Grace's 5th Birthday Party!

Sidney Kate's cousin, Grace, turned 5 recently and a group of little princesses gathered at her house to celebrate.  The theme was PRINCESS, which fits so perfectly with this age.  Sidney Kate took awhile to "warm up" even telling me she'd participate "after I warm up a little."
(facepalm)
So after warming up she determined she wanted a long dress (cheers from Daddy) and would be Snow White.  She started playing alone, I guess another part of her "warming up" and ventured into Grace's room.  My thought as I took this picture "That will be the only horse she ever rides."  Not because I won't let her, because I don't forsee her ever overcoming her quirks of transitions and doing new things.

So off to the party we go...

The girls had the change to get hair and makeup done, which was a big hit!  Sidney Kate, however, wanted none of that. This is the birthday girl getting all dolled up.

Toward the end of the party we were able to get all the girls together for a few shots.

Crowns, lemonade, cupcakes and more...

Grace's house has all sorts of animals, one being a horse named Macs.  So after our group shot the horse came out to play. Here we are watching.  She made sure I knew she wasn't going to ride that horse.

So we watched the other princesses ride.  Kambreya was up first.

Then after a few more, Snow White turned to me and said, "I think I want to ride that horse." This is where I was questioning if she really would but inside I was so excited that she might try.  I had the camera and handed my phone for another mom to video because I was sure she'd cry at the first step of the horse.  BUT SHE DIDN'T!!  She proved her mommy wrong and I was so very proud of her! She was brave! She rode for 2 laps, then let others ride THEN she asked to go again.  What a day!

Poor Grace had to wait till the end to ride her own horse.  But she waiting very well and look adorable riding in her princess dress!
 

Good Times Again

The boys, indy especially, are so excited that they have another baby who is learning to eat.  This means lots of food on the floor and happy puppies.

She has also learned that they'll eat right from her hand.  So far this has left both parties happy.
 

Red and White

No better way to welcome Spring than to bring out the red and white! Embree Claire's outfit was full of color so Sidney Kate wanted to sport her Wolfpack pride too.

No better way to welcome Spring than to bring out the red and white! Embree Claire's outfit was full of color so Sidney Kate wanted to sport her Wolfpack pride too.

New do!

Check out my hairdo by Kimmie!!

Walking...Assisted

So the story went something like this...
Kevin made a comment that he thought Sidney Kate was more advanced than Embree Claire in this and that.
So I went and got SKV's baby calendar to see what she was doing around this time.
He was right...SKV was taking steps in January, then more in February...then we saw where she was using this walking toy.
That pretty much sent us in "cram mode" (like in college days) and Daddy ran for the walking toy.
And bam!

She loved it, thought she was the stuff! We were all so shocked and excited!

She'd get to one end of the room and grunt in frustration that she was stuck.

Then we accepted the award for "Worst Parents Ever" as we realized how behind we've been in letting Embree Claire try stuff. She's probably ready for so much and we're just too busy to pay attention.
Time to slow down then!

Don't drink the water!

Or do...whatever. Her new trick

Yum!

Another new trick-

What sistah?!

Happy 95 Gigi!

Aunt Dot had everyone over to her house to celebrate Gigi's 95th Birthday! Wowzer! Gigi is my great aunt on the Hauser side.
We quickly learned that this house isn't baby proof...guess which picture we're talking about. :)

Sidney Kate and Gigi, the birthday girl!

Sidney Kate and Aunt Dot, the hostess!

Glass elephant...great idea ;)

Party fun!

GG Days

Someone is taking over sister's swing! Aunt Jill and Uncle Josh can know that this swing has gotten and will get plenty of use! The girls love it!

See?!

Wagon time-I think this was Embree Claire's first wagon stroll and it was with GG!



Darlin' little face!

Daddy's Baby

I'm learning this camera...slowly. I think I had the wrong light thing going...clearly-cause it's yellow!

But isn't that sweet!

SNOW DAY!

Oh how Sweet Sidney Kate wanted snow for Christmas. She just thought that was part of the deal. Well, that didn't happen. Not even close! We've been having crazy warm winter weather...I mean, I thought we had four seasons here! Not this year!
So when she woke up that faithful Monday morning to snow on the ground-she was pumped!

These first pics were of Sunday afternoon, before we realized the tiny snow storm that was headed our way.

So, Monday morning I got the girls ready pretty early. I knew I would be dancing around tired times, hungry times etc...so first thing seemed to be my only shot. That paired with warm weather coming to melt the snow...we had to hurry!

I think ECV felt like the kids on The Christmas Story. She fell over when I sat her on the floor-pitiful!

So we waddled outside and got the sled, all was well for a bit.



Then she fell back and was over it. Her left hand kept dragging in the snow and Mommy was reminded that Sidney Kate is only 3 and can't take care of sister and enjoy the snow. So I would carry ECV awhile and pull SKV so she could "enjoy" the snow. :)

The aftermath.

Then I had an "ah-ha!" moment and let Sidney Kate have her own time on the deck.

She ate snow the whole time...

Then she figured out that indy wouldn't mind her putting snow on him...he just thought she was petting him. :)

haha

Good times!