Monday, April 8, 2013

Easter 2013










We had a gorgeous day for Easter this year.  I was almost 70 and a perfect day for little girls to be in their dresses!  Uncle Jerry had a crazy impulse at Costco and bought them Easter dresses, so right before church we lined them up to get a nice picture for him so he could see them in their dresses.  The photos turned out hilarious, as usual.  Every time we try to get pictures of all 3 of  them together, we end up dying from laughter.  If you click through them in succession, you'll laugh at the different expressions/poses.  Pretty funny stuff, I tell ya!


Finley's 3rd Birthday!



Lounging in her chair with Honey waiting for the party to start












If you can see Finley in the back ground, she has noticed that Honey is taking a beating and not looking so hot.

She is so sad and clinging to Berk as Honey gets thrashed around violently



The fashion show

Finley was distraught as Honey's head came off


Big sister tried to comfort her during the Honey's "beating"



Oliver wearing Tom's basketball shorts & my shoes


Cohen put on Uncle Tom's warm ups!

Happy 41st Anniversary!



Finley turned 3 on March 17 and had her birthday party on the same day.  Unfortunately, all 3 kids had been puking up until the day before the party so we had a pretty small turn out, but they still had tons of fun.  I would have rescheduled it, but she was so excited and had been asking all week about her presents and her "birfday party" so I didn't have the heart to cancel it.  Plus, we had birthday parties every single weekend in the month of March so there was really no good time to reschedule.
 
The day before the party I was making the little tissue paper pom poms and when she saw them I told her they were for her party.  She said "Oh, Mom!  Booful! (Beautiful)! Just Booful!  Every time someone would ask her how old she was turning she'd hold up 3 fingers on each hand and say "Six".  I would try to correct her and tell her she was 3, but she was insistent that she was 6.  So, we were a little confused, but excited nonetheless!
 
My parents celebrated their 41st anniversary the next day so we had a little cake for them to celebrate.  My dad had completely forgotten so he owes me big time for the timely & convenient reminder :)
 
Finley had asked to have a horse pinata for her birthday and all I could find was a unicorn, but she immediately fell in love with it and named her "Honey" (after the horse that Berk got from Cohen & Easton for Christmas). She carried this pinata all around the house, laid it down on the couch on a pillow and covered it up with blankets while Honey "napped."  She and Honey were inseparable.  On the day of the party, I had the kids stuff it with candy and Tom hung it up right before it was time to start hitting it open.  It all started out just fine, but Finley very quickly discovered what was happening to Honey and she got the saddest look on her face and clung to Berkeley until it was all over.  She was so sad, but we managed to salvage Honey's head and she seemed happy enough with that.
 
After presents were opened, big sister Berkeley took all the kids upstairs and a short while later the boys  tromped down the stairs and gave us a fashion show we'll never forget.  They dressed up in all of Berkeley's dress up clothes complete with plastic high heels!  It was partly disturbing, but mostly hilarious!  Then they got into our closet and started putting on Uncle Tom's clothes & my shoes.   That's when Uncle Tom put a stop to it.  Berk was the master mind behind the whole operation and she was so proud of herself for getting the boys to dress up in her princess clothes.  I think it's safe to say none of us will ever be  the same again after that!

All in all it was a good day and she had a great time at her party.  I can't believe she is old enough to be excited about her birthday already.  It seems like just yesterday we were getting in the car heading to the hospital to have our 3rd baby.  Happy Birthday Finley Girl, we love you so much!
 
 


Saturday, April 6, 2013

Berkeley's 1st Horse Show!

 Visiting with Fancy before the show
 Kisses for Fancy
 Taking Peaches outside to warm up
 Some of her favorite fans!
 Outside warming up and loving it!


 More of her fans!  Fin loves her Papa!
 Waving to the crowd during the show

Talking to the judge
Her 1st blue ribbon
So proud of herself and her 1st ribbon!
On March 9th, Berkeley had her 1st horse show!  She was so excited.  She was in the youngest group (all riders in the youngest group were guaranteed to get a blue ribbon) and got to ride Peaches.  She had her heart set on Fancy, the horse she usually rides at her lessons, but another little girl was already riding Fancy so she got to ride Peaches for the first time.  Berkeley's dream has been to win a blue ribbon in a horse show.  When she got her ribbon I thought she'd burst with pride and joy.  She was absolutely beaming and so excited.  She held onto it for  the whole rest of the day and has proudly hung it in her room above her bed.  She told me she wants her entire room to be full of blue ribbons.  I told Tom he'd better work some more over time so he can make his little girl's dream come true.  On the way home he said "It just figures that my daughter would have be into horses (since it's such an expensive sport)."  I said, "Well, you were into golf growing up and that's another crazy expensive sport.  What goes around comes around.  Did you really expect anything else?"  He laughed and said "No, of course not."

Great job Berk!  We are so proud of you and we love how much you love animals.  You are doing awesome at your lessons and are a perfect little horse girl.  All of your teachers have been blown away at how brave you are for your age.  You are doing what most 10 year olds are too scared to do and they just can't get over it.  You're a natural!  We know how excited you are to start jumping and although it makes us a little nervous we can't wait to see you go even further!