Tori's Trampoline Fun

Tori loves the trampoline! She already can get on and off all by herself. She is pretty brave. She will get on there with Alli and try to do all the tricks that Alli does. Tori asks to put on her leotard about once a day. And she talks about wanting to go to "mastics" class all the time.

Alli's Birthday Party

Alli's birthday party was so much fun. At one point, I laughed the hardest I have laughed in a very long time! A bunch of little girls "shaking their boo-teez" (as we say in our house) and trying to follow a simple dance routine is pretty hilarious! Note to self: When in need of a good laugh, go to Libby Lu.
Alli had a blast! After getting all done up at Libby Lu, we came back to our house for pizza, cake and presents. Alli got a lot of great presents. She also received some cute clothes from her aunts. As per their request, she tried them on for everyone. And then later that night she told MoMo she needed to tell her a secret. "I did not want to hurt any ones feelings so I just pretended to like the clothes. But, MoMo, I don't like them. I only like rock star clothes." Alli only likes to wear jean skirts or jeans and t-shirts. I guess that is what rock stars wear in her mind!

My Sweet Girls

Easter Weekend

Happy 5th Birthday to Alli

Today Alli is FIVE YEARS OLD!! She was so excited about her birthday. She was sure to announce it to everyone every place we went to today. And she ran for the phone every time it rang. When she did not get to answer the phone, she made sure whoever I was talking to knew it was her birthday.
She started off her special day opening up presents. We bought her her very first piece of real jewelry, a James Avery necklace with a butterfly charm. She also got some games from Grandpa Pete (that we have already played more than once) and some new shoes and a shirt (exactly what she requested) from her Uncle Brian and soon to-be Aunt Laura. More presents to come at her birthday party this weekend.
Every Tuesday morning we go to Bible class. Even though today was Alli's birthday, I did not want to miss class. I convinced her to go by allowing her to bring in some Krispy Kreme doughnuts to share with her class. So off to Krispy Kreme's and then to Bible class. After class, she chose to go eat at McDonald's, definitely one of my least favorite places to go, but it is her birthday! So off to meet up with Daddy and then to McDonald's. We come home, play games and wait for MoMo to come over. Today is also MoMo's birthday! Alli gets to share her special day with my mom! While we are waiting for MoMo to come, Alli brings down her money from her piggy bank in a zip lock bag. This is what she wants to give MoMo for her birthday...........too cute! So we have dinner, bath time and then doughnut time! Alli made sure we had enough doughnuts for her and MoMo to have tonight. It was a great day! She is growing up so fast!

Little Miss Katherine Brooke

My sweet eight month old has slept through the night now for six straight nights! That is right!! Six straight nights of a full night's sleep for me! This is so exciting because I have never had a baby sleep through the night this early. So is this it? Is she done waking up in the middle of the night to eat? Do I just let her cry if she wakes up now? I really think it has a lot to do with sticking to a nap schedule. When Tori was about a year, she was only taking two 30 minute naps. Not quite long enough for me! I bought this book called, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. This book is really hard to read. It usually puts me right to sleep! But I read the important parts and learned how to get Tori to nap longer. Basically, I had to let her cry after she woke up until she had been 'napping' a total of one hour. It really did not take long before she was sleeping for a full hour. Now she naps for two full hours. When I had Katie, I followed the guidelines for her age group. And now she is sleeping a full 12 hours at night! She is also crawling now. It is more of an Army low crawl, but she gets where she wants to and she is pretty fast. I walked into her room today after she woke up from her nap and she was standing up in her crib! This is the first time she has pulled herself up to a standing position. She loves her sisters very much. She looks for them when they are not around. And she greets them with big smiles. She is a bit of a stinker! She will not lay still for a diaper change and she DOES NOT LIKE her baths. But most of the time she is a sweet little baby and pretty easy going.

8 Days and Counting!

Five years ago today, I was in Lawton, OK awaiting the birth of my first daughter. April 2nd was her due date and I just knew she would be arriving very soon. Little did I know, due dates do not mean much of anything! After trying EVERYTHING we had heard or read to try to bring on labor, it was not until eight days past her actual due date that she made her appearance. So in just 8 days my little girl will be FIVE YEARS OLD!! We will be celebrating her birthday this year at Libby Lu. This store is a dream come true for little girlie girls. All the make-up, glitter, jewelry, nail polish and hair accessories a girl could ever want! Alli has been talking about having her birthday party there since the first time we went into this store. It should be fun. They dress-up the girls, fix their hair, put make-up on them and let them do a little show outside the store for all the passer-byers to watch. We were just there this past weekend at Paige's party. She is one of Alli's "best" friends and the daughter of Amber, one of my best friends from high school. Alli had a blast! Her favorite part about Paige's party was dressing up as Hannah Montana and wearing a "belly show" shirt. She is now even more excited about her birthday! I just can't believe my little girl is growing up so fast!

Alli and Paige as Hannah Montana