Happy Birthday!

Happy 3rd Birthday to our little peanut!! I can't believe that Annabelle is 3 already, it seems like just the other day Brian and I were waiting for her to make her big arrival. The past 3 years have gone by fast and we don't know where time has gone. She is turning into such a little girl and it getting so mature. Her vocabulary is ridiculous and she talks all the time. Some days I look at her and wonder how she learned everything and how she has turned into such a polite well behaved (for the most part) little girl. We are very blessed to have her in our life!

Sleeping

Annabelle has been doing great in her big girl bed...until this week. The first few days this week she has been getting up at 4am and coming into our room. We have then been taking her back to her bed to have her go to sleep. One time she got up again and we just let her sleep in our bed because it was late/early depending on how you looked at it and we wanted to get that last 30 minutes of rest. She had a few good days and then last night was one of the worse nights we have had. Annabelle got up at midnight and I just threw her in our bed. She has never slept with us and isn't use to it so that didn't go to well. Finally Brian took her back to her room and she was sleeping again after a while. She was back up around 5am. I put her back into our bed and this time she fell asleep. When I got up to take a shower she was still in bed but when I was done she apparently had decided that Charlie needed a little big of snuggle time also - they were all curled up. Cole also has some big news for today. I could hear him fussing in his room while I was getting ready for work. I went in to get him up and found him almost all the way out of his crib. He had his hands on the end table in his room and his ankles were on the top edge of his bed... I can see my hopes for him staying put in his crib like Annabelle going right out the window! They are getting way to big!

Fun with Friends

Today we spent the afternoon at one of our friend's house with his kids - triplets! We went over for a late lunch of pizza and then the kids waited patiently for the guys to set up what I thought was going to be a slip and slide. I knew they had planned on having the kids play in the water but I had no idea what was in store for us! When we went outside there was a huge inflated water slide - needless to say Annabelle had a blast! It took her no time at all to start climbing up and going down the slide. She went under a few times as the pool filled with water but it never seemed to bother her. People were impressed at her only being 3(ish) and how she has no fear. Cole had a great time too. He wanted nothing to do with the slide but had a great time climbing in and out of the water and swimming around. He did not have much fear of the pool and when he slipped and was dunked a few times he bounced right back. It was a fun afternoon with friends and when we came home we definitely had 2 tired kids!

Exercise

Out of the blue today while Cole was napping Annabelle said to me, "Mommy, I want to exercise." As soon as I told her ok she was very excited and ran to grab her "weights" and then announced that we had to go downstairs and get mine. I told her we could do it without and she insisted, "Mommy they are downstairs by the table, I will go get them and be right back." So I guess my plan of not really participating in the work out was going out the window. After everyone had their workout gear we started and Annabelle was into it full force. I did stop and take a few pictures of her and was informed by Annabelle that I had to keep working - she is worse than a personal trainer! She doesn't make it through the whole workout but she does pretty well. After a bit she gets board or warm and does something else for a while and then comes back and works out some more. She is quite the child!

Stutsman County Fair

We took the kids to the Stutsman County Fair this afternoon and Annabelle has a great time - the jury is still out on Cole. The afternoon/evening actually went really well! We got to the fair and as we were walking through the parking lot all Annabelle could say was "It is beautiful!" She was so excited to be at the fair and all she could see was cars. We started our adventure out by going through the barns and looking at the animals. Annabelle was very excited to see the bunnies, cows, horses, goats and sheep. Cole had a great time seeing the animals as well. I think we spent 1/2 an hour in the animal barns and both the kids loved it. We then made our way over to the midway and Annabelle didn't know what to do first. I took Cole and Annabelle on the carousel. Annabelle was excited as always and Cole wasn't so sure what to think. It took him a few minutes to sit on the horse but once the ride started he did pretty well. Annabelle then went on a few other rides while Brian, Cole and I watched. I tried taking Cole down the slide while Annabelle was on a different ride and he was not a big fan. It seems that Annabelle is a little bit more of a dare devil than Cole is. After all of our tickets were gone we had some fair food for supper and then went back to the barns for another go around. We were able to leave the fair without any tears - that is until we got to the truck. Annabelle is getting to be a very independent little girl and when Brian put her in her car seat and didn't let her crawl up by herself she was not happy. That was the only meltdown we had all afternoon - I consider that a success. The kids must have been tired, they were both sleeping at 8:00!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Yesterday was Brian's birthday and according to Annabelle she was so excited. She kept wishing Brian a happy Birthday and was telling everyone at daycare that her daddy was having a birthday. We had a nice relaxing nice outside and the kids really enjoyed the cake we had after supper!

Photographer

Annabelle has decided that she likes to take pictures. Every time she can get her hands on the camera she starts snapping away. I will say some of them turn out pretty good. Not a bad pic of Cole and Mommy The thing in Cole's hand is a pretend shot...you can imagine what happened next. Charlie likes Annabelle's new bed

Big Girl Bed

Annabelle reached a milestone today. We finally gave her a "big girl bed" and she couldn't be more excited! We have talked about changing her crib into a toddler bed for a while but we were so hesitant to make the transition because she still doesn't crawl out of her crib when we put her in it. She helped up make the change and when we were done she was very excited to use her new bed. Her and Cole spent quite a bit of time playing in her new bed and when it came time to take a nap I have never seen her more ready to run to her room to go to sleep. Nap time went well. She woke up and sat in her bed until I went in to get her out. I hope things stay on this path. Next task...potty training.

4th of July

Annabelle trying to get her suitcase zipped Some of the Paulson cousins I can't believe that the 4th of July is over and gone! Everyone always says that after the 4th summer is pretty much over...I hope not. We had a good holiday. The 4th of July is Brian's favorite holiday and every year he spends quite a bit of money on fireworks and always "wins" for the biggest firework. This year we went to the store and filled our cart with little fun fireworks for Annabelle. It was the cheapest trip to the firework store that I have seen in 7 years and I don't think we have had more fun on the 4th! Annabelle had a blast lighting off her little fireworks and even enjoyed doing some of the big ones. It must be in their blood because the noise has never seemed to bother either of kids. I remember when I was younger and we would watch them somewhere else there were always younger kids screaming and crabby. We have had a few celebrations with the kids and they have always done great! Cole even fell asleep this year. Brian and I had to work on Friday the 5th so we left the kids in Carrington with Grandma and Grandpa for a few days. It was nice to have some free time but we really do miss them while they are gone - life is just to quiet.