Fun Times with Fun Friends

We are blessed with some great friends! Last night we had dinner & a gingerbread "house" building contest with them. Here are a few shots...

All together:Jolie asking for another M&M:Our group mess:
Our 1st place family creation:

Happy Birthday, Jolie!

Birthday Pictures

We celebrated Jolie's 4th birthday today cowgirl-style (her actual birthday is Monday). We had a great time with some great friends! We are thankful for everyone that joined us to celebrate the life of our precious Jolie. Here are a few pictures -

The cowgirl hat craft -The cupcakes -Jolie & her college friend Miss Jenni -Hannah (Jolie thinks she is almost as big as Hannah now :) -
Chloe (Hannah's sister) -
Marissa & Madison (sisters) & college friend Miss Rachel -
Anna (one of our first Monroe friends) -
Annabella (Jolie's BFF from Mother's Day Out) -

Christmas Movie & Bonfire

Tonight we hosted our 3rd annual Christmas Movie & Bonfire event (See 2nd Annual). We had around 100 college students gathered in our backyard for fun night! Jolie & Sarah had a good time hanging out with their college friends. About 7:15 Jolie told me, "I need to go to sleep, will you read me a book?" I did & was able to enjoy the rest of the evening kid-free. Here is the family pic we took:

Our little toddler

Our little Sarah is becoming a toddler before our very eyes. Her personality is in full bloom & it is so much fun. I took a little video of the girls splashing in the tub tonight. I love that Sarah keeps looking to see if I'm watching. What fun girls!

Sort of like Christmas morning

Today felt sort of like Christmas morning. UPS delivered the Little People Nativity after the girls were asleep last night. As soon as Jolie spotted it in the playroom this morning she was SO excited! Sharing her beloved Little People with Sarah is difficult, but we are working through it.

Playing with the nativity...
I asked them to say cheese. Can you tell who cooperated? I LOVE this picture of Sarah with her bed head & all!Thanksgiving Little People meet Christmas Little People. Everyone needs Jesus, right?

Yummy!

We are trying (rather unsuccessfully) to put some pounds on Sarah so we gave her a "white donut" (as Jolie calls them) the other day. Here she is enjoying her treat...

Our little cuties

I took a couple of pictures of the girls yesterday afternoon while we were playing outside. They are such a joy - most of the time! Jolie has really been loving Sarah & enjoying her ability to participate in life more. I pray this continues :)

Our big girl.


This is the face of a little girl who has just spotted her Daddy! Sarah LOVES her daddy! She spotted him outside mowing the yard yesterday & just stood at the window watching & saying, "Da, Da, Da, Da!" So sweet!

Fall Festival Photo

Here is the family picture they took of us at the Fall Festival at church on Halloween. I thought it turned out cute...

Sarah Update

Our little Sarah is growing up on us! Over the last few weeks she has been up to all kinds of new things such as...

Climbing into the dryer:

Climbing up on Jolie's step stool in the bathroom:

Climbing on Daddy's exercise machine:And walking!!! You'll have to excuse her older, louder, sometimes obnoxious older sister in this video. I have a feeling she'll be battling Jolie for the spotlight for the rest of her life :)

Our turkey

I found this fun craft idea in my latest issue of Parent's magazine & decided to give it a try. Jolie had a great time working on it with me this afternoon. We all wrote a few things we were thankful for on the turkey's feathers. When I asked Jolie what she was thankful for she replied, "God, friends, my Gran, my Sarah girl, books to read, my mommy & daddy, I'm thankful for everything!" All these & a few others made it onto the feathers. So sweet!

Happy Halloween Day!

Jolie has been looking VERY forward to Halloween this year! She's been counting down all month! I'm glad it has now come & gone. Out of all the dress up clothes in her closet she chose to wear the EXACT same costume as last year. (Click here for last year's Halloween post) I found a cute strawberry costume on sale yesterday & couldn't resist getting it for little Sarah. They were super cute & we had lots of fun at our church's Fall Festival.
The first time I've put her hair in one french braid. She loved it!I wish my hands were usually this empty. (One of our college students was hanging out with Sarah.)Jolie ready to ride in the barrel train. Fun times!

Too cute

This picture really doesn't do Jolie justice today. She looks so cute! She is into accessorizing her outfits with an extra layer - usually this green dress-up skirt. She is more like her aunts than her mommy - they are great accessorizers!

A real performance

One of our students is leading a campaign to raise funds to help rebuild homes in Haiti after the recent hurricanes & last night was the kick off event "Rock Your Voice For Haiti." Most people competed in a "Rock Band" (a video game) competition, but a couple of groups just performed a song. Todd performed with a couple of students & Jolie joined them on stage. Here are some pictures of her on stage with her daddy. Doesn't Todd look awesome?Jolie with Mr. Vince (aka: "Mr. Bince") who we love!

Finished Product

I was pleased with the cookies & treat bags Jolie & I made for her MDO classmates so I thought I'd share. The first column shows the front & the second column shows the back. Jolie helped select which "monsters" went on the tag & which sprinkles went on the pumpkins. What a great helper!

Non-verbal communication

I thought I'd share this video because it makes me laugh. I was trying to get video of Sarah walking (& she walks when she wants to!) & this is what I got. At least I know she understands what I'm saying...

Watch out Betty Crocker

Jolie & I are making cookies to give to her classmates at Mother's Day Out & also for our Fall Festival at church. I invited her to be my helper & for the first time ever she assisted me the entire time we made the dough. She LOVES measuring things so she was all about helping. She is really growing up & able to do more & more things. Being her mom is so much fun - most of the time! I'll post some pictures of our finished cookies after we bake them tomorrow.

Showing some emotion

I'm always talking about how totally sweet our little Sarah is - and she really is a sweetheart, but she is the little sister of an older, fairly dominant sibling. Jolie had just pushed her buttons & I caught a couple of shots of her showing some serious emotion.

A star is born

If I've talked to you recently I've probably shared with you the story about Jolie's brilliant performance at the BCM last Wednesday. She got up after the speaker was done, grabbed the wireless mic, turned it on & put on a concert for 50+ people. It was seriously awesome! I was so disappointed I didn't have my camera! I took my camera today & caught one song during her encore performance. We have a little star on our hands :)

October attire

I took the girls outside today to take some pictures of them in their Halloween outfits. Some are better than others, but here is what I captured...
That's Sarah's hair blowing in the wind! Yea!

Jolie's silly faces!

Cheese!

This isn't a great picture, but it makes me laugh because you can tell that BOTH girls are saying "Cheese!" Sweet Sarah's vocabulary is growing!

Getting crafty

We went to Michael's last week & I let Jolie select something that we could make together. She chose this fun princess hat. I helped her spell princess & glue the flowers together, but all color combinations & word placement was her doing. She insisted on getting a hat for her friend Marissa who had a birthday party on Saturday. She sat with me & made both hats. What a fun kiddo!

Our little performer

Jolie was recently introduced to the movie Annie & she is a fan! Here she is singing "Tomorrow" It's not the best, but it'll have to do for now. Unfortunately, the last note was cut short because I ran out of memory on my camera. Do you think we have a performer on our hands?

Week in review

We had some friends over last Saturday night & Sarah played outside with the big kids & then ate baked beans. The result was a VERY dirty girl:

It took Jolie all of about 10 minutes to learn how to navigate the Playhouse Disney website. I've kept her away from the computer for as long as I could, but now she is officially a fan! When I asked her to smile for these pictures she responded, "Not right now, I'm busy." Whatever!

Aunt Sarah & Uncle Chad came to see us this weekend & they carved pumpkins with Jolie. Jolie did more watching than helping, but she still enjoyed it! Thanks for coming guys!