Kaitlyn's First Day of Pre-K

Today was the day that Kaitlyn has been anxiously waiting for.  She has watched all of her friends head off to kindergarten and has been so disappointed that she is not five yet.  Today was the day that she went back to Creative World and joined the Panther class for pre-k.  She has been excited all week and was even more excited this morning to (hopefully) see all of her friends form the Lions class.  She was still excited when she came home and can't wait to head back Friday. 

Age: 4
School: Creative World
Teachers name: Ms. Jo
What is your favorite color: blue
What is your favorite food: grilled cheese
What is your favorite thing to do: paint
Who is your best friend: Dylan
What do you want to be when your grow up: an artist, a singer, and a mommy
What are you excited for:  school field trips and riding the bus

Some of her answers totally surprised me.  Purple has always been her favorite color and I expected her to say mac and cheese or hot dogs for her favorite foods.

Just for fun I asked Madi same question.  She wants to go to school so bad.
Age: 3
What is your favorite color: purple
What is your favorite food: noodles and 'matoes and shrimp AND noodles with 'matoes and sauce
What is your favorite thing to do: color with markers
Who is your best friend(s): Kaitlyn, Dylan, and Caleb
What do you want to be when your grow up: a mommy and cook dinner.  I'll be careful and put on my apron.

Still happy at the end of the day.

Kansas Sunflowers

There's a not so secret place (Grinter Farms) about 11 miles northeast of Lawrence, KS (or 50 miles from our house) that is full of sunflowers.  I first heard of Grinter Farms last year when sunflowers blew up my Facebook news feed.  I remember looking at all of the pictures and wishing that I could take the girls to see it.  The sunflowers made the perfect backdrop and I wanted to get some pictures of the girls surrounded by them.  It never worked out for us last year, so I made it a priority this year.

On Sunday, we decided to go to Nebraska Furniture Mart to look at new light fixtures for the kitchen.  (More about our kitchen remodel in a later post.)  I thought this would be the perfect time to go see the sunflowers since we would be almost halfway there.  Apparently, everyone else between Kansas City and Lawrence had the same idea.  It was packed!  Traffic was backed up for miles and there were a couple times that I thought that we would have to miss seeing it this year too.  It was definitely worth the wait.  Well, it was for me and the girls.  David, not so much.  Once we got close, all we could see was a sea of yellow with mixes of green.  It was unlike anything I have ever seen.  However, I do not feel the need to visit it every year.
Like many, I had high hopes of capturing the perfect picture of our little family.  There were even a couple ladies out there offering to take you picture.  I did manage to get a couple good pictures of the girls and the fields, despite the fact Madi refused to look at the camera.  However, the pictures of the four of us were not good.
If you have the chance, you really should check it out.  Just go early, like 8am, or be prepared to be stuck in traffic.

Madi's Ariel Birthday

For Madi's first two birthday parties, I chose the theme.  I tried to pick something that I thought would be cute (1st birthday -Minnie Mouse) or something she was into (2nd birthday - Sofia the First).  This year was the first year that she told me what she wanted.  She chose Ariel, just like Kaitlyn did when she turned three.  We also let her decide where she wanted to have her party.  Surprisingly, she chose to have it at home.  All she asked for was a pinata, to play on her waterslide, and an Ariel cake.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with us and we were only able to fulfill two of her three requests.  Despite the rain, I think it's safe to say the she thoroughly enjoyed her party.

When Kaitlyn had her Ariel birthday party, I made her a mermaid cake that had Ariel sticking out of the top.  Even though it was a cute and fairly simple cake, I did not want to make the same one for Madi.  

I searched pinterest and obsessed over finding the perfect cake.  I found several that I really liked, but most of them seemed to be above my ability.  I finally picked one, but when I went to make it something went wrong.  I bought a tip that I thought would create a ribbon effect, but it didn't.  What it did make was a horrible looking cake.  I've made a lot of cakes and this was by far the ugliest cake I had ever made.  I did so fast thinking (the party was in two hours) and came up with solution. I think the finished product turned out pretty.  Most importantly, Madi loved it!

Madi's 3rd birthday cake.  Quite possibly the best tasting cake I've ever made.

Chocolate cupcakes for our chocolate lovers.

Octopus French onion dip

Madi couldn't wait to open presents.  She asked to open them every time some new arrived.  When it was finally time to open them, I think she was more excited about the actual opening of the presents than she was with what was inside.  I did however manage to get some good smiles out of her with most of her presents.  After the party was over she couldn't wait to take everything out of the package.

She is so excited to start ballet and tap this week with Kaitlyn.

After gifts, it was time for the pinata.  It started to rain the moment that we decided to bust open the pinata so we improvised and did it in the house.  Instead opening it the traditional way, we used the pull strings at the bottom.  It wasn't quite as exciting to watch this way, but it was definitely safer and the kids still had fun.

She made sure that every piece of candy was picked up.

And finally, it was cake and ice cream time.  She was ready to blow out her candle, but bless her heart she just couldn't do it.  She eventually had to have help from Daddy. 

Happy 3rd Birthday Madelyn Rose!  I hope you had a great birthday.  We love you.