My Art

Here are some examples of the art I've been doing.  I'm lucky enough to get to do an art project every time I go to preschool AND every time I go to the gym daycare.  These are just a quick pick of five!

We had to include Frankenstein because we are a bit obsessed with this Halloween monster!

Marathon...Check!

My daddy just checked off a major accomplishment yesterday.  He ran a full blown marathon!

Yesterday was the St. George Marathon and this year it was favored with great weather.  Nice and cold in the morning with a terrific and slow heat up.  My daddy did really well.  (As Cara says, "My daddy is SOOO great!) He ran the full thing in just FOUR hours and three minutes.  We are so proud of him.

Uncle Eric, Aunt Becca, Aunt Angie and Grandma came to help us cheer him on for his last mile.  He was so fast that all of us only caught his backside running away from us on camera!

Celebrations continue!

On Sunday, after we arrived home from Disneyland ridiculously late, we took the time to celebrate with Mommy's family.

We did cake and presents for me!  And of course I loved it.

Grandpa got me my own chalk bag!

We also took the time to go see Grandma Great at her grave.  Sunday would have been her 70th birthday!  I can't believe it's been almost a whole year since she left us.  Happy Birthday, Grandma Sharon!

Disneyland Trip #4

I had a great birthday this year.  I got to spend it at Disneyland!  Since this was our fourth trip to Disneyland, it seems a little ridiculous to post more pictures of us doing the same things.  Or at least doing four separate posts for each day.  So we will try to keep it to highlights.

Highlight #1: Mommy and Daddy surprising us with a stay in the Disneyland Hotel for two nights.

We loved the room.  The headboard had a little button that would turn on the LED firework lights and play "A Dream is a Wish".  We even enjoyed it at 2 am when we arrived!

Highlight #2: Being walking distance to Disneyland two mornings in a row with the benefit of an extra Magic Hour available to only resort guests.  Seriously.  It made the difference.  We were able to get in to a separate park than all the other Magic Hour 3 day park hopper pass people.  We did so much in that hour.  We were able to do the new Cars Land roller coaster: Radiator Springs Racers FOUR times because of it!

Highlight #3: Taking a 2 hour break on our first day to play in the Disneyland Hotel pool.  They had waterslides that were so much fun...unless you ask Cara.  This is how she spent the two hour break:

Those monorail cars are actually slides...so fun.

Highlight #4: A Birthday lunch for me at Ariel's Grotto. Five star food with five princesses coming around and greeting us at the table....very exciting.

Highlight #5: Cara was finally tall enough to ride on Go Coaster with us!!  A roller coaster with the whole family on it.  Very fun.

Highlight #6: Seeing Cars Land in general.  It is very fun to walk around (except for all the people!!!) and we loved the Junkyard Jamboree ride.  Luigi's Flying tires was kind of funny too!

Highlight #7: Enjoying our rides on Haunted Mansion because it was decorated in Nightmare Before Christmas and we had been watching a video on Mommy's phone about it over and over!

Highlight #8: Cara and I really enjoyed the Halloween decorations even though we have been there two other times with them up.  This one we might ACTUALLY remember!

Highlight #9: Taking the morning on Saturday to spend at the beach.  I LOVED PLAYING IN THE WATER.  Daddy was afraid for me and the undertow but in classic child style I had no idea of the danger!

Cara showed Daddy how to take a drink without touching the cup
with sandy hands...she didn't get in the water...

I'm in Daddy's arms in this picture!

Oh the sand!

Highlight #10: Heading home on the I-5...and then doing a U-turn at the LAST MINUTE to head back down for a couple more hours and check some more things off of our bucket list! Crazy, I know, but worth it.

Happy FIFTH Birthday!!

This amazing big sister turned FIVE today.

Since it is Siena's birthday, I thought I, Cara, should take the helm and tell you what makes her great.  According to me:

Favorite Movie: Alice in Wonderland
Favorite Food: Cake
Favorite thing to do for fun: Play
Favorite Disney Princess: Snow White

I love her and we love to play together.  I think I'll let Mommy finish the post though and tell you other neat things about Siena.

Okay, Mommy here.  And let me tell you, it's very difficult to believe that Siena is already FIVE.  She has grown up so much in the last six months and it's very fun to watch.  I love talking with her.  She has her own ideas about how things work and will tell you story after story.

Siena is very into drawing and coloring right now. She begs to go to the gym because of the awesome child care center that lets her craft and color to her hearts content.  I think I've recycled a whole forest...good thing it's recyclable!  She enjoys preschool and I'm sure she talks too much because she's just full of enthusiasm for EVERYTHING she wants to say.

She was able to move up in gymnastics to the next level this week and now is in Mini Gym 1
She is very good at scootering.  She doesn't love to ride her bike so we're still on training wheels.  (I think we might have a Calvin and Hobbes situation).
She puts away all the dishes for her and Cara.
She puts away her own laundry.
She makes her bed.
She loves to help me sweep, mop, vacuum, and dust.
She is a very good listener and most days completes each task I ask her to do right when she was asked.
She loves to sing songs and make up her own.
She can turn on Netflix for herself and DVDs especially if they have Disney's Fast Play!
She loves to cuddle in our bed in the morning and if I have to wake her up for preschool she will always ask me to cuddle with her first.
She was lucky enough to spend her birthday in Disneyland and was very brave.  She liked showing off at the Disneyland Hotel pool by going on the big slides without a life jacket.
She is very good at relaying information to me and remembering that grown ups asked her to tell me something.
She loves to play Temple Run on my phone or the Ipod especially the Merida version.
She can now snap her fingers.  She worked so hard on getting that down and was so persistent.

I find myself relishing in her presence on just about any day.  She's so funny and delightful and for the most part cheerful.

I LOVE YOU, SIENA!  Happy birthday!

Birthday Plans!

Hello there!  Just a quick note before our adventure begins this week.  I bet you can't guess what I'm doing for my birthday.....how did you know?!

DISNEYLAND!!

Mommy really wanted to go for ALL our birthdays, but Cara's was in the middle of summer 1 week before they went off on their "grown ups only" adventure.  So we'll just have to make up for it in the next three days!

Watch for Facebook updates!

That's What She Said...

Guest post by Mommy:

I think it's time once again to write down what my girls have been saying to me over the last few months.

Siena:

Okay this is a kind of confessional thing for me, but about 4 months ago I went to see our family doctor regarding my hands/wrists.  I have been suffering from what appears to be carpal tunnel and have had a couple of steroid injections that were sent from heaven.  However, I'm not completely healed and in a joking manner I asked the doc if giving up Diet Coke would help.  To my horror, he said YES! So on the way home I told Siena I shouldn't drink Diet Coke because it will hurt my hands and at some point her Daddy also mentioned that it might give her nightmares if she drinks it at night.  This has led to repeated conversations that go something like this: (especially since I only managed to give up Diet Coke for like 3 days...)

Siena: MOM! Is that Diet Coke?
Mom: Yeeesss......
Siena: You know you shouldn't drink that.  It will hurt your hands.
Mom: I know
Siena: You need to drink water.  You might get nightmares.

She also catches me saying "Shut up" "Stupid" and "Crap" which she informs me that we are not allowed to say.  She's the rule police at our house.  And I'll be honest, she's pretty dang good at following the rules.

Cara:

Conversation with Grandma while watching a Blue's Clues episode about the doctor.

Cara: I go to Dr. Clark.  He's a doctor.
Grandma: Who else is a doctor?
Cara: Dr. Graf.  He checks my eyes.
Grandma: Who else?
Cara: I don't know.
Grandma: Is Grandpa a doctor?
Cara: Nooooo! (While laughing and shaking her head.)
Grandma: Yes he is!
Cara: No, he's not!

Apparently Grandma did manage to convince her that Grandpa is indeed a doctor, but I find it funny because Grandpa diagnosed Cara with her first ear infection and she actually went down to the ER to see him for it.  Selective memory I suppose!