Corinne turns 3, Madelyn's special day

Happy Birthday Corinne!

This year we decided to have a monster party for Corinne. It was either that or a princess party, and frankly I was ready for something BESIDE princesses. She loves monsters though. They are just a part of our daily converstation around here. What they look like, eat, do, etc.

It was a fun day for a fun little girl! 

Here she is stomping around in her monster feet. She looks pretty cute stomping around in monster feet wearing a gorgeous Sunday dress.

And here she is opening presents. :)

And here she is with the monster puppets we got her--they are crazy fun. All the body parts are velcro so you can change how your monster looks every time. :)

I thought these cupcakes and cake were the most fun of all the cakes I've made yet. :)

Corinne is such a little ray of sunshine. We always joke about how when she's up, she's up but when she's down she's down--that girl seems to have pretty extreme emotions one way or the other. She really is so fun to have around though. And now that she's a whopping 3-years-old she's quite the hoot--making jokes and being silly all the time. 

Just this morning she did one of her usuals: 

Ashtyn said, "hey Corinney, why don't you run around the table and snort like a pig?"

Corinne, who thinks it is a fabulous idea (she usually does--this is a common occurrence around here) proceeds to race around the table making snorting noises as she goes. It's pretty hilarious really. 

Oh how we love her!

On the same day we celebrated Corinne's birthday, it was also a special day for little baby Madelyn.

What could it be?

Her blessing day! 

Doesn't she look like a little angel in this picture? Well, she is.

Also an angelic picture with all the light coming in from behind:

She really is a sweet baby who is content (as long as she doesn't have to wait too long to eat), sweet and oh so kissable. :) We love her to bits. I found a little note that Ashtyn wrote on a scrap piece of paper today: "I love baby."

Then the rest of the month has just been playing and running around. Here's some pictures of the girls playing play doh--it's a sweet shop set-up where they can make ice creams and such. They love it. :)

Corinne all decked out in her new birthday duds, proudly proclaiming her 3 years:

Corinne trying to hold Madelyn:

And this cute picture taken today when we got home from church. She got lots of thigh squeezes in those little scottie dog tights. :)

Not really any pictures of Ashtyn this last few weeks because she's been a busy little girl! She's had school, which naturally she thrives at, her new gymnastic classes she is taking, which were really scary at first but now she LOVES, and lots more play dates. I've been trying to be better about giving her time to interact with other kids her own age because frankly it's always been a difficult thing for her. (And frankly it's always been difficult for me to get it together enough to set things up.) 

She has a little boy in her kindergarten class she plays with from time-to-time (he says they should get married, Ashtyn's not convinced he's the one), a little girl a few houses down in her primary class she plays with, and one of the resident's little girls that they play and discuss volcanoes and pumice and other scholarly things with. :) It's pretty cute. 

Also Ashtyn has a loose tooth! Ah!

 She's getting so big and it's been really fun to watch and be a part of. I feel so proud of her for doing the gymnastics and liking it. It's a big step for her. 

Anyway, better go! Until next time....