Finally FIVE!

After months of waiting, Amity is finally five!  On Saturday, she went to the movies with Dennis and then went to pick out her main birthday present, a new bike!
 

She is still gaining confidence and does not like to go fast (at all!) but she is making progress.
 

She picked out her entire menu for birthday meals.  Saturday night's family birthday party with GG and KK and the Connells included meat-a-loaf (her pronunciation), macaroni and cheese, cooked carrots and broccoli, watermelon, and pink lemonade. 

 

These four never seem to lack for conversation and fun.
 

This was birthday cake #1 for this weekend and another one is due from Aunt Becky in a few weeks when the Grovers are in town.
 

 

Enjoying her new gifts from the Connells
 

On the morning of her birthday, we had the traditional birthday pancake but she had requested that we all have our age in pancake.  That included a couple of 7s and lots of 3s.  After making many mistakes, I told her that from now on, just the birthday person gets their number!
 

She woke up early to go to the bathroom.  My parents wished her "Happy Birthday" but she told them that she wasn't five yet.  Apparently, she thinks her birthday has not arrived until we burst through her door with the birthday pancake.  Isn't it funny how these traditions evolve?

Happy birthday, precious Amity!  These five years have flown by and you have made each day brighter and sweeter.  Thank you for making us parents.  We are so grateful God created you to be ours!

An Invitation to Art

I recently consulted at a Reggio Emilia inspired preschool and was amazed by the thinking and learning being done by the three-year-olds there.  One thing I noticed was there were lots of "invitations" available to children.  The teachers had set up all of the necessary materials and just told the children they were invited to try them out.  I decided to try an invitation to paint today after nap.  My invitation was in no way as creative or ambitious as those at this school but it was a start!  When the girls got up from rest time, I had classical music playing and their watercolors set up on the easel with some white paper.  They walked in the living room and never once asked to watch a show (the usual post-nap routine).  They stood at their easel for almost an hour until Dennis got home from work.  He walked in to find them listening to classical music and painting tulips (Amity) or "blue" (Vivien) and I was cooking dinner.  If only I could say this was TYPICAL at our house!!!  Since it's not, I thought I had better document it with pictures!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back at the Arboretum

Some of our Chapel School friends invited us to meet them at the Arboretum today.  It was so good to be back after not renewing our membership last year.  The place was packed and we had to wait an hour in line for the face painting but it was worth it.  We had a great time and definitely want to hang out with these friends again soon as well as return to the Arboretum for some more exploring!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

Really good friends are the ones that provide experiences for your children that you would not think of or choose to provide yourself!  Jessica and I had made plans to get the girls together on Friday.  We thought the Arboretum would be slammed and sought refuge from the crowds at Flagpole Hill.  In my mind, I just thought we would play on the playground and run up and down the hill.  Jessica, in all of her creativity, thought to bring her $5 kite from Target.  Neither of us had flown a kite in many, many years.  After verbalizing a quick prayer outloud for the Lord to support our feeble mom attempts, we gave it a try and the girls LOVED it! 
 

 

 

 

 

Flagpole Hill must be the windiest spot in all of Dallas!  It will definitely be our kite flying destination as long as we live here.  Of course, it is also a perfect place to find dandelions too! 

 

Chapel School Easter Party 2013

To prove just how special these Chapel School parties are, we drove back from Tulsa yesterday after I had a night of little sleep followed by a day of training.  I didn't want these girls to miss these precious CS memories! 

I got to help out in Cooking today.  We made Resurrection Rolls and Popcorn treats.  They were yummy and messy.  I am so glad that I am not usually a cooking mom!  Give me the academic classes anyday over being in a room full of knives and fire with a bunch of 3-5 yera
 

 

The rules of the CS egg hunt are "bring 12, take 12".  It makes things very simple and non-competetive!  Amity had already found her 12 before I could get any pictures of her.  She was later disappointed to discover that all 12 of her eggs were filled with jelly beans.  Vivien had much more variety.  Good thing the opening lesson this morning was about the 10th commandment!
 

Little Jack snuck into our picture!
 

It was a wee bit windy but we still had a great time and then headed home for a NAP afterwards.  Definitely worth driving home for!
 

Sunday at the Zoo

We are members at the Dallas Zoo again and this time Dennis got to join us for a fabulous afternoon after church.  The weather was GORGEOUS and even though half of Dallas had the same idea, it still was not too crowded.  We didn't even see half the zoo but can plan to go back as many times as we want before next February 2014!

Amity sure has come a long way since she was two and screaming on the merry go round!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dennis used his special animal noise to lure the giraffes away from the feeding deck crowded with people and over to the bridge where we were standing alone.  This really made an impression as you can see in Amity's Weekend News that she wrote the next day!
 

Daddy made a funny sound that made the giraffes make funny noises.