Happy Halloween 2014!

Since Penny's birthday was only six weeks before Halloween, she wore her birthday Cinderella dress again - sounds good to me! This time though, she wanted a shirt underneath because it was itching her. Here she is in her kindergarten class Halloween parade. She was so excited and waved at everyone!


As we were walking to the car, we ran into an adorable Jack Skellington (from Nightmare Before Christmas). Penny LOVES that movie and was like "Mom! It's HIM. It's JACK." So I asked the little boy's mom if we could take a picture with him and the little boy TOOK HER HAND. I about died from the cuteness. Cinderella and Jack Skellington are definitely a cute couple.


Our crew this year! A lumberjack (Paul really loves that beard I made for him), Tiger Lily, Minnie Mouse and Cinderella.


I can't handle these two! They are so cute!


First house!


Violet with our cute neighbor, Jack.


Thanks for the candy, Caroline!


The girls had a blast! We had left out a bowl of candy while we were gone for a half hour with the girls, and it was totally empty when Penny and I got back. Haha, rookie mistake. We sat out on the porch handing out candy to the kids while Violet and Paul hit up a few more houses. It was so fun to see all the trick or treaters! This is our first house and the first time we've been in a real neighborhood and it was like one big party.


The weather was perfect! Just a little brisk and the whole neighborhood was so festive with a bunch of giggling kids running around. I'm so glad we moved here!

Penny turns six!

Penny was set on a Cinderella party from early on and it was such a fun day! She loved her frilly dress and her special princess tiara. I wasn't sure if I could do a princess bun, but I think it turned out super cute! So proud of my cute six-year old!

We had a little crown decorating craft with jewels and other little decorations.

Cinderella cupcakes & goody bags!

With her cute friends, Aileah and Stella.

The guest of honor has arrived! The kids were so excited when she arrived, and the actress who came was darling! I was so happy I chose to hire a Cinderella to come!

I pointed Penny out as the birthday girl, and she swept Penny up in a big hug. So cute!

She read her story to the kids and they were rapt with attention. She also sang "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes" and the kids just grinned at her!

So many little princesses!

Penny was so excited and kept giving her hugs.

She took pictures with all the kids and when she pulled Violet onto her lap, Violet just stared at her face and smiled. So cute!

Present time!

Violet wanted to get a better view, haha!

Penny loved her Cinderella dress, but it started to itch her a little bit and it came off the second everyone left. I love my Princess Penny!

First Day of Kindergarten!

The day has finally arrived! Penny had her first day of kindergarten today and it went great! She's had a couple years of preschool by now so she had no problem saying goodbye to me and marching straight into class. She was so excited!

"Okay, stop taking pictures, Mom."

Waiting in line...

See ya later!


She was totally happy when I picked her up and not even bothered by the fact that she was at a brand new school. I'm so proud of my little kindergartner!

Penny's Last Day of Preschool

Getting ready to start their program. Hi, sweet girl!

She knew all the words to the songs and sang them loudly, too! And she did all the dance moves, it was so cute to watch. I was so proud of her!

With her teacher, Miss Terry. She looved Miss Terry and had such a great time in her class.

With her other teacher, Miss Melissa (and a mouth full of cookie). She loved her, too!

With grandma in her favorite spot at grandma's desk. Every day when we went to pick up Penny, Violet would run straight to Debbie's desk and perch on her lap. Baby girl's gonna miss all the special treatment!

Love this pic of Debbie and my girls. Penny got to attend school where Debbie worked for three years and now that we've moved, she'll be going to kindergarten at a school closer to home this fall. We're sad and the girls will miss seeing Debbie almost every day, but they'll still see plenty of Grandma since we only live 20 minutes from them! I'm so proud of my preschool graduate!

Happy Easter!

We had a nice, relaxed Easter at home this year. I loved the girls in their matching white dresses, and I have vowed from now on to put them in matching clothes for holidays FOREVER. Because it's the cutest.

The girls' Easter baskets.

And a naked baby eating a chocolate bunny.
"Hey, Mr. Bunny..."

"I gonna eat you now!"


We had a nice day at church and were reminded of the joy of our Savior's resurrection. After church we had a yummy ham dinner and watched the girls play with their Easter basket toys. Such a perfect day!

Violet's 2nd Birthday!

Wowee! It's been a while since I last blogged! I guess I'll start catching up with Violet's second birthday (that was over 2 months ago - whoops!). We were in northern California visiting Paul's brother's family at the time, so we had a little family party. Violet was really into Barbie around that time so I just picked up a bunch of Barbie junk at the nearest party store and there you have it!


She was really into the cake when she saw it and wanted to open it right then and there.

And of course, she was really interested in those presents, too.

Then she stole a plate and hid under the tablecloth, ha!

Present time!

Love that look on her face of frustration, she wanted that box opened!

With her sweet cousin, Makayla, who picked out the doll Violet's holding.

Our attempt at a family picture.

Cake time! She was so excited and blew that candle out like a pro.

She had no problem digging into that cake and ate every last crumb.

Photo bombed by cousin Evan! haha.


It was a fun little party and I'm glad we got to have so much family around!
Here's some things about 2-year old Violet...

- She is such a girly girl! Loves shoes, purses, pretend makeup, dress up clothes, hair accessories - you name it. She loves to carry her Hello Kitty purse around the house and fill it up with random stuff. We couldn't find the Apple TV remote for forever one time and it was squirreled away in her purse for a week.
- She's now in a big girl bed and she has taken total advantage of roaming around at night and bugging Penny, who is in her bed quietly reading books.
- Loves her big sister. They do this thing where Violet says "Hands!" and grabs Penny's hands and they twirl in a circle together. So cute.
- Learning new words every day. She's starting to put together little sentences, too. My favorite, of course, is every night when I tuck her in she says "I love you, mum." (Not "mom", just "mum" - it's so cute.)
- Knows what she likes, and doesn't like. She won't even let me put in a hair clip without her approval, and if I try she'll thrash around until she gets her way. Ha!
- She runs EVERYWHERE. I hardly see her walking, she does this trot/run thing and it's so cute. She's a lot more rambunctious that Penny, and is constantly getting little bruises and scrapes. Crazy child!
- She is such a sweetheart and likes to cuddle when watching a show or reading a book, and is just generally super happy! We love having this little girl in our lives!