Controlled Chaos

What a beautiful bug wreath! She loves her wagon!

I'm so behind at keeping up with the kids and I only really have photos and videos on my phone from the last month. I need to take some real photos. I've determined that I WILL do this tomorrow!
It's been months since I've written anything about the kids and I looked at my calendar (jam-packed with nonsense), I counted 51 appointments (for the girls' health) since I last blogged. So, combining that with working and extra curricular activities and caring for the kids (and trying to enjoy life), I've had little time to document their progress.  I'm admittedly quite tired. 

Ali is getting so grown up, she's walking everywhere now and she talks quite a bit. She is so silly and SO affectionate and gives me hugs and says "hi" and "bye" to anyone she encounters. She's sleeping through the night for the most part and I'm so proud of her. She's such a perfect little munchkin-package. All snuggles and curls.

Looking both gorgeous and impish here.

Leaving Las Vegas

 It took over 13 hours to travel home from our annual girls' weekend. This time I foolishly took along both of my girls and although it was really wonderful, it was also fraught with challenges. Mainly, poor Ali felt pretty miserable the entire trip. At one point she vomited all over me when we were north of Bakersfield and it was such a mess to clean up (with four more hours on the road after that point, over four hours until we could both get home and clean up).

Anyways, the girls really enjoyed stopping in Barstow and running around like mad in the cold, sunny desert. As always, I had control of only one girl at a time. At any given point I will expend energy on one of the girls and look the other way and see that the other girly is running or crawling far away. luckily I corralled everyone into the car after each of these stops, thanks to Auntie Michele's invaluable help!

The Third Year's a Charm!

Riley loves the multitude of balloons
her grandpa picked out for her!

We had the best time at Riley's 3rd birthday party! It was a gorgeous and relaxing event thrown by her grandparents, my parents made her cake so we literally did nothing. We showed up and had a good time!

Ri loves cars and is especially in awe of firetrucks or "byah-buh!" She loves the bright red color and I surmise that she loves the loud sounds and lights that often accompany the firetrucks in our area, which are always on the go near the hospital.

Although she hasn't accepted her age (She still insists on being "two"), we know that being three will turn out to be a wonderful thing for her. If the party is any sign, then it's going to be a great year!

Happy birthday to our spirited girly!

Up, up and away. The balloons were almost strong enough!

Riley's grandparents made this adorable custom cake!

First candle extinguished!

Doing what firefighters do best, getting rid of flames!

Ri shows off just how delicious the cake is that "Gamma Gamma" made!

Ri gets a tutorial on the capabilities of her new truck!

We still cannot believe how gorgeous Riley's dress up set is. Beautifully handmade items
from Aimee that allow Riley to don a colorful owl costume or a custom tutu with
ample style and a slightly edge grunge. Ri shows us here that an outfit made from the
whole combo is a showstopper!

It's the Day Before Christmas...

 It's Christmas Eve and Ms. Riley can be found frantically unwrapping presents. Unphased by the names written on the presents, she tore into any package with her greedy paws. We put up with her uncontrolled mayhem for a little while before putting her down for a nap. She napped for almost 4 hours!

Meanwhile little Ali spent her second Christmas enjoying a good book and the attention of her grandpa. She will do almost anything to get attention from her grandpa when he's around. She preferred to watch us open her gifts, rather then tear into them directly. Maybe by her third Christmas she will finally want to do the opening herself!