Gorgeous Saturday

We went to a cul de sac birthday party today and the 70 degree weather couldn't have been better! Petting zoo, face painting, hot dogs, And more.

Happy Birthday Cara (Chuck E Cheese part 1)

Today you are 4. Every day you make us laugh. When you don't mean to make us laugh you get pretty upset and usually end up in full blown tears. You are often called "the maniac" because you have more energy than most kids we know. 

 Seriously, I knew you had a lot of energy, but I recently texted Miss Teddie, your preschool teacher, and asked if you had like "top 5% energy" and she said "yes." Apparently ALL YEAR LONG in preschool you have worked to sit in a chair. Thank goodness for another year of preschool before kindergarten. 

 This year was a family birthday party for you, which happened to also be a celebration for Cousin Ethan who was adopted this week by Auntie Ashley. What a wonderful blessing he is to our family and knowing that he is forever ours! Your party was at Chuck E Cheese and you played your little heart out with tokens and tickets. Seriously, endless amounts.

 At 4 you still take naps. You love to wake up early and come into mommy's bed and fall back asleep. If I kick you out of bed then you go wake up Ryann to play with you... So being that you have mommy wrapped around your little finger... you get to cuddle in bed with me most mornings between 4 and 6am. But I really don't mind, you are a great snuggler. 

You love to talk in the third person. "Cara is hungry." "Cara wants popcorn" "Cara can't go to sleep" "Cara's feet hurt" "Cara can't walk"

Cara is little (almost 30lbs) and she knows it. She thinks that she can get away with anything because "Cara is little."  We try to stress that she is a big girl but she isn't having that most days. She is a picky eater and we are constantly working on that one.  

Cara isn't very sneaky. She is loud and we almost always know when she is up to no good. She pouts, she shouts, she crys, she yells and she loves more than anyone. She is always kissing my belly. She loves Baby Mac and wants him to come out and play more than anything. She is smart (don't all parents say this?) and she is identifying all her letters and numbers and even some words. She writes her name and thinks that the letters C-A-R-A were made just for her. The world has always revolved around Cara in her eyes and I am excited to see what the world of a 4 year old has in store for us. 

Birthday Party

This year I knew there wouldn't be time to prepare a fabulous birthday party for Ryann, so we decided to head on over to Makutu's Island. A play place with a personal party attendant. (Seriously, she did everything and it was so awesome to just sit and watch and take pictures)

 Ryann wearing her new party dress and her amazing necklace from Auntie Erin!!

 Grandma Mingo and Auntie Vicki joined the fun. 

  Makutu came to say hi and happy birthday.

 The party girl (Amanda) fed the kids, refilled drinks, helped them play games, open presents, and she even wrote down everything that Ryann got for gifts. She cleaned everything up too!

 Best family picture we could get with Makutu

 Ryann's favorite present was a giant Unicorn. She dances with it, eats with it, sleeps with it... you get the picture. 

 Cara having fun. 

 Rich having even more fun! 

Celebration

When I typed the title of this post I sang it... cellll e bration... like that old song that they used to play when I was in middle school and learning to line dance... anyway, Rich and I were fortunate enough yesterday to watch the 49er game and then celebrate with a fabulous ice cream cake for both of our birthdays. 

 Rich used his new birthday present (smart phone!! welcome back to the real world) to video tape us singing happy birthday. It was quite entertaining because he uploaded it right to facebook and man, it is bad. 

 This picture below I am laughing so hard because we counted 1... 2... and before we could say 3, both girls had already blown out our candles. Such a classic move by little kids. 

 Cara couldn't stop laughing because she thought it was sooo funny that she blew out the candles. Then we couldn't stop laughing because she thought it was so funny. 

Hazel Pop

So Hazel turned 1 while we were in Napa and she had her first birthday party. Thankfully we hired a photographer, because NONE of these pictures show how cute she actually was! 

She could have played with those balloons all day long. Uncle Pete was pretty impressed by her balloon skills, walking from one balloon to the other, back and forth, back and forth. Man it was cute. 

Pump It Up Party

Seriously these parties are awesome.

 The girls bounce and jump for 2 hours straights and then they fall asleep as soon as we get home. 

 Okay, so Ryann didn't fall asleep, but she chilled on the couch and watched a movie for a couple hours. 

 Happy birthday to our friend Brady!