Happy Birthday Annaliese!

Annaliese turned 5 on November 25th, but since that was the day after Thanksgiving, we decided to celebrate early and had her party the weekend before.  She had lots of different ideas about what she wanted her party to be like and what she wanted to do, but we settled on a Frozen theme with a few different activities for the kids to do. 

Some of her ideas included a piñata, riding bikes outside "Mom, I can ride my bike and everyone can watch me" and playing Candy Land and Sorry.  "Me: I think you will have too many friends to play those games. Annaliese: Well, some friends can play Candy Land while other friends are playing Sorry and I can just go back and forth." Of course, why didn't I think of that! 

Since Annaliese just wanted to be able to hang out with her friends and I was not super excited about the Frozen theme, we kept the decorations to a minimum. Annaliese helped string cotton balls to make icicles and we cut out a few paper snowflakes and called it good! We had a few different coloring pages set out for the kids to color and another table where they could build their own Olaf out of marshmallows. Annaliese opened presents as each person showed up and after playing inside for a little while, they all bundled up and went outside to play!

Busy making snowmen!

We made these fun Olaf string cheeses, but forgot to put them out for everyone to eat!

Blowing out the candles...it took a few tries to get all 5 candles!

"I want sprinkles, chocolate chips, and M&Ms. And I want it to say Feliz Cumpleaños."

Playing with as many new presents at one time as she could!

When we set up Annaliese's birthday party, Elias and Mallory weren't going to be able to make it and Annaliese was super disappointed. So we set up another party on her actual birthday since we didn't have school and Kelsey and Ben were planning on being in Bellingham for Thanksgiving. Although they didn't end up coming up here, we still went ahead and had Grandpa and Grandma, Kim, Thane, Elias and Malachi over for breakfast. After a delicious breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon, Annaliese opened up the rest of her presents and spent the rest of the day playing with Elias!

Somebody is very well loved by all her family!!

Checking out her new bike! It has Elsa and Anna on it just like she asked for!

 At school, every week at chapel they sing Happy Birthday to all of the kids who had a birthday that week. This week, Annaliese's class led chapel so they sang Happy Birthday in Spanish. Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving plans included spending the day at Grandpa and Grandmas, eating turkey, watching football and doing a bit of crafting with Auntie Kelsey and Uncle Ben. However, Kels went to the OB on Wednesday, and they suggested she stay a bit closer to home. So instead of having Thanksgiving at Grandpa and Grandma's house, we relocated to Seattle! Mom and Dad drove down Wednesday evening and Kyle and I headed down Thursday morning. Every time we make the drive, we are glad that they live on the north side of Seattle, but this time we were especially glad as it was a very windy, rainy drive!

Besides the location, everything else went as planned! I made some progress on our family Christmas stockings, Kyle watched some football and Annaliese and Haleigh spent the day playing with Mallory. 

I didn't get any pictures of the meal but it sure was tasty! Grandma made the turkey, Ben put together a salad, and I tried out a few Pinterest recipes for mashed potatoes and carrots. We were all quite full but made room for Sweet Potato Pie and Pistachio Fluff for dessert!

Playing in a fort they built with Grandpa

Lydia with Uncle Ben

Auntie Kelsey working on some Christmas decorations

2 Months!

Crazy to think that Miss Lydia is 2 months old already! I think we have all adjusted quite well and she seems to handle all the love and attention that she receives very well! She has started cooing, smiling and becoming more interested in her surroundings. Annaliese frequently gets excited and tells me, "Mom, Lydia is looking at me. And Mom, she smiled at me too!" Besides currently having her first cold, she is pretty perfect!

Lydia is pretty easy-going and goes along with whatever we might be doing for the day. As a result, we don't have much of a schedule and I think we are both okay with that!

Eating: Lydia eats roughly every 2 1/2-3 hours during the day. The last meal of the day happens close to 9:00 and then she makes it until somewhere between 2:00 and 4:00am. There are 2-3 days/week that she will actually sleep all night and wake up between 6-6:30! Before she had this cold, she was getting more efficient but not being able to breathe through her nose is slowing her down a bit! We have tried a bottle once and she took it with no problems!

Sleeping: Naps are hit and miss (probably due to the lack of a schedule!) She is sleeping in her crib in her own room, swaddled and with a sound machine on. We are trying to get her to bed after her bedtime feeding, which would be 9:00ish, but she generally is wide awake at this time of the day! Typically she falls asleep closer to 10:30! We have also been using a pacifier to help her sleep, simply because we don't want her sucking her thumb! We'll have to wait and see how that works out:) 

Clothing: She still fits into 3 month clothes; things that are 0-3 months are usually too small now. Diapers are size 1. 

Favorite activities: Bathtime, tummy time, and cuddling with Annaliese. 

October Wrap-Up

As is typical these days, October seemed to pass by very quickly! I have been trying to be intentional about taking pictures around the house and of regular things, not just on special occasions. Here are a few that I found on my phone!

"Look Mom, I'm feeding my kitty!"

This looks like trouble!

We spent a Saturday at Grandma and Grandpa's house crafting. Ben and Kelsey came up from Seattle (Ben went biking with a friend) and we made fall wreaths, I started the girls Halloween costumes and Kelsey did some quilting.

Cousins are so fun to play with!

Showing off their fall wreaths

Kim making her own fall wreath

My finished product

Annaliese has been fighting a cold for awhile so rest time has meant sleeping...I took this picture to prove to her that she was sucking her thumb!

Grandma made this outfit for Annaliese...it just barely fits Lydia now. I'm not so sure about the hat...

These little cuties at a Strawberry Shortcake birthday party!

"Look Mom, She's standing!!"