2015 Week 12

I have lots and lots of pictures from last week to share, but for Week 11 I'm just going to share pictures from Miss A's first hair cut. Yes, we waited until she was just days from turning five to get her hair cut. It wasn't anything intentional, it was just that it didn't seem to need a cut. For most of the time she was four she wanted pig tails so it wasn't until she started wearing her hair down recently that I thought it was probably time to get those curls a little bit more under control. 

See her there waiting for her appointment? She looks a lot more four-going-on-fifteen than four-going-on-five there. 

While I was feeling all kinds of emotional about my baby growing up, Miss A was near tears about getting her hair cut. Actually, once we actually got to the salon she was fine, but when I told her I made the appointment there was a lot of crying. I sweetened the deal with donuts and that seemed to help smooth things over.  

She was actually pretty excited when we got to the salon. Instead of taking her to a kid salon I took her to my salon, The Hive. I started going there a couple of years ago when my previous stylist stopped doing hair (still feeling sad about that) and I've had good luck with a few different stylists there. The Hive is decorated in a really cute, girly way and they specialize in curly hair making it the perfect spot for Miss A. It was a little more expensive than I'd like for a kid hair cut, but I really wanted this first experience to be a good one. I have a love/hate relationship with my hair that was way, way more hate when I was growing up and I want her to be more on the love side.

Miss A really did seem to enjoy the experience, and she felt like such a big girl getting to go to my salon (though she was happy that they had a kid cape with animals, instead of the black ones the adults had). Erik did a nice job making her feel comfortable and keeping her hair nice and long, just like she asked.

5 years ago...

This is one of the photos waiting for me on Timehop this morning.

Almost every day Timehop makes me feel all kinds of emotions about my girls growing up way. too. fast. But this, have I really been a mom for 5 years? How can that even be possible? 

Being a mom has changed me. It has made my days feel longer and the years feel shorter. It has made me feel more love (and more frustration and more worry) than ever before. 

And in the past 5 years I have changed so much as a mom. From being the mom of a baby, to a toddler, to a preschooler getting oh so close to kindergarten. From waking up to the slightest noise, to (sometimes) needing a little nudge to get up in the middle of the night. From carrying her to holding her hand to watching her run. From encouraging her to crawl and walk to hoping she'll sit still. From holding her to watching her hold her baby sister. From being a mom of one to a mom of three. 

I have loved it. I do love it. I love watching my first grow, and my second and my third. But sometimes it's bittersweet. It's getting more difficult for me to pick up her up every day. She sits by the door waiting for her friends to get home from school so she can go out and play. 

I'll be squeezing her (well, all three of them) extra tight for awhile, trying to keep them little as long as I can. 

Little J's Kitty Party

I think this is my last catch up post from 2014 :) We had a weekend of parties in December with Little J's 3rd birthday starting things off. Little J started planning her party back in March after Miss A's birthday. Initially she wanted a purple party, but over time she added kitties to it, so it was a purple kitty party. In the week before her birthday (after receiving some Hello Kitty things for her birthday) she decided it was a Hello Kitty party, so we added in some Hello Kitty decorations. 

I got a Hello Kitty popcorn maker in a white elephant gift exchange last Christmas, which came in quite handy for Little J's kitty party. She loves popcorn, so it's very fitting. We had a few other snacks, plus Little J favorites mac and cheese, ham and dinner rolls. I put up a few kitty decorations, and a 3 made of pictures of Little J as I have for previous parties. 

I found some kitty masks at Michael's around Halloween, so I got a bunch for the kids to decorate at the party.

Though in most ways Little J reminds me of her Daddy, she does share my love of chocolate. She requested a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I know that's not for everyone, and the 3 takes two cakes, so I made one chocolate cake and one yellow cake. Little J was really excited for everyone to sing to her, but got a little shy when it was actually happening. Such a little cutie!

Uncle B and Aunt S got Little J a Hello Kitty pinata as part of her gift and she thought it was really fun. It was cold the night of her party, so we let the kids do the pinata in our basement. Because my little brother brought the pinata, I made him hold it while giving the little people a broom to swing at the pinata. That might have been my favorite part. That or the caramel Hershey's kisses inside. They were really tasty.

2015 Weeks 10 & 11

Week 9 of 2015 got a little crazy around here. Well, most of 2015 is crazy, but this felt extra nuts. I remembered that my week was coming to a close and grabbed a couple quick shots of Baby C. She's sitting so well now. I love that she can sit but can't get go anywhere. It makes her a great "helper."

We got some great weather this March, and I have been loving every minute of it. Except last night when it decided to snow. Boo.

Here's a Little J dance party in the kitchen to start off the week.

And a whole bunch of outside work. Many of our leaves fell after the first snow, so we had mountains of leaves in our back yard. The girls didn't mind one bit.

Leaf piles, the perfect place to wrestle/hug your sister.

Another Daddy's girl.

We made chalk outlines of our bodies on the sidewalk. Little J thought it was great fun. Miss A woke up at 5am the next morning crying because someday it was going to rain an wash Chalk A away. Which would have been really funny if it weren't 5am.

Finally, E decided to take over dinner one night and he and the girls made us homemade corn dogs and french fries. Super tasty!

Little J is 3!

My sweet Little J turned 3 about 4 months ago, and this post has been a draft since that time. It seems every December I fall behind in blogging/photos/etc and it takes a few months to get caught up. 

Two was such a fun age with Little J. She is a silly, sweet girl. She loves to make people laugh. It's the best when she can make her big sister laugh. She's big on physical comedy. As I've been looking back on her baby pictures, she was such a smiley baby and is still a smiley kid. 

Daddy says Little J is awesome (though she might prefer "awesomesauce"). He loves her facial expressions and when she drops her shoulders in disappointment, "awww." She's very sweet, and shares well but has a bit of a temper too. He loves when she tries to be in charge. She will say, "I have a great idea!" or point out, "You already said that." I love her big squeeze hugs. She grabs around my neck and squeezes so tightly. It's one of the best feelings. She also likes to 'nuggle and I'll take toddler snuggles any day. I also enjoy when she tells us she's "cute and smart." 

Here's what Little J had to say about herself on her third birthday.

Favorite Movie: Tangled

Favorite Show: Sobia Birst (Sofia the First)

Favorite Song: Spinning Circles (I Don't Dance, Lee Brice), Shake It Off, All About that Bass

Favorite Book: Corduroy Goes to the Doctor (weird), Don't Let the Pigeon Ride the Bus

Favorite Color: purple

Favorite Food: Mac & Cheese, PB & J, ice cream

Favorite Toys: baby, princesses

Favorite Things To Do: puzzles, babies, 'nuggle, dance, pretend to be a mommy

Favorite Game: hide and seek, marble game

Favorite Pony: Twilight Sparkle

Favorite Animal: kitty cat

Favorite Place To Go: Merica Merica (Mall of America)

What do you like to sleep with? blankie, bison

What do you want to be when you grow up? make my kids happy

And now a few of my favorite pictures of Little J between 2 and 3.

This is Little J's favorite picture!