Gratuitous pictures of Finley and her teeth

It seems that Finley has been absent (at least photographically) from the last few posts, so I thought I would include a few here. She has the cutest little smile. But look at those toofey's!

She started squinting from the flash.

She is such a little sweetie, and so independent. She is quite content to crawl around and play for quite a while, at least until an older sibling comes and bothers her. She doesn't like them to pick her up, take toys from her, touch her, or just generally disturb her. Of course, they want to do those things all the time, and she has gotten quite good at squacking when they do.

This past weekend she figured out how to climb up the stairs, all the way to the top. We were all sitting in the family room together when Isaac asked, "Where Hin?" I found her upstairs playing, all by herself. Yesterday, the gate was up blocking the stairs from the third step up, and she climbed up to it and stood there screaming because she couldn't go all the way up. Anyway, she's a cutie and we love her!

Party of the century

Sareny's fifth birthday party was originally scheduled to take place on the Saturday after her birthday, but with three of our family members throwing up in the middle of the night Friday night, (including the birthday girl and both parents) a party was kind of out of the question. So instead we had her party last Monday at 3:30.

As you can see from the photos, we had a houseful, or more appropriately, a yardful. As per Sareny's request, the party started out with a round of Duck, Duck, Goose. After the party, I made the comment to Keith that I noticed Isaac got to go more than the other kids and Sareny jumped in with, "That's because he's not the fastest runner, so people wanted to pick him."

Next, we moved on to Red Rover, Red Rover. After playing this game at preschool, Sareny added it to her list of "must play" party games.
Then it was time for the ginormous pinata.

It took us a while to work our way through all of the kids! Keith said his arms got a workout. In the end, the birthday girl got a final turn to try and smash the pinata, but when she was unsuccessful the pinata stick got handed over to Megan and Suzanna, two of Sareny's friends that are a couple of years older than the other kids, and they finished it off. We have still not heard the end of how unfair it is that she didn't get to break it open. Oh well.

Waiting for the plethera of candy...

Once the candy was grabbed up, we headed inside for cake and ice cream. My original plan was to make Sareny a High School Musical birthday cake, which even got baked, just not decorated. These things happen. When you've had sick kids off and on for 2 months and then you get sick yourself, you just have to let some things go. I actually think Costco does a decent job on their cakes and they taste pretty good too. (So why does it obviously still bother me?!)
This time she wished she could go to Disneyland, which I'm thinking is do-able. (We're going in three weeks!)

Sareny got some really nice gifts from her friends and had a great time. Her only complaint was that the party was too short. Strangely, I didn't think so. :)

A distracted mom

Sometimes I feel like the worst mom ever.
Yesterday, while doing dishes, I glanced up to see Finley standing at the sliding glass door with an extremely suspicious smear all over her diaper. (yes, she was just wearing a diaper and shirt at the time.) I rushed over, and my worst fears were confirmed when I saw that is was, indeed poop, and that she had made her way over to the door from the center of the room, leaving behind a huge smear of poop on my freshly shampooed carpets. (You know what they say--boycott "sham"poo, demand real poo.)
I drug her into the kitchen and cleaned her up as good as you can using a half a container of wipey's, but knew that an actual bath was essential. I had just filled up the sink to wash a couple of dishes, so I set my naked daughter on the tile and handed her a graham cracker while I hurried and did the dishes. Then I refilled the sink and prepared to bathe her. Meanwhile, and this is rather key to the story, my little sister called and I decided that I was capable of handling this situation while chatting on the phone.
So I bathed Finley, dried her off and diapered her, then set her on the floor in a state of distraction, which caused me to forget about a very crucial piece of information...you guessed it, the poop still smeared on my floor.
About 20 seconds later, I looked up to see my little girl give me a goofy grin with her sweet little face and mouth now smeared with poop. I screamed, she cried, I hung up the phone. Bathed her again. I wiped out the inside of her mouth, which fortunately seemed clear of poop. That was just all over the outside of her body. Yikes. My mom has now threatened (not for the first time) to confiscate Finley and raise her herself.

Have you ever seen...

Such a huge piñata in all your life??

Piñatas are pretty easy to come by in our neck of the woods, and on Tuesday I went out in search of a High School Musical piñata, in keeping with our theme. I drove into the not quite so safe as my neighborhood part of town, three kids in tow, and checked out a rather seedy dollar store. Of course piñatas were plentiful, but they did not have the desired theme. Onto store number two where we quickly spotted (really, how could you miss it?) "the one."

Keith's admonition to not get a big one ringing in my ear, I took our behemoth up to the counter. After paying, I headed to the door while Sareny called out, "Mom, I don't think that will fit through the door." It did, barely. Not sure how we're going to lift it in the air, playfully keeping it just out of the birthday goer's reach, when this beauty is filled with candy, but I'm thinking that's a Daddy's job to figure out.

And in keeping with the title of our post, have you ever seen...

Such a cute girl all ready for preschool in her birthday finery?

Sareny's grandma sewed her this cute little skirt, which I think will make a cute school outfit.

So I'm sorry to report that, assuming we survive Saturday's festivities, there will be yet another post about Sareny's all important and never ending birthday coming.

The Birthday girl's special day

I think it is safe to say that Sareny enjoyed a fabulous birthday yesterday. As soon as she came down the stairs, I pinned a light-up button on her pajamas that featured Troy and Gabriella and said Birthday Star on it. She wore it the entire day until bedtime.

After lunch, we drove to Daddy's work and shared birthday cupcakes with him and his co-workers.

As is tradition, Sareny got to pick what we had for dinner. Her first request, while not very palatable, was very cheap--curly noodles. (Ramen.) I made the mistake of telling Keith that I thought Isaac would probably pick Panda Express for his birthday, and then she quickly changed her mind when she realized she could pick a restaurant, and considered Panda herself. In the end, she picked Texas Roadhouse for some ribs. Poor Isaac--when Keith was getting him out of the van he said, rather disapointed, "This isn't Panda."

Sareny got to sit on the saddle while everyone gave her a Texas, "Yee-haw!" She actually looked a little embarrassed with everyone staring at her.

We let Isaac have a turn in the saddle, and he was so thrilled! Look at the rapture on his face!

After dinner, it was home to open presents. What kid doesn't love a present as big as themself? (There could be anything in there!)

She got this adorable skirt from her Grandma. (Isaac and Finley in the background are enjoying her gifts/wrapping paper.)

She was pretty excited to get a picture of her and Lexi and a framed photo of them together.

And here she is finding out what was in the large box...a twist car.

She loves it!

It was finally time to blow out the candles on her cupcake. I told her to make a wish, and she said, "I wish, I wish, I wish, that I can go at Georgia!" (Her tia Holli, tio Johnny, and cousin Rhys live there.) Isaac got to blow out a candle and make a wish too, and he wished that he could go to Bampa's house. Is anyone surprised?

Sareny also had many family members call to wish her a happy birthday, and several of them even sang to her. I think she truly felt like a princess on this special day!

Happy Birthday to our little princess!

Sareny turns five today, and that is a big deal around our house! She has been counting down the days and going around saying, "I just can't believe it's almost my birthday!" Everything that happens is because of her birthday. For example--Keith cleaned the carpets in our family room on Saturday, and Sareny said, "I know why daddy cleaned the carpets today. It's because it's almost my party."

Sareny is such a joy to have in our family. She has so much personality and makes us laugh. Last night she put on a concert singing a made-up song with some pretty extreme dance moves to go along with it. The most extraordinary part was that she just kept going and going. I don't think she was ever going to stop, but we finally had to curtail the show for bedtime. How do kids have so much energy? Anyway, we love our princess!

The O'Fallstrom's St. Patty's Celebration

I love trying to make Holidays special for our family. Kids get excited by simple things, and I like looking for the simple things to turn a normal day into something special.

Lately, it seems like someone is always sick around here, and right now it is Isaac. Poor thing--he sat at the table for a minute, then said he wanted to lay down and he just crashed.

But between Isaac and Finley both needing attention all day, it was a little difficult putting on a party.

The cake isn't as fancy as my original visions, but it turned out perfect, I think.

I also bought the kids a green carnation at the grocery store today.

We had our traditional fare of corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes. Doesn't it look pretty?

A fun day at the Children's Museum

This past Friday we decided to check out the Phoenix Children's Museum for their "first Friday" event--the first Friday of every month admittance is free from 6-10pm. Grammy Jo and Bampa came down for a visit, and despite the fact that we were all pretty tired from running around shopping all afternoon, I pretty much insisted that we go.

So, big surprise, we aren't the only ones who like to get something for free! First Friday was pretty darn packed, and despite getting there around 6:15, there was already a substantial wait to get in. At this point, some in our group suggested going home and returning on a different day and actually--gasp--paying to get in. I, of course, wasn't having any of that. The museum graciously provided chalk to entertain impatient children.

And a spectacular view of all of the children playing and having fun inside the building...

We took advantage of this time for some pictures.

A boy in repose.

But we finally made it inside. The large room on the main floor had some fun tunnels for the kids to crawl through.

We also enjoyed the big wind tunnel that whisked hankies and balls through tubes and spit them out over our heads.

Sareny and Isaac both enjoyed the arts and crafts room. There was a little house that the kids got to paint. I was told it has over 150 coats of paint so far, one on top of the other.

Gotta wash all the paint off of your hands...and your hair.

The art room did seem really fun, and Sareny nearly threw a fit when we drug her away from one of the playdough tables to go check out the rest of the museum.

All in all, I thought it was pretty cool. The crowds did prohibit my enjoyment somewhat, so I think going during the week would actually be more fun. I would enjoy having a membership there, although some in our group didn't think it would be worth it. But I think the idea of rooms with creative toys and fun, messy art projects that I don't have to clean up after is my personal idea of heaven, so we'll see.

That bouncy place

I've mentioned that we've been trying to potty train Isaac, and the first couple of days were pretty rough. In fact, he just kept pottying his underpants and didn't seem to notice or care. One morning I was checking out the website for Bounce U--an indoor bouncy house place. The kids came running over asking when we could go. I tried to put them off, but Isaac just wouldn't forget about it. Every few minutes he would ask if it was time to go to the bouncy place. Finally, I told him we couldn't go until he stopped pottying in his pants. He said, "Okay!" and he ran into the bathroom and went in the toilet. From that moment on for the next few days, he didn't have any more accidents.

Seriously, it was like a button just switched in his head and he only went in the toilet. (Okay, he's had some setbacks since then, but it really was amazing!) So this past Monday, we took the kids to "that bouncy place" for family home evening.

It really was a blast!

Isaac got really brave.

Isaac loved playing basketball with Daddy.

We loved all the fun slides.

I thought it was a great family activity for less than twenty bucks.

We even took Finley in one of the bounce houses, which I didn't get any pictures of.

I love the pure joy on their faces!

After a fun-filled two hours, we headed over to Neilson's frozen custard where we enjoyed some "concrete's."

And some onion rings.

Yum!

They are already asking when we can go back. We're trying to use it to remotivate Isaac in the potty training...we'll see!