Jayne's 2nd Birthday Party

Jayne's second birthday party was a blast! It was fun as she was old enough to understand the excitement of a special party and of course, she was so excited to see the fire truck!

(Her cute shirt was made especially for her party by our friend, Jenni. Perfection!)

The firemen and fire station were amazing. They were so great with little kids, made Jayne feel special and even had a special "emergency message" come over their radios wishing a very special happy birthday to Jayne. It was cute! Here's some photos of our station visit.  

Giving a real fireman "knuckles"

She wasn't sure about it all at first, but then after her first time in the truck, she didn't ever want to get out! 

She LOVED driving the truck! 

They let the kids try out the hose as well, or pretend to anyway :) 

The kids got to explore an ambulance and a smaller/older fire engine as well. Needless to say, Jayne was in heaven - she loves trucks!

A group shot of the kids. Its so fun having lots of little friends for Jayne around.

The fire station was a big hit. This girl LOVED her party with the "fire twuuucks"

After the station visit, we came back to our house where the kids played in the backyard. We had a couple of games set up, opened presents and ate yummy food. It was a fun day!

The food table

We had fireman chow (popcorn), flaming jello, fire station PB&J, fire flames (cheetos), fiery fruit kabobs, water bottles and cupcakes.

I made these cute fire engine cracker boxes for a party favor 

The kids played on the swing set and in the play house in the yard. We also set up a coloring station to make fire-house dalmatians and a game for them to "put out fires" with water guns. The fires red solo cup towers with foam fire glued to them

Presents

 

 Cute little Elle :)

It was a perfect day for the kids to play together outside

It was a perfect day! Thank you Phil and Jocelyn for helping with the party prep, my parents for watching Elle and to the guests for coming to help us wish a happy 2nd birthday to this little cutie!

Jayne turns 2!

Two years! Really!? How did that happen? This sweet girl has changed our lives for the better and every day with her is so much fun. I love listening to her little voice and hearing her feet pitter patter around the house. She makes every day the best!

We started off celebrating her special day with opening some presents when she woke up. She was excited and opened her presents very carefully.

I have to explain the glasses. We are not just hipsters over here :) Jayne loves glasses. Always has. She wore her sunglasses as a baby without a fuss from the first time I put them on her. So earlier in the month we were at the optometrist getting new glasses for me and she was in heaven trying on every single sample pair she could. She loved it! So we thought a perfect gift would be glasses (from the dollar store) and we were right! She loved them!  

She still wanted to watch her morning "show" ("min-mins" aka Despicable Me of course!) but couldn't let go of her precious present. Too cute! 

Jayne asked for a "piiint chocwate cake" so that's what she got!

 She was excited when it was time to light the candles. And of course, we lit them and sang and blew out the candles a few times because that's what the birthday girl requested. :)

Happy birthday sweet Jayne. We love you sooooooo much!! 

August 2015

August was a fun month where we weren't (as) sleep deprived with our newborn and I was recovered enough post-c section that we weren't (as) home-bound. Here's just a few snippets of our August fun!

Cheesers!!

 Whenever I get out the camera to take photos of Elle, Jayne asks, "Take-a pitchhhher mom!"

And I happily oblige because I can never have too many cute photos of this girl! 

Elle's first bath - she loved it just like Jayne did 

Twinners! 

Um...Elle's cheeks here!? Seriously!!! 

While we didn't "do" a ton in August, we definitely were working hard in our own home, learning how to be a family of four. Life is so fun with these two hooligans around!

Elle - 2 months

2 months are in the books for this little girl of ours. We're enjoying our baby Elle being awake more often. She's a joy to have around! 

Elle's 2 month stats:

• Weighs 11lbs 7oz and is 23 inches long - becoming chunky...mmmm! :)
• Makes a few little sounds here and there. Jayne loves it when she hears her make noises
• We're figuring her out - how to read her sleepy cues vs hunger cues
• Usually wakes up just once in the night and then around 7...right now I just put her back to bed and she'll sleep until about 9-10am. It helps me get things going with Jayne in the morning
• No longer a "carseat fusser" and will go to sleep quickly in the car or if rocked in it
• Loves her swing. She sleeps really well in it and is content to just hang out there

Sometimes Phil and I just look at each other and say, "We have two kids! We're a family." Sometimes it is crazy, sometimes we're tired but we wouldn't trade it for anything. We love little Elle! Happy two months!

Elle's Baby Blessing

Elle was given a beautiful blessing by her Dad on August 16th, 2015. We blessed her in my parents' ward because she was lucky enough to share her day with my brother Justin, who had also had his mission homecoming that day. It was so special to celebrate little Elle and to see our family and friends.

  

Elle was a little bit fussy in her dress (I mean, the frills! Come on mom!) so we just snapped a quick picture... it's not the best but I wanted it for our records.

Our little Bennallack family!

 Mommy and Daddy love you sweet Elle. Welcome to our family!