Beatrice Turns 6

Here's a recap from Beatrice's recent Birthday. To start off the festivities, we went as a family to Rochester for Birthday Sushi and then Beatrice got her ears pierced. (So, technically, Maggie and Bee both got their ears pierced at 5 years old.)

Here's the before picture. Suave and calm. But as the equipment came out and the paperwork was signed, she got a little bit nervous. And when the two ladies crowded in on her, a gun in each hand, she tightened up all of her muscles, but it was over quickly. She said, "Ow. Ow. Ow. Owwwwwwww!!!" and then teared up. : )

Here's the after pictures. We got Coldstone Creamery ice cream to distract from the stinging ears. That and the blue lollipop worked like a charm.

Look at those red little lobes! She picked out pale purple earrings - the June birth stone, but who really cares about that at 6 years old??

Then on Bee's actual Birthday we celebrated in a traditional Valentine's Day way. Heart shaped Blueberry Pancakes. You can see here that they were hard to resist.

We held Bee's Birthday Party two days later. Grandma and Grandpa Supan came in town for the week so they were there to celebrate and we also invited our friends, the Freids to come enjoy the evening with us. We grilled hamburgers! Grilled! In the middle of February!! And no one froze to death! Awesome. Then we had presents and cake.

While I managed to take pictures of the cake, I didn't take pictures of anything else. So you'll have to take my word for it that Beatrice got exactly what she wanted for her birthday gifts and that it was a great evening.

Happy Birthday, Beatrice! Have an excellent 6th year. : )

Maggie's Birthday Extravaganza: Sushi

Here are the pictures from the main event! I am so glad everyone loves sushi! It's a really fun, hands on meal for the kids. Even Obie was really interested in eating.

The Miso Soup was a little hot.

Obie liked it. He especially liked the seaweed and the edamame.

Maggie specifically requested the "little balls" for her sushi. Yup, that's fish roe. It came in two sizes - you can see the little orange ones on her plate and the great big one on her chopstick. The menu said they were Salmon Roe and Flying Fish Roe. I have no idea which is which. They love roe because it pops between their teeth. (And as much as I love sushi, ICK!)

Here's Beatrice dipping her roll in soy sauce like a true expert!

Happy Birthday, Margaret!!

Maggie's Birthday Extravaganza: Playland

Maggie's main request for her birthday was that we all go get sushi. The closest sushi restaurant is in Rochester, which is an hour away. So we decided to make a whole afternoon of it! We started at the indoor playland at the mall. These things are popping up in all of the malls and I think it's a great idea. Especially because I don't want to take my kids to a fast food restaurant in order to give them some play time - fast food and exercise just don't go together! So here are a couple of shots of the kids playing. I mostly took pictures of Obie, even though it was Maggie's big day. Sorry Mags!

Sitting on a Fish!

Pointing to a Frog!!

Action Shot!!!

Grandma treated the girls to a ride in the motorized ice cream truck. It's a good thing we only had three quarters between us or we may have been at the mall a lot longer.

I really tried to convince Maggie to push her socks down.

After the playland we got ice cream from Coldstone Creamery. YUM! (We did the same thing on my birthday. I really like their cake flavored ice cream!) Then we wasted a little more time by hitting the ol' Hobby Lobby to get yarn (not Maggie's choice), and then stopped by the pet store. All the kids love the pet store. Obie was old enough this time to pay attention to all the "tweets" and "meows." Very cute.

Up next: SUSHI!

Maggie's Birthday Extravaganza: Presents

We celebrated Maggie's 6th birthday a little bit early this year. Grandma and Grandpa Supan came up this past weekend for Easter and birthday fun.

Rob and Obie documented the singing, candle extinguishing, cake eating, and present opening.

Here's Maggie with her "Mario Surrounded by Lumas" Birthday Cake. It's a Super Mario Galaxy thing. Don't worry if it doesn't make sense. Grandma did a great job and the girls were both thrilled that they got to eat the Lumas. Maggie got both of the g's.

This year Maggie got a lot of books for her birthday! Big informative books on her two favorite topics: Pokémon and Dinosaurs. She's been pouring over them since she opened her birthday gifts last Saturday. She also received several kiddy cross stitch kits from me and two Littlest Pet Shop playsets from Grandma and Grandpa. Here are some pictures, in no particular order...

Maggie and her pile o' gifts

DINOSAURS!!

Beatrice paitently waiting for her turn. Happily, Easter was the next day!

HOW TO DRAW POKÉMON!!

POKÉMON VISUAL GUIDE!!

She's already used up several sheets of paper drawing pichus and clefaries. Again, if you don't understand, don't worry. Even those of us who do understand only smile and nod when she starts talking about it. She also started her first cross stitch kit, though I think I need to get bigger cloth to make it easier for her. But she's really excited about it. And of course all of the kids have played with the pet shops!

Beatrice's Fourth Birthday

Beatrice has turned four. She got really dressed up for the occasion, note the tutu and the tufted fleece hat. You know that's classic party wear!

Here she is with all of her gifts.

A new box of crayons!! Beatrice spends hours coloring each day, so she always needs new crayons. She also got some new coloring books.

And YOSHI!!

Here's her cake, just like the one she picked out off of the internet. It was Grandma's first fondant cake and it was a success!

Here's the birthday girl with her cake, pre-fire.

And here's the blowing out of the candles action shot! She has awesome technique!

Beatrice had a great birthday. We started it off with Grandma and Grandpa Supan coming in to Frontenac on Thursday. You always know the party weekend is getting underway when the Grandparents roll up the driveway. On Friday we went to a little Valentine's Day party with two fellow Home Schooling families. The kids all got and gave Valentines and also got to decorate cupcakes and sugar cookies with pink icing and lots and lots of sparkles and sprinkles. Of course, they ate a ton of sugar, but also got to play a lot of it out of their systems.

On Saturday we went to see some of the sights in Red Wing - mostly the big antique outlet in the historic RW Pottery Factory building, with a stop off at the chocolatiers and also the bakery for lunch. Then we came home for an afternoon of Super Mario on the Wii followed by Beatrice opening her gifts. She loved them all - the pegasus from Maggie; the dress and sweater, paper doll set, coloring books and play dough from Grandma and Grandpa; and the Ariel doll with matching dress-up dress for herself from Mom and Dad. And of course, YOSHI! Then we had her birthday dinner: this year Bee wanted Chicken and Dumplings, which I'd never made before and the dumplings sort of dissolved, but it still tasted pretty great. But then it was late in the evening and time for bed, so we held off on the cake and ice cream until Sunday afternoon. That was her actual birthday day, and besides, I like to stretch birthdays out as much as possible!

Sunday was a pretty lazy day. We sang happy birthday, ate lots of cake and the ice cream, had left over chicken and dumplings, played card games and video games. Some of us even got a nap. Oh, and the kids all got Valentines Day gifts from Grandma, too.

So now that Beatrice is Four Years Old how will life change for us? In crazy and wonderful ways, I'm sure. And, I'll be sure to let you know as it does!

Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day, too.

The Big Birthday, Part Two - Cake and Presents

After the Pinata we came inside to eat Birthday cake and open Maggie's presents. She had a ton of them! Beatrice helped.

Obie surveyed the carnage with an air of disenchantment.

I'm not sure why John was being wacky. He's a great little boy and I'm glad we had a reason to have him over.
For her cake this year Mags requested five green cats singing under a rainbow with clouds on both ends. Where does she come up with this stuff? Grandma dutifully made a cake that fit the bill! We enjoyed it with Oreo cookie ice cream! Obie didn't get any this time, though.

Maggie was very happy with all of her gifts. The light-up unicorn has been much flaunted in front of and therefore coveted by Beatrice, the alphabet stickers have been stuck all over the house, the clothes have been mostly ignored, the Littlest Pet Shop house has been nicely shared, and the paintable dishes have been thoroughly examined and are asked about everyday. Can I paint them yet?? No, not today, honey. (We'll paint them next week while Daddy's away at a conference - stay tuned for the results!)

And of course Mr. Silky was there, too - the best birthday pet ever, in my opinion!

The Big Birthday, Part One - The Pinata

Maggie's Fifth Birthday Party was last weekend. Grandma and Grandpa Supan came in to celebrate and we also invited our neighbors to come over.

We started the afternoon off with hot dogs, bratwursts, and lots of other picnic food. There's Maggie enjoying her feast.
Next we had all of the kids gather around to take turns hitting the Cat Pinata. Since Maggie was the oldest kid it took lots and lots of hitting before they even made a dent. But finally Maggie broke through!!

Here are John, Beatrice and Maggie scrounging for their spoils.

Obie watched.

The Newest Member of the Family

Maggie turns five (!!!) next Saturday and we decided a while ago that we'd up her responsibility in the household and get her a pet.  We already have too many cats and I don't want a dog, so it had to be a rodent.  We briefly considered a Sugar Glider until we looked at the price ($500 for pet and cage - no thanks!) and so we settled for a Guinea Pig.  Kids love Guinea Pigs, they squeak, they're affectionate, they "popcorn" around in their cages, and they're easy to take care of.  And they only live 4-8 years.  So on Saturday morning I popped over to Rochester intending to get the cage and what-not that a new pet would require.  Low and Behold they had everything on sale at PetSmart and I just couldn't resist getting the pig, too.  (I had grandly talked up how we'd go as a family and Maggie would get to pick out her very own pet.  However they never have more than one in stock anyway - I reasoned - and it is sort of a let down to get just a cage, right?)  So, I picked out the nice little calico piggy and swore Beatrice to secrecy.

On the way home Rob and I talked strategy.  How would I get piggy into the house?  How would we keep piggy secret for a whole week?  How would we keep Beatrice quiet for a whole week???  After I briefly tried to convince Rob that the pig could be hidden in the closet in our bedroom, we agreed that the unveiling had to be that day.  Rob took Maggie on a hike while I set everything up.  And it's a good thing we decided not to wait because the moment they got back Bee shouted, "Mag!  There's a surprise!!!"

Here's Maggie and her new pride and joy!

He doesn't have a name yet, but there have been many discussed.  Among them: Piggy, Ariel Princess (Thank Heavens I got a boy pig!!), Max, Miles, Velvet, Silky, Spotty, Mr. Twitchy Drawers, Penn, Squee, and just this morning Beatrice told us his name was Jeff.  That last one cracks us up!  Jeff the Guinea Pig.  We'll keep you posted on this hot topic!

Maggie loves him and calls herself his Pet Parent.  (A title from the PetSmart Brochure.)  While she's holding him she takes great big sighs of happiness.  She and Beatrice are very careful with him and we have yet to have him poop on one of them.  He's a great little piggy and last night got comfortable enough on Maggie's lap to make little bubble noises of contentment. 

I think we made a great choice for her big 5.

Little Bee Turns Three!

This past weekend we celebrated our first birthday in Minnesota: Beatrice turned Three! I love doing the great big birthday party thing, but this year was a bit smaller due to our lack of toddler aged friends. (A girl just can't have an entourage after living in a new place for only a couple of weeks!) Grandma and Grandpa Supan came up from Illinois to celebrate with her, Grandma and Granpa Keehn sent gifts, and Auntie Val sent a text message to round out the day.

Rob and I stayed up a little late Friday night putting pink streamers and balloons up around the house. Beatrice gasped when she saw them and said they looked, "Cool awful!" (Instead of awfully cool!) Maggie was pretty impressed, too. It got the party started right. We had soup and bread for lunch and each of the girls got to have a small glass of cream soda, too. Then of course it was time for presents. Maggie had a hard time letting Bee have the show, and spent most of the time talking about when it was her birthday she would do this or that, but Beatrice didn't seem to care too much. She got lots of clothes and Littlest Pet Shop toys from Grandma and Grandpa Supan, a Belle doll and a tatoo-able cat from us, and a Pinkie Pie My Little Pony and movie from Grandma and Grandpa Keehn. With Pinkie Pie came the most coveted gift of the day: A singing Sleeping Beauty Birthday Card. We spent the rest of the day listening to the electronic card belting out "Once Upon a Dream". Happily it never made it into the car with us!

After presents we sang Happy Birthday and Beatrice blew out the candles on her minty My Little Pony cake. Grandma served her up the pony's whole head - nothing less for the Birthday Girl!! We all enjoyed cake and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Even baby Obie got his first taste of ice cream. He didn't really enjoy it...

Then we all piled into the minivan to head over to Rochester to see the movie Coraline in 3D - Three Dimensions for Beatrice's Three Years!! At the theater Maggie beat Grandma at a game of Air Hockey! We bought an enormous tub of popcorn for everyone to share, found good seats and donned our funny glasses. Except for Bee. She preferred not to wear them. She missed out because the movie was awesome! Maggie loved it - almost as much as she loved gorging on popcorn. All of the kids sat happily through the movie. Even Obie watched it for quite a while until baby fatigue got the best of him.

We capped the night off with a good meal at O'Niel's Pizza Pub, a pretty cool pizza joint that was the first restaurant we saw on the way back home. The girls got to watch the pizzas being made while we waited for our seats and got a sample of cheese. It was family friendly and delicious!

It was a great day and Bee enjoyed herself immensely. See for yourself!

I can't believe she's THREE!