Violet's Birthday #2

We had another birthday party for Violet with her cousins and family. Of course, it was Mickey Mouse themed. Here is the invitation:


I made a mickey mouse cake (yes, I made that!) I'm very proud of myself though it was so much harder than I thought!!! We had costco hot dogs (Hot Dog, Hot Dog, Hot Diggity-Dog) and I let Violet wear her minnie mouse costume from Halloween. She had lots of fun and we're so grateful for everyone who helped her feel special on her birthday.

Violet's Birthday

I had a playdate with Violet's little friends for her birthday. They had pizza and cupcakes and Violet loved it. She is wearing a crown that her little school made for her. She didn't want to take it off all weekend.

Family Pics

I am so glad we hired a professional photographer to shoot some family photos in Hawaii. These are the best of the best!

Hawaii

We were so lucky to be able to go to Hawaii over Thanksgiving this year. We went to Kona on the big island and had plenty to see and do. We went to a luau on Thanksgiving Day and it was fun to have pig instead of Turkey! I missed the stuffing though. We realized pretty quickly that the kids enjoyed the pool much more than the beach! We pretty much camped out there. We went on a tour of the island and saw the black sand beaches and volcanoes. Zach and I also celebrated our 4th anniversary while we were there and decided to go parasailing!

A Preview

More Hawaii pics to come . . .

Best Friends

I couldn't be more thrilled about how well these two get along. Violet is a good big sister and Scotty adores her. I hope and pray that their relationship in the future will be as great as it is now.

SCOTT

VIOLET

Minnie & Mickey

We were thrilled with Violet's decision to be Minnie this year. She originally chose to be Mickey and I had come to terms with it and then she switched and told us she wanted Scotty to be Mickey. Violet got to wear her costume several times this year. We had a friends party with our kids, a family party a few days before Halloween and then on Halloween as well. She also wore her costume to her preschool one day and performed in a Halloween Program. She was A-MAZ-ING!

Having two kids has only made it harder to get a good photograph of my children. But they still look pretty cute even without smiles on their faces. Oh my, I love these babies.

The Great Pumpkin

We took the kids on a hayride to hand-pick a pumpkin from the patch.
We had a great time and Violet was very excited. On the other hand, this was tough work. It's a good thing we brought Aunt Hadda or we wouldn't have had enough hands to actually pick the pumpkins. What I learned . . . until my kids can actually carry their own pumpkin, we'll be buying ours from the store!

The hayride was great and even better . . . the apple cider donuts and pumpkin pie ice cream.

7 months old

Here they are: both at around seven months old.








Looking through Violet's old pictures overwhelms me. The love is incredible. I can barely remember what our days were like when she was Scott's age and I can't begin to imagine what Scotty will be like when he's almost three like Violet. Being a parent really is an incredible experience.

So I'll always remember . . . I know Violet is almost exactly 7 months in this picture because she only learned to sit up the week before they were taken. Also, she got her first bottom teeth one week later. Scotty will be seven months tomorrow and still won't sit up by himself but already crawls. I predict Scotty has his first teeth within two weeks. He is showing all the signs.