elliott is THREE!!!!

My baby girl is 3 years old!  She had her 3-year check-up  today, and I'm happy to report she's perfectly healthy.  She still hasn't hit the 30-pound mark yet (she is 28 3/4 lbs.) and can wear the same shoes she could wear a year ago.  So she's not gonna be a runway model or a Rockette.  A gymnast maybe?  Who knows.  All I know is she sure is cute.  

She started her birthday with some chocolate chip pancakes.

Followed by a bath (necessitated by the pancakes) and her FIRST EVER hair cut.  That is, unless you count the little trim her BFF Emma gave her a few weeks back, but that was only a strand.  (Apparently the girls are aspiring hairdressers - Elliott also gave Emma a trim.  I *shudder* when I think about how bad that could have been...)  Here's the before pic:

During the trim...

And after.

The finished result.  (And yes, those are the same hot pink cowboy boots she was wearing in her 2-year-old birthday party pics.  But she is growing.  I think.)  

She wanted a Princess Aurora and Ariel birthday party.   This is the pose I got pretty much EVERY time I asked to take her picture.  Such a priss.

I think she was a tiny bit excited about opening presents.

Cousin Cohen had SO much fun at the party that he couldn't hang.

Elliott and her princess cake.

Happy Birthday, Elliott!!

kellen's sweet, teenaged par-tay

What does a 13-year-old do to celebrate his birthday?  Chuck E. Cheese, Pump It Up and Laserquest are all in our past (whew!), so instead, Kellen decided he wanted to have a few friends "hang out."  When "few" turned out to be more than a dozen, we decided to let his friends get together at Aurora, the family pool business.  We were thinking they could swim, play pool, foosball, air hockey, ping pong... Nope.  Know what they did?  15 or so 12-15 year olds spent an entire afternoon playing hide-n-seek - and apparently having a blast. 

Kellen and his friend (and twin) Alex.

 Elliott made the rounds with Kellen's girl friends.  That's girl [space] friends, people.  Not girlfriends.  Just making sure we're all clear...  :)  Here's a pic of her hanging with Christine.

Kellen with his cookie cake (post-swimming, which is unfortunately when I took most of the pictures.  These kids all look like wet dogs.  Ha!)

Autumn giving Kellen not one but TWO sets of bunny ears.  Who put icing all over Kellen's face??

Cake time!

Abby has the exact same smile in both of these pics.  Very nice, Abigail.  

Madison and Elliott jamming to some Taylor Swift.

LOVE the blue icing coating on your braces, Jacob!!

Shea got to snuggle with Baby Cade for a bit.

Here's a pic of Kellen opening presents, which I mostly included only because Mikey said I couldn't get a picture of him, and I did.  So there. 

This is a great group of kids - er, young people - or whatever.  We definitely missed a few folks who couldn't make it, but we had a lot of fun!  Kellen is truly blessed with some fantastic friends.

the big 1-3 (or... how in the world did my baby get so big?)

The sweetest of sweet hearts, my forever Valentine, turned 13 this Valentine's Day!  How did that happen?  Kellen, you were the one who made me a mommy, and I thought nothing could make me happier.  But I was wrong.  Seeing the man you are becoming has given me more joy than I could have ever thought possible.  You make me proud every day.

Here are a few pics of my funny Valentine when he was little. 

  I know it's cliche to say time flies by, but having a newborn around to compare to my giant teenager makes it easy to see just how much he's grown.  It makes it easy to remember waking up with my newborn Kellen half a dozen times a night, and how I wished that those days would hurry up and pass.  Lesson learned - like they say, be careful what you wish for.  I'd never wish again for a single day with him to hurry up.  I love you, Kellen!

one month

Baby Cade is one month old! 

He had his check up today, and he weighs 9 lbs. 12 oz. and is 21 inches long.  The little piggy has already gained 3 pounds from his lowest weight.  (Apparently 1-1/2 to 2 lbs. a month is normal for the first few months - can you say "oink"?)  That's the good news.  The bad news is he's having some GI issues, and mommy gets to go on an elimination diet.   :(  Of course I'd do anything for these dimples...

On the bright side, such restricted eating should help me shed some post-baby weight.  And since I read my own blog, here's a note to myself:  Your baby is a month old.  Stop trying on your pre-pregnant skinny jeans.  Nothing good can come of that.  

better late than never...

Somehow I completely forgot about posting Christmas pics on our blog.  I guess I was waiting to find the time to go through and edit some of the bazillion pictures I took.  I've given up on that idea, and decided to just get them up on the blog "raw" and unedited.  It's better than nothing, right?  Besides, I'm pretty sure that 6 weeks is about as long after Christmas as you're allowed to post pictures - I think there's a Blogger rule about that somewhere.  In no particular order, here are some of my favorites.