I can't believe it's already Septemeber and I've only posted 4 times this year. I guess every little thing isn't as important to post about as it was 5 years ago. But we've had two major changes happen in the past couple of months, so I will blog about that. We finally moved into a house! I am extremely excited about this!! After 8 years of living in apartments, I was more than ready to not share a wall and a yard with someone else. We miss our friends in Provo, but we are really happy with where we are now. So here's a pic of the house:
The view from our backyard is really beautiful. We love it here so far.
The girls have been playing with each other more since we've moved, and they've become best friends. And worst enemies. I think they're getting sick of each other now. Luckily, Hannah has already made some friends in our new neighborhood.
Bailey and Brynn have also discovered that our linen closet can be used as a tiny bunk bed.
And here's a picture of the girls in the rain, just because it's cute.
And the second big event that has happened in our lives is that Hannah started kindergarten.
Man, I look back on this blog sometimes and can't believe how fast my little girl has grown up. She's turned into a beautiful, smart, and talented little thing. And she's also turned into a big sister that loves to tease her little sisters, but we are grateful for this child. She was very excited for her first day of kindergarten. She kept begging me to take the bus (which she does every day now), and wasn't even the slightest bit scared. She's always been good in new situations. She's good at making friends too, even if she's shy when you first get to meet her. She's always been independent, so when I dropped her off for school, she started running for the playground and almost forgot to give me a kiss goodbye. There were no tears from either of us that day (but many tears from Bailey and Brynn).
Bailey and Brynn didn't want to be left out, so I took some pictures of them as well. Both of these girls want to go to school so bad. They keep telling me that they are 5 and can ride the bus now. It will happen all too soon, and before I know it, I'll have the days to myself. :-(
Yesterday we had a pink princess tea (ish) birthday party for Bailey and Brynn. I guess the only thing tea-ish about it was that I put chocolate milk in a plastic princess teapot and poured it into all of their cups. But anyway, here's a little bit about the party. The kids came and had a princess lunch, played musical chairs, opened presents, and sang happy birthday. And that was about the extent of a party with 8 little three year olds and two little 5 year olds. It was fun, though, and the girls were spoiled with gifts.
Here's what was on the menu for the princess lunch: A crown cut PB & J, white chocolate covered pretzels, heart shaped cheese, strawberry yogurt, and fruit. Oh yeah, and chocolate milk poured from a teapot.
The kids got to pick goodies from those glass jars on the table when the party was over. There were pink gumballs, pink sixlets, pink and white cookies, pink bubbles, pink wands, pink crowns, pink sour straws, and Hershey kisses (The only thing not really pink on the table).
Here are some of the guests are the party:
Bailey was pretty excited about getting her candles lit.
I am so grateful for these little princesses of mine. I can't believe they are almost 3.
Last week we surprised the girls by taking them to Disneyland. Scott and I had been looking forward to this trip for about a month and a half (thanks to his mom for taking us!). We had a really hard time keeping it a secret, but we wanted to see what Hannah would do if we surprised her. Last Tuesday we woke the girls up early and told them that we had to take Scott to work because his car wasn't working (sneaky, sneaky). We fed the girls breakfast, got them dressed, and hauled them into the minivan. Hannah was a little confused at first, because she noticed that the portable DVD players were set up, and we had a lot of snacks in a plastic bag. She said, "It looks like we're going on a vacation." I smirked a little, and then we started driving. She noticed that we were going the opposite direction of Scott's work, which is when I started recording because I wanted to see her reaction. I was hoping she would scream for joy when she found out we were going to Disneyland, but she didn't. Her face is priceless, though. This was the best surprise she'd ever gotten, I think. This video is kind of long and it's hard to hear what she's saying, so turn the volume up!
It felt like it took forever to get to our hotel in Anaheim, but the girls were really excited to have their own little room with a bunk bed in it. The next morning, we were up early and ready to go to Disneyland. Hannah got a second surprise when she heard a knock on our hotel door and opened it, only to see her grandma! The girls were so happy that grandma Julia came with us!
The first thing we did when we got to Disneyland was take a picture with Mickey. He was right near the entrance. Bailey was terrified of most of the characters with masks, so she will not be pictured in most of the character pictures.
Bailey and Brynn's favorite ride: The carousel. It was hard to miss this when Bailey kept yelling out at the top of her lungs, "BEST! DAY! EVER!" as she was riding it. They rode the carousel at least 5 times. Hannah's favorite ride was Splash Mountain. Her least favorite ride was the Tower of Terror. She was definitely terrified of that tower. ;)
Some characters:
Brynn was always the first one to run up to the character and give them a hug.
On Thursday morning we went to Minnie and friends breakfast, where you get to dine with the characters. I was afraid that this wouldn't be worth the money, but I'd say it was worth every penny. The food was delicious, and we got to see so many characters.
The Teacups:
The princesses (these were definitely Bailey's favorite characters):
The fairies:
In line for the Jungle cruise:
I didn't get a lot of pictures of us around the park (ie, in front of the castle, on the dumbo ride, in front of the mickey mouse flowers at the entrance), mostly because I was more concerned with getting in line for things than I was with taking pictures.
One of the highlights of the trip was that we got to see some celebrities. I think I felt just as giddy about seeing them as my girls did about meeting the Disney princesses. The cast and crew of Modern Family (a show on ABC) were there filming all three days that we were at Disneyland. I got a video of them, for anyone who cares to see them. It's not the best video because I had a child in my arms while filming, but I was excited about it.
(I did not take the below picture of them, but this is the cast)
And Scott and I also saw Jon Heder about 10 ft in front of us while he was waiting in line to get on the Peter Pan ride.
On Saturday we took the girls to the beach for the first time. They loved dipping their feet in the water and collecting sea shells. I hope to someday live by the beach. Preferably one that's always warm and has white sand. But for now, we are back to reality at home and missing southern California and Disneyland terribly. Until next time!
Bailey and Brynn have also discovered that our linen closet can be used as a tiny bunk bed.
