Curious George

Spencer is one of our Couisn's from Randy's side - His parents are theming his first birthday party with Curious George. I was so excited to have the opportunity to do something super detailed. The cakes took about three hours total to make - from mixing the cake mix from scratch to the final icing decoration (icing made from scratch too). So all in all, not as much time as I was expecting considering this is the first Character cake I have made! The little one with the banana on it is Spencer's smash cake!

The Easter Egg hunt

I think this is probably the first Easter Egg Hunt Melissa will really remember. If I can figure out how to copy our DVD of it onto the computer I will upload part of the Easter Egg hunt, but for now, Pictures will have to do.

Melissa, So excited about what the Easter Bunny left in her Easter Basket

Marian's not really sure what to grab first, Chocolate bunny that I have to open, or random jelly beans....she went for the jelly beans!

Showing Grandma what we got in our Easter Eggs.

Melissa is having a very serious Easter Egg conversation with Grandma.

Marian was opening and eating from her Easter Eggs as fast as she was finding them.

Fingerpaints!

Grandma and Papa Griffin gave Melissa fingerpaints for Easter. That day of course they had to start using them before they opened anything else!!!

Naked is the best way to finger paint - and the cleanest!

Believe it or not, Marian was really good at finger painting :)

Shel also liked trying to eat it....

Melissa getting help from Grandma.


Look Marian can spell! Well, maybe daddy gave her a little bit of help!

Melissa loves painting!!

Melissa's finished artwork.

Marian's finished artwork!

Cakes

For my birthday, Kathy got me a cake decorating set. After a lot of practice on cookies and cupcakes at home (which I think Randy was slightly upset for all the desert stuff he was having to eat :) ) I finally had an opportunity to make a cake for an Easter Celebration at the Cook's house. It turned out pretty cute, kind of like an Easter basket on the sides sitting in grass.





I got my second opportunity to make a cake for my sister Kadra's bridal shower. This one I made using fondant...which is hard and easy at the same time. It takes so long to roll out but getting the cake smooth is so much easier! I used a cookie cutter to cut out the daisy shapes in different colors and then just applied them to the white fondant. Turned out so cute!

Fort La Play Porte

This is the coolest "fort" I have ever seen. We went to the park to have a picnic lunch with our friends Jenny and Nora, and then afterwards let the kids play on this amazing play ground.

Melissa getting ready to go down the super fast slide.

Marian playing peek-a-boo one of many times.

Nora was getting tired....we had to much fun and it was pretty hot that day.

Marian running away from me...yes, I was on the play fort...

it was the only way I could keep an eye on Marian.

All three girls in one spot....I think this is the only time that happened!!!

Melissa loves the tire swing.

Marian and Nora walking off on their own...so stinking cute!!!!

I should have known then!

So my dad copied some pictures for me from his computer this past weekend. This one is Marian with her Papa Grape, as Melissa calls him (Papa Great - my Papa). I should have known at 2 months of age that Marian was going to be my sneaky kid! Look at that sly sneaky grin she has with those hands together almost like she was rubbing them together thinking of something bad to get into!!!!

YEAH!!!!!

Marian just pee'd in the potty all by herself!!!!!!! (Well, I told her to go sit on it, but I wasn't anywhere near when she did it!) Maybe running around naked is the key?

All I can say is YEAH!!!!!!!!

Potty Training: Part 1

So this is hilarious! We have slowly started introducing Marian to the potty. For a while now she has been telling us when to change her diaper - usually within seconds of peeing or pooping it. Everytime we change her (mostly me since I'm home all day with her), we've been asking her if she wants to sit on the potty. And of course its always the "Ehh" answer, which we've come to understand as yes. So these first two are from the other day after a diaper change.


Trying to get her pants down far enough, apparantly they had to be pretty much off for her to be comfortable!

Kind of a scary "CHEESE" face! But excited none the less to be sitting on the potty!

This one is my favorite. Let me preface this with the fact that she wanted nothing to do with her diaper all morning today (Yes, she's completely naked as I type this). I asked if she wanted to sit on the potty, and that turned into her not wanting to put her diaper back on and me taking her clothes off, so in the event of the looming accident, we only pee on the floor and not the clothes too! And I see pee as a hopeful, wishful thinking accident...trying to avoid the word with the o's in it!
Anyways, this is one of the many things she's done today while naked. I love the fact that you can see part of her crack!

The things they say

This morning I woke up to Melissa saying this....

"Let's go right here where mommy can't see us...come on Marian"

When I got out of bed, they were sitting on the middle landing of the stairs, in the dark, eating what was left of the lifesaver gummies they found in the diaper bag. So stinking cute I just had to let them eat the gummies with their breakfast!

I LOVE DECORATING!

For my birthday I received a cake decorating set. I. AM. IN. LOVE. This is what I practiced for Easter. I had so much fun!!! (not sure why the butterfly's are sideways, but tilt your head to the right to see those the right way!)

Stickers, Glue, Easter Eggs OH MY!

Making our first Easter Decoration of the season

Marian had more fun playing with the bucket of stickers than she did decorating her Easter Egg

Melissa coloring her orange easter egg with an orange crayon!

All of our Easter Eggs displayed on our French Doors - totally perfect window panes for Easter Eggs!

Melissa proudly showing off her Disney Easter Egg

Here Marian is not happy about me making her stand next to her Easter Egg

Marian's Alphabet Easter Egg (which she's already try to tear apart at the top!)

Marian update

Marian is a big girl!

Today Marian had her 18month check up. She finally reached the 20 lb mark, weighing in this morning at 20lb 12 oz!!!! YEAH!!! We never thought she would get here! She is also 32 in tall - off the charts and growing strong!


The first week in March, Marian had her first hair cut given by Aunt Kadra. It took a lot of people to get her attention so Aunt Kadra didn't hurt her with the shears! She didn't really like it very much, especially when Kadra went to cut her bangs!

Marian also took another step to being a big big girl (as Melissa likes to call herself!) - she moved into her big girl bed this weekend. As you can see, moments after it was put together she was in love! So far so good, we've had lots of luck with her staying in bed and not getting out and roaming around! I give it a week before we're waking up in the middle of the night to music and toys being bounced around!

Making Cupcakes

Melissa decided I was going to have cupcakes to celebrate my birthday in February. No, I did not have the choice of making something else!!! We made vanilla cupcakes with chocolate icing, and then topped them off with different candy bar pieces. Melissa and Marian decorated their own, then ate the candy and icing off the tops and were done! They enjoyed them!