Ariannah's First Birthday

Well, Ariannah's first birthday was a tremendous success! Alaina worked really hard to make it super special, and Grandpa and Grandma came over for the day. I'm just warning you though, there were just so many cute pics I couldn't really decide what to post, so this is going to be a long one. You might want to go brew a cup of coffee, grab some leftover Thanksgiving treats and park it for awhile :-) It took Ariannah awhile to figure out the whole present opening thing, but once she did, you couldn't stop her; she loved it!

Alaina made (from scratch I might add) these adorable cakes. The littlest puppy was just for Ariannah :-)This is Ariannah patiently waiting for the cake to be brought to her. She has no idea what's happening, but she's excited!

Once Alaina put the frosting on her face, it didn't take her long to dig in and fully enjoy the whole experience.


Yeah, I'd be wondering what in the world I was supposed to do with that contraption too :-)

>

So I know this is sideways, but I'm not patient enough to figure out how to turn it around before posting, hehe...but if you turn your head just right, you'll see how stinkin' cute my niece is :-)

Taking a break from the hard work and reading a story :-)

No first birthday is complete without a Veggie Tales; she seems to be pretty happy about it too :-)

Trying to get a peak in :-)

And now for what I gave her...now before everyone who knows me freaks out, yes, I bought her a doll, but I'm still not giving in to the whole girly girl stuff! I just knew she would love it and couldn't resist making her happy...

Yeah, she couldn't wait for Alaina to get it out of the packaging

But once she got her hands on it, what was the first thing she did?

Yeah, I'd say it was a hit :-)

It was definitely a birthday to remember. Lots of presents and lots of laughs. I just can't believe it's already been a year! Crazy. Anyway, it's a good thing we have a whole year to recover before the next one :-)

Followers

Well, after a long absence, I'm back! Yay! I'm sure you're all squealing and jumping up and down with joy :-)

This is no ordinary blog, this is a blog of celebration because I just saw the most wonderful thing: my blog now has 2 followers! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! sigh...yes, my sarcasm has now waned and my true feelings shall be revealed...2 people? Granted, the two people are absolutely fabulous and apparently my only true friends, so I'm not complaining...ahem, really, I'm not.

Well, my long absence hasn't been because I haven't wanted to blog, rather by the fact that my life is completely devoid of anything interesting. Well, at least things that would interest my two fabulous, loving readers :-) Even now I'm running through my brain files trying desperately to come up with something, anything, that could interest you, but unfortunately the files seem to be blank. So, after a blog like this, I suppose I have no room to complain about my lack of readers, do I? :-)

But, I suppose I could use this opportunity to beg of you to provide me with some excitement in my life...perhaps a visit, a card, some chocolate, spaghetti al pesto (that's just for you, Catherine) hehe You know, anything would do :-)

Enjoying Fall

Here's to fall and the best niece ever!

Her, Yeah, I'm adorable smile


For those of you who knew my sister when she was a baby...kind of freaky, huh?!
Awwwww!

They're having way too much fun!

It's nice to know that even 11 month old babies can appreciate the changing season and it just goes to show...you're never to young to climb a tree! :-)

Addendum

After talking about how much I missed my girls, I would like to mention one of things I love most about them, which is their humor...a perfect example....

This afternoon we were walking back from the park. The 4 year old was pretty tired, so she decided to try and balance on the back of the umbrella stroller the baby was in (and yes, to all the mothers who read this, I know that's not safe and it can bend the stroller, but I'm just the babysitter, hehe, so I let her) So we're rolling along and she's giggling at her own ingenuity when we hit gravel. Of course she has to go, "Uhhhhhhhh" so that her voice wiggles with the bumps, which only serves to increase the giggles. Well, we get to the end of the gravel and she says, "This is so much fun! I haven't had this much fun in YEARS!" I couldn't help it...I burst out laughing to which she began singing, "Keep keep bleeding, I keep keep bleeding, oohhhhh, my love (repeat 20x)!"

Oh, and to Jaimie and Jonathan...notice it was bleeding, not eating, sleeping, keeping... :-)

Don't you just love toddlers?!

Guess Who's Back...Back Again...

After a two week absence, I'm ecstatic to report that the kids I babysit are back! YAY!!! Not to be rude, but when they left, I really thought I would just enjoy my vacation...but not even close. Well, I'll admit the first two or three days were kind of nice, but it didn't take long for me to decide that it was time for them to come home.

They got back Friday night, and I was with them all day Saturday. The 4 year old was incredibly chatty and cuddly, so we had a lot of fun while the almost 2 year old old took an unheard of 3 and 1/2 hour nap! We decorated the house for Halloween together, and she kept up a running commentary of all the fabulous aspects of where they took their vacation. We must have sat at the dining room table for 2 and 1/2 hours cutting and coloring ghosts, pumpkins, bats, etc. It was just so nice to sit with her and talk and see how much she had grown in just 2 weeks! And that's just the 4 year old...my goodness, the baby!! She came back with an entire vocabulary!! She says Jeanea now!!!! I was sooooooo excited! She still calls me mommy when she needs/wants something, but at least we're on the right road :-)

I wish I could post pictures so you could see how completely adorable they are, but I really don't think it would be wise for me to do so :-( But, if at anytime you are with me, feel free to ask to take a peek :-) They're pretty much the best kids ever!