The Party

We all know Madie loves pink and princesses and everything girly, so of course she decided to have a "Pink" party. It was really the easiest kid party ever. We had a few snacks, a cake, a water balloon fight, and general running amuck play time. And kids love to run amuck so it wasn't much work for me.

A Barbie princess was the guest of honor.

We didn't tell her she'd be eaten at the end.

Madie has found a new love in water balloons. Here she is sopping wet and ready for cake.






Madie has always loved and adored her Uncle Thomas. When she was a baby she'd always want him to play with and hold her. Something just clicked with those two. And he was nice enough to come to come hang out with loud little boogers running amuck just so he could be at Madie's birthday party.

And this is Madie

my big 3 year old!


We went out for ice cream first, but all she wanted for her third birthday was a pink princess bike.

And that's what she got. She LOVES it!

I just love the way she looks at her feet to make sure she's doing it right. Funny.


We raised Jared training wheels the same day. A lot. He got scared but tried really hard. But as you can see by Nathan's hand on Jared's neck, he needed help. A lot of help. So we put them back down.

In the mean time Madie was as happy as a clam on her new pink princess bike. She even changed into that shirt to match it.


And Nathan sat on the curb looking extra scrumptious with that cutie pie little baby in his arms. Makes me want to have ten more with him. Did I just say that? Don't let him know that.


When Madie got tired of trying to figure out the peddles she'd just walk her bike around for a bit...


...while Nathan sat on the sidelines basking in baby glow...


...and watching Jared smile big with relief that we put his training wheels back down.


All in all it was a very happy third birthday for Madie.

This is

Jared

He is incredibly cute and adorable.


Loves making goofy faces.



And is very interested in watching his baby sister trying to drink a can of Coke.

Lets talk about

Abby


She is incredibly cute and adorable...and has a fascination with soda cans.


They're shiny.


They're smooth.


They make funny noises.

And it's the only "big people food" she has ever acted like she wants to taste.

Outside Fun

The weather has been nice so we've been spending time outside. Our front yard isn't in yet, so the kids are thrilled to have a ginormous sandbox! Of course Abby can't dig around out there yet, so she hung out with her daddy.

Look, he's about to sneeze.



And he's sneezing...


All better.

And look, she's growing hair! It's starting to come in thicker. The little bald spot in the back is even filling in. Both Madie and Jared didn't grow much hair at all until they were two. I even pierced Madie's ears just before she was two so people (old ladies) would stop mistaking her for a boy. I'm so excited it's filling in now!

We chopped down a tree in the front yard and Jared said he'd dig out the trunk with his spade for us. He's a determined little guy.

We let him try for a few days, then had a guy grind it out with an awesome stump grinder. Watching was fun family entertainment.

This pic is so Madie. Messy hair. Pajamas in the daytime. Sassy look.


And don't all you mommies out there think your husband is so much cuter when he's taking care of your baby. Seriously. It's weird. But so true.




She spontaneously started posing for me by putting her arms up, then to the side, then up... funny.

Graduation Day

Jared graduated from preschool. On his last day they walked down to the park and the moms met them there. And did I take a single picture of my graduate? No, no I did not. But I did take a picture of some cute little baby cousins.

This one is mine.


This one is my cousin Kim's. She's six days younger than my little chubby monkey.

And she has gorgeous big blue eyes!

Grandpa

We live pretty close to my parents, like just over a mile close, so my dad stops by pretty often to see the kids. And they love it! Can you tell?


Well, they usually love it. Madie was a grouch this day, so no pictures of her. Abby was loving the attention though.

My dad loves kids and it's so nice having him over to entertain my little rug rats.

Jared's Birthday, the evening

Don't they totally look like they just love each other to death? It's a deceptive picture. They fight all the time...in between short moments of loving each other to death. As I type Jared is sitting on top of Madie saying, "I hate you...no I love you!". Then she cries, then laughs, then cries again.

Guess what that folded blanket he is holding is.

It's his birthday present. No, not the blanket. I forgot to wrap it (yes, just like my mom) so I wrapped it in a blanket, just like Jared does every other day when he gives me "presents".

It's his first video game. He hasn't had a huge interest in gaming yet, so we got a kiddish one off the clearance rack to see how it went. We wanted to get Mario Kart, but the game seems to be hiding from us. We saved his skate board for his party that weekend, but I don't have any pictures of that because I'm a dork and I forgot to put my memory card back in my camera. The deceptive thing still takes the picture and previews it for you, but when you go back to look again...they're gone! (sniffle, sniffle) He LOVED the skate board.

And then Madie did a silly little dance that made Nathan wonder.

Jared's Birthday, the morning

Jared turned 5! I still can't believe it. And on his fifth birthday there was a mother's day luncheon at his preschool. They set a cute little spot on a table in the backyard for all the moms.


The kids made the frame and painted the flower pot. And the place mat is a list of questions the teachers asked the kids about their moms. The answers can be hilarious!

So cute and so proud of his work. And so five years old.


And they sang us super cute little songs.

And the food was good ta-boot. I'm going to miss that school.

On this day (pretend it's May 6th) I was preparing for my baby boy to turn FIVE!

Five years old people! How on earth did he get this old this fast?!?! He's tall and lean and has no baby chubs to speak of. And speaking of speaking he practically talks like an adult. His vocabulary surprises me and the questions he asks are crazy! He needs to know how everything works. A quick one sentence explanation will not satisfy his "why".

But I digress...

On this day I was making cake pops for him to brings as a birthday treat to his fabulous preschool. Bakerella taught me.

Yes, I like to pretend fabulous people I admire are actually here teaching me their fabulousness, even though they're only on my computer and t.v..

So they're actually suppose to look like little cupcakes. They don't. I haven't learned that level of fabulousness yet...but I still think they were pretty cute.



See, I didn't understand the whole candy melt thing yet. I melted them in my microwave, but I think they got a little too hot and started to reclumpify. Yes, that's a real word. To me. Then I used the double broiler method and things started to move along.



All done and ready for preschool the next day.


Yum!