PARTY!

Most of Jack & Julia's friends are brothers and sisters that are the same age as them so we decided to have their birthday party together.  This was their first birthday party with all of their friends!  The party was at My Gym and all 20 of their friends had a fantastic time!

They played....

and played (there was a super fun ball pit that a lot of the kids loved!)...

Everyone listening to directions for the next activity....

The zip line was a huge hit...

They played a game of hide and seek and Jack and Julia hid, but actually they were getting ready to ride out on a motorcycle...I think this was the highlight of the party for them....

I love this picture with all of their friends checking out the motorcycle....

They were swinging as everyone sang Happy Birthday!

Then it was time for cupcakes (I had to make them because of Julia's tree nut allergy)...

....and blowing out the candles!

Happy Birthday Jack & Julia!

Let me drive....

Both J & J love to pretend to drive (so much that sometimes it drives me crazy...moving my mirrors, seat, pushing buttons).  They would have spent the entire day playing in these cars, trucks, and trains at the mall if I would have let them!  At least they don't ask for money for them.  Don't worry we washed our hands as soon as we were done!

Party Month

September has been birthday party month for us!  Today Julia and I went to one of our neighbor friends   5th birthday party.  It was a royal tea party with princess dresses, crowns, nail painting, make-up, hair styling, princess games and stories....so much fun!

Happy 3rd Birthday Miss Julia

You were so excited about your birthday this year and you couldn't wait to open your presents!  Since your birthday was on a Saturday you got to open them as soon as you got up!

You got one of the Bitty Twins when we went to the American Girl store (I love that I can go shopping while you are with me and you have no idea!).  You named your new baby Lucy (she looks like a little girl named Lucy that you went to school with last year)....

You got a new princess tea set too.  You love to have tea parties with Jack and your babies....

We spent the day at the Museum of Science and Industry and everyone had a great time!  There is so much to see that we see something new every time we go....

Here are the birthday cupcakes that we made yesterday....

Happy Birthday sweet little sunshine!  You think you are a big girl, you recently told us you were as big as a giraffe but, actually you are quite a petite gal at 35 1/2 inches tall and 28 pounds (one month before your birthday).  You are very independent and want to do everything by yourself.  You love building with Legos, playing with babies, playing games, going to school, soccer class and coloring.  You love playing with your buddy Jack (it's cute when you call him buddy!).  

Happy 3rd Birthday to our little Miss J!

Birthday Baking

Always willing to help...especially when cupcakes are involved!

Honey Hill Orchard

We had so much fun picking raspberries at Honey Hill last year that we made the trip again this year (it's about an hour drive...with a lot of backroads involved)!

Guess who wanted to taste the berries...

Jack is very serious about picking berries...

There were some HUGE pumpkins...

Gotta love pigtails....

It took lots of bribes to get this shot...

Donuts were the special treat after they took one nice picture together...

Julia LOVES preschool!

Miss J loves going to preschool!  She was so excited when I picked her up today that she left her dress-up clothes on....she wanted me to see her dressed up as the mail lady :)

Julia's 1st Day of Preschool

Today was Julia's first day of before 3 preschool and as I expected there were no tears and she was excited to go.  She started in on the puzzles as soon as she got to class!  She only got upset when she couldn't bring home the masterpiece that she painted (I appreciate the fact that the teacher wasn't sending us home with wet paint!)....she will have to wait until Thursday!

Jack's 1st Day of Pre-K & Julia's Meet & Greet

Today was Jack's first day of Pre-K and he couldn't wait to get to class.  I think he is going to love preschool this year...

Julia will have to wait until next week for her first official day of preschool.  Today we went for meet and greet and met her new friends and her teacher.  Julia was a little clingy during meet and greet, but she will do fine once she is on her own!

Jack's Pre-K Meet & Greet

Check out this happy little guy ready for meet and greet!  Jack got to meet all of his new classmates (the majority of them girls, there are only two boys in the class...good thing he is used to playing with his sister).  Tomorrow will be his first day!

Brookfield Zoo for Labor Day

Grandma & Grandpa came for a visit for Labor Day weekend and we headed to one of our favorite places on a hot and sunny Labor Day...Brookfield Zoo...

There is nothing better than seeing the excitement of riding on the carousel....

It's a lot of work for a giraffe to bend down to get a drink of water....