New Year, New Look

Happy New Year!  We had a great 2011 - went way too fast - and we're looking forward to a great 2012 as well.  I decided the blog needed a new look - it's been the same for over 3 years and I was ready for a change!  Maybe it will inspire me to blog more often....  Here are some random pictures from last month before I get into all our fun Christmas pictures!

Dressing up is so much fun!  Even Ellie got to participate in the fun! 

 Jocelyn doesn't really finger paint - she body paints. 

 Just when I'm about ready to strangle the dogs, they go and do something cute and nice like this.  Ellie laid on that pillow under the blankets for at least 15 minutes while Jocelyn read her books.

 Jocelyn loves to draw and color - she's getting really good at drawing actual pictures and staying in the lines.

 Oh yes, we took down her crib last month too.  She was just getting too big for it.  She has a nice new twin bed (still have to buy a box spring) that she loves.  It was fun rearranging her room and making it look like a big girl room.  I'll take pictures once we have everything done.  This is how I found her the other day after not napping - undies on outside her pants, different socks on (one inside out) and shoes!  At least she kept herself occupied!

Dentist

Today Jocelyn had her first dentist appointment!  She wasn't all that excited, since she had her doctor on Friday and got a flu shot - she thought she'd have to get one at the dentist too.  But once she got there she was excited, and did so awesome!  She let the hygenist count, polish, and even scrape her teeth!  We were so proud of her - she was such a good girl.

 She just laid right down and opened her mouth - no prompting necessary!

Birthday #2

This past weekend we had another party for Jocelyn with Calvin's family.  Everyone was able to make it, which was so nice!  It's hard having her birthday so close to Thanksgiving, I know it's a lot of travel for people to do.  We were able to talk to Cory on Skype for a little bit (he's still over in Germany) which was great.  I know he was sad that he couldn't be here, but I know he was glad to get to see and talk to everyone.

I didn't know what kind of cake to make her this year - there's not really any character she's into right now.  But she LOVES to color, so I found a really cute crayon box cake picture on the internet.  It didn't turn out as cute as the picture, but that person was probably a professional. :)  I was happy with it, and I really have fun making these cakes!

 Kailee got her some new clothes and things for her tiny baby, Keean.

 She loves the keyboard/microphone...we may regret this purchase in about a day or two....

 Wearing her fancy shoes from Moe & Nicole

 Reading her books from Adam & Angie

 Ama & Bumpa with the grandkids

 Look at that Henry go - almost 8 mths old and already walking with that thing!  I don't think Jocelyn got that until she was 1!

 Elliot really liked her foam letters - they sure were tasty!

 Whoa.  Looks like a fun time was had by all!

Jocelyn is 3!

Happy, happy birthday to our beautiful girl!  I truly can't believe she's already 3.  2 still seems kinda like a baby, but 3 is definitely a preschooler.  Here are some things Jocelyn likes doing:

• playing with babies & stuffed animals
• doing "homework" (activity books)
• coloring and writing
• jumping
• riding her trike
• reading books
• dressing up in beautiful outfits
• singing, especially Christmas songs
• eating - she's not a picky eater - apples are her favorite food at the moment
• sleeping - still napping 2-3 hours and sleeping 12 hours at night; still loves to be rocked before bed
• sucking on her patchy - it was supposed to go away once she turned 3....
• doing things by herself and being quite stubborn at times
• being silly
• giving hugs and kisses to her Mommy and Daddy and being the most precious and special girl we are so very thankful for! 

Her birthday was on a day care day this year, so she chose to wear her fancy skirt and shoes.  Her teacher said she was on cloud nine all day!  We made cupcakes and brought them to day care - she was so proud about that!

 I'm continuing to take her picture with the bear, however, this was not an easy feat this year.  We took a lot of pictures before I had one I liked - here are two of my favorite funny ones.

 She does the fake smile, so we tell her to open her eyes - and this is what she does.

 Finally - a cute one!

Birthday #1

On the Sunday we got back from Neenah, we had a birthday party for Jocelyn with my parents, Brian, Katie & Ella.  She was excited for her birthday this year; she had fun picking out her cake, plates & napkins, and of course was excited for the presents!  We had a fun time celebrating our big 3 year old!

 She loves to get cards - she'd probably be happy with just cards!

 In her fancy ballerina skirt and shirt from Grandma and Grandpa.  I really need to get her into dance class - she would love it!

 Brian & Katie got her a bunch of dress up stuff - here she is with Katie modeling the beautiful jewelry.

 This is her favorite dress up outfit - she loves to play dress up now that she has lots of fancy things to wear!

 Reading Ella a book.  Look at how cute that is!

This was one of the outfits they got her...and this is how she went to Target this weekend (minus the pom-poms).  Notice the grass skirt under the cheerleading outfit?  She thought nothing of it, and all the moms and old ladies at Target just loved it!