We had a good amount of snow back in November, and for the first winter since living in Utah (this is our third) we finally decided to give in and try and actually enjoy the stuff! We invested in our very first set of sleds and headed out on a chilly Saturday morning to go sledding at nearby park. A first for all three of our girls!
Well, we weren't the only ones to have this ingenius idea. These pictures don't even do justice as to how many people were already there enjoying the "slopes" (aka: tiny hills that a 4 and 3 year old can scale and slide down by themselves):
Here we are getting all bundled up (by the way, getting three kids dressed in snow gear, snow gloves and all- including an 18 month old- takes FOR. EV. ER... just in case you were wondering ;)
Minnette all ready to go:
And Aurelle:
Minnette and Daddy's first time down
Getting a little more adventurous and taking the sled over a jump:
No one else was willing to go down with me, so Minnette got another turn down the hill with Mommy:
Minnette did so great. She was having such a blast, and ended up taking the saucer up and down the hill all by herself (I just love how proud of herself she is at the end of this video):
Taking the big sled down by herself. I love the stiff as a board position she assumes about half way down, just so she doesn't fall off the sled!
Kyle FINALLY convinced Aurelle to go down the hill with him. As soon as they get to the bottom he asks her, "Wanna go again?!" Her response, an immediate and very serious, "No." Oh, Aurelle!! ::sigh:: :)
And last but not least, my absolute favorite video (possibly of all time), Kyle going down with Jovi. Please do not judge my uncontrolled laughter at what you are about to see.Yes, it was sad (as you can tell by the crying)... but it was also super funny. Just watch it again if you don't believe me!
Minnette all rosy-cheeked after playing hard her first time ever sledding:
The first of many sledding trips for our family this winter-Utah winters just got a little less miserable for the Arizona summer-loving Willman family!
Last summer, Grandpa Willman got the girls their very own Crickett rifle as an early Christmas present. Kyle grew up being very familiar with guns, going hunting and shooting, and even Katie had a blast target shooting every summer at girl's camp. That being said, we have always had a desire to make shooting a hobby for our entire family to participate in, and we have always wanted to introduce our children to shooting and proper gun safety early on so that they would feel comfortable with guns at a relatively young age.
Kyle was super excited (and wasted no time in planning) to take Minnette out for her first shooting date. He really wanted her first experience to be a positive one (so she would have fun and want to go again in the future) so as any good Daddy would do, he took her out to get donuts and pink milk for breakfast (an absolute MUST for any Daddy-daughter date!) and then drove up Provo Canyon into the mountains and set up for a little traget practice.
Let's just say they were not alone when they got there:
They were surrounded by several groups of wild turkey
These turkey were not afraid of people at all- they were basically able to walk right up to them!
There were several deer in the area as well- though they were a little more nervous about having a couple of people around, and they didn't hang out very long:
Minnette was so excited to to shoot her very own gun for the first time!
Pink glasses: check. Pink earmuffs: check. Pink ammo bag: CHECK! Ready to shoot!
Minnette did so great, especially for her very first time shooting! She wasn't nervous about shooting the gun or anything! Here's to many more Daddy/daughter and family shooting days in the future!
{Minnette, I love you so much and I am so proud of the beautiful young woman you are becoming.
This year for Halloween I decided to finally chase a small dream of mine to hand-make our family themed costumes. Let me tell you, three girls and a very obviously pregnant mom makes for quite the challenge in coming up with a costume theme! In the end, I chose our theme based on a really cute idea for a hand-made chicken costume I found on pinterest- and Old McDonald's farm it was!
Kyle was Old McDonald (minus a straw hat- which turned out to be absolutely impossible to find!), I was a (pot-bellied) pig (ha. ha.), Minnette was the aforementioned chicken, Aurelle was a sheep and Jovi was one very happy little cow!
Our very own little Bessie:
I am still so excited about how well Minnette's chicken costume turned out. The feet were Martha Stewart inspired, but Kyle-manufactured from: wait for it.... rubber kitchen gloves!
Our sweet little sheep:
A picture of all the farm animals together:
And one with farmer Dad:
Our apartment complex hosted a trunk or treat a couple of days before Halloween, which was the perfect opportunity to take the girls out for an edited version of trick-or-treating to get them nice and warmed-up and excited for the real thing a couple of days later.
Waiting in line for their very first trunk:
On Halloween night, we ended up heading over to a student-family Halloween carnival held on campus which had tons of kids games, lots of treats, jugglers, a bounce house and slide, a costume parade and contest... it was awesome and the girls loved it! Minnette even won an award for best homemade costume- I was one proud homemakin' Mama! ;)
We were so excited when both of the girls wanted (or were willing when forced) to get their faces painted (trying new things can sometimes be a challenge!)- here is the final product:
No face paint- but still super cute!
And after the party was over we headed out to do some good old trick-or-treating through a neighborhood near our apartment. We basically just went up and down one street, but our girls were loved every second of it, were very polite and said thank you at every door, and were nothing short of elated and exhausted as we drove home that night, ate a piece of candy and headed off to bed! It was a great Halloween, and Minnette is already counting down to next year's!
Our sweet little Aurelle is no longer a toddler, but now a preschooler!
Our traditional birthday morning breakfast... Donuts:
Just check out this girl's birthday morning haul!
That weekend we invited Aunt Raquel over for Aurelle's official family birthday party where she was serenaded, yet again, this time with pumpkin cupcakes!
Since Aurelle's birthday is exactly a week before Halloween, Costco had these awesome pumpkin cupcakes which she decided to pick out for her party... they were seriously huge!
Enjoying some massive birthday cupcakes:
And of course we had our birthday date with Mommy to go get birthday pictures and lunch!
Aurelle wasn't particularly in the mood to take pictures that morning, so it took a while for her to warm up in front of the camera. Hence, the fact that the first few pictures were taken in Mommy's lap:
And many more were taken as she laid/climbed on and hid behind a small couch (which was the only way, at first, that I was able to convince her to sit that was not on my lap!):
Caught mid-cough:
And then the blue chair and teddy bear- yet another negotiation to get a couple smiles out of this birthday girl! The photographers were so patient and understanding, which I really appreciated, because we were able to get a lot of great "personality" shots and, eventually, several great smiles!
And my personal favorite:
But the official winner was:
What a beautiful girl!
Within the week of her birthday, Aurelle and I had yet another date, this time to the doctor's office for her third year well check! That counts as a date, right?
3 year well check stats:
Height: 38 inches (74.35th percentile)
Weight: 26.9 pounds (12.53th percentile)
BMI: 13.09 (.24th percentile)
Our pediatrician has encouraged "calorie packing" on our part for Aurelle, meaning throwing in extra calories at every possible opportunity: extra peanut butter on her sandwiches, lots of healthy oils, dips like hummus and guacamole, offer lots of whole wheat, calorie-packed carbs, etc. And we really do our best to make sure she has plenty of healthy food options at every meal (more on that later), in the end, she's just built slender!
Some things about Aurelle at 3 years old:
•Aurelle loves to do anything Minnette is doing. In writing this post, thinking about all the things that Aurelle enjoys, I realized that I could basically post all of Minnette's favorite things, and most of them would line right up with Aurelle's!
•She loves to tell me that her favorite colors are pink and orange and all sparkly colors!
•She loves to point out things that match. "Mommy, our shirts match!", "My cup and Minnette's cup are both blue!"
•She is such a sweet big sister and loves to love on Jovi. You will often see Aurelle instigating a hug, or rubbing Jovi's hair, or finding a book or a baby to give her to "help her be happy."
•She loves to carry trinkets around- inside of other things. A purse filled with cars and necklaces. A tupperware container filled with cards, legos and animals. She will pretend it's her lunch, her groceries, treaties to take to school, etc. And she is very consistent with what she puts inside of what... she remembers every little item that goes inside of each purse/container that she chooses to carry around!
•Aurelle is such a great napper! This is one area of my life as a mother in which there is never a battle. Have her go potty, put her in her bed, give her a kiss and shut the door. You won't see her or hear from her for a minimum of 2 hours.
•Her hair is getting so long, and still spiral curls at the ends. I am afraid to ever cut it, because I'm afraid she'll lose her sweet curls!
•She can be a very particular and even sometimes moody eater. You just never know what she will or won't want to eat. She absolutely loves oatmeal and usually has two or three bowls in one sitting, yet some mornings she might not take more than a couple bites. She looooves pizza, though some pizza nights, she just won't have anything to do with it! On more than one occasion, she has willingly gone without birthday cake, or some other awesome dessert because she didn't want to eat a single. bite. of her dinner. Like I said, you just never know!
•With that, she has a very determined personality. She knows what she wants/doesn't want and there is absolutely no changing her mind once she has made it up. She is constantly teaching us, as parents, how to be flexible! She will be a strong force for good in the world.
We all love Aurelle so much, and are so grateful to have her in our family! She brings us so much joy each and every day, and as her parents, we are so grateful to be able to watch her grow and develop into such a beautiful and sweet girl!
