Catch up- November!

Okay, so I'm really trying to play catch-up this time.  I've got about 5 posts in the works, so they should be appearing over the next few days.  The easiest way to categorize them was by month, so there you go.  We'll start with November.

November was a crazy month, weather-wise.  Crazy weather makes for rough days at work and therefore a cranky and tired Mama when I get home.  Add in that I was in the throes of morning sickness and working three 12-hour shifts a week, and I was one exhausted lady.  Later in the month, I started feeling a bit better so we got to do some fun things.  It snowed the week of Thanksgiving a couple times and was bitterly cold in between.  Jilly LOVES the snow and was begging to go out and play in it.  We live on the 3rd floor, so going to play in the snow is a bit of a production, especially since Jason had barely started walking (end of October).  But we did it one day, which was a lot of fun.  

The snow on the side of the apartment office is closest and usually untouched, so we headed over there to make a snowman.

I love the way Jason is looking up at his big sister here.  Awwwww!

Jilly got hit with a snowball from Daddy. ;-)  Unfortunately, the snow wasn't very pack-able, so it didn't make for good snowballs.

Jason was.....not a fan of the snow.  He didn't want to walk around or really even stand in the snow, but I made him stand there so I could at least get a picture.  Soon enough though (like 5-10 minutes), both he and I got cold and tired and headed back to the warm apartment.  Jilly and Daddy stayed outside to work on their snowman.

Jilly also wanted to make a "Snow Jilly" (snow angel), but basically needed us to lay her down and move her arms and legs.  ;-)  She was pretty proud of it though.

Thanks to the Jillian Jiggs books, Jilly insisted on a "Snow Martian" and Daddy obliged.  Turned out pretty cute, if you ask me!

Jilly and her Snow Martian. ;-)

That weekend also brought us a very exciting event.  Our little Birdie Girl turned 4!!!  We had a birthday party for her with our family the night before her birthday.  It was especially fun because my Auntie Terry & Uncle Kevin were in town from Connecticut, so they joined us as well!  YAY family!

This is the official Birthday Hat now.  My mom got it a few months ago and now each of us wears it at our party.  :-)  It looked great on Jilly.

Granny Same and Jason hanging out, rocking away.

Auntie Terry, Bailey and Elise visiting with everyone.  Can you tell Bailey & Terry are related? ;-)  I don't think we got a picture of Uncle Kevin, but he was there too.

Andy and Grampa couldn't miss the festivities either!

Now, the fun part: opening presents!!  This was from Auntie Terry & Uncle Kevin.

Ooooh!!  Disney movies!  Now we have more for our (formerly meager) collection.

This was from Auntie Karen; the book Princess Me.

As well as a Princess puppet and headband.

From Granny & Grampa, a super fun Puppet Stage and a couple sets of finger puppets!  Jilly was in LOVE.

And lastly, the present from Mama & Daddy: a Dora bed tent and flashlight!!!  She was soooo excited, so of course we had to set it up right away.

Jason was slightly more helpful than Jilly, but neither of them were all that helpful. ;-)

Set up!  And the two kids jumped in immediately.  It's made for a twin bed, so we mostly use it to play on the floor.  Now, time for cake!

Because of Jilly's love/obsession with ducks, we thought it was most appropriate to have a duck cake.  After hours of scouring the internet to find a good idea that a) looked neat and b) I could pull off, I found this cute idea to use mini-marshmallows as bubbles and blue frosting for water, so it looks like the duck is taking a bath.  Steve found this awesome birthday rubber duck at the store and voila!  A duck cake!!

Four star candles looked awesome and Jilly just loved it.

This was the first year Jilly was able to blow out her own candles (she figured it out right after her birthday last year).

Mmm.....blue frosting.  :-D  Eating cake is serious business!  It was a really fun evening with everyone, we were so glad to have so many people there to celebrate our little girl.  It's still surprising that I've been a mother for over 4 years, but Jilly is definitely soooooo 4 years old!  She's such an adorable girl.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET JILLIAN!!!!

Aaaaaaand this is why we don't let the bed tent hang out on her toddler bed.  She doesn't sleep, just knocks down her tent.