First and Fourth Birthday

Well...better late than normal I guess.  Yes, I know our girls had birthdays on January 28 and February 1st, but life is just a "little" crazy these days with one walking and the other with a slight 4 year old attitude.  

Going backwards...We had quiet the birthday celebration for the girls, doing joint birthday parties since they are in fact 3 days apart.  Hadley got to pick the theme and what kind of birthday party do you think she wanted?  Penguins of course!  We had everything from penguin juice, snow balls (powdered donut holes), melted ice (water), and penguin food (goldfish).  Hadley just thought it was the best thing in the world to have so much penguin stuff and everything to be her favorite color aqua.    Sloane on the other hand could have cared less this year, she was there for the cake!  I must say, I've tried for the past 4 years to have a cute looking birthday table and this is the first time I can say it's a "Pintrest Success!"  

Penguin banner from Paper Source 

Penguin Water Bottle covers from Cupcake Cutiees Party on Etsy

Penguin Snack Cups were a special order from Divine Glitters on Etsy

Penguin lollipop covers from Oriental Trading Company 

Penguin bubbles from Mad Hatter Party Box on Etsy

Penguin juice box covers from Amanda's Parties To Go on Etsy

Penguin birthday invitation from Swanky Press on Etsy

And the beloved banana and cream cheese icing cake from Icing on the Cake in Los Gatos

And now onto a first birthday tradition...the smash cake.  We knew this year Sloane wouldn't disappoint since the girl will eat just about everything you give her.  She was a little hesitant at first, but after getting a little icing in her mouth, she went to town!  Thank you Susie Cakes for the teeny tiny little Happy Birthday cupcake!

Now onto our birthday photo shoot.  This was supposed to be for both Hadley and Sloane so we could celebrate their first and fourth birthday's together.  However Hadley had a princess meltdown and wanted NOTHING to do with the pictures.  I must say she looked adorable in her aqua dress Mimi brought her from Charleston, but nope she didn't want to cooperate.  Oh well, she played in the car instead.  Sloane didn't last long herself either, so Mimi, Uncle John, Mason and I all got to take some candid pictures.  None of us were prepared to be in photos, but I must say they turned out kinda cute.  The ones we did get of Sloane were darn adorable though.  Many thanks so a dear friend Kate Howard for the pictures.  

Sloane's Favorites: 

Food: Mac n' cheese, pizza, pb&j, milk, bananas, apple sauce pouches

Play/Toys: Anything that isn't hers.  She loves watching squirrels.  She points and screams at them and cries when they run away up the tree.  Playing in the water table or bathtub.  Showing her belly button to people

Sleeping: Like a champ!  1.5 naps in the morning, 2 hours naps at night and sleeps from 7pm to 6:30am every morning!  Whoop whoop!

Personality: Easy going, relaxed, and always happy/laughing.  She'll let anyone hold her including all the doctors who see her

Hadley's Favorites: 

What she wants to be when she grows up: "A penguin mommy"

Color: Aqua

Toys: Anything Frozen, especially Elsa, Disney Princesses, Penguins (of course), building Duplo Lego creations, playing dress up with her princess dresses, art

Food: Mac n' cheese, cheese pizza, plain butter pasta, french toast sticks, milk (and a lot of it), and snack goods.  And that's about it, her diet is pretty limited.  Oh well, she's growing.  

Lovies: Still attached to Perro, Penny and now a new friend baby penguin joined the mix.  Talk about a lot to keep up with! 

Personality: H still has quiet the personality.  Very dramatic, sassy and if its not her idea, she's not going to do it.  Just like with the photo shoot.  HATES the doctor...terrified!

Fall Photoshoot

Long time no see people!  Whoops!  We've been just a tad busy as we have been trying to adjust to a new house, new baby schedule and everyone being back at work.  I've got a lot of pictures for the month of October to share, but I'll start with our annual fall photoshoot we did a few weeks ago.  Can I just say, photographers are talented people.  Trying to get at three year old and a 9 month old to not only look the same direction but also smile at the same time is nearly impossible.  Anyone who can master that I'll give you a high five!  Again this year we did our photos at a garden in Palo Alto with Chad Howard.  Hadley has a mind of her own and wanted to pick all the flowers, run around and make silly faces, while Sloane was just trying to keep her poor eyes open as it was during her morning nap.  Poor girl...we won't do that to you again...until your first birthday then I'll probably do it again!  Any how hear are a select few from that morning.

Fall-Maternity-Thanksgiving Photoshoot

A few weeks ago, we did our annual holiday photos with the infamous pediatric nurse/professional photographer Chad Howard.  We did them a little early this year because Mason wanted to capture little H at the pumpkin patch and mommy didn't want to be sooooo pregnant in the photos.  We went to a adorable little pumpkin patch in Palo Alto (Webb Ranch), the Stanford Red Barn on campus and a garden nearby campus for photos.  I was 25.5 weeks pregnant in these photos and had the hardest time finding a cute outfit to match these two.  As you can see, I ended up with the most bland outfit and that's the only thing I was disappointed with entire experience.  Thank you to all the staff at work who helped me find scarves, necklaces and decide on what to wear!

I must give all professional photographers a high five as it is a BIG CHALLENGE to get a good photo of a constantly moving 2.5yo.  Or maybe it's just that my child has early onset ADHD :)  Any little thing she found needed to be incorporated in the photos, sticks, palm tree branches, throwing baby pumpkins, touching all the horses (when their was a no touch sign) and the list goes on.  Chad did a great job of being patient with her and us, while also capturing her wild little personality!  

These are several of the 300+ photos we got!  I love that so many of them are un-staged and capture her and us in our natural state!  Enjoy our little monkey!

This photo below 'I think' is the only photo ever taken that I think Hadley looks like me.  Every photo in her 2.5 year life she looks like the female version of Mason.  Just.like.Mason.  Yes, I know she still looks like daddy, but let my light shine :)