Pony Party

Lydia loves so many things.  Stuffed animals have been a favorite of hers for quite some time now.  Dogs.  Bears.  Bunnies.  She's not very particular.  They're all wonderful.  In fact animals in general are wonderful.  Living or not.  She had a blast teasing her Great Grandmother's little dog just last Sunday.  For those of you who are not aware, Lydia can be quite the tease.  She's learned it from watching her dad.  I loved watching her giggle as she ran away from Misty (Great Grandma's dog) before Misty could take a drink of Lydia's water.

 She also loves to make animal sounds.  And she's very good at it.  You might just think you're sitting next to a pig.  Or perhaps a horse.  Her go to is a dog, and she can pant like the best of them.

Anyway, knowing all of this made deciding to throw her a pony party quite easy.  Oh yes.  I'd better mention something else.  Not just a pony party.  A pink pony party.  The girl knows her colors.  She eats out of her orange bowl unless it's not available.  Always chooses a green bubble bath (if we decide to throw in some food coloring).  And always always wants to wear pink if given the choice.  She loves her shoes with the pink bows.  So, a pink pony party it was.  Can I just say that the Internet is a wonderful thing?  I found this super fantastic site with step-by-step easy to follow instructions for her cake and I'd like to thank Pinterest for leading me to our party favors.  Little pony necklaces.

Everything came together in the end, despite the hiccough we had after the girls were loaded in the car and it wouldn't start.  We just wanted to get some balloons.  And ice cream.  I called Jon and he left work to rescue us.  Unfortunately it wasn't a quick fix- a dead battery- but thanks to Jon we moved Lydia's car seat to the Yaris and were good to go!

Family came and supported her- thank you so much for coming!!  And that's when things really got started.  My favorite moment of the evening, well one of the many anyway, was watching her open her gifts.  She was so girly about it!  Tearing tiny bits of paper off oh so very slowly.  But even better than that was watching her reaction after she'd opened whatever it was.  She wanted to open each book after it was unwrapped.  There was no tearing through her presents just to get them all opened.  And she was so excited about everything!  Then when we sang to her she got so shy!  She covered her face and hid.  We should have videoed that!  Watching her blow out her candles was entertaining too.  She's a pro at blowing on hot food to cool it, but she needed a bit more umph! to get those candles out.  And she found it eventually.  Then when she got the chance (I wanted a picture of her with the horse cake) she slid a finger across one ear to taste the frosting.  She had been eying it ever since she woke up from her  nap so that shouldn't have been a surprise.




Sophie was a sweetheart through it all.  She didn't love the singing and clapping, but she didn't make too much of a fuss. She definitely let Lydia have the spotlight!  Happy birthday Lydia!

Facial features

I just had to mention the first observations our little ones received at birth in the hospital.  Since we haven't yet included posts about either girls' debut into the world, this will have to do for now.

"Oh my goodness!  Check out those cheeks!" This was one of Lydia's nurses giggled exclamation before she handed little Lydia over to me.  She still has fabulous cheeks.

"Wow! Her eyebrows are amazing! Lucky girl." Several people have noted Sophie's lovely eyebrows, but the first person to comment on them said so in the hospital on day two of her little life.  Also one of her nurses.

Lydia's First Halloween

   

        Undoubtedly Lydia will not remember this day, but I love that her little cheeks pop with that hood- so kissable! I think her black and red tights are my favorite. She and I attended the ward trunk or treat and watched all the neighbor kids parading around in their costumes. She seemed to really get a kick out of watching the kids and seeing them all dressed up. Later on Dad joined us in visiting family and friends. In and out of the car. Again. And again. And again. What a good sport! We just had to show little Ya-Ya off!  

                                

          One of my new favorite traditions (and I may need a little help in ensuring that this truly becomes a tradition for us- hint hint ;))   is making caramel apples this time of year (this time meaning Halloween). A special thanks to Grandma Frazier who had everything prepared and ready to go before we arrived. I loved watching the kids everyone plunge their apples deep into the caramel to gather as much of that yummy goodness as they possibly could. The result? Pure deliciousness. There were no prizes awarded for these apples, but had there been, Jon (rather The Golden Boy) would surely have gotten one. Doesn't that apple look perfect? I could totally see it featured in a magazine. Totally. Doesn't it make your mouth water?
                                            

Saguaros, Saguaros, Saguaros

Saguaro National Park 

Work decided to send us to Tucson, Arizona, for a weekend to see the Utes play the Arizona Wildcats.  When we arrived we couldn't check into the hotel, so we decided to explore the area a little bit.  That's when we discovered the Saguaro National Park...

So apparently these things are really, really old...and big.  It takes 50 years for the saguaro to grow 7 feet, 75 years to sprout arms, and 150 years to top out at 50 feet tall.

The biggest foe for the saguaro...poachers stealing the plants for use in landscaping.  We tried to dig one up, but it was too expensive to check it in a bag through Delta.

Ya-Ya was a champ and wanted in on the action.  She's at the super grabby stage...so learn by doing...

Actually, it was a super "posed" picture.  Even at 5 months, she knew not to touch the thing with a million prickly spikes on it.  I think her expression says it all, "Mom! Why are you making me do this?!"  

No babies were harmed during this photo shoot...one mother did prick her finger...

Saguaros,

Saguaros,

Saguaros...