Phin's Belated 7th Birthday Party Photos

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to meeeeee.  Happy birthday to me!

This year, I turned 7 and I had a lot of trouble deciding how I wanted to celebrate with my friends.  Someone at school's parents only let them invite 1 friend for each year old they are; for some reason, I thought that rule applied to me too (not sure why).  So I had a really, really hard time trying to decide what I wanted to do with only 7 friends.

Eventually Mom & Dad talked me out of that idea; but I still didn't know what I wanted to do - movie in the backyard, party at the nickel arcade, jumping at the trampoline park, lunch in a park...  The choices were so vast (now that I could invite 8 or more people). 

Finally, I decided on a movie in the backyard.  It's so much fun to stay up late, eat lots of popcorn, have cake, hang with my friends and entertain the neighborhood.  We watched the first Cars movie (because I love cars and the 3rd one was not out on video yet).  Some photos are below, the rest are accessible here.

Not pictured here: Nana, Papa, Grandma & Grandpa, who came in to celebrate with us (thank you for coming in).

Peace Out,
Phin

Amelia turns 5 (late picks)

Happy belated birthday to myself… 3 months ago (in July), I turned 5.  So exciting.  Now that I’m 5 there are a few new rules around the house – no crying (unless I’m hurt) and no tush squeezes (because I’m a big girl).  Also, I’ve started styling my hair a new way, the ‘side pony.’  The side pony is a mini pony tail towards the front of my head (on the side).  It’s like a braid, only you don’t braid it.

Anyway, for my birthday party, I wanted a celebration at Playdate PDX – it’s a soft playroom for big kids like me.  Mom and Dad liked to point out that when I was 3 & 4 years old I was scared and did not like going in Playdate PDX (too many big kids, getting lost…).  But, like I said, now I’m a Big Girl and I’m not afraid of anything, except spiders, bugs, dogs, cats, racoons, squirrels, the skunk that visits our backyard, and honestly anything that is living but not a person.

 

Blowing out the candles on my birthday cake

On the third floor of the Playdate PDX play space!  Happy Birthday to me!

For my birthday, Nana, Papa, Grandma & Grandpa all came in to help celebrate – I love having them come visit just for me and I love partying with my friends. 

You can check out the rest of my photos here.

Lots of Love,

Amelia

Our Favorite Movie (for now) #Moana

Okay, that's a bold title. We will always love Star Wars (especially the Ewoks, they're so cute), Totoro and the Cars movies.  But, We have a new favorite (or frarvite as I used to say) movie to add to the list... Moana.

It's a great story about a girl to takes to the ocean to save the world and in the process meets a guy with dancing tattoos.  Amelia loves that there is no scary part or bad guys; I love that it's so silly and not a mushy love story.  We both also love the songs and singing.

Our favorite song from the movie is call "How Far I'll Go" - where Moana sings about leaving her island to take to the seas. We've made mom play the music (via Youtube) all day for the past 2 weeks.  I think Mom really likes the music.

Since we've been listening to the music so much, we've started to learn the songs really well.  Dad recorded us singing in the car (Dad won't play the Moana music in car, so we had to sing it from memory).  You can check out the video he made below or via this link.



Peace Out,

Phin

Spring is Here Said the Bumblebee!

At school, my favorite part of the week is when Daniel my school's music guy comes to class.  He usually comes every other Tuesday or Wednesday; but I wish he came everyday. Sometimes Daniel brings instruments to play, sometimes we sing together and sometimes we learn new things (we've even sung songs about stories in books).

Last week, we had a Daniel day; as always, I sat in the front row.  It's tough to get a front row spot on a Daniel day because everyone in my class loves it too when he comes to class.  But last week was super special, I got to sing all by myself with Daniel.  I love this song and have been singing it at home to my mom and dad (and Phinny) for a while - so it was even more super exciting to sing it with Daniel (since he taught us the song). As you can see, I was nervous to stand up in front of the class and sing, but it was a lot of fun.

Or click here to view the video

Next time I see you, and I'm in the mood, if you ask I might sing for you.

Lots of Love,
Amelia

PS - I got to pick out my outfit that day all by myself... what do you think?

Michael Daddy's 38th Birthday Hike

When I asked Dad, "What do you want to do for your birthday?" He said "If it's nice, lets take a hike." I replied "It's rained for 64 of the past 65 days, I doubt it will be nice."
I was wrong (first time).  So we went for a hike at the Smith & Bybee Wetlands, up by the Columbia River.
Unfortunately, the river was flooded like a bathtub, so our hike was cut short.  But we still had enough time to film a Hiking with Amelia and Dad video (Click here to watch it).

 

We grabbed a few fun photos too.

Where the sidewalk ends.  Taking after his cousin Shel.

Look this log has a hole and I have a stick ... a happy marriage

Looking for more Bush Deer

Happy Birthday Dad!

Lots of Love,
Amelia Rose