February Phone Favorites

 January was dull and boring and I was in a funk and then February hit and BOOM! along came all of the energy and we had one busy and fun month! Here is a round up of our phone favorites. 

 Black and White Sunday? Why not?! I found another matchy match dress for E at Savers and I have been anxiously waiting to get the fam jam all coordinated. It doens't happen very often anymore so when it does I get pretty darn excited! 

 Story of my life. All day. Every day!

 Sprout is SUPER into his elephant. He snuggles with him during naps and at bedtime and he's his little buddy. 

 Our tornado strikes.... ALL DAY LONG! Sprout is by far my busiest baby. He is always going, never stopping and he likes to destroy! He goes from one room to the next creating turmoil and I come behind and pick it up, then seconds later he comes back creating more turmoil. I really don't mind. It's a fun stage and to be honest I usually just leave it until Daddy comes home. 

 Socks. We love to chew on socks.

 This kid is so fly! Dressed himself and requested the sunnies. He is HI-LARIOUS and I adore him!

 Sometimes things go wrong.... what a ding bat I am. 

 Squirrel -1 Jakob - 0. Round 2! This time we sealed the hole, but trapped the squirrel in the attic. so he had to open the hole and then reseal it for a third time. Crossing our fingers that we are finally done with THAT fiasco! 

 Kid loves Lemons.

 Someone got stuck!

 Duke and I headed out for a Mama son date night to watch Lexi play basketball. Duke loves Lexi and was cheering pretty avidly from the sidelines. If she'd miss he growl and say "Come ON!" Then Lexi got hurt and had a bloody nose. Duke was very concerned and kept asking if he could go give he a hug and told me I should "Fix the blood!" It was fun to watch Lexi and even funner chilling with my boy!

 Lexi's Brother Max drew a picture of fast and testimony this month. I thought it was super sweet and had to take a picture of it.

 E lost her front tooth about 20 minutes before her party. Mama tried the dental floss approach. I made a loop and then she said she didn't want to do it any more, so I told her I had to "take it off" when I really just slipped it on. Then I tugged, and she jumped, making the string slip, so I tugged again. She said it hurt a little bit, bet it wouldn't have if I would have tugged right the first time.

 Her reaction after seeing her gap tooth for the first time.

 These two. Love them!

This had me laughing out loud! Anyone else relate? And that's a wrap to February!?! Holy MARCH?!?! This month is going to fly by! We have a trip planned and a big surprise!!! Then Oma is coming and EASTER!!! Good golly. Let the fun continue!

Fun with Grammy

Grammy surprised the kids and flew in! I can name a few little people who were over the moon excited!! 

Pa sent some beautiful flower! Thanks Pa!!!

 While Mom was here Jakob went out of town for three days, and then there was a "ice storm" even though there wasn't and school was cancelled for four days. Let me tell you if I would have been alone I would have gone bat crap crazy! So thankful for Mom!!!

 

We also called Mom Lola. We read an article a while back about this man who grew up with a slave named Lola. Poor mom when she is here is so helpful cooking and cleaning and doing laundry. Never mind helping and playing with kids and sewing and creating masterpieces out of cake. She is amazing and I couldn't love her more! 

Grammy is super fun and let E chop potatoes. E loves being Gramma's helper.

Thanks for coming Mom. Thanks for your help and for being my bestie. Thanks for bringing love and joy and laughter and thank you for your words of wisdom and teaching me to be a better mother. We sure do love you!

My Little Pony Party

It's party time and we are so excited!!

This year E wanted to do a My Little Pony/ Unicorn Party. I was thinking more along the lines of pastels and glitter but E wanted bright vibrant colors and it turned out great. This party was especially fun because E planned the whole thing. It was fun letting her make choices. She made up a Pinterest board and she would pin things and say "Mom, I like this asssspect, but not this part." When did she grow up? She was so into planning this thing and it was a lot of fun!

We had some balloons up the path to our house. If I was going to skip any part of the decorations, it would have been the helium balloons. Not enough bang for the buck.

E decorated the mantel. I love all of her ponies on display. 

 Best part of the decor hands down was the balloon arch. It was super easy to do. I blew up 8 balloons in each color and using a need and string threaded them together. Then we tied a few strings to the main string and made it into an arch and simply taped it to the wall. So easy! 

E loved it as well! Inspiration here.

The pinata. Click here for a quick tutorial.I got the idea for this here.

 Craft table set up and ready to go.

 Last minute food prep.

 Creating our own Ponies. Inspiration here.

And making pony necklaces.

My favorite photo of the whole day!

Such pretty ponies!

Pictures just don't do these rainbow jello's justice. They were so beautiful! 

 Streamer wall turned out great! I have made many a streamer wall in my time and they always give a great punch!

Time for face paint.

And magic!

E was not excited about breaking the pinata. She said it was her least favorite part. She wanted to keep it forever. 

Still swooning over this cake! For the creative process click here.

And that's a wrap! It was a great birthday and the girls had a wonderful time! Happy birthday Peanut!!! You are so loved!!!!

6 Years Old

Height: 3 ft 6 in (16th percentile)

Weight: 42 lbs (32nd percentile)

Nicknames: E, Ethie, Little Person, Peanut

• E's passion is making things, all things! She loves to paint and color. She also likes to make anything she can with whatever she can find. I love that she loves to make things. She will color pictures and hang them up on the wall, or make up paper baskets to give to me and her Daddy. If there is one thing she wants to do more than just about anything, it's make projects with Mama. This past year she sewed her very first dress. Mama helped but she did all of the stitching and most of the guiding. I was one proud Mama. 
• E is now in Kindergarten and LOVING it. E is smart, so smart. She picks things up quickly and can now read really well. She has been selected to begin a reading program at school and she is doing very well at it. She has no problem counting to 100+ and she is all about art class and P.E. Her teachers say that she is a wonderful student and a great listener. She has won both of the awards that the school gives out to it's students which is kind of a big deal. This girl will soar!

• E is the BEST big sister. She is always helping Duke and helping do things for Leif. She is protective and a friend to her brothers. She can understand Duke better than I can and they love to play together. Duke adores his big sister and gets sad when she leaves to go to school. E will gladly help feed Sprout or play with him so Mama can get things done that need to be done. She simply is the best! She is responsible and I love that I can trust her to help me when I need her to!
• She is desperately wanting a baby sister. She loves little girls and keeps saying our next baby HAS to be a girl. I suppose time will tell. (I have a feeling we are distended to only have boys from here on out.)
 

• E is still a total girly girl however she is branching out from only wearing dresses to now occasionally wearing t-shirts. It is rare however. In the winter she prefers to have her hair down but she will let me do more things to it which is fun. We still rock a "daddy tail" a lot but we are making progress and some days she will even let me put a bow in it. 
• E genuinely wants to make everyone happy. She wants to help, to be big and to be your friend.  
• E loves to cook and bake. She thinks being in the kitchen is the coolest thing ever and Especially loves when Grammy comes so they can make cookies, or rolls, or whatever Gramma is currently baking. Her favorite chore is peeling carrots and she'll get really sad if you peel them without her. She does not like chopping onions.

• E loves to play games, any and all games. She got a few new games for Christmas and we play them frequently. She is also a fierce competitor. Don't hold back... she will always go for the kill and she's good. Daddy has started to teach her how to play chess. Makes me wish that Opa was here to play chess with her. She would have loved that
• Girl can bust a move! She really like Taylor Swift and Pain by Imagine Dragons. Dance parties are super fun and E's got the moves!
• E loves to call our far away family and Skype as often as possible. She likes to talk and to chat and tell her grandparents about her day and her friends. She asks for Opa often and tells me how much she misses him. It makes my heart hurt but I'm filled with such joy knowing that she still remembers him and I pray that she will remember him always.

• The princess phase is essentially over BUT we did take her to Disneyland (I typed this up in March) and she loved it! I think that sparked the princess thing up a bit again and I'm glad, I'm still not quite ready for that to be over.
• E still loves the cold, but in smaller doses. We had more snow this year but she didn't play outside for as long.
• E very rarely takes a nap anymore. Some days we can trick her into napping by saying "You pretend to nap and once Duke is asleep you can read stories for quiet time." About ten minutes later they are usually both out for a couple of hours. The kids go to bed around 6:45p.m. and they are usually allowed to read for a bit and by 7:15 we go in and turn out the light. Some days they are already asleep by then. E is a great sleeper, goes down without an argument, but she would rather be up doing grown up things.

•  E's current best friend is Piper who lives next door. Those two are thick as thieves and I am so thankful for such incredible neighbors. She also enjoys playing with Bexley from church.
• E's favorite animals are owls. She keeps calling then hooties and I laugh just about every time. This year she had a My Little Pony party and before the party was even over she asked me if we could start planning her owl party. She loves to plan parties and she loves owls! 
• E is silly, she loves to laugh and tell jokes and thinks it's hilarious when I burp. She like to tickle and chase and have fun!
• E is still not a cuddler. She doesn't enjoy hugs or kisses so when she's willing to give them you got to soak them up!

• Favorite foods: Toasted open face bread with butter and jam, pasta with butter, all fruit, chicken nuggets, milk and cereal, pizza, shakes, Gramma's egg (yes they have to be Gramma's) and pancakes. She has tried a few new things but she is pretty fussy.
• Favorite Toys: LOL Dolls, Barbies, Callico Critters, Reading Books, Making Crafts and My Little Pony's.

This girl is my little Mama Bear. She is always helping, always taking care of her brothers and my right hand girl. I love how independent she can be and how much trust I can put in her. She is fierce and strong and puts me in my place. She stretches me and I love her for it. Happy Birthday Peanut! You are so loved!