They are at it AGAIN!

Note that they are "hiding" the evidence behind their cribs, as if we wouldn't notice the paper off the wall...

CAUGHT!

ZuZu's birthday party, in photos...

Who IS this big girl?!

ZuZu's "pedals"!  ZuZu's "pedals"!

Can you already see the jealousy brewing?  This trike has caused some major drama this week...

ZuZu insisited on an Elmo cake.  She doesn't even watch Sesame Street anymore, but I went with it.  I already had the cake pan, after all!

Coyote stalking a rabbit through the yard...

Wait.  What was that, you ask?  You read that correctly.  A coyote. Stalking one of our little brown bunnies.  Through our YARD.  In the middle of TOWN!  CRAZY!  And I am so glad I had a house full of people there to witness it, or no one would have believed it!


Hugs for Granddad...

 Hugs for Ma...

One successful party!

Payback?

While working in my office yesterday afternoon, I heard some tremendous noise coming from the girls' bedroom-- where they were supposed to be napping.  But as I have learned, having two girls just 18 months apart makes for some noisy "naptimes."  They giggle.  They squeal.  They scream.  Then they laugh.  Then they jump.

It's fun.

But this was A LOT of noise.  I went up to investigate.  K, who had been up for almost 24 hours at that point, was sleeping through it.  No wonder I hadn't heard footsteps going in to silence them.

And then I looked in.  And wow.  What a sight...

Need a closer look?  Here is Hosanna's side of the room...

And here is ZuZu's side of the room.  Notice she hit two walls...

Now, I will freely admit that the wallpaper was not my favorite.  But it wasn't hideous.  The plan was as follows: 1) paint Moses' room; 2) paint the kitchen/dining room/family room; 3) paint the girls' room.  And #3 was going to come along sometime after Hosanna switches to a "big girl bed."  And because ZuZu still insists on sleeping in her crib, I figured I had a few years.

Looks like my kitchen is going to have to wait for a while...

My parents reminded me that I did the exact same thing when I was 15 months old.  They had just wallpapered my bedroom, and in anger one day I started tearing it down. 

Well... at least the wallpaper wasn't new.  And the girls didn't do it in anger.  And now I know two little monkeys who can finish the job!

THREE.

Still in disbelief, 24 hours later.

But alas, this girl is three.


She had a great day, and the weather cooperated and we got to play outside! Add a little "face time" in there with Uncle Jarrett, Aunt Emily, and Olive, and you've pretty much got a great day!

Grandparents and cousins are coming over on Sunday to celebrate, but we gave ZuZu her presents yesterday. And I will say, she asserts herself like a three-year-old. Especially when telling her brother "NO." I think she took "birthday princess" a little to the extreme, and that's going to come back to haunt her come April when we don't make Moses share any of his new toys.

But then again, it was a long and eventful day, and things didn't flow like normal. It was 9:30 last night before she was settled down enough to be able to fall asleep.  And who could be frustrated with this little cutie?! I think these pictures scream, "I am three and am as cute as can be!"






And this one screams, "I am almost 18 months and about as ornery as they come."


And this one (from earlier in the day) screams, "I am almost six, and I. AM. AWESOME."


Hosanna SO BADLY wanted ZuZu's new LaLaLoopsy doll...


One of my favorite pictures from last night: ZuZu playing with her "Calico Critters" house. Brought back memories of my own dollhouses and calico critters and playing at the dining room table after my birthday parties!


Hoping to install all those "birthday memories" that I had growing up! Birthdays are special, and you ARE the princess of your day. So I guess maybe ZuZu *might* have been a result of my own creation yesterday...  and I'm sure the extreme sugar content in the pink lemonade cupcakes might not have helped matters....

It's a happy birthday, topsy-turvy sort of day!

LOOK WHO'S THREE! THREE. I CANNOT believe it. I refuse to believe it. So I am deciding she won't be three until her family party on Sunday. As of today, she's still two.

Unless you ask her, of course.

Started the day with a birthday doughnut!


And someone is super excited to have her own leappad! (Her brother may be equally excited not to be sharing his any longer...)


There will be more birthday happenings later today. But first, a look at Moses' attire for the day...


Before you decide Moses isn't the only one in our family needing some fashion help, it's Topsy-Turvy Day at school! So Moses has on two different socks (one goes over his knee), camo pants with one leg rolled up, a blue shirt with red iron-on tie, a pastel button-down shirt (inside out) with one sleeve rolled up so you can see the sports wrist band. Now THAT is a look.

Author ZuZu

ZuZu wants to do everything her big brother does. So when he was drawing his book the other night, she did a book of her own. What follows is her story...

"This is about colors."


"and this is about a guy."


"and this is about a guy."


"and this is about a purple guy."


"and this is about an octopus."


"and this is about a snake tail."


"and this is about a turtle."


"and this is about a banana. The end."

We just made dental history

After weeks of trying to figure out what was wrong with the blog, I *think* I finally have it figured out. It was such a pain, and totally discouraged me from blogging. Which bums me out, because I never posted any Christmas pictures. Hopefully now I will be more motivated to post...

It is a day off from school and work (for me), so how did we spend it? At a 7:45 am dental appointment! Actually, the kids were really excited (I know... weird).

This was ZuZu's first appointment. And apparently, at not-quite-3-years of age, the youngest patient they have ever had.

As you can see, she was such a big girl!!!




Because she's a no-cavity kid, she got a picture on the wall!


Moses didn't have any cavities, either, so he got to put a sticker on his picture. We also made dental history in another way-- apparently, we are the only family of whom the parents (K and me) are totally filling free. So those genes bode well for our kids in the future!

Someone else also got to try out the chair!


We "celebrated" by eating at a favorite family restaurant. It was the kids' first time there. Moses declared the pancakes the "best in the world!"




We also visited the Verizon store for new phones (ours were well past the contract date, and falling apart). So by the point we got our food, Hosanna had had it...


It was a great start to the day... but unfortunately, the early start meant early naps for the girls, and Hosanna is awake about 2 hours earlier than normal. I think an early bedtime is in order...

Fall Fun

Since it has been OVER TWO MONTHS since I posted anything, I thought MAYBE it was about time to put something new on here! We've had a lot of fun this fall!

Playing in the leaves...




Playing in the leaves some more...








Roasting marshmallows...


Dressing up...






We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our new house and town! Tonight, multiple police officers who were patrolling stopped and gave the kids handfuls of candy. Houses in the area gave away full candy bars or packages of microwave popcorn. It's like living in a storybook! I know the fairy-tale feel will wear off sometime, but right now we are just enjoying the joy we have here!