St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

For me, one of the big perks of being a parent are the little things we get to do to make holidays exciting. :) Just like last year, we decided to try and catch a leprechaun this year. Katelee, with a little help, devised a trap.

Here's how it works:
The piano bench lid is propped up with a wooden spoon, and laying on the wooden spoon is Katelee's golden glove. Leprechauns cannot resist anything thing gold, so when a leprechaun sees the shiny gold, he'll jump in the bench and try to take the glove. But when that wooden spoon is bumped, it will move and the whole lid will come crashing down - trapping the leprechaun! Unfortunately, we did NOT catch the leprechaun again this year. So, no pot of gold for us!

However, the leprechaun did leave us with a few green snacks:And LOTS of tricks. This year that tricky leprechaun:

• turned our kitchen table upside down!
• dyed the milk green!
• painted one of Katelee's fingernails green in the night! (And one of mom's fingernails, and one of dad's toenails - ha ha ha!)
• dyed the toilet water green
  
• turned one of our paintings upside down!
  

• And when Katelee went to pour her usual cereal for breakfast, she was ecstatic when Lucky Charms came out of the box!

Oh, fun! Here's a picture of Katelee's 3-leaf clover hair that we did, as well. :) We found the tutorial for it here.Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!

Spring has Sprung!

Over the past couple of weeks, we have enjoyed some really gorgeous weather! As a result, we've spent as much time as we can outside, soaking up the sunshine.

Blake particularly likes watching Katelee swing.

K & K's Bakery

On a recent no-school day, we had Kassandra here for the whole day. The girls love to pretend play, and needed an idea of something to do, so I suggested they open their own bakery. They named their bakery and made the sign:Then they put on their aprons, got out the play-doh, and began baking!Cupcakes and cookies and donuts - oh, my!

Brother did not escape the fun. The girls made him a play-doh mustache. Oh, the silliness!

Then Kassandra drew some money and they both cut it out.

Katelee devised her own cash register...

And the grand opening was announced!

By a fun coincidence, this was the same weekend Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds were in town, so they were privileged to be some of the first customers at K&K Bakery.Blake also waltzed in to buy a chocolate cake, much to the delight of the girls, and I did my fair share of shopping.

What a fun way to spend a morning.

More Hairdo's

Here are just a couple of new favorite hair styles we've discovered for Katelee lately.

Update: Rachel, here are some instructions, as requested!To do this style, I section the top of Katelee's hair into three pony tails and secure each pony with a clear rubberband. Braid each ponytail down and secure with another clear rubber band. Then I cross the far right ponytail and secure it through the rubberband at the top of the far left ponytail. I take the far left ponytail and secure it through the rubberband at the top of the far right ponytail. At this point, I have the ends of her left and right braid hanging out and all of the middle braid still hanging down. I take the middle braid and the ends, and weave them around and through until everything looks nice and is relatively secure. I sometimes use a bobbypin or two to secure ends in. Gently curl the remaining hair.

For the tutorial for the Lady Gaga Hairbow style, I used this video tutorial found here.

Opening Presents

These are the last photos of Katelee's birthday. :) Friday night we went to McDonald's for dinner (Katelee's choice) and came home for presents and some ice cream.

And Katelee picked out this helmet and scarf. By the way, a scarf was the only thing she specifically asked for for her birthday! ;)Katelee loved the Belle gloves, jewelry and crown from Grandma Thurston.And the hula hoop from Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds.Oh, and here are a few adorable pics of Blake enjoying the fun, too. :)My personal favorite gift was this Mom & Me Journal. My friend gave me this idea and told me how she has been doing this with her daughter for 7 years now - what an amazing thing to share! In this picture, Katelee is reading the letter I wrote inside. Dear Katelee,

Today you turn six years old! It doesn't seem that long since the day you were born, and we first saw your beautiful face. Daddy and I had longed for you to come - for years! - and you were finally here. And more precious and beautiful than we could have ever imagined. Since that day, you have been one of the greatest joys and blessings of our lives. Oh, how we love you! We are so happy and proud to see the lovely, intelligent, good and caring little girl you have become and the amazing young woman you will become.

This notebook is a "Me and Mom" Journal. Let's use it to write private notes back and forth to one another. We can ask each other questions, tell about our experiences, or just express love to one another. We will take turns. When you are done writing in it, hide it under my pillow so I can find it! When I write in it, I will hide it under your pillow to find.

I am excited to share this special journal with you, my darling girl. I love you so much Katelee!

xoxox,

Mom

Today, I found the journal under my pillow for the first time, with a sweet response written in it. It made my whole day! ;)

Reading Can Be Dangerous

It's always a good idea to wear your helmet, just in case.
And it's best if you have a bunny head helmet that you've named Nibblet.

Just sayin'.

Ballerina Birthday Party