It's a Wrap!

It's a wrap for sure and a successful one at that.  After all of my planning, shopping and careful preparation...fingers crossed tightly whe whole time that everything would go as I imagined.  It did, oh and so much more than I had dreamed.  I couldn't be more proud of my babies and these beautiful photos.  Paige ~ 8, Quinn ~ 5 and Little Luke ~ 1.  Love.....

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Dress Up

Once each year I get to use my "Paige will wear a dress" card.  The holidays are quickly approaching and I am trying to be prepared this year so I scheduled photos of the kids for this Saturday.  The theme for this years card is, Paige will wear a dress.  She isn't too happy about it but I kind of think she secretly enjoyed it...just a teeny tiny bit.  She will never EVER admit it though.

Last night we went out shopping for a good 4 hours at the mall and looked at and tried on so many dresses.  It started out with alot of, "I am NOT wearing that" and "No way.".  She even tried to put the first dress on over her clothes.  But...by the end I was hearing, "Whatever you want Mom", "It's your choice Mom"...and she was quick to try on whatever I suggested.  Wait. What?

Which is why I think she liked it.  Just a little. Or she just gave up.

Since dress shopping with Paige has only happened about 4 times in 8 years I had to take pictures.  She looked so pretty.

She was super excited about dress #1 as you can see:

 

The next few were better.

 

 

 

We took a quick break from shopping to check out a skater store.  Paige just about died when she saw the back wall full of skateboards.  When she walked back to the counter, I couldn't see her but heard the the girl working there say, "You look like a kid who just saw a wall full of boards! Come on back behind the counter and check them out!". By this time I had caught up to Paige and saw the twinkle in her eye as she raced behind the counter, letting her fingers run across the boards as she dreamed about the perfect one. She was in heaven.  The young girl behind the counter was a skater herself, and I have to say, was pretty cool.  I smiled as I absorbed the conversation between them, appreciating how she talked to Paige just as she would have someone her own age.  Paige was saying words I had never even heard of, she knew so much about the boards, parts, brands...wow (thanks youtube...i think).  I am pretty sure that was the highlight of her week, maybe month.

 

 

Once we got home, it was time to try on her dress with tights, sweaters, shoes, hair bows, etc.  I tried convincing her how girls LOVE to accessorize!! She wasn't buying it, but she was a trooper and did everything I asked.  Well almost.

 

 

I tried to get her to pose with her hand on her hip.  She refused, and said she didn't know how when really she just didn't want to. She was over it all. 

 

But, never fear!  Quinn came to the rescue showing Paige exactly how it should be done.  And the whole time he kept telling Paige and saying, "Right Mom? Right Mom?".  It was pretty darn cute.  What he didn't realized was that Paige was not trying to learn from him.  At all. 

 

 

Paige did great tonight, I know that this stuff is not her thing and probably never will be. And that is okay. Perfectly, 100% okay. But, I am so glad she had fun with it, with me...and ultimately for me.

I love you my little skater girl.

 

 

And after all of it, this one is my favorite.  It's all Paige.  My funny, sweet, crazy and wildly entertaining little girl.  You have big things ahead of you little lady.

 

 

 

Quinn's 5th Birthday!!

I like to spend a special one on one day with the kids the week of their birthday.  I keep them home from school and I take the day off of work, and while the world keeps on spinning, we get a few hours of quality time together.  Quinn's special day was at the Mall of America, and Auntie Shyan met us there with Dakota.  Quinn couldn't wait to go on the rides, he was finally able to go on his very first real roller coaster too!

 

How cute are these two?

 

Quinn really got the giggles on this one, I don't think he expected it to be so bouncy.

 

After a few hours of rides, we went to the Build-A-Bear Workshop.  Auntie Shy let Quinn build his very first bear as part of his birthday gift.  He picked out a camouflage bear with a lion roar sound in his paw.  Part of the bear building process is to pick out a heart and then say a little blessing to make sure it is a good one.  It was very sweet, they put it to their ear so it would be a good listener, and rubbed their head so it would be smart...there was a whole long process.

 

After it was filled with fluffy stuffing and a perfect heart, they had to head over to the bath to brush and blow off and extra fuzzies before picking out clothes for their new friend.

 

Soon after Shyan and Dakota had to leave so Quinn and I shopped a little more, had some lunch and picked out 3 perfect gourmet cupcakes for later on.

 

A couple of days later was Quinn's REAL birthday, October 2nd.  We had a little pizza birthday party with the family.  Quinn was SO excited for his gifts, Shyan hit a home run with this remote control dinosaur!

 

The babies saying hello.

 

And Quinn got a big boy bike from his Granny!!  A Hot Wheels one!!

 

Quinn's hands down, all time favorite holiday is Halloween and he decided a year ago that this year was to be a Halloween Birthday party.  So...his cake had little mummies to get him all warmed up for his friend party in a few days!

 

The day had finally come!!!  The Halloween invites were sent out a few weeks back to 20 of his preschool friends, the house and yard were decked out with all of our Halloween decorations and the bouncy house was delivered.  Right on time, the kids started coming!!!

 

They were all so cute in their Halloween costumes.  And so excited to show them off to each other!

 

I don't know what we would have done to entertain this many active kids if it weren't for the bounce house.  They were constantly intertwined, rolling and laughing.  I couldn't help myself from cringing every time I looked their way, just waiting for someone to get hurt.  But nope, they were all loving it up and having a blast.

 

Before the pinata, I tried my best to get a few group shots. 

The 3 little boys just to the right of Quinn were so funny.  I have about 10 VERY animated pictures of this group, I can't stop laughing as I click through.  Here are a couple of them.

 

They all loved the Pinata.

 

Quinn took his friend Natalie on a ride on his John Deere.  The kids were lining up for a ride!

 

Time for cake!

 

 

The kids all sang so well, it was the loudest Happy Birthday song I had heard in a while!!

Next came the gift opening.  I had gotten out my notebook and pen and sat down next to Quinn, planning to write down who gave him which gift in order to send Thank You notes.  Well that didn't go as planned...at all.  As soon as Quinn started opening his first gift, all of the kids got so excited about what THEY got for Quinn that they all started opening their own gifts.  It didn't help that nearly all of the gift were in bags so it was very easy to reach in and pull out what was inside.  It was immediate chaos, all of the kids yelling over one another, gift in hand, shouting Quinn's name along with, "Look what I got you!", "Quinn!", "Look at mine!".  I just sat there for a minute, in shock, then broke into laughter. We have no clue who gave Quinn which gift...well except we know who gave him one thing for sure.

 

Pretty sure this shirt was from Jack.  Jack was SO excited for them to be twins.

 

The kids went back out to play some more until it was time to go home.

 

After all of the kids were gone, Stef and I had to give it a whirl. 

 

And Luke finally woke up from his nap!

 

Paige, Quinn, Dylan and Cody got to have the bounce house all to themselves.

 

It was a pretty fabulous birthday week for Quinn.  I hope he will remember his first friend party, and if not..I will be sure to remind him.

 

We love you Quinny Pooh and are so happy that you are ours.

Happy 5th Birthday!!!