Big bug's comming!

If you remember back about six months, I was concerned about the fact that Makael wasn't talking yet...thanks to his older sister who started talking at 7 months. Now I have no clue what I was so worried about.  Although he's been talking for a while, sometimes it still catches me off guard when he perfectly forms a 6-7 word sentence like, "come on mom, let's go down stairs". What's been especially fun recently is his pretend play.  A few days ago he randomly started telling us that there was a dinosaur in the house, then proceeded to run down the hall screaming.  Ummmm okay? We thought it was strange but pretty dang endearing, while Gemma just took it as her cue to join in on the "chase".  They've been running around the house together yelling "there's a dinosaur in the house" for days.

During nap time today, I helped Gemma make a party hat (I guess she hasn't quite accepted that her birthday is over).  She decorated it with a bunch of stickers, one of which was a big lady bug. When Makael woke up he quickly found the hat, saw the sticker, and immediately yelled, "big bug's coming"!  So of course Gemma joined in and they continued to chase each other around the house. That has been the ongoing game ever since.  Next time you see him you should ask him about the dinosaur and the bug, guaranteed he'll tell you all about them.  He was more than happy to tell a sweet older gentleman at the grocery store all about the dinosaur in the house.

Never say "never"

Before I had kids, I swore I would never let one of my kids have a Barney or Hello Kitty themed party. I'm not really a fan of "themed" things in general so my brain doesn't even think that way when planning parties or decorating. I was a totally dumbfounded when Gemma told me she wanted a Hello Kitty theme for her 4th birthday. Who is this girl?! I wasn't going to say no just because I don't like Hello Kitty, and admittedly, it was pretty cute to see her get so excited about planning her own party. Overall it was a success. I'm still holding on to "never" having a Barney themed party :)  Out of 11 of her friends that came, only three of them were girls.  Props to all the boys who came to her girly party! She had an absolute blast.  She couldn't ask for a better group of friends!

We had a small celebration on her actual birthday here at home...

Playing with her new appliances from Aunt Brenda.

Look at her face!!

How is she already 4?

Wearing Hello Kitty head to toe.

There are just way too many cute pictures of her birthday party so I decided to just post a link to my facebook album.  But here is a picture of Gemma with all of her friends (minus cousin Ariya).  Aren't they cute? https://www.facebook.com/audrey.y.boyd/media_set?set=a.685119898178477.1073741825.100000414194522&type=3