The Party.

I'm a few weeks late but I wanted to post about Abby's Birthday party. She really wanted to have a princess birthday so we decided to do it at a cute little place in our town that hosts themed parties. The theme was Princesses and Pirates (to accomodate for the boys!) I know I always talk about how my friend Lexie takes all of our pictures, but this time, she really went way out of her way and did an amazing job! She wouldn't even eat for a while because she was so busy taking pictures! Thanks Lexie!! These pictures make the $$ we spent so worth it!!!

The kids did a craft at the beginning of the party...Here's brother and sister hard at work
Abby and her friend Kate

The girls picking out their accessories

Abby getting her nails painted, something she LOVES!

Abby with mom and dad. We love our princess!

All ready!

Our friend Reven in his pirate gear

Isaac holding all his coins

Richie is a kid at heart. He totally got into the sword fighting with the kids (foam swords of course!)

Our friend Xavier

Abby loves to dance

The youngest guest, Jesse. Isn't he the cutest thing ever?!?

All the kids!

This happy face makes the whole party so worth it!
Digging in!

The kids got to decorate their own cupcakes with candy. Isaac had more candy in his bowl that on the cupcake!

Our friend Bella

Thanks to everyone who helped make Abby's birthday extra special this year!

Dear Abby,

Today you turn 3 years old! That's right, 3 years ago today I got to hold my baby girl for the first time. You were absolutely perfect. I could not believe I finally had a daughter!

This past year, I have watched you grow up so much. You are definitely not a baby anymore, as much as I would like you to be. You know all your colors and shapes, you can count to 20, you know most of the words to countless songs, you have developed a love for dancing. You are so independent, just like your brother. If there is even a slight chance that you can do something on your own, you give it a try. I should've known you would be so independent. I can't really take credit for the delivery part of your birth because I only got to do half of a push. I remember the midwives telling me not to push because you were coming out on your own! You knew you could do it without my help!

As independent and mature as you might be, I love the fact that you still suck your thumb when you are tired, sleepy, sad, or scared. At these times you usually have to have your blankie, sheepie, with you. Although I know that braces are in our future, I can't bring myself to stop you. You are still our baby girl.

You love your daddy so much, and he loves to spoil you rotten. You ask for him several times a day when he's at work, especially if you're sad. He has a special way of reasoning whatever it is with you and I'm so grateful for that. And he's the first to admit that you have him wrapped around your finger :)

Right now you love anything having to do with princesses, since, if I do say so myself, you are one of them. You love to sing along to your favorite songs (your current favorite is Party in the USA) and need your primary songs on your cd player to fall asleep to. You love anything pink and really really wanted us to get you lipstick for your birthday. You love your brother so much, you two are best friends, and I would love for it to stay that way forever. Isaac told your daddy what to write on your birthday card last night and this is what he said:

Abby I love you.

I hope you like this (the presents we got you)

If you don't like it I'll buy you a new one.

Let's move to North Carlina together when we're big.

I want to play with you everyday.

Happy Birthday.

I hope you like your cake and your presents.

I love you.

That's all, Love, Isaac

You are still full of spunk, and honestly, I hope we can always use this word to describe you. You are full of energy, imagination, creativity, and love. You fit perfectly into our family and we are so very glad you are ours!

Abby, I am so happy that you will always be my daughter and my friend. I know how important a mother/daughter relationship is and I'm looking forward to all those moments we will share together in the future as well as the ones we share now.

Happy 3rd Birthday Abigail Mia! We sure love you lots!

Halloween

the fam

The Sun-Maid raising girl and Waluigi...the perfect pair, kinda :)

Lexie and me; this was her first costume, her whole fam was zombies.

Lexie's second costume, the biker chick. She went all out!

Ariel and Super Mario

Ariel with attitude!

Sweet Abby!

The kids before trick or treating. They are all so cute!

I am so proud of myself right now. I am actually posting Halloween pictures BEFORE Christmas is here! Woohoo!!

This year we started celebrating Halloween early. Our ward Trunk or Treat was the weekend before Halloween so there was pressure to have our costumes ready early! Isaac knew he wanted to be Super Mario from the time he was introduced to the Wii. Abby knew she wanted to be some sort of princess, and when I took her shopping she decided she wanted to be Princess Ariel from The Little Mermaid. She was so cute when I asked her what shoes she wanted to wear with her costume. She stared at me for a second in thought and then she said, "Oh no! Mommy, I'm going to have a tail!!! I can't wear shoes!" She was seriously distraught by the thought of not being able to wear shoes!! I had to assure her that she was going to be Ariel when she turned into a human and didn't have a tail anymore!

Richie decided to go along with the Mario theme and was Waluigi, the more sinister version of Luigi from the Wii MarioKart videogame. Some people didn't know who he was and thought he was just dressing in purple for fun! Poor Richie!

I have had my costume planned for months. Everytime the kids watch a show on PBS, at the end they usually have a commercial for Sun-Maid Raisins with the Raisin girl. EVERYTIME, the kids point and say "Mommy, that's you!!" Do I really look like her??? Who knows! But I thought I'd be funny and dress up as her. The kids LOVED IT!!

Other than the trunk or treat, we also went to a friends house, the Jacobs, for a Halloween party. And everyone got babysitters so there were no kids there! It was a lot of fun to get a night to hang out with just adults!

Then on Halloween we went to Rob and Lexie's house to go Trick or Treating in their neighborhood and then eat the loot and lots of yummy snacks Lexie made. It was so fun to watch the kids trick or treat with all their friends! They were definitely pros at knocking on those doors by the end of the night! And once again, my camera was acting up, so Lexie took almost all these pics for me! I love her!

I HEART FALL.

A couple of weekends ago, we treked to upstate New York to go apple picking with some good friends. The weather was a little crisp, absolutely perfect for fall activites. We got a ton of apples, half of which I quickly delivered to my mom so she could work her magic and make some yummy apple pie. She is the best, and the next day she delivered a perfect apple pie to my door! I love my mom! One day I'll learn to make apple pie! I LOVE FALL, and if we had planned it better, this would have been a perfect christmas card photo!
Richie's weird, I think he's trying to pick me up so I could reach the apples.

Abby was a little too small!

THIS was supposed to be a picture of just me and my friend Lexie, who took all these pictures BTW (you like your shout out Lex??). But everyone decided they wanted to be in it. Silly kids (and Richie!)

Fall is the best!

Dance and Soccer

Anyone that knows my kids knows they are FULL of energy. By full of energy I really mean they are completely nuts! Anyway, we decided we needed to sign them up for some activities that would help them get all this energy out. First we signed up Isaac for gymnastics and he LOVES it. Then Richie decided, since Isaac loves to run, we should also sign him up for soccer. He's actually really good. We might have a soccer player on our hands!

When Abby heard Isaac was doing soccer, she kept asking if she could do dance. I thought for sure she was too young, but after I called around I found out she wasn't. She started last week and she absolutely loves it! It's an hour long class and she makes it through the whole thing. I love that she wants to be a ballerina, and who knows, maybe she'll follow in her Aunt Rachael's footsteps become one!

Oh to be a kid again!

Actually, if there had been a 3rd beater, I would've totally joined in :)

The Philly Zoo

In July (yeah I know I suck at blogging), we got the chance to meet our awesome friends, Derek, Amy and Jack at the Philadelphia Zoo. They were in the process of moving to NC and we were lucky enough to get to spend time with them. As usual, Amy took all of these AMAZING pictures so it was really hard to choose which ones to post. I wish I had the same problem with the pictures I take!!

the kids; Isaac and Abby are HUGE FANS of Jack.

Jack and Abby looking at something

My husband is a sucker...he paid something like $8 for this pony ride because "Abby LOVES ponies!"

ok maybe the $8 were worth it...

we love this boy!

cotton candy tongue

sharing cotton candy, fun times!

Jack giving Isaac and Abby a lesson about lizards

Reunited!!

Boy do we miss these guys!!! It was definitely a fun day with friends! We're glad that at least now we're living on the same coast. Thanks guys for an awesome time, and thanks Amy for letting me steal your pictures!!