Merry Christmas!

Late Night Giggles and Christmas Carols

Anslie's 3rd Birthday

Since Anslie's birthday is on Halloween, it's always a fun challenge to try to combine her birthday party theme with her Halloween costume. This year, we decided to go with a Peter Pan theme: Anslie was Tinkerbell, Zachary was Peter Pan, Kevin was Captain Hook, and I dressed up as Wendy. Anslie was THE perfect little Tink! We had a great time at her party and were so happy that many of our friends and family took us up on our invitation to dress up as pirates, lost boys, or indians!

The kids had fun hunting for treasure, coloring pirate ship and skull and cross bones cutouts, and decorating Indian headdresses. I attempted to make a cake and decorate it with fondant...you be the judge of how it turned out. All I can say is that it was made with love! Everyone had a great time and Anslie loved all of the love, attention, and gifts she was showered with! We are so grateful for the love and support our friends and family provide!

Not Such a Baby Anymore

It was really hard for me to take these photos...not just because Anslie hates having her picture taken, but because my little baby is no longer a baby! She is 3! I can't believe how quickly time has passed (I know, I know. Every parent says it. It's still unbelievable when it happens!)

My little girl is filled with vim and vinegar! I have no doubt in my mind that she knows who she is and what she wants! Anslie loves being with her friends (already!) and really enjoys the co-op preschool that she attends once a week. She did not, however, enjoy her dance class, so she is no longer enrolled. I'm a little sad about that, but it just gives us the opportunity to try something else. And we can always try dance again when she's a little older.

Anslie is a die-hard candy fan. She likes treats of other sorts as well, but candy is by far her favorite. And interestingly enough, the candy she most often picked out of her loot from trick-or-treating was peppermint patties. What an odd choice for a three year old. But don't worry - Kevin covered all the fruity stuff while I devoured the rest of the chocolaty treats. :)

A big development for her was transitioning to a "big girl" bed. The day after her birthday we brought home a full-sized mattress for her to sleep on. She was SO excited! We kept it on the floor while we waited for the headboard and footboard to arrive a week later and that gave her a chance to get used to sleeping on it before it was suspended in air. She has done really well, never once falling out of bed! We decorated her bedroom (pictures to follow in another post) and it's perfect for our little princess!

Chatty Kathy would be a great alias for Anslie! She has a wonderful vocabulary for a child her age and I often can't believe some of the things that come out of her mouth. She's hilarious! Mix that with her intelligence, stubborn streak (which she gets from Kevin) and her independence (which she gets from me) and you have got one tiny firecracker! But she is a joy and keeps us hopping at all times. Life would definitely be dull without this little girl in it!

Carving Pumpkins

Just a few pics of our family fun carving pumpkins. Anslie was able to participate this year, coloring on the little gourde she picked out at the pumpkin patch, so that was really fun for her. This definitely wasn't our best year for creative jack-o-lanterns, but with how busy our life has bee, (obviously, since it's taken me two months to find the time to blog about it!!!) it was a small miracle that we had anything carved! The tears only came when it was time for us to clean up and, of course, Anslie wasn't ready. Sigh. Oh well. We can't expect it to be all fun and games with a toddler in the house, right?!