Hello all!  Lots has been going on with us this past week or so! I'll start with the Marissa news & stories:

First of all-- Marissa had her 5th birthday party a week ago!  She had a wonderful (and slightly chaotic!! )  party!  There were a lot of kids there (lets see.... Camryn, Dylan, Emma, Ella, Gabby, Olivia, Antonio, Verity and Oriana... whew!!) , so it got a bit crazy at times, but we all had a great time.  It was a tinkerbell theme and Marissa dressed up like Tink!  Marissa had a tinkerbell pinata and she got to be the one to pull the "secret" string that opened the pinata.  I kept telling her she might not get the right one, but she ended up getting it the second go around.  She was so excited! She said "See Mom... I TOLD you I was going to get the right string!!"    She got tons of wonderful gifts!  Thank you everyone!! You made Marissa's day very special! Here are some photos of the party and the birthday girl (plus Camryn with her pigtails... woo hoo, we have hair long enough to do something with!!! YAY!) :

Marissa also celebrated her birthday at preschool this wednesday (on her actual birthday). She got to be the helper all day and the "line leader"  and wear a birthday girl crown.   She brought in cookies and treat bags for the kids.  She had a great day!   I still can't believe she is 5 years old!!

The birthday girl with her crown! 

Marissa also went to kindergarten sign-ups this week!   Don't get me started-- I'm still in major shock that my baby is going to be going to kindergarten!!  I took her in to the school for sign-ups and she did wonderful!  She went right with the teachers for the testing while I stayed and filled out the paperwork.  Then I met back up with her to go over the testing results.  She passed every part with flying colors... she didn't have a single area that needed worked on.  The teachers said she was adorable and that they loved her.  She was an angel the whole time, until it was time to go, and then she tried to hide from me in the library columns.  OH BROTHER!  She did NOT want to leave!  (She did the same thing at preschool sign ups last year!! She is too eager to go to school!!)

Also for Marissa, she had her preschool  Valentine's Day  party today and I was the helper so I got to stay all morning at school with her.  It was lots of fun and she was so proud to have me there with her!  We did a craft and played a few games, the kids had a snack and passed out all their treat bags and valentines.   I got to meet her "best friends" : Lexi, Jessica, & Emily.  How cute!! Here's a couple photos from the party today:

Marissa with Lexi:

On to Miss Camryn!  Camryn is 15 months old this week and had her 15 month check up yesterday.  She weighs in at 21 lbs, 4 oz which is the 24th percentile. She is 29" tall, which is the 10th percentile.  Her little head is in the 6th percentile, which is up from last time, when it was only the 4th percentile!!  Sheesh!  Dr. Chlpka said she is doing WONDERFUL... she's growing great, she's just a petite little peanut!   She got three shots, poor little thing!

Camryn is also getting four, yep that's right, FOUR teeth at the moment!  Goodness!  You can see the top lateral incisors and the bottom right lateral incisor right under the gum, about to pop through.  And her top right first molar is broken through in one part. She's going to go from four teeth to eight almost over night!  Ouch!

Camryn has been doing some new milestones lately too!  She has been shaking her head "NO" for a long time but lately she's been nodding her head yes when you ask her a question.  It's so cute!  She also has been waving bye-bye  lately.  She knows lots of body parts and will point to her nose, teeth, etc when you ask her.  When she's in the tub, we have little travel-size empty bottles of shampoo that her and Marissa play with, and Camryn will pop the lids, pretend to put a dab on her finger and then rub it on her belly or hair... it's so cute!   She also plays with this little piano we have and will sing or babble into the microphone and then put the music on and dance.  She loves Elmo, Blue's Clues, Yo Gabba Gabba and Dora.  She started saying "Dora" too the other day.

Here's a pic of Cam I took tonight... she looks exactly like Rich in it!!

Here are the chicklets in their matching valentine's outfits:

Well, that's about it for us!  Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow everyone!

Love,
Kelly, Rich, Marissa & Camryn