Shamrocks

Today we did a St. Patrick's craft.  I feel like I need to get a head start on St. Patty's this year, because it's only a week before Easter!

Did you know that if you slice a pepper you get either a 3 or 4 leaf clover shape?  Yep.  And when you dip them in paint, you can use them as stamps.  Here's Mac with her shamrocks:

Mimi with hers:

See the handprint at the bottom?  She thinks that that's what we are always supposed to do with paint!

And here's Leiden's with hers:

I love that hers have faces and stems.  So cute.

Blueberries

When it's winter and the blueberries are not in season for fresh, the girls like to eat frozen blueberries warmed up in the microwave.  This makes them super purple, and super juicy.  Which means Mimi's face turns purple.

Hoodlum

Mac's little hooded towel has fast become a favorite.  She loves to huddle up in it after her bath.

Well

Well check time!  I love well checks.  It's always fascinating to see how high on the growth charts Mimi is, and it's always fun to see if she's slowing down.  Uh, not yet.  Both the February girls were checked out, and declared healthy.

Mac is measuring in at 43 lbs. 9.6 oz., which is the 70th percentile, and 44.25 inches tall, which is the 83rd percentile.  This puts her about 9 months ahead of schedule for the average child.  Mimi is still so big, at 41.8 lbs, which is the 85th percentile, and 41.5 inches, which is the 100th percentile.  So she weighs as much as the average 5 year, 3 month old, and is as tall as the average 4 year, 9 month old.  Whew.

This evening the girls made some St. Patrick's necklaces from Apple Jacks.  Just the green ones, of course, but then we thought it might be cute to include just a couple orange ones to represent leprechaun's hair!

Breakfast will be served tomorrow morning!

Mimi has been enjoying the many uses of books these days.  She likes to look at them, she likes to have them read to her, and she likes to build roads and houses with them.  So cute.

Another wiggly tooth is upon us.  It kind of went from barely loose to super wiggly overnight.  Leiden was checking it out in the mirror this afternoon.

And then tonight we yanked it out!  This was definitely the best time she's asked me to do it.  I grabbed it and pulled.  Done and done.  Leiden was brave and hopefully next time she'll remember how easy it was!

Mac was thrilled to be able to take home the Sharing Bag from school last Wednesday.  She has put in two of her new My Little Pony toys from her birthday party, and is very excited to show them off. 

 

 

It's snowing this morning, and Mac is also excited to be able to play outside at school today.  She hopes the snow will last--it looks like it's coming down!

 

 

Mimi drew these two small rectangles today.  She was asked to draw a square, and these are pretty awesome.

 

 

She loves to go play outside, and this afternoon she had serious uncharted territory in the back yard.  Kitty likes the snow, too.  There is something so appealing about being the first to walk through a vast white blanket of snow!

Leiden has enjoyed Mac's generous sharing of her new Cray-pas.  She likes how the colors can blend into one another.

 

 

Tonight Brad and I took Mac to the Kindergarten open house at the elementary.  She already attends preschool at the school, but it was fun to take her into the Kindergarten rooms and meet some of the Kindergarten teachers.

Sip-Sip Hooray!

I scoured the internet for a candy free favor for Mac's preschool class for her birthday, and literally a couple days before her birthday, I found these!  Perfect.  What 5 year old kid doesn't like a silly straw?!

 

 

Mac took these to school today and they will make her a crown, and sing to her, and send her home with the Sharing Bag!  She's very excited about that!

Rapunzel

Machara played dress up with Sadie today.  They were Rapunzel together and it was super cute.

Happy Birthday, Machara!

Machara is 5!  Special waffles started out the day, with the request that the fruit sauce come from berries rather than the peaches used for Mimi's.  Okay.  As always the whipped cream is a hit.  I can't blame her, I like it too!  Maybe even more than syrup!

 

 

Then presents before Daddy has to go to work.  American Girl doll clothes, accessories, and party planners from Grandmere.

 

 

 New clothes from Grandma!

 

 

New Craypas from Mommy and Daddy, and a new hooded towel not pictured. 

 

 

What a haul!  You can see the hooded towel folded up to Mac's right.  Hers is bright pink, and Leiden has already told me that when her birthday comes and she gets a hooded towel that she wants dark blue.  ? 

 

 

Mac chose this outfit for today. 

 

 

She requested breakfast for dinner, so pancakes it was. 

 

 

We stuck some more candles in the cake from her party the other day and called it good!

Mac, I can't believe you're five years old, already.  I don't understand where the time goes.  You are getting to be such a big girl--starting Kindergarten this fall, and your already vibrant personality gains speed all the time.  You are a beautiful little girl, and we love you so much!

Last night Brad and I went out on a date with some friends to Dave and Busters.  We made a boatload of tickets on the games, and the best we could come up with in the prize section was a set of mustaches and a marshmallow shooter.  While enamored of both, Mimi was particularly funny with the mustache.

 

 

Tomorrow is the big day for Mac, and Leiden helped me wrap presents tonight.  She did a great job.

Butterfly Birthday

Another picture rich post, here!  Mac's Butterfly Birthday was today!  Here is her finished cake, with its swarm of butterflies flying right up off it!  I have to say, it turned out exactly as I had planned in my head!  These butterflies were so pretty.

 

 

I laid some bigger ones out on the table.

 

 

And after spending about 30 minutes with Brad untangling the garland I sewed, I put it up in bits.

 

 

There were pretty striped straws with butterflies on them.

 

 

And a pretty little girl with butterfly clips in her hair.  She wore her shirt with a big flower on it 'because I don't have a butterfly shirt, but butterflies like flowers'.  I totally should have made her a butterfly shirt!!

 

 

First on the docket after the little girls got there was crafts!  We made two different kinds of butterflies.  One from paper plates and foam with googly eyes and antennae.

 

 

And the others from a baggie of fruit loops cinched in the middle with an antennae, googly eyed clothespin!

 

 

They turned out really well.

 

 

Things were moving faster than I had anticipated, so after the game of pin the butterfly on the flower, we got out some drawing paper and let the girls draw.  Mac, of course, drew butterflies!

 

 

Then it was time for cake, at which point I realized I only had rainbow candles from last year.  Yes!

 

 

Happy Birthday, dear Machara, Happy Birthday to you.

 

 

Making a wish!

 

 

The cake was strawberry (flavored and colored mostly by strawberry jello!) with vanilla frosting per Mac's request.  It was good, but not my favorite.

 

 

The scallops worked out better than I anticipated.  I don't ever practice these things beforehand, so I'm always pleased when I start a new frosting technique the day of a party and it works!

 

 

Of course, who am I kidding--would any of them really cared if it hadn't?

 

 

Last was presents, which Mac was very excited about.

 

 

What a party!  Mimi is somehow missing from this picture, but it was a cute little set of girls and a fun little party for Mac.