Birthday Celebration

What a birthday weekend it was!  We were not planning on having her "family birthday party" until next weekend due to a few family members that could not be here this weekend, so Anne Marie's birthday was just going to be the 3 of us.  I, for one, was actually kind of excited about it.  I thought it would be fun just the three of us to spend all day celebrating together!!  We only bought her a couple little gifts in anticipation of taking her a few special places on her special day.  Sometimes the memories & "fun" are better than big gifts!!  So - we started our celebration Saturday night....

We got a special movie from Netf*ix for her.  She opted for sun-flower seeds instead of popcorn.  (This would be her daddy's fault!  It's quite comical sitting watching the two of them spit the shells into a jar!)



Birthday morning!!  She came running into our room (before I could get up to take the annual birthday-wake-up-picture) so Daddy went and got the camera & took a picture of the two of us.

The night before we wrapped her two gifts & made a big "Happy Birthday" sign and hung it by her chair at the kitchen table.  She woke up to her sign, balloon, and gifts.  (She got a Tag leapfrog book & a book bag of art supplies.  She's starting to read & we found this "tag" system on clearance after Christmas and thought it would be a perfect gift for her!  She was very excited about it!)

But not quite as excited as her 1st surprise.... we took her to Starbucks for breakfast.  Her FAVORITE place to eat!  She had her "usual" milk & an apple/bran muffin.

Her 2nd surprise was a trip to the salon.  Our local salon has a great deal on little kid manicures - so I thought her and I both would get one -- she picked out the most beautiful shade of "blue-sparkle" for hers...WOW!  They were bright! Mine? Simple light pink.

Her next surprise stop was a local paint-your-own-pottery place in a nearby town. She LOVES this place.  We have made many-a-gift here for Grandparents.   They have cute little things for kids to paint and you can pick them up all shiny & done in 1 week.  So, we gave her a few choices & she picked a crown that you hang with a ribbon. She decided to paint it blue/purple/pink w/ a big mint-green-"A" right in the middle.  She wants to hang it on her bedroom door.



Then, to our surprise the Children's Museum right across the street was open that day (normally they are closed on that day) and it was FREE!!!  The local college science-club paid for the place to be open for 4 hours that day & it was Free to the public!  WhooHooo!! Bonus special trip!  (She just thought we were GREAT for letting her go.... little did she know it was NOT in the normal plan!!)  She loves this place... lots of things to do - art, play kitchen, play farm (even milking a "cow" -- it makes her laugh!), an ambulance "ride" (equipped with working lights & everything!!), a puppet show & much more!  Gotta love a place that can keep a kid entertained for over 2 hours!!!

Then it was our traditional trip to RT's!!  We started with her 1st birthday because it was a brand-new restaurant in town & we wanted to go out that night.  (We even took our own food for her, but just thought it would be fun since it would be the 1st dinner-out ever since we brought her home back in 2007)  It's been a tradition every year since.  She got grilled cheese & broccoli.  They treated her to a birthday cupcake after.  What a fun-fun-fun day it was!!  We had just as much fun as she did!!

The Big #5

5........Oh the big "#5".......

5 Things I love about this girl.......

1. She is soooo funny.  Every day she tells (tries to) me a knock-knock joke & laughs & laughs!

2. She loves her family.  She tells us daily - multiple times - how much she loves us and her favorite quote is "I love you all the way to China & back" - oh be still my heart!!

3. She's smart.  She begs us every day to read with her (to her & to let her read to us) - she loves books, words, and always says "Are you proud of me, I just read that word?!" (Hence the leapfrog Tagbook we got her for her b-day - more on that later)

4. She wants to learn so much about God - she always asks if we can go to Church (even on days we don't have Church) - she's always singing songs in the back seat of the van that she's learned at Sunday School and always brings me her Bible wanting to read stories about Moses (this is her favorite person in the Bible I think!)

5. She wants more baby sisters/brothers -- Me too baby girl, me too!!

God amazes me every year. (Every day for that matter) Every year he shows me something about this child that I love more & more. He makes my heart bigger and bigger to hold all this new love, and I am still amazed daily how he brought our family together.  This beautiful girl has been with our family a little over 4 years now and I can't remember our life without her!! 

Happy 5th birthday my girl! 

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!!

Whew!!  We're finally in March's posts!  Well, the 1st week of March was a rough start for Anne Marie.  She had a bit of a cold - a slight fever & a NASTY cough!  We finally ended up @ the Dr. getting cough syrup & a few steriods to get us through the breathing troubles she was having.  So, she had to miss a few days of pre-school.  Well, she was not happy when she missed the Wednesday they were to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday.  Each year they celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday @ pre-school by having different grandparents come in during reading time to read to the kids, they read a ton of fun Dr. Seuss's books and they usually make a Cat in the Hat hat & other crafts.  Well, feeling bad for her I had a little something planned for her.  I was going to make green eggs for breakfast, but since she wasn't feeling good she asked for oatmeal, and I did that instead...but we did get the crafts done & the special on-line games.  (Thank you PBS!)

 I broke out the white & red construction paper & we made Cat-in-the-Hat hats!  (not the best construction, but still fun none-the-less.  She DID however point out that all the layers didn't match up quite right!!)

Then we found out that PbsKids had a few special things on their website today in honor of Dr. Seuss, so we played a few games and watched a couple cartoons.

Not much, but when you're sick it's about as much as she could handle.  At least she won't feel like she missed out on all the fun!!

February Update #8

Are you tired of us yet????  Well, this is the last post in February!!  Whew!  And, it's all about me!  Boohisss!  I know, not even a picture of Anne Marie in this post!  Who wants a post w/out her?   But I just wanted to show you how special my friends are.  My birthday is at the end of February and my friends worked it out with my husband that the Friday of my birthday they could come and pick me up to take me out to dinner & a "treat".  Well, as they know, I love (LOVE) sushi!  So we went to our local sushi bar -- and my ever-so-talented friend Heather (how many times have I mentioned her on my blog?  That would be a fun fact to research) made me a special cake to add to my very special night!!

 

A cake of "sushi".  Isn't this the cutest thing you've ever seen?  It was Chai-Spiced cake (knowing that I LOVE chai tea) with lemon-honey icing (knowing that I HATE HATE HATE regular icing -- she made a special light, low-sugar icing) that I LOVED LOVED LOVED!!  It's now my favorite cake she makes!

Thanks to all my special friends that made my day very special, and my wonderful husband and daughter that allowed me to spend some birthday time with my girlfriends!!

February Update #7

Well, again we have another "1st" for our girl this month.   She got to see her very 1st movie in a movie-theatre this month!!  It wasn't a movie that she had been asking to see, however we did just get a brand-new movie theatre in town that she has been watching since the 1st brick was layed.  Every time we would drive by it she would yell from the back seat "mommy --- look, look, it's the new theatre!"  "When will they get movies for kids?"  Over and over we would tell her that one day we would take her.  Well, there was a Friday evening with NOTHING to do in our house (which is rare right now)  I googled the shows and found a "kid movie" that was showing at 5pm and it was still considered "cheap-ticket-price".  So Mike grabbed us up & we went to a movie!  She was SOOOOOOO excited!!  She didn't want to leave -- she wanted to make them show us another one!  Well, we did leave, but had to promise we'd try to find another movie this summer to take her to.

 Ready to head into the new theatre!

This was the "kid movie" they were showing.  She liked it...but I don't know that it truly would matter -- it was the whole experience that made her happy!  Popcorn, drink and all!!

February Update #6

One Friday after a LONG week my sister and I decided to take the girls (don't think that it had anything to do with us!!) to get their nails done.  And while they did, we thought -- well, why not get a pedicure while they got their nails painted?  Ahhhhhhhh!  I can't tell you how nice that was!  I'm not ready for summer!  And the girls?  They had a BLAST!  They were treated like little princesses!  They got their nails painted & feat soaked & got to sit in massaging chairs & they even put pretty colored tablets in their bubbling water to change colors while their feet soaked!  I WE need to do this more often!!

Hot pink!!!  What else???????

February Update #5

Valentines Day snuck up on us this year.  So, I pulled out an "old favorite".  We made the same chocolate/sprinkle covered marshmallows that we did last year for our school-friend treats.  I also asked my bakery-owner-friend Heather if she happened to have any extra sugar-cookie-dough at the baker I could buy from her so I could just "roll-cut-decorate" the cookies this year.  YEAH!  She did!  So, Anne Marie's teachers, Daddy & Grandma & Grandpa all got special decorated cookies!

Anne Marie ready to dip & decorate our marshmallows on a stick! 



This is such a nice thing to make because other than heating up the chocolate & laying them out to dry,

Anne Marie can do most of the decorating!!

Then, it was time to roll out the cookie dough!  Soooooo much easier when the dough is already done!



Decorate, Bake & done!! :)   (Thanks Heather!!!)

Should I even admit this?  You'll think I'm a bad mom -- but I'm gonna tell ya anyway... I let Anne Marie have a "special breakfast" on Valentines morning before school.  A valentines cookie -- AND raspberries -- you MUST count the raspberries because the cancel out the cookie right?!?!?  We were up so late making cookies that she didn't even get to try one the night before - I felt bad - so I let her have one for breakfast! There, I said it ...... now judge me if you must!

Ready to take her treats to her school friends & teachers.  Ok -- and I must say --- how cute was this little valentines outfit?  It was stuff already in her closet, but I think she was just too cute not to mention it!

February Update #4

One thing I love about Anne Marie's preschool is they are always very open to learning new things & letting parents get involved with the classes.  Anne Marie's teachers let Anne Marie share a little about Chinese New Year during class time this February.  We made little red envelopes filled with Chinese stickers (lanterns, dragons, Chinese fans & such), chocolate Chinese coins & chop sticks.  Then we had our VERY talented bakery-owner Heather make us Chinese New Year Cookies  for the year of the rabbit.  Then, I stayed in class for a bit and read them a book all about Chinese New Year.  Anne Marie also wanted to wear one of her outfits too. (which has gotten too small - but it's one of our last ones...boohoo!)   She just loves sharing about her Chinese history!

Anne Marie with her cookies and red-envelope gifts!

Our "Year-of-the-Rabbit" cookies.  Too cute, right?



The book we read to the class.

February Update #3

STOP TIME....PLEASE!!!!

This month we hit a HUGE milestone (at least in my head!).  Anne Marie had her 1st sleep-over -- away from home -- with a friend.  Not family, not grandparents, not with us in the other room!  With her BFF Mattie - at Mattie's house!  I know, I know, big deal!  But for some reason it was a big deal to me!  I shed a tear as I dropped her off at Mattie's house & drove away.  There is something different about her sleep over at a friends house overnight.  Mattie has stayed here, and she's stayed at Mike's parents once and my moms twice, but this was different.  This was more "grown-up"!

All ready to go w/ backpack full!

But you can't forget the comforts of home -- her pillow-pet (her unicorn named "rainbow"!)