Before I REALLY Don't Have Time...

Baby/Daughter/Blessing #3's coming in less than 3 days. I just realized there are still no postings regarding last Christmas or even the girls' birthdays. That's just sad.

So here's the drive-by (and highly photographed) version. Try to keep up.

Cecily turns 3!

The birthday girl

The birthday decor

The birthday aftermath/loot

CC approves the cake...

As does Malia...

As does Daddy

A little post-birthday celebration Wii

And finish off the hard-core partying with a thumb

Disneyland Trip Sandwiched In-Between Birthdays

As always, visit Tinkerbell, first and foremost

A drinking fountain for everyone

Splurge (and I mean SPLURGE!) on a face painting...

... times 2.

Get extra birthday attention from a real live princess...

... and then Mommy gets sad because both her camera and her phone die. But, trust me... we had a good (expensive) time. (Our passes expired the day after this) :(


Malia turns 6!

Squeeze presents in before dance class

This is the part that's impressive: I had been promising Malia a birthday party all year. But December got really overwhelming and I broke that promise. When I asked her what she'd like to do instead, she said, "Bowling." (No clue why). We took her to this immaculate location near where we were planning on having dinner, and they were closed for some private party (this place wouldn't take reservations when I had asked a week or two before). And Malia didn't shed a single tear! She just accepted it! It was awesome. So, we just headed early to our reservations at "Goofy's Kitchen."

Goofy's Kitchen: Totally overpriced but the girls LOVED all the characters and Dave was pleasantly surprised that everything he ate he thought was delicious. Minnie Mouse even came over to give them a special cupcake and sing "Happy Birthday."

"I'm 6!"

Pre-Christmas Christmas

Opening presents from family the night before leaving for WA so we don't have to pack them

"Daddy? Can you help me open this?"

"You're taking too long - I need to entertain myself...".

Malia made this for her parents for Christmas

Christmas In Issaquah

I try to get the girls outside at least 30 minutes a day - a lot harder in a wet, cold place. Thank goodness Grandma's house had a trampoline.

And thank goodness Daddy was willing to jump, since Preg-o Mommy couldn't

"Jump higher, Daddy!"

Trying to make up for the birthday-bowling-mishap

Even CC tried.... once.

Grandma April was good about assisting Malia since Mommy pulled a ligament picking up a ridiculously-too-heavy-for-a-pregnant-woman bowling ball

CC decided keeping score was more fun than playing

The air hockey table looked exciting (for about 1 minute)

Christmas Day

The girls were actually pretty good sports about having to open presents AFTER going to Church

CC spends a lot of time on getting each toy out of their boxes after they've been unwrapped

Some of the bigger toys are gifts to them both

Spend oodles of cash on gifts for children - child latches on to Slinky worth $1.

CC lost interest in toys and just wanted food - typical

New Year's

Last year we went to the beach on New Year's Day, which is something I hope to make a tradition as long as we live near the ocean. However, January 1st fell on the Sabbath this year, so we went to the beach on New Year's Eve.

What is it with kids and chasing birds?

Defiant CC

Compliant CC

Pretty girls

That night, we took the girls out on a NYE "date" to Olive Garden where we all got dressed in our Sunday best. Then we came home and had a small party before getting the girls to bed on time (our new Church time slot the next morning was going to be 9:00 - no need to make it any harder than it was already going to be).

Our party attire

CC eating white chocolate popcorn

CC eating more popcorn

"Happy New Year!" (at 7:45 PM PST)

The aftermath