Half Birthday, as in 9-1/2 years old!

This morning Amelia bounced into the hallway and announced it was her half birthday and she wanted to have party with a cake, at least one friend and presents. Well then, she is certainly a girl who knows what she wants. How could I say no?

So I took a couple of small things I had set aside for her and we had Rhiannon over for a playdate turned half birthday party. After decorating the cake with Elsa and Anna, Amelia placed all the candles in the shape of a 9. She took the tenth candle and pushed it further into the cake so that she had 9-1/2 candles.

Such a happy girl.

[Picture dated 3/22/15]

St. Patrick's Day 2015

I thought it would be fun to use food coloring to dye the water in our toilet the morning of St. Patrick's Day. This had captured Amelia's imagination when her kindergarten teacher did it and she still has so much childlike joy and wonder.

This morning after Daddy left, I took some blue and yellow food coloring left over from a Kiwi crate project and made the water green. When Amelia woke up I went to the bathroom and acted surprised and called Amelia to come and see what I found. She came in and I said, "Look, I think a leprechaun used our bathroom!" She said, "No, Mommy, leprechauns aren't real. I think it's just some cleaner."

And that was that.

[picture dated 3/17/15]

Bumper Stickers

We had an unusually warm day today and Amelia wanted to go to the park. I was on a long call from my boss and so she wrote me a note, "Even though it's past 4 pm, can we go to the park?" So cute.

We went for a brief visit after dinner and there were a couple of other cars there, too. One had a good number of bumper stickers all over the back. Amelia observed loudly, "Hey Mommy, it looks like that Chevrolet is being held together by those bumper stickers!" Oh, the joys of having a child!!

Rooms Game

Amelia invented a game a while ago when she had made a block out of construction paper. Each side was a different color and stapled together with some bubble wrap or wadded up plastic grocery bags inside for support. Each color represented a different room but the block didn't hold up for a long time.

Recently, she has wanted to play it again and it's really pretty fun to play it with her. We start out by the front door with an oversized blue die from her most recent advent calendar. Each number represents a different room (1, my room, 2 is the hallway, 3 is her room, 4 is the living room, 5 is the kitchen and 6 is the bunny room). She goes first and rolls the die. Whatever number she rolls determines the room she goes to, and she hands me the die. The winner is the person who rolls the same room as the other person. This can take several turns as we each go to a different room in the house. It's just another example of her creativity, but one I'm afraid I'll forget if I don't record it now!

This past Sunday she sang with the children's choir at the local Baptist Church. After a week of no school that included snow, ice and -4 degree temps, we had 60 degrees on Sunday. Craziness! We are back to snow and cold, but here she is Sunday looking so grown up outside the church.


Today she volunteered to shovel the driveway. She told Daddy she was his "personal snow shoveler". She did a great job and enjoyed doing it!

[picture dated 2/22/15]

Hooker Lights and Trains

Today is another day of no school because of snow. We spent most of the morning at home and then I took Amelia to Nana's so I could go into the office. Nana said the guy from Napa is going to come pick her up with her car when it's ready, and she'll drive him and Amelia back to drop him off at Napa.

Ever since Amelia moved to a carseat that used the seat belt, we've let her buckle herself. When it's dark she'll ask for a light. Since Nana says she's not "hooked" if her seatbelt isn't on, Amelia has adapted that phrase and will ask for a "hooker light". I think that is so funny and just didn't want to correct it. The "hooker" terminology will come up at other times, too, not just when it's dark. For example, when the car starts rolling and she isn't hooked yet. Today with the Napa guy in the car, I wonder if she'll need extra time to get hooked and yell, "Wait! I don't have my hooker in yet!!!" Would love to be there for that! haha

Here she is when we finally were able to let the carseat go this past October. We left the one in the Jeep for a little longer, but now she is carseat-free in both vehicles. (In our state, the rule is 8 years old or 80 pounds.) This was such a big milestone!!

Earlier today while I was working from home, I gave her some math-centered puzzles to do to keep her busy. All of a sudden, she excitedly yells, "Mommy, mommy, it's an engine number!!" She was doing a crossword puzzle where you put the number answers in until it was complete. I wasn't able to catch her initial enthusiasm, but I had her re-create the gist of it here so that I could remember it later. She is definitely her daddy's girl!!! Train fan in training, and the training is sticking!

[picture dated 10/16/14; video dated 3/13/14]

Pajama Days and Snow

There have been so many snow days since Christmas that Amelia has had lots and lots of pajama days! She decided early on that a snow day should equal a pajama day and I agreed. Now, she even wants to wear them on Saturdays if we have no plans for leaving the house. Maybe this will be one winter where I don't get tired of her winter wardrobe! Usually by May I am so happy to pack away her long-sleeved shirts!!

Despite all the snow days, she managed to earn the perfect attendance field trip which was snow tubing on Monday. Her principal took a cute picture of her! She did get hit a couple of times at the bottom while she was trying to get out of her tube. All she told me Monday evening was that I needed to get her elbow pads and knee pads for next time since she crashed twice. It turns out, she lost her balance and fell both times after another tube ran into her. Tuesday morning she complained that her neck hurt. She did tell me she learned her lesson and that she waited on the following times until no one was coming down behind her before she tried standing up. I took her to the chiropractor Wednesday afternoon and he said she had a sprained neck. He gave her a few adjustments and Amelia said she felt better right away. I checked with her this morning and she said of course her neck felt fine, the chiropractor unsprained it! She cracks me up.

[pictures dated 1/8/14 and 2/24/13]

Hat Day

They have Hat Day as a fundraiser each year at school, maybe even each semester.

This is Amelia's go-to hat for Hat Day - it's a cat, of course! What's funnier is Amelia misunderstood the PA announcement and thought it was a half-day today. Poor girl ... but they've done away with early release days so it's all day school today.

Here she is making a silly face with her "cat paws".

[picture dated 10/11/13]