FFF! Favorite Foto Friday- One Year ago!

I've found an awesome blog that has this favorite foto friday challenge (the link is on the side of this page under Kiss the Frog For Me)- I participated for the first time last friday with my leap year post- so this week's theme is titled, "One Year Ago" how amazing! How do I pick ONE picture??? At this time when I am reflecting on my girls' past birthdays (in one week!) that I get to reflect upon this time last year. What comes to mind when I think of this time last year? HIVES! I had them and they were horrible- I am apparently allergic to penicillin now and we were all sick- so on top of it I had a rash that was head to toe, no voice and was trying to get the girls healthy for their birthday- wow. We went to Disney's CA Adventure while I had them- looking back- I probably should have stayed home. LOL

The girls meeting their first princess!

I also very vividly remember our call to 911when Maddie had such a horrible croup attack the paramedic said it was the worst he had seen in a long time. Very scary and an experience i hope to never have again- it has led us down the asthma and allergy testing road. She was almost perfect the day after (though you can see it in her face that she wasn't 100%) and we took our St. Patty's Day picture.

This theme brings to mind the girls' 3rd birthday and all the fun we had!

Finally this time of year brings about our annual pictures with the peach tree in bloom- its in full bloom right now and we'll be taking pictures this weekend- but here are the pics I took last year.

Maddie

Ashley

Emily

Sleeping!

The girls are all asleep right now (phew- read that as the house is quiet for the first time since 7 this morning), we've been really lucky in the bedtime department- very little fuss/resistance and everyone is usually asleep within 5-10 minutes of hitting their pillow (bedtime is 8pm). We've started teaching the girls to read the clock- basics- when there is a 7 in the front you can watch your video (and its dark outside)- when it says 7:30 we will put jammies on and have a snack, 8 means tv off, brush teeth and bed. It's working ok so far (though Maddie usually starts looking around 4 o'clock for the 7 to watch a video- and looks every 5 minutes or so- poor dear). The transition to "big girl" beds has gone off pretty smoothly- Maddie will sometimes get out to peek at us or say she has to go potty (and she usually does!)- but we've so far had no bedroom parties or torn apart dressers (another phew!). Here are some pictures of the girls sleeping. Emily is the only one that has fallen out of bed- 3 times so far- only woke up one of the times

Ashley has taken most to sleeping with her animals- she has a group she has to have every night now and I usually find her hugging one while she sleeps.

Maddie LOVES to be under her pillow- since she was little she would not fall asleep unless her pillow was over her- all this talk of SIDS and I have a baby that likes to have her pillow put ON her- so I would do it (this was not when she was an infant by the way- don't report me! LOL), let her fall asleep and would go in and take it off slightly- in the morning I usually find her under her pillow or with her head wrapped in the blanket- sigh.

Rick and I still fear the night we wake up and find someone roaming the house or playing on the computer at 3 in the morning- wouldn't put it past them!

Another birthday upon us!

My girls will be turning four soon- just a matter of weeks! It's hard to believe how fast this time has gone. My dad put it into real perspective for me in January when we moved the girls to toddler beds with the following comparisons (he printed them out as 5x7's on one sheet)- made me cry looking at them because its so hard to believe they were ever this small. More fun then and now pics to come in the coming weeks!

EMILY

ASHLEY

MADELINE

Leap!

So its leap year- can you remember what you were doing LAST leapyear? I was "baking" and praying my "timers" wouldn't go off until March 1st (at least) :) hee-hee!

Can you imagine us celebrating the girls' FIRST birthday THIS year if they were born today? Phew! Wow does this picture bring back uncomfortable memories! And I baked for 15 more days! Hey- we still have that bear too!

snow "trip" video

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My first attempt at putting a video on the blog so fingers crossed this works! Fun footage of when it started to snow on Saturday!

Best birthday!

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes- here on the blog, thru email, cards, calls, presents and in person- you truly make me feel special :) This by far has been one of the best birthdays ever! It's right up there with skydiving and the year after when i was VERY pregnant with the girls and couldn't get off the couch to do much of anything (no pictures of that thank goodness!) I decided this year that I wanted to have my birthday be something the girls would enjoy too. I wanted to do the Palm Springs aerial tramway last year, but we just ran out of time- I'm so glad we waited because this was the perfect age to take the girls for the first time! We drove 2 hours to the beginning of Palm Springs, elevation 2000 feet, we boarded this tram and went up to 8500 feet in less than 10 minutes and were in the snow! We had to walk a small distance down a winding path to get to the sledding area and while we were down there it started to snow! The girls were in heaven enjoying it and what amazes me is that yet again- they all 3 liked/took to different things! Emily loved making the snowman, ashley loved throwing snowballs at grandma and maddie could not eat enough snow (she also got the biggest kick out of the sled). All in all a fantastic day!

Maddie and Daddy on a sled ride- below- Maddie when it started to snow

Emily having some sled fun- below: Emily and her snowman

Above- Ashley determined to hit someone (most likely grandma) with a snowball- below: Ashley catching snowflakes

Snow Angels!!!

Maddie and Trevor go for another sled run- below: Daddy gives Emily and Maddie a ride while Maddie samples the snow

Birthday sneak peek

Here's a sneak at what we did yesterday for my birthday- details to follow :)