"Look at me, me, me I'm 3, 3, 3!

Lily turning 3 is both exciting and scary.  Lily is such a sweet, loving and kind little girl.  She also has such a laid back personality.  But when Layna was 3 it was both challenging and exhausting!  So as Lily turns 3 I have my doubts but Lily reminds me daily that she is not Layna.  We had 1 birthday party for both girls.  Lily invited Edyn and Briana to her party.  She too enjoyed the Camp Rock theme, dressing up and singing on stage.  She really enjoyed the pizza!  I love that I can understand Lily more when she talks now and we are starting to have more conversations.  I love being home with her and learning more about her personality and seeing her be a big sister to Lucy especially when Layna is at school all day.  About 2 weeks after she turned 3 she decided on her own to get rid of "Chee Chee".  I was thrilled!  I was even more thrilled that it was her decision.  Now, I am waiting for her to decide when she is ready to get rid of diapers!  Every time Lily and I would go to Target she would put on these Hello Kitty rain boots and walk around the store in them.  Then when it was time to go she would put them back on the shelf.  I told my mom, "No matter what, Lily is getting those boots for her birthday!" She did get them and she has worn them everyday since.  Her other favorite present was her make-up box.  Layna has one and Lily was so excited that she got one too.

Layna's 6th Birthday!

As I write this, it doesn't seem possible that Layna is 6.  Where does the time go?  This year she wanted a Rock Star party so we did a Camp Rock theme.  Layna chose 6 friends to invite to her party b/c she was turning 6.  I have adopted this idea for our girls birthday parties so that it doesn't get out of hand and too overwhelming.  She chose, Emma, Ellie, Adriana, Madison, Laney, and Cadence.  As a bonus Madison's cousin Julie came (the girls played t-ball together).  We decorated our mantle like a stage, set up all kinds of instruments (including a microphone on a stand), a karaoke machine and dress up clothes so the girls could perform.  We decorated the whole house in Camp Rock with orange and green being our main colors.  The girls had pizza for dinner and Halloween decorated cupcakes for dessert!  The girls also played outside.  It was a really nice party.
     Since Layna has been born we have sold our house in Manhattan, moved in with my parents in Lenexa, I turned down a job of a lifetime to be a SAHM, Jeromy got hired at Total Interiors, we bought a house and moved to Basehor, we got another dog, Jeromy's Grandpa died, we had Lily, we traded in our blazer for a mini-van, Jeromy's mom got divorced from his step dad, Jeromy's dad got re-married for the 4th time, Jeromy was promoted at work, my parents moved to South Overland Park, we gave our 2 dogs to other families, Jeromy re-modeled our kitchen, I had a miscarriage and a D & C, we had Lucy, Jeromy's brother Steve moved to Kentucky, my brother Joel had his arm shattered/broken and needed surgery to insert plates and pins, Jeromy's half brother Taylor got married, Layna started Kindergarten and Layna broke her arm.  Then there is the world events: Hurricane Katrina, Tsunami, Earthquake in Haiti and the "The Great Depression" as Jeromy & I call it.  Michael Jackson, Farrah Faucet, and Patrick Swayze died.  Obama becomes President.  Some of theses events have been happy, some sad and some devastating but through it all I have enjoyed watching Layna grow right before my eyes!