B verse was and was going through the verses in my mind trying to remember with no luck, but before I could even ask Elle, she said, "Mommy, the B verse is 'Blessed are the peacemakers.'" I was so surprised that she remembered and told her how great that was and said, "Do you know what that verse means, Elle?" She immediately replied, "Yes, it means that if someone wants to play with your toy truck, you share it with them, even if you don't want to or even they're not being nice to you, you be nice to them because that's what God wants you to do." This was amazing to me because this was exactly the story in the book and it had been a while since we read that story! Sometimes, as a parent, you think your kids aren't listening or they're not learning any of the things you're trying to teach them, and it was just one of those moments where you think, "Yes, she's actually getting it!" And if I teach them anything, I want it to be about loving Jesus and following Him, so that definitely made my day.

Morning smoothie time

And yes, Lauren desperately needs a haircut; the girls have all taken turns being sick, and we found out on Monday that Ava has RSV, so we haven't been out much. (Ava's actually been really good, just coughing a lot, especially at night.) And speaking of Lauren, she is at such a fun/maddening age. One minute, she's driving me crazy, getting into everything, and the next she's being really cute and saying the funniest things. Gotta love 2-year-olds! Here are a few of her recent comments:

"I want to go home!" (She says this ALL the time, while we are already at home!)

"Jigga-what!" (Her daddy taught her this and she will just randomly start saying it throughout the day.)

While she was "helping" me clean out the car, "Mommy, It's a hot mess in here!" (Also from her daddy)

While parked in front of a house under-construction on a rainy day, so there was a lot of dirt/mud, "Uh-oh, mommy, I think somebody pooped outside my window!"