Laura's Pajama Party 4th Birthday!

Laura's party was so much fun to plan this year, in part because she was so involved in the details!  She asked for a party where her friends would wear pajamas, with a pin the ___ on the ___ game, and a cake that tasted like strawberry, was pink on the inside with white frosting, rainbow sprinkles and real strawberries as decoration.  Pretty specific!  And luckily very easy for me to oblige!

In the end, Laura agreed to have a waffle bar: waffles (Bisquik for the win!), whipped cream, butter, chocolate chips, strawberries, bananas, blueberries, syrup, honey, sugar... And KFC chicken with gravy!!  The waffle bar was delicious and fun and super easy (I precooked the waffles and kept them warm in the oven.  Of course I didn't get a picture of the bar all set up!

Laura and I settled on Pin the Carrot on Olaf, since we are so obsessed with Frozen (and I found this great image on Google, credits go to I'm not exactly sure...)!  I PhotoShopped Olaf's nose off, and printed it at 150% and taped it together.  As it turned out, Laura majorly cheated and none of the boys cared to play.  Laura was thrilled, and that's all that matters!

A few searches on my beloved Pinterest really made the planing exceptionally easy.  Behold the cake!  A shout out to Pillsbury Strawberry Cake mix and classic white frosting.  I am so proud of this cake!

And it was delicious, too!!!

No survivors...

Laura talked me and Nate into wearing jammies, too.  I only wish we had taken a photo with Gavin, too.  (Please also note the 34 week belly...)

We ended the party with a Pandora Disney Channel dance party.  So, so much fun!

Favors were mini cereal boxes with thank-you puns taped on, and mini flashlights that were a huge hit with the 4 and under set.

Seriously, such an easy and fun party!!  And I can't believe Laura is two days from FOUR!!!!  We'll celebrate as a family by going out for Mexican on Wednesday :)

So They Say...

I try to keep notes on my iPhone of all the funny things Laura and Gavin do and say.  Unfortunately in October, I lost my phone and therefore lost the running list I'd started since the last blog update.  Since then, I have tried my best to keep a running list but don't always have time to write everything down (those two are just that funny!).  Here's what I've got from October to present:

I praised Laura for her hard work getting better at counting:
"My new school is much better. I'm learning a lot more. At my old school we only had playtime and only had projects sometimes. At my new school we do projects every day!! I love it!! It's such a better school!"

L: I'm so excited for Christmas!
Me: You already got your Christmas present, your new room!
L: No, Santa didn't give me that! Bimpy is not Santa! (Bimpy painted her room pink, and Grammy added butterflies)

L: When is Jack Frost going to come and bring ice so you can teach me to ice skate?
Me: Um... I don't really know how to ice skate...
L: (Sobbing) how will I learn how to ice skate? I'll never learn how to ice skate!

Watching jungle book and talking about bravery (overcoming fear)
Nate: Laura, what are you afraid of?
L: I'm not brave.

Me: Laura's watching a video, Gavin!
L: What's a video?

I'm thankful for my favorite yogurt (Minnie Yoplait) what my mommy buys for me, and I'm thankful for the grocery store for selling the yogurt.

Wah! Gavin knocked over my block tower! I can't wait for him to grow up!

There's a birthday and another and another!! All these birthdays are giving me a headache!

Laura wanted to look like Mrs. Claus so she dressed all in green in her Tinkerbell outfit, and stuffed her tummy with her favorite blankie!

We're playing with the school bus what is actually the (yellow) couch

Ouch my arm ankles hurt!

Gavin drew a picture on this piece of paper, but it's quite small. Quite small.

Laura was naming the hearts on her tights (although she said they were naming themselves):
L: (Singing) My name is Batherine, my name is Batherine, because I like baths and I like the name Katherine!  My name is Greter."
Nate: That's not a great name...
L: I know! It's awful! But she named herself!

Gavin is not capable of talking sometimes



And here's a quick list of what Gavin is saying these days (or has at least said once!):
What is this (one time)
Baby
Hi guys
Where Laura
I want this
Out
Dah oo (thank you) (rarely)
Beep beep
Roar
Woof
Ball
All duh (all done)
I wanna see
Moh (More)
Rawbob (strawberry)
Uh oh!
Chees! (Cheers)
Alright
Bay boo! (Peekaboo!)
Where Ries?
Car (star)
Ights (lights)




He might not be the chattiest, but he sure is funny!

December Recap

December was awesome!  CHRISTMAS!!  One month closer to my birthday!!!  First things first, we got our tree.  Mom and Dad say it was the easiest tree selecting ever: it was bitter cold and rainy, so we pretty much grabbed a tree and ran to pay.  It fit right into the stand at home, and I couldn't wait to start decorating!  In fact, I did most of the decorating myself.  Mom did the lights and breakable ones, and we did the silver ones together.

The next day, it snowed!!!  Mommy realized very quickly that my snowboots were still at Grandma's from the move, so we had to make do.  I wore rain boots, and Gavin wore a pair of my cowgirl boots.  Gavin wasn't really a fan of the snow, but I had a great time!  Daddy and I made a snowman!

 Gavin appeared much happier to WATCH me and Daddy play in the snow from the comfort of the upstairs window seat.  (YAWN!)

Next up was our family's annual holiday party, the BadBash!  We had some really terrible weather, but a bunch of friends still made it.  It may have been our biggest party yet - good thing there's so much room in the new house!  As a fabulous bonus Santa came, too!!  (I had a feeling he would.  As I told Mom earlier in the month, "We'll have a party and Santa will be there and I'll tell him that I want a Clifford the Big Red Dog stuffed animal, and then he will bring it.")

Mom and I went on a date to see Frozen!!  It was so funny.  We loved Olaf the snowman, and Spen (Sven) the reindeer the best.

We made Christmas presents for Grammy and Grandma, and I helped Mom wrap a bunch of things for Grandma, Grandpa, Andy and Dad!

Finally, after months of waiting, it was Christmas morning!!!  I wasn't feeling well (bad cough), but I put on my game face to see if Santa had visited and brought what we had asked for.  Boy did he, and then some!!  I had asked for Clifford the Big Red Dog and a puppy puppet.  I'm not sure what Gavin asked for, but he seemed thrilled with all his booty!

 Gavin and I both love playing with his puppy guitar.  Grandpa loves it too - I hear his birthday is coming up...

 I even got a Princess Anna (Frozen) dress and some Frozen books!  Santa really knows how to impress a girl.  Ries liked the dress too - does it come in puppy size?

 Gavin L-O-V-E-S his vacuum.

 Ries was very wary of train.

 Gavin and I each got a lacrosse stick - a true Maryland Christmas!

 After the morning festivities at our house, we packed up a few precious gifts and drove to Grandma & Grandpa's house to see all the aunts and uncles and dogs and Nicos.

 We got even more presents, including a Disney Princess Little People castle for me!!!!!!!!! 

 We spent a few days in Pennsylvania, then went back to Maryland to see Grammy & Bimpy.  They spoiled us even more!  I got my first (three) Barbies AND a Barbie dollhouse!  Gavin and I both got a picnic table, which is still in the kitchen for us to eat at - we love it!

 Grammy had a copy of The Spicable Me 2 (Despicable Me 2), which she graciously decided to leave behind for me to keep.  We have watched it several times - it's so funny!

 You can tell how much Gavin truly loves his vacuum...

We celebrated New Ears close to home, at a party thrown by our new neighbors across the street.  It was a Mad Hatter party, so of course I dressed as Alice!  I got to wear this blue dress that was Grammy's when she was little.  Gavin puked all over the host's kitchen in the first ten minutes, and therefore did  not stay at the party for very long.  Mom and I stayed a while, then went home (so far! across the street!) to wear jammies till Midnight.  As soon as the ball dropped, we went back outside to see the amazing fireworks display the neighbors set off!  It was so cool!!  Mom was in her element, as fireworks are her favorite.  Ries was terrified, but insisted on staying outside with us and didn't bark once.

Happy New Ears, everyone!

November Recap

So.  November happened, too.  It wasn't quite as busy as October... but almost!  First up, we went to Mommy's friend's house in Virginia for a visit.  We went to an apple fest, and walked around UVA.  Laura and I made ourselves right at home in the Rotunda.  Future Cavaliers? 

We lit our first fire in the new fireplace (Daddy's favorite part of the new house)!

We hosted a Wine Around the World party for Grandma's 60th birthday.  Our family was in charge of France.  I looked tres beau dans mon chapeau.  (Other countries were USA, Italy, South America & Australia.  I enjoyed the crackers served at each station.)

Shortly after the big party, it was Thanksgiving!  For a foodie like me, what a fabulous holiday!  Laura and I got to wear the fun hats we made at school. 

 I tucked right into all the delicious food.

 Then Laura and I went outside to burn off all the calories on our slide!  You can't see my face, but I was having a BLAST riding down the slide on Laura's lap.  Hilarity also ensued with Grammy's traditional rocket balloons.  Don't ask... we're still finding bits of balloon all over the yard!

And that's a wrap for November!