Birthday Mania, the Zoo and March Madness!

Our neighbors have three kiddos born in the same month so we've spent the last two weekends celebrating Mason and Madison!  (I remember going to weddings all of the time when I was in my 20's. My 30's will be remembered for going to birthday party after birthday party!)

Yummy cake. 

Sweet Madison. 

Mason had a Paw Patrol party at home - lots of fun and games!

Madison had her party at Build a Bear.

(But first Maddie and I had to meet a Disney client!)

With their bears!

The whole gang!

Celebrating "6!"

We've been working hard each week at dance and gymnastics. Sydney is rocking her passes!

Speaking of Sydney, she is cracking me up lately. AS soon as Maddie leaves for school in the morning she asks to play with Maddie's "American doll." Then she sneaks up to the playroom and sits there dressing her in every single outfit Madeline has. She thinks this is a fun secret to keep from sissy.....except Madeline is so Type A that she comes home every day and asks "WHO WAS IN MY STUFF?" 

Sometimes I look at Sydney and think that she looks so big and so old. Then she falls asleep in my bed and I'm so happy she's still on the baby side. 

My first daughter - Stella bella!

We had a warm Saturday and hit up the zoo.

Camel rides with tia!

Waiting on the train!

I asked the girls to smile for a picture.

That's totally Maddie.

Then, there's Sydney.

Group train selfie!

Mary Ellen got a new tap outfit, with tap shoes!, from a sweet neighbor.

And, this picture popped up on my TimeHop and I just love it! Look how sweet they are!

March Check-In!

Shoo-wee.  It's mid-March. Where is this year going? 

Sydney's preschool was bought by a larger company who've modernized the school. They are setting up cameras in every classroom, adding expanded curriculum and send us a daily report each day via email. We usually get at least one pic of Sydney too and I love it.

Pre-school is for three hours in the morning. 

 Little lefty girl.

This is her favorite part of the playground - the bike!

We had an unseasonably warm day a few weeks ago. Maddie got off the bus and put on a summer romper. We picked sissy up early and played at the park!

Last weekend we went to the Science Center for $5 admission night. We hadn't been in awhile and the girls had a great time checking out the new water play area.

We built some cool ramps...

Engineered...

And...this was a little...different. Madeline is pushing "food" through an intestine into a toilet.

This exhibit was hilarious. It depicted the large and small intestines and the girls thought it was a riot!

Madeline had a hair cut so we snuck a little treat in before - milkshakes for the win!

We had the neighbors over to play.

And, we went to River and Rayne's birthday party. They are twins and in two different classes at school, so we literally had almost half of the kindergartners at All About Kids. It was a wild time!

Can't say it enough - love this school and the friends Maddie has made there.

Only set back this week was that we ordered Rayne some American Girl doll tap shoes on Amazon. Madeline checked the mailbox all week for them. We FINALLY got the package on Friday. Maddie ripped it open and it wasn't tap shoes. It was SNAIL CREAM.

Legit, snail cream, made up of 90% snail mucus. Y'all. I can't even make this stuff up. What in the actual heck?! It's a face cream that is supposed to be great for blemishes but ... I can't. How funny is that? And with that, I'll leave you to go look it up!

A ballerina and a gymnast...

On Friday, Sydney and I surprised Madeline at school for lunch.

She was so excited!

Earlier in the week we started back with dance. Maddie is doing a tap, ballet and tumble combination class. Sydney wanted to do gymnastics but there were no spots left in the gymnastics-only so she's in a ballet/gymnastics combo class.

She spent the first five minutes picking her wedgie.

But then, really found her groove!

Transitioning from ballet to gymnastics and so excited!

Leading the pack!

Friday night, we left the chili in the crock pot and headed to Gustavo's.

The big news was that daddy got our Bunk Beds set up. We got these from our cousins and the girls are OBSESSED.

They want to sleep in them every night and are already having fun building forts. 

Kindergarten Leader, Half-Ironman in Training, and the Aquarium!!

On Monday, Maddie was announced as the Kindergarten Student Leader of the Week. Every Monday, there's a school-wide huddle and one child from each grade is selected. Madeline, along with the other five leaders were announced in front of the school and got to run out under a tunnel made by the teacher's arms. She thought this was VERY cool.

Go Maddie go!

Speaking of Madeline, she got a make-up kit from Hudson for her birthday and has been ALL OVER IT. She loves putting make-up on. 

Such a little princess. We went to Rolfe's birthday party at the Bowling alley this weekend. It was Maddie...and 9 boys. But, she didn't sweat it!

In other Maddie news, a little boy was hanging off the bus last week to shout bye to her and proceed to tell her that there dog was SO SO cool. I wanted to yell at the little boy to get back on the bus, but I didn't. Sigh. 

As for my littlest lady, we love our Friday's together. We usually rest or play around the house in the morning and then go to lunch with grandma or a friend. This past week we went with Brooke.

Chik Fil A sillies!

Chris signed up for the half-Ironman and has been pulling many two-a-days. He works out at lunch and then either in the morning or evening. Which means, while I'm doing travel work, I often look over and find him like this. 

Or like this.

 Every.Single.Night.

We've been working on eating better and this salmon with garlicky zoodles was a big hit!

 On Sunday we went to the Newport Aquarium with K and D and had so much fun!

Touching some starfish.

 We saw Dory and Sydney was SO excited.

I almost sat in this cool chair until I saw it weighed you.

 Um, no.

 Looking at Mighty Mike and holding hands...because he was one HUGE croc.

Measuring up to Mighty Mike.

The kids petting baby sharks. Hudson's arm was wet to his shoulder; Maddie and Sydney had one fingers barely in the water. HAHA!

We crossed the rope bridge above the sharks!

And finished with a yummy lunch at Don Pablos!

We went to see Madeline's school play this week - The Thing About Yeti's. Every kid had a line and they sang some songs and made a Yeti craft.

Maddie and her buddy Savannah.

We have been so blessed to get this school and, in particular, this Kindergarten class for Maddie. She is really thriving in school. She loves to read and has made so many great friends. There are several just in our neighborhood! I can't believe this year is almost over and then I'll have a first grader. Crazy!