Bailey's Birthday!

My baby turned four! I can't even get started on how that made me feel -- ya'll know by now how it kills me to have my kiddos to grow up so fast. :) We'll just say that my sweet Bailey had a birthday and it was wonderful!  Because her birthday fell during the kids' spring break, we were spoiled and got to celebrate a lot. We spent a few days of spring break down in the big city with family. My cute mom and dad took us out to lunch one afternoon to kick off the birthday week celebration.

After a few days with my parents and my aunt, we headed to my sister's house. Steve had been out of town for a long weekend and was flying back home on Bailey's birthday. Because of flight times and such, we were going to have to spend a good deal of time on the road on our little gal's day, so my sister offered to not only let us stay at her place the night before, but to celebrate Bailey's birthday there as well. (She lives much closer to the airport.) Bailey was in heaven! Having a sleepover and a party at her BFF's house was "a dream come true!"

Now, my Bailey is completely obsessed with Harry Potter. Really. She has only seen the first movie, but she LOVES it! She watches as often as she can and often quotes lines from the show.  Most little girls turning 4 choose princess, fairy, and tea parties...mine was dreaming of a Harry Potter party. Yep, she had been talking about it for months. So, Harry Potter it was.

My very talented sister made this t shirt for Bailey. She loved it!!

Here she is enjoying birthday girl status and watching a little Max and Ruby -- her gift from Rachel.

Bailey was thrilled to have her cousins join her for her party. We started by making magic wands and then dressing up for a photo op.

The kids played "wizard, wizard, muggle" (duck, duck, goose), "wizard, wizard where's your wand?" (doggie, doggie, where's your bone?), and had a Bertie Bott's every flavor beans tasting contest (jelly bellies). It was fun really fun for the little ones and the bigger ones were really good sports.

The kids then all congregated on the lawn for a good, old fashioned, very un-Harry Potterish picnic dinner.

It was a wonderful day that made a huge Harry Potter fan hugely happy!

We are so grateful for this spunky little gal. After waiting 5 years to get our Rachel, we really didn't know whether we would ever have another baby. Bailey was a beautiful surprise and a wonderful finish to our little family. She is a sweet, gentle, silly, and loving little person with a very contagious smile and giggle. She is a strong little girl, but at the same time, so gentle and intuitive. We love our little Bailey with all our hearts!! Happy Birthday, Bailey!

Random catch up stuff

I'm behind. Same story. Let's just get to the gettin'.

Valentines Day. Let's resume there. We are not big fans of Valentines Day. I say "We" and I mean Steve and I. My girls love it. But, like I said, Steve and I don't so much. I really like the idea of having a day to express our love and appreciation to others. That's good. My family knows I love them every day, though. I just think Valentines Day sometimes gets all out of hand. You know, people expecting a lot and being disappointed. Now, I'm really not speaking from experience as a spurned woman or anything. I just see people every single year hoping and being disappointed. Besides, Steve and I decided long ago that we are just really not mature enough to be romantic. Some people try too hard and we just kind of want to giggle. So, we celebrate Valentines Day as a family day. We like do fun things for the kids and have a special dinner -- that usually involves steak. I decorate the house with tons of construction paper hearts with notes on some of them and we generally get the kids a little gift and some treats. This year I was at the DI and found some Cabbage Patch dolls new in their boxes. So cool!  So, the gals got a new (really old) baby and Matt got a game.

I figure the girls will love this picture someday -- with their sweet bedhead. :)

   One Saturday we took an impromptu drive up the canyon. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and we decided to just get away for a little while.

   It was so much fun! Steve was looking for fallen branches and sticks to make something, so the kids just ran and explored. We weren't really dressed for the weather, but they had a blast!

   Bailey, who has a full-blown obsession with Harry Potter, started a game of finding magic wands and doing magic.

  I had to add the following picture. The girls were soaking wet and muddy when we got back to the van, so they stripped off their shoes, socks, and pants and wrapped in blankets. Bailey kept peeking under her blanket and giggling that she was only wearing undies in the car. :)

The elementary school does a little spring song/dance program each year. I remember that Matt's last few years there he didn't so much enjoy said program. Rachel, being a kindergartener, is excited about everything and loves everything about school, so I assumed she'd be happy about the whole dance thing. It was so funny, though, because as they started learning the song and dance/actions to go with it, she kept telling me how "embarrassing" it was. Really?? I asked her why and she proceeded to tell me it was kind of a babyish song and the dance was embarrassing. Little Stinker! She did a great job and the program was really cute, though. I guess she decided it wasn't so bad in the end.

We have some wonderful neighbors. Truly, we are so fortunate to live by such good people and have such good friends. One very cute little friend decided she wanted to have a tea party and started to invite other children to her party -- without her mom knowing. :) Cute mom decided to go ahead and let cute little gal have a tea party. My girls were so excited to attend and thought long and hard about the perfect outfits to wear. So lovely.

This year for Saint Patricks Day, the girls decided to try to trap a Leprechaun. Rachel somehow got the idea and was planning it for about a week before ST Patty's.  She had it all worked out in her head and sketched up some plans. When I asked her what she was going to use as bait to lure the Leprechaun into her trap, she thought for a minute, then announced, "A girl Leprechaun!" So, we found a box and spray painted it gold -- because a Leprechaun can't resist gold. Then we let them go to work with paint, sequins, and feathers. Last, but not least, They colored a very attractive Lady Leprechaun.

That tricky Leprechaun worked his magic and outsmarted their trap! He did leave a nice stack of golden chocolate coins, though. He also left those gold beauties spread all over the living room floor. He left them a box of Lucky Charms and a big rainbow made out of Skittles. By that night Rachel was already planning how to improve the trap for next year.

    Spring has been a very, VERY busy time for Matt. He had some really cool opportunities and they sure kept us running. He was chosen to participate in Honor Band at the school. Students are chosen from schools in a handful of districts throughout Utah and Idaho. They spend several days with musicians and professors from the community and Utah State University -- kind of doing workshops and learning new music. Then, at the end of their experience, they performed a concert for the families. It was kind of crazy for about 4 days, but it was a neat thing for Matt to take part in. They did a super job -- and I was amazed that they'd learned so much in less than a week.
    At about the same time, he had the chance to be the stage manager for stage crew for the Spring musical. He had a lot of fun learning new things and meeting new people. Steve and I both went a night and saw the musical which was really fun.
 

     Bailey started Speech Therapy this winter/spring. She is very proudly sporting her new backpack in this picture. It's been a wonderful thing for her and she is a super hard little worker. We love her teacher and Bailey's doing awesome!