Love those special moments

Grandpa is such a great reader to little ones...Lizzie was very engaged the whole time! :)

Thanks Grandma for reading to Ali...she loves these Magic Fairy books! They are such cute stories!

We had a sunny day and could actually go outside and play a bit! Thanks for bringing nice weather from AZ!! :) We miss you already! Love you!

Grandpa & Grandma!

The girls were so happy to have their Grandpa & Grandma come visit! They played so cute...Ali was making up lots of rules for their game of "You can't catch me" including magic "cards" where she was free on the carpet. I didn't get all of the rules straight but there was lots of laughing going on!

Here are the magic "cards" which are actually my dad's campaign cards. He is running for AZ state legislature for his district in Scottsdale. I guess he wasn't busy enough during his retirement and he decided that he wanted to make a difference at the state level! We are so proud and excited for him....let's hope the word gets out by next November!!

Where are they?

What is the best thing to do with a pile of clean laundry? No, not fold it and put it away....HIDE from Mommy in it! This time we weren't actually playing Ursula and Ariel...we were playing Rapunzel and Goethel. Anything where Mommy gets to be the evil one is good!

Thanks Auntie Erin, Uncle Tony & Nora!

Lizzie LOVES her new shorts, summer hat, and sunglasses! She was so excited to get another birthday present that she put them on right away (over her jammies that she was wearing all day long!) and would NOT take them off for her nap!!! She even went to sleep with the sunglasses on! (I then went in and moved them...but she fell asleep with the whole outfit on!)

Flower Girl Practice

The girls were SO excited when their flower girl dresses for Pete and Sheila's wedding arrived! THANK YOU Sheila!! They LOVE them! They were dancing all around and so happy!! And they fit perfectly!

I love this life!

Happy Hearts Day to my sweet little girls and my sweet husband! I love you so much!

Dora Goes to the Party

So, I still got to make Lizzie's birthday cake (she didn't tell me that store bought ones are more special like Ali did last year!! :) She wanted a Dora cake so we used lots of figures we had around the house to make this! See Dora and Boots and Map following the trail through the jungle (with lots of animals supplied by Ali), through the water, and all the way to the party (with little cupcakes and other desserts). A bit of a crazy, silly cake but it was fun to make with the girls!

Thank you to all the grandparents for her beautiful big-girl bedding...she really likes it and wanted to take her nap with the quilt in her crib! She also got a bathroom for the Mouse House, a new tutu, Ariel costume from the neighbors, Color Wonder book, and magnet dress up doll.

I am TWO!

Our Elizabeth is 2! She is so sweet and is such a pleaser. You can hear her say, "Sorry Ali" even when she didn't do anything wrong...she just wants Ali to be happy...She says, "Hooray" when anything happy happens....She is so easy-going she says, "Okay Mommy" whenever I ask her to do something! (And no, I don't think turning 2 will change any of that...no, not ever...cross fingers!!) She LOVES playing with Ali...dress up, dolls, hide and seek. She will eat almost anything and loves to go places or just hang out at home. We love you so much!! (And we will still love you even if you become more head-strong and opinionated...I promise!)

Her 2 year old party...we just had the neighbors over for party-hat decorating, pizza, and cake. It was so fun because she really understood it was all for her.

Friendship Party

Thanks Nana and Poppa for the matching Valentine's Day skirts!! The girls are all dressed up for Ali's preschool party.

I can't believe Ali only has 3 more months of preschool...I registered her for kindergarten starting in the fall. I can't believe she'll be gone every afternoon every day! I know Lizzie will miss her and I will too! When I was teaching full-day kindergarten I thought all kids need to be in kindergarten for a full day because they were learning so much! But now that I'm a Mom...I wouldn't want Ali to leave me all day long when she's still so little!! :) But here in Missouri the kids only go for a half day which will be perfect for her (and me!)

Her teachers Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Feeney...they are GREAT! I'm always so impressed at how positive and patient they are. They also say that Ali is doing really well! Out of curiousity, I gave Ali my kindergarten assessment to see how much she knows and what literacy skills she might need to work on. Well, I guess our blog is a safe place to brag...she is at the END of the year of kindergarten level in all areas that I tested. I didn't even know she knew so many sight words...so she can read some little books we have at home. It's so exciting! She told our neighbor, "I CAN READ!" We are so proud!