Joint Birthday Party in Upland

Samantha: 48 Months, Week 1
Aedan: Week 56

Life has been much different with Ben around the house more this week.  Since he doesn't have to be at campus at a certain time, he took Samantha to preschool again this week, allowing me to put Aedan down for a nap and spend the morning at home.  It's a lot more relaxed than having to drag Aedan in the car to preschool and back, plus it allows me to get more done around the house.

The last few days Aedan has really been working on standing up.  He will often pull up on something, let go, and stand by himself for a few seconds.  I tried to get it on video, and you can see it better in the second video, but Aedan was too busy trying to crawl over me.

Wednesday morning I got a much better video of Aedan's new skills.  He can pull himself up with ease, as he's been doing that for quite some time.  However, now he is starting to to cruise along furniture and other things that he can hold on to.  In this video you can see him move from his stand-up toy to his car and then to standing on his own for a few seconds.  It's great to see him finding his own independence and learning how to move on his own.  It's hard to believe that only three months ago he really learned how to crawl for the first time.  He has gone from a little baby to a toddler so fast, growing and learning more every day.

This was a busy week of doctor's appointments for Samantha now that she has turned four.  Daddy took her to the dentist right after preschool on Tuesday, and she did a great job.  They checked and cleaned her teeth.  She has no cavities, and they said to just keep on doing what she's doing.  Samantha was very excited to be able to pick out a special princess toothbrush. :)

Then, on Wednesday afternoon, right when Samantha is normally getting ready for her afternoon nap, I took her to the pediatrician for her four year check-up with Dr. Buerk.  We weren't sure if Samantha would get shots or not, and shortly after we were taken back to a room, the nurse said Samantha would need to get four shots.  They are her kindergarten vaccines, and they could be done either this year or next year, but they are recommended to be done at four, so we figured we would just get them over with.  Samantha was not excited to hear that news and instantly started to cry.  She came over to sit on my lap and buried her head into my shoulder.  She has seen how much Aedan cries when he gets shots, so she was a little afraid of what it would feel like.  We went out into the hallway so that they could weigh her and measure her height.  Her height was 42.25 inches and her weight was 41 pounds which put her in the 50th percentile for her BMI.  I had to fill out a Healthy Habits questionnaire about how much fruit and vegetables she eats, whether she eats breakfast, how much milk and other beverages she drinks, how much screen time she gets, and those sorts of things.  The doctor said she was right on track, exactly where she needed to be for her age, except for maybe drinking another cup of milk per day.  We also filled out an Ages & Stages Questionnaire ahead of time which assessed Samantha's skills in communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving, and personal-social.  The range was for 45 months 0 days through 50 months 30 days, and Samantha was off the charts.  She is very advanced developmentally, which is how she has been all along.  Samantha had to change into this wonderful little paper gown, which she thought was pretty strange.  Her check-up went well, and then it was time for the vaccines.  Samantha sat on my lap, and the nurse stuck her two times in each arm.  Samantha cried, of course, but it didn't take long to calm her back down again.  She got four sparkly band-aids and the promise of a sticker and sucker, so that helped, too. :)

On Thursday Daddy took Samantha to preschool again, but we had a little misunderstanding.  Apparently it was Samantha's popcorn pajama party for learning how to write their first and last names, but we misread the email and forgot to send her in her pajamas or with a flashlight and toy.  I was busy getting Aedan down for a nap and getting laundry going, so I didn't see that Ben had tried to call me to see if we could do something to help her out.  I felt really bad that we had forgotten, and I didn't want Samantha to feel left out, but apparently she was okay and didn't care that we made a mistake.  I'm glad that she's pretty easygoing most of the time.  Some kids could have had a meltdown over something like that.

Samantha was pretty tired that Thursday and almost looked like she could fall asleep in the car on the way home from preschool.  I told her that we would eat a quick lunch so that she could take a good nap.  Right after lunch she went upstairs and when I was done cleaning up and took Aedan upstairs to get him ready for his nap, I found Samantha sitting in her bed, quietly looking at books, with a stack of other books to follow.  It was just too cute, so I had to take a picture.

Then, she wanted me to take a picture of her with the little puppy at the end of the book.

Later that day, I just had to post this comparison picture.  I can't believe how fast my little girl is growing up.  I still think she is beautiful, but now I also know that she has a beautiful heart as well.

Thursday night we had a lot to do to get ready for our weekend trip.  We wanted to get most everything packed up so that we could leave as soon as we were up and ready the next morning.  Samantha knew we were going to go to Upland sometime soon to celebrate her and Alaina's birthdays, as she helped us pick out her present earlier in the week, but we didn't let her know exactly when it was going to happen.  We keep things a secret from her unless she absolutely has to know because she tends to get too excited and then not be able to sleep.

We were able to leave around 9:30 a.m. on Friday, getting us to Upland in time for a little time to play and time to eat lunch before putting our kids down for a nap.  Alaina, Aunt Jeni, and Uncle Andrew planned to arrive after dinner, and Samantha found it hard to wait patiently because she was just too excited, so we tried to distract her with other activities like helping Grandma in the garden and going on a walk around Taylor's campus.  We love to spend lots of time outside when we are in Upland.  Grandpa hung up both swings in their backyard, which Samantha and Aedan both enjoyed tremendously.

Samantha was diligently helping Grandma dig out weeds from around the corn.

We love to go on walks around Taylor's campus.  I think the girls think they own the place because when the weather is nice we take every opportunity we can to walk across the street and walk and play on campus.  Campus is so beautiful now that they have done so many updates to the landscaping.  We enjoyed looking at the azaleas and sitting by the stream.  I love these little pictures of Samantha sitting in nature.  She loves to stop and smell the flowers and always wants me to put one in her hair when she finds one that has fallen on the ground.

To go along with the cute pictures of Samantha with Grandma in the garden, here are some cute pictures of Grandpa swinging with Samantha.  This time with them together is so special to her.

Friday night, once the Rileys arrived, Samantha and Alaina were so excited to play together.  In fact, it was a bit tricky to get them settled down to bed at a decent time.  Uncle Timmy planned on driving up for the birthday weekend celebration as well, so we took over Grandpa and Grandma's bedroom, setting up an air mattress at the foot of the bed for Samantha to sleep on.  We set up Aedan's pack and play in Tim's old room which is more like a storage/toy room right now.  Ben lovingly moved a comfortable chair for me to use while nursing and rocking Aedan to sleep, and Aedan went to sleep with no trouble.  Sometimes Aedan can wake up pretty early in the morning, sometimes as early as 5:30-5:45, and we didn't want him waking up that early and waking up Samantha as well if we were all in the same room.  If she were to wake up that early, but close enough to her normal wake up time, she would probably have a hard time going back to sleep.

After the kids were safely tucked into their beds, Ben, Andrew, Jeni, and I went to get ice cream at Ivanhoe's together.  (Ben and I were both craving a strawberry shortcake, and Ivanhoe's has one of the best around.)  It was a good time for the four of us to catch up and talk without having to wrangle our kids.  However, when we got back to the house, Aedan was crying and Grandpa was attempting to get him back to sleep.  We could tell that Aedan was pretty upset, so Ben went in there to help him out.  Grandpa didn't know that Aedan had a pacifier in his bed, which definitely would have helped him out.  It took Ben a little bit of time to calm Aedan back down, but then he slept really well the rest of the night.  In fact, he slept in for quite awhile on Saturday morning.  We always joke that he sleeps better when he goes to sleep angry at night.  We ended up having to wake Aedan up a little after 9:00 a.m. so that we could feed him breakfast before we all went on a walk around campus.  Samantha slept pretty well, too, sleeping until almost 7:00, with one potty break in the middle of the night, of course.  We never know what will happen when we are out of our normal routine and beds, but it was a successful night for all!

Samantha and Alaina play hard when they are together in Upland.  It is so cute to see the two of them interact, talk, and play games together.  Saturday morning, after helping Grandpa make pancakes for breakfast, they danced together.

After everyone was ready, we loaded the girls up in the wagon, put Aedan in the stroller, and set off on a walk around Taylor.  Here are some pictures and video of our time together.  

We loved to stop and look at the azalea garden again.  Samantha just loves flowers.

Aedan also got out of the stroller and looked at the flowers, then taking a walk with Grandma and Daddy.  He loves to use his legs and is becoming stronger and sturdier every day.  In fact, on Thursday night when we were in the bathroom getting ready for bath time at home, Aedan took three steps across the room from Daddy to me.  We were so excited and so proud!  He will be walking on his own any day now, I'm sure of it!

And of course we had to stop at the science building.  We always make our way to the basement so the girls can dance and sing on the beautiful glass tiles that make up the floor.  The girls took turns singing songs for us.

Aedan had a good time crawling around, eating a little snack, and playing with Uncle Andrew.

We were out for over an hour and half that morning on our walk, so we decided it was time to head back to the house so that we could have lunch and then make our special Frozen treat, an Olaf snowman made out of graham crackers, frosting, marshmallows, and other topping decorations.

Samantha was pretty proud of her Olaf, but even better, he tasted good, too!

As we were getting closer to nap time that afternoon, Grandma heard a tractor out in the field near their front yard, so she took Samantha and Aedan outside to watch the tractor work in the field.  I captured a few pictures of them sitting in the grass together.  It was such a precious sight, a grandmother and her grandchildren.  Apparently Aedan seemed to learn the word tractor because later in the day when somebody said that word, he crawled over to the front door and looked outside, like he knew that's where the tractor would be.  We have a smart boy on our hands.  He understands so much more language than we realize.

All the kids were very tired from a long and very active morning.  Alaina was up early that morning, so she took a long nap with her Daddy that afternoon.  Samantha napped only a little over an hour, which really wasn't long enough for her.  She was just too excited to be around all the family.  Plus, she knew the cake and presents were going to happen after nap time.  We decided to celebrate the birthdays before dinner so that way the girls would have time to play with their new presents during the rest of the evening, rather than waiting until after dinner when it would be close to bath time and bed time.

Grandma and Aunt Jeni went to town on the cake for the girls.  Grandma made blue velvet cake and layered it to look like Elsa's castle.  She covered it in white fondant to look like ice and snow and even ordered Frozen figures to put on top the cake.  Aunt Jeni added a nice touch in making candy that looked like ice shards.  The cake turned out great, and the girls thought it was pretty awesome.

It's so fun to be able to get together every year and celebrate a joint birthday party like this.  As Grandma commented once during the weekend, God knew what he was doing when he planned for these two girls to be born so close together.  It think they would honestly say that they are each other's best friend.

The cake was delicious, and then it was time for presents.  Samantha got Rapunzel and Flynn Rider Barbie dolls, as well as a Frozen t-shirt, from Uncle Timmy.

Aedan was very interested in the present opening and wanted to get in on the action as well.  It's funny because both girls say, "No, Aedan!" in the same kind of voice.  It'll be interesting in a year or so to see how they interact with him, whether they love him and take him under their wing, including him in their games, or whether they think of him as the pesky little boy that's always trying to get in their way.  I hope that it's the former over the latter.

Samantha got some clothes from Aunt Jeni, Uncle Andrew, and Alaina, along with some special tablets that change the color of your tub water and a Frozen pen.

Grandpa and Grandma gave both girls matching outfits that were so cute: a little flamingo skirt and a bright pink shirt that says "LOVE" on it.

Alaina's big present from Grandpa and Grandma was Anna and Elsa Barbie dolls.

Whereas Samantha's big present was a new bike with 14 inch wheels.  The old bike she had was getting too small for her, and it sat outside in the elements for too long while we lived in Bloomington so the tires didn't hold air and parts of it were broken.  They wrapped a picture of the bike for Samantha to open, and then told her she had to go on a search in the garage for a bike that looked like that.

I think Samantha was a little confused at first, and I don't think she yet realized how great of a gift this would be for her.  However, she was pretty excited to get out and ride it in the driveway.  We even brought her helmet for her so that way she could stay safe.

We had a good dinner of sausages grilled out, and both kids ate really well that evening.  Aedan ate really well all weekend.  (That was not true to describe how he was nursing, however.  I don't know what is causing his lack of interest in nursing, whether it's teething or just starting to wean.)  The rest of the evening was spent riding bikes, playing with balls, being outside, and being together.  However, especially since Samantha didn't nap as long as she should have, she got pretty crabby and disrespectful that evening.  She got a couple time outs and that helped some in changing her attitude, but it just seems like she has such a hard time being surrounded by people for an entire weekend like this.  She almost just gets overwhelmed and overstimulated by all the commotion.  She never sleeps as much or as well as she does at home, and that makes it more difficult for her to behave in a normal, respectful way which tests Mommy's and Daddy's patience.

Here's a picture of the two girls together that evening.

The girls took a bath together that night with water colored purple from Samantha's new bath color tabs.  Then, both girls put on their fancy dresses and had a little pre-bed dance party.  Alaina couldn't wait to try on her new Elsa dress and shoes from Uncle Timmy.

I even got in on the dancing some, having a Mommy-Daughter dance with my little girl.

Luckily, with how tired Samantha and Aedan were, they went right to sleep for us and we didn't hear a peep out of them until morning.  Samantha woke up around 6:30 a.m., which was earlier than we would have liked, but we can't complain as this is even a normal wake up time for her at home sometimes.  Aedan slept until about 7:00, giving us a chance to give him about an hour long morning nap before heading to church.

Here'a s picture of the three cousins (and Rapunzel) that morning upon waking up.

Samantha and Alaina both decided they wanted to wear their matching outfits from Grandpa and Grandma to church that morning.  They looked SO adorable together, and Aunt Jeni got some great pictures of the two of them together.

Papa got to read this book, The Book with No Pictures, to the girls many times over the weekend.  In it, the reader has to make all kinds of funny noises, which of course the girls think is hilarious, especially coming from their silly Papa.

Due to Uncle Andrew's work schedule, we don't get to see as much of him as we would like.  In fact, we hadn't seen him since Christmas, and of course, Aedan has changed a lot since then.  I think Andrew really enjoyed playing with Aedan, helping him walk around with his toy car, playing ball with him, pushing him in the swing, and of course, busting a move with our tiny dancer.

Before we left church that morning, we got a family picture of the whole Toll clan together.  I think the picture really turned out well.  It's not too often you can take a picture of three kids and have them all looking at the camera at the same time!

After church once we got back to the house, Aunt Jeni took some great family pictures for us.  It's wonderful to take the opportunity to get a picture of all four of us together. :)  We don't get to do that very often.

Samantha was still running on a sleep deficit on Sunday morning, making her crabby again.  We decided to have lunch with everyone in Upland and then head out for home, rather than staying through nap time like Jeni, Andrew, and Alaina were going to do.  We needed to pick up Roscoe by 6:00 p.m., and Samantha doesn't always nap too well on Sunday afternoons.  Plus, we knew if we put Aedan down for a nap there he would end up sleeping so long that we would have to wake him up in order to get to Oxford in time to get Roscoe.  So we packed everything up and hoped that the kids would take good naps in the car.  They both slept about an hour, so not too shabby, and it was nice to get back home earlier, get everything unpacked and put away, and have a little bit of time together as a family before bed time.

Monday was Memorial Day, and we were all pretty tired from a long, busy weekend, so we actually slept in much later than usual.  Well, Aedan woke up early, around 5:30 and we eventually settled him back down to sleep.  Samantha woke up at 7:15, which is actually sort of sleeping in for her, and I told her to get up and go downstairs and play by herself so that Mommy and Daddy could get a little extra sleep, and we ended up sleeping in until 7:45.  We had a relaxed morning together before going out and running a few errands to a few stores together.  It's much easier running errands with Ben than by myself with the kids.  We had a good family day together.  It will be nice having Ben around more this summer, with a more relaxed schedule.

Here are some silly pictures and a video of Aedan playing with Roscoe's kennel.  Samantha really enjoyed doing this when she was his age as well.  There are so many similarities between the two of them, in looks and in personality, both so many differences as well. :)

(Blog about May 19-25, 2015)

Samantha Turns 4 Years Old!

Samantha: 47 Months, Week 5

Aedan: Week 55

This week was a busy week with Samantha's birthday coming up and a couple other activities planned.  Aedan continued to wake up early and not go back to sleep, so often he was down for his morning nap by 9:00 or 9:30, depending on if I had to take Samantha to preschool that day or not.  This week was also exciting because it was finals week at Miami, meaning Ben's semester was finally almost over.  Finals week meant the end is in sight, but it also meant that Ben had a lot of work to do in order to get all the finals graded and the grades finalized.  After his grades were completed, he planned on finishing the edits and formatting on his dissertation.  By the way, have I mentioned that his defense date is officially scheduled for June 23?  We are both SO excited.  Ben has worked so hard over the last several year on the research and writing of his dissertation.  He has endured many sleepless nights and given up many other things in order to complete his PhD.  I know that he will feel a huge weight lifted off his shoulders when he finally defends.  He has basically been working two jobs the last year in teaching three classes a semester at Miami while also writing much of his dissertation.  I am so proud of him.  He is one of the hardest workers that I know.  I would never have the resiliency to put my mind to accomplish something so great.  Many don't understand what actually goes into writing a dissertation and the years that go into getting a PhD until you go through it firsthand.  He has worked hard, and his hard worked has paid off.  He has an interesting, relevant dissertation topic and has gotten great teaching experience along the way, shaping him into a wonderful professor that many students enjoy and want to take more classes with in the future.  I can't say enough about how proud I am of Ben. :)

Here is a fun picture and video from lunch on Tuesday.  I was trying to get a picture/video of the molars that have come through in his mouth.  He has one on both sides on the bottom now.  I think it was the one on his right that just pushed it's way through.  This boy is just too adorable.  He has such gorgeous eyes and eyelashes, just like his daddy.

The noise that you hear in this video below is a common occurrence at our house.  Meal times are definitely not the most quiet or relaxing times. :)

On Wednesday I decided to take Samantha and Aedan to the Cincinnati Zoo by myself.  Now that Aedan doesn't care too much whether or not he nurses in the middle of the day, it's much easier to make these trips together.  It was going to be a beautiful sunny day in the lower 70s, perfect for a day outside.  Here we are before entering the zoo.  Samantha always wants to ride on the rhino, and this time I put Aedan on it with her so that I could get a picture of them together.  She did a good job holding on to him tightly.

After that, I wanted to get in a picture with them, so we sat on a bench together and did a family "selfie."  I don't get myself in enough pictures, and I really like this one.

Then we went up the elevator, used the bathroom and changed Aedan's diaper, before starting our trip around the zoo.  We started off with the elephants and giraffes, before stopping to let Samantha climb on the lion statues for awhile.

They are having an event called "Zoo Babies" at the zoo right now because there are many animals that have recently had babies.  Anywhere there are babies, there is a special sign of a stork with the names of the parents, the names of the babies, as well as the ages of the babies.  The lion cubs were the first ones we saw and there was quite a line to get to the front of the glass and see them up close.  You can see the male and female lion in this picture, and the cubs are lying around them, but you can't see very well due to the glare.  When we first got there, the lion cubs were bounding around in their enclosure.  I always find it so fascinating to see wild animals like this up close.

After the lions we made our way toward the meerkats, stopping by a couple other animals as we passed them.  At first the meerkats were inside their little home, but Samantha stood there and looked in the glass and one by one they came out, many coming right up to the window by where she stood.  She LOVED these little animals.  She kept talking about how cute they were and was trying to kiss and hug them through the glass.

After Samantha spent quite a bit of time watching the meerkats and playing in the bubble, it was getting close to lunch time, so we went on a train ride while the line was short before going to get some lunch.  I took a picture with both Aedan and Samantha while sitting on the train.  They both enjoy the train ride so much.  We were having such a great day together.  I love being able to do things like this with them.  Special time. :)

There was quite a long line to wait to buy our lunch that afternoon, but they both did a great job being patient.  We have not been buying baby food for Aedan anymore, so I ended up getting two pieces of pizza and a kid's meal to share between the three of us.  That way Samantha and I each got a piece of pizza.  Samantha got animal crackers from the kid's meal, and then Aedan got to eat the applesauce, meat, and cheese from the sandwich in the kid's meal.  I got the leftover bread that Aedan didn't eat.  Samantha was done eating long before Aedan, but she did an excellent job of waiting patiently.  This boy is always the last one done eating because it seems like his stomach is a bottomless pit.

After lunch we took another bathroom break and stopped to change Aedan's diaper.  A bathroom break takes a lot longer when it is just me because I have to take turns taking care of both Samantha and Aedan before trying to go to the bathroom myself.  Then, we headed into a placed called Wings of the World, which I always forget about.  There are lots of different birds in this building with several rooms to walk into through plastic chain links that keep the birds from flying out.  Aedan thought it was pretty interesting to feel the plastic chains as I pushed the stroller through the doors.  However, the best part of this area was by far the penguins.  Even though it was 1:45 and Aedan was tired from not having napped all day, he really enjoyed the penguin exhibit.  Penguins have always been one of Samantha's favorite animals, too.  She just walked back and forth in front of the glass, talking to the penguins, pointing out different penguins to me, and watching them swim and dive into the water.  This was the first time we had really taken Aedan to see the penguin exhibit, and he also LOVED watching them.  You just have to watch this video below.  A little past halfway you can see Aedan point and then do one of the greatest laughs ever!  This is how he laughs when he really thinks something is funny.  It was great to watch the two of them enjoying the penguins together.  We stayed there for quite awhile just watching them swim.

From there we saw animals that live in the jungle, like the orangutan wrapped in a blanket, and walked along the Jungle Trails where they have interactive areas for kids to pretend to climb like the animals.

While we were walking around on the Jungle Trails, Aedan was getting pretty sleepy.  I brought the Ergo with me in case I needed to put him in there to take an afternoon nap.  He was pretty happy in the stroller, so I just let him sit and enjoy looking around and feel the cool breeze and sun on him.  However, he then got really quiet so I looked down and noticed that he had fallen asleep.  He never falls asleep like this, especially in his stroller!  I was pleased that he just let himself fall asleep when he was tired because then I didn't have to carry him around in the Ergo, plus push the stroller.  He stayed asleep for quite awhile in the stroller, getting a pretty good nap in of slightly over an hour.

From the jungle animals, we went to see the white lions before going to see the manatees, all on our way to the carousel.

Aedan was still asleep in the stroller even after going through the manatees, so we decided to stop at the petting zoo before going to the carousel.  I knew he would enjoy riding on the carousel, plus Samantha couldn't ride by herself, and I didn't want to wake Aedan up.  I didn't know the petting zoo closed at 3:00 either, so we got there just in time for Samantha to enjoy the animals.  Samantha LOVES to brush and pet the goats.  She even found some hay to feed one of them.  She kept saying, "He's really hungry!"  There are times that I really think she would enjoy growing up on a farm and being able to take care of animals on a daily basis.

After going on the carousel and seeing a few other animals, it was getting pretty late in the day, Samantha was started to lose interest in looking at anything or even walking, so we decided to call it a day.  We ended up leaving the zoo after 4:30, having been there since about 10:30.  I don't think we've ever stayed at the zoo that long before!  We were just having such a good time, both kids were doing so well, and the weather was so nice, there was no reason to leave at a certain time.  Samantha kept asking me how long we were going to stay, to which I replied, "However long you want, as long as you're respectful!"  I told Samantha she could look at two books before I wanted her to close her eyes and try to take a nap.  She fell asleep almost as soon as she closed her eyes.  I wasn't sure if Aedan would fall asleep or not.  I gavehim the pacifier to see if it would help him stay quiet for Samantha, but he didn't want it.  However, after crying for a couple minutes (which didn't bother Samantha at all), he fell asleep as well.  Both kids slept the rest of the way home, and I had a quiet, peaceful car ride home.  I was so glad that I decided to venture to the zoo on my own.  I had a wonderful day with my two precious kids.  We will definitely have to do it again another time.

Daddy's last final was on Wednesday, so now his schedule is much more flexible.  We scheduled Samantha's new twin mattress to be delivered on Thursday just before lunch, so Daddy actually dropped off and picked up Samantha from preschool that day so that I could go grocery shopping and then wait for the delivery team to arrive.  Aedan was a trooper while we ran a couple errands, but he was really tired and ended up falling asleep in the car on the way home.  It was a cool day outside, so I decided to just let him keep sleeping in the car while I unloaded the groceries and put them away.  He looked so cute and comfortable sleeping in his car seat.

Later that afternoon, once Samantha woke up from her nap, Daddy took her to Target to pick out part of her birthday present.  To go along with her new bed and twin mattress, we needed sheets and a blanket.  We figured she would like the Anna and Elsa sheets and blanket that I found at Target, so I had them held at customer service.  However, we wanted her to be able to choose her bedding, in case she wanted something different.  Of course when she saw the bedding set with Anna and Elsa, she didn't even want to look at anything else.

Aedan loves Samantha, as well as anything she's playing with.  On Friday it was this Dora book that has buttons to push that make sounds and music as you read the story.  Aedan was very interested in it, and Samantha graciously let him play with it.  This video is great for a number of reasons.  First of all, the interaction between Samantha and Aedan.  Second, you can hear Aedan's little grunting laugh which he does quite a bit, and we think it's just hilarious.  Third, Aedan's dance moves.  When he hears music he almost always starts dancing, swaying his head and hips back and forth.  He loves to dance.  In fact, I think he dances more than Samantha did when she was his age.

Our plan was to put Samantha's bed together on Friday evening, so that she could sleep in it overnight.  So Friday at nap time, I had Samantha sit in her bed so that I could take pictures of her there for the last time.  Her last nap in her toddler bed, on the mattress that she has slept on since she was a little baby.

Do you see how long she is in the bed?  When she lays out flat, her feet almost touch the bottom of her bed.  It was definitely time for a new, bigger bed!

So Friday evening after dinner, Daddy and Samantha worked on putting her new twin bed together while I hung out with Aedan, trying to keep him out of the way.  It was getting close to bed time, and it took longer for us to put the bed together than we thought it would.  Plus, once we put the box spring and mattress both on her bed, her bed was WAY too high.  Samantha wouldn't have even been able to climb into her bed, so we decided to take the box spring off and have Samantha just use the mattress until we could have a smaller box spring delivered.  I got Samantha's bed all made up withe her new Anna and Elsa sheets and blanket, and then we had Samantha come into the room to see her new bed.  We caught her reaction on video, and it was pretty great.  Now granted, she was very tired because it was already past her bed time, but I think she was pretty excited about her new, big bed, as you can tell by this video. :)

Of course she had to climb right in and try it out.  Here is our silly girl in her new bed.  I think she's going to like having more space to spread out as well as a more comfortable, softer mattress.

Saturday, May 16th was a big day because it was Samantha's 4th birthday!  She was SO excited about her birthday and had been talking about it for weeks.  We planned a little birthday party for her with eight of her little friends: five from preschool, two from church, and one from ballet.  Ben and I were up until 11:30 the night before making her the strawberry cupcakes that she requested.  I found a Martha Stewart recipe using lots of fresh strawberries, but the recipe was a little more complicated than I realized, especially the recipe for making the icing.

Also, we had originally planned to have her party at Oxford Community Park where the kids would be able to just play on the playground; however, as her birthday approached and we watched the forecast, it didn't look very promising for the day of her birthday.  There was over a 50% chance of strong thunderstorms, so at the last minute on Friday afternoon, I was able to change the location to our church preschool room instead.  The room worked out perfectly, and I went over ahead of time to set up and decorate for the party.  I bought six different balloons to mark the location of where the party was in the church.  I bought "Happy Birthday" decorations to hang from the ceiling, as well as a tablecloth, plates, napkins, and party hats.  Besides the strawberry cupcakes, we also brought Cheez-its, juice boxes, cheese sticks, and watermelon wedges.  Here is what the room looked like, all decorated and ready for her party.

I didn't make the cake into any fancy shape like I have the last birthdays since I planned on making cupcakes this year.  Especially since we were originally going to have her party at the park, I figured cupcakes would be much easier than having to cut up and serve a cake.  However, I did cover a cardboard pizza box with aluminum foil and then place the cupcakes in the shape of a 4.  The little strawberry cupcakes look so pretty and fresh!

The party started at 10:00 a.m., and it actually was not raining yet, so we decided to let the kids all play on the playground for awhile.  Samantha was SO excited when all her friends started showing up for her party.  It was great to see her interacting with her friends, all her favorite people all in one place.  The kids got along really well with each other and were having a blast on the playground.  Here's my little birthday girl. :)

After the kids played on the playground for about half and hour and all the guests had arrived, we moved everyone inside.  Samantha was very excited about eating cake and opening her presents and was getting impatient in having to wait.  I had all the kids find a seat at the little table with Samantha at the head of the table, sitting in the chair with special balloons tied to it.  When we sent out the invitations, I wrote that no presents were necessary, but most kids brought presents anyways, which was thoughtful of them.  Ben helped me carry the cupcakes over the table, we lit four candles, and then we all sung "Happy Birthday" to Samantha.  This video is great to watch because you can see how much Samantha loved being sung to.  She had a huge smile on her face and felt a little bashful.  Her friends all helped her blow the candles out at the end, and then everyone helped themselves to snacks and cupcakes.  (I think the cupcakes tasted pretty good, if I say so myself.  It had a really good cake batter recipe.  I think next time we would try to make the icing a bit different because it seemed to separate some after being in the refrigerator over night.)

After most kids were pretty much finished eating, we had Samantha start opening her presents.  Many of the kids made sweet little handmade cards, and the presents were really thoughtful.  She got a fish lacing toy, a watercolor painting book, an activity kit for cutting out crafts, a big frisbee, a Frozen beach towel, a special book set with a magic pen that talks when you answer questions correctly from the stories, a Frozen lunch box with a puzzle inside, two Step into Reading books, sparkly clips, and a purse.  I feel like they were special, creative presents, not your usual "junk" or random presents.  It was all stuff that Samantha would really enjoy.  She loves doing arts and crafts, and of course, she loves anything Frozen.  Here are some pictures of Samantha opening her presents.

She did a great job of hugging each of her little friends to say thank you after opening each present.

Then, after the presents were opened, I introduced the craft that the kids could do if they wanted.  I found wooden masks at the dollar store in various shapes and brought washable paint and paint brushes from home.  Most of the girls wanted to paint, as well as Daniel.  I took the picture below after Samantha had already gotten up from the table.  She picked a princess mask, of course, and painted it exactly like it looked in the sample picture on the package.  They were very thorough in their painting, so I was glad that I decided to have a craft like this for the kids to work on if they wanted to.

Those that didn't want to do the craft had fun playing with the toys instead.  The rest of the party was just open and free for the kids to play and for the parents to talk and get to know one another better.  Especially the preschool parents, we see each other twice a week but don't necessarily have any time to talk with each other at drop-off and pick-up.  It was a wonderful birthday party and a successful attempt at our first party with inviting friends.  Samantha had a blast, and her friends had a blast.  It was nothing fancy, just simple and fun, with play time and food and friends, exactly what preschoolers need.  And I didn't even need Pinterest to help me. :)

Most everyone left by noon, we cleaned up after ourselves, and then headed home to get our two tired kids some lunch and a much needed nap.  Aedan hadn't napped at all the morning, so he was definitely ready.  We had a busy morning, and both kids went to sleep easily and had good naps.  That evening we let Samantha pick a restaurant to go to for her birthday.  She picked Chipotle which is definitely her favorite restaurant.  She just loves the kid's meal with a cheese quesadilla, rice, beans, and chocolate milk.  Last year for her 3rd birthday she picked Chipotle as well, and Aedan fell asleep in the car on the way there, sleeping all the way through dinner, cake, and presents.

The next couple of days were rather uneventful.  We went to church on Sunday and volunteered to help with the kids during second service since we were going to be out of town the following weekend when we were originally scheduled.  Then, we just spent some good family time at home enjoying a more relaxed schedule with Daddy being done with classes and with the last birthday celebration over for awhile.

This picture was my attempt to capture Aedan holding his sippy cup in his mouth with just his teeth.  He won't hold it with his hands, but just grip it with teeth and tip his head back when he wants to drink more milk.  We think it's pretty funny to see him do this lately..

Then, on Monday when Daddy got home from work, he was playing with Samantha and Aedan in the living room, and I heard them get really excited because he took a step toward Samantha.  I got my phone to take a video, but he didn't quite do it again.  However, Ben did makes the comment that his first step probably will be towards a ball or his sister, two of his very favorite things.

(Blog about May 12-18, 2015)