Happy 3rd Miss Elle Bell

My middle, my very sweet and very spunky little girl is 3!  I am so happy to see 2 go as they held many little battles between us, but with them came many great accomplishments!  Now at the age of 3, Elle is potty trained, sleeping in a big girl bed with no paci (we have arrived!!)

 

Since Elle's birthday was on a Monday, we celebrated as a family on Sunday.

 

And Elle got a big girl bike.  She knows how to petal on her trike, but is realizing the big girl bike takes a little more effort!  It's so tiny and cute, I love seeing her on it!

 

And I tried my hand at baking my first birthday cake from scratch with homemade frosting and it came out pretty yummy!! 

I didn't tell any of the kids, but we had planned a PJ birthday party for Elle and her friends for Monday morning while Clare was at school and Cole was napping.  I thought it would be a great way for her to feel extra special and be the center of attention with her friends.

 

And I have to say, it was really cute and a big success!! 

 

The girls played SO well together, we made fruit loop necklaces and had donuts as our "cake."  I am learning quickly how to have a party with lots of fun, little mess and little expense. :)

 

Elle is blessed to have a sweet group of blondies she can call her friends.  Little girls to learn with, grow with, play dress up and babies, and most importantly the art of friendship and how beautiful it is.

 

 

 

 

I feel like this picture is so priceless!  Sweet little girls in all their innocence and beauty!

 

Thank you Elle for letting me be your mommy!  Happy 3rd birthday!

Fall festivities

We decided to pack all fall activities into one short week and make sure we could check it all off our list.  LD and Clare were both at home for Columbus Day so we thought it would be a great day to drive to the mountains to the apple orchard.

 

It's about a 2 hour drive and the weather didn't look promising, but LD is always much more open to these big adventures than I am.  I kept saying it was raining and he kept telling me we were in a cloud.  Either way...it was misty, but not too cold and ended up turning into a nice day.

 

The girls love Sky Top Orchards because there are 3 or 4 swing sets and a few playhouses.

 

I love it because they have apple cider donuts and it is beautiful being in the mountains!

 

But these little girl's legs (especially Elle's) were tired from all the walking.  And of course LD was determined to find the apples that we had sampled and liked, so we walked A LOT!

 

But it was a perfect fall day, with fall weather and we came home with a lot of apples!  I even made some yummy apple butter!

 

The next day Clare's school had a field trip to Aw Shucks! and since they are so little you just drive and stay for the preschool day.  

 

It was set up so cute with 7 little stations all having to do with corn or farm work.  So at this station they talked about silos and pretended to be a piece of corn sliding down.

 

And then they planted their own corn and watered it, picked a pumpkin, went on a hay ride, walked through a corn maze, milked a cow and collected eggs.

Such a fun day with my little girlies!!

My big little girl

 

This picture is a perfect description of my sweet 5 year old.  Clare is ALL girl, loves drama, dress up, and princesses.  And for her birthday...she wanted a party!  Since we had just gotten home from Disney, I knew I did not have the energy and daddy was NOT going to go for a party.

 

 

 

So, we settled on a porch party!  Thankfully I have the worlds most gracious neighbors and they happily participated in this little event.

 

All of our neighbors came and hung out while Clare opened some presents, sang happy birthday and ate some cupcakes.  Best. party. ever. 

 

Clare was very cute, because she was highly concerned about the decorations.  I kept telling her I had it taken care of, but she needed to approve of all of it.  On her way home from preschool she asked if I would please call the guests and tell them it was a dress up party.  After I informed her that no, that would not be happening, we decided she could dress up on her own.

 

(Mo and Cole are having a stare down)

Grandma and Grandpa had brought her some presents and Grandma had the perfect party dress.  And it is quite grand!  I honestly thought she would get shy or embarrassed, but she walked around the yard in her high heels and party dress the entire time.

This is the crew of Clare's "friends" consisting of all big kids, most of them being in middle or high school and they were all sweet enough to participate in Clare's fifth birthday.  It was really sweet.



 

Then, the next day was Clare's REAL birthday, so I brought cupcakes in for her to enjoy with her class.

 

Yes, this girl is going to need a detox after Disney, grandparents and a birthday week!

 

Happy Birthday sweet Clare Bear!  You are a joy to our home and a light in my life.  I am so blessed and proud to be your mommy!

Our trip to the happiest place on earth

I am so excited to be able to post about our trip to Disney.  Disney World is one of those crazy places that you plan forever (and ever and ever) and the anticipation is great to see all of your planning to come together, the trip is an exhausting whirlwind and you come home and cannot believe it is here and gone. 

 

That said, we had an awesome time!!

 

 

 

I decided early on to leave Cole at home with LD's parents who graciously came and stayed at our house with him.  It was the best decision...ever.  During this trip I realized Elle is still really little and she needed to be the baby of the trip.  She was very exhausted and required lots of TLC.

 

LD had found amazing flight prices so we flew down on Thursday, went to Epcot and had dinner with the princesses, went to Hollywood Studios Friday to meet Princess Sophia and had dinner that evening with Cinderella and her family at Grand Floridian.  On Saturday and Sunday we went to Magic Kingdom and flew home Monday. 

 

The best part of this trip is that we went during "free Dining" which means, yes, all of our meals were free...totally free, and it even included character meals.  We all had 4 sit down meal tickets, 4 counter service meal tickets and 4 snacks for the trip.  And yes, it was a LOT of food, but when we came home we had spend a grand total of $165 the ENTIRE 5 days including all of our souvenires.  I think we will always plan to go this route!

 

Our biggest goal of the trip was to see as many princesses as possible.  Both of my girls LOVE princesses, and watching them meet and interact with them was the highlight of our trip.  My favorite line of Clare's after having dinner the first night with all the princesses was "Mom, you never let me pray for the princesses, but I told you they ARE real and now I can pray for them."  I mean how do you argue with that.  So yes, now we pray nightly for Aurora, Snow White and Tiana.

 

The other great part is that we have read all of the older Disney stories like Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, and I highly recommend doing that before going.  When the parades or shows were going on, the girls knew all of the characters and that made it so much more fun. 

 

A big surprise to us was how much both girls LOVED rides.  We have never been to any kind of theme park at all so we had no clue how it would go.  Elle was too short to ride any big rides, which was a bummer and caused a few total meltdowns.  But, both girls rode the Pirate ride, Haunted Mansion and every other ride that doesn't require a height limit.

 

Clare rode the test track at Epcot, Splash Mountain twice and Thunder Mountain Railroad THREE times.  She loved it.  She told LD the first time halfway through she almost spit up, which had him panicked...but she made it!

 

As with all things Disney, the interactions with the princesses was so cute.  Clare carried on real conversations with them about different characters and Snow White told her that Dopey had taken all of her jewels and Clare was seriously concerned.

 



 

Also funny...Clare would not look at, interact or even acknowledge any prince.  This picture totally cracks me up because she would not even set down her chicken leg for the picture.

 

I hope we go back again in a few years so Cole can go with us.  We already have mentioned it to family to start saving so we can all go together.  Never did I think I would be a huge Disney person, but yes...I fell for the trap.  It really is -

the happiest place on earth!

Big weekend

We like to end in style, so the Jackson's had a pretty big last weekend of summer!  Two of our favorite families ever were in town (the Kirks from Boston and the Watts from Missouri), so we had a LOT of playtime!

Friday with everyone in town we had scheduled a playdate.  Thankfully, everyone was up for my super crazy idea to head 2 hrs to the Columbia zoo with 7 adults and 8 kids (3 which are under a year).

 

Cole got to hang out with his best buddy Henry, who is just 2 day younger than him.

 

 

 

And my girls were thrilled with just having friends around.

 

Cole and Henry were hilarious grabbing at each other's paci's, shirts and toys.

 

And Elle was thrilled with a little more time with her sweet friend Mae.  They haven't seen each other since January and picked right back up where they left off...just like true girlfriends!

Jude is a riot.  He talks in HUGE complete sentences and has great expressions.  He was the only one brave enough to feed the giraffes and he loved it.  I mean his hand was just about in the giraffes mouth!

My two girls (the OLDEST two kids) loved the luxury of extra unused strollers and extra adults willing to push them around.

And I was reminded why I am not taking Cole to Disney world.  He didn't bat an eye, but not happy in his stroller.  He desperately wanted to be held and thankfully everyone was willing to pass him around.

Then early Saturday morning we had a massive two year old play date for everyone to get more playtime with Jude before he headed back to Boston.

Followed by the first Michigan game of the year and the first Michigan game ever that LD was able to share with his son...so sweet.  I know LD is already excited to one day take Cole with him to the Big House :)

 

Monday we were invited over to friends to hang out more with Mae Mae and baby Henry before they had to head back to Missouri.

There were lots of sweet little babies to play with and everyone had such a great time!

 

Now...we are truly ready to get back to school and into the fall routine after such a fun weekend!!!

 

 

 

2 down! (Potty training)

I never thought I would get to write this post!!!  I truly feel like I deserve an award for this one :)

  My Elle Belle is potty trained!!

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, my sweet little peanut is a strong willed child.  She is tough as nails.  I have no doubt God is going to do great things through her and with her life with all of her spunk, but attempting to "train" her in anything has been a challenge.

 

We tried two different times and both times resulted in Elle yelling "I like diapers, I will not go on the potty!" while slamming her little potty.  We set the timer, we made a sticker chart, we loaded her up with juice.  She didn't have accidents, she just refused to go and would wait FIVE, yes, FIVE hours until I put a diaper on her at rest time and go then.  Sigh...what to do.  She was choosing to win the battle and I was at a loss.

 

 

I read in a book, (one that I did not like and didn't agree with half of what was written) to just show them the potty, put them in underwear, let them have accidents, don't offer a ton of praise, just let them figure it out. I thought: Worst. Idea. Ever.  But, since I was at a loss I figured I'd give it a try.  We have hardwood floors so the mess wouldn't be that bad.

 

I put her little potty out in the open, put her in underwear and rubber pants and we carried on.  After two accidents she decided she didn't like it and started going on her own.  End of story.  No more accidents, not one fit, and she is proud of herself without needing a reward.  Just accomplishing the goal was good enough satisfaction.

 

 

Lesson learned - all kids learn differently and my children will not learn in the way that I learn.  Elle needs some freedom and with her freedom she was able to conquer a big step.  We are all so proud of her (especially daddy who is only buying diapers for one baby now!)

Half a year, little one!

I have never been super sentimental.  I don't cry at mushy movies.  I don't keep many keepsakes. At times I wish I had more of a coddling instinct with my children.  I love them very passionately, just not the rock in chair all night so I can smell your hair and feel your skin kinds of demonstration. 

Enter my little Cole-man.

I think it is a mixture of being a son, my son and also of being my last baby.  I truly cannot believe how fast the first half of his first year went.  It makes me weepy just thinking about it.  I feel like we missed so much, yet I know we treasured so many special moments because LD and I talked about it all the time.  How he was most likely our last newborn, the last baby to sleep in our room, the last baby we would feed with a spoon for the first time, the last baby I would nurse (that one was really hard for me and I don't even like nursing!), all of these last milestones has made me very reflective.

BUT, this blog post  is a celebration of Cole's first six months, not a sob story about how this mama cannot handle her babies growing up (suck it up, right?)

Cole is the worlds EASIEST child, um, ever.  He goes to anyone, smiles at anyone, flirts with everyone batting those big baby blues.  He is the worlds best sleeper, going for a record 14 hrs the other night.  He is much more mobile than the girls were at this age, or though it seems, but at times I feel like he was born yesterday.  He is rolling all over the house, cruising around in his walker, and jumping non-stop in his jumper!

His very favorite thing is attention from his sisters.  When they just give him a second of eye contact, he belly laughs. (Side note: When we took Cole to get his six month shots both girls cried, I mean real tears kinda cries when Cole got poked.  It was so sweet and complete chaos). Every morning after breakfast they ask for him to be put in his walker and pull him into the play room and shut the door.  Truly, they stay like that for an hour.  It's bliss for all!!

We dropped Cole's evening cat nap pretty early on so he would go down at night the same time as the girls, so from 3:30 til 7 he is awake and it is a difficult time for sure.  He is a screamer, squealer, high-pitched ringer, and it kills brain cells.  He eats at 3:30, has table food at 5:30 and from then til 7 there is a full blown concert.  During that awful time, when its also dinner, baths and bedtime prep for everyone else, and LD is usually not home, we resort to ANYTHING to keep everyone happy.  He has started gnawing on apples and watermelon in his teether food toy, and drinking out of a sippy cup (he's pretty awesome at it) to get us through the afternoon.

He really is SUCH a joyful little boy.  He has the cutest dimples, the biggest blue eyes and longest eye lashes.  No doubt he will be a heart breaker.  We cannot imagine life without this little man.

Happy six months Cole- man!