Happy Birthday, Meadowe!

For at least a week, all we heard about in our house was Meadowe's birthday party coming up, how old she is going to be, and what we were going to have and do at the party. Meadowe made up her mind pretty early that she wanted a "pi-ata," translation: pinata, for her party. So Ora said, "sure, and we'll have fajitas, too." And going along with that I decided on an appropriate dessert.

We had Everything! Chips & salsa, a make-your-own-fajita buffet with all the toppings, and Mexican Chocolate Cake. We even had the "pi-ata." Meadowe was all decked out in her beautiful dress and couldn't wait to hit the pinata. The house was full with family and friends and a festive mood was in the air. The food was amazing, beef and chicken marinating in a homemade fajita sauce for about 20 hours, and cinnamon-y chocolate cake drizzled with chocolate sauce.

Meadowe wanted first dibs at the pinata, so she gave it as good a whack as she could. Not surpising to any adults, it didn't bust open with that first hit. Meadowe thought it would and was quite disappointed that it didn't. All the other kids had a turn, or 2 or 3, at the pinata. Finn couldn't wait to get in on the pinata action. After some strong blasts, the pinata finally broke and candy rained down for all the kids.














Meadowe opened her presents, and we send a grateful thank you to all gift-givers. It seemed everyone had a great time, enjoyed the food, had some laughs over the pinata, and loved spending time with family and friends. And those are the best memories.

Happy Birthday!!!

The kids have their birthdays very close together so it's easy to get caught up in all the birthday excitement! Finn is now a big 2-year-old and Meadowe is 4 years old today!!!!!!

Great-Grandma Gates gets some cuddle time with Finn before the festivities begin. Finn has the standard "dee" (favorite blankie) and the thumb in his mouth. He doesn't go anywhere or do anything without them!

Finn's not so sure about the requisite singing of "Happy Birthday." He was quite wary of everyone watching him.

But that soon ended when he realized he was going to get to blow out the candles. He's had practice: he likes to blow Meadowe's hair around and watch it fly!






























Make a wish!











MMmmm!!! That's a great cupcake!












So, Meadowe thought she would be the best big sister in the world and she "wrapped" one of her toys, the big yellow rubber ducky, in "wrapping paper," aka her favorite 'dee,' and gave it to Finn for his birthday. Well, he got the biggest kick out of unwrapping that rubber ducky and you can see how elated he is.



More birthday pictures to come . . .

Waiting out the Winter

It seems like so long since we've seen the ground and suddenly, in less than 24 hours, the snow was melted and we could see the (dead-looking) grass in our yard, the deck, the garden, and the play house. It was nice to be able to go outside with the dog without having the bundle up.

Finn has, in a few short days, learned many new words, so be sure to check the very bottom of this page to see what he's learned. He's so smart! He's definitely becoming more assertive too and isn't afraid to share his opinions. He has the best smile and a wonderful laugh and loves to get into everything that I'm doing; whether it be doing dishes or laundry, he finds a way to get involved. He also is beginning to show interest in using the potty. He takes off his pants and diaper and likes to sit on the training potty. Hopefully this is the beginning, but he being a boy and not yet 2 years old, I'm prepared for this process to be exactly that: a process.

Meadowe is becoming more independent. She loves to take care of herself, and she has to do it herself. No one is allowed to help unless she says it's okay. This includes brushing teeth, bathing, pouring milk or juice, getting dressed, and just about everything. I love that she wants to do things herself, so I'm learning to be patient with her as she learns to accomplish these everyday tasks. She has learned to whistle, and loves to share her talent with everyone. She is also very interested in learning to write. She can write the letters M, A, O, and P, and sometimes she has other shapes and configurations of lines and curves that very closely resemble other letters, like E, V, I, and H. She also can identify the letters X, M and m in print. We were at the grocery and every M she saw she pointed it out to me, whether it was on a package or on the walls of the store. And not just Ms at the beginning of a word, she even found Ms in the middle and at the end of words. As a school teacher and former Reading Recovery teacher, this excites me very much!!!!!!

Here are some more pictures of sledding, craft time, laundry, making food for the superbowl, and general silliness.