Photos by Alexis

Alexis got her very own digital camera for Christmas! It's going to take her some practice... Finally, she figured out how to get our faces in her shot... I guess Sammi was tired! Posing for pictures is hard work.

The camera is meant to survive being dropped & meant to be super easy for preschoolers to use without help. This has been a bit of a problem- it is too easy to delete pictures! Cousin Zoey took a bunch of good pictures for us at our Christmas Eve party at Grandma Gayle's & Papa Scott's but sadly they have all been deleted accidentally.

Running wild

Here's a fun game...running around screaming with nothing but our towels on.

Santa Pictures

We headed downtown Seattle to see Santa this weekend- it is a family tradition from when Mommy was little to go downtown to see Santa. It is always a long wait to see Santa, since he is such a popular guy, especially so close to Christmas. This year was a record wait- 4 hours!! What were we thinking?!? Here we are about 3 1/2 hours in... Jen L, if you are reading this...we joined the club and had to have a family portrait this year (hopefully it will be just kids in the Easter Bunny photo!)

After waiting in line, taking our picture & filling up with some lunch, we hit the carousel for a fun end to a long day.

Samantha

Mommies & Daddies tend to spend a lot of time deciding what to name their children & how to spell their names. We didn't spend any time discussing how to spell Samantha's nickname, though. Mommy has been spelling it Sami & Daddy has been spelling it Sammy. So we compromised & decided the official spelling will be Sammi. It probably doesn't really matter, but if that is what we call her, might as well be consistent with how we spell it.

Now open: Salon de Mommy

We tried something new today- Mommy cutting hair. Alexis has been in need of a haircut for a while now but when we tried to go earlier in the week she totally freaked out. She was afraid it would hurt. Today, she said that she would sit still so Mommy could cut her hair.

Before:
After:

The finished product is shorter than planned but looks much better (as long as you don't look too close!)

Christmas cookies

On Monday, we went to the Supermall for their Christmas activity (remember when we decorated pumpkins in October?). We got to decorate cookies & then Santa came to read a story.

It was pretty tricky & messy using the frosting! Santa was pretty quiet and we couldn't really hear the story, so the kids played instead.

We didn't take any pictures, but yesterday Alexis went to her first play- "Peter Pan." She really had a great time. She sat so still and payed attention to everything. She got a little scared of Captain Hook and the pirates- we had to go to the "quiet room" for a little bit. Thanks for taking us Lori!

Trimming the tree

We brought our Christmas tree inside last night and before we could "trim" it we had to get out our big gardening clippers and trim it. I guess it's true- trees look much smaller in nature than they really are.
Alexis wanted to help with decorating. She put must of her ornaments on the same branch and they were all in the same area on the tree.

And the time-outs begin...this is our first year with 2 kids who are mobile and obsessed with the tree. The broken ornament count is up to 5. Hopefully the excitement will die down soon!

(Most of the low ornaments that Alexis placed on the tree have been moved to higher branches to help remove temptation.)

Hunting for a perfect tree

Yesterday, we drove out to the woods in the mountains in search for the perfect Christmas tree. Most of the day was spent sitting in the truck but it was still pretty fun. Our first stop- can you find Daddy in this picture?

While the other kids were in the car keeping warm (we went with our friends Siah & Kaitlynn), Sami insisted on playing outside in the snow & cold.

The daddies, checking out some trees while we sat in the truck.

Next year, we'll have to get an earlier start...it started getting dark and the daddies were forced to quickly pick trees and cut them down- there may not be any pictures of our Christmas tree this year :) Bye, bye Christmas trees- till next year.

Let's Feast!

What a Feast it was at Grandma Jeannette's on Thanksgiving! Everything was so yummy! Alexis liked the rolls the best and took plenty home to munch on later.

Sitting down to dinner-
Thank you for everything Grandma! Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Build-a-birthday present

Here's a forgotten photo from Alexis' birthday at the beginning of the month. Michelle took Alexis to Build-a-Bear and they both made new buddies. Alexis dressed her bear in the Ariel outfit & Michelle (who attends WSU) dressed hers in a UW shirt?!?

Little Mermaid party

Alexis had a Little Mermaid birthday party with our family and friends. She loves anything Ariel!! And she insisted on wearing her mermaid costume to the party.

Opening presents: It's hard to say who was more excited about all the cool new stuff- Alexis, Sam or Mommy. Blowing out the candles: Alexis was able to blow out all of her candles this year! What a difference a year can make.

Go Seahawks!

We squeezed Sami into Alexis' old Seahawks outfit. Future Sea-gal?

Touchdown!

It's a sad day when the Seahawks don't win.

Cake & ice cream & candies & tic-tacs!

Alexis was so excited to see what she got for her birthday. Any time we asked her what she wanted for her birthday she would answer "cake & ice cream & candies & tic-tacs." We even took her to the store to do some toy shopping- she did pick out a few things but when we said that Mommy & Daddy would come back to buy it for her birthday, she would break into tears & remind us what she really wanted.
So, how did she do?...

Cake & ice cream- check Candies- check

Tic-tacs- check

And a little something extra from Sami- some beautiful Ariel heels.

Overall, a great birthday! (And for Christmas she'll be getting a trip to the dentist!)

Happy Birthday to you...Alexis!!!

Alexis is 3 today! Where has the time gone?!?Here's a look back on the last 3 years of birthdays...

Alexis' actual birth day (warning: a little gross)-

1st birthday-

2nd birthday-

Trick-or-Treat

First stop of the day was Papa Murphy's. Alexis trick-or-treated for that little pizza & Daddy bought a jack-o-lantern pizza for our lunch- a Jolley family Halloween tradition.

Off to the Supermall for some real trick-or-treating.

Here we go...

Flounder wasn't able to keep up with the big kids. Here she is taking a break with Kaitlynn the pink poodle.

Checking out our treats.

Ariel must have forgot about Prince Eric- she seemed to have a thing for Spiderman tonight.
Flounder with Ariel's red hair.

Jen came along for our trick-or-treating fun.

One last picture before heading home. What a great day full of pizza, candy and costumes!