Precious Moments with Noelle

There are moments were I stare at my kids (individually) and just notice their beauty in total amazement. How lucky am I that I get to have these beautiful, innocent, unique characters in my life.

Noelle has been one that I have really paid attention to (I pay attention to all my children, so I should say extra attention). Noelle is amazing. She is so funny, extremely smart, a little sneaky, and just perfect.

On Mother's Day, I ended up with her on my chest while we watched "Singing in the Rain". Next thing I knew, she was asleep.

Noelle is always facsinated with things that I do or use. When I go running, she has to wear my running visor when I get home. If I play the piano, she has to as well. The other day, I wore this hat to the zoo, and sure enough, she wore it when we got home.

Noelle is also very independent. She decided she was going to be a big girl and use the potty, and Bam! she was potty trained. She doesn't even need nor want help in the bathroom (though she gets it more than she would like). She can dress herself, put on her own shoes (more often duck foot then not), and she can fill her own cup with water. She has always done everything faster than I was ready (she started walking at 10 months). Well, yesterday she wanted more cereal while I was changing Oliver. I came into the kitchen to find this:

I told her to say "busted" while I took the picture. Then I got her up into her seat and had her start eating before it got mushy.

I love everything about Noelle. I'm so grateful I have her in my family.

Water Day

Yesterday was Water Day at Melanie's school The kids had school as normal, but the last 30 minutes were all about getting wet and having fun. Family was invited, so Noelle was able to join in on the fun.

Olivia's dad kept spraying me with a squirt gun, so I told Noelle she had better splash him good for me. She decided on throwing a water balloon at him.Melanie really got into the water balloons as well. I have never seen someone so excited at the ability to pop one (even if it popped on the ground, no where near a person). It was precious.

30 minutes just wasn't enough water play time, so I surprised them with an outing. We met up with cousins Liz, Morgan, and Ethan at the zoo for some wet and wild splash pad time. To say that Noelle was excited would be an understatement.

Oliver and I kept cool on the side lines watching all the fun.

Hooray for water day! I think this means summer is upon us. (I'm looking forward to all the fun we'll have together this summer... I'm not looking forward to the heat).

Mom's Day!

Friday was "Mom's Day" at Melanie's school. It was a really neat day where I got to come to school with Melanie for the last 45 minutes. We painted Melanie's hand prints on the wall that leads to Mrs. Burrell's door.

(Melanie wrote her name herself. The "i" is a little hard to see. She may be "Melane" for the rest of eternity on the wall)Then we put on grass skirts and made leis.

Aren't we cute?

This is Melanie with her good friend, Alissa!

After the craft, all the mom's sat on the couches and prepared to watch a program. The kids did such a great job singing songs and doing cheers to make us feel special!

And Melanie gave me this special card, a bracelet she made, and a jar of slips with ideas of stories I can tell her (for example, last night I got to tell her about the house I grew up in).

It was a very special day at school! I really enjoyed myself and I knew Melanie did too. The sweetest thing was when, for no reason, when it was very quiet in the room, Melanie yelled to me "I love you mom". She is too sweet and I could not have asked a better little spirit to come into our family to be the biggest big sister. I sure love my Melanie.

After preschool, I took Melanie to the store and we bought the stuff to make chocolate chip cookies. We then picked up her brother and sister and continued the fun at home.

Retirement Party

It's time to celebrate! Grandma Smithson is retiring! She has been working for the Mesa Public School District for a very long time and now will have time to spend with all 24 of her Grandchildren. (She is very blessed!)

To honor her and a few other people that were leaving the school, Franklin South had a little gathering. I think the Smithson Family took up most of the seats.

It started raining during the ceremony, and my girls came back from the restroom looking like this: (And screaming "I'm all wet!")

Here is Kathe getting a gift that was presented to her by the school.

And this paper says "Grandma, don't go back to work!" Can't you tell? It was written by Cousin Grady.

Kathe, we are all so excited about this new adventure! We love you!

Princesses Wear Special Gowns

This week, the girls wanted to be princesses and play dress up. I let them try on all my prom dresses and then my wedding dress!

There is something magical about getting out your wedding dress again. I can't explain it. The girls loved trying it on. And then they asked me to try it on. I'm happy to say it actually fit!
(The prom dresses did not fit, I could zip them up until I got to my chest and then forget about it! O-well!)

Play with me, Noelle

Noelle cracks me up. This is her idea of playing with Oliver:

Notice that he doesn't lack in the toy department. She always makes sure he has every toy he could possibly need at his disposal all the time.

This is how she plays with Melanie:What Melanie? You want me to cover you in dress up clothes as you sit in the sink? Sure! We'll call it a bubble bath.
And can she play by herself? Yep! Here is proof:

What, you might ask, is she doing in this picture? I was washing dishes and hear "I need to go potty, I need to go potty". Because she wasn't running down the hall, I ran into the living room to see this! I asked if she needed to go potty, and she says "No, PRETEND potty!". yep! That's my daughter!

Pinkalicious- the Musical

The Broadway Palms Theater is now showing Pinkalicious the musical during the month of May!  I decided to get some tickets for My mom, My Melanie and me for a Mother's Day treat for mom.  I decided not to bring Noelle because I wasn't sure if she could handle it.  After it started, I realized that she could have so next play I think I'll be sure to include her.

The play was really fun!  Melanie's favorite part were the dancing cupcakes that sang and danced around Pinkalicious's bed while she slept before she turned Pink!  and then Red!  My favorite part was the bumble bee that kept mistaking Pinkalicious for a flower.  My mom liked the whole thing.

The play was very entertaining, and the music was fun!  We really enjoyed ourselves.

Before the play started.

 Melanie with the cast that played several smaller parts.

 Melanie with Mr. and Mrs. Pinkerton

 Melanie with Pinkalicious and Peter (her brother)

Melanie got everyone's autographs and then we headed outside and to the truck.  (But not before getting a few more pictures)

Afterwards, we grabbed lunch, and then headed home to eat and visit!  It was a great day!