Three....

We celebrated her third birthday today. I can't believe my baby girl is three already. Where really did the time go? In between the sleepless nights and all the craziness of the past few years she turned into a beautiful little girl. I always am sad when my little ones have a birthday but I am so looking forward to this next year with three-year-old Elizabeth.

Elizabeth at age 3:
Loves Tinkerbell, playing dress up, having her nails painted, wearing lip gloss, building with blocks, coloring, riding her bike, and playing mama to all her baby dolls. She claims her favorite color is pink but she always chooses blue when given the choice (m&m's and her drinking cups). Loves blueberries, yogurt and suckers. She is very particular and has to have her blanket wrapped around her pillow perfectly at bedtime. Her bed is filled with her "treasures". She adores her daddy, her brother, and her dog. Her favorite friend is Ayla. She is so compassionate and is always the first to give a kiss if you are hurt and countless times a day she comes up to me just to give me a kiss and hug. She is always concerned about her daddy and wants to make sure he "turns his lights on at dark and wears his white doctor coat". She is often the first awake in our house and always crawls into bed with me to snuggle. She is so stubborn and could outlast anyone in that category! She is the sweetest little girl and I'm so blessed that she's my "sassy cat".

"Enough with the pictures!!"

Frankenstein

After we went trick or treating, the kids had fun opening their box of creepy crawly things that they received from Frankenstein (thanks Grandma Ryan...they love them all!!)

Tinkerbell and Peter Pan

When I asked Elizabeth what she wanted to be for Halloween she instantly knew she wanted to be Tinkerbell. I thought it would be cute if Jack was Peter Pan and he reluctantly agreed (he was thinking Spiderman or Buzz Light Year) UNTIL he found out his costume came with a sword AND a bow and arrow set. Boy, was he excited to be Peter Pan after he found that out!

Some photos from Halloween of the cutest Tinkerbell and Peter Pan ever!

Had to get a shot of her wings

Can you see her shoes? They were at least a size too big but she was a trooper and kept them on the whole night.She is getting her practice for when she is older and has to wear uncomfortable shoes all day!!!

Pumpkins

I spent a weekend with a good friend a few weeks ago so while I was gone Matt and the kids carved pumpkins. I think they had fun...

Girly Girl

Elizabeth found her tutu in her closet a few weeks ago...she is such a girlie girl. She loves pretty princess dresses, her tutu, and of course she has to have her nails painted and her lip gloss on!

Leaves

Jack was so excited to rake the leaves in our yard (this is the biggest pile we could get since we don't have too many trees yet!). The kids loved running and jumping in the little pile. The simple joys of fall!

Enjoying the sun

It is a beautiful fall day here today. Elizabeth and I spent the morning outside on the swing set and then took Misha on a long walk. I know these nice fall days are limited so I am glad we got to enjoy today!

My conversation this morning

At breakfast this morning Elizabeth asked me what was wrong. I replied "I'm tired." She said "No you're not, you just had a long nap last night."

Her new "golf" hat

Elizabeth and I went shopping yesterday at Gymboree and she fell in love with this "golf hat" (her words). After seeing it on her, there was no way I could leave the store without buying it for her. I even had to buy a few new outfits to match her hat. Sometimes having a girl can get expensive!!!

Home...

 After 9 days away, it was so nice to see this smiling face

And to come home to these beautiful roses that Jack bought me. How I missed my loves! Will post some pictures soon of my trip, still fighting jet lag!

Another favorite

We went to Rochester for my sister's surprise birthday party this past weekend. Elizabeth discovered another new favorite thing, chocolate covered strawberries. I guess no one can resist giving a cute girl in pigtails chocolate!

Ready?

We have taken the supplies to school. He has a new back pack and lunch box. We met his teacher and he knows where his classroom is and what bus to ride. I know he is ready for kindergarten. But, is this mama ready for her baby to be gone all day? 8 hours is such a long time. I am going to miss all his questions, miss hearing "Hey Mommy" 1000 times a day, miss the random hugs and kisses and hearing "you rock mommy" when I do something totally cool, and I will definitely miss my favorite checkers partner. 5 years seems like such a long time when they are tiny babies. In reality, it goes by all too fast. Sure, I am excited for him to go and I can't wait to hear about his days, his new friends, and all he has learned. I am just not sure I am ready to watch the yellow bus take my first born to school in the morning. I know I will be standing at the curb wiping the tears as the bus leaves my sight. If the last 5 years have gone this fast then surely the next 12 will go even faster, and then I will be wiping the tears as I send him off to college.

The lone Packer fan

He is the only one in our family that is a true Packer fan. We surprised him on Thursday night with tickets to the Packers/Colts game. He went with Matt and had a great time. At least he won't get picked on in school for not wearing green!

Sand table

She loves playing in the sand (and her momma hates to clean it up!)

Blocks

He can spend hours building and is always thinking of new things to build with his blocks. Here are a few of the creations he has made this summer...

A Battleship

His fleet of fighter planes

Finger painting

In an effort to get more organized for the start of school in two weeks, I am going to be slowly adding some pictures that I have taken over the summer in the next few blog posts. This first set of pictures was taken at the beginning of August. I wanted to give the kids a chance to do some finger painting since I had been saving some large pieces of cardboard specifically for this purpose. Thank goodness for washable paint (although we did do this outside so I wouldn't have to clean paint off every inch of the kitchen island!)

Check out my dirty hands!

Nothing is better than a drink from the hose!

Cooling off!

Learning to Read

A friend of mine recommended the Bob series of books to help Jack learn how to read. We have already gone through the first four books in the series and I am very impressed with his progress.  I see his confidence grow as he reads each page and he gets so excited when he can read the whole book without any help from myself or Matt. 

Her new favorite food

Cooling Off

Thanks Grandma Ryan, we love our frog pool! It is a great place to cool off on hot days. Today, Jack and Elizabeth (and Misha) spent most of the day playing in their pool.

Our deck...finally!

Our deck is finally done. What was supposed to be a 3 week project turned into an 8 or 9 week project because of the record amount of rain we received this summer and a few other things beyond our control (the treated wood frame had to be torn out because it was sagging). All is good now and we are enjoying this beauty.....and let me tell you, it was worth the wait! I absolutely LOVE it!

Random Pic

Just a picture I snapped of our sassy Elizabeth the other day...

Robot

I found a neat art studio for kids that offers a variety of summer classes.  Looking at the class offerings, I knew I had to sign Jack up for the class "building a robot out of recyclable material" since he can spend hours a day building robots with his blocks. When I dropped him off for the two hour class, I stayed a few minute to make sure he was comfortable and would be fine alone. Miss Donna, his teacher, told him to start thinking about his robot and to look through her bins and piles of recyclables for items he wanted to use. The first two things he grabbed was two metal cans which he immediately knew he wanted to use as ears. I could just see his wheels turning as he thought of the robot and he was so excited to look through everything and decide what he wanted to use. When I came back at the end of class and he showed me his robot, I almost cried. I was amazed that what he envisioned out of all the garbage/recyclables that I would consider "useless" was this....

You probably can't tell from the picture, but the "legs" are the springs from a mattress and the "feet" are the inserts to a pair of shoes. The other item that really amazed me was that the "hair" is the fruit/vegetable sack. He decided what he wanted to use and where to put the items and Miss Donna used her glue gun and a lot of tape to get them to stay. The robot is standing proud in the corner of Jack's room. I smile every time I walk into his room and see what he created.

A trip to the ER

Our first trip to the ER with a kid...Matt always said it would be Elizabeth that would be the cause of the first trip and he was right. This morning, while on vacation in Door County, she threw a tantrum for some reason unknown to us (her breakfast cereal that she poured was somehow not satisfactory) and she threw herself back and her chair flipped over. She hit the back of her head on the wall and somehow cut her chin (probably on the chair). We took her down to Sturgeon Bay to the ER and luckily she didn't need stitches; the doc was able to glue her chin together. She was so brave, didn't even cry in the ER. I rewarded her bravery with a couple of M&M's (the only thing in my purse at the time). Not sure I should have rewarded the result of a tantrum but had to reward her bravery. Hoping for no more ER visits in the future. This mama doesn't do well in that situation!

One of the best parts of summer....

is enjoying a piece of this....

My mom's homemade raspberry pie, made with berries from their backyard patch. Even Jack found a new dessert favorite!

Came home from vacation to see this

They are making progress on our deck. After three summers of having no outdoor escape, we are ready to enjoy it!

From 4 wheels to 2

We took the training wheels off Jack's bike today and with just a little help from daddy he successfully went from 4 wheels to 2 wheels. We had him riding on the driveway and then on the grass in case he fell. I need to buy some knee pads and then he is probably ready for the street. I am so proud of him!