Better Late Than Never

I finally got around to ordering and sending out Grace's birth announcement. I thought it looked pretty dang cute. After ordering them I realized that they looked really, really similar to Laura's birth announcement. Oh well. And yes, I do realize that Grace is already 3 1/2 months old and I'm just now doing this. But... it's always better late than never, right? :)

The Pout Pout Face

 This pouty face just about makes me die. It is so cute and so sad! Does laughing at my daughter's pouty face make me a bad mom? :)

Little Valentines

Best. Birthday Present. Ever.

These amazing shirts were made by yours truly for the twins 16th birthday. Colleen may have screamed when she opened the box. Connor... not so thrilled. Still, I am in love with them. Also, these two are officially on the market and are fresh meat. Go get 'em guys and gals! ;)

Code Adam

While the boys were having their Boy's Night, I ran some errands with Laura and Grace. Our first stop was at JCPenney where I had to pick up some clothes for Laura's upcoming birthday. Laura is currently going through an "I do it" stage. And it applies to everything. She wants to cross the street by herself without holding my hand, she wants to walk through the store by herself without holding my hand, she wants to get her own food, she wants to change her diaper, really this list could go on and on. In most cases I try to let Laura do things on her own, unless of course it is something dangerous (like crossing the street by herself... um, no way!).

On this particular outing Laura was walking close to the stroller (which had Grace in it), but refused to hold onto my hand or the stroller. We had tried on several outfits and I turned around to grab a different size off the shelf. When I turned back around Laura was gone. I looked in the immediate area, but didn't see her. We were right next to the shoe section (anyone who knows Laura knows that she loves shoes) so I looked there as well. Still not seeing her I then proceeded to look just outside JCPenney's entrance into the mall, which was right next to the shoes. Laura had seen some cars out there earlier and wanted to see them so I figured she might be out there. After still not finding her I went back to the original area and looked a little more. At this point I was starting to panic and Laura had been missing for about five minutes. I finally concluded that I was not going to find her on my own and approached a store employee for help.

The store employee immediately got on her walkie talkie and called a Code Adam. After getting the description of Laura, all I could do was wait while the store employees did their thing and looked for her. It was the most nerve racking five minutes of my life. After about five minutes a guy got on the walkie talkie and said that he had found Laura, but that I was going to have to come get her because she wasn't going anywhere with him. Ha! Laura and that attitude! I quickly ran to find Laura - who happened to be in the Disney section of the store, on the complete opposite side of where we had been - and immediately started crying when I found her. She looked somewhat confused as to why I was crying and why some random guy wouldn't let her leave. After hugging her I didn't know whether I wanted to scream and yell at her because I was so angry or just hold her because I was so relieved she was ok. I opted for the latter. :)

Laura was only missing for about 10 minutes, but they were some of the most terrifying minutes of my life. I am grateful that there is such a thing as a 'Code Adam' to help find missing children in stores. I'm even more grateful that nothing happened to Laura.

After that adventure I am seriously considering getting a leash for the child. People can give me all the dirty looks they want. But seriously, it's either a leash or the double stroller from now on.

So glad this little one is ok!

The Lego Movie

This past weekend Chad and Cayden had a Boy's Night. They went to see The Lego Movie (which Cayden has been dying to see) and got all the works - popcorn, a drink, M&Ms. The movie was close to two hours long and Chad said Cayden got a little antsy towards the end, but that he did great overall and loved the movie. I think Cayden enjoyed getting to spend some one-on-one time with Chad.

So excited to watch The Lego Movie!

The works! Popcorn, soda, M&Ms. Is it just me, or does that bowl of popcorn look HUGE compared to Cayden?!

So cute! You can see the excitement all over his face! Love this boy even though he drives me bonkers.

Daddy and Cayden after the movie.

Stuff

I have a bunch of random pictures that never seemed "worthy" of their own post and so they got forgotten about. But who says that I can't have one post about all the random, everyday stuff going on in our life? So here you go. Here is our stuff.

The following three pictures are from when my family came out for Grace's baby blessing a few weeks ago. I love them all for different reasons.

Love because... Cayden is totally flashing the camera. Good thing you ladies can't see his ripped abs. :) He is going to die from embarrassment when he sees this picture in later years. Ha ha.

Love because... It shows how sweet Laura can be. She isn't always feisty and ornery. Plus, she is just so dang cute.

Love because... This is just too precious. Grace looks totally relaxed and comfortable on Grandma. So sweet.

Keeping Cayden entertained at church. It worked. It kept him quiet. After a while Cayden started putting the sticker strips on Chad's face. I wish I had a picture of that. I also wish that Chad would have forgotten that the stickers were on his face when he went up to give the closing prayer. That would have been epic.

Just some casual reading. Chad was quite proud of Laura's choice of literature.

For Great Grandpa Higgins' 84th birthday everyone who could went and rode the Frontrunner train with him. (He loves trains!) We sent Cayden with Steven and Krysta. He had a blast and wants to do it again. In hindsight, I probably should have sent Laura too. She wanted to go so badly and cried when Cayden left. I just didn't want Steven and Krysta to be overwhelmed. We'll have to ride it again sometime so that Laura can go.

What my bed frequently looks like these days. I find I'm often too tired to fight whatever the problem may be and so I just drag them into bed with me. It gets a little squishy sometimes.

We made cupcakes and Laura was so excited to eat one. It's somewhat hard to see, but Laura is covered in chocolate. Legs, stomach, arms, face. She loved that cupcake!

My precious!

How I love this sweet, smiley girl. She is such a content, calm, happy baby (which is a huge blessing as there are two other tyrants that run my life). While having three kids has been a huge adjustment, I wouldn't trade her for the world and can't imagine our family without her. Love my little Gracie girl.

 These kids sure love their popcicles! Never mind the fact that it's February...

First Braid!

I braided this little dolly's hair for church today. It's the first time I've braided her hair and I loved it! (It might also be the last time I braid it for awhile. Braiding a squirming almost-two-year-old's hair is a joke.)

So, so cute! 

How I achieved such a remarkable feat.

Sad face. It pulled a little at the end because she was getting even more squirmy.

Grandpas Have Birthday Parties Too

Chad's dad turned the big 55 this year and decided to celebrate. The whole family went to dinner and then had fun bowling afterwards. I think it was their first time bowling for both Cayden and Laura (aside from the mini bowling they did at Scheel's this summer) and they loved it! I guess that even when you're a grandpa it's still ok to have birthday parties. :)

SO excited to be bowling! I about died at the cuteness of her tiny bowling shoes. (Btw, I have way more pictures of Laura bowling than Cayden. Probably because she got way more excited each time it was her turn than him.)

Getting help from Grandpa.

Watching the ball.

Yay! So excited! Laura was so excited each time that she would clap and then grab the metal ball guide and jump up and down until the ball hit the pins. So dang cute.

Cayden bowling. He loved it and was surprisingly patient in between his turns. It was nice for a change.

Grace did a little bowling with Grandma, but I don't think she quite got it. ;)

This is what Grace did most of the time. Smiled and talked to whoever would pay attention. Cute, cute girl.

After bowling, the kids (and everyone else too) got to play some of the arcade games that were at the bowling alley. Both Cayden and Laura loved that as well. Dinner, bowling, and games made for a very late night, but the kids were surprisingly well behaved.

Laura on a very, very tiny carousel. Still, she loved it.

I think the favorite game of both Cayden and Laura was this motorcycle race. They loved sitting on the motorcycle and thought they were racing on their own. They of course had to have help or else they would have crashed in seconds. 

 Waiting for the game to start. (Again, look at those tiny, adorable bowling shoes!)

Getting help from Steven and Grandpa.

Love the smile on his face! He had a blast!