Happy 5th Birthday, Love BUG!

How did this happen?!?! I have to admit that I am taking 5 a little hard. This means that soon she has to go to school and she won't be here for me to love on ALL.DAY.LONG. She is turning into such a big girl...I can hardly stand it. She just makes my heart so happy...I mean look at that smile? I think she came into this world with a smile. Don't get me wrong...she can be all sorts of fiesty and independent and bullheaded too (I blame that on the Schultz side of her, lol) but for the most part, she is still my little love bug, my little snuggle bug who is perfectly content to just curl up in my lap. I know I won't realize it when it happens but someday there will be a last time, and I just can't imagine our days without it.

She has her ups and downs with her sisters, but she is mostly a great sister. She looks up to Leah, and of course Hattie idolizes her. They are quite the trio. Leah made Kiersten a special birthday gift. She seems to be obsessed with Treasure the palace pet these days so Leah made her a card with Treasure on it. And the gratitude was so adorable. "Oh thank you, thank you, Leah!" You would have thought she was going to Disney World.

Anyway, at 5, you are starting to read, you have a crazy vocabulary and speak well past your years. You love to sing. Taylor Swift and Katy Perry are your favorites. You still love to sing Firework and lately you are all about Blank Space by Taylor. You dance your little heart out every week with Ms. Jan and you are anxious about starting Golf and softball this summer. I think your favorite show is Miles from Tomorrowland on Disney channel. You never forget to say your prayers before a meal,  and you think going to the movies or to Dairy Queen is the best treat ever. You make my heart so happy. And as much as I want to keep you little I can't wait to watch you grow. I feel blessed beyond measure to be your mom. I love you, Bug!

Frozen on Ice

The show started at 2, and we were in the building at 1:30. Somehow we were surviving the day on very little sleep...probably because the girls were SOOO excited. Before we found our seats we went to the bathroom. Of course we had to get souvenirs and snacks and then we were ready to go. It started out great with some singing and dancing from the regular Disney Gang...then all the princesses came out on skates. The girls were thrilled!

Once the show started they were enthralled. They loved all the twirling and jumps...they sang along to all the songs. By the end they were on a sugar high...playing with their toys and still belting out the tunes. I think they all said that Marshmallow the monster was their favorite...and I have to admit he was pretty cool. He came out as a giant while snowball and then inflated into the huge monster from the movie. Very Cool. After we got to the car, it didn't take long for little ones to pass out...well, really it was only Bug and Hattie. We stopped for dinner in Vandalia, and then went on to meet Gigi in Sullivan. The weekend was definitely a success. I'm glad she loved it...along with all the others!

Birthday Shopping

American Girl is little girl heaven! Even though Gigi couldn't make the trip, she gave me her credit card and said to let the girls each pick out an outfit or a pet or something. They had no trouble finding what they wanted. Leah and Macy both got their dolls ears pierced and picked out Gymnastics outfits. Kiersten got the cheerleading outfit and a leash for her pet dog Pepper. Hattie got the labradoodle Apricot for her Bitty Baby. They were super excited! Thanks for spoiling them rotten, Gigi. But next time, we want you to be with us ;)

Birthday Lunch

My original plan was to have lunch at the American Girl store at the Chesterfield Mall, but they couldn't accomodate groups our size. So we went with the back-up plan. We went to the cheesecake factory and wouldn't you know it...they had highchairs for the American Girl dolls to use. Since we were going to see Frozen Jaci and I had made sure that all the girls had Anna and Elsa outfits for their dolls...remember that Valentines post a few weeks ago :)

The girls thought that they were pretty special getting their dolls at the table with them. They made ordering easy too. They all got Macaroni and cheese! Since it was a birthday party we had to get cheesecake for dessert. Jaci and Bella shared the oreo cheesecake. Hattie and I shared white chocolate macadamia nut, Leah got Red Velvet and Macy got Fresh Strawberry. The Birthday Girl got Smore's  and they wrote Happy Birthday on the plate with Chocolate sauce...she was feeling pretty special and we sang to her too! Most of the cheesecake ended up coming home with us...but it was just as good as leftovers!

Birthday Kick-Off

For weeks I kept telling Bug that she wasn't having a birthday party, that we were going to do a Birthday trip this year instead. And somehow I did a great job keeping it a secret until just a few days before. And then the weather happened. We had tickets to see Disney's Frozen on Ice on Sunday March 1st, but a huge snow storm was threatening to come in on Saturday Feb. 28th. Gigi started to panic. She had me book some hotel rooms, but on the day of, she wasn't comfortable driving. So I met her in Sullivan to get Macy and we made the trek to St. Louis. It only took us 4 hours, but we managed to arrive in Collinsville and get settled into our room. The girls were wound up after the long drive. So it felt good to get our wiggles out in the water. We headed back to the room, and I thought for sure they would all be asleep between 9:30-10...well that didn't happen. It was more like 11:30. Macy, Leah and Bella slept in bags on the floor and Bug slept with me, while Hattie slept with Jaci. Then of course Leah woke us all up around 6:30...yikes! We stayed at a Hampton Inn and they had a good continental breakfast. After we ate, Jaci took all the kids to the pool while I worked on loading up the van, and then I met them in the water. They girls were loving it!

My Funny Valentines!

Yesterday was Valentines Day and my little loves were spoiled, as usual. Leah and Kiersten got Frozen outfits for their American Girl Dolls (more on that later). and Hattie got a new book and a talking Sophia the First Amulet. They were also spoiled by their grandparents. Gigi and Papa sent them a tin full of delicious Mrs. Fields Cookies and Grandma Tootie and Grandpa Dave sent them Dairy Queen Gift cards...we can't wait to use them. We are definitely feeling the love. 

New Friends

I'm so proud of Leah and how well she has adjusted to Mt. Zion. I was worried that making new friends might be difficult for her...but it hasn't been a problem in the least. Audrey, Landon, Lucy, Ryne, Ella...shes always talking about her school friends. The picture above is of her and Ella. They do tumbling together too, and have become fast friends. At least once a week there are notes in Leah's bag that they have been passing back and forth. "Ask your mom if we can have a playdate!" It's adorable. Ella's mom was able to attend their Valentines Party yesterday and she posted this picture of the girls for me. I wasn't able to help, with two little ones in tow. We just might have to make this playdate happen sooner, than later. AND we just found out that Audrey is moving in on the next street over. Our circle just keeps getting bigger and bigger, and our cup continues to runneth over.

Meet Zoey

Mitch finally caved and let me get another dog!!! It only took months and months of me seeing pics of dogs online and constantly forwarding them to him. We finally had a heart to heart and explained that Sandy isn't getting any younger. I don't want to wait until she is gone and then "replace" her...I'd rather find a new fur-ever friend before that time comes. He finally saw where I was coming from. I took the girls to Homeward Bound Pet Shelter on Thursday and we played with a few sweet pups. On Saturday Mitch went with us to an adoption event at Pet Smart, and then we went back to Homeward Bound. This little sweetie wasn't one of the pups we visited on our first trip, but Mitch wanted to check her out. Who was I to argue. I was compromising so to speak. I had been checking out male dogs and he wanted a female for training purposes. Zoey (they called her Tina) was brought in with her brother. They were found in a big cardboard box abandoned in a bean field down by St. Louis. So who knows how they were treated before being dropped off to die.

It didn't take us long to fall in love. We spent about 30 min in a private room with her, and then we brought Sandy in to visit too. There were no issues so I filled out her application and waited. On Tuesday we got the call to come get her. We were so excited...and we are loving her already!!!