Another random fun fact

Ashlyn and Leah are exactly 2 years 6 months and 9 days apart. Brandon and Carter are exactly 2 years 6 months and 9 days apart also. Crazy weird huh!

Can you tell I'm having fun with all these random facts!

An Award

Ashlyn got an award at school. I'm so proud of her. Funny thing is that this is her second award that she has gotten for "Excellence in Math" and the girl doesn't even like Math. It's her least favorite subject. When I asked her about it, she said, "I can't believe I got another award in math. That's so silly". I just LOVE that girl. She's such a wonderful daughter. I'm so glad to call her mine!

I'm so sad I got such lousy pictures. My "middle" two children were making such a stink about...well everything....that I snapped what I could, gave her a hug, and then had to get out of the room. 

THE Birthday Party

One of the good (and sometimes bad) things about Leah is that she wears her emotions on her sleeve. You always know how she is feeling. So there was no wondering if she was excited for her birthday party or not. Her excitement was contagious and I found myself giddy with anticipation for HER big day. In fact, I had a hard time falling asleep the night before because I was so excited for it. This was going to be her first BIG party. The one where she got to do something extra special and invite lots of friends. She couldn't wait. Originally we were going to have it at Chuck E Cheese, but after thinking about how CHAOTIC that was going to be, "Scooter's Jungle" came to mind. I presented the idea to Leah and she jumped on it. An indoor bounce how where she was the star! What was not to love about that. And let me tell you, this was the EASIEST and best party ever. I wish I could have every party there every year, it was so easy. All I had to do was make a few arrangements, buy the cake and side items, and that was pretty much it. The staff took care of EVERYTHING. They set up, explained all the rules, played with the kids, handled ALL the food, including constant refills of drinks. They did the Birthday song, cut and served the cake and even made sure I got pictures of it before they cut it. They took care of boo-boo's and helped Leah hand out goody bags. They arranged a group picture, cleaned up, loaded my car and made a detailed list of gifts so I would know what gift came from what child. I've never had such a good time at my own child's birthday party. I actually got to enjoy it, instead of running around making sure everyone had everything. I'm still pinching myself.

The birthday girl with her crown from preschool.

Not a great picture, but I'll take what I can get.

Trying to get more shots of me and my honey together. I'm SO glad he was able to take the day off.

Miss Party girl!

Becky and Ellie playing a mean game of air hockey.

Brandon and Daddy go at it on the ping pong table.

Ashlyn and Grace in one of the bounce houses.

Me and Heather (and my baby nieces, now debuting Monday Feb. 28th)

Me and my prego friends.

Miss Leah

Rebecca with two of her boys going down the slide.

Ashlynn (one of Ashlyn and Leah's BFF)

Braden and Elijah (Brandon's BFF)

Grace

Tommy with Leah in the background.

Blaike and Kamron (the cool cousins)

Luke (who looks like he's gone swimming)

Prego friends again. Brooke, Becky and Tina. Love you girls!

Ashlyn on the zipline.

Lincoln, Isaac and Max enjoying a snack.

Rhonda holding Carter. He was getting so sleepy at this point. Couldn't get him to crack a smile.

Mr. Brandon who has decided pictures are okay again (for now anyway).

The cake

Getting ready to sing.

I love this picture! It's my favorite. It shows just how happy she was.

They stuck the fork in the top of the piece of cake so that it wouldn't fall off the plate. Brandon took this as a "cake on a stick" and then proceeded to eat it that way.

Nice group shot.

Funny Face group shot.

Birthday girl group shot.

Handing out goody bags.

Wrapping things up.

Opening presents back at home.

Leah's Birthday Interview

How old are you now? Fou...FIVE! (I love how they always immediately correct themselves)

What's your favorite color? Green (you already know this mommy. Why are you asking me?)

What was your favorite present? My pillow pet and my Jenny Doll

What's your favorite food? I can't remember...I like everything.....except raviolis.....no wait, my favorite food is hamburgers.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A swim teacher

How many kids do you want to have? Two girls and one boy

What's your favorite thing about church? Learning about Jesus

What's your favorite cartoon? "Maggie and the Ferious Beast" and "Beauty and the Beast" ( I see a "beast" theme going. Do you?)

What did you do for your birthday? Went to Scooter's Jungle

What's your favorite letter? L

What's your favorite number? 6 (cuz I'm almost 6 now...haha)

What's your favorite place to go? Disneyland, Scooter's Jungle and Chuck E Cheese

What's your favorite Ice Cream? Chocolate and Vanilla

**The funny thing is that she answered all these questions in a complete sentence.

I know I have always felt like Leah is older than she is, but for some reason I can't believe she is already FIVE! She's my "baby" girl who has never ever wanted to be a "baby". She's fun and energetic. She has an amazing zest for life and is really getting interested in reading, writing, and all things school. She loves to be active and bounce around. Gymnastics is still her most favorite thing to do. Ironically she is also my child who loves TV the most. She is a fantastic helper with Carter. She loves to play with him and hold him, and will do dances for him to keep him happy while I'm busy. She has definitely been a challenge for me, but I have a good feeling about this year. FIVE is gonna be her year! I love her so much. Our house wouldn't be as near as fun without her in it. Thanks for keeping me on my toes little one.

One more round

This exersaucer has been more than worth it's money.  Funny that we debated about whether or not we should buy it (seven years ago). Yesterday we pulled it out of the garage for one more round. The kids helped me get it all cleaned up and this morning Carter took his debut turn in it. I'd say it's held up pretty darn well. I've even loaned it out to a couple friends to use and it's still in good shape. 

Funny how you can tell the resolution of my cameras over the years. Ashlyn's picture is so grainy. But here they are, in order of "appearance". 

The toys were still drying this morning incase you are wondering where they are. 

My baby nieces!

Ha...I tricked ya. They aren't born yet. BUT they will be SOON. Sometime in the next week probably. And I'm SO excited to see them. And I'm sure Heather is elated to not be pregnant anymore.

Doesn't she look amazing? My goodness there are TWO babies in there! She's all belly. I love it. Babies are SO exciting when they aren't in your own belly making you uncomfortable. (ok, they are still exciting when they are your own too, but you know what I mean.)

Yay!!! 

Pinkalicious "The Musical"

If you have girls, than you've heard of the book. Pinkalicious is wildly popular around here, so when my friend told me about the play coming to Santa Monica, we HAD to go. Seems we weren't the only ones. The show is completely sold out and apparently there is something like 400-500 people on the waiting list. They've added another run of the show in July, so you can still go see it if you'd like. The great thing about this little play, besides that it was adorable, was that it was short. Seventy five minutes long and that's including an intermission. The girls loved and and so did I.

Here's me with my girls (and Carter) and my Aunt Rhonda who came out to go see it with us. Having no girls herself, she takes any opportunity to do girlie things with me and mine. 

Hanging out waiting for the show to start.

The fun thing about going with another adult, is that I actually got to be in some pictures with my kids. Finally, some proof that I do spend time with them.

After the show, we walked back to the car and of course Ashlyn and Grace had to go potty. So Rhonda walked them back to the theater while Leah and I hung out in the car and played with the camera.

This one was all Leah. Evidently she didn't like how I was posing, so she told me what "funny face" to make.

And of course, no outing is complete without a little eating out. Submarina is one of the girls very favorites. So even though it was back up in our Valley, the girls held off their hunger pains and waited until we got back up here. They then each ate an entire 6 inch sandwich, chips and a soda.