Happy Birthday LeOra!!

On April 7th my baby girl turned 5 and I don't like it one bit. It has gone so fast and I am not excited to put her in school. It is the end of this chapter in our little family where they are all mine all the time and I am sad to see it go. At the same time I am excited to see her grow and do more things. Being a parent has it's bitter sweet moments. She, however, is so excited. She cannot wait to go to kindergarten and I know she will love it and do so well. I have to brag for just a minute. She is such a good girl. I love her to pieces. I am so glad that she starts out our family because of her wonderful example and kindness she shows her sisters. Truly just this last week she has seemed more grown up and mature. She listens and obeys and is such a good helper. She is outgoing, friendly and confident in herself which is probably what I love about her the most and hope that she never looses. I hope she keeps going in the great direction she has started.

Well, enough of that mushy stuff and onto to the celebration. She had quite the birthday weekend. RJ was out of town for her actual birthday so we did somethings to celebrate with him before he left. After the Easter Egg hunt (see next post) we went to Toys R Us where we are a member of the Birthday Club. They give the birthday girl a balloon, crown, gift card and announce their name and birthday over their PA system! She got to go through the store and pick out 2 toys while everyone stopped up to say "Happy Birthday!"

Then we went to McDonald's to have lunch. RJ turns his nose up at McDonald's just as Kirstin does in the below picture so we don't go there very often. However, the girls love to go and play in the play place. This is a real treat and a real sacrifice from their Dad!

Then on Sunday she had her Birthday party with all of her cousins. She wanted an Aurora Birthday party with an Aurora cake that had "white cake with strawberries in the middle and raspberry frosting." I have no idea where she came up with that but it sounded good so that is what we made. She also insisted on having a pinata at her birthday and we found this one that was a girl and a pink dress and looked just like Aurora (sort of). Every one got a whack at it and Chandler finished the deal for the kids!

LeOra

Mackinsie

Ashleigh

Ava

Ethan

Kayla

And Chandler! Poor Megan. She said pinatas never get to her anymore. Next was cake time.

That is the look of pure happiness and excitement. I love it!

Next came present time! I already have enough pictures on this post so I just put up the ones where she was actually looking at the camera. She got lots of cute things and she is very excited about it all.

Then on her actual birthday day it was back to the Discovery Museum (which is probably her most favorite place in all the world) for more fun. After that we had lunch with her friends, Tyson and Kelsie and cousins, Ashleigh and Evelyn. More birthday cake was eaten and more fun had by all...especially my 5 year old, LeOra!

Easter Egg Hunt

This last Saturday the Discovery Children's Museum here in town had an Easter Egg hunt. The girls were so excited for this. They even got to meet the Easter Bunny. There were lots of kids there but plenty of eggs to find. LeOra kept saying that she should be able to find the golden egg and get the prize because it is her Birthday. But she was fine with the fact that she didn't but decided next year she would run in and look really hard and find the golden egg. I also thought it was funny to hear what she had to say about the Easter bunny. She kept telling me that she didn't know that the Easter Bunny couldn't talk and that he was so big and that he looked like a big stuffed animal. She cracks me up! Mackinsie was a little more hesitant to meet the Easter Bunny as you can see in the picture. Kirstin still isn't quite sure what all the fuss is about but has decided that it is fun to put the eggs into and out of her basket!

We caught you on film, LeOra!

Kirstin's Pony Tail

I finally put Kirstin's hair into a pony tail the other day for church. I must say she looked adorable!!

We love to Exercise!!

Anyone who knows RJ knows that he loves to exercise. Well, this love of his has tricked down to his girls. We all love to exercise and the girls really get into it. To them it is not work, it is just fun! We like to, at least once or twice a week, do a family workout evening where the girls will do a little obstacle course and then RJ and I will do our workout. I took pictures of one of these evenings. The obstacle course started with the girls holding on to the rings and making an L while counting to 10. Then came the balance beam.

Then they crawled through the tunnel on their bellies. This one was lots of fun.
Next came the box. They were to climb on to the box and then get down.

LeOra interpreted it as jumping off the box.

Then they grabbed their kettle bells and walk all the way down to the fence. Then they had to run to the rings and do it all over again.

We had them do it three time and then they just kept going!

They wanted to do it again and again.

Now it is Kirstin's turn.

We probably should have her go up in weight if she is just going to eat it!

Now that Mackinsie is all done exercising she is ready to pose for the camera. By the way, I did not come up with the attire for this workout. LeOra decided that they should wear their swim suits and shorts.

Now it is Dad's turn! ( He kept telling me to stop taking pictures. I said that I had to because it was for the blog. ;) )

What a stud!

And yes I did work out that evening as well. RJ just doesn't remember to take pictures as well as me. Besides, do you really think I would post pictures of me working out on my blog! The rest of the pictures are from another exercise session we did a while back.

What season is it?

Those of you who have been out to this part of California know how beautiful the weather is all year round. It is very temperate since we are so close to the ocean. This makes it very tricky when talking to a four year old about what the seasons are. Here is an example to elaborate. The other day we were riding in the car to story time at the library and this is the conversation LeOra and I had.

LeOra: "Mom I just saw some leaves on the ground and falling from that tree. It must be fall."

Me: "Well, no it is actually winter time."

LeOra: "But I thought it was cold in the winter time?" (the weather that day was sunny and warm)

Me: "Well, yes it is usually cold in the winter. But is depends on where you live as to how cold it gets. Here it doesn't get as cold as other places."

LeOra: "So is it summer because it is so warm today."

Me: "No it is still technically winter. Look at that tree. She the one that has no leaves on it. That is what happens in the winter, there are no leaves on the trees. In the spring there are blossoms and flowers on the trees, in the summer there are bright green leaves, in the fall the leaves turn color and fall off the trees and in the winter time there are no leaves on the trees. "

A few minutes later.

LeOra: "Look mom it must be spring now. That tree has pretty pink blossoms on it."

I suppose that is what I get for using trees as an example of what season it is. There are things blooming all year round here. The weather is wonderful, but very confusing!

Where did the time go?

Alright, so it has been a while since my last post. I have no idea where January went! (Or half of February for that matter.) Here in the Ziegler house hold we have been very busy.

We started out the month with a foreign exchange student from Japan. His name was Takahiro and he stayed with us for only three nights. He was with his student group for most of the time and we really only had Saturday to give him a California experience. We started out the day with a walk on Pismo Pier and then on Pismo Beach. He and the girls made sand castles and then he wrote their names in the sand in Kanji. We then took him to the Pismo Outlet mall where he was very excited about all the deals he could get here in America. We came home and had pizza and then he made Shiratama dango for us. It is a dessert that is little spongy balls mixed with fruit or dipped in honey or chocolate sauce. They were very delicious. Then I had to go to work while he and RJ stayed home and watched some American movies and ate more American junk food. It was a lot of fun and the girls liked having someone here. LeOra still asks me about Japan and it's culture.
I think the one above and the one below are LeOra. There is often two ways to write things. I forget what the first picture is. I think it is Takahiro's name.

The rest of the month was just filled with good ol' little girl fun. This is a picture I took at Costco. It was the first time that I put Kirstin in the cart and she just looked so cute.

Every time the girls take a bath Kirstin crawls over, pulls herself up and splashes and plays with the girls. She usually comes out soaking wet and I don't know why I don't just put her in there with them. It so cute to watch and full of giggles.
One day LeOra came running down the hall, giggling, while wearing her daddy's boots and sun glasses. I thought it was way cute and as usual she was willing to pose for the camera.

Look very closely at the little smile on Kirstin. Do you see the two little bottom teeth that are coming it? They are there! My little girls finally cut her first teeth. She has grown up so much lately. She is nine months and I can't believe it. In addition to the teeth, she has started giving kisses, pulls up on everything (the garbage can is her favorite), won't touch baby food and will only eat what we are eating. I don't really blame her for that. She loves her sisters and love crawling into their room and playing with them. I know when she has gone in there because I hear LeOra and Mackinsie saying, "Hurry, hurry pick up the polly pockets so that Kirstin won't choke. She is crawling in here to play."

Besides days filled with glittery crafts or going to story time at the library or dance class or the park, that is what we have done this month. Hope your year started out as fun as ours!