We had so much fun throwing snow balls with our friends the last Monday in February!  It’s crazy how much snow we got this year.  It was definitely a treat, and no school on top of that was a huge bonus.  We made the most of our days off and had a blast! 

 

Noelle and her friends did such a great job at their 3rd grade wax museum this year! 

  

From Amelia Earhart, John Adams and Margaret Wise Brown…

 

To Wilbur Wright and Queen Elizabeth,

  

Laura Ingalls Wilder, Bill Gates, and Rosa Parks, these kids did an amazing job portraying men and women that contributed greatly to our society.

 

Emily was so proud to be Abigail Adams, and Carson proudly held out her dot to be pressed so that she could come alive as Amelia Earhart and tell her story. 

 

Noelle picked Margaret Wise Brown all by herself for this project, and we all learned about the strong and vibrant woman behind Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny!  Go Noelle and Miss Brown!

Here’s Noelle’s memorized speech from this morning as Margaret Wise Brown:

I was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1910. As a child, I used my imagination and played in my own made up worlds in the woods near my home. In high school and college, my friends called me “Tim” because my blond hair was the color of hay, timothy hay.

I graduated college in 1932 and began work at Bank Street Cooperative School for student teachers in 1935. Here I learned new ways of teaching children.

In 1942, my book, The Runaway Bunny was published. Did I tell you that I had pet rabbits growing up? Sometimes we had more than 20 rabbits at once!

In 1947, my most popular book was published called… wanna take a guess? You got it, Goodnight Moon! I had no idea that over fifty years later, children would still beg to hear about “the great green room” and “the old lady whispering ‘hush.’”

 

Rose had such a fun birthday party this year!  The theme was “My Little Pony” and was at the carousel.  Each one of our girls had a carousel birthday party, so this was super special and sentimental!

 

The big girls helped Rara and me decorate this year, and we had it all set up in record time!

Rose could not have been more excited her “My Little Pony” party was finally here!

 

Harper was so excited to get the party started with her Auntie Momo!

 

We collected all the little ponies for table décor and our present to Rose.  She has played with them constantly every day since her party! 

  

 

We’ve had this pony train set for years that is around the base of the cake, so when Rose picked this theme, I just knew it would be a hit to have it riding around the cake!

The girls and I have been crafting ever since Christmas break for Rose’s party, and we were so excited it turned out so cute! 

The girls had so much fun turning the train on and off just for fun!

 

 

After we finished decorating, the girls put on their bands for unlimited carousel rides, and we got this party started!

Anna Kate, Harper, Fancy Nancy and Saylor rode the bench all together to start out!

 

Saylor is such a fun and beautiful baby girl!  So far, she prefers her Mommy and Rara, but I’ve got my eye on her! 

 

Rose was on Cloud 9! 

These are the moments I live for right here!  I cannot put into words my love for our sweet baby Rose!

 

 

 

The girls love riding the carousel! 

  

Rose was soooo excited!

  

Isn’t she such a ham?  I have a friend who always says Rose needs her own show.  She really does!  From the scratch on her cheek to the hair she decided to cut on her left side (because she said she was having a bad day and needed a hair cut) and these silly poses, she is a hot mess through and through!  She has the best friends in the world!  Aren’t they all so cute and silly!?

 

Shelby and Malia arrive on the scene!

Katie, Rose and Cerly always have a blast when they are together!

Emily and Ava come over so much that Rose considers them to be her best friends too.  We are so blessed our girls have such sweet and caring friends!

Eden and Ava are adorable!

 

Everyone was so very happy today!  It was the most fun, relaxed and care free party we’ve ever had.  It’s so great now that the girls are a little older, and we can just chill and play with no melt downs!

Nancy, Jaalisa and Rachel are some of my very best friends!  I rarely share my social life on the blog because it’s my time to get away and chill, but it’s friends like these that keep me going when no one is watching!

 

Lots of fun with Daddy, KayKay and Eden!

Caden and Anna Kate are such sweet little buddies!

Riann, Natalie and Jaalisa were hanging out with me right before cake time!  Again, I love my friends!!!  Wish I had gotten a picture with all my Mommy friends, but they all know how much I love them! 

There’s nothing better than watching your child as all her friends and family sing happy birthday to her!  Seeing her get showered with all the love and attention in the room is just the sweetest thing.  She was so bashful but so very happy!

 

After we sang happy birthday and blew out the candles, it was time for the big fluffy cloud to turn into a rainbow!

 

Rose couldn’t wait to see her rainbow cake!  My friend Jaalisa made it from scratch for Rose, and it was the best cake I’ve ever had.  Thank you, Jaalisa!  You’re simply amazing! 

 

Here is Noelle with our great family friends, Haley and Brianna, and Rose with her running buddy, Harper!  Love these girls so much!

 

Malia and Anna Kate rode the carousel over and over again together and had a blast.  Rose was telling GrandPapa all about it!

 

At the end of the party, Rose had fun waving to all her friends who were still riding the carousel.  I thought that was so cute!  Rainbow Dash is her favorite pony for the moment.  Rose and Rara are two peas in a pod!

 

Malia and Landon were Anna Kate’s very first friends in life, and it is such a joy watching them grow up together!

Landon and Logan make me smile so big!  Jon and Heather know how to make beautiful baby boys!  I’m so lucky that my best friends have the cutest, sweetest boys!  Anytime I need a boy fix, I know where to go! 

After we were all partied out, we watched the ice skaters and headed home for naps!  Rose, you are so very loved, and we had a blast celebrating your first 4 years today!  We are crazy about you, kid!  Keep being awesome!!!

 

Mike and I had a blast taking Noelle to a Miranda Sings show.  A girl named Colleen Ballinger, has a super silly youtube channel where she pretends to be this girl named Miranda.  This character, Miranda, thinks she is so amazing, but she’s obviously not.  At first glance, it’s too silly, but after Mike and Noelle kept playing her videos month after month, I slowly got why they love her so much and now, I’m a huge fan too.  It’s just a fun youtube channel where kids are having fun together and not taking life so seriously.  Honestly, the whole thing is highly entertaining and a breath of fresh air!

 

We were so excited to have a date night with our eldest at The Majestic theater!

 

 

I love technology at these events!  Colleen, aka Miranda, was snap chatting from back stage, and we got to see her sister giving her a haircut before the show.  It made waiting for the show to start a lot more fun getting a glimpse into what was going on behind the scenes!

  

Everyone was on their phones hanging out all together, it seemed.  This crowd was full of lots of super thoughtful kids.  It was really fun to be a part of the atmosphere here, and isn’t the Majestic amazing?  It has a historical marker, so I know it’s over 100 years old.  It’s a really neat venue!

  

At first, Colleen and her sister Rachel (who also has a youtube channel), came out and sang “My Lips are Moving” to get the show started.  She’s still Colleen in this number.

 

Colleen has an amazing voice and graduated college with a degree in vocal performance.  Her first few songs showcase her sweet, almost shy, real self.

  

Then half-way through her next song, she changed into Miranda, but still kept singing as Colleen until the red lip stick went on.  

  

After the bobby pins were fixed, the lipstick went on, and the crowd went wild as Miranda took center stage.

 

Her sister was swinging her cape from behind.  So funny!

 

She did several medleys throughout her show, and this one was hilarious.  She started out singing “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid, then “All About That Bass.”

 

Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” and Frozen’s “Let it Go” were also favorites from this number.

 

This comedian, actress, singer and YouTube personality is the real deal.  She is true to herself and most importantly, is having fun!  I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time—we love Colleen and Miranda Sings!

Colleen’s YouTube channel is psychosoprano and has over 2 million followers.

Miranda Sing’s YouTube channel is Miranda Sings and has 3.3 million followers.

New Year’s Eve is always such a blast!  

 

Noelle got temporary hair chalk for Christmas from one of our good friends, but we didn’t see that the bottle said, “Do not use on blonde hair.”  This picture was taken a week after she put it in!  It lasted for a little over a month, and she thought it was the best present ever!  Right pic: Right as we were leaving to go out of town (car was almost all loaded), I spilled the salsa I was bringing for my dad all over the kitchen floor and cabinets.  We laughed it off, but I just couldn’t believe my luck that day!

 

I love girl power!  Next pic: I read this comment on a news feed that I was reading about the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack last month.  It really touched me, and I wanted to share.  It’s so terrifying when radical Christians do things like bomb abortion clinics in God’s name, and I know peaceful Muslims are just as horrified that this attack was carried out in the name of their religion (I personally know 3 Muslim families that feel this way).  Although I know very little on the subject, I know the majority of us want to peacefully coexist.  Before the attack on this newspaper agency, they averaged 60,000 newspaper sales.  After the attack, their following publication sold over 7 million copies in 6 languages.  Violence will never silence the pen.  Je suis Charlie!

We love shopping the end of season sales!  I have big plans for this sweet little number!

 

Rose had to have gloves and a bucket on her head in order to draw one night last month.  She always cracks me up!  Next pic: Jaalisa wrote this next paragraph on her Instagram account, and I wanted to remember it here for my girls to see.  I surely don’t give myself enough credit, and that’s something I need to work on!  Aren’t we the hardest on ourselves?  I think this is the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me, and it means so much!  For the record, I feel the exact same way about her!

One night, Anna Kate spontaneously decided it was her doll Julie’s birthday.  She passed invitations out to all of us, and we followed her to her room for Julie’s birthday party that she coordinated.  We sang happy birthday, had tea and cake, and a dance party, of course!  Little girls are so much fun! (the pretend cake stand was the stool from Anna Kate’s vanity with a tutu around the legs)

Another day this winter, Anna Kate invented her very own version of a lie detector test.  She called it the “Lying machine!”  I have no clue where she heard the concept of a lie detector test, but she knew exactly what she was doing.  When she and Rose got into a little disagreement, she asked Rose to put on the hat.  Then, she pressed her pom pom buttons and asked Rose a question.  When Rose answered it not in the way Anna Kate wanted, Anna Kate immediately made loud noises like an alarm going off, pressed the buttons and said, “It says you’re lying, see?  This is proof you aren’t telling the truth!”  She is so clever and thinks outside the box, if you will.  We have the most entertaining lives getting front row seats to all of this!

 

Lots of freezing dance days so far this winter.  Anna Kate is doing such a great job dancing, and more importantly, she LOVES it! 

 

I bought this infinity shirt thinking it would be a cute cover-up this summer, but Noelle had better ideas!

 

Rose and I have a blast hanging out together on her dance days too!  She doesn’t love it right now, but she likes it.  She does LOVE the idea of the costumes and the big stage.  She’s just into being a ham!  I think that’s what keeps her coming back for more! 

 

Noelle loves to make breakfast on the weekend.  She always has the sweetest set-ups.  She was trying to keep the sisters out of my breakfast until I got a chance to see it first.  Silly girls!  Next pic: When we stayed with my parents over the holidays, this was the scene looking up from my pillow on the bed.  The first time I laid down on the bed and looked up, I was like, “Whoa… you know you’re in the country if…”  I love my parents!

Another day, another clever idea from Anna Kate.  These were our voting cards.  She passed them out to all of the family members.  She did a dance to a song from each season listed on the left side of the paper.  At the end of her recital, we had to circle which dance we liked the best.  Since we all voted for the Halloween dance, she let us all get up and do it with her.  She’s such a fun kid, and we all love going along with her truly bright ideas.  

 

 

I finally found a sturdy kids’ table to set the sewing machine up for the girls to begin learning sewing basics.  They are excited!  And yes, Noelle had a face mask on while sewing this night, lol!

 

Anna Kate’s favorite pretend play is to be a doctor, that has never changed.  Tonight, she decided to be a patient with a broken leg (the movie cases were her cast).  She had pretend buttons and her hospital bed set up just right.  You can tell she thought she was clever.  Then, I turn around, and Rose is wearing the Wii remote covers as jelly shoes.  Front row seats, right here!

Rose said she needed to moisturize.  Ya think?  Rose hasn’t been making messes like she did when she was two years old, but occasionally she’ll find herself in a pickle!   

 

I wish I could say I made this snack for us, but I’d be lying!  Where’s that lying machine!?!  Noelle is da bomb!

 

Love finding these little gems around our house and on our phones.  Noelle is awesome, there is no doubt about that!  Next pic: Although we pick on Rose for being our hot mess, she is also such a sweet, gentle, tender-hearted little girl.  It’s looks like these that give you a glimpse into her sweet-natured soul. 

For every picture I take, there are at least 50 others I wish I could document each day with these amazing little girls.  The bottom line is, we are thoroughly entertained and love each one deep down to the core of our beings, as I’m sure you do with yours.  Isn’t it amazing?  Enjoy today; It is such a gift!

I love watching the girls go on a date with their Daddy each year to the Sweetheart Dance at school.  They even thought to coordinate wearing the necklaces Mike gave them last Valentine’s Day with their birthstones and engraved names.  It’s such a sweet, memorable night all the way around!

 

 

 

 

Their principal took the best pictures of all of the kids at the dance and sent the parents the album to download.  That was above and beyond and a fun surprise to find in my inbox.  Love these fancy little ladies and celebrating the day of love!

 

 

Totally in her element, backward boots and all!  Love you to pieces, Roro!

 

 

She’s rockin’ it, oh yeah!