Vivien Leigh turns FIVE!

It happened!  Even though we told her that we liked her just the way she was a four year old, she went and turned FIVE!  She told us, "God made me to grow!"

Her Sunday birthday started out with the traditional birthday pancake.  This is likely the last year birthday pancakes are served to a footie-pj clad girl! 😩

After church, we had pizza for lunch (her request) and then she got all dressed up in her new Elsa dress from GG and KK. 

This was Viv's year to have a party and she has been planning it since her 3-year-old party.  The fact that we had moved away from all of her friends one month before didn't seem to diminish her hopes.  When we asked her what Oklahoma friends she would want to invite, she quickly named all the kids in our church home group.  I invited the three families with kids ages 2 months-13 years and they all showed up for her Frozen party.

We are lasagna and then played several Minute to Win It Frozen games that Dennis and I found or invented.  

So thankful for this girl who makes us laugh, gives the best snuggles, and teaches us to think of others.  And thankful for new friends that came to celebrate with us!

Summer-Salts

When I was attempting to exercise the other morning, Amity wanted to join in. I pulled out my two mats and she followed along some of the instructions on the DVD for a little while. Then, she discovered that the mat was a really soft place to practice her "rolls" or somersaults. This morning, after breakfast, we were enjoying the time to play without having to rush anywhere until 11:00 for swim lessons. I pulled out the mats and both girls had so much fun rolling around. Now I need to do a little research to figure out the next thing to teach them. It's definitely not The Little Gym but I don't think they care! :)

Chop, Chop!

Vivien got her first haircut the night of Amity's birthday. We went to Cool Cuts and got our favorite stylist Miss Dana. V took it all in stride and sat perfectly still with a very serious face. Now instead of the lovely mullet, she is sporting a precious little bob!

Love this little silhouette and I LOVE this little girl!

Big Steps

I have definitely arrived at the point of wanting little Miss V to figure out the walking thing. I have lent my sling to a friend with a newborn and we keep finding ourselves in situations where it would really be helpful if Vivien could stand on her own two feet. For example, yesterday, at Target after church, Amity had to make a potty stop. I left the cart outside the restroom (per store policy) and carried V in. After I helped Amity get ready to go potty with one hand, I reminded her to hold her dress up so it wouldn't get wet. V and I waited outside the stall until A finished. We soon discovered that her lovely dress was quite wet so we left the store without purchasing anything and Amity walked out in just her bloomers and undershirt! The little V-girl just hasn't seemed to want to even try to walk. She has been so busy teething and recovering from an ear infection and poison ivy on her face so I really can't blame her. We did discover yesterday that she does like to do the junior high slow dance with her big sister and take a few teeny-tiny steps. Her big sister, a teacher-in-training, loves this and all day has been asking me to "stand Vivien up so we can walk". 

All of this tutoring from big sister must have done something because tonight, as we played on the floor of the girls' room before bedtime and talked to Lolly (Happy birthday, Lolly!), Vivien just stood up and took a few steps. I couldn't believe it! The funniest part is how she cracks up at herself and makes herself fall over almost as soon as she gets going. Here is a video of some of V's first steps. The sound on our camera doesn't work anymore and I have put off buying a new one until I can research it more so Dennis wants me to acknowledge that this lack of documenting this important milestone in our daughter's life is MY fault! :)

Let it rain!

It hasn't rained much yet this spring and somebody has been very eager to wear her new raincoat from Lolly! On Monday, we got ayiddlebit (Amity's version of "a little bit") of rain and she was so excited to wear all of her gear.

When Dennis got home from work, she went outside to help him water the flowers. Yes, it was such ayiddlebit that the flowers still needed watering! 

Amity was really excited about the potential puddles for jumping but there were none to be found so her Daddy created some with the hose.

Little sister was very sad to not get to join in on the fun but wet grass and knee walking just aren't a good mix!
 

Tour de Dallas

Our bikes have been "resting" in their places hanging from the garage ceiling ever since I was pregnant with Amity. Dennis decided that it was time to get them down and decided to look into getting a bike trailer to take the girls out on rides with us. We got a good deal on a trailer on Craigslist and I found two helmets at the Just Between Friends sale last week.

The first day that he decided to take both girls out was somewhat cold and windy so we bundled them up.



 And off they went! Vivien did not enjoy it very much so she returned home after a short ride. We think and hope that it was due to her poison ivy/ear infection/molars coming in. Amity loved it! She has been joining Dennis for rides almost every afternoon. As soon as I can figure out how to get dinner ready with time to spare, I want to join them too!

She's a big fan!

The hardest part about the ending of Spring Break is that Dennis/Daddy is back at work. Even when we had him home 24/7 last week, Vivien found that she just could not get enough of her Daddy and she just hated watching him be outside when she couldn't follow him.

Vivien, if you would just decide to start walking, we would let you start helping with the yardwork! :)

Some days...

Some days, it's hard to keep even the play kitchen organized and clean!

Love these legs!

Parlor Tricks

When we picked V up from the nursery on Sunday, they told me that she had just been the life of the party. I asked them what she had been doing and she said she was doing all of her tricks for them. We get the same report every Sunday. As long as we send her with Monkey or Lion, a sippy cup, and Cheerios, she doesn't care who she is with or where.

When we got home, she kept performing while wearing a dress that my Oma made for me!

Vivien, how old are you? One year old!

Peek-a-boo! (She needed the other hand to stay standing!)

Waving and saying "Hi!" (probably her only understandable word right now)

Just being cute!

She still loves to clap when we say "Yay!" and she has just recently started tilting her head to one side and then the other and blinking her eyes slowly. I think she knows she is funny!

Looking for sister while doing the knee-walk. Kind of hard to do when wearing a dress!

Snowed In Day #4 - Afternoon

When the girls woke up from their nap, we bundled them up and headed outside.  I think we definitely need to look into some used snow gear at next year's consignment sale.  We are woefully unprepared but I just layered Vivien's pajamas over her clothes and then added more clothes and a jacket.  

 She was too bundled up and too confused to move but she was still a good sport.

 Speaking of good sport...

Amity didn't like wearing her mittens because she couldn't do anything with them on but she didn't like having cold hands either.

I suggested to Dennis that he show Amity how to make a snowangel.  She watched him but decided to forego the wet pants.

These are more pictures from this morning's walk to the Parkers'.  Dennis told Amity to "walk in his footprints".  So this afternoon, she kept telling me to "walk in my footprints".