Park Time

One of the first nice days of the year and we decided to take advantage of it. We took the kids to the park and rode bikes/walked on the trail.

Rease's bike is hilarious because she is much too big for it and we haven't taught her to ride one without training wheels. So this is Rease on her tiny bike pedaling as fast as she can.

And Rhen is still on her trike bike and she pedals as fast as she can too to keep up with
Rease. They didn't make it too far on their teeny bikes but we had a fun enjoying the nice weather.

Baby Liev enjoyed his time on the swings after our bike ride.

Doesn't he look relaxed?

For some reason he layed his head back and was just swinging while watching the clouds. It was the cutest thing.

This handsome man is so sweet and loved playing at the park with the girls!

Painting Project

Justin and Steph were doing some painting and yard work and we decided to go help out.  Rease was happy to be put on painting duty and went right to work.  Our job was to paint the fence that goes around the yard - fun work and Rease and I made a good team on our side of the fence!

 Rease was very into it and was concentrating so much on her portion of the fence.

 (Don't mind my outfit.  I was wearing some jeans that I didn't want to get paint on so Justin loaned me his hunting coveralls.  They did the trick!)

We made a good team! 

Handsome boy

I combed Liev's hair for the first time today. Oh man is he handsome!

Rhen's Princess Birthday Party

Rhen turned 3 this year and decided that she wanted to have a Princess Party. Since we still do family parties only and haven't switched to inviting friends yet, I thought that would be fun and entertaining for everyone. So Aunt Hayley and I went to work on the invitations and the rest of the plans for her "Spectacular Celebration."

These are the invitations we came up with - a crown fit for Princess Rhen.

All the royal guests were asked to dress in their best attire and I have to say they did not disappoint. We had some handsome princes and lovely princesses at the party.

Rhen was dressed as a beautiful princess and let me know that she was "Rapunzel" for the night. She did look darling with her curls and dress.

Rease and Rhen - the 2 sister princesses.

The proud King and Queen.

And the rest of the royal guests. Aunt Hayley made Uncle Caleb's prince outfit and Grammie and Papa went all out! Everyone looked fabulous and Rhen was super excited! We did have a costume contest and had all these fabulous contestants(winners to be announced later.)

Us girls dressed up and pretty!

We had a royal feast (but I forgot to get a picture of all the food.) I did get a picture of the best part - the yummy dessert. We had plenty of cupcakes and cake to go around.

I have to say I am proud of the cake. I have been making my kids' cakes for their birthdays for the past couple years and thought this one would be fun to try for the princess party. I will admit it was much harder than I first anticipated but it turned out being okay. Rhen was very happy with the result and that is what matters!

We played the "Who Knows Rhen" game. I think Uncle Caleb won.

Present time. She got so much fun stuff (once again I didn't take many pictures of this.) She was super excited that it was actually her birthday and all the gifts were hers!

Sweet Rease drew this picture for her to hang by her bed.

Winners of the costume contest:

Grammie in her beautiful (bride) dress.

Uncle Caleb as the handsome prince (Baby Canyon in a close second.)

Overall the party was a huge success. Unfortunately Baby Liev was sick that night and this is the only picture we got with all 5 of us.

Rhen's 3 years stats from Dr. Erickson

Height: 39.96 inches - 97%

Weight: 34.61 lbs - 83%

BMI: 15.2 - 34%

A few things I want to say about my sweet Rhenner girl on her birthday:

1) Rhen is a little sweetheart even though she comes across as a little crazy. She always wants to "snuggle" with her dad or give mommy one more goodnight kiss. I hope she keeps that up cause I want her to always be "my girl."

2) Rhen is hilarious. She is the life of the party when she wants to be. She is always making up new words to make Rease laugh or doing something crazy that Liev thinks is just for him. She is witty and cute and I love this about her!

3) Rhen takes after me in the sleep department. I think she would sleep in everyday if she could, but since she shares a room with Rease she is forced to wake up at the crack of dawn when her sister gets up. The days that they happen to be sleeping in separate places, Rhen will sleep in an hour or two longer than Rease. That's my girl!

4) Rhen is a little bit of a home-body. She loves to be outside, play with friends, have fun and all that but when it's time to slow down she wants to be back home and in her own bed. She loves to snuggle up with her blanket and watch a movie or just hang out at home when she's tired.

5) Rhen has a mind of her own. She will not and does not do anything until she decides to do it herself. I have had to change my parenting strategy a little bit with this girl compared to Rease. I have learned that I have to give Rhen choices on mostly everything she does during the day so that she can feel like she's making her own decisions. Example: "Rhen you can either eat your dinner or get down without any dessert." "Rhen you can stop hitting or sit in timeout." "Rhen you can have the strawberry or the kiwi." I try and fix it so that she makes the decision I want her to make but it has worked with her and she feels like she is being independent and choosing on her own.

I love this 3 year old of mind and can't wait for the years and years we have ahead to make more memories with her!

Happy Birthday Princess Rhen!

Mastering the Stairs

Liev has been trying so hard to make it down the stairs.  After falling all the way from top to bottom a couple of times we decided to help him master the stairs so he could go down accident free.  After a couple days of working with him, I still tried to block him out because I wasn't sure he had it down.  He is one determined guy though and found a way to make it through the obstacles.

"And that's how it's done folks."

Bathtime

My kids love to be in the bath. Most of the time we throw them in the shower quickly because it's easier for us, so when they actually get to take a bath it's like a holiday for them. I put them in at mom's house one night and they played in there forever.

I remember pictures of me and my siblings at this age in the bath together and wanted to snap a quick pic of my kids so they can remember being young and having fun in the bath!

Feeding the Ducks

The weather was semi-nice one day while we were hanging out at Grammie and Papa's house so we decided to walk down to the Daybreak Lake and feed the ducks. We came prepared with bread and chips and the girls were excited to be close to the ducks.

I think these ducks are very well fed and are obviously not afraid to get close to people.

Liev was fine to watch from the stroller.

After throwing all her bread, Rhen decided she wanted to try and touch the ducks.

Then Rease did the same - she's a little more nervous than Rhen is so I'm not sure she actually touched one. But she got close.

We had a fun time at the lake and are looking forward to warmer days ahead to be able to hang out here more!

But I can't eat my banana!

For lunch one day I made the girls a PB&J sandwich and gave them each a banana to eat along with it. I went into the other room to do something and before I knew it Rhen was behind me saying "I'm all done with lunch mommy." I asked her if she ate all her sandwich and all her banana. She said "Well I ate my sandwich but my banana fell in Rease's drink so I can't eat it."

I'm sure it just "fell" in Rease's drink. She just did not want to eat her banana. Nice try Rhen.

Snow Day

We haven't had too many real snowy days this winter - at least ones that require getting all the snow gear on to go outside and play.  So when the girls woke up to snow this morning they were stoked to be able to bundle up and go out to play. 

 I wasn't sure how long either of them would last, but they headed outside with cups and bowls in hand to be able to make "shapes in the snow."

Rhen only lasted about 10 minutes and then was cold because she kept taking her gloves off.  All she wanted to do was get in the shower and get warm.  Rease stayed a little longer and played on her own.  Her poor hat was holding on for dear life.  Her big head was just too much for it!

 Snow angels are a must while playing in the snow.  Right?

Overall a good day in the snow even if it was very short lived.