The Trifecta of Celebrations

What a weekend! Three different celebrations all in one weekend - Alyssa's birthday (take 2), Thanksgiving, and Christmas. What more could you ask for? Grammy, Papa & Auntie Stacy came to visit for Thanksgiving weekend, and we filled that weekend with lots of fun activities.

Because they had missed Alyssa's birthday, we celebrated Alyssa' birthday when they arrived on Wednesday night. We ate the leftover frozen cake from her original birthday, sang Happy Birthday, and she opened more presents...a trampoline from Auntie Stacy, a camera from Aunt Sarah, and a remote control car a hamburger playdoh kit and more from Grammy & Papa. Both girls have really been enjoying the new presents.



We all woke up early on Thursday morning to head to the Grand Rapids Turkey Trot. I ran the 5k with all of them cheering me on, and then Alyssa ran a 1K with Auntie Stacy and Papa. She is really enjoying running and races, she even got a ribbon for finishing this one - 80th out of 84! But she enjoyed every last minute of it, and still pulls up the pictures on her camera of her running.

We came home to brunch and play time. While Aaron and I began preparations for the meal, Alyssa, Grammy & Auntie Stacy made some gingerbread houses.





Friday morning found Stacy and I up early and at the malls for the most pleasant shopping experience ever - no lines, no crowds and nearly front row parking spots! That evening, we all headed to Fifth Third Ball Park for the Nite Lites display. Both girls enjoyed getting out of their car seats and admiring the lights. Lauren watched them all, and Alyssa exclaimed in glee at some of the displays. One of my favorite moments was when she saw a gingerbread baby and shouted, "I am the gingerbread baby, fresh from the pan. If you want me catch me if you can."

Saturday found us at the mall again for Christmas pictures. Alyssa expressed interest in going to see Santa, so we headed his way. We had passed by him just a few weeks earlier, and she wouldn't hardly look at him, but she was determined this day. She got out of the stroller and walked up with Auntie Stacy to meet the big guy. Lauren and I followed behind him. When it was her turn, she hopped up on to his lap. You could tell she was nervous as she kept putting her fingers in her mouth, but she managed to tell him that she wanted puzzles and overalls for Christmas. She was so excited to get a candy cane from him when she finished. Lauren, on the other hand, wasn't so sure about "Ho ho ho". She just clung on to Stacy and I.









From there we headed to a garden shop to meet some of Santa's reindeer. To our surprise, Santa was there as well. Alyssa wanted to sit on his lap again, and this time, she asked him "How did you get here so fast Santa"...seriously?! He wasn't quite sure how to answer that.

That evening we celebrated Christmas, complete with more presents. The girls are really enjoying some new "babies" that have been named Little Audrey and simply "Baby." Lauren enjoys pushing her baby around in the carriage, feeding her bottles and giving her hugs. Both girls are enjoying a new table and chairs as well as lots of other toys.

All in all, it was a fun weekend, filled with lots of laughter (unfortunately my mind has been preoccupied with school and has forgotten some of them). Thanks to the Menkes for making the trip out to see us!

More quotable quotes

Alyssa continues to make us laugh with what she says sometimes, here are a few of our favorites from the past few weeks...

Alyssa: Hey mama.
Me: Yes, Alyssa?
Alyssa: Is your momma a llama?

Alyssa: Hey Dad. Hey Dad. Daddy. Hey dad. (Aaron is getting annoyed at this by now.)
Aaron: Yeah?
Alyssa: Do you know the muffin man?

On the way to gymnastics:
Alyssa: It's so dark I can hardly see myself.
Me: Can you see the moon?
Alyssa: The moon isn't out, it's raining. It's in its home behind the clouds.

When walking into the bathroom where one of the light bulbs was burnt out, she looked at Aaron and said: "Uh oh, we need to change the meatball!"

Her new-found love of playing with language, keeps us on our toes and keeps us laughing!

Cheese

Since she was just itty bitty, we have cherished every one of Lauren's smiles. Back then, they were a pleasant change from her crying, but now they just make us laugh. She has got the craziest little smile, and it fits her personality so perfectly because it's cute but kind of mischievous. You can almost see her spirit coming through in this smile. You can't help but smile back at her when she scrunches her face all up and shows you those teeth. What do you think?









She can really ham it up, huh?

And speaking of teeth, the last eye tooth has poked through, so our little 17 month old now has 16 teeth! I think that might be it for a while (thank goodness!)

Happy Birthday Dear Alyssa

Can you believe it? Alyssa is 3 years old! And she is sooooo excited to be a big 3-year old. And I can't even begin to tell you how excited she was for her birthday. Since Lauren's birthday in June, she's been waiting for hers. She had memorized everyone who had birthdays before hers and would tell you on a regular basis that she was "going to be 3 on her next birthday coming up in November." I think this is the first birthday that she really truly understood what it was all about, and it was so much fun. She picked out the plates, cups, and cake - all with the princess theme - weeks before the party, and was just waiting for the day to come.

Nana, PapPap, Uncle Wally, Aunt Dena, Baby Drew, and Scooter all came out for the weekend to help her celebrate. Even though her birthday was on Monday, we celebrated her birthday on Sunday. After she got up from her nap, we got ready for the party...she put on her Snow White dress (again!), and we put out all the princess decorations, balloons, and presents. We asked her what she wanted to do first, and the first thing she wanted to do was sing "Happy Birthday to Alyssa". She sang it just as if she were singing it to someone else - smiling and laughing the whole time.



From there, it was out to check the mailbox to see if the mailman had brought her any cards. (Yes, it was Sunday, but we had saved those that had come in the mail and then added ours to it. You see, she loves to check the mail, and she was super excited about getting cards. Every time we walked past cards in the store over the past few months, she wanted to pick out her own birthday card.) So needless to say, she was super excited that she got birthday cards in the mail.



And then it was finally time to open presents. There was her first 'puter,




a new pair of tennis shoes that light up, an easel,



and a guitar and microphone.




She also got a Justin Bieber magazine and Christmas CD (which we've already listened and danced to), Cooties (her first game), new undies, and a few other random little things. It's hard to say what she liked the best.

After a dinner of tacos, it was time to dig into the beautiful princess cake she picked out, complete with three princesses and three candles.







After singing again, she blew out her candles and we all indulged in the sweet treat. A little more playing with toys and then it was off to bed. The next morning we sang yet again and she enjoyed 3 little pancakes with chocolate chips that make "3".



She took cookies to day care to celebrate with her friends there and then she chose to go out to dinner at the Chinese restaurant to top it all off. All in all, I think she had a pretty good birthday. We all very much enjoyed celebrating her - our fun, curious, loving, sweet little girl. Who knew birthdays could be so much fun?!