Last year at this time...

I was flipping through some of our self-attempted family photos from last Fall and was noting how much our kiddos have changed this last year...
among other things...

It was a bit of a windy day to say the least so you can see why these didn't quite turn out.

 

I think that the last time we actually had a real photographer do a real family photo was...

hmmm okay maybe never!

Well, besides during Emmie's newborn shoot my friend doing them let us all jump in and she shot 3 or 4 pics of us all. That doesn't really count though. Emmie didn't even have a shirt on...

Every year, I really, really, really want to have them done professionally but if it weren't just so darn expensive. $300-$500 is a LOT to pay when theoretically you are going to (hopefully) get new ones every year! I know it's worth it (by the right photographer)- trust me I am kind of freak when it comes to pictures and how important they are (if you haven't noticed from the billions of very amateur shots I take), but when it comes down to it, Chris and I just have a hard time shelling out the money!

On a side note, Chris had a huge ditch he had to race over and leap across to get back to position after hitting the timer on these ones last year. It was pretty funny watching him race to get into position on time! At least it got the kids smiling, right? Doesn't he look like he just slid into home? And he's SAFE...

Meanwhile, I guess doing our own these last few years with our trusty tripod has worked out for us okay. Not perfect (note P's peekaboo ankles/socks), but regardless I am so glad we have these!

And look what I even came across in one of our attempted picture outtings last Fall -

A WAIST!

Don't mind the crinkled/not so flattering shirt (& nevermind my vain-ness in fantasizing about having a waist again) - but just a year ago, I HAD A WAIST!

How things change in a year's time....

This year in it's place is a 25 lb watermelon....

disguised as a cute baby girl who will be joining us probably within this next week!

So says the doctor anyways. We'll see!

We took these pics a few weeks back (I was 2 days off of being 34 weeks) at the Thanksgiving Point Gardens. I didn't have the idea to take pics of the kids until we were all ready to go. So we're dressed totally random and not in what I would have chosen for pics, but let's face it, I don't have any clothese that fit me anways not to mention it was too hot a day for any of the cuter new fall clothes I have waiting in the closet for the kiddos. But whatev, right?

I at least got a few cute shots of the kids for our Fall 2011.

I feel like we'll never be leaving the house again once #3 arrives.
I'm okay with it.

It's a good thing I'm a bit of a homebody.
 I'm just glad I got some satisfactory Fall pics of the kids checked off of my neverending list of things to do.
Next up.... NEWBORN pics! I need a real photographer for that one...;)

We're getting pretty eager to meet this little watermelon and can't wait to welcome her into our home!!!

Three

Dear Emmie,

Three?! Really??? I didn't expect my baby girl to grow up so fast on me! These last three years have flown by and we have been so blessed by your presence in our family.

Here are a few things about you at THREE that we want to remember...

• You have such a contagious smile! Those cute dimples are irresistable and once they reveal themselves, those around you start smiling too, including your mommy. I just love those little impressions in your cheeks.
• You still love to suck your thumb! In fact, you have developed a nice little bump on it from all your suction. Live it up this next year because the doctor said it's a-okay for you to suck away for now, but once you're four - it's time to stop.
• You LOVE princesses! You love to watch them in movies, play with your princess dolls and figures, dress up like them, dance like them, sing like them, and you even love to make your good-sport big brother make believe he's your prince. Believe it or not I have not encouraged this love for "pimpesses", but the love affair got started last Christmas when Grandma and Grandpa H. gave you your first set of princess dress up.  From there there was no stopping you. The other day I even caught you laying down as Sleeping Beauty, pretending to be dead (nice), and telling your Prince - aka Parker - to kiss you and bring you back to life. And yes, the good sport that he is, he kisses you on demand....
• You are very self sufficient. You have been dressing yourself for well over a year and you can entertain yourself for long periods of time. I often look over to see you singing and dancing in the corner, off in your own little world. When you are in these modes it can take quite a while to get your attention!
• You are LEFT HANDED like your daddy! This trait is usually accompanied by an artistic side so I am eager to watch you cultivate your talents!
• You just started a new dance class - ballet, tap and jazz and you are loving it!

• You are super friendly and love to be social. Whenever we are out you love to wave and say "Hi" to all the other kids you see and you call all of them your friends. I hope you will continue this and always strive to be friendly with everyone around you.
• You are a great eater! Your favorites are homemade mac n cheese (or any mac for that matter), pizza, waffles, and Danimals. You also love tacos (made with ground turkey), manicotti, chicken, rice, apples and peanut butter, carrot sticks, corn on the cob, noodles, mandarin oranges, and you love love LOVE bread/rolls and BUTTER. You'd eat a whole cube of butter if I'd let you. And of course, like your brother you love treats and chocolate. You don't get to partake however unless you've eaten your meals and you usually do!
• You are a great sleeper. You are in bed by 7:30ish  and will sleep until 7 or 8 if it's quiet. You refuse to sleep without your lamp on everynight however. It's a ritual and a necessity and you won't have it any other way.You take a nap in the afternoons and are pretty grumpy if you don't get it.
• We are working on potty training. You are getting close but aren't quite there yet! It's mostly my fault... I just couldn't deal with attempting it last spring being so sick with this pregnancy for 22 weeks straight. So we've recently started but you have my same attitude that pull ups are just easier these days! I thought the Dr. would be disappointed, but he said that less than 20% of 3 year olds at their annual appointment are potty trained and said you are closer than most! We are taking it in stride and we'll be there soon.
• You LOVE your nursery class at church. You go happily every time and it's been so nice that you are so well adjusted in that way.
• You are completely in love with your purple blankie (whom we just call Banky). It goes everywhere we do and is an instant source of comfort to you. Because of that special power, I think I love it almost as much as you do and wish we had 4 more of them... :)
• Other things you love these days are being outside with friends, riding your trikes and scooter, coloring, play dough, playing with your babies, swinging, going to the park, changing outfits numerous times a day, the TV shows Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Dora, reading stories, the movies Cinderella, Enchanted, Monsters Inc and Tangled, your dance class, and the color PINK!

You are so excited for your new sister to arrive and I know you will be such a big helper once she is here! I am so grateful that you will have a sister to share your life with. She will be very lucky to have you!

You are a huge blessing in our lives Emmie and we love you to pieces!

XOXO

Love,

Mom

Party on!

And the parties continue... of course! :)
The Saturday before Emmie's big day we had the Hansen fam over for a small birthday party.
Emmie was excited as always to see everyone there and waiting for her celebration upon waking up from her afternoon nap.

The party attendees are above...

This little princess told me weeks prior that she wanted to "wear a cown" for her birthday bash.

This one was a little large but she wore it proudly. 

She was sooo excited to get her own PINK scooter from Grandma and Grandpa, a basket full of art supplies from Aunt B, paper dolls from Gma and Gpa L, and some $ from Uncle Z.

Emmie has a fetish with licking everything these days... most of the times she chooses to stick her tongue to things that make me want to clorox out her mouth, but this time she chose wisely and licked her own birthday cake.

I couldn't blame her. Who doesn't love frosting?! If it weren't for self restraint I'd have lapped up the whole bowl as I was making it (I still owe you Jonesy for the yummy recipe -I always use it!).
PaRtY #2

The Sunday after her birthday, we headed over to my Dad's for yet another celebration.

We played the dart game for prizes.

So the birthday girl cheated a little. I don't think anyone minded.

As you can see, the big 3 year old made quite the haul of fun toys! Her expression pretty much explains it all. Her new hot pink dress up gown even glows with lights and her new little twinsies talk to each other. She has really loved playing with all of her new toys and really, I think we are all set and won't be needing any Christmas presents this year for my kids! Thanks Dad, Mimi, Jamie and Al, and Steve and Kylie for all the fun things!

This was our first time seeing my brother Steven and his wife Kylie since they left for a New Jersey internship last May. It was so fun to see them and so good to have them back. It was also fun to have my California, "Fountain Famous" Uncle Mark in town for the get together!

Thanks to EVERYONE for making Emmie feel so special for her birthday!

And she's THREE!

This cutie patootie turned 3 a few weeks back.

The birthday fairy came as she slept and left her some fun presents for the morning.

Some of them included a new rocking chair to rock, a Dora doll, a baby doll, a Cinderella dress up, some cute necklaces, some jams, books, and Wii Just Dance for kids.

She was a happy girl!

The rocking chair is one of her new favorite things. She likes to drag it from room to room and loves too rock her babies to sleep with it. Even big brother likes to have his turn to rock.

On a side note, I recently started carousing the world of ETSY! I'm hooked! I had her custom birthday shirt made (for a great price!) along with some really cute necklaces. If you want to know the links, let me know and I will look them up for you! There are TONS of choices and I think the jewelry especially would make such cute xmas gifts for little girls. :)

Back to our birthday day....Chris had to leave for work by 7:30 that morning, so we saved half her presents to open when he got home around 4:30. Then we were off to....

You guessed it -- Thanksgiving Point! Her birthday activity was really Cowabunga Bay earlier in the week, but we couldn't help going out to do something fun on her actual day. This little cowgirl LOVES to ride the horses so after her ride and checking out some of the other animals, we went over the Emporium for dinner and closed out the night with ice cream.
We sure adore our sweet 'n (recently) sassy Emmie and can't believe that she is already a big three year old!

Cowabunga

Last year we took the kids to Cowabunga Bay for Emmie's birthday.
Every time we've passed it on the freeway since, they scream out, "Owabunga Bay!", and "Bombay!".
They haven't always had the name right, but they knew where they wanted to go. Even in the middle of December and blizzard-like snowstorms they would beg and plead as we drove by the colorful slides.
So this year, we knew we had to go again.
And once again, we chose the week of Emmie's birthday (and the first day back to school for a lot of kids).

Needless to say, the kids had a ball. I did my best to chase fearless Emmie around with my 32 week prego belly in tow (easier said than done!), and Chris tried to keep up with daring little P-Man, who was able to (and did!) go down every slide this year.
It was a fun, fun day and I think our water lover of a birthday girl had a great time on her birthday activity! :)

Summer 2011

Parker started school last week.
He loves it.
Temperatures are dropping.
We love that.
And while my absolute FAVORITE (favorite, favorite!) time of year, Fall, is fast approaching, I'm still way sad to say goodbye to our summer.
It's truly been a great one and went by far too fast.
Here's a recap of just a few of our
simple favorites from summer 2011...

Popsicles.
What kid doesn't love a popsicle?
Believe me, mine are no exception.

Sandbox fun...

Deserves 2 pics because of how much they love it... especially Emmie... the girl is obsessed with dirt. By day's end she's sure to have dirt grain remnants covering her scalp, invading her pull up, and tracked all over my kitchen floors. This girl is largely responsible for preterm labor issues I experience brought on by the vacuuum...

PARTY PARTY PARTIES!

We end up celebrating all week it seems for birthdays around here but going on a fun family venture for their birthdays as well as their parties with extended family has been a fun tradition this last few years and one we hope to continue!

Our many ventures to Thanksgiving Point... so much fun!
And especially fun that Daddy gets to come!

Bikes, scooters, and more bikes and scooters.

In case you wondered, paranoid  cautious moms post head injury accidents don't take off their 5 year old's training wheels until they're 6 18.

Don't feel bad. He hasn't minded. He just loves to be out there racing with his friends!

Pool trips!

With our fearless, water-obsessed little fish we made numerous Monday night trips to a local community pool. This one has a lazy river, water slides, and pirate ships. The kiddos were in heaven! Also falling under this category are their first swimming lesson adventures through the month of June, as well as their much anticipated trip to Cowabunga Bay for Emmie's birthday (more on that later:).

I was worried that our summer would be slowed and less active this year with end-of-pregnancy issues. And although the contractions were a bit ridiculous there for a while & I feared the worst, having a doctor who doesn't believe in bed rest allowed us to be able to pack a ton of fun in, especially this last month and right in time for the onslaught of the real preterm labor stuff I've been dreading! (Appointment this week showed dilation etc etc...here we go!)It's time to slow down and I think I'm finally ready and okay with doing just that. We've had a great run and now we're ready to welcome Fall and this cute new baby girl into our lives. We'll miss our summer days but we also can't wait for what lies right around the corner for our fam! :)