Birthday times 2!

For my sister and sisters in law-that's a round belly too!

Matchy matchy!

Pinata fun!

Only family picture we got



Actual birthday with her choice of dinner and dessert-dinner with Papa C at Moe's (as M distinguishes: with the quesadillas-not to be confused with Moes with the picnic tables. A BBQ place in town which we frequent-quite frequently). Then onto Yogurt Lab.

Birthday celebration at MDO. A new favorite of hers is Dunkin Donuts (Mommy's too), and she requested munchkins for her class. They were a big hit!

Birthday party was a princess themed party! Sadly our cousin (who is an incredible cake decorator) had a conflict and couldn't make hers so we resorted to Publix. We had about 10 girls and 1 cowboy (M's BFF Walker) at her party. Everyone wore their favorite dress up. We hosted it at church (which was such a blessing to not have to clean my house before and after). We had our jumping castle, we decorated crowns (thanks Carianne for getting them! Sadly, I forgot to take pictures), had a pinata, danced to "Beauty and the Beast," and ate cake and ice cream. It was a sweet party.

Agh! I have had this post started since Jan. 26th, but just could not seem to get back downstairs to finish it. Mostly due to the fact that its freezing down there. The room has its own individual unit and it broke. Sadly, the heating/ac people cannot find anyone who has parts for it due to it being out production, so it looks like it will require a complete replacement. Its not cheap either! We need a new roof first so until spring I guess we'll just have to play upstairs.

M had a true birthday week. My parents came in town the weekend before to celebrate Paxton's baptism and Madeline's birthday. That Saturday we headed to the mall for lunch at Chic-fil-a, a ride on the carousel, and M's first trip to Build-a-bear. Like a fool, I forgot my camera and forgot to get the pictures off my parent's camera before they left. Madeline made a bear she named "Princess" who has been a constant companion recently. On Thursday morning, Jan. 20 (her actual birthday), we were having pancakes when my parents called. My brother and sister-in-law had our nephew, Vincent, earlier that morning! he was about 4 1/2 weeks early, 5 lbs. 8 oz, but otherwise perfect! So, he and M have the same birthday now. Can't wait for spring break so I can hold him! This our first time being an Aunt and Uncle.

In other news, I took the girls to the doctor this week for checkups. Madeline is now 39 1/2 lbs. (50-75th %), 41 1/2 in tall (75-90th %). Paxton is 19 lbs 11 oz (over 100%) and 26 in (75-90th) at 6 months. Now I know why my back hurts so much! I started solids finally a couple of weeks ago. I hope now that she has started some solids, her weight will slow down. She is getting pretty good at sitting up without support, and had finally rolled over a handful of times. She babbles a little, has found her feet, and is generally still just the sweetest of babies. 6-9 months is my favorite baby age!

I must say, I am loving 4 years old. 3 was a rough year for us-I know we had some big life changes, but her personality came out a lot more as well. Its hard to see your child deal with the same sin patterns as yourself. And its hard to deal with your own sin as you try to discipline and teach your child not to do the same junk you have done for the past 31 years. I think I have said this before, but this part of parenting is definitely the long obedience in the same direction. The last 2 months have been wonderful. She has so much more independence and is able to do a lot for herself. Getting dressed, cleaning up after herself, following directions (without complaining or whining sometimes even!). Its also brought on a lot of understanding of things I would rather still shield her from. I know I sound old now, but I can't stand how violent and sexually suggestive commercials are. The only channels I feel good about watching in front of Madeline are HGTV and The Food Network for the most part. Anyways, this post has gone on forever. Time to go do my real job.