I’ve got wheels!

As I mentioned before in Sevea’s birthday post, she got her very first bike. We hadn’t purchased a bike for her because she wasn’t interested in peddling at all. No amount of talking about it made her want to try. She just wasn’t into it. Did not appeal to her at all. Even on her birthday we didn’t know if she would ever want to ride it but without having a bike around she wouldn’t ever try either. She was really really excited about getting the bike for her birthday so that helped the situation. Then her daycare friend Grace was over for a fun night and brought her bike. I think this really helped peak Sevea’s interest in actually trying to peddle herself. (Instead of us pushing her around on the bike) She figured it out that night. The next day it was like she had been riding for months. She did really well. It will be fun to watch her continue to improve…except summer is behind us. Let’s hope she doesn’t forget over the winter…what is the saying “It’s like riding a bike?”

Updated to add: I forgot to include the first casualty of learning to ride her bike. She got an owie the second day of riding but thankfully hopped back on the bike after getting a Band-Aid.

Climbing not Walking

Cohen never ceases to amaze me. He has just done things differently and really makes this second time parenting new and interesting. We are just over the 13 month mark and no sign of walking. This isn’t new and interesting though. Sevea didn’t walk until 14 months. I’m not sure if Cohen will walk within the next month but he does certainly get around.

The interesting part is his climbing. He will try to climb just about anything. Sevea was NOT a climber at all. I used to think it was because of her short stature. But my niece Adelyn, who was even shorter than Sevea, made me think twice about that since she had no problem with climbing up and on to things. Cohen has certainly changed my tune and I know now that Sevea was just content and didn’t care to get “into” new things like climbing.

The only problem I have with all of this, the kid just does not know fear or consequence. He will certainly be a kid who learns from more than one fall. I guess this shouldn’t surprise me with all the bruises he has gotten in his short life. The thing I love about this…

A year later he still loves laying in the chair.

Cousins & Park = Sevea’s Heaven

If you don’t already know it Sevea has the biggest crush on her cousins. She thinks they are the best and if something involves getting to see them she is very happy. So the BEST birthday present she could have asked for was time with her cousins. Angie and Brock are not ones to squash a little’s girls dream so they agreed to go on a date night and to Viking game just for her :) We ventured to the park the day after her birthday party for some fun and a picnic. Fun was had by all and really made the weekend great for Sevea.

I just love pictures of kids in swings. And kids just love swings!

Sevea has never really been a fan of this teeter totter since she can’t do it on her own. Even with her on one side and Troy/Me on the other it just doesn’t work too well. But put her and Brezlyn on one side with Briella doing all the work, now that equals fun.

Picnic time!! Who doesn’t love a good picnic.

You don’t see Kenzie in the pictures. Why? She was the one behind the camera. I was very impressed with some of the pictures she got. Of course she took about 1,000 of them but I think she could develop quite the talent for photography.

We love spending time with the Buchert kiddos. Troy even made a comment of “5”? (Think about it) Total joke but who knows :)

Minnie Mouse turns 4!

I’ve been waiting for some pictures from a daycare parent to post about Sevea’s birthday party. Well I’ve got them so let’s take a look at the birthday girl’s day.

It was a lot of fun. I mean A LOT!! I sort of felt like I was the kid but I don’t think I was alone. Both grandma’s got in on the fun right away with the bounce house!!
`Q

The bounce house was a huge hit. I only wish the cost of it wasn’t such a huge hit on the pocketbook. But really it added so much fun to the party. It may have to be a regular attraction at least once a year.

The FOOD!!! It is one area of party planning that I love getting creative with the theme. I was pleased with how everything came out. I think all our mouse guests were too since they nibbled their way through almost all of it.

Once everyone’s bellies were full we moved onto games. We started with a good ol’ game of pin the bow on Minnie Mouse. The kids colored their own bow and then took it outside for their turn to put the bow on Minnie's head.

There wasn’t really a winner to the game and the kids didn’t seem to care. They had fun and that was all that mattered. But one thing that does matter to kids….CANDY!!! We’ve entered a good age for a piñata. I made the piñata myself and tried to not use a lot of tape but the kids still had a hard time breaking it open. But they had fun hitting it and the candy was all they cared about anyway. (Making this piñata was really easy. I would totally recommend doing it yourself!)
 
A girl who didn’t need anything was blessed with so much. Her family and friends were so generous. She has enjoyed playing with her new toys and wearing new clothes. And we have enjoyed teaching her how to ride her new bike. At 4 years old we figured it was about time for a bike!! You’ll see in a later post she was FINALLY ready to try riding a bike.

Of course a birthday party is not complete without cake. I was feeling a little more confident in my cake decorating/baking skills after Cohen’s caterpillar cake success. So I attempted fondant for the first time. Marshmallow fondant is known for a much better taste and supposed to be pretty easy to work with. However I didn’t know at the time that black and red are the two hardest colors to achieve. In the end I think it was a success. Yes there were cracks but with such a large cake to cover I’d say it turned out really well for my first time.

Happy Birthday Sevea! We wish you many more!!

Sevea, age 4

Kids change so much each year. Physically you can judge through pictures. Mentally what better than to ask them questions. I’ve always wanted to ask certain questions of my kids and write them down to see how they change each year. However once I had kids I just plain forgot to do it, that is until Pinterest came into my life and made it “easier” to remember these types of things. Here are 20 questions I hope to ask my kids each year to see how their interests and answers change throughout their life.

Sevea’s 20 questions – age 4

1. What is your favorite color? Pink

2. What is your favorite toy? Babies

3. What is your favorite tv show or movie? Doc McStuffins

4. What is your favorite breakfast? Pink cereal (strawberry flavored shredded wheat) and rainbow pancakes

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Cheeseburgers

6. What is your favorite snack? Goldfish

7. What is your favorite outfit? dresses

8. What is your favorite game? puzzles

9. What is your favorite animal? Kitty

10. What is your favorite song? Doc McStuffins I feel better song -

I feel better, so much better.
Thank you, Doc, for takin' all the ouches away.
I didn't feel so good 'till…
You fixed me like I knew that you would.
I feel better, so much better now!

11. Who is your best friend? Grace

12. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play, Swing

13. What is your favorite drink? Juice (we rarely offer it but when offered she turns it down 99% of the time, haha)

14. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

15. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? blankie and baby

16. What do you want to be when you grow up? A unicorn, a fireman, a princess

17. What is your favorite thing about your brother? I like to give him hugs and kisses

18. What do you love about yourself? I like that I can do stuff by myself

19. What’s your favorite thing to do with Daddy? I like when he gets me crayons and paper for I can color

20. What’s your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Watch t.v.

State Fair Fun

The Friday of Labor Day weekend we ventured to the state fair. We’re the type that like to go for the food. Even though we are those type somehow we never really get that much food. I leave feeling sort of disappointed and say next year will be different. I thought this year would be different since the Zimmer’s joined us (no daycare means a “forced” vacation day for them too, haha). More people means more opportunities to try new things. Somehow that wasn’t the case. We ended up trying the Australian potatoes with cheese and ranch sauce (my favorite of the day), Martha’s cookies (first time getting them…good fresh but nothing special…wouldn’t get every year), fried banana split (this was Sevea’s choice…good but nothing special either…the banana was battered and fried then served with ice cream and toppings), and lastly deep fried vegetables (these were recommended to Carissa and they were good but extremely hot and we were too impatient..next time wait till they cool down). We split all of this between the 4/5 of us. Disappointing. But one thing about having kids is the new things you experience. We had never done any rides or games at the fair before. This was definitely a highlight of the day and something that definitely added to the state fair experience.

The giant slide…what a hit for both the adults and the kids.

Sevea definitely had fun on the rides. Only bad thing was trying to find rides that she was tall enough for to go on her own, otherwise you needed to pay for the adult to go as well. She really wanted to go on the rides for the bigger kids and seems to have no fear of the rides. It will be very fun to see her get to experience these rides in the future.

Cohen and Grayson were along for all the fun as well. It was funny to put Grayson up to the height charts and realize he will likely be able to go on the rides Sevea was on next year….or next month. Even though Cohen is only 4.5 months younger it will probably take him till he is 3 just like Sevea, haha!

We took the bus to the fair and the kids did great. Sevea thought it was fun, Cohen could have cared less and fell asleep in my arms on the way there. Both of them were happy to cuddle up on the ride home.

We learned you can not only see some interesting things at the fair but also when you go to drive home. Can you tell what happened? Our car was trapped between the car in front of us and the one behind. So we ended our state fair experience by waiting for a tow truck to move the car behind us. We eventually made our way home and talked all about what we wanted to do next year :)