Birthday Fun

Our girl is 3! I didn't think her turning 3 would really change anything all that much but it has. All of a sudden it seems like she's older, more mature, and dare I say...more temperamental. The weeks leading up to her birthday were fun filled and busy. She was definitely aware her birthday was coming up and knew turning 3 meant she would be a "big girl" and get to move up to Ms. Katie's room at daycare. She still hasn't officially moved up, but she's in there most days for the majority of the day. 

Ms. Katie's room means....

• getting to be with her group of friends who have 'grown up' together since being in the infant room. 
• getting to play on the big playground
• being able to look in the window to Ryan's room when on the playground
• riding the tricycles with the pedals
• no more "My Day" (paper report for mom and dad)
• playing in the front room with the big, big kids when mom/dad is running late in the afternoon.

I'm happy that she gets excited to be in Katie's room, but it's also a little sad knowing that she's now in with the "older" kids at daycare. When shifting kids due to teacher coverage she is now a part of the older kids rather than the younger ones. I know I say it all the time...but where does the time go?

The first weekend of my spring break brought a visit from Grandpa and Grandma Pam. This was the first of a couple birthday celebrations for my girl. This was also the first realization that presents this year were definitely going to be more challenging with Ryan around always wanting to be a part of the action. Thankfully he's usually easily distracted. :)

The play-do and puzzle were definitely a big hit...and continue to be. I think it took Samantha all of two tries to have the puzzle pretty much figured out. Thankfully she got a couple other puzzles for her birthday to keep her occupied. :)

 

Ryan also enjoyed playing with Grandpa and Grandma showing off his easy going personality.

 

Hmmm....think he's going to be a hockey boy? 

The weekend at the end of my spring break brought a visit from Oma and Samantha's birthday celebration with her friends.

Oma also brought another puzzle...this one with a few more pieces that still has Samantha a little stumped at times. It will take her maybe 5 times of putting this one together before she has it figured out. :) She's definitely a puzzle girl!

Her birthday theme this year was bikes. This was her first birthday being celebrated in Tucson, which was bittersweet. It was disappointing not to have all the family together with cousins, but it was nice to be able to invite her friends over to celebrate. We went to our neighborhood park, rode bikes, played, made name plates for bikes, opened presents, ate and went home nice and tired.

Of course keeping with my tradition of making theme cakes, Samantha's cake this year was modeled after her Strider bike that she loves. It took lots of planning and after a little doubt on my part came out pretty good. 

 

 

Ryan even had one of his friends there. :) He and Harper are in the same room at daycare and only about 2 months apart. 

 

 

 

The wind was a little tricky when it came to candle time, but after singing quickly and Kurt relighting the candles a couple times we made it! Samantha was ready to dig in immediately. :)

I think one of my favorite parts was watching Samantha open her presents. Not because she got overwhelmed about the gifts, but because it was a group effort with all the kids to open each gift. Surprisingly she didn't mind at all and even welcomed the help. She was also very gracious and gave each kid a hug after opening their present. It may be too much to ask, but I'm hoping this continues next year. :)

Overall, it was a great couple weeks of celebrating our girl. Soon it will be time to move on to celebrating our boy's first birthday! 

Almost forgot....videos!!!

Finally got our videos of Ryan uploaded since Samantha has been the star of quite a few lately with her bike. Here are some of our boy.

**Technical note...if you click on the button that says "YouTube" it will open the videos on my YouTube site so that they are a little bigger. I know you want to see the kiddos nice and clear! :-)

This was soon after Ryan officially started crawling. He went through a brief phase when he would almost spider crawl up on his hands and feet.

Ryan has since moved on to cruising around using Samantha's stool and/or his musical walker. This was when he first figured out how to get around the kitchen. Samantha didn't quite like him using her stool, but she has since learned to share. :-)

Samantha is on a big ball kick lately. Here she was trying to teach Ryan to play with her. 

And one more bike video. I took the kids to one of our neighborhood parks that has a walking path along the wash. I enticed Samantha with the fact that she wouldn't have to stop to watch for cars. She quickly found this hill and went up and down about 10 times. We didn't get very far down the path.

Cuddles

Memories from childhood are funny. It's always hard to determine how much of the memory is truly what you remember vs. what has been told to you or what you have seen in pictures. I have this memory of my dad taking formal pictures of us kids that I love thinking about. Not so much the taking picture part, but the other stuff...the stuff that I don't really know how much is true, but I like to think so. I remember it as a Saturday night. We had all taken baths and Momb put us in our nice clothes. I was in a plaid skirt (that I loved wearing), tights, a turtle neck and slippers. I remember feeling clean and warm and cozy. I loved being all dressed up and getting to wear slippers. I think it was also the fresh out of the shower feeling but not having to go anywhere. Knowing that we were just going to snuggle up in bed later.

I think of this memory any time I take a shower in the evening, get on cozy pajamas and curl up on the couch. Monday evening was no exception. Shower night with Samantha, bath time for Ryan and then it was curl up on the couch time with mommy. Nothing beats the smell of clean children!

Look ma! No Feet!

Samantha and I headed to our neighborhood park this weekend to play with a friend and ride bikes. Turns out the tennis courts are a perfect place for a beginner to test out her bike riding skills. Low and behold the second time around the courts she decided lifting her feet while coasting was great fun. 

By the time we rode home that afternoon she was feeling pretty comfortable with coasting and was even trying to get her feet on the foot rests. Of course, I didn't get a video of that yet....but I'm sure one will be posted this weekend!

Tour de France here we come!

Handheld camera phone while pushing a stroller does make for a roller coaster of a ride, but you can get the idea. Samantha is definitely becoming a little speed demon on her bike. Thankfully she is good about stopping at corners! 

I love you because...

Samantha, I love you because you like to play with cars. You aren't always a pretty, pretty, princess and I love that. I remember consciously choosing to play with cars and racetracks over barbie dolls and houses at our childhood friends' house.

Samantha, I love you because you enjoy playing with your brother and get so excited about his accomplishments. These days you always make sure we cheer and clap for Ryan when he pulls up to standing. I know there will be a time when you will want nothing to do with your brother, but for now you are his favorite (never mind you're his only) big sister.

Samantha, I love you because you enjoy listening to books before bedtime/naptime/and almost anytime. While we read you let me use your stuffed animals as my pillow although I've learned never to do this with Elmo or teddy bear (or any of the ones that wear diapers as they are your little children and I may hurt them).

Samantha, I love you because you enjoy playing with Daddy. You are still learning how to take turns with your brother when it comes to using Daddy as a jungle gym, but the laughter always out weighs the complaints  of having to let Ryan have his turn.

Samantha, I love you because you take care of your dolls and teddy bears like your own babies. You watch and mimic everything we do with Ryan and you make sure to do the same things with your dolls.

Samantha, I love you because you read to your stuffed animals. Your memory astounds me with the number of stories you are able to recite and share with whichever stuffed animal happens to be near by. I hope you will always keep this love for reading. 

Samantha, I love you even when it takes every last bit of energy to deal with your tantrums and obsessive, compulsive ways. You amaze me every day and for that I love you as well.