Guess Who's Four????

We celebrated Erica Rae's 4th birthday this past weekend....and it was an all weekend party, let me tell you! Friday night was a party at Nana and Papa Sharpe's house. Saturday the 20th was her actual birthday and we celebrated by spending the day at the Water Park of America. Then Sunday was her Super Sledding Party with her friends. It was an awesome, fun-filled weekend celebrating the life of Miss E!!

Here we are at the water park, thoroughly enjoying ourselves!
(Bennett stayed home & spent some quality time with Nana Smith)

And a few from the sledding party:

Nana Sharpe saved the day on the Unicorn cake request, as we looked high and low for unicorn decorations, to no avail....

No party is complete without the birthday song...

Happy Birthday E.Rae~ You are such an amazing big girl!!
We could not be more proud of you~

Our Love Bug...

At the end of this month, Bennett will be 6 months old already. I can hardly believe it is true, even as I type it right now. He has brought such immense joy to our lives, and it has been SO much fun to watch him grow and learn to explore his world a little more every day.

He is such a good-natured, mellow, little dude--and is just so easy to be around. He sleeps through the night, rolls in both directions (when he feels like it), chews on everything, LOVES his exersaucer & his feet, and started eating cereal recently.

Knowing this is our last baby...we are just trying to enjoy and cherish every step and every moment along the way. We love you Mr. B!!

Family of Five....

The first few weeks after Bennett's birth were a little crazy, but we seem to really be in the groove now. It's really hard to remember life before he was a part of our family. We truly feel complete now. I guess we were always meant to be a family of five...who knew?!

Getting a good photo of the five of us, however, was a different story! Zoiks....it was quite the stressful process! Jon and I were both sweating by the end of the photo shoot, and luckily 1 out of 7 photos turned out "good enough!"

Little Miss Erica Rae, 3 3/4 years
&
Our Kindergartner--Hayden Jonathan, 6 years

He Smiles!!!

Happy Halloween.....

....from the Sharpe family zoo!!

All About E.Rae

It seems the last number of blog posts have been all about the boys in my life. I figured it was due time for Erica to get a post all about her. After all, I do not want her to have "middle child syndrome" or anything!

Erica is your typical, feisty 3 1/2 year old these days. She is very strong willed, and is pushing every limit there is to push. When not pushing limits (or in the time out :)), she is still our loving, caring, sweet, talkative little girl.

She is adjusting to being a big sister, and not being the baby anymore...but it has been hard on her. Don't get me wrong...she LOVES her baby brother, but the changes have definitely affected her behavior these past few weeks. She doesn't like that the attention has shifted away from her....but she's coming around! :)

Here are a few photos of her loving up Bennett--she always says "Mom, take my picture with baby Bennett":

Lounging in the couch, watching Dora together:

Yesterday she asked if we could go get her hair cut. She informed me that she wanted it "cut short & beautiful--like yours, mom." She has asked me this before, but I have always been hesitant to cut too much off. This time we went for it, and here she is with her adorable new bob--I just LOVE it (& so does she):

Little Mommy, helping to feed Bennett:

Erica is still going to Janet's daycare, two doors down, two days a week--just to keep her routine up a bit, and to give her play time with friends. I think this really helps her not to resent me so much for all the attention that I need to give to Bennett right now. Once I go back to work (the last week of November), both Erica and Bennett will go to Janet's 4 days a week--which I am so thankful for.

In October, Erica will start her Lil' Flipsters gymnastics class, which she is ecstatic about. I will post pictures once she gets going in this.

Well, that's it for now.....stay tuned!

Look-A-Likes??

Sometimes it is a little deja vu for me when staring at Bennett. It takes me right back to when Hayden was a baby. To me, they look so much alike, especially when he is wearing baby clothes that Hayden used to wear--which is most of the time! Here are some comparative photos of the two of them. What do you think? Do you see the resemblance in these two handsome gents?

Hayden Jonathan, 10 days old:


Bennett Alfred, 7 days old:

Hayden Jonathan, 12 days old:

Bennett Alfred, 2 days old: