Ada's 4th Birthday

This 4 year old had a busy day! We started celebrating on Sunday because Cameron was headed to San Diego Monday afternoon. So we made her special cake, a princess castle, which ended up being really easy and fun (although far from perfect). The girls loved helping and loved the finished product. 

We invited our next door neighbors and Raj to come celebrate with us. Ada also loved being sung to in Primary. In our ward they give the kids a ticket that they take to the bishop to receive a candy bar. Pretty special!

And we did presents from Mom and Dad on Sunday afternoon as well. 

Our dollar store here is amazing and we found her a backpack that she loves. 

More cake pictures!

 

Ada's actual birthday on Wednesday was busy. We have joined with some moms in the ward to create a little preschool, and the first day happened to fall on Ada's birthday. So even though we made Monkey Bread the night before, Ada decided she wanted a muffin. Then we took Aubrey to school, came home and got Ada ready, and sent her off as well. It was so quiet having just Penny at home. But I think we both enjoyed it. 

We had invited some friends over in the afternoon for a little party. I didn't realize how many we invited! I think I get excited for birthday season at our house, and go kinda crazy for Ada's birthday, then wear out a bit by Aubrey's and then don't do much for Penny. We will see! The girls were in love with the dollar store door hanger as well. It is still on our door. And balloons from Daddy since he was gone.

All the friends! We started the party by giving everyone a face painted crown (one of Ada's friends gave her a little kit for her birthday). Then they decorated paper crowns for pin the crown on the princess. Then we danced, played duck, duck, goose, musical squares,  and ate cupcakes and candy.

The cupcake castle

Before the party. 

Pin the crown on the princess. 

And today was spent playing with all the new gifts from us, grandparents, and friends.

Painting magnets for the fridge. 

Love these girls!

And the first day of preschool pictures. She was a little nervous when we got to her friend's house but when I picked her up she was so excited that they didn't do anything hard!

Her class

Now I can breathe again! For about a week and a half until it is my turn to host the preschool for 2 weeks (Wed/Fri each week). We will see how that goes!

Bolsa Chica State Beach

We visited Bolsa Chica State Beach this past Saturday with our ward. We debated whether we wanted to make the 1.5 hour drive, but it is always more than worth it. We only hit a tiny bit of traffic, and had an awesome day playing with friends. The waves were small enough that the girls loved actually swimming in the ocean and jumping over the waves. Penny was tenative at first and then turned into a water baby. We built sandcastles, found a starfish, ate lots of snacks, Cam played some football, and overall just had a relaxing day.

 

Princesses. 

 

And our ice cream tradition at Major Brain Freeze down the street before Cameron heads out of town. Today he started an 8 week rotation in San Diego. He will be able to come home on some weekend/weekday occasionally which makes it doable for all of us. Once we get through this stretch we will be through the worst of it (at least I will!). Still lots of studying for boards and weekly quizzes/monthly tests for Cam, he will be busy til the end!

And we had a pool morning with Emjae and Teck. Gearing up for Ada's birthday tomorrow! We celebrated with Cameron on Sunday so she already feels like she has had 1 birthday. Ada also starts preschool tomorrow! We have 6 moms from our ward that got together and made a schedule and it should be really fun and good practice for Kindergarten. Followed by a few friends over to play in the afternoon. Should be a busy/fun day!

Back to Disneyland and More..

The girls have still loved cleaning the bathrooms with me, and afterwards wanted to count my change. Nice activity for everyone!

 

A morning when Daddy gets to walk to school with us is always a good one!

 

  

Library storytime with friends. 

And silly Penny. 

 

Our Disney passes are good to use once again, and although it is still a bit busy, we braved the trip one afternoon when Cam was able to sneak away with us. We had a great time, and you really can work around the crowds pretty easily when you know what you are doing. We discovered that you can get a free chocolate everytime you go into Ghiradelli's, and also walked through a bread tour and got a small slice of sourdough. And we also found out that we could ride the monorail and the girls loved doing that for the first time. Learn something new everytime. 

And we only had to wait about 15 minutes to meet Olaf. A new character to add to our collection!

 

Flik's Flyer's Fun.

And Penny was finally tall enough to ride Mater's Tractors. I thought she would hate it and scream the whole time, but she loved it so much and was laughing and giggling that we went on it twice in a row. 

And Penny is wearing the shirt that Ada wore on our first trip to Disneyland (It is still a bit big on her though). Can you believe how quickly time flies!  

I am going to try to take full advantage of these passes until they expire in January. We will certainly miss our Disneyland days!

First Day of Kindergarten!

Aubrey's first day of Kindergarten was August 12th. She was very excited to start up again, and it has been so exciting to see her confidence grow as she is jumping back into a routine she is familiar with. She has about 7 kids from her transitional class in her Kindergarten class, which made making friends really easy. And so far we have only heard good things about her teacher, Mrs. Schroads. 

 

Growing up way too fast! Can't believe how old she looks in these pictures!

 

 The day before school started we got to meet her teacher and see her classroom. 

Sending her off!

 

Excited for this new year! Aubrey still loves to read, and seems to be getting better and better at it everyday. She also loves math and randomly tells me math problems like 40+50=90. Of course she is my kid so I am pretty bias, but she is an incredibly smart little girl. She is also very competitive especially with her sisters. And she likes to think she is a lot older than she really is because she gets to do all these 'grown up' things like go to school and read and do homework. The tooth fairy has now visited 5 times! Pretty soon she isn't going to have any teeth left (although 2 new teeth have grown in). Her favorite color is blue (although I think it changes daily), and her favorite food is pizza.

We love our Kindergartener!