The Big Day

Today we celebrated Amelie's birthday at Chuck E Cheese with a Granny, an Aunt, Uncle and Cousin and our little friends (accompanied by whichever of their parents drew the short straw)=) HA! Amelie had a wonderful time and we're so glad that they could make it!

I'm so glad this day has finally come because poor Amelie has been dying for it to be her birthday! And, the fact that Christmas is this week has her on present overload!

There were a lot of birthday shenanigans and Amelie looked a bit demure and quiet for most of them. She tells us she had fun though!

When we got home it all proved to be too much and she had the meltdown of the century. Apparently it's very taxing to turn 5. She has since taken a nap and recovered, but it was a little dicey there for a while =)

Thank goodness for naptime! =)

It Had To Be *You*

Hey! Look who's 5!!!

Oh my dear and darling Amelie--

My firstborn

My girl child

My doppelganger

My mini-me

God just knew it had to be *you*

That you were exactly the kind of girl I needed in my life

You're my helper, my hugger, my story-teller, song-singer, dancing-dancer, sister-entertainer, errand-runner, obsessive-room-cleaner, princess-pretender, girly-girly-girl in pink.

I don't deserve such a sweet little girl--I'm so thankful that God has entrusted you to me for the time being. I pray for you everyday and am so stinkin' thankful for you.

I love you sweet girl--can you just do Mommy a favor and stay 5 forever?

xoxo, Mama

You Look Good Enough To Eat

I Have An Almost-5-Year-Old And It Makes Me Feel...

thrilled

sad

excited

happy

awe-struck

worried

old

blessed

nostalgic

proud

and most importantly

confused.

especially when i'm looking back through photos and see the one in which she made this face!

(it actually scared me a little b/c i was expecting from the thumbnail that it was a smile!=)

When I asked Amelie what happened she said," I don't know! I was trying to smile!"

Ha!

Happy Almost-Birthday Amelie-Girl!

Eating Snowman Ice Cream Cake, Blowing Out Candles, Opening The Much-Anticipated Pillow Pet; All While Wearing Her Beautiful Christmas Belle Dress.

Literally.

Happy "Birthday Celebration Part 1" Amelie!!

It's A *Wonderful* Christmas

Bright and early Christmas morning this little girl came down the stairs and said,

"Let's get going people! We need to 0pen presents!!"

I told her we needed to wait until 7....so she sat in front of the clock for half an hour staring at the clock and willing the number to change from 6 to 7.

She was a little bummed that the 4 wheeler under the tree was for Maeve.

She was a little less bummed when Mommy said she was still light enough to share it with sister!=)
And this one? He was up by 6 cause,
*Santa Is His Homeboy*

Poor thing, Santa may be his homeboy but he didn't leave the infant anything under the tree. Mr. Wonderful and I decided that being born was his present this year!

(Especially since we'll be paying it off for the next 6 months!!)

tee hee!
And Maeve? She came down after we woke her at 7 and proclaimed:

"Presentssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

We had a lovely Christmas morning at home with our traditional breakfast of cinnamon rolls and orange juice. Oh, and the rolls? Pioneer Woman's recipe is delish.

Ah. Love them! They make me wish it was Christmas everyday!!

After we opened presents and relaxed at home we headed to Grandparents of the Easts' home.

We opened lots o'lovely things (like my new canon *pink* point and shoot!! love it!) and had a delicious ham dinner that I didn't have to cook! Yay!

My parents arrived yesterday to attend the Christmas program at church and to celebrate Amelie's birthday with us.

We're so thankful for our family near and far and the chance to spend a lovely relaxing Christmas together!

Three Sugar Plum Fairies

Merry Christmas Eve From Amelie!

It's ironic to me that one of her favorite Christmas song is Silent Night.

It has not been a silent night here =)

{Oh, and Granny(s), watch this with a tissue :-)}

Snippets

*hails from the land of lake effect snow and endless winter but I don't miss it and I don't welcome it's presence in South Jersey! ick.
*Ezra is finally sleeping a bit better at night--waking up twice between 8pm - 5am. but he is AWAKE at 5. this too shall pass!
*speaking of Ezra--he's growing out of EVERYTHING! He's already into 3-6 month clothes and I NEED to get out to the store for some warm winter sleepers--I guess I didn't plan as well as I thought I did =) (Also didn't expect him to be so big so fast either!)
*so thankful the girls got full snow gear as an early Christmas present--they have really enjoyed the snow that I don't enjoy =)
*annoyed that the snow cancelled our church Christmas program and Amelie's pre-k all week. eh.
*not annoyed that my husband had a snow day on monday!
*can't believe Christmas is this week!
*can't wait to have my husband home on break! (many house projects are in the works!)

happy tuesday!!

I Did It!!

I found Amelie's birthday present!

The *washable* pillow pet unicorn!

Woot!

Sorry, just had to share the excitement of finding the one thing my daughter wanted which was sold out everywhere. Victory is mine! Hahhahahahaha

Snow Day

Maeve loved the snow.

Until her hands got cold and then...

not so much.

My Snow Angels!

(Maeve could only make side-ways angels =)
They took turns throwing snow in the air!

And by the end of the storm the snow was up to Amelie's waist!
She got a bit concerned and said,
"I hope it doesn't snow any more--I won't be able to walk!"

And then the snow gave us the best present of all
*SNOW DAY* for Mr. Wonderful! Woot!

so. much. snow.

that is all.

A Maevey Christmas

Valentine's Day Window(s) Shopping; Cause What Else Is There To Do When You're Snowed In And The Cleaning Is Done?

All Dresed Up With Somewhere To Go

Mr. Wonderful's Christmas concert was, of course, wonderful!

I'm so thankful that I got a chance to go and that the Granny of the East could babysit while Pop of the East, Ryan, Micayla, Ryleigh and I got to enjoy the concert!

My husband is a *rock* star!

What a lovely night!

(Oh, and as an added bonus--Ezra was perfect for the concert! He only squeaked twice and slept the entire time! We won't talk about how much he slept from the hours of 3-7 a.m. but, Woot! nonetheless.)

This is what happens when you let the *Princess of Pink* make and decorate Daddy's Birthday cake!

Happy Birthday Honey!!

A very happy birthday to my precious husband!

Every so often his birthday falls on the exact same day as his high school students' Christmas concert! So today for his birthday I bought him a new conducting baton.

(His has been broken for ages).

I really wish I knew they were called conducting "batons" before I did a google image search on them--

*word to the wise*

It is not a conducting wand. Even if that's what it looks like. It's not a wand for conducting.

Because, as my husband says,

"This is music NOT Harry Potter!!"

Do NOT search for that. You will be sorry. You'll have to scour your eyeballs with soap.

But anyways! I hope you have a happy birthday my dear and you enjoy your BATON!

I hope your day is as *wonderful* as YOU are!

Muah darling!

LOVE love LoVe lOvE you!

xoxoxo

Shelly

Our First Christmas With Amelie; Alternately Titled: Christmas When We Looked Young And I Could Afford Good Haircuts On A Regular Basis

I was cleaning out the closet the other day and found this picture of our little family!

My how the years have flown and my how Amelie resembles a short haired Maeve! =)

Desperately Trying To Avoid Temptation

...but it's sooo hard when they're 30% off, there is free shipping AND you can earn Gymbucks!

Stinkin' Gymboree!

*S*W*A*K*!

Maeve says, "Smooch!"

She was having an impromptu photo shoot with her little brother and I asked her to plant a kiss on him--she got confused and tried to kiss me and the camera instead =)

She's loves her little brother so much!
She delights in planting kisses on him!

And seriously, where did she get that head-full of blond hair!?

I love those kids!