Cookies & Milk Party

Tyler, Harper & Court's 4th Annual Cookies & Milk party was so fun. We were pretty close to not having it due to living in our very weird rental but when the girls starting asking if the real Santa was coming back again for cookies at their house with their friends, I knew we had to keep the traditions going. So, the baking, decorating & planning began. Tyler & Harper were actually pretty big helpers this year and helped to plan some of the details.

The cookie table!

The girls helped with the reindeer cookies and helped to roll out the sugar cookie dough for the stars, candy canes & christmas tree cookies.

The Peppermint Hot Chocolate Reindeer favors...

Dad got suckered into doing 90% of these!

What a sweet hubby!!!

The toy drive

This is the first year we decided to do a toy drive and the idea actually came from the girls in a round about way. Recently they have been putting lots of their old toys in bags and saying they want to give them to other children since they do not play with them anymore. So, we searched around for a children's charity looking for toys for the holidays and found Hemby Children's hospital... more on this below.

The kids milk bar

So, we were ready! It was going to be as low stress as it can be to have 100+ people in your house. We were prepared and did not have a ton of last minute stuff to do. Then this happened...

Yep, that is our tree at 9am the day of the party.

Broken ornaments everywhere and the stress level began to creep up.

But we survived. Cleaned up the mess and had some assistance securing it to the wall so it would stay up for good this time.

Then Santa arrived...

Tyler & Harper with the "real" Santa.

They love Santa this year!

Court does NOT love Santa this year.

Santa & the kids

Watching Santa leave... he had to walk down the street to get in his sleigh.

Cookies & Milk Party 2011

We do not have any pictures of the chaos of the packed party... guess we were busy entertaining. But it was fun. Can't wait to do it all again next year.

The aftermath of the playroom!!!

The day after the party we all went to go donate all of the amazing toys our friends brought to the party. We had a box filled to the top of new toys for the kids at Hemby Children's hospital to enjoy and it was such a rewarding experience. The children there are sick and will be spending Christmas in the hospital and these toys will help bring them a little cheer. We wanted to make sure the kids could all go with us to understand where the toys were going...

Daddy had to carry the heavy box in...

Donating the toys.

We took a tour and got to see the special floor that the kids get to stay on and left feeling very blessed for 3 healthy children.

Guess we better rest up now for the 5th annual Cookies & Milk party...

The Nutcracker

It was a weekend of kids Christmas activities! We started off Friday afternoon with a trip to a fun Art & Gym Santa party. Lots of running around jumping and tumbling, lots of painting and drawing and some snuggles with Santa.

My little artists!

Seeing Santa.

Girls love him, Court not so much!

Then we went to drop off the girls for their first trip to the Nutcracker with Honey, Gigi & Aunt Kristin. They made it through most of it then dozed off at the end. Tyler says her favorite part was the bear and Harper loved the mice.

Off to the Nutcracker!

So excited!!!

Tyler, Honey & Harper

Meanwhile Court enjoyed a weekend with just mom & dad and had lots of one on one time without his attention bearing sissies around. It was just what he needed and just what Mommy needed to get everything ready for our annual Cookies & Milk party. Pictures to come from that... still recovering!

4 Year Old Stats

Our two FOUR year olds had a great check up today.

Harper (L), the spunky one

Tyler (R) the chill one

The girls are both in about the 25th% for height and weight and perfectly healthy. Tyler weighs about a pound more and Harper is about half an inch taller but I think both these measurements may be a little skewed due to being wiggle worms.

Harper is 30.4 lbs and 39" tall. Tyler is 31.2lbs and 38.5" tall.

Their eye sight was great and Tyler impressed the doctor by writing her whole name- TYLER. Harper has the "H" down and a few other letters so she shyly showed off a few of her skills too.

Both screamed louder than I have ever heard with their shots today (and I did not even give them all of them so not looking forward to going back in a few weeks for the rest!) But they were quick to cheer up with some stickers.

Happy 4.

Cabin Fever!!!

All of the partying we have done has gotten all of us a little run down... everyone has a tiny cold so we have been mostly housebound since Monday.... A trip to the doctor to confirm it is just a cold at the start of the week and then a brief attempt at school yesterday for the girls led to a call to pick them up due to uncontrollable bloody noses. That ended with a trip to the ENT where we barely escaped a cauterized nose vessel (not fun for a 4 year old so we are attempting alternatives!) So we decided to just chill at home ALL day! Mom got all the Christmas cards addressed and started the homemade favors for our annual Cookies & Milk party this weekend. The kids caught up on lots of Christmas movies and enjoyed a day in pj's! It was just what we needed but certainly has caused a bit of cabin fever! Cannot wait to escape in the morning.

Here are the girls hanging out in our new Laundry room sink.

Yes we are weird & earthy.

But it is going to be oh so cool!

Someone was not happy about the entrapment!

Get me outta here.

And an update on the house blog... yep, on hold until after the Holidays! Stay tuned...

Party Time!!!

So the day of the party finally arrived! We had two very excited little girls ready to celebrate turning 4 with their friends at their Art themed pajama party. The girls are obsessed with art... probably spend about 2+ hours a day drawing and painting, cutting and gluing ~ so having the party at an art studio was an easy choice. It was at 9am so we decided to serve sprinkle doughnuts and Tyler & Harper insisted that everyone wear pj's! It was fun, easy, low key and we all enjoyed a morning all about the girls.

Happy 4 Harper!

Happy 4 Tyler!

All of their pj clad buddies begin to arrive and start decorating their birthday banners!

A birthday book to start off the activities.

Sweet Little Bro!

Drawing, their favorite.

The party!

Birthday gals with Ebby.

Lexy & Mary Brooks decorating their magic wands.

Katie with her crown!

Court loved doing art.

Cousin Banks arrived, just in time for...

Birthday pink sprinkle cupcakes!!!

Happy Birthday to you!

Make a wish!!!

Cute Carson.

Sweet Wells.

Happy Birthday Tyler & Harper!

Here we go...

So, what a week! A very eventful week. A class party, decorating the house for Christmas, surviving the new "attitude" that comes with being almost 4 (times 2), oh and they tore our house down....

Happy 4!

Party #2 at school

Tyler

Mommy and her 4 year olds!

Harper

Now onto decorating the tree... We started Sunday night and 5 days later I would say we are nearly finished. I love getting everything decorated early so we all have the whole month to enjoy the Christmas magic!

Court hard at work.

The girls were so excited to help this year.

Up next getting a few inches trimmed off the little man's hair. I was trying so hard to go with the cool surfer dude long locks but with his preppy demeanor we decided at 22 months he did not need shoulder link hair so off it went!

I just love that little profile!

I'm cool, train in hand.

And finally the house started. Yes, the house we moved out of THREE months ago is just now starting. But we are grateful, excited and ready for the next 8 months to breeze by so we are back in our house!!!

Moving Day, late August 2011

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Friday, December 2, 2011

The kids & Dad at our old front door.

The part still standing in the back was the hold up with permitting therefore it is staying.

Sure wish it went up as fast as it went down!

House blog to come when I can find the time.

(Email me if you know me & want the link!)

Now onto Party #3 & #4 this weekend....