May

So, I have all of 2 videos of April.  Apparently it was a boring month, so it's getting skipped, and we'll go straight to May!

May was pretty exciting, we had Mike's birthday celebrations, the end of kindergarten and soccer for Alexa (and me), as well as the start of t-ball for both Alexa and Mike. Plus, normal activities like walks, playgrounds, and museums.

For Mike's birthday we did a Nerf war at the church.  We bought guns, extra ammo, and safety glasses for all of us, then set up barriers, divided into teams, then went at it.  We had a few different versions of the game, but mostly it was kill everyone.

 I don't remember why we were in Provo, but pretty much anytime we go there we stop at the Creamery.  The girls love it!

 They are also big fans of the museums around here.  There are a lot of hands on exhibits, which is great.

 The end of soccer.  It was a pretty good season, but I think we were both ready for it to end.  My morning sickness was not fun to coach with, and I think Alexa just finds the seasons a little too long.

 I think we had a week break before t-ball started? It was pretty fast.  Mike coached this season, and both he and Alexa ended up loving it.  We had a really good team, and Mike was really good at actually teaching the kids, instead of letting them do whatever.

 Kaelyn and I missed our daily walks to pick Alexa up from school.  We still walked sometimes, but for the most part, I just wasn't feeling well enough to do it.

 The last day of school all the kids put on a dance show for parents and family.  It was pretty cute, although, it was pretty long, and got rather hot.  This is the kindergarten dance, Alexa was right in front, luckily, so it worked out pretty well.  She's in the long sleeved red shirt with the sweatshirt tied around her waist.  Poor kid was dying by the end, but it was supposed to be rainy and cooler! The storm ended up blowing in after the show, luckily.

And that was our fun filled May!

March

I'm behind, once again.  One of these days I'll stay on top of it all.  Until then, I'll just post by month.  So, here's March!

Alexa's "Darth Vader" mask.  We've started watching the original Star Wars movies, and Alexa has loved it.  Kaelyn, not so much, she likes the idea of it, but the movies kind of freak her out.

 Mike made my favorite cake again for my birthday this year, and Kaelyn clearly enjoyed the chocolate ganache pooling on the plate!

 Kaelyn, for about a month, started coming in to "cuddle" during the nights.  Sometimes she'd come in during the mornings, and so would just take over Daddy's spot, thank goodness, since she sleeps like a starfish!

 Easter!

 And Easter dresses! I'm never sure what I'm going to get when I ask them to stand and smile so I can take pictures of them.

 And, of course, our big announcement for March: we're expecting! Baby #3 coming in November.  And we'll find out the gender at the end of June!

February So Far....

Ariel and Tinkerbell have become quite the cooks lately!

 Tinkerbell is getting pretty talented at stirring and dumping without getting everything everywhere.

 And Ariel has moved on up to using griddles and flipping pancakes!

 Enjoying the fruits of their labor.

 The Super bowl was a big hit this year, and even the girls liked watching it (while they were shoving snacks in their mouths :) )We (Mike) were very happy that the Broncos won.

 The girls had a lot of fun with Valentines Day this year.  They got cookies from my parents and lots of candy from various teachers and friends (and parents), our house was covered in hearts and glitter, and they had fun making Valentines for everyone.  Of course we had our traditional heart hairstyles:

And Kaelyn and I got to go do the snack station at Alexa's school Valentines party.  We did a make-your-own trail mix with different goodies, and Kaelyn did a great job sitting and eating the entire time! I had been worried that she'd try to follow all the big kids and do all the things they were doing, but put some juice and cupcakes and pretzels in front of her and she'll sit like a little angel!

Alexa's Birthday and January

Since Alexa's birthday is during Christmas break, this year we decided to wait until school was back in session to do her party, so that more people would be able to come.  (We learned our lesson last year!) We still did her presents and cake on her birthday, though.  Kaelyn was pretty confused as to why she didn't get to open any of the presents that were by the tree, but it sure did make Alexa feel special!

 Alexa requested a Rosalina, Peach, Zelda cake.  At first I was really not sure how I'd pull it off, but then I found these drawings someone had done to make them all Paper Mario style, which made it much easier.  Still quite time consuming, but waaaaaay easier than it could have been!

 She loved it!

 Then, the first Saturday after school started back up we did her party.  She wanted another Princess Party, like last year, except different.  That is exactly how she described what she wanted to me.  So, we did the same set up, but with a few different princess and activities to go with them.

 I had to keep the pin the kiss on the frog though, because it was my favorite!

 Princess Kaelyn has gotten in to doing hair.  It's cute, albeit a little painful :)

 And Mike's latest hobby is painting game figures.  For Christmas he got a board game he had really been wanting, and so now he's painting all the little gray figures so that they're full color.

 So they've had a few painting parties and the girls paint rocks or paper.

 And, lastly, Alexa lost another tooth! This one is top, front and center, and so far the grown up tooth isn't visible, so she's had a hole for awhile! :)

Christmas Eve/Christmas

Our Christmas Eve nativity: Mary struggling to hold baby Jesus, and Joseph.  I played all other characters.

 Christmas morning!

 Christmas is so much fun when you have kids that are old enough to really enjoy the magic of it all!

 Most of the morning was spent like this- Daddy handing out presents as fast as he can to excited kids!

 Modeling her new Tinkerbell apron.  Alexa got Ariel.

I love Christmas time, there are so many fun things about it, but I really love on the focus of Christ and Christ-like love.  It's fun to teach the girls about it, and find fun ways to incorporate it into our traditions.  This year we ding dong ditched about half our stairwell, and the girls had a blast.  I'm not sure how secretive we were, since there was much giggling, and peeking to see if doors were opened, but boy, did they love it!

Pre-Christmas

For Thanksgiving we went to OR, and when we got back, I wanted to start decorating right away.  However, I went and got our tree out of the garage and set it up and realized how dinky it looked in this new condo, soooo, I talked Mike into letting me get a new one.  Quite the difference, huh?

 Many mornings and afternoons were spent like this, coloring parties next to the tree, watching Christmas movies.  I think we watched all the animated ones about 10 times.

 We also got a LOT of snow.  I think it snowed for about a week and a half straight.  Luckily, it was over Christmas break (and weekends), which meant that a) we had a white Christmas and b) we didn't have to worry about driving to school at all when it was really bad.

 About a week before Christmas we went and saw Santa.  They had tables set up next to the line so the kids could write letters to him, and then a few days later, he mailed us a letter back!

 Kaelyn was a little under the weather, so she looks a little drugged in the pictures, but no tears! First time since she was a 4 month old!

 She was NOT into this forced hug, though!

And what's up with the ever changing Christmas lists? We never had to deal with that before, Alexa always had anywhere between one and, like, the whole Toys R Us catalog on her list, and it stayed constant from November all the way to Christmas.  Then this year, it was constant until about, oooh, the week after black Friday.  Aka, a week after I had "finished" shopping.  Then, it changed pretty much every time we asked.  Please tell me that phase ends soon!

One sure fire way you can tell Kaelyn is under the weather is if she actually naps during nap time.  I think we were going to go pick Alexa up from school this day, and I had to wake her up to go.   I laid her on the couch and she slept through me getting her boots, coat and hat on her.