5 Years

The Girl officially turned five on Sunday, although she had been claiming for a couple of weeks that she already was five. We started the morning off early with breakfast at IHOP with my parents, sister, brother and sister-in-law, all of which were in town to celebrate the Girl's birthday. At breakfast she received her first gift from J and I...a personalized necklace with her name and a ladybug stamped onto a small sterling silver disk. She loved it as it is similar in style to one that I wear with the Girls' names on it. With full bellies, we were off to a destination that had been kept a secret from the Girl. Her guess was that we were headed to a bouncy house.

In actuality, we were headed here. To a wildlife park that the Girl has only ever seen in commercials on tv. Every time she saw the commercial she would make it plainly

known that she wanted to go here. Upon arriving we boarded the open-air tram for the hour-long tour through natural vegetation that is the home of various wildlife species

native to the area - all herbivores of course. Both Girls marveled at our close proximity to all kinds of wildlife - raccoons, deer, elk, moose, bison, mountain goats and big horn

sheep. As a special treat, most of these species had babies including a pair of spotted twin fawns. Baby Sister kept exclaiming, "Baby!" and pointing to every animal that she saw. A

lot of these animals were so close that we could've reached out and touched them. Others stayed further out but well within close viewing proximity. According to our

guide, we were extremely lucky to have seen so many of the animals as they have so much area to roam that sometimes they are much harder to spot and on some of

the tours not all species are seen. Baby Sister also worked in some snuggle time with Daddy...so sweet! After the tram tour was over it was off to explore the rest of the park and

see the carnivorous animals.

While the tram tour was the Girl's favorite part, the rest of us will most vividly remember what happened at the coyote coral. We arrived at the viewing deck only to find an empty landscape. No coyotes in sight. Spurred on by the ever bold Miss A, the two friends, with hands cupped around their mouths, began to give their best coyote howls. For a few moments there was nothing, nothing except the howling of two little Girls. Then we noticed movement through the trees and as the Girls continued to call, the shape of a coyote emerged from the shadows of the surrounding vegetation. That lone coyote was followed by two more and soon they were all pacing back and forth in the clearing

before us. Then it happened, instinctively they raised their heads, opened their long jaws and began howling back at the Girls and one another. Between the Girls

and the coyotes it was quite a ruckus. It was so loud and created quite a stir. We soon found ourselves bombarded on the viewing deck by a hoard of other park-goers who came running to the exhibit when they heard all the howling. Unfortunately, it all happened so fast that none of us had the presence of mind to switch our cameras over to video mode. The still photos fall extremely short of paying the event the justice to which it is due. But it will undoubtedly be forever captured in our memories.

After the wildlife park we had yet another birthday surprise for our 5-year old Girl. A trip to Sonic for a fun drink and some lunch. On this special day the Girl changed it up and

abandoned her usual favorite - the blue coconut slush in favor of a sparkling lemonade. In the car on the way home she unleashed a couple of silly faces and not to be outdone,

Baby Sister quickly followed suit.

After we arrived home the Girl was anxious to open her remaining birthday gifts and the cards that she had received in the mail.

The Girl received some generous cash gifts in the cards and Baby Sister was quite interested.

You would've thought she was a counterfit inspector with the way she was scrutinizing each bill.

She couldn't put the stuff down. As for the Girl, she didn't even notice as she was busy looking through her gifts.

Five candles, representing the five years that have passed since the day we first laid eyes on her. How did that happen so darn quickly?!

Happy, Happy 5th Birthday sweet Girl!!!!!

Party

At last, the big day and highly anticipated party arrived!! Although the Girl's actual birthday is not until tomorrow, today is the day that she has been talking about non-stop for the past oh, six weeks now! And over the past couple of weeks I've been busy planning all things ladybug. My Mom baked these cupcakes last night as I was finishing up goodie-bags and I found myself frosting them this morning. This is the

ladybug ice cream bombe (whatever that means!) made with chocolate ice cream, raspberry sorbet and adorned with grasshopper

cookies and black licorice. While I did the initial preparation last night, J was the one who smoothed this little fella out and added the cookies

and licorice. The Girl was tickled red to be celebrating with all of her little friends, including the two Miss A's. Her ladybug dress is from a pattern and fabric that she picked out herself and compliments of Gramma who made it. Baby Sister got a matching one made of yellow ladybug fabric. Thanks Gramma!!

We played a few games, first a ladybug hunt and then pin the spots on the ladybug. Who knew that 3, 4 and 5-year olds aren't

particularly keen on the idea of bing blindfolded?! While the Girl was all for it (probably only because it was her party), she only had one friend who was 'game.' All the others passed at the opportunity so instead we just passed out the dots and the ladybug got decorated as opposed to being a game.

The pinata was greeted with a much better reception and all the kids enthusiastically scrambled out into the frigid (the temperature was only in the low 60's) air and drizzle to have their chance at whacking the ladybug.

This is our sweet neighbor girl and the younger sister of one of the Girl's preschool classmates. She is just six months older than Baby Sister but is extremely tall. She found one of the Girl's princess dresses, put it on and wore it for the entire party. Too cute!!

Finally, impatient as he is, J took the pinata down, put it on the ground and let the kids beat it until it's sweet contents spilled out onto the

ground. Once every last piece of candy had been collected we all returned to the drier climate of the indoors for cheery birthday singing,

cupcakes and ice cream.

But as far as the Girl was concerned, the best was yet to come...the presents!! She graciously allowed all of her little friends to help with the unwrapping which was in stark contrast to last year shen she told them to "get their own birthdays!" Ah, perhaps a year older and a year wiser and kinder...maybe.

And the closest I could get to a group photo at the end of the party, just missing two kiddos.

Silly Faces & a Stroll

I love this sweet expression on Baby Sister's face at dinner last night.

Then the Girl started making silly faces as she tends to do, her form of procrastination and distraction when she doesn't want to eat what is on her plate.

Of course Baby Sister followed her example. Try as she might, she still can't figure out how to go cross-eyed.

After dinner we capitalized on the warm sunshine and took a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood - minus the stroller.

Baby Sister did a great job of walking and keeping up but we overestimated the distance that she could go.

She started to fade shortly after we turned around to head back home and J ended up carrying her the rest of the way.

Piggy Paint

Our household has been nail polish-free for awhile now. I threw out the few remaining bottles that I had around the house after an incident on Easter day which involved Miss A and the Girl using an entire bottle of nail polish that Miss A had received in her Easter basket to paint pictures on the wall of Miss A's room not to mention her dresser and bed. Figured that was as good a reason as any to get rid of the stuff not to mention the noxious fumes and the fact that most nail polish is full of toxic chemicals - formaldehyde, toluene, DBP, biphenyl A, ethylacetate and acetone just to name a few. But recently the Girl has been begging to have her finger and toenails painted. So I embarked upon an internet search in quest of a "safe" alternative to the big-name brands of toxic-ingredient laden polishes. I was pleasantly surprised to find quite a few options and finally settled on Piggy Paint, a water-based formula that is odorless and hypoallergenic with no harsh chemicals . With a great color selection and fun names like Ice Cream Dream, Mac-n-Cheese Please, Dragon Tears and Sleepover I was sold. At $8.99 a bottle they are a bit pricey but worth every penny to me as it pertains to the health and safety of my Girls. With a 15% discount code (SPLASH15L) and free shipping on orders over $35 I was able to get four bottles of polish and a bottle of remover for $36.52. I allowed the Girl to pick out two colors before I placed my order and then I added two more to give to her at a later point in time, maybe stocking stuffers for Christmas. She chose iridescent green (Ice Cream Dream) and bright pink (LOL). I ordered them on a Wednesday afternoon and the Girl was soooo excited to find the package on our doorstep the following Monday. In
no time, we were all sporting brightly colored toenails and the Girl had fingernails to match. It does seem to chip much easier than

conventional polishes but other than that I have no complaints. And I love how Baby Sister's sweet little piggies look with a splash of color on them. I also love that she loves to wear her Big Sister's flip-flops. Absolutely adorable how she has the divider between her 2nd and 3rd toes! If you want your own Piggy Paint go to http://www.piggypaint.com/ and don't forget to use the promotional code listed above, I believe it is good through December. Honeybee Gardens and Hopscotch Kids are other non-toxic options.

Shoe-ays!!

I love me a cute pair of shoes, or 'shoe-ays' as Baby Sister calls them, and apparently so does she. Heels seem to be her shoe-ays of choice. While I was browsing, she was trying on anything that sparkled and had a heel that was within her reach and then clomping up and down the aisle. I was eyeing some giraffe-print flats adorned with a silver buckle for $45 and silky, eggplant colored flats with a bow on the toe for $40. All shoes were buy one pair get the 2nd for half price plus I had a '20% off entire purchase' coupon . As I was waffling back and forth as to whether I should be spending $52 on shoes I wandered

over to the clearance section and found these plaid cuties. Originally $50, clearanced to $25, after 20% discount - $20. I also found

these, the same exact shoes that I'd been looking at but in leopard print instead of the eggplant color. Originally $50, clearanced to $15, half-off 2nd pair made em $7.50, after 20% discount - $6!! Did I mention I love me a good bargain? Two pairs of cute, incredibly comfortable shoes for $26?! Totally sold!!!

We also spent some time at the party supply store today in search of odds and ends for a particular Girl's upcoming birthday. We found ourselves trying on wacky glasses. It

was great fun for the Girl, as for Baby Sister...probably not so much. But she was a good sport about it.

This funky horseshoe pair was certainly my favorite.

Been There, Done That

It's official, as of yesterday at 12:43pm - we now have a triathlete 'in the house.' The combined 70.3 distance took J 5 hours, 43 minutes and 30 seconds to

complete (well under his personal goal of finishing in under 6 hours) placing him 97th overall among 208 competitors. His strongest portion was the cycling in which he placed

50th. But I think it's safe to say that this won't be his last triathalon. He is hungry for more and already looking into upcoming events. We are all so proud of him, completing

such an incredible accomplishment. He had quite the cheerleading squad too - the Girls and I were joined by J's Mom and her husband, J's sister and my aunt and uncle. We were able to watch the entire swim, see him pass by on his bike, then again on his bike as he finished up that portion and transitioned into the run and of course we were there to see him cross the finish line. The Girls did amazingly well

considering the amount of time we spent just standing around waiting not to mention our early morning wake-up call. See these sweet,

happy faces? These are remarkably cheerful faces for two Girls who'd been pulled from their warm beds at 4:30am and shuffled into a dark

car and cold carseats. These pictures were taken at around 6:00, on any other day they'd usually be asleep for at least another two hours. They were troopers to be sure and their jovial attitudes and patience had me pleasantly surprised not to mention completely impressed. Here is the Girl giving her Daddy some moral support and trying to help him shake the pre-race jitters. Despite his game plan to enter the

water towards the back of the pack (due to his inexperience of swimming in open water in large groups and his desire not to be "swam" over) his competitive nature took over when the horn sounded and he raced right into the crisp lake water with the rest of them leaving any hesitation that he had back on shore. He swam his personal best with a time of 37 minutes, 27 seconds. Not too shabby for someone who did

most of his training in the pool and only had four open water swims under his belt previously. The cycling was a breeze compared

to the 200 mile distance he rode just two weekends prior. Here are the Girls waiting patiently to see their Daddy cross the finish

line. The Girl amused herself with leaf pom-poms and building elaborate structures out of sticks that she found. Meanwhile, Baby Sister was busy entertaining herself and others around her with some seriously cute antics. She has entered a phase of posing, smiling and saying, "Cheese!" for the camera. My dream come true - a child that actually wants to be photographed!! Finally, the time had come, what

we'd all been waiting for - the big finish and the culmination of six months of dedicated training and four months of twice-weekly physical therapy. Woohoo!!

A celebratory kiss from a little Girl who was anxious to see her "Daadaa."

Pre-Party Party

Friday evening J's Mom held a pre-birthday bash for the Girl as she won't be able to make it to the Girl's party next weekend. The Girl

was thrilled with the idea of a party before her party. Her favorite gift hands down - the pink cowgirl hat from Grandma!