Hiking the Y

We hiked up to the Y in April.  Ellery hiked the whole way up!  Aayla rode on Jacob's shoulders most of the way.  It was fun!  Now every time we drive past that mountain, Ellery says, "I hiked that mountain all by myself!"  And Aayla says, "...and daddy helped me!"  So funny :)

Ellery Jane Webb

 My favorite Ellery turned 5 years old last month.  Days, actually weeks leading up to her birthday, it was so cute, she was super excited.  She kept looking at the calendar and counting down how many days were left.  The day of her birthday she opened her presents from me in the morning.  I gave her mostly clothes and a new swimming suit.  Boring, I know but I knew she'd be getting more stuff later.  That night Jacob surprised her and came home (he was supposed to be in Price).  Then we all went to IHOP for dinner with my family as well.  I think this might turn out to be a little tradition, since that is where she picked to go last year on her birthday.  After dinner we came back to our house and she opened presents from my mom and dad.  She was super duper extra hyper and excited all night.  She and Aayla both loved her new easel and art supplies.  This girl seriously loves to color.  We then had mini cupcakes that I just bought at the store.  I was making a big cake a few days later for her friend party and didn't want to make two.  

I few days after her actual birthday she had a party with some of her friends.  Ellery was very insistent on having a Peter Pan party.  She wanted to dress up like Peter Pan and have Aayla be Tinkerbell.  I made both of their costumes.  Both were actually pretty easy to make.  I couldn't find any green leggings for Peter Pan's pants and was running out of time to make some, so I just used some pajama bottoms she already had that were the perfect color (thanks Monica)!  I thought they looked great!  I also didn't get around to making a hat for Ellery so I just put a red feather in her hair and she didn't mind.  The party ended up being really fun.  I didn't take as many pictures as I wished I had, but oh well.  I hung green streamers from our archway going into the family room and taped up the word NEVERLAND on them.  The party was supposed to be at Neverland and we went around to the different areas.  Aayla aka Tinkerbell sprinkled everyone with pixie dust and gave them a magic wand, then we flied in together through the streamers.  The first place was Cannibal Cove, where Captain Hook's ship is.  I turned our couch around and tried to make it look like a ship.  I made a big cloud and hung it up along with cutouts of Peter Pan, Wendy, Michael and John.  I then had the kids 'help' Captain Hook shoot them down with cannon balls, which were black balloons.  They got a little toy telescope from Captain Hook for helping.  The next area was the Indian Camp.  I had Jacob draw a big tee pee on butcher paper and hung it up.  We made headbands with feathers here.  Then we went to the Mermaid Lagoon.  I again used blue streamers and circled off an area with them hanging from the ceiling.  Inside I had pictures of the mermaids from the movie.  There were sea shells they could pick from to keep.  I was going to have them decorate the shells with glue and glitter and sequins but decided that would be way to messy.  After that I pretended to find a treasure map that belonged to Captain Hook and we used it to find his treasure.  I had bought a styrofoam cooler and painted it to look like a treasure chest.  I thought it turned out nice, even Jacob complimented me on it!  It was so funny watching to kids open the treasure.  They were all super excited and started screaming when I opened it.  There were plastic and chocolate gold coins, gold necklaces, pirate pencils, gold and red candies, and I think some sort of plastic jewelery.  They dug in and took what they wanted.  It was pretty funny.  I told them they could take what they wanted and put it in their bag.  Some kids loaded up while others just got a few things.  I was going to do something at Skull Rock but didn't know what so I just didn't do anything with it.  Ellery opened her presents from them and then we had lunch.  I made mini cupcakes for them all.  I made her a big Peter Pan cake that was sitting out for all to see and it was funny cause they were all disappointed they didn't get to eat it.  I told them it was for later that night with her family.  Overall it was fun, but a lot of work.  I don't think I'll be throwing a big party like this again anytime soon.  

That night my family came over again and we dug into her cake, which by the way did not turn out at all how I wanted.  I simply ran out of time and energy and patience.  Definitely my worst cake.  The only thing that saved it is the figurines I bought for it.  Oh well, hopefully next years will be better.  I forgot to mention her big present from us....a new bike!  She was growing out of her little Dora bike.  We ended up getting her a Cars bike.  She had actually been asking specifically for a Cars bike for a long time.  There were a lot of other cute bike we could have gotten that are more girlish, but decided to just get her what she likes.  She is who she is!  Happy Happy Birthday girly!

Potty Training, Preschool, Kitty

Aayla is officially potty trained!!  Yay!  Well, except for pooping.  She still doesn't quite know how to do that in the toilet.  She doesn't have any wet accidents though so I'm happy.  I'm impressed how quickly she picked it up and glad there are no more diapers, except when she sleeps.  Aayla thinks she's so big in her new panties.

Aayla was able to join us in our little neighborhood Joyschool last week.  She absolutely loved it.  It was funny watching her interact with the other girls.  She thought she was one of them and acted so big.  I've really enjoyed teaching them.  They are super cute and fun.  Here is them with the monsters we made.

Ellery lately has been back to being a kitty.  She's been going back and forth between a kitty and a wolf.  So now that she's a kitty she wears a little necklace that she calls her 'kitty collar.'  She also wears Aayla's shirt bib backwards and calls it her 'kitty cape.'  Some days she's a super kitty with special powers.  I have to laugh at her all the time because she is so funny!

Lastly, I just wanted to post this picture because it makes me laugh.  Their face's are just such different shapes.  :)

Marathon

So...I obviously stopped posting about my training.  One, I don't really like sitting down and blogging,  I get too impatient and it's hard for me to put my thoughts down in words.  Two, I lost my running watch with all my run times and paces and that just really pissed me off.  I really wanted to see how my times have been improving (which they totally did) and when I lost all that data I just gave up on the whole recording thing.  Well I finished all my training and did the marathon last week on Sunday.  It was awesome!!  I really enjoyed it.  I ran with my sister Annie the whole time.  I wasn't sure I'd like that cause I'm not used to running with anyone, but it ended up being really fun.  I focused on all the positive things going on and how good I felt.  The time seemed to go by really fast the first 20 or 21 miles. It was about the last 5 that were killer.  I hurt so so bad and just wanted to stop.  The thought of running 5 more miles seemed so hard and overwhelming.  I remember thinking that I was not going to do another marathon every again.  But, I got through it and even ended up sprinting to the finish line.  That was really cool.  I didn't think I had anymore energy left, but when I saw the end I knew I had to finish strong and just go for it.  Annie followed my lead and we crossed just a second within each other.  My recovery was much quicker than the first marathon I did.  I was quite sore, but it was bearable.  By Tuesday my legs felt fine.  I will most likely do another marathon even though I told myself I wouldn't.  Thank you to everyone for supporting me and being there for me.  It was awesome to have all my family and Jacob's family there at the end.

Millie 

Time 4:33:25

Pace 10:26  

Annie

Time 4:33:26

Pace 10:26

Rob

Time 4:25:52

Pace 10:09

Katie (1/2)

Time 2:05:58

Pace 9:37

Millie & Annie crossing the finish line

Rob at the Finish line

Mile 7

All the runners.

Just kidding, I got 2:03:58

Playing Outside.

It's crazy how just a few days ago, the girls were playing outside with their bikes and no jackets, and now they are bundled up playing in the snow!

Happy Birthday Aayla!

Love this girl....

....and now she's 2!!!

We started her day by opening presents.  She got a mermaid Mrs. Potato Head from Grandma Webb.  We gave her a pooh bear potty chair, Lalaloopsy soft doll, pooh bear toothbrush, and little pooh bear books.  She loved them all!!

The rest of the day she played with all her new things and napped while I made her cake.  She wanted a Pooh Bear cake.  I'm super happy with how it turned out.  I'm surprised too because this was the worse batch of fondant I've made and up until right before my family came over I didn't have a Pooh Bear to put on top.  It all got worked out though and here is the finished cake.

That night my family came over and she got even more presents.  She got a baby stroller and pretend baby food from my parents, a Tinkerbell backpack from Katie, and a big full shirt bib from Abbie.  She thinks Aayla's messy or something.  

We dug into her cute cake afterward.  I always feel bad cutting into cakes I spend all day making, oh well.  It was cherry chip cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and was super yummy!  I never make cherry cake and so forget that I like it.  I think Aayla had a good birthday.  She is such a sweet, fun little girl and we love her so much.

Merry Christmas

It was a good year...

The girls were happy to get cereal in their stockings.

 Ells was even happier to get a Mack truck with hot wheel cars to put inside.

And Aayla loves her new little ponies.