She's 5 and more

Look! Our friend Aimee was in town visiting her family, whom we happen to live close to...(thanks, God!)

What a treat to spend several hours with her and her kids--first at her Mom's house, and then they came to our house for the morning of S's birthday.

So I made S a panda cake for her 5th birthday.

and cupcakes for both of her pre-school classes.

Everyone got into the Hungry Hippos game from the grandparents.

Bedtime popcorn snack

I guess this was R's idea of how to help P get in some reading time...

And finally, here's an idea for you...instead of either ignoring, or handing your money to the homeless person begging by the street corner, make up some of these bags and keep one in your car at all times to hand out.

Here's the website of the folks who came up with the idea, http://h2obags.com/ The contents of the entire bag cost me $2.96, and includes a pair of black socks (presumably b/c they don't show dirt), a gospel tract, a few wet wipes, kleenex, water, food items and mints, and directions/info about our county's homeless shelter/mission.

3 MONTHS LATER

Well, it's been awhile...3 months since the last post. Yikes. What can I say, we've been busy--here's a pic of the kids in S's "new turquoise room" as she still calls it, on her new twin bed.

Shortly after we moved the phone company was pouring some concrete after a repair for the sidewalk in front of our house. R was in heaven, watching the cement truck at work!

P chillin' in her chair-which used to be R's, which used to be S's...

R's 3rd Birthdsay--cake with crushed oreo's on top for dirt, and candles in the shape of excavators and dump trucks etc.

During the month of March, S's preschool class had a dress up day every
Friday. Here she is on Pirate day.

And here she is on Wacky dress up day.

One of the kids favorite dinnertime veggies is frozen peas...R helped himself this time, and got the mother lode.

happy girl

Easter morning

S carrying an egg on a spoon

Coloring eggs

A shot from our recent trip to Ohio, to meet Baby Lacey (the kids' new cousin)

December update

So way back from October, here are the kids at S's school Halloween party

P went as a scarecrow--the same costume I made for S for her first Halloween. R was a pilot.

R enjoying a trick or treat sucker

Daddy taking some creative photos of S playing on the back patio

This is one of the most common poses for R--staring up into the sky at a plane passing overhead, often a big transport plane from nearby Travis Air Force Base.

Boo!

Our smiley girl...

which is why we did a smiley face theme for her first birthday, in November.

"I'm ONE!"

Grammy and Grampy were here for the party, from IL. Grammy made the dress P is wearing!

A few weeks later was Thanksgiving, and family from Ohio were here to visit. Our church hosts a "Turkey Bowl" football game early on Thanksgiving Day. P wasn't too thrilled to be there...

R wasn't too thrilled either, but only b/c he was too little to play football with all the big people. So sad.

But S had a ball cheering for Dad.
So, as a reference point, take a good look at S's bangs in this picture of her jumping at the bounce house place, earlier in the week. Now you see 'em...

...now you don't.

That's right, Thanksgiving Day she found the hair-cutting scissors sitting on the bathroom counter, and decided to give her bangs a trim, down to the scalp. Good thing the rest of her hair was in braids!

And finally, here is P with her latest accomplishment, climbing the stairs...hooray P!

4

Ok, catch up time--again! This picture was from way back on May 17th--she was teething, and crinkly wrappers are apparently the most satisfying thing around...she now has 2 bottom teeth!

S and her "White" Care Bear--she loves her 2 Care Bears, and people always ask her what their names are. The answer is simply "White Care Bear" and "Yellow Care Bear."

So S turned 4 in May. For her school party treat we borrowed ideas from Family Fun magazine, and made a fruit rainbow...

...and rainbow cupcakes.

She was NOT happy about the burning candles :P

She has ALWAYS loved music, and she was pretty excited to get this toy guitar...and also because she has a crush on the young worship leader at our church. Her actual comment was,"A guitar...like Mr. Josh" :)

She also received some fun "therapy" items too--a scooter board (great for building strength)

And ribbon streamers--also a good workout when you do it with music!Grammy came to visit for the birthday week--yea!!

How cute is she

Yeah, not so cute when you are trying to feed her--anything. My other kids ate their first solid food (oatmeal) at 5 months like it was the best thing ever. P hasn't wanted anything to do with any of it. I even tried mixing the oatmeal with JUICE for crying out loud. I finally gave up on the oatmeal and just started trying anything. Still no luck as you can see here--

Finally though, Paul spent about 45 minutes one night just forcing it down her gullet, and ever since then she has come around, slowly but surely. Today for example, she ate about 8 spoonfuls each of oatmeal, green beans, and pears. A vast improvement, but still shameful for a 7 month old Sheldon :) Why do I sense that this is only the beginning of our fun with this one...?
And here are a few of the kiddos Memorial Day Weekend

And last but not least, S had her last day of school last week--they had a party with a bounce house...

and P was just happy to be there...

and S with her beloved teacher, Miss Michael.