Green is the New Black: January 2013

Practical Princesses

Here's what I've been busy with. I got a huge number of orders over the holidays, and the orders keep coming! I gotta say-- it's pretty fun! :)

More birthday fun!

Noelle also got birthday visits from Uncle Steve and Granddad!

She even got to open Uncle Steve's present while Riley was napping. It was unheard of.

Note the little hands in the bottom left. Everyone loves presents! :)

This toy has been a HUGE hit! Even Brooks loves dancing around to it! :)

Noelle's Third Birthday!

We had a little family/friend party for Noelle at our place. What a surprise: in her three years, the girl has learned to love presents. :)

Super fun bouncy balls from Gracie! One for Noelle, one for Riley-- oh, Becky, you're good to me. :)

Nightmare Moon-- Noelle's favorite pony. Yep. The bad guy. Noelle was super pumped to get her.

Amazing play make-up from Grandma!

It was a HUGE hit!

And what's a girl to do with all her new ponies? Line them up, of course!

And the line-up master... :)

I'm back. And lots has happened since I last posted... IN NOVEMBER! Yikes. We're probably going to have to do some rapid fire pictures. Let's start with fun family outings.

Mike took a day off work, and we went to the Shedd Aquarium. This was actually our second trip there. The first time, we went on a free day. Total bust. It IS a free day, but you still have to pay to see the good stuff-- whales, dolphins, penguins, sharks, seal lion, etc... So when we saw a Groupon for the aquarium, we snatched it up. (That place is PRICEY!!)

Riley and Noelle really like whales and sharks (and fish and seal lions and mermaids...), so they were pretty excited. But if you don't know enough about me, their mom was pretty pumped, too. I may or may not have had a whale room when I was a kid (are you still a kid in high school?). We're talking whale posters, whale wall paper and-- the crowning jewel-- a whale phone, whose ring sounded like whale calls. Uh-huh. Oh, and I was all set on being a marine mammalogist.

Anyway, when the girls saw the different creatures, they got excited. When I saw them, it sounded something like, "Look! Look at that! Oh my gosh, it's a BABY beluga whale! Michael, do you see it?! Look! LOOK! Holy cow, I love it here. Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh. Are you serious?! Michael, they keep coming up against the glass! We're, like, inches from them! This is so great! HOLY COW, THIS IS AWESOME."

Without further ado... the aquarium.

The girls both love these ginormous Dora and Diegos.