Like I said in the last post, Amanda ended up with 2 birthday parties this year. Her second, smaller one was on her actual birthday. Mostly we just played together a LOT that day, and then she got to open the rest of her presents. She also chose to go to the doggy store for her special birthday outing. Totally her idea. She loves the adopt a dog store in the mall. (I also tried to buy her a treat at the mall, but she wouldn’t eat it.)

 This was hilarious. We bought her a new crown to replace her old, broken one from last year. It didn’t quite fit right, and she was not too happy about it. I think it’s actually supposed to go on sort of like Cinderella’s crown does, around the bun in her hair, and not actually around your head. So the crown did not pass the royal princesses approval.

This was much more to her liking. You can’t see it, but what she’s holding in her hands is a bucket full of dinosaurs. She loves them. She likes to dress up like a princess and play with them.

Amanda has been trying to figure out rhyming lately, so we thought this would be a great book for her. She was quite excited about it, once I told her it was all about rhyming. Of course, we haven’t read it yet…

So, Amanda got a lot of Princess gear. A LOT. And what could be more fun than putting it all on at the same time?

The “less is more” approach. I can’t believe how pretty and grown up she looks. She’s excited to be a princess for Halloween too.

I just love this shot of both the girls. They’re smiling, but not so much fake smiling. And for the moment at least, they’re getting along quite well. Katie was actually very good about her sister’s birthday, I have to give her credit. She didn’t try to open her presents or take her gifts away. And she probably ate more cake and ice cream than Amanda. So everyone had fun.

Amanda just recently turned 4, and here are the way overdue pictures.

Amanda playing with Aunty Erica and cousin Nadia outside after birthday lunch.

Getting ready to blow out the candles on the strawberry cupcakes and oreo cupcakes.

Trying to figure out that the fluffy, foofy skirt (which is totally her style) was actually a skirt, and not more tissue paper. She loves it.

She actually kept asking us if she could plant flowers for her birthday. Aunty Erica managed to find her the perfect sized watering can and flower pot and seeds. I’ll let you know how the flowers turn out.

The John Deere green dump truck was also a big hit. Especially once she made it all pretty with stickers.

Our little baseball fan now has her own glove – pink, of course! Now, if only we had a yard for her to play baseball in…

Amanda loves lollipops. And balloons. And hats. And pink. In case you didn’t know that already. She quite enjoyed her party. (This was actually her first party – she had two. One the week before her birthday, with all her family in our area, along with one of her aunts and one of her uncles whose birthday’s are about the same time. Pictures from the little family party on her actual birthday are coming soon.

On our way to church every Sunday, we drive along a little curvy section of road next to a good sized open field. The squirrels love that area, and they, unfortunately, run out into the road fairly often.
As we were driving to church this morning, I saw one sitting by the side of the road, watching our car coming. I crossed my fingers, hoping he would run out of the road, instead of towards us. Luckily, he did.
Amanda noticed the squirrel as we drove by, and she said “We almost drove the squirrel! And we smush it!”
(Picture the adults in the car laughing at her, and wondering how she learned that we would “smush” the squirrel if we ran over it…)