Birthday Girl

 

On October 17, 2011, our daughter, Amelia, turned four years old!!!! It is quite amazing to think that four years have already gone by.  To help our little one know how many days she had to wait for her special day, a friend/colleague of mine made her a paper chain in her favourite colours pink and purple.  Every morning she would cut a ring off, until finally there were no rings left, and that was an exciting day!

As usual I took lots of pictures...enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grandma and Grandpa Rawe sent her birthday money, as you can see she was so excited!

 

 

 

Nana and Papa bought her a beautiful purple coat when we were in England, and sent a lovely handmade card, the funny thing was that Nana also enclosed a sock we had left, so when Amelia opened the envelope, she was surprised to find it... as you can see it made her giggle!

 

 

The Saturday following her birthday, October 22nd, Amelia had her first birthday party ever.  We invited just a few of her friends from church and daycare.  It was a "Strawberry Shortcake" theme and was so much fun.  I realized at the party that the girls didn't really care for too much structure relating to games and such, instead, they just really enjoyed being together and having a "play date".

 

We played stick the strawberry on the strawberry plant...

 

I made giant felt strawberries for the girls to cover in stickers...

 

We even played the Strawberry Shortcake movie Amelia had received for her birthday.

 

We played music from the Disney satellite radio channel, and the girls danced and jumped high in the air when their favourite songs came on.

The pinata was a huge hit, instead of hitting it with a bat, each girl got to choose a string to pull, one of the strings released the candy...I love the look on Amelia's face and she and her friends pull on the winning string.

Candy was scattered everywhere and little hands scurried to grab it and put it in their bag.

The party blowers were a big hit.

Then it was time to open more lovely presents.  It made me laugh how each of the children proudly announced what they had brought for her before she opened it.  They are so funny!

I have to give a special mention about Amelia's amazing cake. It was made by a friend I work with called Bonnie. She is so talented when it comes to cake decorating and makes cupcakes that are truly scrumptious and look almost too gorgeous to eat. She kindly offered to make and decorate a cake and cupcakes for our little four year old, and showed up on Saturday morning to assemble this masterpiece. You can imagine how excited we were when we saw it. She does this "for fun!"  Thank you Bonnie for sharing your amazing talent with us, we appreciated all the hard work and time that went into this tasty and beautiful cake.

"Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Amelia, happy birthday to you!"

"Make a wish sweet girl!"

As I was taking a photo of this cupcake below, two tiny hands reached up and grabbed it, it was Lacie, Addison's little sister, it was such a cute moment and I loved the pic.

The next day, Amelia and I decided to have fun lighting and blowing out her candles all over again, when it got dark outside, we had so much fun!

For me, I think the best part about Amelia's birthday party was after she closed the door after saying goodbye to the last friend who had come to share in her celebration.  As she walked across the living room, she sighed and said "that was a really good party!" mission accomplished.

Amelia's First day at Preschool

Tuesday, September 6th, was a very special day in our family. It was the day that Amelia started pre-school. After weeks of waiting, she was excited that the day was finally here. We enrolled her at St. Joseph's Catholic School, which just happens to be right across the street from the building in which I work, so I can walk there within a minute, and see her classroom windows from the West side of my office. She is in the three year old pre-school and attends class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8:15 - 11:30 am. I am so impressed with the school thus far and happy to report that Amelia LOVES it!

Of course my camera was ready to capture this important event in our family, from the moment she was dressed in her adorable school uniform (I love that they have to wear a uniform), and ready to leave, to the time she entered the classroom. Her teacher, Miss Kathleen, had a variety of fun things set up for the children as they came in. Amelia headed right to the paint table.

Then she headed to the school bus.

Here she is with her Ms. Kathleen, who is absolutely wonderful!

Then it was back to the school bus.

Then she went shopping, filling her trolley with lots of fruits and vegetables.

It was fun to watch as Amelia carefully watched the other children come in, there are seven or eight children including her in the class, so it's a perfect size.

Of course, she needed a new backpack, she chose Tinkerbell and friends, this is where she hangs her backpack each school day, right outside her classroom.

This year, they are going to be the pre-school panda's, here's a picture of their little mascot, when they go into class, they have a picture of the panda's head with their name on it, they choose their name and stick it on a picture of bamboo, to show that they are present.

Finally, here's a picture of her school, you can't really see, but at the end of the building, is a brand new play structure that was added right before school started, it is so much fun. Amelia's classroom is on the lower level, right under the red sign that is on the building.

I am excited to see how Amelia is already learning and growing, she loves doing her homework (yep, she gets homework every week), and cannot wait to go to class.

The best part is, after her school day is over, I pick her up and we have lunch together, usually at my work, in the breakroom, she loves it when my work-friends join us, and calls it "ladies lunch", her favourite thing to eat is Macaroni and Cheese and some kind of fruit. She isn't shy to take food from other people when it's offered. After lunch I take her to daycare where she enjoys a nice nap and plays with her friends until we pick her up.

We love our little schoolgirl, she just had her first school photo taken and I cannot wait to get them.

Unconditional Love

This has been a long week! 

It seems like we returned from a wonderful holiday in England, and instantly returned to the hustle, bustle and stress of our busy life.  This week in particular, Amelia seems to be pushing the boundaries at every turn, and honestly, it's frustrating and I often feel like Matthew and I are failing.  There have been tantrums, tears, screams and timeouts every day, and as for reasoning with her, well she doesn't seem to get that yet.  So you can imagine, by today, I felt frazzled, she turns four in three days and I honestly thought that the worst was behind us in the two's or three's.

But then tonight, as I finally enjoyed some peace after everybody went to bed early, I looked through my photos ready to post a blog and this photo popped into my view, and that was all I needed.  In a second, I forgot the defiance and tantrums.  I looked at my blonde haired cutie and felt nothing but love for her, I understood that for every tantrum, there are thousands, even millions of moments of joy that she creates for our little family daily.  I smiled as I thought about my mum and the tantrums she told me I had.  My heart felt like it would burst as I thought of the unconditional love, I as a mother have. 

I would do anything for my little girl, and even though right now I know there are going to be many more timeouts and tantrums in my future, I know that it's okay, because one day, I will look at my daughter who'll be all grown up (hopefully not for a long time mind you) and we too will laugh together about her younger years, and who knows maybe her daughter will bring her the same fun! 

What a blessing motherhood is, I love you Amelia.

Family Time at the Beach

I LOVE the beach, there's just something magical about being by the Ocean and feeling the sand under my feet. I would forgive you for looking at these photo's and thinking "brrrr! Looks cold", you couldn't be more wrong though. I have come to realize that cloud is just normal at the Oregon Coast, on this wonderful afternoon, it was actually in the 70's and felt perfect (70's seems to be tropical for these parts). 

Matthew, Amelia and I spent the afternoon at one of my favourite beaches, Neskowin.  It's never too busy, and always beautiful (even when cloudy).  We took the frisbee which was so much fun, especially for Amelia, I think she probably threw it further than I.

 

 

After the frisbee games, Matthew and Amelia started to make a sand castle, although as fast as Matthew built it, Amelia thought it would be fun to take the sand away and use it for her own.

 

Then my girl and I hunted for shells, daddy even let us put them in his pockets to keep them safe - now that is true love!

 

It was so fun walking by the ocean, which was a little cool, but not too bad.  I loved watching Amelia as she ran away, laughing and screaming, as the waves came up chasing her little feet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is during moments like these that I feel the most gratitude for all that I am blessed with.  Grateful to live fairly close to such a beautiful place, and thankful for the memories that our little family made on this beautiful afternoon!