three!

We celebrated this little lady's birthday today - illness free and with family!  I will post more pictures once I go through them all as my handsome photographer/father of the birthday girl/chief bloody mary maker took close to 200.

Fist bump....

and this one below basically sums up our day yesterday....the latest stomach bug victim in the background.

And lets add some smiles to brighten things up around here....

Snow

Actually, this post would be more aptly named 'stomach bugs and snow' as Reese and I are going on about day 8 with one, although, sadly, Reese has gotten it way worse than I.   Just when you thought you made it through one of the worst flu seasons without so much as a sniffle, bam, you are reminded that A.  March can still make you sick and B. 12 inches of snow is a real possibility.  What the what?   Instead of cursing the white stuff (like we wanted to), we got outside and had some fun for what is hopefully the last time this season.  Please.

 Reese was begging to get outside so we gave her a quick little 10 minute window for some fresh air.  Hence the interesting snow attire.

Of course after dinner, Ryan got a little sick.  We shall see what today brings but thankfully we had a quiet night and both girls are acting like their usual crazy selves this morning.

We also want to thank Grant's mom who spent the weekend hanging out with us - we were sad to see her go!  The girls were asking for 'Ella' this morning.   I'm going to let you all in on a little secret......the reason we keep popping out kids is so we can get a supercute quilt made.   Ella didn't disappoint with Emerson's - we got a sneak peak (it's not quite finished yet) and we're excited to get the final product when it's completed...

Someone else was sad to see Ella go......

Happy Birthday Reese!

Although, shhhhhh, we're not talking about it around here today.  Worst parents of all time?  Perhaps.  But seeing as we are celebrating this weekend with Grant's mom and then the following weekend with a little birthday party, no need to let the lady think her birthday is close to a 3 week long celebration.  That's just asking for it in the future, yet alone her ridiculously intuitive sister whose own birthday is a few months away.  So, if you're texting or Facebooking with Reese today, ixnay on the birthday.  Please.
3 years old and seriously the funniest person I have ever met in my entire life.  And I once shared an elevator with this guy from Whose Line is it Anyway....so clearly I know funny.

Anyway, to the silliest, craziest, sweetest, most hilarious 3 year old we know - Happy (silent) Birthday!!!

 We love you Reesey!!!!!

Collage craze

Who doesn't love a collage display?  Of my children, nonetheless?  I see all of you nodding in agreement - here ya go....

Ryan and I hit up the gym the other day and what better way to celebrate the shedding of pounds than adding them right back on with a tasty delight from Starbucks?  It was her first time getting her very own drink....a vanilla steamer.  It's almost like Starbucks is used to moms forcing their bad habits on their children because this lovely kids option is only $1 and is simply steamed milk with a little shot of vanilla.  Mr. Starbucks is a wise man.  Ryan loved it.  Perhaps we created a monster.  Grant took both girls the other day for one and while Reese wasn't a fan, Ryan all but slammed (because slamming hot coffee drinks is a talent around here) both of them.  Needless to say, we'll leave the vanilla steamers as a treat to be enjoyed every once in awhile.

 Emerson Margaret.  Precious as all get out.

 Ryan got some batting practice in at grandma and grandpas.  Clearly the girl has been playing at school because she's got the lingo down and taps her shoes before each swing.  I think some chewing tobacco is in her future, birthday gifts anyone?  Oh and Grandpa rocks for being the best chalk form model.

Zzzzzzzz.......

See this precious face below.....See her?

She just gave me the greatest gift.  Sleep.  Uninterrupted sleep.   We had our first 'slept all night' night.  10pm - 6:30am.  Let the records show it was just shy of the 10 week mark....she definitely beat Reese, can't fully remember when Ryan accomplished this feat.  Of course I woke up in a small panic at 6am (when Grant's alarm went off) and went into her room to do the whole 'make sure she's still breathing' thing.  I have 100% just jinxed myself by writing this post.  But oh well.  We now know it's possible and hope is a beautiful thing.  That and Sean found love on The Bachelor.   We all woke up happy today, didn't we?

Monday

Not much to say today, other than the girls slept in until 8am this morning, I successfully snuck carrot and spinach into our hamburgers last night (thank you Vitamix) and The Bachelor finale is on tonight.  True love at its finest.  What is the matter with me?  Don't answer.
My happy little camper to brighten your day.  Although she's not so happy right now so we will just hit 'publish' and call it a day.

TGIF

It was sunny and gorgeous today - we went for a nice walk with Grandpa, stopped for a treat at the little market up the street, played outside, went sledding (minus one key ingredient - we never claimed our kids were the brightest, did we?), swung on the tire swing, made smoothies, someone went #2 in our pants three times (can't win 'em all), read books, cleaned our rooms, got coffee with mom.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Cooker Ryan

If you ask Ryan what she wants to be when she grows up, you'll get a myriad of answers but the most common is a chef (although often said as 'cooker').   Move over Giada, her new favorite cooking show is Extra Virgin (referred to as 'vava viva' by Ryan) on the Cooking Channel.  Anyway, she is always wanting to help out in the kitchen so she gets her own work station and all my scraps to have at it.....

She can also make a mean smoothie now....

In other news, these two are best buddies..... 

And there aren't too many words to describe this girl....