Beatrix Celebrates 4!

What a busy day: Sunday School, Church, Family Lunch at St. Paul's, and cupcakes and ice cream with family. 

I got some photos with the birthday girl first thing, before heading off to Sunday School and Church.

She and her sister are quite the hams, can't you tell?

The family dinner (or lunch, as it may be) at St. Paul's was a nice treat. Beatrix enjoyed sitting next to her friend, Giavanna. The kids made apple turkeys and after eating showed us just how much they have learned in Joyful Noise (the choir at St. Paul's for 3-5 year olds).

Beatrix even volunteered to be one of the B's in the BIBLE song. 

Singing "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" with the Joyful Noise Choir.

The Birthday Cupcake Celebration begins...

All the cousins pose for a picture.

The girls enjoyed playing with the icing and candy. We are missing Bella today. She had surgery on Monday, so she wasn't able to come.

Beatrix and Hannah remind us that Beatrix has turned 4!

Nathan enjoyed making his cupcake. I'm pretty sure he ate the icing and candy off the cupcake only.

Looks like they are enjoying themselves.

Beatrix ended the day having pizza outside with Daddy, Omi, and Charlotte.

Beatrix & the Big Four!

And

It appears another year has come and gone. Beatrix will be celebrating her 4th birthday on Sunday, November 21st. She had a birthday experience this year, so Sunday will be a low key day with some cupcakes and singing "Happy Birthday". She was thrilled to share her birthday cookies, courtesy of Sugar Shack Cupcakes & Cookies, with her class this morning. She chose Hello Kitty plates and napkins for the special occasion. She held up her cookie after taking several bites and asked what the cookie said now that she had eaten some of it. I told her it says, "appy earthday", and she didn't believe me. Silly girl.

Here she is with her classmates, well, most of them you can see, but a few are not in the frame.

And, here is a photo of the two of us, just for good measure. I love this girl more than she will ever know. Happy 4th birthday, my darling, Beatrix!

Love,

Mommy

Bike Riding Day at School

I got a chance to see Beatrix's class riding bikes yesterday after chapel service. What a treat to see the kids whizzing around the circle.

I figured Beatrix would be pedaling, and not riding along on the back. She has this thing about pedaling. She got a balance bike for her 3rd birthday, which has gotten very little use. Her first words when she saw her new bike were, "Where are the pedals?". A little while later, Steven mentioned that we would be going to the bike store to...and before he could get out the words "get you a helmet", Beatrix finished his sentence with, "get pedals for my bike?!?". So, this Christmas, Santa will be bringing her a new bike WITH pedals! Our intentions were good, really good, I believe, but this child has a mind of her own!

Little Miss Persuasive

What is a mom to do? Beatrix is so persuasive when it comes to things she wants to do. Sometimes, the best thing to do is to just indulge her, and then she is on to something else. She's been talking for days about having a birthday party for her zhu zhu pet. I tried deflecting, changing the subject, but broke down this morning when she was determined to give this pet a party.

I have boxes of cake mix, thanks to my mother-in-law, and I even had a container of icing, as well as sprinkles, cupcake wrappers, and candles. Why not? So I whipped up the cake mix with Beatrix's help, and stuck them in the oven. While the cupcakes were cooling, Beatrix got her guests ready for the party. She even made a guest list.

Here is an overall shot of the party table with guests. Beatrix is busy icing the cupcakes and decorating them.

Emily is watching intently. I'm sure she can't wait to have a scrumptious bite of cupcake.

Menacing hands are coming...

And, there they are!

Happy birthday, Zhu Zhu pet! And, Little Miss Persuasive will be turning 4 in 9 days.

"Mom, Charlotte's a MENACE!!"

I suppose there are worse things Beatrix could call her sister. I suppose we signed up for this when we decided to have more than one child. I also suppose this isn't the end of the sibling rivalry. It's bound to happen when you have a sibling. God only knows (well, that's not completely true), that me and my siblings have had our fights, and we still do. At the end of the day, I think I can speak for all of us, we respect and love each other. My hope for my girls is that they will always be friends, even when they don't get along.

Tonight reminded me of a similar incident several months ago, May to be exact. Charlotte was a few months shy of 1 at the time of the photo on the right. She is now 15 months old. I knew then that we were in trouble. I think Beatrix must be getting used to it by now, because other than her comment where she called Charlotte a "menace", she kept her cool. She is actually smiling in the photo I took, even though Charlotte was doing everything in her power to prevent Beatrix from building anything.

A Beautiful Day

We started our beautiful Saturday morning with a walk honoring our friend, Lucy, and her fight with Leukemia. The "I Love Lucy" walk was so much fun, and we enjoyed catching up with old friends. It was a bit chilly first thing in the morning, and our crew is not used to waking up early. We had to actually set an alarm clock! We have a hard time making it to events that start at 9 in town, much less an event that starts between 8:30 - 9:00 about 40 minutes out. But, we did it, and we are so glad to have been there for the Schuler family.

Auntie pulled Beatrix and Bella in the wagon, while I pushed Charlotte in the stroller. Little stinker fell asleep about halfway through.

After the walk, the kids played for a bit in the grass.

Auntie and I got a photo with our dear friend, Kelly, Lucy's mom.

After the walk, we went over to Auntie's house. Nathan and Bella were in town, and Goosey brought Hayley and Hannah over to play too. Goosey bought all the kids a Zhu Zhu pet, which became instant hits!

Bea's First School Field Trip

Beatrix is certainly growing up. She knew we were pressed for time to get out of the house to get to school on time, so she offered to make her own lunch (She didn't want to be late for her first field trip on Wednesday, after all.). She put turkey and cheese on a sandwich round, and stuck in an applesauce and a pudding. It's the first time this school year she has actually finished her entire lunch!

We arrived at the school, and they left shortly after having snack. The kids were really excited to ride the school bus. I was sure Beatrix wouldn't want to get on the bus, but she surprised me, as not only did she want to ride the bus there, she also got upset about not being able to ride the bus back. There are more kids than seats, so some got to ride on the way there, and some on the way back, unless a parent was not there to drive them. Ms. Blewer allowed Beatrix to ride back given that there were a few seats available.

The kids got a quick tour of the museum, and I'm pretty sure their favorite part was sliding down the fireman's pole and sitting in the cab of the mock firetruck in the play area. The kids dressed up in their firefighting gear, and were ready to go at any moments notice.

I'm not exactly sure what was going on with Beatrix in this photo.

She was fairly interested in what our tour guide was saying.

The tour guide asked which fire extinguisher is the one we use today. Beatrix was quick to point out which one, and she was right.

They all enjoyed looking down the hole to the first floor.

They watched a short cartoon on fire safety.