Elise

This little girl...I love her so much. She's exhausting and hilarious. I find myself laughing and wanting to kill her several times a day. Our hand soap in the bathroom is currently high in the linen closet to keep her from getting to it and "cleaning" things.

Dress ups are a big favorite right now. Almost daily she comes up in some beautiful princess dress. Or her swimming suit. One day it was this headband, which reminded us of a picture of Aunt Bubba when she was little:

We had a rotating playgroup with Elise and a few of her friends during the year. We ended in March since two of us were due with babies in April and May. But Elise LOVED getting to hang out with Elliot, Matthew & Logan every week. 

Enjoying a snack with Matthew

Did I mention wanted to kill her? On this day she found Catherine's fingernail polish and painted her own nails. Not too bad, considering she's three years old! Thankfully the polish matched her shirt almost perfectly, making it hard to see where she painted her shirt instead...

Elise was lucky to have Ms. Jo as her preschool teacher for most of the year. Jo invited all her preschool kids over to her house for lunch one afternoon. She lives in a beautiful area with tons of land and woods to roam in. The kids were most enthralled with their three trampolines. 

Their family had just acquired two baby goats. Jo made sure that all the kids had the chance to feed the goats their bottles that afternoon. Obviously Elise was in heaven:

And this is why nothing in my house can really be safe from Elise:

Having a real baby brother around has been the best thing ever for my baby-loving girl. Now there are all these REAL baby accessories for her to use, either for her dolls or for herself. I'm constantly finding Elise babies in Elijah's crib, swing or car seat. Or finding the wet wipes dried out and some stuffed animals covered in diaper cream...

Here's to hoping we survive Elise + a newborn!