Signing Time, Preschool, and Birthday Recap

Sorry I had to do this 3-in-1 post, but there's a lot to share.

First, I wanted to share a video of Ireland. I realize I don't write nearly as much about her on this blog as I do McKinley, but I wanted to share a video of her doing signs. I was introduced to Signing Time by my friend Britany when McKinley was probably 10 months old. We bought 12 of the DVDs and McKinley LOVED them. Ireland has loved them as well & probably knows close to 30 signs. It is so much fun to watch her grow and learn and express herself. I tried forever to get a video of her as Signing Time comes on - she gets so excited and waves her arms - but she wouldn't do it for the camera. Anyway, I could have gone on with the quizzing, but once she heard milk, she wanted to go find some. Enjoy!


Second, I wanted to do a re-cap of McKinley's birthday. It went really well and she had a great time. She kept saying "I'm the birthday girl!" and "Happy Birthday to me!" Here's some pics from the fun, eventful day:

McKinley with her traditional crown, birthday tablecloth, and birthday plate. I made french toast for the occasion. We do have quite a few birthday traditions. You can pin that to my mom (which, by the way, set my husband up for extreme failure after we were married, but my girls will have to deal with that later).

Her birthday was also her first day of preschool. It technically started a week earlier, but she had remnants of the stomach flu and I didn't want the other kids to get it. We do a combined preschool with 4 other mom's in the neighborhood. It was at our house this week and McKinley had a great time with all her friends.

Cupcakes for snack time at preschool. Hey, there's 2 missing! ... ;)

McKinley getting ready to let go of the traditional one-for-each age balloons.

She miraculously took a nice, long nap that day. When she woke up I told her where we were going. She got SO excited and said "I'm going to dance with Chuck E. Cheese! I won't be scared!" It was worth the money we spent on pizza and tokens just to see the look on her face as she danced with Mr. Cheese. It was priceless! She even gave him a big hug at the end.

After a couple hours at Chuck E. Cheese (thanks for coming Matthews and Edwards kids), Jason took McKinley for a date to our local Wal-mart. Meet the newest member of our family - Dezi the fish. McKinley loves it. She tickles it, talks to it, brings it water (I had to explain that one to her). Her only worry is that Dezi is missing her mommy and daddy. Maybe we'll have to get 1 or 2 more so she's not lonely.