Amelia was singing the ABC song today and here's how it went:

A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-Elmo-P-Q-R-S-T-U-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

Now I know my ABC's

Next time won't you sing with me!

No sheep were harmed in the making of this birthday party.

For Amelia's birthday we had a sheep party. 20 kids 4 and younger and their moms in the neighborhood park turned into a great party for Amelia. We are certainly blessed to be part of a community with so many young children that have become my girl's best friends. The kids made sheep out of hand prints and played "Stick the wool on the sheep." Thank you friends for blessing Amelia with lots of fun toys and clothes, and especially for coming to the party!

For the cake, I chose to make sheep cake pops. I got the idea from the Bakerella blog while researching sheep cakes. I chose one of the most difficult types of cake pops to start with, and these sheep definitely had a learning curve. The concept is fairly simple but me being without any kind of culinary education except knowing how to read blogs on the internet, it turned out to be quite an ordeal. But the end product was much enjoyed by the party guests and mighty tasty! The directions are on this Bakerella entry. I had to freeze the pops to make it easier to dip, I think I may have used too much frosting or something.

For the coating I used white non-pareil sprinkles, a candy blackberry for the face, cut up licorice for the legs and little licorice for the ears. For the noses I used Easter egg sprinkles. I almost wanted to use sheep meat instead of crumbled cake, but that would have been a little violent, let alone more expensive. Ironic too. Some of the sheep looked a little, um...slow because of their misshapen bodies or weird-facing legs. My rationale for this is that sheep aren't the smartest of animals so it's okay if they don't look perfect. As Pastor Mark Driscoll has said, "The smartest sheep is still just a sheep."

Dear Amelia,
Today you are 2 years old and today we celebrate that God has blessed us with having you in our family. You are so busy! You are such a little talker and imitator of all around you. You love to sing songs and give kisses and you especially love your sister Caley. We know that you will be a wonderful big sister.
Love, Mommy, Daddy, and Caley

Clams and Kites

Caley and Amelia are in Astoria for a few days. My mom sent us some pictures and it looks like they're having a great time! They've gone clamming, kite flying, carousel, swimming, and just hanging out with Grama and Papa. But also giving my parents a run for their money, especially around bedtime. Two girls in the same room for night-night = lots of giggles! Here are some pictures of their time away. Thanks Mom and Dad!!

It's Amelia's turn to pray!

A few nights ago before dinner, Amelia prayed for us.

"Jesus, Amen. Yay!! (clapping)"

I just can't figure this kid out

It seems like no matter where I move Amelia's crib, she outsmarts me. Her crib is along the wall next to Caley's room. Often she will spit her binky out at night and when she wakes to get milk in the early hours I have to move her crib to find it. Her crib never seems to stay in one place. Sometimes it'll be too close to the light switch and she'll turn her light on in the middle of the night. Sometimes I'll get her from bed and she'll have moved the dirty laundry from her laundry basket around her crib. One time I checked on her and she was putting on clothes from her laundry basket. Today I moved her crib further from the light switch and she could reach the decorative wooden safety pin on her wall. I got her from naptime and she was holding it saying "uh-oh, uh-oh." When she doesn't get things from around the outside of her crib, she sometimes manages to get stuck between the rungs or partly climb out of it. This kid is a genius. Maybe not, but she seems like it because when Caley was her age she was just learning to walk, so crib shenanigans were unknown to me. Maybe I could put a fitted sheet over the top of the crib as a tent. Maybe I could wrap the rungs with Saranwrap. Maybe I could make her sleep in a straitjacket. Maybe it's time to move her out of the crib. But that would mean admitting she's not a baby anymore. 

Good job Amelia!

I was in Fred Meyer last week with only Amelia because Caley was in Playland. (But I did not feel like I was cheating on Cost Cutter!) Amelia was pushing the cart around, and several people stopped and commented how cute she was. An older lady asked what her name was and I said "Amelia" and she said, "That's a good, real name. It's not stupid like those new made-up names you hear nowadays." 

I didn't tell her that Big Sister has a "made up" name that's only gained popularity in the last 3o years. See Kaylee's popularity here (we changed the spelling to make our Caley unique and to distinguish her from her namesake TV character.) Just for fun, here is Amelia's popularity.

Help Yourself!!

After nearly 18 months of living with us, Amelia feels comfortable enough to get a snack whenever she wants:

 Yes, she got the bowl and cereal out by herself. 

Halloween 2008

Thursday we had to cancel the playgroup Halloween/Harvest party because Caley and I, and the other planning mom (Rachael) were sick. We were really bummed out because we had fun activities planned like the spider web mud room, donut-on-a-string, prize in pasta, and pumpkin popcorn balls. We were really looking forward to all the kids in costumes too. Thursday turned out to be a great, relaxing day though, because Bill stayed home and took care of the kids and me while I slept until 1pm! It was a wonderful birthday present actually (he did give me some wonderful presents too, which Caley helped wrap).

Throwing spiders at a web

They made goo! (Glue, water, laundry detergent)
Bubble potion! (soap, water and dry ice in a tube)

On Halloween we went to the Everett Children's Museum and it was costume day with special Halloween activities. The girls were a wizard and a clown, because their real costumes were dirty. Later we went to the Mukilteo Boo Bash where they trick-or-treated at some Old Town businesses. For that we switched to their real costumes, bumblebees! It made for a fun day!