4.30.12

April 28th 2012

 Monet's 3rd birthday was nothing but fun!

She woke up bright and early. We had no choice but to give her bday present, since it was a trampoline and it was right outside the kitchen french doors. So we had set up the string, where you follow it to the surprise... so she quietly was following the string around the house. Once she got outside and saw the tramp, which was positioned right next to the bouncy house we had rented for the day, she say's, "oh no! The bouncy house isn't up!' Grant and I were like,  but look we got you a tramp! And she relied, "but the bouncy house isn't up." She didn't care one bit about the tramp! The whole day was focused on that bouncy house. She jumped ALL day. She loved it. 

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We had a Wizard of Oz theme party. Monet has always loved the Wizard of Oz, so she was so into it. It was cute.

 Yellow Brick Road. 

 The Dorothy piñata. 

 The kids had so much fun together. Monet was thrilled to be surrounded by so many little girls!

 She opened lots and lots of adorable presents. 

 Once they took the bouncy house away, she got interested in the tramp!

After her party we went to a late dinner with my parents and Wyatt and Lindsay. Monet still wanted to party. I couldn't get her to go to bed until about 11 pm!

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The next morning she walked into our room and said, "Am I still 3?"

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It's always takes a lot of work to put these kinds of days together, but it always ends up being so much fun and will always be such a sweet memory. She is such a sweet, hilarious, full of life, kind of a girl. She amazes me everyday and we are so lucky to have her!

Happy Birthday Monet Sophia

4.16.12

iPhone photo's of the last few weeks:

4.11.12

Easter Sunday

We had a lovely Easter. The weather was so beautiful and warm. Monet loved the Plum Patch again this year. Riding four wheelers, rolling Easter eggs, having a picnic, playing baseball, flying a kite, an Easter egg hunt, and playing with dogs... she was in heaven.

We ended the day by having dinner at my parents, watching the Masters, blowing bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and giving Monet a good long bath.

Happy Easter

4.06.12

March 27th, Grant and I flew out to Washington DC. I wish I would have taken more photo's, but I was pretty focused on trying not to let my pregnancy sickness interfere with our plans!

Tuesday night we went out to eat, hung out around our amazing hotel, and sat in the sunshine down by the water.

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Wednesday morning we went to Arlington Cemetery. It was the most beautiful spring day. The cemetery was incredible.

Afterwards we went to the Holocaust museum. Which is hard to put into words. And then that evening we took a long walk to Georgetown. We ate, shopped, walked and ate. It was the perfect day.

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Right outside our hotel.

Inside the hotel.

We also went to the Smithsonian and then we had an amazing private tour of the Capital. It was really cool. It was Grants first time to DC, so he was in heaven.

Sadly Friday I was feeling awful. We had plans to do a Lincoln tour and go to Mount Vernon, but it was cold and raining and I ruined it by feeling sick. But Grant is so sweet and didn't mind that we just went out to eat, and to a movie and hung around.

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Saturday morning we had a 4am wake up call. We had to catch our first flight to take us to Anaheim for the cheer competition. The flight from Minnesota to Anaheim was basically my worst nightmare! I was beyond sick. It was a rough 4 hours. The poor guy sitting next to me! But he had kids next to him, so he was understanding. It was just one of those moments that you really want to forget!

But thankfully for the most part I really did feel ok. Grant and I have been wanting to go to DC together for years, so I am grateful that we were able to. We really had a wonderful time. The city was so beautiful and interesting. We loved it.

4.6.12

Once we arrived in Anaheim Saturday afternoon, we happily reunited with Monet, had lunch in DownTown Disney, and rested in the hotel for a minute. Then I was off to the Convention Center to get the girls ready for our first competition. Our performance time was at 5:45. The warm up was a little shaky. Everyone seemed to have some nerves, but they amazed me and hit a great routine. We were all so thrilled. It went as well as we could have hoped. They announced shortly after, that we qualified for Finals the next night. We were so happy because, all year I've been telling them, "let's just make it to finals, let's just make it to finals..." We went out to eat, I went back to the hotel while Grant, Riley, mom, dad and Monet went bowling and played games.

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Sunday morning the family took Monet to Disney Land while we had cheer practice. Then Chloe and I met them for lunch and some rides.

Everyone kept talking to Monet about going on the Pirates ride. I kept saying, "no, she'll be too scared. Don't take her on it!" I couldn't have been more wrong. It's all she talked about the entire trip. I can't tell you how many times she said, "I want to go on the Pirate ride!" When we got off (the first time) we went right into the store and bought her this pirate kit to go with her new Tinkerbell outfit. She walked around carrying all these pirate accessories.

It was S L O W moving when she had out the pirate map to give us all directions.

The absolute best is her voices when she says, "arh" and "ahoy matey"

Sunday evening we went back to compete again. We had a really great warm up but sadly the routine fell apart a bit. Sometimes that happens. But everyone was fine and had lots of fun competing. So we went home with 5th place.

We went back to Disneyland that evening until midnight. I'm not sure what was keeping me going, I was so exhausted, but how do you skip out on Disneyland? Impossible!

Monday we went into Princess mode. I tried to get Monet to buy the Tiana dress that she talked about for three months before we got to Disneyland, but she just wanted to be a pirate this trip. You never know what you're going to get with this girl. That's why I love her so much. She is beyond entertaining!

It was fun having Nikki come hangout. We had a little mishap when Riley put her coat, which had her iPhone, wallet, and car keys, in the wrong stroller, because I told him that it was our stroller...oooops!

So Larry and Monet watched the parade while we stroller hunted. No luck. But thankfully it got turned in the next morning!

Another happy, fun, exciting, trip to Disneyland. Monet loves it so much, it makes us all have a great time!

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Now we're home to no more cheer, still dealing with morning sickness, working on getting Monet to stay asleep all night, and getting ready for Easter!