Lyla's 4th Birthday Party!

 Happy Birthday to my sweet little 4 year old (in one week!).  We had Lyla's birthday party this weekend because I will be out of town for work on her birthday weekend.  Lyla had a great party and thank you to everyone that could make her day that much more special!

Lyla decided on a Tinker Bell themed party and all the kids did a scavenger hunt to find all the lost treasure in our basement.  Hopefully they had as much fun as I had picking out all the "treasure" and hiding it!

I can't believe my little baby is going to be turning 4 in 1 week!  Lyla, you are an amazing daughter and you bring so much joy and happiness in my life.  You are a sweetheart and are so good to your little sister.  We can't wait to see you attend preschool/4K in the Fall to gain more friends and learn even more.  You never stop amazing us!

Birthday Girl

Sweet Girls

Lyla's birthday guests

Lyla's birthday guests

Lyla playing with her friends

More friends to play with

Scavenger hunt treasures

Scavenger Hunt Fun!

Tinker Bell Cake

Happy 4th Birthday Lyla!

What has happened in 2013?

We have had a busy year already in 2013.  Here is a breakdown of what we have been up to the last couple of months.  We have been sledding, went to the circus, relaxing at home since we run around all week, playing in the snow, visiting Grandma and Grandpa Brown, saw Uncle Mike's and Aunt Nikki's new house, shopping and more shopping, and so on. Now with it being March, we are ready for Spring and playing more outside.  Here's to hoping the snow will stop coming!

Hayden's 18 month appointment:

• Hayden weighs 23 lbs 9 oz (40%) and is 32 inches tall (50%).  
• She still only has 8 teeth but has 2 molars that are taking forever to come in!  I thought they were going to break through the gums a month ago but they still haven't.  
• She has been talking up a storm and likes to repeat what you say.  She can count to 10 on her own and continues to amaze me on what she knows!

Updates on Lyla:

• Lyla continues to amaze me on what she learns daily.  She has been practicing writing and spelling her name a lot lately.  She can write her first name and is getting the hang of spelling her last name.  She recognizes most of the alphabet and numbers 1-10 as well.  I didn't realize how well she knew her numbers until we were shopping this weekend and she pointed to the price tag and said "this is $4.74!"  What a proud momma!
• We have been looking into preschool and 4K programs for Lyla to attend in the Fall.  We are looking in the same city as our sitter so we can continue to have Lyla and Hayden go there with little disruptions. We checked out a program this weekend and have another to look at this week.  Let's hope we have no issues getting into a different school district!
• We are also getting ready for Lyla's birthday which will be at the end of the month.  I will be traveling for work the weekend of her birthday so we are having her party the weekend before (March 16th).  Invitations have just gotten sent out...later than planned!

Enjoy the pictures!

Momma's little cuddle bug!

All ready to go sledding

All bundled up

Our weekend morning ritual of a pillows and a blanket, cereal, milk and cartoons!

 Lyla's funny face

Playing check up with daddy

Matt just recently went to Nashville for work and picked up some cowboy boots and hats for the girls.  It was a big hit!

All dressed up in her cowboy boots and hat

Lyla's new red cowboy boots

Too bad this picture is blurry but the girls look cute all dressed up!

Lyla pulling Hayden in her sled

The girls rocking it out...again!

No More Baby Mullet!

You read it right, Hayden just got her first haircut today!  She has been slow at getting her hair to grown on top so we figured she wasn't going to sport the business in the front, party in the back look anymore!  I actually cut around 2 inches too and she was a great sport! Now her Aunt and Uncle cannot poke fun at her anymore....not naming any names!

Merry Christmas 2012

We had a great Christmas this year with the girls getting lots and lots of presents and us getting to spend time with family and friends. We had some changes this year as this was the first year we didn't have Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family.   We at least were able to Skype with them so they didn't seem so far away.  I suppose we now need to make our new Christmas Eve tradition.

The girls were great in helping me decorate the tree and house in getting ready for Christmas.  I actually took a whole day off to just do this!  Seeing the sparkle in the girls eyes makes it even more special!

Hayden loves pushing the chair up close to the tree to look at all the ornaments!

Christmas with the Brown's:
We first celebrated Christmas with Matt's immediate family where the girls were certainly spoiled!

Lyla's new bike from G and G Brown

The best family picture we got!

Hayden loves her train!

Christmas Eve Morning:
We told the girls Santa came a day early with presents since he knew they were going to be in IL for Christmas.  It took us 2 hours to open all their gifts!

The girls just before opening their presents

Ella's big bone!

Hayden's new baby

Our Little Rockers

Hayden loves walking around in momma's slippers!

Christmas Eve Night:
We then headed to my parents for Christmas Eve.  We got to spend time with close family friends, the Swinters, to go to church and then have a great dinner.

Christmas Day:
The girls got to open even more presents on Christmas Day morning!  Then we headed off to Joliet with my mom's side of the family.

Lyla loved her new flashlight!

Lyla and Keira playing trumpet

Following Day:
Lastly, we were able to spend some time with Auntie Kristi and Kevin.

It's been an exciting last couple of weeks but we are now happy to slow down a little and just relax!

Our Little Rockers

I just had to show a video of Lyla and Hayden dancing and singing to their favorite band, Mumford and Sons.  After getting guitars for Christmas, they like watching their music videos and dancing around for us!  I'm so glad my girls have such good taste in music!

Hayden's 15 month Appointment

Last week we had Hayden's 15 month appointment. Hayden weighs 22.2 lbs and is 30.25 ft long. She is in the 40 percentile for both height and weight and is a healthy little girl.

The last couple of weeks, we have really seen an increase in her vocabulary.. At 14 months she started to say "up" and "baby."  At 15 months, she started to say "puppy" and "stinky" along with 2 word sentences like "hi baby" while looking at herself in the mirror and "bye Ella."  Last week she started to finish Lyla's sentence, ready, set "go", along with "mine" and "Bailey" and "Buddy" for dogs she is around.

She loves to copy whatever Lyla is up to like dancing and twirling in the kitchen, playing babies and whatever Lyla doesn't want her to be doing.  They are good playmates and I'm looking forward to seeing how they get naughty together!

Hayden is such a happy little girl that is not afraid to tell you what she wants. We continue to look forward to seeing what kind of girl she will turn out to be!


I just had to include a picture of the girls with daddy.  This is their favorite time of night, having daddy carry them upstairs to get ready for bed!

Happy Belated Halloween

I forgot to share our Halloween pictures from this year.  Lyla ended up being Batgirl and Hayden was a Packer Cheerleader.  I even joined in and was an 80's girl.  My office always dresses up so I always need to try and be creative every year. My mom helped put together Lyla's costume by making the bat symbol and ironing it to her shirt.  I'm glad I had someone creative in my family!

Enjoy the pictures!

Packer Cheerleader

Batgirl