A very happy 'under the sea' party

Darn thing won't let me upload more than this one picture, but in the meantime I suppose that will suffice!

Faith had been planning and decorating for her party for weeks! She and I spent every afternoon that we had together on drawing the characters from the movie (that was my role) and making ocean creations (her role) as decorations. Maddie also helped with making the construction paper jellyfish. They had spent their last 2 weekends of movie nights busily painting the treasure chests (wooden boxes from Michael's) and gluing tiny seashells to them (a painstakingly slow process). And, when it came to the menu for yesterday, it was all picked by Faith and prepared by the three of them.

I thought it was really neat that Faith-- and her sissies-- were extremely involved in all of the preparations. It was so much fun!

Faith had picked an Ariel party for her theme. She chose pizza, shrimp corn chowder, and salad for her food choices (I forgot to make a salad!). I chickened out on attempting a Barbie doll type cake (made with an Ariel), but the Sebastian cupcakes were more than enough. Faith was very happy with her "cuppy cakes," so it was worth it.

She was as happy as could be that her beloved cousins were coming, and boy did they have fun. Rhonda, Dave, Sharon, and Joie all made it for a little bit too which was so sweet. We borrowed an extra table from Sharon, and got them outside as much as possible. They decorated their "treasure chests" with Ariel and Peter Pan stickers and super-glued (with grown-up help) wooden decorations for added pizazz. I thought they came out really cute. Girlies had spent a night last weekend painting some old seashells (they have quite an extensive seashell collection), and I hid these painted seashells for their treasure hunt. The 5 of them- Abrielle included- had fun looking for seashells to put in their little treasure chests. Their prizes were some jewels. And, they each got some colored sand as a party favor, so my girls had a lot of fun with that last night after everyone had left.

Faith was beside herself at all the cool gifts she got yesterday: a 'bendy arm' Rapunzel with a dress shop set from Tia Rosa, Snow White's Prince doll and Tiana doll from Nene and Grampa, a cookie jar from Sharon and Joie (one that she's always eyeing up every time she visits Sharon's house), clothes from Rhonda and Dave, and an Ariel dress-up DRESS from her sweet cousins (and cd) that she had been wanting for quite some time! I kept telling her how lucky she is, and I think she definitely realizes it.

We had a great day yesterday, and I know for sure that Faith will always remember it!

Ariel dress!!!!

I love this video of Faith's reaction to her birthday present from her Aunt Lisi, Uncle Nate, and cousins Donovan, Ella, and Chase!

What I am most thankful for...

Tangled.

My heart was swelling with pride when I heard Dan come home from work this morning and tell me how much he wanted to go see the new Disney movie, "Tangled" today on its release date. My husband= Disney aficionado like myself= job well done on my part (not to mention his Disney daughters who have had the love for Disney ingrained in their being since before they were even born!).

Anyway.. flash forward to about 2 1/2 hours ago.

My girlies came to visit me at work today, and on our way home we all kept saying how much we wanted to go see the new Rapunzel movie. My little bit of spending money came in handy tonight, and I decided to splurge.

I had to literally stand back from the ticket guy for a second when we realized we'd have to pay the 3D price for the movie (only showings in 3D). The adult ticket prices are $12.75 for crying out loud! The guy must have thought I was a nut job while I whispered to Dan, "maybe we should just get them Christmas presents with this money instead." But, then we looked down at all 3 of their little faces (picture Maddie and Faith standing there with their hands crossed underneath their chins begging... "pllllllleeeeeeeaaaaaaaaasee???") and realized this was an experience for them that they never get anyway, so we went ahead and got the tickets-- and some nifty 3D glasses too.

The movie was EXCELLENT. Mandy Moore was awesome as Rapunzel, and my girlies were already in love with Flynn Ryder even before tonight (books from the library), but now even moreso. Faith took John Smith along with her for the movie, and told us that John Smith loved watching Flynn. Abrielle was astonishingly SUPERBLY behaved. I was expecting the worst, and my girl was an angel. Not even just that, she absolutely enjoyed every second of it! She was clapping and laughing out loud at parts when nobody else was even laughing (so I knew it wasn't just her imitating the crowd, but that she was thoroughly enjoying the movie). Abrie is NOT a TV/movie person whatsoever, but she watched almost the entire movie on my/Dan's lap.

I am sure we won't go and see another movie in theaters for years, so it was well worth the tremendous price to see it.

A Faith kind of day

I made sure to take off for Faith's birthday today, and I am so glad that I was able to be home with her and sissys.

It was a Faith kind of day: nothing outlandish, just simple and relaxing. That is Faith to a 'T.'

She was so excited for her presents today. Her face when she saw her John Smith doll was priceless! Oh, she just loves him. He is sleeping next to her as I type this. She also got 2 Fancy Nancy books-- one is a new one that we've had from the library for more than the 3 weeks alloted because of how much they love it. And, it just so happens the little sister turns 4 in that book too.


We went to the playground in the morning, and played in the driveway after getting back home. Faith has been so involved with the decorations, etc for her birthday party on Sunday, and she and Maddie painted some more seashells this afternoon. We made a banana cream pie in preparation for our Thanksgiving festivities on Thursday.

Spent the afternoon putting up the 2nd Christmas tree after Abrie was up from her nap.

We got our free turkey from Giant the other day, and had a turkey dinner tonight for our little turkey. Faith wanted to help me then with the laundry, and was so happy to be moving the laundry from the washer to the dryer (this girl has always had a fascination with laundry and ironing!). It just made me smile to know that she is happy with the simple things in life. She told us at our dinner prayer tonight, "this is the best day of my life. Thank you God that I am 4."

*****

Had a small get together this past Sunday with our neighbors which was really nice. Since Marlee's birthday is the 27th and Faith's is the 23rd, we celebrated together. Girlies stayed up the night before making jello poke cupcakes.

Dan was called in early to work unexpectedly and so they didn't get to do their little turkey craft (since they were both born on/around Thanksgiving time), but it was still a nice time. They even built a fire and toasted s'mores which was a first for my little women.

It's funny how these birthday celebrations last a whole week long! Lucky little girls.

The difference between 3 and 4...

.... seems like a BIG one.

This was Faith last year for her "turning 3" pictures:

This is Faith for her "turning 4" pictures that I took quickly the other day with a fading battery:




It just seems like 4 seems so old for my darling little Faith. 3 really seemed to suit her. She has changed in a lot of ways this year-- the day of her 3rd party was the end of "tulips" (Pull Ups) for her, and they ended completely within that week. Her speech developed drastically this year. She's always spoken in her own language, and I just love it. Her first and second years were mainly gestures and words mixed with sounds. This was the year she started calling people by their names: what used to be the 'Dee and Dis' sisterhood is now 'Maddie and Faith.' Abrie is no longer 'Beeba Show' (and oftentimes gets the full name of Abrielle Hope Constein when she is introduced by her big sissy Faith). 'Guy' is now Donovan, and 'Beeba' is now Ella. 'Pop Pop' became Grampa this year.

In other ways, she hasn't changed at all. She is still just as sweet as can be. I have been watching so many old home videos lately while preparing her 4-year video (that she is anticipating for tomorrow morning, the ritual around here on birthdays!) and it always strikes me of how connected she is with each of her sisters. In every video- and so many pictures- Faith is always looking at Maddie; she always wants to know what Maddie is doing so that she can do it too. She poses like Maddie, she sings and dances like Maddie, she does everything like her Maddie. And, then she and her Show: they are another team, these two. Faith always wants to do everything for Abrie; she always wants to help.

She is the perfect big AND little sister.

Faith had learned to write her name about a month before turning 3. She is now writing lists for holidays and birthdays, uppercase and lowercase. They always got a kick out of the comparisons of Sister Bear's handwriting and pictures from one year to the next in the book "Berenstain Bears and too Much Birthday," and there is a big difference from the beginning of the year to now in Faith's work. She's gotten more and more detailed as the year has progressed.

Flop is our comedienne. She is the best gift to each of her sisters, and the best Thanksgiving gift we could have ever received almost 4 years ago.

Birthday planning

I can't believe it's 12 days now until my little Faith-y Q. will be FOUR years old.

There is something horribly wrong about that sentence. These girls just don't seem to want to stop growing... and, quickly at that.

It's been fun though planning Faith's family party. She is steadfast in saying that her most.favorite Disney princess "in the whole wide world" is and always will be Snow White. And, she does not waiver in that. But, she chose an Ariel 'Under the Sea' party theme for this year. She's been obsessed with the trilogy of Ariel movies for over a month now. She wants to watch one of those three every afternoon during her short TV time. So, I guess Ariel is a close 2nd!

She and I have been working on her decorations every afternoon that I am home. It's been a lot of fun, and it's even more fun to have her helping with everything. Maddie's been so sweet too, and has asked a few nights this week to have some extra time to help make her own decorations for Faith's party. I remember last year Maddie had a hard time with it being Faith's birthday (we joke that "the green eyed monster" visited her), but not this year. She has been begging to go to the thrift store and pick out something to get Faith with her own money.

In the meantime, the birthday plans are in full swing and lots of fun!

The NEW 'chiquita, pero picosa'

When you're cute, you can get away with a lot. That seems to be Abrie's mantra.

Abrie had such a wonderful start to her week this week. It seemed like she was really understanding me when I would reason with her and explain to her why she has to maintain good behavior. She really does have an incredible understanding of things, and understands exactly what you ask of her at any given time. You can give her detailed instructions of things to do (she is very attentive to these types of details, and listens well to lists of things to do as well), and she'll do them (get this certain colored pair of socks, and get this certain pair of shoes, and pick up the books that you were just reading and put them back in their stack, for example). But, when it comes to listening to rational explanations as to why she should behave a certain way-- uh, forget about it.

I talked to her earlier this week about the difference between being nice and being mean. She may be just about to be 19 months old, but she really does get the difference between being nice and mean. And, I think she does aspire to be nice, but oftentimes if she doesn't get what she wants right at that very moment, than being nice goes right out the window. And, why wouldn't it? Anyway, she's been doing better about if she starts to fuss about something, I'll ask her "is that being nice?" and she'll come and give me a kiss on the lips (best kind!) and say "Uh huh." (* this is her new phrase, she says 'uh huh' all the time, and it's adorable!). That did work for a few days this week.

But, today wasn't "a few days this week." Today was about screaming the entire walk to Maddie's school this morning AND back (much to the dismay of bewildered parents and strangers everywhere along this 30-minute round-trip walk) and the lovely morning that then ensued. The late morning was much better, and the rest of the day did go smoother. I had another "talk" with her after getting out of the bathtub screaming: "Abrie, you're going to be nice now, right?" "UH HUH." "Abrie, you're not going to be mean, right?" "UH HUH." (**sidenote, she now does what seems to be Faith's infamous 'stinky eyes' when she knows you're having a "talk" with her, and she'll divert her eyes up to the corner so as to avoid all eye contact!).

My girl breaks the mold.


This is Abrie's style for carrying Princess dolls.

**** Other Abrie notes:
The girl knows all the Disney princesses and can identify them when you ask her to point to them. It's crazy! Not even Maddie or Faith did this at such an early age; they only knew 1 or 2 at this age. I guess that happens when you have 2 big sisters though!

Abrie's new words are "done!" and "na na na" for 'banana.'

Sweet

This was what I came home to earlier this week:



Maddie wrote me a thank-you card for taking care of her while she was sick. It was so sweet.

****

Santa might need to bring these girls a new art desk. The three of them (yes, even Abrie-- the budding artiste) love their new little art corner that we worked on while Maddie was sick. I moved some of Abrie's baby toys that were underneath our staircase (dead space now with a purpose) and put Uncle Schnoog's old art table there. They love it:

Walking pneumonia and Star Wars characters

Pictures that wouldn't upload last night... they are of the Halloween party at my library with some Star Wars characters.

*****

My poor big girl has walking pneumonia. I didn't think much about it when she started coughing on Saturday. Rhonda and Dave had invited us over for a pot roast dinner, and Rhonda kept asking if it was normal for Maddie to cough. It was very sporadic though, and I didn't think much of it. I've actually been wondering lately if she has allergies because she once in a while has an unrelated cough and baggy, purple eyes.

She was coughing a lot more yesterday while we visited with Nene and Grampa. But, boy did she (and sisters) have fun playing in the leaves. We were all outside having a wonderful time in the leaves and the big backyard; I love the fall with all the leaves in their yard. Cran was a trooper though and never once complained that anything was bothering her. We came home, got the two princesses ready for another night of Trick-or-Treat (bumblebee was already dressed), and went out for another short night.

Her cough intensified in a very short amount of time. It was a lot worse by the time we got back home last night, and she didn't sleep whatsoever last night (neither did myself or Faith-- we were all in the same bed). She literally coughed the entire night. This cough sounded much different than the other ones that my girlies have ever had, including Abrie's croup cough that she's had twice now.

I kept Maddie home from school this morning, and took her to the doctor before having to go in to work. He took one listen to her chest and put her on two different antibiotics for 'walking pneumonia.' Hopefully it will resolve on its own with these antibiotics, and they'll give her a clean bill of health when they have to see her again next Monday. I also hope my other two little ladies here don't catch it....