Happy Birthday, Naomi!

This year Naomi's birthday was on a Saturday. Andy's mom came down for the weekend just for Naomi. We took the girls to Jump Zone. It is an indoor play place with inflatables. They were having their Grand Opening so the girls got free t-shirts, too. Then we went to the mall for a couple of hours. Andy's mom bought Naomi another dress for her birthday complete with matching ponytail holder and purse! :) We enjoyed some coffee/hot cocoa at Starbucks, and then browsed through books at Borders. Next we went to CiCi's Pizza where we met my parents and some dear friends of ours. It was quite the day!

I just bought a Hannah Montana cake because next weekend she's having a bigger party with the rest of our family that live nearby and friends.

It took her a few tries, but she finally blew them all out.

She doesn't always like to look at the camera when anyone tries to take a picture of her, but on this day she had no problem!

This was from Naomi's 4th birthday last year.

Pre-birthday Shopping Trip with Neena!

Shopping for a dress is right up Naomi's alley! Mom decided that she wanted to take her granddaughters shopping for a dress for their birthday. Naomi is the first birthday this year of the grandkids. I got to tag along--without Melanie! :) Naomi loved being the center of attention and always referred to herself as the princess birthday girl! It was fun to get to spend that time with just her! Her world has been rocked quite a bit with the arrival of Melanie so this was well-deserved time for her.

We started the evening off with dinner at the restaurant of her choosing--Applebees! The girls just love the place since I took them to eat there a few weeks ago when we were out shopping. Then we went to a few stores to try on dresses. Naomi ate up every minute of it!! Unfortunately I don't have a picture of her in the dress she ended up getting, but I'll try to remedy that soon and get it posted.

In the car on the way to dinner. The crown happened to be in the seat already, and she had fun wearing it all evening long!

One of the MANY dresses she tried on. Of course you have to give it the "twirl" test!

Mom with her grandgirls! This picture was taken we we arrived back home. Mom got some "Little Miss Sunshine" pajamas for Anne because she calls Anne her Sunshine Girl.

Easter!

I realize that Easter was over a week ago, but better late than never! :) It is late, and the girls are all in bed asleep. So, I thought I would blog A LOT! :)

Anne and Naomi enjoyed dying eggs this year. This was the first time I did this with them at home. Usually we are at another relatives house or traveling.

I made and decorated these the night before. Some of the bunnies look a bit derranged. Just don't look directly into their eyes. :)

Here are the cousins on my side of the family after hunting for eggs in Mom and Dad's front yard. It was cold, but not near as cold as last year!

Mom had birdhouses for the grandkids to paint. It was a great project to keep them occupied. I know my Grandma Dick would have loved seeing them paint these. Birds and birdhouses were one of her favorite things--next to loving God.

Jelly Bean Graphing Activity

I guess the teacher in me just couldn't resist. :) I found a graphing activity that I was going to have the girls do tomorrow since Easter is this Sunday. Since I have Jonathan with me for the day I thought I would let him join the fun. So, I made another copy of the graph, and let them all do the activity this morning. They enjoyed it, and of course eating the jelly beans afterwards was a huge plus!

The dining area in our kitchen is also the home school room. Please pardon the mess of stuff around them. I'm still trying to get things organized. It will be great if we can add on to the house this summer and give us more room. We are in desperate need of it!

A Much Better Experience!

Yesterday the girls had their 6 month check up at the dentist. I knew Anne would be a good patient, but I was a little leary about how Naomi was going to be. I started talking (warning) to Naomi about the appointment 2 weeks ago. She kept assuring me that she would be good. I also made sure that the appointments were scheduled for mid-morning or later, not first thing like they were last time. Naomi is not necessarily "Miss Sunshine" in the morning, if you know what I mean. :) Well, Naomi was a GREAT patient!!! She also had an awesome hygienist who was really good with her. The hygienist she had last time didn't handle Naomi's reactions very well. They only cleaned her teeth this time. Usually they put purple dye on them to show them the plaque, then clean, and then take x-rays. Miss Donna was very insightful and decided to only clean. (I think the dyeing of the teeth is when Naomi started freaking out last time. They made the mistake of showing them too her, and off the table she came!) Next time they'll add one of the other things. She wanted to make sure it was a postive experience and not push it too much.

Here's Naomi enjoying watching Dora while they cleaned her teeth. You can see she's actually smiling a little bit. :)

This was Naomi with the dentist last September. This time she willing opened her mouth so that he could look at and count her teeth!! I was so excited. I let her pick where we ate lunch afterwards--Applebees!!

Both girls are waiting to see the dentist. He was quite busy so it took quite a while. I let Naomi take her Webkinz dog, Princess, with her to hold onto if needed.

Anne goes back on Tuesday for sealants on her 6 year molars. Otherwise both girls had good checkups and are good until this September!! Yeah!

Such a Talker!

I took this video a couple of weeks ago now probably. Melanie is so close to rolling over it's not even funny! She's still not napping very consistently, yet. She's still a mommy's girl. Andy was trying to put her to bed tonight because of something I was working on, but every time she heard my voice she would lift her head and look around for me. Thankfully she didn't cry, but I stopped what I was doing a rocked her before bedtime. It's my favorite thing to do. I rocked all three of my babies!

These Boots Are Made for Walkin'!

My mom bought these boots for the girls this past weekend. Naomi loves them, and wants to wear them all the time. I know you'd never guess that by looking at her in this picture, but she would wear them to bed if I'd let her. :) They were on sale at a great price--$7/pair!! I tried to get sizes that were a little big so they can wear them again next winter.