More 2nd Birthday

Jessie has been packing a book around that is all about the life cycle of ladybugs, so I had to do a ladybug cake!

Show me the cake (definitely Jessie's favorite part of the day!)

Emmett was beside himself because Jessie was taking so long to open her presents! Just wait until next year, Buddy! :-)

Jessie is 2!!

At 11:17pm tonight, Jessie will be exactly two years old! We moved to Great Falls about six weeks before she was due - I can't believe that was two years ago! Jessie is our little Hamster, the Daisy, and our family would not be complete without her - who would Emmett fight with then?! :-) She always makes us smile and often surprises us with new words, her independence, and love for her brother and sister. We are so excited for all the joy she will continue to bring our family in the coming years. We love you sweet pea!

Two-Year Stats

Length: 35.5 inches, 90th %tile
Weight: 25lbs, 6oz , 33rd %tile

She is working on potty training - I think we're really close, but now it's up to Jason and I to fully commit and knock it out! She moved into a big girl bed a couple weeks ago and loves it - especially when she doesn't want to go to sleep, she just walks out of her room....not sure if I like that! She wants to do everything that Emmett and Gracie do, but will spit on Emmett if he tells her no - this makes him very upset! (and she just keeps doing it until I put her in time-out, stinker! :-) She loves to be a helper in the kitchen, but is fully satisfied if I just put her on a stool in front of the sink and leave a drizzle of water on for her to play in - we're both happier that way! She loves Elli, will help me feed her and often shares her snacks with her - Elli loves her too! :-)

She is very excited about her birthday today (Gracie and Emmett helped with the hype), so I'll be sure to post more pictures of the day, later!

Big Girl Bed!

We are officially a house without a crib! It's been in constant use for six years, so I am a little sad to see it go, but I'm also very excited for Jessie! :-) She has spent two nights in her big girl bed and has slept peacefully for about 11 hours each night - yay! When she wakes up there is no more crying or yelling for Mom & Dad, she just opens her door and strolls out with "blanky". Gracie will be joining Jessie in her room, sometime in the next couple months (hence the bunkbeds). This will be a fairly huge adjustment for all of us, but mostly Emmett because he will be left alone in his new room - he's already very worried about it, so we might wait until school is out. Of course I will be making his new room pretty special and "boyish" so I hope he will like the change.
Now, on to the potty training..... :-)

Those Pesky Leprechauns!

Today is a very special day for us, now that Gracie is in school. Her school is named "The Fighting Irish" represented by green shamrocks, there happens to be a St. Patrick's Day parade in Great Falls, there is a breakfast at her school put on by the Ancient Order of the Hibernians, and sneaky leprechauns always visit the classrooms in her school (I had no idea this could happen, but I'm sure I'll be prepared next year!).

It all started last weekend when her homework assignment was to create a leprechaun trap for her classroom.

She painted the entire box with shamrocks, rainbows, gold, and many pretty colors. Daddy rigged a string as a trip-wire that was connected to a weighted bowl that would crash down on anyone/anything that released the string. She used hanging gold "coins" as lures to the trap. Unfortunately, no one in her class actually caught a leprechaun this year, but he did spring all the traps, leave sweet treasures for everyone, and gold coins. The leprechaun who visited some other classrooms turned desks over, sprinkled gold dust, left green-painted footprints, colored the water in the cooler green, and turned the toilet water green with his green pee!! Quite a day!

Waiting for the parade to start.

Gracie's school always enters a school-bus float in the parade - all the littlest kiddos have to stay on the bus, but the bigger kids walk and hand out candy. Gracie has the ribbon "wand" and blue sunglasses.

Happy with all the candy!

It was a great day! But, boy was I glad to have everyone tucked in because they were very cranky at the end of it! :-)

Indoor Fun

So, I've had a hard time keeping up with my blogging since the kids have been using the computer to watch movies a lot - we are still waiting for it to warm up enough to go out to play! Here are the pics I just got off my camera.

February activities included swimming lessons, President's Day, and bowling with friends. Last Friday the Home and School group (I'm on the committee) put on a Mardi Gras carnival - it was awesome! The kids had a blast and we made money for the school too! The only pictures we got were the kiddos on the mini-carousel, but there were LOTS of other traditional carnival games like a cake walk, fishing, bottle toss, etc...