Laney is 4!

Ok. Pretend this post isn't 2 months late.

We celebrated Laney Lou turning FOUR YEARS OLD with a small get-together at the pedicure salon and then walked next door to get some frozen yogurt. I think all the girls had a blast! I know Laney did. It's always such a busy time of year. We call it "fall frenzy." School starts, gymnastics starts, ballet starts, we do family pictures, Laney's birthday happens, Halloween happens, and then it's on to the big holidays. I'm going to have to get better at planning her parties earlier on. I'm just glad we got this on the books this year.

Just like last year, Laney completed a birthday questionnaire. Here are her answers at 4-years-old:

1. What is your favorite color? pink & purple (that answer has been a main stay)

2. What is your favorite toy? my unicorn beanie baby

3. What is your favorite fruit? apples

4. What is your favorite TV show? Dora the Explorer

5. What is your favorite thing to eat at lunch? macaroni-n-cheese

6. What is your favorite outfit? a turtle neck (Really?? I'm sure Dad will remind you of this in years to come.)

7. What is your favorite game? ring around the rosie

8. What is your favorite snack? chips

9. What is your favorite animal? an elephant

10. What is your favorite song? "my song" (Peng! 33 by Iron & Wine...another solid answer)

11. What is your favorite book? The Little Mermaid

12. Who is your best friend? Kiley & Gage

13. What is your favorite cereal? Fruit Loops

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? jump on the trampoline

15. What is your favorite drink? apple juice

16. What is your favorite holiday? Easter

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? "my duck, night night baby & all sorts of things"

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? cereal

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? cake

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? a police woman

Playin' Catch Up

Tap tap tap. Is this thing on? Hello? I'll just be honest with you. The perfectionist in me cringes every time I think about this ole blog and urges me to go ahead and delete the whole darn thing. The mommy in me, on the other hand, thinks, "Hey, at least you've got some stuff on there." I'm gonna go with the mommy Melanie.

So, since it's been a few centuries since I've written, here's some catch up on the rest of our summer and fall of 2013:

We wore a lotta matching outfits.

 We got to be a flower girl again and ride down the isle in a precious pink car.
That's right. A car.

 We figured out that ball caps are the coolest things ever.

We wore speedos all summer because we're too young to know we should refuse.

We laughed at our brothers. A lot.

We started our second year of preschool with Mrs. Neves as our teacher.

We dressed up as Cinderella and her mice for Halloween. Parker was Gus Gus.

 We had our first snow day and played outside for a fifth of the time it took us
to get bundled up to go outside. Totally worth it.

Ok. Now we're almost all caught up. And just in time for 2014!

Adrenaline Junkies

Can somebody tell me when this happened? When did these babies get so big and brave?

We went to a little water park pool today and a blast was had by all. There was a huge slide.

Us adults were just standing around talking about who was going to go down with which kid, when we looked up to see that we weren't invited. They were off. And needed no help.

Their little bodies slid all over that slide! They'd start on their bottoms and end up head-first and on their bellies.

So funny. I'm so proud of these little fearless ones. I'm sure I'll wish for a little more caution as they age, but they are too fun right now!

Thanks for going with us, Grandmama & LaLa!

A Beautiful Mess

Things have been rough lately. The twins are hard. They've started biting. Mother's Day Out is over for the time being. The laundry continues to grow exponentially while my ability to do it continues linearly. I haven't showered in 48 hours. I didn't brush my teeth until 2 pm yesterday. A random family caught the boys before they ran out into a parking lot at the splash park today when I wasn't looking. I find myself looking around and thinking,

What a mess.

I long for a day off. Just a day to go walk around Target. Or browse random antique stores for junk I don't really need. Or watch a trashy Lifetime movie. Or go eat a meal without a child on my lap or while driving with my knee. I just feel tired.

Then I feel guilty for feeling sorry for myself. Because I'm so lucky to have all of this:

I got to see Laney be a flower girl for the first time last weekend. She was stunning.

She chased and crushed on the ring bearer all weekend long. This would have been adorable if he wasn't her cousin (I guess we should explain that soon).

The boys got dressed up and Parker immediately started posing. Such a ham.

Brooks clung to Daddy (in true Brooks fashion).

And some nose-picking ruined my only shot of a picture of the boys together.

Our life really is just a mess. A beautiful, beautiful mess.

Are We Toddler or Are We Dancer

I've pretty much been looking forward to dance recital time since I found out that Laney was a girl at her 20-week sonogram. And it finally came around! I have such wonderful memories of ballet, tap, and jazz as a little girl and can't wait to do it all over again (in a very non-Dance Moms type of way, I swear). I'm so glad she loved this first year of ballet. I'll never make her do it, but I can't promise I won't cry real tears in my closet when she stops. I wish I was kidding.

Her favorite part was wearing makeup. She got to wear lots of make up. And was looking way too much like an 18-year-old for Marshall's liking. But all the lipstick, sparkles, and glitter were a dream come true for her.

Her class did a dance to the "We Are Siamese" song from Lady & the Tramp. I use the word "dance" hesitantly. I don't think any of them were doing the same move at any time. But it was absolutely adorable. And I'm sure you're shocked that she had an entire fan club in attendance that thought she was the star of the show. Thanks, family! It was wonderful waking up to a house full of her flowers this morning.

That's My Baby

Laney has a very bold and dominant personality. This surprised me at first because Marshall and I are both very go-with-the-flow and were actually both pretty timid and shy children. I just wasn't expecting her to be the little spit fire she is.

But I love it.

I don't want to break her spirit or stifle her true personality. I know they're going to serve her very well as she ages. It's just hard to wear those big pants when you're 3. Or I guess it's actually just hard for me to know when and how to reign her in appropriately. I definitely don't want to be one of those moms who lets her kid get away with being mean and blames it on a "strong will."

Most of the time, though, she just cracks me up. Like today at the park. An older kid (like so old that I was wondering why he was playing on the playground) couldn't get through a pathway because Brooks was in the way. He said, "Ugh...I can't get by because of this baby." Laney marched right up there, looked the kid in the face, and sternly said, "HEY. That's my baby."

Now, she can't even tell them apart and has no idea which of her babies it was. But it was her baby. And nobody was gonna talk to him like that. Big sisterhood suits this girl.

Laney

Can you even believe she's this big? And says things like "totally," "enormous," and "actually?"

Christmas Bow Ties

I'm still going through all my pictures from Christmas. I just came across these, though, and couldn't resist posting them.

I made the boys some Christmas bow ties a while back and wanted to take some pictures of all the kids dressed up fancy. The plan was to maybe even put one on our Christmas card. That didn't happen because we got zero good pictures. Well that's if you count a "good" picture as one where all three kids are looking and smiling. We tried and tried until I was past the point of frustration and Marshall was begging me to stop for everybody's sanity. Ha.

But how can you stay mad at these cuties?

Christmastime

Hello there. I haven't forgotten about you. It's always this time of year that I get busy, stop blogging and get so behind that I don't even want to start back up. So I'm just here to say hi.

With two 18-month-olds around, we haven't done much decorating. Our tree is up but bare. No snow globes are out. We're lucky the stockings haven't already been ripped off the mantle. But what a fun Christmas it will be! We can't wait to spend time with family, exchange gifts, and experience the "magic" with our little ones. What I'm looking forward to most is taking our kids to the Christmas Eve candle light service at our church. We're getting to experience the beginnings of teaching them about a Savior that was born long ago, died for them, and is integrally important to their current lives. It's special. And important. And wonderful. What a precious gift.

Oh and we already saw Santa while we were in Dallas at the Galleria. Laney told him that she wanted "a pink car, a purple airplane, and a REAL doctor's kit." She has not wavered in these requests. Needless to say, I'm still on the hunt for a purple airplane. I'm starting to think I may have to involve some spray paint.

Check out these pictures. Priceless.

Fall Photos

Each year my side of the family has pictures made in November. We use the same photographer that shot our engagements and wedding. She's great. On the way there, I told my mom I thought this year would be easier than last year and the year before. Five minutes into the shoot, we looked at eachother and started cracking up. It was sooo chaotic. Getting two 18-month-olds and a 3-year-old to sit still and look in the same direction at the same time is just about impossible. Tammy captured some great shots, nonetheless. We're up on her photography blog. Go take a look!

Tammy Marcelain's Photography Blog

Put on your ears, It's time for CHEERS!

We had Laney's birthday party this Saturday at the kid's area of the Grace Museum. It was Mickey & Minnie themed (we watch a lot of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse around here) and turned out so great! Since big girl is growing up and actually has friends to invite to a party, it's no longer an adult occassion. I'll admit, it was a little weird that I didn't invite all my friends from out of town. Things are a-changing.

But we had a great turn-out and it was a blast to see Laney interact with all her friends! She. had. so. much. fun. This party has been a long time coming for her. Since her birthday is so close to Halloween, we always run into the question of when to have her party. I didn't get my act together to plan it for the weekend before Halloween, so we did it the weekend after. So, she's been looking forward to this party for seriously like 3 weeks, now, which to a 3-year-old seems like a thousand years!

It's so hard for little ones to understand this birthday party stuff, especially when it's a party for somebody else. Before each party we attend, I have a nightmare of Laney bursting into tears when she can't blow out the candles and uncontrollably ripping open all of some other kid's presents while I stand in the corner dying of embarrassment. So, I always ask her the same questions when we're in the car on the way there: Whose party is this? {She answers} Who are we going to sing happy birthday to? {She answers} Who gets to open all the presents? {She answers}

On the way to her party that day, though, she got so excited and said, "Mommy! Today I'm gonna blow out the candles and I'm gonna open all the presents and everybody is gonna sing happy birthday to ME!" So precious!

We had tons of decorations and balloons and, of course, homemade Mickey & Minnie ears for everybody! {A big thanks to Grandmama for taking some long shifts with that glue gun.}

 Also, I've always wanted to make a birthday cake, so against my better judgement, I stayed up until 2 AM making one. I'm so glad I finally did it, but can't say I'll be opening a bakery anytime soon.

Just like anything that involves 3-year-olds, it was chaos. Wonderful, wonderful chaos. I'll miss this chaos dearly when it passes. (Check out the dad in the back wearing Mickey ears. Yesss.)

 And THE best friend, MyLeigh, got to come play! We don't see her much anymore because she goes to Laney's old school. So, anytime they see each other, they're attached at the hip!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LANEY LOU! I'm so so proud of you for how you've handled all that's been thrown at you in your 3 short years of life. You're the most wonderful daughter, the most loving big sister, and the smartest little girl in the world! YOU ARE LOVED MORE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE!

Boo.

Trick-or-Treat 2012 was a success! This was the first year that it was actually fun. I'm pretty sure Laney thought it was the best night of her life.

Of course, a good picture of them all together was far too much to ask. Laney tried.

But we all had a BLAST! There's even talk of a decorated trailer complete with lights, music, and lots of friends for next year. Having kids makes the holidays so much fun. The magic has returned!

She's 3!

Laney Bug, Laney Lou, Laney Girl, Pumpkin Butt. It doesn't matter what you call her...she's 3! She has been for a few days now, actually.

I. Can't. Believe it.

 

Here are her answers to her very first Birthday Questionnaire that we did on her actual birthday. She took this little interview very seriously. Some of these answers absolutely crack me up! I can't wait to see how they change through the years!

1. What is your favorite color? pink & purple

2. What is your favorite toy? my new truck

3. What is your favorite fruit? popsicles (oranges were a close 2nd)

4. What is your favorite TV show? Little Einsteins

5. What is your favorite thing to eat at lunch? cheese sticks & chicken nuggets

6. What is your favorite outfit? a party dress

7. What is your favorite game? Dora (on the iPad)

8. What is your favorite snack? marshmallows

9. What is your favorite animal? an elephant

10. What is your favorite song? "my song" (Peng! 33 by Iron & Wine)

11. What is your favorite book? my Bible

12. Who is your best friend? MyLeigh

13. What is your favorite cereal? cherry (haha?)

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play house

15. What is your favorite drink? Coke

16. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? my lamb & bears

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? a "brepast" bar

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? hotdogs on the fire

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Abby Cadabby