Madeline's 5th Birthday, Part I

Madeline's fifth birthday was phenomenal!  She celebrated for days!  Part one of her celebration began today when my mom and her best friend from church, Ms. Ginny, took the girls to get manicures and pedicures, lunch, and a little shopping.  It was a glorious day for the Stewart girls.  From Grandma and Ms. Ginny's reactions, I'd say they had just as much fun as my girls did!

 

What a wonderful start to a fifth birthday!  Madeline and Amelia are so fortunate to have a grandparent living close that wants to take them out to do special treats like this.  Ms. Ginny's daughters live in Texas with her grandchildren, so my girls are her "special grands".  Ms. Ginny definitely aids and abets my Mom's indulgence of my girls.  It's a sweet little deal for everyone involved!

Summer Fun

Nothing special to report around here. 

Just some cuteness:

A new neighborhood friend - these two adore each other!

End of May Phone Dump

The end of May proved to be a busy few weeks for us. 

 

Madeline and Amelia enjoyed their last day of school before summer break!

 

We had lots of playtime before the summer heat keeps us indoors.

 

We took the bed rails off of Madeline's bed in preparation for Amelia's move to a "big girl bed."  Madeline has done really well with this change.  She had a rough night one time when she fell out, but that was to be expected, I suppose.

 

Madeline started her swim lessons with Mr. Bill, and she has been doing so well.  All the different actions are starting to become uniform & natural for Madeline which means she's almost a full blown independent swimmer.  She's very proud of herself...slowly but surely it's starting to click.

Just Another Photo Dump

I have lost control of keeping up with the blog this late winter/early spring season.  So, forgive the random picture posts recently, but I'll never get myself caught up if I don't have a post like this.

 

We had many afternoons like these especially since we've had a chilly, rainy spring:

My three loves the day we had some family photos taken at our friend's farm.

Madeline's school raises money for St. Jude through a Trike-a-Thon.  Madeline was very excited to participate in this event on her NEW bicycle.  She had outgrown her 10" bicycle, so we went ahead and got her a larger bike.  (I'm calling it an early birthday gift.)

 

There she goes.

 

Her smile says it all!

 

Madeline and Eric went to the store to choose a bicycle on Saturday.  Eric put it together that evening, and on Sunday morning, before church in our pajamas, we went out for a test ride.  It was a funny little adventure.

 

Of course, the wee one cannot be left out of the morning ride.

 

Madeline is so proud that her Bitty Baby, Stella, can go for a ride too in the carrier.  

 

We didn't realize how much Madeline had outgrown her small bike.  We'll be pulling the smaller one back out for little sister before we know it.

 

My almost kindergartner!

 

Amelia was obsessed with those bunny ears for quite a few days.  She wore them all the time.

 

We finally pulled out some spring clothes, and the girls were so excited to wear their new outfits from Grandma and Grandpa.  They purchased these on their trip to Canada.

 

Amelia's class made Easter bonnets, and she was also quite excited to wear this around whenever she could.  This child is seriously into accessories, specifically head wear.

 

The evenings have been perfect for the fire pit.  Madeline has really enjoyed having s'mores on Saturday nights!

 

Should we be concerned that our 2 year old is double fisting already?

 

Madeline and Daddy were running some errands, and they had a pit stop to the ice cream shop along the way!