Birthday bike

Caleigh didn't know what to think about her new big girl bike with training wheels at first. But a month or so later (now) she is cruising along fine, and making infinity circles on the driveway.

Zach LOVES this camo jacket. He went days wearing this and his John Deere boots. The neighbors started to talk. ;-)

What makes them smile

For Caleigh, it was a watch, a pink hand-made bag for carrying treasures, and a 'love' necklace. For Zach it was a new stuffed hippo with a nice yellow ribbon around it's neck. For Dan it appears to be letter cookies. ;-) Zach promptly wrapped himself and his hippo up in my new egg/Easter tablecloths.

Caleigh still enjoys dancing and singing around the house. A wonderful little lady.

Caleigh's birthday, continued

Jan and Jochen came for a visit on Caleigh's birthday. They bore presents for all!

Caroline most enjoyed watching Caleigh's 'Happy Birthday' balloon from the neighbors. We were still recovering from the past day's birthday party, but had left over pizza and cake ready for them! ;-)

March 7 2010

We went out to lunch after church to celebrate Caleigh's birthday. We also met up with a friend from DC days, Jill Nyhus, which was incredibly enjoyable.

Caleigh and Zach really enjoyed the birthday cupcake! And the candelabra was part of the birthday greetings from the restaurant. She also received a nice book from her Bible school class at church. She felt very loved.

More from Caleigh's 4th

She just had a blast, as did we all. It's so fun to see Caleigh interact with her peers and we are so blessed to be friends with so many wonderful parents of small children. It's nice to go through these stages with dear friends.

Caleigh celebrates turning 4 years old!

And a wild and good time was had by all (and we do mean all...there was quite a crowd!).

We celebrated a day early with free play, craft time, lunch, cake, and structured games. Whew! It turned into a four-hour party just to get it all in.

Dan made four cakes! He cut out and decorated two butterfly cakes and also decorated two flower cakes. He also created all the pizzas, cooked and served them. We had a marathon preparation evening (and into the wee hours of party day) getting everything ready. And it was all yummy, beautiful and appreciated by the kids and parents.

Caleigh declared her 4th party a 'spring flower (and butterfly) purple and pink party' so notice the cakes are purple and pink. She also wanted to invite her little male friends this year so entire families were invited and came!! Zach and Caroline also had a blast with it all. Caroline tried to look the part with her pink flower outfit. Zach didn't have anything 'butterfly' but we let him come anyway.

Caleigh made quite the statement in her pink party dress. She was more than pleased with how the party came off. We had paper flowers on the wall around the house, lots of yummy snacks, and party gifts of spring pencils, egg chalk, play-doh and blow-up globes. And party hats, which the kids would wear for awhile, take off and another kid would spontaneously take a turn. Something for everybody. ;-)

Last from the snow

And our snowman...before he was completely covered by the next large snowfall. And we even missed the 2' in December! Caleigh loved having adequate clothing (jacket, boots, bibs, sweater, hat) covering her so she could roll around in the deep stuff without getting cold.

Snow and more snow

Fun in the snow. While Caroline slept, the rest of us played.



[from 2/7]

Caroline at 4 months

[insert stats here from her doctor appt.]

Around the house end of Jan

Caroline in bed, sleeping a few of her many hours. This is before she could move much - turn over, scootch, or really do anything but turn her head. We have moved from the put her on her back to sleep phase (where she would put her cheek flush on the bed and snuzzle down) to the put her on her side to sleep phase (where she would throw her top leg over and cuddle her ear into the bed) to the put her in bed and watch her snuggle into sleep in her tummy. She is growing up!

Caleigh and Zach enjoying fingerpaints for the first time in our house. I've been a little reluctant, but finally bought some. If they've tried them elsewhere, I don't know about it. Zach wasn't too sure about getting his fingers 'dirty' but Caleigh made oodles of pictures.

Caleigh loves to be close to Caroline. And to tell her that "I'll always be your big sister and I'll never leave you." Sweet.

Dentist and the farm

Caleigh and Zach started 'feeding' their animals playing cards. They built quite a complex and played for a long time with their set-up.

These are happy campers, enjoying McD's sundaes after successfully going to the dentist and receiving good reports. Caleigh went back in the dentist chair w/o Mama for the first time and Zach had the dentist look at his teeth for the first time. He screamed like a manman (just like his sister the first time...) but we all got through it. Caroline attended, but thankfully didn't need to leave the carseat.