Happy Birthday, Meeka!

We celebrated Meeka's 1st birthday today, and I say celebrated, because she doesn't technically have a birthday for four more years.  Yep, that's right, Meeka is a leap year dog.

The girls, of course, wanted to throw Meeka a big birthday party where they could invite all of their friends and have cake and presents, but we were able to talk them down a notch.  Instead, we sang happy birthday and gave her a small present: a bag of bones.  Meeka loved all of the attention and, of course, the bones!

Taelyn's 4th Birthday

The birthday extravaganza began on Thursday this past week as Taelyn celebrated the big 4 years at school. Her and I made cupcakes together the night before, covered in pink frosting, sprinkles, and hearts.  At school, Taelyn's teacher put together a big birthday celebration with her classmates.  Her teacher even invited two kids over from another class (Luna and Rafi) because they are Taelyn's closest friends at school, and she plays with them every day on the playground.  Justin and I actually got to pick Taelyn up from school that day and found her sitting at lunch in a great big birthday hat with her two classmate buddies, Michael and Kale.

Friday was Taelyn's actual birthday, so she opened her presents from family members that night.  Some of  the presents that she got are arts and crafts supplies, a Fancy Nancy book, Birthday Barbie, an Ariel Barbie, and an Ariel slip-n-slide.

Taelyn's birthday party was then on Saturday.  Her two best friends, Arianna and Rafi, came over to enjoy the festivities as well.  We rented a bouncy castle with a slide that led to a pit of balls, and we set up Taelyn's new slip-n-slide.  Between those two activities, the playroom, and the pool, the kids were pretty excited and busy for several hours.  Taelyn was a perfect little hostess and had a wonderful time with her friends and family.  At one point during the party, she told me, "That was so nice of my friends to give me birthday presents!"

After the party was over, it was too late to take a nap, so the girls huddled on to the coach to watch The Little Mermaid.  But in no time at all, Taelyn passed out from too much fun and too much birthday.  What a perfect end to the day!

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Taelyn - 4 Years Old

It is amazing how fast time flies by and how Taelyn is not a baby or a toddler any more.  She is officially a big kid and reminds us of her big girl accomplishments every day.  She is no longer interested in wooden puzzles and absolutely loves to complete jigsaw puzzles.  She will even skip recess at school if she is working on a puzzle and is not yet done.  So far, she has worked up to 56 pieces and is eager to take on a larger puzzle now.  Taelyn has also started to write her own name and learn the phonetic sounds of the letters of the alphabet.  She struggles with this a bit, but is coming along.  Sewing and threading is another task that she loves to do at school.

At home, some of Taelyn's favorite activities include painting with her watercolor paint set, reading Fancy Nancy books, singing and dancing, swimming, and watching movies.  She his following a behavior reward chart right now, and whenever she earns 15 stars in a week, she gets a popcorn and movie night.  She absolutely loves this special treat - almost as much as she likes going to the movie theater.  She is also still quite the entertainer, constantly putting on new dresses and showing off a dance or song.  Just recently she started doing a booty-shaking dance that is hysterical to watch.  Some of Taelyn's favorite TV shows and movies are currently The Little Mermaid, Lilo and Stitch, Dora, Doc McStuffins, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  With all of these shows, Taelyn frequently acts the storylines out with her sister.

Taelyn has also developed some closer friendships.  Her best buddies in her class at school are Michael and Kale, and she talks about them every day.  They often play in the sand pit, play "school" where Taelyn is, of course, the teacher, and they play "Duck Duck Goose."  Outside of school, Taelyn's best friends are Arianna and Rafi.  They both are expats that we work with and live close by.  Just the other day, Taelyn told me that she and Rafi are going to get married.  When I asked her why she was going to marry Rafi, she told me, "Because he's my best friend!"  It is so very sweet to see her interact with her friends and enter an imaginary world with them as they play together.  During this play time, Taelyn still likes to be in control but is learning that she's not always the boss and that she must share not only her toys, but decisions too.

Taelyn is a very loving little girl as well.  When she is not fighting with her sister, she will give Kaelia hugs and kisses and will show her how to do "big girl" things.  Just the other day, she was very sweet in showing Kaelia how to sew, and Kaelia adores the attention from her big sister.  One of our favorite times of day is when we are saying good-bye to the girls as we leave for school, and Taelyn showers us with affection.  We give hugs and kisses over and over, and when we head for the door, she runs over to us and says, "Just one more hug and kiss."  It is priceless.

I think it goes without saying that Taelyn is also obsessed with Ariel and loves anything that is related to The Little Mermaid.  It is with that in mind that her slideshow below is to the tune, "Under the Sea."

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The Little Mermaid Has Taken Over Our Children!

Within the past few months, the girls have been enamoured with watching The Little Mermaid.  I would even go as far to say that Taelyn is rather obsessed, and of course, chose that as her theme for her birthday party this weekend.  Each week, however, the girls constantly want to watch the movie and the TV show on Disney Junior and then re-enact what they saw afterwards.   Sometimes this drama production takes place in the living room or bedroom, while at other times they "play" the Little Mermaid in the pool or bathtub.   We recorded a few of their Ariel moments to share below.

Taelyn sings "Part of Your World."  Both girls actually know this entire song by heart, although Kaelia refuses to sing any time we get the camera out.

Taelyn and Kaelia act out parts of the movie: first Eric (Taelyn) meets Ariel (Kaelia) on the beach and finds out she can't talk; then they are on the boat and Eric tries to guess Ariel's name; finally, they are about to kiss on the boat when the eels tip the boat over.

Taelyn dances to "Under the Sea."

Kaelia's Swimming!

Today was a big day for Kaelia: she finally decided to wear arm floaties in the pool!  We have been encouraging her to do so for a little while now, but she always said no.  Today, however, we were at our friend, Kris's house, and he made an effort to get Kaelia swimming.  She did not give him much resistance at all - I think this is because she feels comfortable enough to yell at us that she doesn't want to wear floaties, but she probably doesn't feel like she can do that with Kris.  So he successfully got her to swim with her floaties.

Afterwards, I asked Kaelia if she wanted me to buy her her own special floaties, and she was very excited about this.  She, of course, asked for some Cinderella floaties.  Needless to say, I picked some up for her later on in the day.  We will see how well she does on her own now.  For today, though, I am so proud of my little girl!

Happy Smiles after Swimming

Birthday with the Lions

I had a wonderful birthday this year with my family and the Rhino and Lion Park, just several miles down the road from where we live.  The park is a small game park with primarily lions and various cats inside.  The first animals we came across were the lions; they were massive and amazing.  A male and two females walked right in front of our car.  Then Justin looked in to the rear view mirror and saw the male walking straight towards us.  It actually brushed past the windows on the passenger side of the car.  The lion's head was just as big as the window.  Later on during the drive, we also followed a cheetah that was walking beside our car.

After the drive, the girls and I sat down with some lion cubs and got to pet them.  They were pretty sleepy, but one of them opened his eyes enough to say a quick hello.  They were all adorable and gentle.  Taelyn was actually tugging on one of the lion's ears for a while.

The girls also got to pet and feed a giraffe, and we walked through a reptile house at the park.  It was a fantastic morning.

That night, the girls played at a friend's house while Justin and I went out for a steak dinner.  It was delicious and the perfect ending to a great birthday.

Belated Christmas

Because we were in Egypt on Christmas, we celebrated the official festivities when we got back to South Africa.  The girls were so excited that Santa was coming, and they couldn't wait to see what he brought them.  But more importantly, the girls learned that Christmas is about giving and not just getting.  I took each of them out shopping individually so that they could get each other a gift, and they both really put some thought in to what they wanted to buy their sister.  Kaelia came across a Disney princess puzzle and immediately wanted to get it for Taelyn.  She knows how much Taelyn likes princesses and how much she enjoys putting together puzzles all by herself.

When I took Taelyn out shopping, she knew she wanted to get her sister a Dora the Explorer book because Kaelia loves Dora.  We went to several stores, however, and none of the books were what Taelyn was looking for.  Instead of settling for one, Taelyn asked if we could keep looking and go back out to the stores after her nap.  That is exactly what we did, and Taelyn found the perfect book then.  It is a Look and Find Dora book kind of like Where's Waldo.  Taelyn even paid for it with her own doggy dollars.  She brought her wallet to the store and handed her doggy dollar to the cashier. It was adorable and completely her own idea.

As Christmas drew nearer, both girls told me on separate occasions of gifts that they wanted to get for their daddy: Taelyn wanted to buy him a special beer, and Kaelia wanted to get him flowers.  We were not intending on having the girls get us gifts, but I was so impressed by their giving spirit that I took them shopping again to get more gifts.

Christmas morning was actually on December 30th, and the girls ran to our bedroom bright and early to ask us of Santa came.  The girls and I all waited together as Justin went out the living room and put on Manheim Steamroller's "Deck the Halls" to let us know it was time to come out.  The girls came running out and were so excited to open the many presents under the tree.  But the first presents they chose to open were the ones from each other.  Taelyn turned to her sister and said, "Kaelia, just wait and see what I got you.  You're going to love it!"  And love it she did.  If you ask Kaelia now what she got for Christmas, she will tell you a book from Taelyn.  Taelyn loved her puzzle equally as much, and the girls gave each other a great big hug afterwards.

Next, the present extravaganza took off as the girls unwrapped the rest of their gifts.  They got Disney princess Barbies, princess dresses for dress-up, baby doll clothes, and a velcro baseball glove and T-ball set.  That's when we announced that Santa had brought one more present for them.  The girls looked all around the room and couldn't find anything, so we told them to check the playroom.  To their amazement, they found a huge dollhouse there for their new Barbies.  They absolutely love the dollhouse and play with it nonstop.

Aside from the girls' Christmas experience, Justin and I had a wonderful time too.  Justin bought me a massage at one of the resorts in Egypt and a new camera (which never made from the US - cross your fingers!), and I bought him a home brew kit to make his own beer.  He has his first batch brewing right now, and we can frequently hear bubbling coming from his closet at night!

To complete our Christmas, we all went to the movies later on that day and saw Rise of the Guardians in 3-D.  It was a great movie for kids and adults, and the girls loved getting their kids combo of popcorn, Smarties, and a Slush Puppy.

We had a wonderful Christmas, and we are so thankful for the giving spirit that we saw this year.  Kaelia, by the way, was so excited to give her daddy his flower that she continues to do so every day now.  Whenever she sees the flower on the table, she picks it up and runs it over to where ever Justin is and says, "Merry Christmas, Daddy!"  It is very sweet.

On another side note, when we all first sat down at the Christmas tree on our Christmas morning, Taelyn looked around at all the presents with a quizzical look on her face and said, "I think Daddy did all of this."  Her Santa Claus days may not last for too many years.

Here are some pictures of our Christmas morning.

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