I love 4!!!!!!

I know it has only been a couple of weeks, but I just love 4! Sofia has in the last couple of months really blossomed into a big girl. She is so responsible, kind, giving, and very independent. These have always been part of her personality, however I feel that it has become more prominent in the last couple of months, especially the responsible part! She and I have been doing things together lately after Emily goes to bed. We either work in her work book, read a chapter book together (she is obsessed!!!!!), watch a cooking show together- which she commentates on the whole time, or just spend big girl time together. We both LOVE it! Last night we wrote Thank you notes together since our birthdays are so close together. It was fun. She dictated to me, and I wrote exactly what she said, which sometimes was HILARIOUS! She is becoming such a little girl....which sometimes I don't know how I feel about this.

The link

Sorry I am not sure what happened, but here is the link to my sister's wedding photos. Please don't forget to post a comment if you can:)


http://www.jonesphotoart.blogspot.com/

My sister's wedding

So my sister's wedding was a BLAST!!!! It was also very beautiful, she did an awesome job. One thing that I really loved was her photographers. They really were able to capture the moment. Please check out some of Noelle and Christopher's pictures on their blog. If you leave a comment it helps them to get more pictures! So don't hesitate to leave one on their blog.

Festival of Lights

When Sofia told me she wanted a Rapunzel birthday party I was so excited. In fact it is hard to tell which one of us had more fun, her or me?
We had her party on her actual birthday party this year with all of her little friends. My mom of course made an amazing Rapunzel dress to wear for the party, complete with long braided wig.

I made floating boat jello, a tower cake with flower cupcakes, paskel's pistachios, build your own fruit tower, King and Queen Sunchips, and Maximus's Apples.





For decorations I made a sunflag banner, and my mom made a long braid for our front porch with ballons, and a wanted poster with Flynn's picture on it.


For activities we had different art stations (a painting, a spin painting, chalk art-like in the movie, easel chalk, and coloring) since Rapunzel was an artist. We also launched a lantern, which was exciting, but may have been more dangerous than I had thought it would be. Thank heavens we had children back and the hose ready when it caught on fire! We also played pin the frying pan on Flynn which was a huge hit! Chad drew the Flynn poster! He's a great dad!









Later that night my dad and Chad just couldn't resist setting more lanterns on fire. So we went outside and tried about 5 more. They were really beautiful and a lot of fun, however a definite fire hazard, especially where we live! So we tethered them, and watched them float. I think Chad and my dad would have done this all night:)

Marian's visit part 2

Well Marian went back to Ireland (BOO!!!!!!!) but we had an awesome time. I am so glad that she was here for so long. I know all of us were sad to see her go. Sofia cried the whole way home from the airport (so did I), Emily is still asking where she is by calling for her every morning, and I think even Chad is feeling the loss of Marian (she is the female version of him:). But here are some of the highlights from the last couple weeks of her visit.

Marian and I went to Las Vegas for a weekend. I finally had Emily weaned and we were off for a girls (big girls) weekend. We had a blast!!!!!


We hung out by the pool


We had a very fancy dinner (I didn't have to cut up Marian's food, or plead with her to take one more bite!)


We gambled, and this is what I started out with.


This is what I ended up with:(


We had drinks

and more drinks:)

Super Nanny, I mean Marian, got Emily to go to sleep on her own, without crying, in her crib for both nap and bedtime!!!!!!


We went to one of the top ten restaurants in the WORLD!!!! It is called Bizarre and it is in LA. Marian and I got to meet Adam Pliska the President of the World Poker Tour. He was very nice and bought us the drink that is named after him at Bizarre. The picture quality is terrible, my phone was dieing:(



Marian also helped me hang up Sofia's canopy that our dear friend Rachel gave us. She loves sleeping under it!!!!


We also roasted marshmellows and played Mad Libs one night in the backyard, it was one of my favorite things we did the whole time she was here! We laughed so hard. I had forgotten how much fun those were.




Then to end the trip Marian and I did Disneyland together. I felt like I was on SUPER DUPER HIGH FUN!!!!! I mean really Disneyland with your best friend!!!! We stayed all day and had a blast. We were laughing so hard on one ride, my stomach literally hurt:) We also got to see Tinkerbell fly over the castle during the firework show and it was very cool! I made Marian ride my favorite adult ride the "Tower of Terror," I don't think she has forgiven me yet:)










I know she is probably sleeping, and will be for about a week, but I MISS YOU MAR!!! It was fun, and hopefully I will see you very soon:)

MARIAN VISITS!!!!

You can't really see it, but Sofia's shirt says, "The Leprechauns made me do it!" and they are both eating Hoola, Hoops. Always a request from Sofia...and now I suspect Emily:)

I had to write that post title in all caps, because I wanted you to feel my excitement! Yes Marian will be staying with us for an entire month. I love it, I feel like I am truly in heaven. We have done a lot since she has been here (only a week) and there is still a lot more to do:) Like Vegas!!!!!!

Here are a couple of the things we have done so far.

We went to Newport Beach, and had lunch and beach fun one afternoon. It was very fun for everyone, except Emily. She didn't really like the sand or the water. She did love her nap though:)



We also celebrated the 4th of July with a parade in the morning, a BBQ in the afternoon, and fireworks in the evening. It was all a lot of fun!








We also went to Huntington Gardens. It was really hot, but we all had a great time. Sofia even got to bring her friend Carter along. Emily got to bring Baby, who proceeded to get a bath from all of the fountains in the children's garden. It was a fun day.