Emeline's 5th Birthday

As most 4 and 5 year olds, Emeline has been talking about her birthday for months.  She has been wanting to have a princess birthday, a Brave birthday, a Cinderella birthday, a biking birthday, and there are probably other ideas I've since forgotten.  BUT the theme that stood out to me, was that she was constantly talking about who she wanted to dress up as for her birthday, so I asked her if she'd like to have a party where she can play dress up with some of her friends.  She thought that sounded fun, but then she also said that she wanted to have an art festival.  I figured we could work in some arts and crafts into a birthday party, so then I asked her what colors we should decorate with, and right away she said, "Rainbow!!".  So off we went, planning her rainbow, dress up, art party.  

We also decided to try our hands at a drop off style, kids party.  I asked Emeline to pick 5 friends, who were also almost 5, to invite to keep it on the small side.  She kept changing the 5 friends, and knowing what a social butterfly she is, we let her invite a few more, but still tried to keep it a little small so we could manage all the kids.  All in all it was a great morning!  The kids seemed to have a lot of fun!  Here are some pictures of our celebration. 

Rainbows galore!  The rainbow fruit water turned out great, although oddly the kids kept asking for plain water.  And Wes worked his usual magic with the streamers.

We set up all our dress up clothes in the living room, and let the kids go to town.

We hired our friend/neighbor/babysitter to do some face painting.  The kids loved it!  She's a great artist too.

For the art portion of the party, the kids got to decorate crowns, super hero masks, and do some coloring.

After art was done, we served the kids some lunch.  Homemade mac n cheese (too bad kids never actually like this), hot dogs, rainbow fruit skewers, and veggies and hummus.

After lunch it was time for cupcakes!  We sang to Emeline, then the kids got to decorate their own cupcakes.  I thought for sure kids would just dive in and eat the cupcakes, but this was the most quiet part of the party.  They were all so focused on decorating their cupcakes.  It was a hit!

And surprise!  They were piñata cupcakes!

Once the cupcakes were consumed, there wasn't much time left before parents arrived, so the kids just ran around more and tried on a few more costumes.

 Our little 5 year old had a great time.  Happy Birthday Emeline!

Preschool birthday

At preschool, the kids get to celebrate their birthdays by bringing a healthy snack and sharing a poster they made about themselves.  It's been cool to watch how much more of the poster Emeline does herself.  The first year we celebrated her birthday at preschool she turned 3.  I basically made the poster with her helping me assemble it.  Last year, she turned 4, and she cut out her name and pasted it on, and pasted the pictures on.  This year, she wrote her name (I coached her to try to write it big so everyone could see :) ), and she put all the pictures and stickers on by herself.

Here are a couple of photos of her at school and a video of her poster presentation.

Everyone sings to her...


Presenting her poster...

For Grandma Betty

Wes' grandma Betty passed away.  There is no easy way to say that.  She lived a long and full life, but it is still so sad to know that she has left us.  Wes got to go up to Oregon to see her a few days before she passed, and we are grateful he did. He got to interact with her while she was still able to do so. The girls and I were very sad not to be able to make the trip up to visit with her and to say goodbye.  So instead I took lots of pictures of the girls and a couple videos for her.  

Below are some of the pictures I sent of Adele wearing this dress that Grandma Betty bought her for Christmas.  At Christmas, when we were up in Oregon visiting, lots of family was gathering for Christmas Eve dinner.  Amidst the chaos, Grandma Betty pulled me aside and gave me this present for Adele.  She opened it right there and showed me this adorable little dress and jacket set.  She explained how when she was shopping for a gift, she saw the outfit, and was just struck by it and how cute it was, she just had to get it for Adele.  And she knew the kind of crazy gift opening that was about to ensue, so she wanted to make sure I got the gift and heard the back story.  That's just a tiny picture of Grandma Betty's character.  She could also be quite the sassy lady, but she was very intentional and thoughtful.  When she bought presents, she really thought them through, maybe more than necessary, but to me that showed her love.  She didn't have all the money in the world to buy fancy gifts, but she was very thoughtful about what she did buy.

I knew Grandma Betty couldn't wait to see Adele in this little dress, but I never had the chance to put her in it.  So when she was sick, and I couldn't be there to visit and let her see the girls, I knew exactly what I had to do...get Adele in that dress for some photos.  :)  They aren't the best photos in the world, Adele was all over the place.  But I took them and sent them to Wes to show Grandma.  I hope that small gesture let her know how much I appreciated her thoughtfulness and attention to detail.

Now that you've had enough of Adele, I'll leave you with my favorite picture of Grandma Betty.  It was taken that Christmas in Oregon that she gave Adele the dress.

We love you Grandma Betty.  We miss you beyond words.

Best gift ever

My mom's 3 year anniversary of passing fell on March 17.  We started a tradition of going to the beach on this anniversary, to take some family time and to give me some time to reflect.  This year, the day we had planned to do our beach trip, Wes was in Oregon to visit his grandma before she passed.  I was bummed to miss our beach trip, but of course so glad Wes could make this trip.  But I also knew given Emeline's upcoming birthday, I wouldn't be able to reschedule our beach trip for a while.

I had shared this in passing with my dear friend Rachel.  Not only did she help me by watching the kids so I could make a doctors appointment that Wes was supposed to watch the kids for, but she and her husband insisted on taking all three girls for the morning on a Saturday so that I could drive to the beach to have my reflective time.  This gesture felt too huge to accept, but she insisted.  It was a VERY quick trip.  I think I was only in my little contemplative spot for about 15-30 min before I had to drive back.  But I loved the drive there and back alone, and just the change of scenery did wonders for me.

It was truly one of the best gifts I'd ever received.  Thank you Rachel!

Two and three quarters

Well Kate hit two and a half back in December, and though I remembered to post pictures of her half birthday cake, I failed to remember to write up a little bit about what she is like these days.  I feel like Kate is pretty easy going and could easily get lost in the shuffle of things, but I really don't want her to, so she's getting a two and three quarters post (just a little bit early).

So Kate at 2 at 2.5-2.75, how do I describe her?  She is so KATE.  She is still petite looking, just having graduated into size 3, but lots of the size 3 pants fall off her.  Her hair is getting quite long because she refuses to get it cut, even though loves the idea of a hair cut in theory :).  She has so much creativity in her.  It's coming out in her art projects, her very eclectic fashion sense, and in the little games she plays.  She seems like she is constantly in her own world, playing little games in her mind.  You can especially notice this when we're driving and you hear her games out loud.  They are hard to follow, but they are so KATE.

Kate has been potty training for a few months now, and I'd like to say she's mostly trained, except for the fact that her version of saying she has to potty is to desperately ask for a hug.  Mommy and daddy know what it means, but it can be confusing to other people.  But she's getting there!

Kate has always been a difficult sleeper, but until recently was taking beautiful 2 hour afternoon naps.  Now we seem to have fallen into disarray with sleep all together.  She refuses to nap, and is in the difficult process of learning to take a "quiet time".  Going to be has been quite difficult too, and I think she'd just prefer to have one of us in bed with her all night long, so sleep has been tough to say the least.  But we love our sweet Katie Sue.

She's been working on learning her letters and she's really doing well at picking up Spanish.  She knows a lot of Spanish words, and is often saying words I didn't know she knew.  She is doing great at her preschool and will likely be moving up from the 2s class into the Pre-K classroom pretty soon. She talks a lot and is quite articulate, though she still has her cute way of saying "r" and "l' as "w".  She likes the "wittle" things.

Kate is still rocking it on her scooter and learning to ride a balance bike.  She's looks like quite the monkey when she climbs and swings from things at the park, and I'm excited to see how she does at a gymnastics camp this summer.

Kate is probably our most eclectic dresser right now, so I'll leave you with a few fun photos of some of her favorite outfits.

Fifteen months

Well Adele has hit 15 months and seems to be now in full on toddler mode.  Her walking has really taken off and she is everywhere.  I really feel like we have 3 kids now, not just 2 kids and a baby.  Adele is off and on her own at the park now and definitely one more kiddo to keep an eye on.  She hasn't quite started running, but she can walk pretty fast, and is very stubborn about where she wants to go.  If she heads towards something unsafe, but of course interesting to her, and I pick her up to redirect her, she just wiggles to get down and goes right on back.  She's got a purpose and things to do!  She tries to ride scooters and trikes and wants to be just like her big sisters.  She loves to play inside play cars and houses and be one of the pack.

Adele has also gotten herself a toddler attitude.  Not exactly full blown tantrums yet, but when she doesn't get what she wants, she gets quite upset about it, and is not distracted easily.  She is quite chatty with her babbling, but we haven't heard too many words yet.  A couple months ago she repeated the word "hot" after me telling her a pan was hot.  She also can identify and say "toes", but other than that she says lots of "dat doo" and "da Da"! with emphatic pointing.  She's good at getting what she wants with pointing and "eh eh"s, but not too many words yet.  She will put her hands in the air for "all done" in sign language, but that's the only sign we've been consistent with showing her.

She is already into accessorizing and loves to wear hats.  I think her obsession with shoes will be starting soon too.  She loves to play in the play kitchen and has started carrying purses around like her sisters.  She definitely loves to explore, dumping things out of everywhere and putting things in buckets.

Adele is still an amazing sleeper.  She is still taking two naps a day on most days, and will easily sleep all night.  Others keep us up and night these days, so we are grateful for her consistency.  She still nurses 2-3 times a day, and I'm grateful for those times to slow down and cuddle with her.  She and Kate almost weigh the same, or so it seems, and Adele is wearing 18 month clothes.  Although, I don't think it will be long before we hit 24 months or 2T.

Even though Adele has developed a little stubborn toddlerness, she is still as sweet as can be.  She loves to give kisses and will make little kissing noises at you while leaning in for a kiss.  She's also started to grab your face to pull you in for a wet one and give big hugs.  We love her big smiles and glowing face.  And as all our girls have been, she's becoming a papa's girl.  If Papa is home, she needs to get in some good Papa time.

Here are some sweet pictures of her from Emeline's birthday party.