Party

A couple weekends ago we took Darcy and Ezra to Drew's cousin's little boy Delson's birthday party (Did you get that?) at a childrens gymnastics place and it was so awesome! Darcy was timid at first of course, but by the end we had a hard time pulling her away. I wish I could take her somewhere like that more often. It kept her so happy. Maybe some day she will be interested in playing with the other kids instead of just the toys. :) Delson's reaction to all of his presents was so cute. He seemed so excited about all of them and was so sweet to say thank you to everyone. I love that we get to be here close to celebrate with family like this.

Jumping

Going down the slide off the pirate ship.

Braden gave Darcy a ride on the bus.

Darcy and Delson jumping. (I should have gotten a better picture of the birthday boy!)

I'm sure this was Darcy's favorite part. She loved this parachute and getting to run under it and on top of it. We had a hard time keeping her out when it was time for that.

They had the kids lay in the middle on a color and the adults ran in a circle. So fun!

Most of the kids ready for their cake!

I thought this might scare Darcy. The first time she wasn't that excited about it, but later she wanted to do it over and over. It shot them down and all the way to the far fall.

Another little car ride.

Winter Wreath

I wanted to make a Christmas wreath that could last a few months, so I guess it's more of a winter wreath. The colors don't look very vibrant here and the snowflake ornament doesn't look as sparkly as it does in real life, but you get the idea. I got this idea from Pinterest, and I kind of love it.

Picture Time

Some of what's been going on around here:

Darcy wanted Ezra to lay in her bed with her, and they were just too cute together.

A little smooch.

Protein! I think it was Ashley that taught Darcy this awesome move, but the other day Darcy wasn't eating her meat at dinner, and Drew and I were telling her that it was good for her and it would make her strong. I ended up doing this move and yelling "protein!" and for some reason that did the trick. So if we ever want her to eat her meat we just do that, and she will eat it. Amazing! (Sorry about the missing shirt, but that's just how it is around here sometimes.)

Shirtless again, but so cute. She spotted this tutu skirt in her closet the other day and she has been wearing it to dance around the house to Christmas music.

I always put Ezra in his bumbo up on the counter when I'm cooking and Darcy loves to sit up there with him. Neither of them look very happy here, but I promise they liked it.

I'm only posting this picture because it was Darcy's first picture that she actually got someone in the frame.

Cousins

Haley and Brian brought baby Matthew over for a little visit the other day, which we loved of course. Ezra and Matthew are only three months apart, but that makes a really big difference at this point.

Ezra and Matty. I hope these two end up being great buddies.

I had to let Darcy get in there for a picture, and she dwarfs them both. :)

Painting

I am really struggling to come up with things to do with Darcy in the house all day long. Pinterest has been kind of helpful but most things we try only keep her occupied for a couple minutes. The biggest success so far has been painting with corn syrup. You just add a little food coloring to some corn syrup and paint away. Probably the best part for Darcy was getting to eat the paint as she went. :) I really struggle with letting her do the activities that make a big mess, but I'm slowly getting over that, and it worked best to let her wear just a bib.