Maggie turns 3!

We celebrated Maggie’s 3^rd birthday last week!  Jamie and I were both wondering how time has moved to so quickly!  She likes to tell people that she is three years old, but has a really hard time holding up only three fingers, so she usually indicates that she is four instead.

Three years old!

Her actual birthday was Thursday, and we had pancakes for breakfast and opened some presents.

Happy birthday to me!

Grandma stayed with the girls during the day, and gave Maggie her special princess dress and headband!  She also had a mini-party with her best friend Emily the day before, and got to make cupcakes!

I'm a princess!

When's my birthday?!

Dance party

Very serious about the sprinkle to
frosting ratio

After work, Jamie took Maggie to see "Foley" the school bus!  Maggie is so intrigued by school busses, and the chance to ride on one got her really excited.  The original plan was for the bus driver to take Maggie for a little ride, but sadly the bus broke down beforehand!  So they only got to go and look inside the bus.  Maggie said, "we went to see Foley but he is sick and he has to go to the doctor."

Maggie was very nervous about being in the driver's seat

I love my daddy

We went out to Red Robin for dinner while Grandma kindly watched Evie.  Maggie had two bites of her hamburger and then ate her entire (adult-sized) birthday sundae to the last drop!

Tastes like happiness

How every woman really wants to eat ice cream

Evie and Maggie playing with some new toys:

We had a Tinkerbell-themed birthday party at the house on Saturday.  I told myself I would never be one of those crazy moms who needs a theme for every event... I lied.  My name is Holly, and I am a crazy mom.

I made tinkerbell socks (green socks with little puff balls on the end), fairy bell necklaces and fairy wings for all the kids.  I also had some pirate hats and foam swords for anyone who didn't want to be a fairy.  Most kids were a little too young for everything, but I know Maggie enjoyed it!  They decorated fairy houses in the basement with stickers, glitter (I may re-think that idea next time) and feathers.  We even had a visit from Tinkerbell and her buddy Serena (the pirate fairy) thanks to two of Jamie's really sweet co-workers!  Aunt Amy made a custom birthday shirt for Maggie (check out her Etsy shop!).

Showing Luke how to flutter

Checking out her tinkerbell cake - made by one of
Jamie's former students!  Amazing (and tasty)!

Forcing Uncle Jason to be a horse

Checking out her gifts with Kate

All the tiny people took over the dining room table...
sorry adults...

Making fairy houses with Tinkerbell

Feeling pretty special

Kids are great at posing for photos

Tinkerbell and Serena!

Here, Grandma, let me fix your hat

Ahoy.

Maggie got a Power Wheel from Grandma
and Grandpa - which is nicer than my car

Baller.

Who needs a car when you have a box!

Tough girls

Enjoying her birthday song

The party was a little chaotic in our little house, but it was a fun time!

Evie came down with a fever the night of the party, but seems to be back to her normal self today.  I have a lovely little stomach bug keeping me home from work ... at least it waited until after the party to take over my life.

In other news...

Evie has learned the joys of bath time.  We were giving her baths in the small tub that fits over our sink, but she would use her hands and feet to splash water EVERYWHERE!  The front of me was usually soaked by the end of the bath!  She is so spirited, it just makes me laugh.  I remember Maggie used to love having baths, and would lay there calmly while I gently washed her, and also when I put the lotion on.  It was a sweet little quiet time for us.  Evie and I share a lot of laughs over bath time, and it totally wakes her up!

I experimented with both kids in the tub together this weekend, and it worked out great!  I get a little nervous about Evie because she is still pretty young, but I keep a close eye on her.  It is pretty darn adorable to see the two sisters in the tub together (though Maggie insists on sitting in the shallower end because she thinks she will "fall down the drain").

This is how Maggie likes to watch her shows now

Maggie has noticed all the Christmas lights when we drive around.  During October, there were a lot of Halloween lights up, and so we would also say, “oooh, spooooky” when driving by.  Now Maggie thinks all exterior lights are “spoooooky” and says so whenever she sees them.  Then she laughs and says, “I mean, they are pretty!”

Maggie’s latest saying is, “it’s fine,” which I’m sure she adopted from me.  Like when I ask if she has to go potty – “no no, Mama, it’s fine.”

Just a little night-time reading

Thanksgiving - Round 2!

We had a delectable Thanksgiving at cousin Betsy’s house this year!  The food was just awesome, and it was really nice to see Jamie’s extended family – they are some pretty great people.  Of all the cousins, Maggie was really drawn to Emma (the oldest), and Emma was very patient and sweet to her.  Emma and Hannah both took turns holding Evie, who loved everyone fussing over her!  As usual, Maggie was heartbroken when we had to leave.

Maggie, Evie, Emma and Hannah with the choke-hold!

Hanging with Uncle Justin

Only real men can play pink guitars

Girls being girls

The godfather

Singing happy birthday to Emma
(p.s. ice cream cake for Thanksgiving was awesome)

Emma was such a sweetie with Evie

Evie got her helmet last week, and we have been increasing her wear-time each day.  She doesn’t seem to hate it, but it has made her a bit ornery.  She gets really warm while wearing it (which we were told to expect), so when we take off the helmet, her hair is dripping with sweat and smells pretty bad.  She has a really hard time staying asleep for more than about an hour, so Jamie and I are constantly rocking and cuddling her through the night.  I feel so awful doing this to her – I just want it to be over!  We just finished ramping up to a full-time wear schedule, so maybe things will get better this week.

It's not so bad, Mom

She makes it look good!

We spent the rest of the weekend putting up the Christmas decorations and a bunch of other household chores.  We squeezed in a yummy brunch at Ale Mary’s on Sunday with the girls – and then decided to never do brunch with the girls again!   It was actually fine, just a bit hectic keeping everyone happy.

Hmm... maybe Daddy should be the one to
put up the lights...

Having fun with Santa

My sweet girl

Keeping Evie entertained while we clean!

Some other randoms:

Do I have something on my face?

Helping me cook... best mom ever

Bed head

Racing at Meijer

As promised, here is a video of Evie's laugh:

Evie did not approve this picture

Go ahead and brush your shoulders off

Winter is Here

We had about six inches of snowfall this past weekend, first snow of the year!  It was actually really beautiful, but a bit early in my opinion!  We still have leaves on some trees!  Maggie was so excited when she looked out her window after waking up – “it’s wintering outside, Mama!”

So beautiful

In other news, Evie is now 7 months old!  She is sitting up and rolling around all over the place.  She's incredibly strong (and strong-willed)!  Evie was sleeping 12 hours at night for a couple months, but now she's waking up in the middle of the night again.  We are experimenting with her feeding schedule, so hopefully that will help!  My favorite thing about Evie right now is her giggle.  She loves to be tickled, and her laugh is so funny... most babies have little angelic, fairy-like laughs, but Evie's laugh is much deeper and gritty (? I'm finding this really hard to describe... I'll try to get a video sometime soon).  It just cracks me up!

  

 

    

Sunday we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Rabine side since my parents will be out of town this week.  So much good food, it was awesome!  Maggie was beyond excited to spend so much time with Luke.  They did everything together (even cheerleading each other while going potty).  Evie got lots of attention, and was a total sweetheart all night.  

A bunch of the grandkids (and Allison)

Grammer doing her Donald Duck impersonation

It's been a long night of partying!

The little ones

Mr. Mischief

Jamie finally got to meet his new niece!

Evie's latest fascination: spoons

Luke led a parade and dropped his latest single, "Dinosaur Song:"

Here's some others from the weekend:

Evie is happiest next to Maggie

Taking a break from housework to snuggle

Daddy's girls

Trying to focus a lot more on tummy time,
need to practice for crawling!

Playing at the library with Grandma!

Showing off her new bib all the way from
Japan!  Thanks, Andy and Katie!

We are working on catching and throwing with Maggie.  Turns out, balloons are awesome for practice!  Her very patient Grandpa likes to play with her:

Evie gives this week's headlines:

Short work week, woot woot!