{Rainbow Party}

Happy Happy Birthday to our sweet 3 year old Olive!

She is such a silly, happy, intense little ball of delight.

People walk away from talking to Olive and they are usually chuckling because of a funny expression she made with her eyes, or something nonsense she said.

We LOVE you little O!

If you know Olive, you know that her favorite color is purple.  She is obsessed.

As I started planning a purple party for her, it became a little boring just focusing on one color, so we involved all of the colors of the rainbow!

Olive was super excited about the idea, so we went with it.

It was fun looking for all sorts of rainbow things to spice up the party.  We kept it pretty simple with fruit, veggies, rainbow jello and the cake.  The circle garlands came together super fast with just a continuous line sewn with the sewing machine.  On the clouds I just wrote,

 You are my sunshine Olive

You make us happy

everyday!

What sealed the deal for having a rainbow party were these darling favor bags from Papernook.  I instantly fell in love to have these for her little friends.  

We filled them with a few little things like a rainbow crayon, a sparkly mini notepad, gold coins, and a few other goodies.  

The cake was a trial and error process.  I filled the 6" cake pans waaay to full on the first go around.  Once we figured out to only fill them about 1/3 full, they turned out great!  To even out the top of the cake I used the dental floss method where you wrap floss around the top of the cake and overlap it.  Then gently pull it and it slices the slightly rounded tops right off to make a nice flat layer!  I used this Almond Sour Cream cake recipe  but I halved it because it makes a ton.  And for the icing I used this recipe which was the perfect consistency.  

My favorite part about the cake was that Olive helped make it all.  She helped add the food coloring and mix it in.  She sat on my lap the entire time while I frosted it and it was definitely a treasured moment for me.

At her little friend party with all of the bouncing 2-3 year olds, we had milk in these mini mason jars.

The kids didn't need any more sugar in their drink!!

On the invitation we invited everyone to wear their favorite color.  Our cute sister Kate wore her cozy rainbow socks which were a hit!

Here is an example of one of her many hilarious expressions.  She was mesmerized by this light up wand.

Olive makes everyone smile and is such a blessing in our home.  She has a tender heart and has such a contagious excitement for so many little things.

She has some sweet dance moves, pretends to read books out loud in a jibberish fashion, and is really loud like her mama.

Right now one of our favorite things she does is her bedtime routine.  She MUST give us a regular kiss on the cheek, a butterfly kiss, an eskimo kiss, and then a huge bear hug.

Melts my heart every night!

Happy Birthday sweetheart!

best.weekend.ever

it snowed for three days straight.

2 snowmen were built, one with chalk for buttons named Frosty,

the other with eyelashes.

Hot chocolate was constantly brewing and we enjoyed sipping it with mini marshmallows.  

The power went out and we had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa Winegars where

we slept by the fire.

I knew I enjoyed the snow while skiing, but building a snowman with my little girls

may have just trumped the ski slopes!

Mr. Berkeley

I have been wondering why I can't find the time to blog.  I guess blogging was more of a necessity when we lived away because our family didn't get to see the girls all the time.  They weren't involved in all of the activities that we were doing.  Now that our families are living our life with us, I guess I just slack on posting about our lives.

I miss having more updates though more for the sake of our own memory book.

I love printing the blog out and having a book with all of our pictures and priceless times.

Hopefully after the holidays I will visit here more often!  This week is crazy with something every night of the week...including Olive's 3rd birthday!!

For now, meet David Berkeley.

We spent a very cozy evening with him and other friends a couple of weeks ago.

Our friends said that they were going to have an intimate house concert and that we should come.

We had no idea who this guy was, but they mentioned the buzz word of "Guster", who he opened for several years ago, and we were in for sure after that.  We also invited our cool sister and bro-in-law, Jamilyn & Nathan.

Right when he walked in the door I feel like we all had an instant connection to this laid back, chill guy.

As he set up all of his equipment, he was just talking to us about his day, why he flew to Utah...and yet he was hilarious!  He wasn't trying to be charming and funny, but he just couldn't help it.

He writes all of his own songs and they have really amazing stories behind them.  One of which is about his life abroad in Corsica.

We relaxed by the fire, chowed incredible food and listened to all of his wonderfulness.

Thank you David, come again soon!

Farewell Fall

Snow fell nonstop all last weekend. 

 We built two snowmen, one named Snowman, the other named Frosty. We lost power for half a day and had a cozy sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa Winegars.  Fall is officially over and we have been enjoying the 18" of snow.

Here are the last little bits of our long and beautiful fall.  

Gardner Village with the Winegar cousins.  This is the day that my cute sister surprised us with a tiny pumpkin and said they are "adding another pumpkin to their patch!"  Boy number 5 is on his way and that announcement brought me to tears.  We are thrilled for them!

Another day at Gardner Village with friends in 70 degree weather.  The girls spent most of their time enjoying the company of the horses.  I have always loved horseback riding and would absolutely love to have horses.  Dream on, I know.  It was fun to see the girls be so into them as well though!

We have continued on with our joyous play school that we were involved in back in Virginia.  Caroline was off early the day I hosted and she had all 7 little toddlers eyes on her.  She lead the music, told Halloween stories, and had them dance.  I may keep her home on the days I host and she doesn't have a short day :)  She made it so easy!

Farewell Fall, you were lovely!

*Happy Halloween!*

What a holiday we had!  It was a good old fashioned Halloween, with trick-or-treating throughout the neighborhood and all.  We have not just taken off from our home and gone to all the neighbors on Halloween in years!  It was so fun to see what spooks and silliness went on in our neighborhood.  We loved it!!

We had so much fun dressing up several times for different events, the celebrating just continued on and on.

We loved taking our flower and two little bees out on the town.

We started off the candy extravaganza at Adam's work, where they had trick-or-treating. 

They went all out and totally decked the office out!  One group created the Gnomeo and Juliet movie, have you seen it?  The girls and I caught it on Netflix once and Caroline loved it.  

Another area had all the details of Harry Potter.  Fake potions, candles hanging from the ceiling, and Dumbledore was even there!

You wouldn't mind getting stung by this little sweet bee now would you!?  

These two could.not.contain.their.excitiment!  I always say this, but nothing is better than enjoying your children on holidays.  They make everything brighter, richer, and more festive!

The girls scored about 10 pounds of candy each it seemed.  The little girls were booking it from house to house, we could seriously hardly keep up.  We were exhausted when we got home and slept in the next day, which made Caroline miss the bus.  We did not even care, we were too tired to rush, we just enjoyed our morning.

We love our friends in the area.  We are so blessed to have tons of little girls around that are so fun to have for playdates!  

And now for the endless sugar rush until after the New Year!

Enjoy!

Celebrating Jane

On September 30 we were able to bless dear Jane Terena Beckstrom.

It was such a tender day full of emotion.  Being close to family has been such a blessing for us this past summer.  They totally helped us get settled, adjust to our new little one, support us while Adam studied endless hours, and they let us use their cars all summer!  

We were grateful that they could all be here to be a part of Jane's special day, it had a different feel from when we blessed Olive in New Hampshire.  It was still a perfect day, but a lot more low key with just my sisters there.

It was also very emotional because although Adam's mom wasn't here physically, the feeling of her there was so strong, especially while Adam was blessing Jane.  We felt so blessed to feel that spirit. 

Jane's middle name is meaningful because it was her Grandma B.'s middle name.  It is a Maori name and it was the name of Adam's grandpa's first convert in New Zealand.  

Jane's blessing was beautiful.  She was blessed that she would be a peacemaker, which she has already proven to be just with her calm temperament and smile that makes anyone feel better.

She is happy in anyone's arms and content just sitting and being loved.

She has helped me appreciate a little slower pace in our days and has opened my eyes to the speed that these busy, often chaotic, but yet pleasant and priceless days go by.

The way these three girls interact is my favorite live movie and I have been working on capturing everyday things more on video.  I love how Caroline sings while she organizes cans in the storage room, how Olive says "wonderful, actually, awesome" and wants to read so bad and makes her own stories.  Lastly, how Jane crushes on teachers at church and shrugs her shoulders and wiggles her head when she grins.

Thank you everyone for being a part of Jane's days and for being wonderful examples.  We are incredibly lucky to be so close to you all!!

xoxo

ps: pictures from later in the day :)

Nightmare

I forgot to mention the funniest moment that we had in September.  We were sitting at the table eating breakfast and Adam was still sort of in a waking up daze.  Caroline looked at him and said, "Daddy, what are you thinking about?"  He replied, "Mommy."

Caroline thought about this answer and then quickly responded, "Whoa, were you having a nightmare or something!?"  

Apparently I have left a pretty great impression on our 5 year old.  When I am thought of, it is like being in a nightmare. 

Sweet.  

We laughed about this little conversation all throughout the month, thanks Care Bear!

And if you happen to need to switch your thoughts from a spooky nightmare to a dream, enjoy this crisp fall canyon.  Afternoon drives are the best thing to get our little Olive to relax and fall asleep once in a while!

Routine

September flew by and I think there was only one post here on the blog.  Now, here we are almost at the end of October, scary!  September was a favorite month of mine.  It was a time where things were finally calming down around here a little bit.  I crave routines and schedules and September helped us get on a schedule that feels comfortable and predictable.  I heart summer for sure, but there is something so calming about a nice routine!  Adam is working a regular schedule now instead of insanely studying for the bar exam (which, in case you didn't hear, he passed by the way!).  Caroline is so happy to be attending school everyday and has so many stories to tell when she hops off the bus.  With Caroline at school in the mornings, Olive and I have a new found time with just us while Jane is napping.  Olive is loving playing Starfall and learning her letters and she is such a different person without C around.  She is grown up, still a comedian, and loves helping me.

With our lovely new schedule, we also introduced a darling chore chart.  I thought it wasn't going to go anywhere, but it has been a hit!  They only have 3 things to focus on: make their bed, put clothes away, and clean up toys when they are done.  When I have reminded them to do one of the tasks, they seriously are so excited.  It has been a month and they are still thrilled about it, so hopefully it sticks!

(PS: we really don't make them scrub the cupboards, they were doing this for fun one day.  They were singing as they were doing it and it melted my heart!)

We hit up the all you can eat ice cream event at the fair one evening with my family.  The best part of the night was when we took a ride on the ferris wheel!  Have you been on a ferris wheel lately?  I couldn't remember the last time I had and it was the BEST. RIDE. EVER!  The girls were shrieking with delight and had the most animated faces and actions the entire ride.  I think it will be one of my favorite moments of watching these two, it was just so carefree and fun!

Sweetest Jane is such a calm spot in our lives.  She still has the most tender, soft cry and people say they love it.  It really is sweet.  She is incredibly smiley, even tempered, and starting to be chatty with her squeals.  She loves to suck on her hands, is enjoying tummy time up on my shins when I am lying down and have my legs in the air, and she   

has her sisters wrapped around her tiny little finger.

She is becoming more and more alert every day, but still so easy to tote around.  She came to the Jazz game with Adam and I and to Adam's swearing in ceremony.  

The girls practice changing diapers often on Jane's changing table.  They get their diaper bag and line up the babies and get to work.  I am lucky to have such helpers, truly.  Whenever Olive grabs a diaper for Jane it has to have Mickey and "Puto" on it.  

I just love our little family!  Not every day is calm and nice, there are days when I am so disappointed with my lack of patience.  I am learning though and grateful for the chance to do so!