Happy Birthday, Emma!

Emma Marie turned 4 years old today. I can hardly believe it! She is such a fun little girl. Not only is she super tall, gorgeous with natural soft ringlets in her hair, a talent for singing on pitch (since she was a year and a half), but she can run and climb with any boy, burp with the boys, and flirt with them so that they ask her to be their best friend numerous times in a day (I was a witness Tuesday at preschool!!!). Today she requested donuts, scrambled eggs, bacon, and juice for breakfast. Nice. Steve was wishing she could choose breakfast every day. We opened up Mom and Dad's present, which she picked out at least 6 weeks ago. It was a Tinkerbell dress with a bag of green jewelry and fancy shoes to match. Isn't she beautiful all dolled up? And that's on her way to swimming lessons!

She also received all a 4-year old princess could want: a pink princess sweatshirt, sleeping beauty polly pockets,3 princess coloring/painting books, phone calls, phone messages, and even a TJMaxx (her favorite store) gift card. Hilarious!

One of her good friends, Katelyn, came over for lunch and a playdate to make the day extra special. They were so cute dressing up! What photogenic girls! One funny story about these 2...Katelyn's mom and I have been friends for a long time and were both pregnant together. We decided to go walk the mall to induce these babies. I went into labor within a few hours; Katelyn was born a few weeks later.:) Today we had a good laugh remembering what we were doing 4 years ago.

Emma is having a party on Friday with a fancy High School Musical cake. All of my children love to challenge me in this area. I think I'm up for it; but I couldn't make it for today and she HAD to have a special dessert from mom today. So, we made sugar cookies in the shape of bunnies and chicks. As long as there was pink frosting available, Emma was thrilled. We put 4 candles in the middle of that pink rabbit, sang our hearts out, and she made her wish. Tonight as I was putting her to bed, she thanked Heavenly Father that it could be her birthday today, requested that she have another one tomorrow, and help her have a good night's sleep. Considering she was out within 3 minutes, I think today was a pretty good birthday. We love you, Emma!

Birds' nests

I just had to blog our FHE treat this past Monday. It's not that they taste better than anything else. They're just fun for the kids, and it's a cheesy thing for my "Bird" family to make. The birds' nests are simply rice krispie treats formed in the shape of nests with robin eggs are mini cadbury eggs inside. I sure love how excited my kids get over candy. Food is honestly the best motivator around! Can you tell we are so excited for spring and Easter time?!

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day was a fun day for our family. The kids discovered the leprechauns had turned the milk green, pee-peed in the potty, and turned the toilet water green in 2 different bathrooms. Steve and the kids enjoyed a beautiful bowl of Lucky Charms with a green smoothie (banana, kiwi, OJ, vanilla yogurt, ice, and of course, green milk). Mmmmm! It was magically delicious! Another amazing thing was that the weather was sunny and not freezing! The girls and I had to utilize the spring weather and spend some time at the park. Our first park day of 2009!

Evan

EVAN!
Evan has always been one to keep me on my toes, but the last 2 weeks, he's done an especially good job fulfilling this role of his in our family. A few nights ago, I went in to check on him about 30 minutes after he'd turned his lights out. What I saw shocked me. He was asleep.....but with his eyelids flipped inside out. He was bummed when I told him I'd flipped them back. He wanted to see if he could keep them that way the whole night. Wednesday, he came home with his pants backwards. How does that happen? I wish I could fit into my pants backwards and not realize it. I took a picture of him just after coming out of the bathroom to fix the problem.

That evening I went in to check on him after his lights were out and again was surprised. This is how I found him.

I couldn't let another kodak moment go by, so I invited Steve up to see his son and take a picture. As soon as the flash went off, he started laughing histerically! Yes, Mom had been dooped. We found out later that his friends thought it was so cool that he had played a trick on me. I am now preparing for what may come next...if that's possible.

I love you, Evan, you little stinker.

Easy Saturday morning

The last two weekends have been a bit more relaxing than usual. Swimming is over for the season, so we are trying to enjoy our break. One of my favorite things in the world is to cuddle with my kids in the morning. Steve doesn't relish it like I do, but our time in mom and dad's "big" bed usually starts with smiles and laughter. Our kids are getting so big, however, that we don't all fit like we used to.:) Last Saturday, all of the boys got to go over to a friends' home. The girls stayed with Steve and I. We decided to see if Emma would like her big girl bike any better this year and sure enough, she had a blast (Thank you, Oscarsons). Granted she has training wheels on, but they don't quite touch the ground (they're from Carter's old bike), and she is improving on her balance bit by bit. Lizzie, not to be out of the spotlight, grabbed her bike, and did her best at keeping up with Emma. She soon realized her own power was not enough, so she got her dad involved, rested her legs up on the top of the bike, and let him push her everywhere. Too cute!

Miss Smartypants

Emma has figured out another manipulation tactic. Today, she was telling me how she was going to be a tall mommy like me, live in a pink house, and have lots and lots of children. Her body was going to have as many as she wanted (this is on the heels of a conversation where she asked me if I would have another baby and I told her my body couldn't have any more babies.) I told her that sounded fun and her reply was, "It's true. The Holy Ghost said." Later, she said she thought we should have dessert after dinner. Steve tried to explain why we weren't having it this evening. Her response...you guessed it, "Well, the Holy Ghost says we should." Who can argue with that?

Lorilyn Julene Stoianowski

This past weekend, we had the privilege of driving to Michigan to meet my newest niece, Lorilyn. She is the first daughter of Julene and Ryan, Steve's baby sister and husband. She is so sweet and has some of the biggest eyes I've ever seen on a newborn. Steve's other sister, Lynette, flew in with her oldest daughter to surprise everyone. We had a great time with our mini-Bird reunion. On Saturday, because of the storm, we swam inside and I have to admit, I beat my boys at freestyle and breaststroke--a feat I did not know was actually possible. I think I surprised everyone--myself, Grandma Bird, Steve, and the boys. I guess there's more to me than meets the eye.:)

Enough about me...Ryan gave his daughter a beautiful blessing and is a cute dad. Julene looks fantastic! She looks like she's finally doing what makes her truly happy-being a wife & mother. I love it!

Here are the Stoianowskis..............................














and the Bird clan.














These were too funny not to include. Lizzie was not liking being strapped in for 5 hours on the way home. When she tried to stifle her sobs, I had to grab the camera.

Cinderella

I don't know if it's the blonde hair or what, but both of my girls have identified with Cinderella before any other character. It was one of Emma's first words and now Lizzie says it often. Another funny thing is that she says it exactly like Emma did, "Lella" with her tongue nearly half out of her mouth on the 'L's. It's so cute! Steve and I are just amazed by how adorable our girls are, and how they use it to get whatever they want. Truly a gift. Lizzie was able to get a teenager to hand over her I-phone at the doctor's office this week. When I warned, "You don't want to do that because she has sticky hands (from the dum-dum suckers the nurse hands out)," the girl just said, "Oh that's OK. She so cute and I can just use a little windex to clean it when I get home." UNBELIEVABLE!