Emmie is THREE!

She went ahead and did it. She callously ignored my pleas to stay little and started growing up. We spent her third birthday doing just as she wished and had so much fun celebrating our sweet, sassy, silly girl. Here's our day in pictures!

First things first. Wake up at the crack of dawn and open some presents! She really wanted Snow White and Sleeping Beauty on DVD and was really excited to get them.

Emily loves the toddler First Look and Find books and has already read her new Princess one eleventy-billion times!

Next up, dine on chocolate sprinkled doughnuts. The breakfast of champions;)

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After shopping spree with Mimi, we headed out to Santa Cruz for some beach time and fun on the Boardwalk.

We played some arcade games...

....invented a new version on Dance, Dance Revolution....

Then headed to the beach!

I got to play with Callie on the towels

and Dan braved the crashing waves with two preschoolers:)
They were all soaked within 10 minutes.

In the past, Emily hasn't liked the water as much as Ben. She loved it today, though!

The three of them had a blast getting chased by the waves and splashing around.

Callie loved her first beach visit, too!

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After coming home from the beach, we headed out to dinner at Emmie's choice, Red Robin. I forgot the camera at home and they didn't sing to her(per her request) so you're not missing much;) Just picture two frazzled parents cutting, wiping, mopping and picking things up while two preschoolers try by any measure possible to get under the table and out of their seats while a baby plays "Oopsie-Daisy" with every.single.thing. you hand to her and simultaneously tries to grab everything off your plate. Fun!

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After dinner, we came home and opened the rest of her presents and enjoyed some Sleeping Beauty cake while dressed as Sleeping Beauty.

Not our exact cake, but just like this!

Emily really wanted an Aurora dress for her birthday. Being the mean parents we are, we talked about the dress all day and told her maybe she'd get it for Christmas. When she opened it, she said, "Now I have one!! I don't have to wait for Santa now!" :)

You'd think the beautiful, pink dress would be the favorite gift but it wasn't. The very best gift she got? A $6 accessory set I bought at TJ Maxx because it came with her very own earrings(ear-ins as she calls them!).

The girl had a completely wonderful birthday but was very ready for bed once it was over!

10 Months Old!

Callie is 10 months old and officially mobile(aka getting into everything and making me crazy!). She still has no teeth, but I think they will pop in soon(Ben and Emily got their first teeth at/around 11 months old, too). The girl continues to love standing on her own, but has concentrated her efforts on pulling up and tentative cruising. It is crazy-hectic around here! She also loves to chase Rocky and eat his cat-food. If her hair looks particularly shiny, it's probably due to the Meow Mix she adores. She seriously high-tails it over to his bowl and feeds herself crunchy little kibbles. Ick. She's precious, though, and we love her so.

One Week To Three!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the last year. I think these really highlight Emmie's personality:) Silly, sometimes sweet, often sassy and pretty as a picture.

35 Months and skipping

34 months and painting

33 months and sassin' her mama. She told me to shut-up right before I shot this!

32 months and enjoying the museum

31 months and pretending to be Santa
(with stuffing she pulled from a couch cushion. GRRR!)

30 months and trying to stuff as many fruit snacks in as possible!

29 months and trying on some huge shoes:)

28 months and smiling pretty for the camera

27 months and walking like a "ducklin" as she calls it

26 months and tenderly holding her newborn baby sister

25 months and practicing for Guitar Hero

Playdate!

Whenever possible, we love to get together with my friend Kim and her two gorgeous girls, Lily and Baby Maya. We've been trying to meet up on Wednesdays while Ben is at school. As I've mentioned, Kim lives in our neighborhood, so it's really easy and fun to meet up after we drop Ben off. We've done this a few times now and Emily loves it. Emily and Callie get some quality time with friends their own age and I get some much-needed adult interaction with a good friend:) Today, Kim was gracious enough to have us over and the little ladies had a ball.Lily was feeling pretty shy when we got there. Emily didn't care though! She just figured out a way to play with Lily, even though Lily as feeling bashful:) They used these blankets and hid from each other and us. Lily was very quick to warm up after this!

After spending some time playing with Lily's play kitchen, the girls decided to color together. Lily showed Emily how to carefully color in the lines and Emily helped teach Lily about the wondrous beauty of Unicorns;)

Miss Maya was snoozing the whole time, so Callie took it upon herself to play with all her toys.

She was happily surprised to see her current favorite toy was at their house, too!

Teeny Wahine

Emily received a darling Dora swimsuit which came with a pink hula skirt. Homegirl adores it. She wore it to bed and Dan had to gently remove it after she fell asleep wearing it. Putting it back on was the first thing she did this morning. She wears it a tad bit higher than one might choose to wear their own hula skirt. I think she rocks it, though!


She loves to shimmy-shake!

Her chubby, little clenched fists and bent elbows? Too cute!

Little love:)

Swish-swish-swish!

Splash Park Part 2

We went back to play in the water again, but came prepared with swimsuits, towels and extra clothes:) Ben couldn't have been happier. He loves to play in the water! Emily was less enthused and spent more time making friends with other little girls. That's her new thing; she seeks out other little girls at the park to befriend. She walks up to them and says, "My name's Emily. Hi, little girl." She doesn't really care what their name is, apparently;)

Two Weeks Til 3!

Here's my favorite pictures from Emily's 2nd year! Dare I say, she was an even cuter toddler?

2 years old and loving her new pink bike!

23 months and cheesecake-posing at Chuck E Cheese

22 months and playing at the park

21 months and giving herself a round of applause

20 months and devouring a cupcake!

19 months and loving her new dolly

18 months and sliding at the playground

17 months and showing off her animal magnetism

16 months and riding a horsey

15 months and cute as a bug

14 months and crawling through a tunnel

13 months and working on her tan:)