Fire Station Fun

Jenna talked about the fire hose all day following our visit to a local fire station.

It was so fun for the kids (ok, and me too!) to get a tour of the fire station and see how everything works.  I give a huge thanks and hooray to our brave firemen who serve us!

Jenna thought it was pretty cool to sit so high up in the truck.

(keep scrolling down for Jenna's birthday post)

Jenna's 3rd Birthday

Jenna loved being sung too, although she acted shy. 

Jenna with a cheesy grin... she was happy with all her presents.

I was trying to convince Jenna to blow out the candle...

... but she opted to let her friends help her.  She had a great party with friends decorating cupcakes, playing duck-duck-goose, and just being silly and crazy.  She also had a fun party with family.

Daddy-Daughter Dance

Justin took Jenna to a daddy-daughter dance a couple weeks ago. Jenna loves to dance and we thought this night would be a special date for the two of them.

The whole night I was wishing I could be a fly on the wall at the dance... so I was soooo happy to get this picture. Thanks Sheldon and Kyra!

The girls looked like princesses!

Random Pics...

Many of you have asked me how J is adjusting to having a new sister... maybe the question should be reversed and the answer is clear by M's expression in this pic - very ho-hum about sudden outbursts and abrupt movements around her, and things being placed on her head, etc.
Sorry we left you out of this pic, M, you were with Grandma while we hiked the trail to Wakeena Falls.

This could have been an awesome picture if my camera's focus was not broken!!!

Cookie Monster...

I wonder how much cookies at a bake sale would go for with the chocolate chips hand-picked and carefully placed one-by-one inside the dough. OK, you know me, I got impatient and we dumped. Good lesson given to me by my daughter, though, on enjoying the process... bla bla bla.

Summer Flashbacks...

As the air around us starts to chill, let's take one last look at our fun summer days of '08:

Oaks Park: J has a fascination... maybe an obsession... for mascot type characters. I had to yank her off the stage after the show started. I have also had to distract her from following Chuck-E-Cheese around so he could make an escape. Santa's lap pics seem promising.

No, J is not on a date nor will she be until age 21ish... Just out for a ride with buds Nat and Ry.

For some parents I'm sure amusement parks are a little stressful, but this summer we frequented this tot-friendly park and took awesome naps following.

Worth it?

J, M and I drove 35 min to the zoo to find the parking lot full on 2-dollar Tuesday, but we couldn't turn around.... we'd come too far, and so we continued to drive an exit further on the freeway to shuttle parking. After finding a spot in row "G" I unloaded then loaded the princesses in our sit-n-stand double stroller (wishing very badly Jay was with us) and hiked an enormous hill to wait in line for the shuttle bus. Since J perked up and said "mommy... BUS!", and the nice grandpa behind me carried the stroller on board I decided to enjoy the journey. 90 min into the trip, many miles and two lines later we were IN the zoo with cousins, aunts & grandma. One more line and we had victoriously viewed this brand new baby (sorry not a very good shot),a magnificent sea lion, a spinning otter,

and a couple of monkeys. Watching J enjoy all of this, her snow cone,
and seeing these reactions,it was SO time for Purell, and to celebrate a day my daughters enjoyed very much! To include M, here she is with her adorable "P'Nut" from great aunt J! She loves him:)