Christmas Craziness

We had five parties this weekend to go to. FIVE!

We had a blast, but Elise was very tired by the end, as were we all.

Thank you for the wonderful breakfast ward members!



She got to sit on Santa's lap and ask for what her hear desired most. Apparently she was a bit intimidated though and asked for what all the girls were asking for, a Barbie doll. The next day Grandma asked her what she told Santa she wanted and she said "I don't know, not a camera." Yep, she had asked about one after her birthday. I told her we could Santa for one and we prepped her and prepped her to say camera. She started getting upset but I told her we'd write a letter to Santa and he would know what to bring her to make her a very happy girl on Christmas.

That Santa! So fun singing songs.

Rocking out to songs.



so sleepy, i took this at 9:50 am on Sunday morning. Although she quickly sat up in bed and asked "Why you take picture of me sleeping?"

Elise's 3rd Birthday!

I love this girl so much and how could you not with a smile like this before she even opens her presents?

 

 Three years seems to have gone by so fast and at the same time she sometimes suprises me with how grown up she seems now.

 

If we learned one thing from her opening her birthday presents it's that Christmas morning is going to be a long, long morning.

Disneyland!

We absolutely love Disneyland and did long before we ever had a child. Having Elise there old enough to actually recognize all the fun around her was a blast. Plus I got to ride a bunch of rides I've never done before. A Bug's Land is pretty awesome. (for kids)

My very nice sister came with us and made it possible to ride all kinds of rides and spend very little time alone. Which is awesome because I hate being by myself anywhere. 

 My sweet princess hugging cinderella was hilarious to me. She chose to spend time in line waiting for princesses and she didn't even know their names. We started trying to prep her on what to say and she got up there and was extremely shy. However now we play princess dress up and talk about them a lot more.

Lets be honest Minnie mouse is still fave. We had so much fun on our vacation.

For real!?

I gave Elise and Ryan haircuts tonight. I teared up a little as I saw her curly cues gathering on the floor. I debated about whether or not to give her bangs and then I thought "Well I have given them almost three years to get long enough and they still aren't. I guess it's time...I guess it's time."

 

I didn't think I had cut that much off, but wow, look at this picture from a few weeks ago. See what I mean about her bangs? Look how long her ponytail pigtail is. (oh by the way I'm not sure why but somehow she scrathed her face during lunch the other day.)

 

 Well I hope that she loves that her hair shouldn't be in her face as much. And she thinks it's "adowable."  Here's my new big girl.

Summer Part 2

I had to steal some pictures from my sister in law in order to finish my update of our summer. In June we went to the zoo for Ryan's mom's birthday. We had a lot of fun there.

Us in the eagle's nest. Do you think this is the same one I used to get into when I was Elise's age?

 

Big smiles and tongue...I'm not sure why....

Seals were Elise's favorite. She stayed there for ages. And squealed everytime they swam by. 

She was so proud of herself that she got up there by herself. She kept saying "ROAR!"

 And then the Saturday after the fourth we had a huge BBQ and a little swim party with Ryan's side of the family.

Here is all the cousins in the pool, DUKE, ELISE, ATLEE, LOGAN

This may be too late for some but have you seen that pinterest pin that says to put sparklers in a cup to seperate their hands from the flame?  Do not use the plasticy solo cups! They melt a hole and then your baby gets burned. I guess if we were to try this again we would try a wax dixie type cup?

They are best of friends instantly. After she left Elise would cry and we would ask her why and she would say "I miss Atwee"

I mean seriously cute right?

Daddy can be under your spell in July too right? These are the PJ's Atlee's mom brought from AZ so Elise had to have hers on too.

They were so nice to baby Duke too.

 I know that we posted about leaving Elise with Grandma and Grandpa and Kylie in my last post. Elise had a blast with them.

Kylie was really nice and babysat both her niece and nephew during the day. Elise is so sweet to him. I think they will be good friends.

Thanks Kylie!

I love Elise's face in this one. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!