Day with Dad

The kids love Saturdays, mostly because Daddy stays home. Almost every morning Ty's first words when I get him up are "Daddy home?"

He has been taking Maddie down to Grandma Osmond's house in Orem the last few weeks to work on piano lessons. What a wonderful opportunity! Maddie has been so excited to come home and show me what she is working on. She can play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" up and down the keyboard!

Last Saturday was really a day just with Dad, as I went on a youth trip to the RootsTech Conference in SLC. They had big plans together and didn't miss me much! 

They wanted to make crib/beds for their buddies, and Dad took it very seriously!

They measured....

Planned...

Schemed...

Sewed...

 (Mike was proud of Maddie for sewing her whole pillowcase herself!)

Sawed... drilled.... and glued.

They turned out so great! Yay for a fun and obliging Daddy with mad skills. :)

Also of note, Ella Bella gave a great talk in Primary yesterday! She is super shy and takes her time getting used to new people and places, but she has blossomed so much in the past year. She was confident and said every word into the microphone and was excited to show her props and bear her testimony of Jesus.

After church she and I had some alone time and explored the Friend together. She is starting to sound out words and understand how letters make sounds and blend together. She loves the activities and begged to make this cute little lamb for spring. 

Spring Fever

Last week was so warm! We spent lots of time outside and started dreaming about what spring would bring. Tulips for one thing!

One day Ella and I had some time alone to explore the yard for footprints. We found kitty, dog, deer, and some other wierd in between size... skunk maybe?
 

Another day we rode scooters to pick Maddie up from school and stopped by the mailbox to send a note to cousin Emrie.

Oh how I love to see their pigtails flying in the wind!
 

 Tyler obviously wanted to be free as well...

We got out some Easter decorations, even though it was before St. Patty's Day. It's just so early this year!
 

Maddie wanted to make bunnies to give to the Easter bunny, so I remembered some I made when I was little with cotton balls and felt. So cute!

Mr. Mike has been working hard on fixing up our old Altima to sell. The goal is to make enough off of it to buy the kids a playset.... no pressure! :)

We started thinking about the garden over the weekend. We would like to plant our cool-season veggies--peas, spinach, broccoli--soon! (Don't forget I write about garden stuff over here throughout the year).

We left some carrots in over the winter and they became crazy monsters! It's hard to believe it's growing season already... I think I am just overwhelmed this year because I am still growing myself... literally. We only have about 6 weeks left till we meet our new little guy!

Now We are 6

I just got an email update from babycenter.com about Maddie turning 6 years old. It quoted the book of poems by A.A. Milne (author of Winnie the Pooh) called "Now We Are 6", saying 6 year olds are...

...fanciful, adventuresome, silly, comforted by familiar things, and boldly curious about the new.

I thought that was a perfect description of Maddie!
 

Another thing this girl is is creative! She dreamed up a unicorn theme for her birthday party and thought of all the details herself. I thought it was a great exercise for her brain and imagination so I let her go! She drew some mock ups of her invitation a few months ago, and we improved it a little and then scanned it to print for each card.

Her hopes and dreams provided many afternoons of projects at the kitchen table.

Here I should insert details of the morning before the big party. Maddie's back door buddy had just turned 6 too, and had her party earlier in the day. It was American Girl themed and they were asked to bring their favorite doll. Maddie planned out their outfits and hair to match exactly.

In between parties she had 1.5 hours to go to the climbing wall with Daddy, her special birthday request.

She got home just in time to change into her magical unicorn attire: frilly, sparkly, and fun!

Maddie specially requested each item of her ensemble. It began with the shirt and then to look like a white unicorn, she asked for the white leggings. For hooves she begged for silver gloves, but we settled for sequin leggings from Grandma's costume bin.  We made horns and tails for her friends too.

Maddie drew a unicorn picture for each of her friends as a party favor.

She asked for a unicorn cookie cutter, so I found a cheap on on Amazon. It came in handy for making the rest of the party favors, and for putting a unicorn on the cake.

Maddie made the welcome sign for the front door, and I have to say it was pretty funny when kids started walking in without knocking. She couldn't figure it out, until we reminded her what the door said!

I can't get over how cute it was to see this herd of unicorns all together. The horns were so awesome! I love this age of girls when life is still magical.

Maddie's first game request was the balloon popping game. Here they were getting the balloons tied around their ankles and instructions on how to pop each others' balloons with their "hooves."

These two cute girls were the last in the game! Rainbow Dash pulled out the victory.

Gift opening time was hilarious. They started in this perfect semi-circle around the throne, but it didn't last long because everyone was so excited to see up close!

Here's the peanut gallery. Cousin Daxton and little Ty were the only boys (besides Daddy).

Speaking of Daddy, I'm not sure how appropriate this is but he lined everyone up in a birthday spanking machine gauntlet. It was sure cute, but funny because only one little girl was brave enough to give Maddie a birthday pat!

Maddie wanted to play pin the horn on the unicorn, and to draw her own poster. You can't buy that originality!

The birthday girl was the first to go, and we though the blind fold must have been see-through because she nailed it right on the head! That face says it all.... "Really?"

Ella helped us prove it was not see-through... the cutie got her horn on the tail.

We ended the festivities by singing the birthday song and filling ourselves up with rainbow cake and sherbet. Nothing like a shot of sugar to make unicorns stampede!

I haven't mentioned that Grandma Marcia came down just for the birthday festivities, and Auntie Dana helped celebrate too. After the party we went to dinner at an amazing Thai restaurant and even the kids thought it was delish!
 

Sunday was Maddie's official birthday, so we kept on partying. The girls were busy all morning with various art projects Maddie got from her friends--they know her well!

Grandma did their hair fancy for church, after which they were back in their unicorn costumes, matching their unicorn toys.

Grandma Osmond and Grandpa Randy also joined us for birthday dinner, and we had Maddie's favorite: roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and broccoli. I'm pretty sure she ate everything on her heaping plate!

Mike and I tried for a photo with our birthday girl. We can't believe how fast six years have flown by.  I don't even want to think about doubling her age, or how fast that will go too.

We opened presents again as a family. Birthdays always make me feel overindulgent... but then again I have to remember we don't buy many toys or clothes in between Christmas and birthdays. The kids know they can use it to their advantage too.... I can't even tell you how many novelty items they have asked me to remember to "save" for their birthdays. This face says it all: Maddie has long wanted to shop at the store Justice for Girls, but they only sell clothes for "big girls". When she realized she was 6X she begged to go. The card she is reading says Mommy will take her to buy one outfit together!

Grandma Osmond gave her a neat book and CD about classical music. I love that she can offer musicality to our children, as that is not something I am strong in. In fact Maddie may begin taking occasional piano lessons from Grandma.

Of course we had to load her up on more chapter books, as she blows through them! This one is about a Princess Fairy named Maddie!

Dana brought the brownies and ice cream and we sang one more time. Hope she made some magical wishes!

And then..... we rested.