Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!  Our Valentine's Day celebration started about mid January.  We had a family home evening about showing love to others.  Afterwards, we decorated little mailboxes and explained that they were for giving little notes, gifts, and surprises to each other. The girls were SO excited about this that they probably gave Dave and I about 50 surprises within the week. (their toys, drawings, crafts)  Dave and I slipped little pieces of candy and Valentines in theirs about once a day. Later, we made a "14 Acts of Love Jar".  Each day the girls picked out a heart that had some kind of service written on it like, "Set the table today."  This pinterest idea was definitely a success- they got so excited about doing these little acts of love.  

Dave and I celebrated Valentine's Day early by getting out of town and heading to Seattle for some sweet Brazilian food- Rodizio style!  After Ipanema we head over to the Columbia Tower to gaze out over the city of Seattle.  And what did we see?  ALOT of blue and green!  You could tell the Seahawks just won the super bowl by all the green and blue lights everywhere!  It was a great night out..even with our little third wheel-Penny.  

Penny is Two Months Old!

Penny is 2 months old!  She is bright eyed and smiling all of the time these days.  She has started making those cute little baby noises and cooing, too. 

Penny is loving the new quilt that Grammy made for her.  It has the cutest colors and little birds on it.  

Penny is already lifting up her little head!  She is pretty good natured about tummy time and gets her daily exercise in!

"Kisses for Mommy!"  Love my baby kisses!

Penny is so good natured.  It's probably because she is a well rested child! She is still a great sleeper going 8-10 hours straight each night.  She loves being held and sung to, especially when it's Daddy singing.  Bath time is another favorite.  She is batting at toys and loves laying on her little play mat.  It's so funny to watch her swinging her hands and feet wildly at the hanging toys.  

The Littlest Sister

The littlest sister of three!  How is she surviving in her new world with two older sisters ages 3 and 5?  Well, that is a good question.  You'd think life as the baby would be pretty hazardous...rough and tumble living at best.  Lizzie and Julie have a lot of energy, but they save it for each other!  When it comes to baby Penny they are so gentle and tender with her!  It's all kisses, light hugs, and smiles for this little sister.  

They love it when they get the chance to hold little Penny.

Lizzie, in particular, gets very excited to hold Penny.  When Penny sees her big sister close she is all smiles.

When my Mom came to visit she predicted that the girls would treat Penny like another one of their stuffed animals.  That may or may not be true.  Check out the pictures below.  You decide.  

Mimi and Penny are the same size.  Who knew that Build-A-Bear clothes could be worn by newborns, too?   You can imagine the kind of laughter this little scene drew from the girls. Lol!   

To be loved by so many people...you are one LUCKY PENNY!!  :)

Baby's First Christmas

Three weeks old and Penny already has a Christmas holiday under her belt.  It's hard to believe and frankly a bit depressing to think that Christmas is already over!  2013 is over already and we are ready to take on whatever 2014 brings!  One of the most exciting parts of the year will be to see how this little one changes and grows.  The changes that happen in the first year of life are stunning.  One of the biggest differences in the way I feel with the third child is that I catch myself savoring the sweet newborn moments a lot. I KNOW how it all goes by so fast.  It doesn't seem that long ago that my first baby, Lizzie, was scooting around in diapers, and here I have my third girl now. Babies are challenging, yes.  However, it's a stage that comes and goes so quickly you have to relish the precious moments.  

I wish I had captured her smile because she is already smiling a lot!  She smiled for the first time at Grandma when she was one week old.  Then, she continued to smile more and more after that.  I know babies "don't" smile this early but she really did I swear!  She is a big time smiler these days.

Christmas 2013

Merry Christmas!  Christmas this year was so special.  I imagined having a baby in December would be quite stressful, but it was actually very low key.  We had a simple Christmas with a lot of family time at home and it was amazing. We talked a lot about the true meaning of Christmas and how it is a celebration of a miracle: we were celebrating Jesus' birthday. For Christmas Eve, we got together with family, played volleyball, went caroling, ate pizza, acted out the nativity, played games, gave a gift to Jesus, and had a little talent show.  Lizzie and Julie sang "Jingle, Jingle, Jingle."  Then Lizzie played "Jingle Bells" on the piano while Julie sang and danced around with a little jingle bell.  It was so stinkin cute.

Then after the program the kids opened their "Santa Bags" from Grammy and Papa.  They LOVED that part and little Miss Penny even got a stocking of her own.  It was such a fun night!

Then, we all headed off to bed in anticipation of Christmas morning!

The girls were so anxious to go downstairs and peek at what Santa had brought them!  

It looked like Santa dropped his whole sleigh at our house!  The kids eyes were so wide with excitement and wonder at the sight!

Grammy and Papa were even there too! Christmas day was spent at home, playing with all the new toys!  Family time is the best and we got a lot of it this December!

Julie got a new bike.  Both girls received large Mickey and Minnie stuffed animals and stockings from Santa.

They opened all kinds of fun gifts.  Hello Kitty was definitely a big part of their gifts this year.  They are both so into Hello Kitty and Disney items.

They also received all kinds of crafting items from Grandma and Grandpa (a favorite activity of theirs).  They got some pretty cool things from Korea, too.  (From Abby and Leah).  It was a great Christmas and end to the year 2013!

Thanksgiving

Let's go back in time for a minute to remember Thanksgiving.  (Just got these pictures)  We had a big giant, delicious turkey dinner!  The whole family was there (except the Marstons). Nothing better than a delicious meal with some of my favorite people.  

This was pre-baby but just barely!  At this point I knew I would be having Penny within the week!  I was in good company with two other pregnant sister in laws. 

 The girls did a little craft the day of Thanksgiving making Christmas tree decorations.

 Grammy put together some games for the kids like Thanksgiving Bingo. (Which they loved of course)

 The turkey this year was really good!

 Cousins are the best!  They are always so excited to get together!

 The day following Thanksgiving, we got together for a gingerbread house making party!

 Lizzie and I teamed up to make a house and Dave helped Julie.

 Even Noah, the oldest cousin, had fun!

 The Laupers made one cute house!!

Grammy To the Rescue

I hear having that third child is a real doozy.  "So is it?", you may ask?  Well, i will let you know once I am on my own.  Up until now I have had the BEST help!  My mom was here for five days, like I posted below, but that was altogether too short of a time.  Fortunately, Dave's mom lives close by and has been such a life saver!  I'm sure Lizzie and Julie would be going crazy with neglect by now if Linda hadn't whisked them away so many days for fun times and activities at her house.  She has been babysitting, bringing meals, taking Lizzie to preschool and a huge support!!  Her help has definitely been "above and beyond."  We are so grateful for our super Grammy and super Papa that live so close by!

Penny, you have so many people that love you.  I can't wait for you to get to know all of the many family members that love you so much.