The birthday PRESENTS

The birthday festivities began after Dustin came home from school and Amy woke up from her "later than usual" nap. So she still looks a little sleepy here, but she was definitely happy! We called my mom on ichat so she could watch Amy open up her presents:
This was the box my parents sent to Amy, she was very excited about this big box just for her:

Amy got 3 dollars in her birthday card. She didn't think much of them really. But the next day when Amy wanted to "go somewhere fun," I told her we didn't have any money and she said in response and very matter-of-factly, "I have 3 dollars!"

Grandma made her a quillo (blanket that folds into a pillow). It had safari animals on it, particularly a hippo and elephant, as Amy's beloved bedtime pals are her hippo and elephant.

Grandparents also sent Amy a new outfit, which she immediately put on which was fine with me because she was still wearing the dress Sarah gave her the day before:

Her next gifts are from Dustin, me, and Adelynne. This one is the 3 musketeer barbie that Amy wanted:

She unwrapped this shoe box (which has another outfit inside), and Amy happily said, "A box!" like that was her actual gift:

And this is a Princess and the Frog umbrella:

A few weeks ago Adelynne colored and cut out this heart for Amy and then wrapped it up with her own homemade paper. Then she set it aside and waited for the day Amy could open it:

Sister hugs! Amy adores her big sister:

So Amy's birthday gifts from Dustin and I might seem a little random (the umbrella and barbie), but I want to mention that for months now, when we have asked Amy what she wanted for her birthday she has ALWAYS replied, "musketeer barbie and princess and frog umbrella." She has never wavered in that answer, or ever added to it. Adelynne got a musketeer barbie for Christmas, so I guess Amy has been a little envious, but we are not sure why she wanted that umbrella. She already has an Ariel umbrella that is kind of broken, but we're not sure where she got the idea for the Princess and the Frog umbrella. But Dustin and I decided to get her what she wanted since it really was a fairly simple request. We ended up ordering both of them on-line since we could not find them in the stores, but that really wasn't a problem either.

The CAKE

So I asked Amy a while ago what kind of cake she would like for her birthday thinking I would get a reply like, "Chocolate," or maybe "Pink." But instead she said, "Ariel cake!" So I searched for some options and I decided to ask my friend Teandra to help me out. Teandra likes to make cakes and so she picked one out for us to imitate ours after. We got a late start on decorating the cake and we were up until 2:15am before we decided we were done. I had a great time with Teandra, and working with the fondant. But I don't know if I'll ever do it again! I don't want to be up that late, especially the day before my child's birthday! But Amy loved her cake, and couldn't wait to eat it, so it was worth it!
Wonderful, wonderful Teandra-- couldn't have done this cake without her! (I wouldn't have done this cake without her)!

The chef's: (ignore my sleepy eyes)

And me:

Birthday beginnings

Sarah and Dylan left town on Wednesday so they brought over birthday gifts for Amy before leaving. She was a very grateful recipient and gave great hugs as thanks. Amy LOVES the Iddings family and thinks she can go to their house anytime she wants. They gave her a cute, cute dress and a Rapunzel Barbie doll.
Loving the dress:

I love that I captured this adorable smile on Elliot's face!

With the dress already on and showing off her new barbie:

Building a nest

Adelynne was watching "Sid the Science Kid" on Tuesday morning which was about animals and the different homes they live in. The science project on the show was the children making a birds nest out of sticks, leaves, glue, and paper. Adelynne asked me if we could build a nest and I said okay but not right then because it wasn't even 9am yet, and I was not ready to go outside. So in the meantime, Adelynne made an instructions booklet of how to make a nest. Each page had a picture of the supplies we needed. Page 1: a picture of a piece of paper. Page 2: a picture of sticks and leaves. Page 3: A picture of glue on the sticks and leaves. I should have gotten a picture of the booklet, sorry. But I did get pictures of the nest making.





And one of Amy...

Proof that she can ride

So here are so pictures of Adelynne actually riding her bike. These were taken on April 20th, six days after she rode by herself. She can now start by herself and has ridden her bike to her preschool and back on two different days. She still needs to work on using her breaks to completely stop herself, she tends to use them to slow her down a bit and then puts her feet down, or she'll just go until the wall stops her. But she's pretty much a pro at it now!

Bug bowl aftermath

Dustin took the girls to Purdue's annual Spring Fest this year. Each year, Spring Fest hosts their annual bug bowl. They have activities which include crafts and face painting and the bug petting zoo. I was out of town, but they all seemed to enjoy the day anyway. Dustin didn't take any pictures until they got home, so this is what we all get.

Because Amy is just cute

Well, she just is! And so is Adelynne! I guess this day I just took a lot of pictures of Amy.

One of Amy's favorite activities: collecting sticks and sorting them. Its even better that her shoes are on the wrong feet.

Sisters! Amy is stick collecting and Adelynne is looking for lady bugs to put in the egg carton.

On a drive, I love that smile!

We went to the zoo.... in March

So back in March we took another trip to the zoo, and this time our friends Nate, Doreen, Aubree, and Sabrina came along. It was a blast, one of our best zoo trips! Adelynne and Amy loved sharing the day with their good friends, and even though it was a little cold that day, the animals were very active and a lot of fun to see.

This one was a dog shark in the shark petting exhibit. We have been several times to this exhibit and never seen a shark behave in this way, it was kind of scary. You can see from the picture that he isn't out of the water very far, but he would pop up on his tail and swim sideways along the edge of the pool to stare at us. It was neat to see!

The girls staring in admiration at something

Sylvia, (the little girl I watch during the week), came along with us to the zoo. At the shark pool she just wanted to jump in and swim with the sharks.

The polar bear was awake! He was even "talking" to us and pacing back and forth. (I think it may have been feeding time).

We told the girls that the bear wanted to eat them for lunch! They laughed.

We saw lots more of course, but these were all the pictures I took. The rhinos were also fun to see as they were running around and charging each other with their noses. We saw the elephants being taken on a walk around the zoo, and then later take a big elephant dump in its enclosure (the girls were very entertained by that)! It seemed that all of the animals liked the coolness in the air, except the baboons. They were huddled together in the alcove of the rocks looking miserable.

Flip Flops

This was a hat Adelynne made that she wanted me to take a picture of, she was very proud of her work. And no, that is not a scribble on the top, those are the clouds:


And these were some flip flops that my friend Teandra decorated for Adelynne. I did the other pair on Amy's feet (see below picture). I went over to my friend Joni's house and the three of us crafted for hours, it was a fun evening that I hope we can repeat again!

Holidays

Here's some photos from the last three holidays, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and Easter. I'm just trying to do a quick catch up from all the photos and events that have happened:

This was a Valentine's Party we had at Dylan's house. He sure is lucky to have all these girl friends!

Here is Amy enjoying a chocolate after her nap on Sunday:

Adelynne helped me make all of these chocolates, it was lots of fun to do with her.

St. Patrick's Day:

The girls and I decorated these Easter eggs while Dustin was at the Priesthood Session of General Conference. They were a lot of fun to color and put together. Sadly, this is the only picture I took at all on Easter weekend.

She's growing up!

On Sunday Adelynne announced to Dustin and I that she wanted to ride a bike with a front wheel and a back wheel. I asked her if she meant that she wanted to take off her training wheels and she said yes. I told her it would be hard to learn, but she said without hesitation that she would practice. So, Dustin took off the training wheels Sunday night while I was gone to choir practice, and Adelynne had her first lesson. On Monday, I helped Adelynne ride her bike to preschool, which is around the corner from us. That was tough! I could tell she still needed some work on the balancing part. Our neighbor Christy even helped Adelynne practice a little after she got home from school. And then she practiced some more with Dustin too. Yesterday, she didn't practice at all. And most of the day today was gone when I asked Dustin to practice with her before it was bedtime since she didn't do anything yesterday. Dustin got Adelynne on her bike right away and within minutes he was hollering at me to watch. And Adelynne did it! She rode quite a distance without any help several times. When I saw her face she was just smiling so much and laughing with pride. It just made my heart leap to see her learn such a "big girl" thing. Its one of those milestones that your child accomplishes and you know they are growing up. I am so happy and proud of Adelynne for wanting to learn and then doing it. I thought it would take her one or two weeks before she got the hang of riding without the training wheels. When she is determined she can accomplish it.

Let the gardening begin

Today I went and payed for our rented garden plot and tonight "as a family" we went and began the process of preparing our plot for gardening. Before leaving the apartment, that all to frequently asked question was asked, "Does anyone need to go to the bathroom before we go?" A chorus of "No" was the reply. So we all headed out with Dustin pulling the wagon full of our little gardeners. We got out to our plot and looked it over and within minutes Amy is doing a desperate potty dance accompanied by threatening screams of "I have to go potty!" But there was no time to even let her squat down on the grass. Aaah, crisis number 1. Then about 10 or 15 minutes go by and Adelynne cries out, "I have to go potty!" Ugh! She throws a tantrum because she doesn't want to go home to go potty. She would rather squat in the grass and pee. But no, I won't hear of it because she is 4 and 1/2 years old and can get home to pee! So Dustin took her home and solved that crisis, #2, and he also brought back clean underwear for Amy. So now, both girls are taken care of and Dustin and I really begin the fence putting up, and the soil raking. The girls run off to the nearby playground and within a few minutes Amy is screaming at the top of her lungs for mommy. I can see her in plain view, just standing on the bottom rung of the ladder. So I head over wondering what the problem is, and when I arrive I notice that she has peed down her legs, again! I thought she had taken care of that on the first crisis! Double Ugh. I marched her over to the grass next to our plot and sat her down, then I went looking for her missing shoes (because she ALWAYS takes them off). I found them and returned them to her and then made her wait there, yes, in her wet panties, until we were done with SOMETHING. As we were heading home Dustin said, "Well, at least it can only be better the next time." I sure hope so!