My baby girl is THREE!!!

Emma Rose turned 3 years old yesterday.  As requested, she got homemade banana bread with "scrim-scream" (whipped cream) for her birthday breakfast!

We opened presents in the morning...

Emma Rose thought her Cinderella dress was too scratchy.

She was super-proud of her new "ski helmet" (really a bike helmet) from Aunt Jenny & Uncle Justin. 

...But Emma Rose's big present was her new, big-girl room.  "I love it!!!" she told us when she saw it.

Emma Rose had a princess birthday party.  Every single time we go to Target, we HAVE to walk by the princess cakes, and Emma Rose says, "I want one of those for my birthday!" So a princess cake she got! 

All the girls at the party dressed as their favorite princesses.  Emma Rose talked for months about how she wanted a new Cinderella dress for her party (which she got for her birthday), but when the date came, she wanted to wear her "green" princess dress - "but only for a little bit."

Princesses Caroline, Emma Rose, Sofia, Ansley, Avery, Gavyn, Ellery, and Hampton all joined the fun (as well as princess Haley - not seen in this picture!) 

The girls had fun making tiaras...while Porter supervised.

Emma Rose loved all of her gifts, but she was especially taken by the "Princess dolls" she received.  We found Emma Rose playing with them by herself: "Princess Bride" ended up in the bottom of a bag while Princess Cinderella yelled down to her, "Are you okay down there in jail?"

And then the big surprise...Cinderella came to play games with the girls! (Porter was the scrutinizing spectator in the corner... "That girl has a cell phone; she is NOT a real princess..." he announced, and when she told the kids not to step on the "magic stones," lest they turn into a frog, Porter tested it out and said, "I did not turn into a frog," and soon announced to the group, "I am NOT doing Princess stuff.") Cinderella was sweet and stayed in character the whole time.

What a fun celebration for Emma Rose!  I love this girl, her take-charge, know-what-I-want attitude, and sweet, joyful spirit.

Happy Birthday, Emma Rose!

Ski-cation, 2014

Since these 2 cuties have been so excited about skiing this year, we decided to take them on a little ski-cation over Spring Break this year!

We headed to Frisco, and Porter's face says it all from the start:

Porter wanted to climb every single snow hill, stomp in every snow pile, and throw every snowball he could get his hands on for the entire week. And Emma Rose absolutely followed suit.

 Like Father, like son, these two could eat, breath and sleep all things snow:

We skied 5 days in a row, and the kids got better and more excited with each new run.  They LOVED the Gondola.

Here are some pictures and videos of them on the mountain:

Porter LOVED skiing through the trees!

Of course most days were ended with hot chocolate and playing at the condo.  The kids played every evening in their super-cool fort!

We went out for Mexican food on Corey's birthday.  Emma Rose enjoyed her first sopapilla!

Birthday kiss for daddy!

We accidentally took the kids down a black diamond run on the 4th day.  Porter did great and wanted to do it again!  Emma Rose only fell once, but was giggling as soon as Corey promised to go over a jump with her.  Corey took Porter night-skiing that night.  He loved it.

It snowed a ton on our last day and he went down his first mogul run.  Porter fell a couple times, but laughed his head off over how soft the snow was!  Here he is at the bottom:

Corey says this was the best vacation he's ever had.  We really had so much fun as a whole family and can't wait to take the kids again and again!