Special Day

On November 12, 2010 my little baby girl (not so little anymore) was Baptized and Confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was such a special day, ranked right up there with the day she was born and her blessing day. We had so much family and friends there to support her. I was of course SUPER emotional and hugely pregnant, but enjoyed every minute of it. After Abbie came out of the water I was able to help her get changed and do her hair. I kept imagining helping her in the Temple on her wedding day. I was super grateful in that moment for my 4 little girls.

Sisters

Abbie with Brad

He did a great job, even though he had been teasing me most of the day that he was going to baptize her in Spanish just to be funny. I'm so thankful that Abbie has such an amazing dad.

Thankfully I was still pregnant, I went into labor 3 DAYS LATER!

Everyone was so sweet and gave her such thoughtful and meaningful gifts.

Some of the desserts afterward

Abbie with McCall and Kristen. Jenna, Kristen and McCall came into town for the baptism. It meant so much to us that they took the time to come. Abbie was so happy to have them there.

Some pics of the sweetest girl on Earth

Real Message From Santa Claus!

I got this link off my sister-in-law's blog. Maybe everyone else has already heard of it, but if not, you have to do it. You can get a personalized video message from Santa sent to you for your little ones to watch. They will freak out! Here is the link...

Portable North Pole

Back it up.....

Our little firecracker Lillie turned 6 on Oct. 19th, 2010. It seems like forever ago, but I couldn't let it go undocumented. She started the day off with breakfast in bed (request: Eggo waffles, syrup, orange slices with orange juice). Then, she opened a few presents.

The main present she wanted this year was to get her ears pierced! Here she is all smiles before it happened.

She only shed a couple of tears. This process is always WAY harder on the dad than the girls. I think Brad wanted to cry more than Lillie did.

Here she is with her new cute earings. She picked pretty pink diamonds. That night for her birthday dinner she wanted "Spicy Soup" (Chicken Enchilada soup), with salsa, tortilla chips, sour cream and grapes.

For her birthday party she wanted a water party at the park. This was the first year that Abbie and Lillie had separate parties. It was fun seeing them interact with their new friends they have made here.

Brad and I spent the morning filling up over 200 water balloons. It probably took us over 2 hours and the balloons were gone in less than 2 minutes!

We timed the party so that it happened when the sprinklers at the park would turn on. These girls had a blast with these huge sprinklers.

The birthday girl!


Her Tinkerbell Cake

We also did a little Halloween Mask craft at the party. They all looked so cute in their masks.

The best part of the whole party was toward the end, Lillie ran up to me and said, "Mom, this is the best party ever!" Hooray, the party was a success.

Happy Birthday Lillie! We love you so much. Our house would be really boring without your fun personality, crazy ideas, and tender heart. You can make anyone laugh and you can tease even better than your daddy. Thanks for always being such a good sister to Abbie and Lucy and being such a sweet daughter.

Penny's First Photo Shoot

Here is a sneek peek of our little Penny's first photo shoot. It was such a precious and sweet experience. Brad and I were able to take her, just the two of us (miracle, I know). The photographer was like a newborn "snake charmer". I told her that I would be calling her at 3 a.m. to come over and "tame" Penny. Here is her info, if you live in the AZ and your prego, book her NOW! You will not be disapointed with her or her prices. Check out her blog and you can see some more of our little Penny.

Kristin Merwin Photography

**INTRODUCING**

Penny Randall

November 16, 2010

7 lbs 10 oz

21 in

Welcome to our family sweet little Penny

Happy Birthday to Abbie!

Our sweet Abbie turned 8 on Oct. 13th. This has been such a big birthday for her, it seems like there are so many milestones at this age. We started the morning off with breakfast in bed (she ended up eating it at the table with us).

Then, she opened up her presents from us. We got her her first set of "real" scriptures with her name on them. At first she wasn't super excited, but after we explained what they were and how special they were, she loves them and feels so big to have them. We also got her a special journal and an outfit.
I always take them on a special date with just the two of us on their birthday. Abbie chose lunch and a pedicure this year. I have to say I was just as excited as she was to get a pedicure.

That night we had her birthday dinner.

The Menu

(chosen completely by Abbie)

Grilled Steak

Tortilla Chips

Queso Dip

Fruit Salad (strawberries, blueberries, and bananas)

Dessert:

Brownies, Cookies and Ice Cream

Special things about Abbie:

The peacemaker in our home

Kind to everyone

Loves to write stories, read, and draw

Loves to play with friends

Loves to play with her sisters

Still loves to spend time at home and with her family

Excellent student

Loves gymnastics, basketball, singing, and dancing

Always the first to notice when someone is sad and needs to be cheered up

We love you so much Abbie, our family would not be the same without you!

Birthday Party for Abbie!

Abbie wanted a birthday party at the park this year (hooray for our budget). I told her we could just do a bunch of fun birthday games and she was super excited. It ended up being a great party and all the girls had so much fun. The first game we did was a water relay race where they had to fill up their sponge with water, then run to their teams bowl and squeeze out as much water as they could. It was so cute they wanted to play it twice. I handed out point coupons for every game so everyon felt like winners and then at the end of the party, they traded in their points to pick out a prize from an assortment that I had. So, everyone got to take home a prize.

Another game we did was inspired by that minute to win it show. They had to rub vaseline on their nose then when we said go, they had to dip their nose into a bowl of cotton balls and "drop" the cotton ball into an empty bowl by shaking it off their nose. Whoever did the most the fastest was the winner. We did this game in groups of 4 so there were multiple winners.

All the cuties eating fruit and cake

The Birthday Girl getting ready to open her presents

Nailpolish hot potato

This game was the favorite of the party by far. I had 4 or 5 different nailpolish colors that I handed out randomly to the girls while they had their bare feet in the middle of a circle. We turned on the music and they passed the nail polish around. When the music stopped, if you had nailpolish in your hand, you painted your first toes that color. By the end, everyone had a rainbow of colored toenails.

We also did a three leged race that was really cute, but I missed taking pics of that.

Some of the girls being silly

Her cute cake with matching daisy cupcakes

It turned out great and Abbie had a blast!

Cheerleading

About a month ago Abbie participated in a Cheer Clinic put on by the High School near our house. They did a 2 hour clinic with the Varsity Cheer coach and cheerleaders and then the next week were able to cheer at a Varsity game until half time. They all got T-Shirts and cute matching hair bows to wear at the game. They did their little cheers and chants they learned out on the track the whole time then performed a cute dance during half time. It was so much fun, even though it was still a thousand degrees outside.

Group shot of everyone who participated

Abbie and her friend Addie (confusing, I know)

Top of the pyramid

First Day of School

Abbie started 2nd grade this year and Lillie started Kindergarten. We signed the papers on our new house we are renting the day before school started, drove straight to the new school and registered them, then went to meet the teacher that night. The next morning, these brave little girls started their new school. Luckily my sister's kids go to this school too, so they knew their cousins and that helped them feel a little bit better. They adjusted so quickly and have loved their new school. We didn't move into our house until 3 weeks after school started so I had to drive them 20 minutes each way for those first weeks, but now we just walk down the street. It's so great and they are making good friends already.

Fresh faced and ready to go.

I made them take a picture like they were walking out the door ready to leave, even though we had to drive.

Abbie was pretty nervous...this is her 3rd elementary school. She has been to a different one every year so far, but hopefully we can just stay put for a while now. I think that she felt better knowing that Lillie was also starting new and they could do it together.

Lillie on the Kindergarten playground. She did so great with all day school, she was definitely ready. She finally told me, "ok mom, you can go now."

Lining up and heading in with all of her school supplies.