Farm show & Chocolate World weekend

Maddie's birthday week was capped off this weekend with trips to the Farm show and Chocolate World at Hershey.

These girlies love the farm show. Unfortunately, because of Dan's schedule and having to work some of his days off, we had to go on a Friday. I swear the crowds were worse than Disney World. But, we still had a great time and even Abrielle loves the farm animals. I would just park her little stroller in front of the cows (especially) and she would wave, throw her arms towards them, and chortle (a funny noise she now makes). Of course, Faith is still saying she would like to be a farmer when she grows older and Maddie loves horses. So, it was a good time.

We went to Chocolate World on Saturday and the crowds were basically non-existent which was nice. Cousin Tyler joined us, and they rode the chocolate ride a bunch of times and then did the Factory Works experience which they love.

Little ham

Baby girl was probably saying a silent prayer of gratitude today. It got into the low 40's, and therefore only a coat was required for my little Show instead of the full fledged snowsuit and snow gear that has been status quo here for the past 3-4 weeks. What a world of difference a coat instead of a snowsuit can make for the personality of a certain 8 1/2 month old! What a difference.

This certain little girl has been a *bit* of a bear with being outdoors. I suppose I can't blame the poor child. The thickness of infant snowsuits is quite immobilizing. On Maddie's birthday on Monday, we went for a walk before lunch as we always do. Our walks have been cut drastically short in length these days due to the bitter cold. It's no fun when it is so cold that it is painful to be outdoors. But, anyway, Maddie (and Faith of course since she wants to do EVERYTHING that Maddie does) has taken an interest in trying to ice skate lately. She desperately wants us to take her ice skating, and I thought it'd be fun for them to "ice skate" on the patches of ice out in our alley. They got a huge kick out of it, but Abrie did NOT find any entertainment value in watching from the comfort of her stroller. She also did NOT think it was amusing even when I took her out of said stroller and held her in my arms. There was nothing entertaining at all even when I thought I'd let her try and stand on the icy patch while I held her hands. She just screamed bloody murder.

I'm not sure which winter has been worse-- this year's (and, really it's only gotten started..) or '06-'07 when Faith was a tiny newborn. Making sure a 22-month old gets out for fresh air in the harsh PA winter while ensuring that a newborn remains bundled against the cold OR making sure two big girls get out for fresh air in the harsh PA winter while ensuring that an 8 1/2 month old remains happy and cooperative in a big ol' snowsuit that she despises?

The joys of winter!

Here's baby girl though having the time of her life INdoors. The girl loves being outside, but NOT in that evil snowsuit. She's such a little love!

Tea party birthday

Cran's 'tea party' birthday party was a success.

She had been wanting to do the 'Alice in Wonderland' tea party deal at Disney now for awhile, and in the past month or so decided that she would do it here at home for her birthday. I thought it was an awesome idea. She looked through tons of cookbooks, and finally found a cake she liked from the Pillsbury kid's cookbook. It was a teapot cake with little teacup cupcakes. I thought it turned out really cute with the whole theme, and of course my girl loves any chance and excuse to dress up and be a princess.

Her beloved cousins joined us, and Nene and Grampa. They did their craft to make a party favor bag, decorated cupcakes, had "tea" (princess punch-- sparkling flavored water, cherry juice, and lemon juice), and played other little games. They had princess parfaits too, and Maddie loved that they got to use Dan's wine glasses with colored sugars on the rim! Ha. Not to mention, one of her birthday gifts from us was 'Happy Birthday' petit fours which she just loved. She had gotten that idea a long time ago from the American Girl book, "Happy Birthday, Samantha" and thought it was so neat!

Donovan and Ella gave her a KITCHEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was the coolest thing since she says that is one of her "talents" (baking and cooking) and they have never owned a neat kitchen like this one. We got her a little 'Magic Kitchen' and Nene got her a Mulan horse and doll. She is now in love with Shang from the movie "Mulan" and says that he is so handsome. Oh boy.

We went to the museum yesterday afternoon with the library pass. Maddie is in her element there playing dress-up in the children's section of the museum. So, she loved that. Today we will just take it easy.

I still can't believe I have a 5-year old. AND a 3-year old... and, within a few months, a 1-year old. I told Maddie that they shouldn't be allowed to hit the age of 5. They should start going backwards again back to 1, and then come back again to 4, and repeat this process forever. I am so grateful though for this beautiful little girl that we have that is now FIVE. I am so proud of the little girl that we have raised. I am so proud of the big sister that she is. And, I am mostly so proud of the beautiful personality that she has all by herself. I am very much looking forward to this year that we'll have together with our 5-year old.

Almost 5-year-old

Finished early with Maddie's birthday video. Still awake trying to set everything up for tomorrow-- her 'Alice in Wonderland' tea party birthday party with her sweet cousins and sisters. Who would have ever guessed that the little baby girl that I used to dress in blue so often would be our little princess to a 'T!' She's going to be in heaven with her petit fours that we got for her- a special request.

I don't know how in the world 5 years have almost gone by since our Crannie first entered this world. Acknowledging that my baby Maddie will be 5 in just two more days has been quite hard, but I am so grateful for everything we've experienced with her and look forward to so much more. She is such a blessing, and a truly sweet little girl.

When the weather outside is this frightful...

There is not much to do besides hibernate indoors when it is THIS cold outside. The 'Arctic blast' describes our weather pretty well. And, I am hoping it leaves soon. Abrie already hates being in her snowsuit to begin with, but add some 40mph wind gusts and she is bound to scream the entire length of our short walk. Oh, the fun of winter here!

Yesterday was take- down- all -the- Christmas- decorations day, and I thought we did pretty well. Dan put it up with their help, and I took it down with their help. So, that was good. We had seen D.W. make some picture frames with candy canes in one of their library books that they had a few weeks ago, and so I decided to save the Christmas candy canes and put them to good use. They had a fun time doing that yesterday. And, today Faith called herself the head chef and Maddie was the 'sous chef' and she had a blast directing Maddie as to how to make a new recipe in the crockpot.

Luckily, the indoor hibernation has been going pretty well. The girlies do play incredibly well together, and Abrie sits there and plays with them too. It's funny to see how much she loves playing with their 'big kid' toys just like I remember Faith being into everything Maddie enjoyed. Maddie always played with only age appropriate things when she was this age, but it's amazing what having older siblings will do to you! We have to watch the Show Case like a hawk though, because boy does she love shoving the tiniest things in her mouth. Not to mention, she likes to CLIMB on top of things (VCR for instance today) and climb UP stairs. Maddie and Faith were not doing these things until well past a year of age.

*****

Random, but Faith is in "unnawears" all the time now. It was totally at her pace, and I think she finally just felt ready a week or so ago. She wakes up dry and doesn't even need her 'tulip' (Pull-Up) at night. She makes me laugh so much at how incredibly detailed she can be about gross bodily functions! She told me yesterday she had to make a "yuck combo" (both at the same time she described to me) and that "Guy (her beloved cousin, Donovan) will like this. He say, 'good job, Fafe!' Then she insisted on watching everything go down and "swirl." Oh my. Of course, she wears a princess dress and a 'beautiful headband' while saying all of this!

She's such a sweetheart, my Faith-y. She and I went to the library just the two of us the other day last week. It's so fun being with them individually. She tells us all the time now that she is "the bologna and the cheese in a 'ANWICH" since she is our 2nd precious lady. She gets a kick out of Maddie and Abrie being the pieces of bread in our analogy, and says she is "so yummy!" That's our Faith.

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day '09-'10

Nothing like a few inches of unexpected snow to start off the New Year eve.

We woke up to more than "just a dusting of snow" yesterday and the girlies were beyond thrilled. They are at the age where snow is just plain awesome. Once Abrie is at that age and thinks that snowsuits are actually fun and not torture, we will be SET! They had fun playing in the snow yesterday morning and "helping" me shovel. The trek to Redner's for much needed diapers was not fun, but at least it got us out of the house also.

Dan had to go in earlier than expected last night to work, so he was gone before dinner time. I decided to make it a fun night, and all three little ladies got to stay up past their bedtime. Abrie was up until about 9:30pm which is way past her 7pm bedtime. She is hilarious lately with her obsession for this book about Cookie Monster. It is one of those Early Readers, and yet she loves it. It doesn't have too many words to it, so she has the patience for it. Not to mention, she kisses Cookie Monster on all the pages. Big girls helped decorate a fruit pizza for MaMa's New Year's Day dinner. I had promised them popcorn and a movie, and they were beyond excited to watch the entirety of 'Robin Hood.' They insisted that they were going to make it to midnight to watch the ball drop (although Faith was extremely confused as to why a ball would drop in New York City), but wiped out by 10pm. They slept in bed with me, and it was neat to see the fireworks through our bedroom window that went off from the top of the Pagoda.

Today we went to MaMa's and it was a nice time. All 5 Constein cousins were together, and Molly is already adored by Maddie and Faith.