Sleep Over

A few weeks ago Jared's sister Ariane, her husband, and oldest son Clayton were in town for the weekend. We were so excited to visit with them for a few short days and we are hoping that come June we will be seeing a lot more of them. While they were here we had Clayton spend the night one night. My kids were in heaven, especially Landon. Clayton and Landon get along so well and it makes me so happy that, even though they don't get to see each other often, when they do see each other they are automatic best friends. Landon is still talking about Clayton's visit and he keeps asking me when Clayton is coming back or when he can go to Clayton's house.

Here are the only pictures I took from the big sleepover. Clayton was such a great guest and we hope to have many more sleep overs with him in the future!

Twins?

The other day I took the girls to a check-up. I was a little surprised to find that the girls are only a pound apart in weight and an inch and a half different in height. Tori is weighing in at 24.5 lbs and is 33 1/4 in long and Ella is 23.5 lbs and 31 3/4 in. I don't ever get asked if they are twins but I think here in about a year or so when Ella grows more hair and develops a bigger vocabulary they may get mistaken as twins often because size wise they are so similar.
In these pictures Ella and Tori are wearing the exact same outfit (well except for the cardigan but the cardigan that Ella is wearing is actually worn by Tori most often). Ella and Tori now mostly wear the same size clothing and the skinny jeans they are wearing actually fit Ella slightly better because Ella's thighs are slightly chunkier. They also wear the same size shoe. I guess that is what happens when you have two little girls 13 months apart!

Piggies

Poor Ella does not have much hair (as you all know). I know that it will grow in sooner or later and it doesn't bother me all that much because I know once she has hair I will have to do it. But sometimes Ella will cry when I take Tori into my bathroom to do her hair because Ella wants her hair done too. And I often find Ella walking around the house with a comb "combing" her hair. I was getting Tori ready to go the day of our ultrasound and Ella made it clear that she wanted her hair done too, so I figured what the heck. I put Ella's hair in some little piggies and while they looked pretty funny she was very pleased with them.

My friend Lillian snapped a picture for me while she was watching the girls and I thought it was pretty cute, plus it shows that Ella really does have *some* hair now, just not a lot.

5!

Today is kinda a bittersweet day for me. Today marks the 5 year anniversary of Landon's birth. I don't know why but I have been a little emotional about this. It doesn't seem like a my baby boy should be five already. And five seems old, he will start Kindergarten this year and I don't know if I am ready for that.

I remember the day Landon was born well. I had a c-section scheduled for around noon but I didn't have him until after 5 PM because of an emergency surgery that came up (not mine someone else's) I was so nervous and excited about becoming a Mom. I figured that Landon would be a trouble maker because of all the problems he gave me before he was born, but he was almost a perfect baby. I remember the first time I laid eyes on him I thought he was the most beautiful baby in the world (which is kind of funny because when I look back at his newborn pictures now I think he was kinda funny looking in a cute newborn sort of way ;)).

Landon at about 5 months old

I am so grateful for that afternoon five years ago when Landon came into our lives. I have not been the same since. I could not have asked for a better, cuter, smarter, or sweeter boy. He brings our family so much joy and we love him so much! Happy Birthday Landon!

Landon at 5 years old!

June 7, 2010

June 7th, 2010:

Jared and I will celebrate our 7 year wedding anniversary

Ella will turn 2, 2 days prior

Jared will turn 29 a week prior

and Baby #4 is due to be born!!!

That is right we are having another baby! We found out today that we are having another BOY and we couldn't be more thrilled!I thought for sure that we were having another girl because I have been so sick (I guess I got lucky with Landon) but the ultrasound today showed a little 9oz baby boy. We have discussed a few boy names that we like but we haven't decided on anything yet. The kids are really excited, especially Landon who REALLY wants a brother.

Dolls

I had grad plans of making a bunch of homemade Christmas gifts this year, but that idea pretty much went down the toilet. I did however manage to make these dolls for my girls and for my cute little niece. My friend Lillian showed me the doll that she made for her daughter and I loved it, so I decided to make some of my own. She got the idea from this blog , and you can download the pattern for free from Martha Stewart's website.
My helpful tips for making these dolls are:
1. Be sure that after you print off the pattern that you have the pattern enlarged to 150% of the original pattern size.
2. Allow about a 1/2 inch seam allowance for those arms and legs. I didn't do this and I had to stitch all those little buggers together by hand, it would have been so much easier to sew them with my sewing machine.
3. Instead of painting the face on I stitched it on with embroidery floss, I like the look better.
Over all these dolls were really easy to make and I think they turned out super cute!

Happy New Year!

I did this last year and I thought it would be fun to do again this year:Landon December 2008Landon Decmeber 2009Tori December 2008Tori November 2009Ella December 2008 Ella November 2009

The kids Christmas Eve 2008The kids Christmas Eve 2009

Happy 2010!