Discovery Gateway

I won a family pass to Discovery Gateway so we've been able to go a couple of times.  It is a nice place for the girls to be able to just run around and have fun.  They really enjoy playing in the water.

 The little house place is a lot of fun for them too.

 

 

 

 

 They can ride swans and horses.

 

 

 

 Who can resist squishing their nose for a picture?

 

 Of course, they do end up falling asleep before we make it home....Lydia is really just pretending for the picture though.  Brooke, however, is out!

Lydia's Birthday Party

Lydia's birthday was on a Saturday which meant that we were able to have her birthday party right on her birthday and still have everyone be able to make it.  She wanted a horse theme for her birthday, but Justin took her shopping to buy some generic table cloths, cups and plates (because horse decorations were impossible to find) and Lydia ended up picking Toy Story ones instead, so she ended up with a Horse/Toy Story themed party.  She was excited and that is all that matters!   The Shorts, Laraways, my parents, and my grandparents were able to come to her party.

 Lydia got a big girl bike from my parents!  She loved it and was so excited.

She had fun opening her presents from everyone.  Usually she just gets to help others open their presents so today was a fun day for her.  She was excited for all her gifts. 

Xander, Nathan, and Brooke joined in on the fun too. 

 Brooke gave Lydia a play dough kitchen set.

Lydia and my dad having fun.

 I moved some of the decorations off of the cake before we lit the candle since all the decorations were made from paper.

 Lydia loved her cake and ice cream (or ous cream as she calls it).

 Brooke enjoyed being able to celebrate with Lydia.

 GGma and GGpa were able to come to the party too.

 

 We tried to get a good picture of GGma and GGpa with all of their great grandkids, but that's always easier said than done.

 GGma and GGpa with Brooke and Lydia

 My parents were nice enough to brave the snow storm and come down for the party too. 

We had so much fun celebrating Lydia's birthday with her.  She was pretty wound up by the time everyone left the party.  Happy Birthday sweet baby girl!

Lydia's 3rd Birthday

Lydia turned three!!  I can't believe how quickly the time has gone.  She is getting so big and so grown up.  I love having her around.  She can be the biggest helper and can have the sweetest most sincere heart.  Of course, she is still just barely three (coming out of the terrible two stage, hopefully), and she has had her moments of a typical two year old, but all in all she is the cutest little girl ever!

She was pretty excited to turn three.  It took some practice for her to be able to hold up just three fingers.

 

 

 She can be such a loving girl and can be the best sister.  She tries to take care of Brooke and she always makes sure that Brooke isn't left out.  If we go to the store, Lydia will pick out a toy for Brooke before she will  pick one out for herself.

 Lydia got a basketball hoop and a camera for her birthday from  us.  She was pretty excited about it.  Brooke was too.  She wanted to be in all the pictures.  We opened presents before I did their hair....can you tell?

 Lydia was excited to help make her birthday cake.  She was able to choose the theme for her party and she wanted to have a horse party.  I actually couldn't find any horse decorations so we used generic birthday decorations and then I got creative on the cake.

 Lydia was a big helper with the cake. She loves to eat the beaters!

 Here is a picture of her finished cake for her party.

 I used my scrapbooking skills and put them to work for the cake.  Lydia loved it.  She knew that she was the girl on the cake and she told me that one horse was her pony Ivy and the other horse was mom's horse Samie.

Her birthday was on a Saturday.  It was nice because Justin was able to be home all day.  We went to Planet Play in the morning and then we had a party for her in the afternoon.  She had a fun day and loved having all of the attention.  She knows what birthdays are, but she calls them Happy Days.  She was so happy that it was finally her Happy Day!  Happy Birthday sweet Lydia!  We love you so much!

Fire Engine Red Cake

Every year for as long as I can remember, Grandma Norma has made Fire Engine Red cakes for Valentine's Day.  It is a cake that she makes from scratch along with a frosting made from scratch.  She always makes quite a few of them too and takes them to various people.  We had her come make them with us this year. 

 We had a lot of fun.  She always has some good stories to tell and is almost always happy.  She is a hoot to be with!

 

 My mom had come down to help make them too!

For some reason the pictures that I have of Lydia and Brooke are of them both making angry faces.  They were really happy and good while we made the cakes, so these pictures make me laugh.

 

We had a lot of fun making the cakes.  They are the best cakes ever and a great Valentine's Day tradition.

Valentine's Boxes

My mom found these boxes for the girls to make for Valentine's Day.  Brooke's was a ladybug and Lydia's was a frog.

 I had brought of the bouncer for my niece to sit in when she came and Brooke instantly started sitting in it again.  She is getting so big.

 Lydia wanted her picture taken by the lady bug one too. 

Jungle Jims

We went to Jungle Jims with my mom, Cammie, Nathan, and Ashley.  It was a lot of fun.  We've been there before a few times, but it was when Brooke was still tiny.  Brooke had so much fun this time.  She loved going on all the rides and wasn't about to get left behind.

 Lydia got to ride with Nathan in the bumper cars and they both had a lot of fun.

 Brooke and I went on most of the rides together.  I was hoping that Nathan or Lydia would ride with her more, but they just wanted to go together.

 Brooke was able to go on the little jeep ride by herself though.  She thought she was so big.

 

 We tricked Cammie into going on the roller coaster type ride with them.  It is a horrible ride.  All it does is goes around in a circle and then stops and goes around backwards. 

 The kids all had a blast on the little lady bug rides.  The little bug spins while the whole ride spins.  They were so dizzy after.  It was funny watching them try to walk.

 I realized later that adults could go on the bumper cars too so I took Brooke and Lydia went with Nathan again.

 After awhile I was getting dizzy so I talked my mom into going with Brooke on the rockets again.

 

 

 Nathan and Lydia went to go on the swings and I wasn't going to let Brooke go because I thought she was too small, but she started to fuss and the worker said she could go so I let her.  She loved it!  She copied exactly what Lydia did the whole way through.  It was so funny watching her.

 I finally got Lydia to go on a ride with Brooke.  They are so cute together.

 My dad showed up after he was done working so we made him take the kids on the ride again.  Nathan went by himself (you can kind of see him behind my dad's arm) and Brooke and Lydia rode with my dad.

It was a perfect day to go there because it wasn't very crowded so the kids were able to go on the rides over and over again without waiting in line.  They loved it!