Baby Minnie Mouse is 4!

I lied- it's ACTUALLY Ivy who is now 4 years old, but as she INSISTS we all call her Baby Minnie Mouse at the moment, it's easy to get confused around here. 

All I can say is: I LOVE FOUR!!!  If twos are terrible, threes are thorny, (okay... maybe that's a stretch, YOU think of an adjective for a difficult three year old that begins with TH!) fours are just plain fab.  Full of love, helpful, fun-loving, curious, tender-hearted, self-sufficient, imaginative, sensible- just delightful.

On her birthday she woke up to princess balloons, streamers, and other assorted girly decorations.

 

Don't you just love the delight in her face?



We used my Sister-in-Law Kim's recipe to make some crazy good cupcakes. 
(Just stab a regular yellow cake with a fork like crazy, pour jello over the top and chill, top with whipped cream and raspberries- YUM)



Her very first doll house.



It was a wonderful day to celebrate our Ivy girl.

Here's her official Four Year Old List:

Favorite color: "rainbow...with pink and purple stripes"
Favorite activity: "playing doll house with daddy"
Not-so-favorite activity:  "sitting on the naughty spot"
Favorite food:  "waffles"
Least favorite food: "a dead turkey and cat"
Favorite show:  "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse"
Biggest Fear: "monsters and giants"
Favorite toy:  "dolls"
Favorite animal: "cats"


 

Ivy is an amazing big sis.  Both Hyrum and Ivy are so sweet with Delia (sometimes I'm afraid they spoil her too much)  This picture was taken right before DeeDee kissed Ivy.  I just love the anticipation on her face.

Ivy loves playing "mommy" all day.  She's very rarely seen without some sort of baby in her arms.

She is super fun-loving and loves to laugh.  Listening to her full-out belly laugh is one of my very favorite things in the entire UNIVERSE.

She is 100% Daddy's girl.  She asks the very same question EVERY SINGLE DAY before she says anything else: "Where's daddy?"

I love how this pic shows off her darling freckles and stunning eyes.

We're so very privileged to have this darling child in our family.  I don't know if she chose us, if we chose her, or it was just the luck of the draw, but however she made it into our family-I'm so grateful to our Heavenly Father for our Ivy June. 

Forgotten Santa

Hyrum's Christmas exuberance was so fun this year.  He was super excited to tell anyone and everyone his birthday was on Christmas day and they were welcome to give him a gift.  This extra holiday spirit resulted in an abundance of Christmas-themed pictures.  This one was one of my favorites and was tossed in my ever expanding pile of important papers to look at one day.  Luckily, it was saved and now can be documented for the world to enjoy: 

Santa... with pockets.

Unexpected Guest

I have to say, I almost love taking down and packing up Christmas as much as I love putting it up.  Just like coming home and sleeping in your own bed after a fun vacation.  There's just something so nice about completely normal, monotonous life.  I thrive on an uncluttered house and reliable schedules and LOTS of sleep and super healthy food, so it shouldn't be surprising.

In the midst of packing up I found this little surprise someone (his name might start with an H) left after playing with one of our nativities.  Can you spot the extra friend?

Who knew Yoda was from Bethlehem?

A Christmas and a Birthday

We had another low-key holiday, but sweet none-the-less.  

We had to continue our gingerbread decorating tradition.



Cute little pizza face kisses!



Instead of having a big tree with presents underneath, we had two mini trees on a table with presents in the pacn'play.  Kinda sad, but it saved my sanity this year.

We have very mis-matched, random decorations, but each item reminds us of specific memories and phases in our lives, so I wouldn't have it any other way (until we can afford to buy new stuff in 50 years:)

Awww... a Santa photo without a screaming kid in it...
just wait a few minutes...





On the first day of winter we celebrated by creating our own snow flakes since we don't have our own here.  (I totally missed not having snow!)

 On Christmas Eve, after dinner and reading the Nativity, we opened family presents and played until bedtime.

On Christmas morning the kids opened their presents from Santa, we ate breakfast and rushed to early church. 

Finally, in the afternoon, (after some much needed naps) we celebrated Hyrum's Birthday! 

Hyrum decorated his own cake with an elaborate scene from Star Wars (you'll have to ask him what's going on, 'cuz I can't remember all the names)

We are so lucky to have this boy in our family. 
He watches out for all of us and is so kind-hearted and helpful.

(Bry did the cool decorations)
He loves to make us laugh and gets so sad and frustrated when he slips up and misbehaves.



He is very smart and hard-working (when he's interested in the subject matter)

He has captured the hearts of his teachers at school, church, and many neighbors. 

They constantly compliment him and tell us how sweet he is.

But, best of all he's an amazing big brother and gives love to everyone around him.
We love you Buddy!

Peek-a-Boo!

Never Ending Turkey Time

....And he's still not finished!

Thanksgiving in San Antonio

I have three lovely cousins living in Texas and they were kind enough to invite us down south to spend Thanksgiving with their families.  (Even though the 8 hour car ride--- and no, it's not SUPPOSED to take that long--- wasn't pleasant) it ended up being a crazy fun family vacation!

The day before Turkey Day we headed to Sea World.  It was a great day to go because the crowds were so small and the weather was AMAZING.

The whole park had a Christmas theme with decorations, music, and even the shows were Christmas oriented which was surprising in this anti-religion world we live in (it was definitely more Santa focused).



Hyrum was tall enough to go on almost all the rides and LOVE, LOVE, LOVED them.




Waiting for Shamu...




waiting...




waiting... 
(expecting a 17 month old to wait for ANYTHING is literally asking for a melt down- thank heaven for jelly beans and cookies!) 



Still waiting...
Ivy and Hyrum are at such fun ages for theme parks and shows- everything is so magical!



One of the few rides Ivy could enjoy (due to height requirements).



Feeding the seals- too bad Hyrum refused to touch the slimy fishes.



THANKSGIVING DAY



Two cute little girls!




My cousin gathered marshmallows, candies, and toothpicks so the kids could make their own turkeys while the food was being prepared- so fun!



Finally time to dig in!!!

As you can see, Hyrum had his usual meal of carrots and rolls.

After the DELICIOUS meal we headed to the park- it was such amazing weather the whole time.

Here's the whole group



And here's the cousins

It was such a fun day being with family and catching up with my cousins who I haven't seen in years.  Being with them took a little bit of the sting out of not spending the holiday with my fam.  THANKS LADIES!!!

We decided to spend one more day at Sea World before we headed north.  It was a little bit more crowded and we were all a bit more cranky from fatigue, but it was still another fun day.

dolphins



I love this shot- pure joy



Delia was a little trouper hanging out in the stroller all day.

Catching another ride.

They had this GIGANTIC jungle gym the kids loved, so this picture was actually taken like forty feet in the air!



Catching another ride... daddy style.



penguins

We loved walking through the candy cane forest.

Saying goodbye to Shamu.

I'm so glad we decided to take a quick trip to spend some quality time together.  I can't wait to go back!

Miss Independent

We have reached a new and tricky phase with our cute little toddler.  She INSISTS on doing EVERYTHING by herself- even those tasks she can't do and won't be able to do for months or years.  The biggest problem arises with tasks that are dangerous because let me tell you: this girl can throw a tantrum if she doesn't get her way!

One battle I choose not to participate in centers around mealtime:

Delia refuses to eat unless she has her own utensil.  (Notice the upside-down usage of her tool)
(She's chowing down on our own version of "hot cereal"-
flax meal, applesauce, cinnamon, yams, and raisins)

Of course she isn't really delivering the goods at a fast enough rate, so she must employ a more efficient device.

THERE'S THE GOOD STUFF!

Not exactly the cleanest or most effective way to eat, but a happy and fed baby is the ultimate goal, right?