One More Candle On Her Cake!

Well, yesterday was a very special day for our family. Amelia turned three years old! I can hardly believe it. It seems like yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital, wondering what we were supposed to do with our squishy bundle.

After church, it was time for photo's together with our sweet girl.

After lunch and during nap-time, my mum and I decorated a (store bought) cake...there, I admitted it to the world. I have always said that I would make and decorate all of Amelia's birthday cakes, since that's something my mum did for me. Well, this year, it didn't happen.

After lots of coaxing and words of wisdom from my mum, I ended up buying a raspberry diner cake from Safeway on Saturday night, to save me having to be up through the early hours of the morning. I had already picked up the monogram and plate in Idaho at Hobby Lobby, and it saved the day, after a little piping around the edges and personalization, the cake was ready and I was relieved that I had been able to sleep the night before.

After naptime, it was time to open birthday presents.

I may have bought her cake, but I did manage to make her a home-made birthday card. It had tinkerbell on the front, here's daddy reading it to his little girl.

Now for a cute story; Matthew's parents sent money in Amelia's card. When she saw it, she screamed excitedly "fifty bucks!", the funny thing is, it wasn't $50 she just always says that when she see's paper money, or is pretending to buy or sell something, as far as she is concerned, everything costs $50. It was hilarious.

One of her presents was Woody from Toy Story, the day before her birthday, she was watching Toy Story and Matthew kept asking "Amelia who do you like best on Toy Story?" and each time the response came back "Jessie", then it would be "Buzz", needless to say, we were worried - but all was well, she was very happy with her new friend.

After presents and cards, we went out for a drive, and ended up in West Salem, we walked across the bridge that is especially for walking and cycling, it was a beautiful afternoon and of course, I had my camera handy.

Above, Amelia watches the "Willamette Queen" as it slowly trundles down the river.

1...2...3...JUMP!

We walked under the bridge and found lots of crunchy, autumn leaves. Nana loves walking in leaves and Amelia happily walked behind, copying Nana by kicking the leaves as she went.

We ended up by the river's edge, where daddy and grandpa started skipping stones. Of course, we all had to have a go...

"Yay momma, I did it!"

Hundreds of stones later, it was time to go back home for dinner and cake.

When we got home, the cake that I had so carefully decorated, was now missing a whole quarter side of buttercream, exposing the cake inside...I couldn't believe it, luckily, mum came to the rescue and fixed it best she could.

Next, the part Amelia had looked forward to all day, time to be sung to and time to blow out the candles...

It was so nice having mum and David with us, to join in the happy chorus. Amelia did a great job blowing out the candles, it took her about three tries, not bad at all!

The cake was cut, and I'm happy to say, it was delicious - all was well!

Amelia said bedtime prayers last night and it was so cute to hear her talk about the things we had done together as she talked to Heavenly Father. That's when I realized, it's not about stressing over the store bought cake, or the toys I buy, it's about being a family, and always enjoying each other!

Happy birthday my sweet daughter, Amelia, you are amazing and we love you!

Scenery to Take Your Breath Away

I always love to go to the coast, the views are spectacular, especially, when the day is sunny and clear. On this particular day, we stumbled across Anderson's viewpoint, where paragliders were jumping off the cliff down towards the beach below...very exciting!

We spent about a half hour enjoying the scenery, and of course, I took lots of photo's.

I loved the flowers shown below, even though they were now in a woody state.

Just look at that view!

Papa held Amelia up so that she could see better.

Happy together!

Next, we went to Cape Meares to see the lighthouse, one of many on the Oregon Coast.

The sky was so blue!

You may notice some of the glass panes in the lighthouse are broken. Earlier this year, two vandals in their early 20's shot at them, causing very expensive damage, and therefore making the top of the lighthouse unsafe for viewing!

Below is the view as we walked down towards the lighthouse.

Once inside, a tour guide shared his knowledge of the lighthouse, it was very interesting.

After the lighthouse, we did go on to other places, but I'll post about them next time.

What a great day!

Look Who Came To Oregon...

So, after a year, our V.I.V.'s (very important visitors) finally arrived. They being, my mum and step-dad David.

We were so very excited to see them, and in preparation, Amelia and I had a lot of fun making a special poster to hold up at the airport. It was decorated with butterflies and a handprint, and tons of sparkly flowers (yes, Amelia is a crafting magpie just like her momma). Here we are in airport waiting with our sign.

My heart was pounding out of my chest as we waited in the terminal, carefully watching all of the passengers from their plane walk towards us, finally it was our special moment, there they were. There's nothing happier than this reunion, Amelia ran right up to my mum, and she didn't know which of her babies to hug first, of course, the little one won by a milli-second, I didn't mind a bit. We all hugged and kissed each other hello. It was just the best feeling on earth.

So, that was the beginning, the best part is, we will be together for six weeks, isn't family the most wonderful blessing in the world?

Loo, Loo, Skip to my Loo!

Potty training - Check!!!

I can hardly believe it, Amelia is potty trained. I hadn't really worried too much about a timeline for this. Of course we had talked about it, and watched Elmo's Potty Training numerous times, now that's interesting watching, especially when I find myself singing the songs at work.

Anyway, Amelia's daycare really helped us, and just about three weeks ago, Amelia had her first "victory on the throne". Since then, she has done wonderfully and for the last few days, has been able to wear her knickers, panties, big girl underwear, whatever you want to call them, all the time.

There's nothing like the big grin on her face, or celebratory high five, after our girl's trip to the loo. Not to mention the invitation both Matthew and I get to see her success.

Kidding aside, her daddy and I are so proud of her.

These are pictures of her taken this weekend, the first time she went out for the whole day without a diaper on, I know you can't see a difference really, but to me, she looks even more adorable.

We love you Amelia, great job!

(now please stop growing up so fast)

"Momma, a Ladybug!"

Yesterday was one of the, if not the hottest day of the year here in Oregon, and we chose to spend our time working in the front garden, planting, removing an ugly ground cover plant and spreading four yards of bark-chips. We were pretty sensible and didn't work out there during the hottest part of the day, but come late afternoon/early evening we headed back outside to finish what we'd started.

Of course, Amelia loved being out there, especially when she found a ladybird. She screamed out "momma, a ladybug!", it was cute to watch her try to figure out how to get the tiny insect onto her cute hand, but after persisting for a short while, she was able to hold the little critter. She watched, fascinated, as it walked over her hand, and giggled as it made it's way up her arm "it tickles!" she kept saying. Her curiousity is infectious, I love seeing things from her point view.

I am happy to say, we finished the garden and it looks beautiful -

perhaps I'll share photo's in my next post!