Happy 5th Birthday Stella!

This week we celebrated Stella's 5th Birthday!  We can hardly believe how much time has passed since we became parents.  Stella wanted to have a Strawberry Shortcake themed birthday party this year and spent lots of time making decorations and helping Mommy with the preparations.  She was quite the little party planner!

Our Birthday Girl!

The party was full of crafting fun - something Stella just loves to do!  We also played a pin the hat on Strawberry game, and a Strawberry freeze dance!

Aunt MJ brought the cake.  Stella reminded her to make
vanilla since Neice is allergic to chocolate!

Fruit Loop Necklaces and Bracelets! 
Stella colored lots of pages and helped Mommy and Grammie
tape them to three tables for decorations.

Painting Strawberry Scented Pictures

Pin the Hat on Strawberry

Coloring Pages

Blowing out the candle

Family Pic

Pinata Fun!

Fun with Friends!

Getting help from Cami with presents

Aunt MJ reading cards and passing out gifts

Other Fun this Week:

Spashing in the hot tub!

The Hooley's weren't feeling well last weekend when we planned to celebrate Christmas together so they visited this weekend instead.  We were so glad they made the trip and although it was a short stay it was full of fun!  We spent several hours with them on Thursday night and then went to Grammie and Pa's to have a sleepover on Saturday.  Our girls love playing with their cousins and stayed up later this week than they ever have before!  Claire played 'til she dropped and the rest of the girls played until the grownups tired out!

Stella and Mommy made a
Disney Frozen on Ice
Countdown Calendar - 60 days to go!

Workbooks with Daddy

Christmas 2014

In the days leading up to Christmas we had some fun getting into the holiday spirit!

Stella was an Angel in our Christmas Pageant

Making Cornstarch Ornaments

Painting our ornaments:

Then we decorated Trey's tree with our homemade ornaments.  It rained the very next day so they didn't last long but it was a fun baking and art project!

Making cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve!

This year our baby Jesus Birthday balloons carried
Disney Frozen on Ice tickets.  We're excited
for the show in March!

Christmas day we stayed home and played all day. Stella was up first and waited so patiently reading books and watching a cartoon with Mommy for a whole hour before she woke up Claire-Bear and Daddy.  We had a simple breakfast with Grammie, Pa, and Aunt MJ, and then Mommy pulled a homemade lasagna from the freezer later on so barely any time was spent in the kitchen that day!  This allowed us plenty of time to play Stella's new favorite game from Santa 'Barbeque Party' which I think we played probably 60 times!

Exchanging Gifts!

Papa said the best part about Christmas was seeing the girls
exchange their gifts and hug one another.  They love each
other so much!

Cake and Ice Cream to celebrate
Baby Jesus' Birthday!

 

Chillin' with Mickey!

In the days afterward we've had more fun at home, and enjoyed some unseasonably warm North Country Weather!

Stella yelled out 'Winter is over!' when Mama
asked her if she wanted to go the playground!

Once outside Stella said 'Mom, it's colder
out here than I thought!'

Arts & Crafts Handprint Chrismas Present!

A Visit from the Tooth Fairy!

Last night the tooth fairy visited our house!  Stella greeted me this morning with 'Momma, the tooth fairy came!'  When I asked her how she knew that she said 'because she brought me a dollar!'.  It is so much fun to enjoy these special moments with our girls!

Stella has been very wary of visiting the dentist so we bought her the storybook The Berenstain Bears Visit the Dentist recently.  Last week when she noticed her tooth was loose she knew all about what was coming thanks to that book.  When her tooth fell out she said to daddy 'but I'm not talking different!'.  Since she lost such a small tooth she's not talking differently but you can definitely see it is missing!  Here's hoping her first visit to the dentist, which won't be until March, will be a positive one!

Gearing up for Christmas

With Christmas just around the corner we've been busy doing lots of usual festive things. We decorated our tree this week and managed to break just one ornament so far! Stella and mommy made some yummy red and green mints together, although she refused to taste one! Since daddy took a day trip to VT with his team on Saturday we took the opportunity to pick a few things out at the store for him. Both girls wanted to buy him a basketball hoop for the driveway but when I told them I didn't have enough money for that they came up with some other good stuff!  The girls were able to see Santa at the annual VFW Christmas party where they had fun playing games and making crafts too!  After Stella opened the gift he gave her, which she loved, she said 'I wonder what else Santa will give me that I didn't ask for?'  They also spent some time with Aunt MJ this weekend making Gifts for Mommy but they also brought home a gingerbread house (which Claire keeps stealing candy from!). Today Claire said she was tired and put herself down for a nap so Stella and I went to the Cantata at church. The singing was louder than usual so halfway through the first song she whispered to me 'why are they screaming?' It was cute!

Thanksgiving Travels

At Chuck E. Cheese on our way home from Ohio

The last few weeks have flown by and have been full of fun!  We wrapped up another gymnastics class, had an overnight at Ronald McDonald House, traveled to Ohio for Thanksgiving to spend time with family, watched an in-class Ballet & Tap demonstration, and a sleep over with the Britton's.  Aunt Patti cut Stella's hair and we're excited that she was able to donate 11" toward Locks of Love!  With the Christmas season upon us we've started buying gifts for our cousins and are looking forward to decorating our tree this week and telling Santa our Christmas wish this coming weekend!

Claire playing with dollies

Stella & Skye getting ready for
Thanksgiving Dinner!

Cailin, Stella, and Jordan playing games

Stella told us she loved being on stage!

Halloween & Other Fun!

H

Daddy printed some halloween worksheets for the girls and since they both really like 'decorating' the house they colored them and taped them to our front door right away.  The girls had great fun trick or treating with their daddy this year!   His Olaf costume was a huge hit too!  Grammie and Papa visited to hand out candy with us and have a sleep-over.                                                                                                                                                        Lately the girls have just been the very best of friends!  One night this past week Mommy wanted to watch a show so Stella read some books to Claire before bed-time.  It was a great treat for Mommy!

Stella loves doing crafts and wanted to make a birthday card for her cousin Dana.  She's has been copying words she sees on paper and asked me how to write 'This is a card for Dana'.  Spacial reasoning hasn't kicked in yet but we're excited that Stella wants to write letters and put words into sentences.

Fall 2014 Pics

Snuggling Sisters

Halloween Themed Art Club Event @ BMC

Sleepover Fun!

Uh oh! Stella & Gigi made a bad choice and
wrote on the wall with marker so mama made
Stella wash it off...

So few surprises in life and this little beauty
is one of our favorites!

Happy Birthday Claire!

Fun with cousins and friends at Fobare's Fruits!

We had a spectacular long weekend with lots of fun!  On Saturday we joined some family and friends at Fobare's Fruits to celebrate two cousins birthdays - Laila and Hunter.  Our girls love Fobare's so they really enjoyed themselves.  We stocked up on pumpkins while we were there too so we'll be ready to do some carving soon!

Mommy & Daddy in Gatineau, Quebec

Afterward the girls went to Grammie and Pa's for the night so mommy and daddy could have a night away in Gatineau.  It was nice having some time apart but we really missed our girls!











When we made it back to NY we had a little get-together to celebrate Claire's 3rd birthday. 

Stella showing Claire the 'Elsa' doll
she picked out for her.

We can't believe our little Claire-Bear is already 3!  Thank you to Grammie and Aunt MJ for helping with the party since we were out of town.

Last weekend Auntie Caroline, Esme, and Caleb came for a sleepover.  It's always fun seeing the girls play and catching up with this special family from VT!  Here's a pic of the girls painting pumpkins.

Before they headed back to VT we went for a hike.  It was a cold fall day but we had such a nice time being outdoors and seeing some awesome fall colors from the top of Pinnacle Mountain!