Nina the Yoga Master

Nina still hasn't mastered forward motion but she sure tries hard.

Amelia Sings at Church

This is Amelia singing at church a couple of weeks ago with the preschool. Please forgive the Blair Witchiness of my filming, I didn't do a very good job.

New Best Friends

I have always know that Buddy loves babies. He is always sitting by Nina, especially if I leave the room, instead of following me like he usually does he stays right next to her. I was a little worried about how Mao would react to Nina but he loves her. Mao will come right up to Nina, she can pull his fur or pet him, and by pet I mean whack him in the face repeatedly, and he will just sit there. We have the best animals for little girls that is for sure.

America's Next Littlest Model

I am not sure where she has learned to pose for pictures. She asked Philip to wear his tie and this is what came out of that. She is a funny little monkey.

The Big 5

Well, my baby is 5. Actually her birthday isn't until Monday but this is close enough. She is definetely not my little 5 pound sack of sugar anymore. Amelia has turned into a wonderful, caring, smart, beautiful little girl. She has a memory like a steel trap. She loves school and makes friends very easily. She has a great sense of humor and is constantly telling jokes, either that she has learned or made up. Amelia loves to swim and is just about ready to take her swim test, that is how fast she has advanced in swim lessons. She is a great big sister and a wonderful helper to me. She is always very polite and empathetic. Amelia loves animals and wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up. I could go on for days about the things I love about Amelia. She (and her sister) is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me and I can't even express how much I love her.

Now, on to the less sappy part of this post, the party. I got a great deal at ArtSports (the tramopline place) so I ended up paying just $25 for the whole party. We invited all her class plus Olivia and a couple of other friends. There was 14 kids in all and they had a great time. Even Grandma Kitty was there. Amelia chose cupcakes that were fake-outs and meant to look like scoops of ice cream. I even bought Baskin Robbins cups for them. Even the other parents thought they were real ice cream, so I guess I did a pretty good job. We didn't have time to open presents at the party but we took so many home we barely fit them and all the people in the car. She received bunches and bunches of very nice presents from family and friends. It was a great day.



The birthday girl. She designed her own shirt, she told me what she wanted and arranged all the pieces herself.


Grandma Kitty and Nina. Nina sits up all by herself without tipping over now. Grandma was happy to see Nina pop up on all fours and start rocking, crawling isn't far off. One of the moms called Mom my sister, and she was completely serious, no flattery involved, which I think was even more flattering to her. Way to look young Mom.



Amelia jumping.



The party room, a good space especially for $25.

Amelia climbing the wall to ring the bell with Olivia cheering her on.

The ice cream scoop cupcakes

Close up of the chocolate

Blowing out the candles.

She really only at the ice cream. Good thing I worked so hard on the cupcakes, huh?

The whole party. What a great turnout!