Amara celebrates her 3rd Birthday!

My baby turned 3.  She's officially what the parenting magazines refer to as a "preschooler."  That's just crazy.  

I decided to interview my very talkative Amara, and here are some of her responses.

Favorites:

Color- pink

food- Japanese food

thing- an animal

animal- giraffe

dinosaur- long neck

book- dinosaur sticker book (thanks Aunt Doralee!)

Tell me a joke:

Knock knock.

Whos there?

Ummm, Japanese food.

Japanese food who?

Japanese food in a flower.

Dislikes:

food- onion

~interview ends as she runs off to play.

Amara is an absolute joy to have in our family!  She gives us so many reasons to smile.  She's still a thumb-sucker and she is very attached to her ratty old blue blanky she's embraced since birth.  Steve noticed how big Amara's "sucked-on" thumb is compared to her other one.  Instead of discouraging her from thumb-sucking, he encourages her to suck the other thumb.  Amara's birthday fell on a Sunday this year.  She had a little celebration here at home and one later when we visited family in Utah Valley.  She is so very loved.  

Below is a smilebox collage I made of her on her birthday.

This free photo collage made with Smilebox

Don't grow up.

Tonight as I was kissing my darling daughters goodnight I told them, "Now, whatever you do, don't grow up anymore."

Amara says, "You mean no more birthdays?"

I said, "No more birthdays.  Just stay the way you are now."

Lily quickly responded, "Don't you want to see my precious babies?"

I answered, "Of course I do!  I would love to see them!"

Lily demandingly replies, "Then let me grow up!"

My girls are so cute and fun and I cherish them so much.   After their second trip to the bathroom (it never fails that Amara "feels it" the moment we turn off the light and say goodnight, so Lily helps her go to the bathroom one last time before bed, even though we have them go potty right before we put them down),  I hurried them off to bed saying, "I love you Lily and Amara!  Now it's time to go to bed.  It's past your bedtime and your dreams are starting without you."

Reunion Time! Starvation Reservoir- July 21-25, 2010

Over the pioneer day weekend, we camped out on the beach at Starvation Reservoir.  We had a great time, got lots of sand, lots of wind, lots of sunblock, and lots of memories.

We love being together!

Back in June...

This free photo slideshow customized with Smilebox

Better late than never.  Here's a slideshow of the fun times we had when some of our relatives came to visit this past June.  It also features our small celebration for a big accomplishment for Lily.  She worked her way through her lesson book and learned how to read!  I'm so proud of her.  Each day when Amara would go down for her afternoon nap, she would diligently get her lesson book and sit with me and learn.  Go Lily!