Early Signs of Summer

Well, you'd think we would be having nice weather. This weekend we finally got to play outside for most of a weekend. Noelle has been having a bit of a daredevil which is new for her in a way. She's been showing Livia how to climb up the slide the wrong way, and she's even tried to climb onto the roof of the play house. We had a picnic outside sort of and was able to pull our wagon around the neighborhood. I showed Noelle what 'helicopters' were from trees. So that became a new and fun project.

What has Noelle been up to?

Dance, dance, and more dance. She is loving dance class. Their recital is in a month, and she is so excited about being on stage. I think this is an activity we'll continue next fall, but maybe just ballet.





Noelle has been doing well in preschool. They say she picks up everything very quickly. We've been working on cutting and pasting mostly... which leads me to having Noelle cut her own hair today. Mama is still a little upset about that. Okay, a lot upset about that. She's got some punk layering in the front now or something. Ug.

Her protectiveness of Livia is starting to grow a little more. There is also signs of them actually being friends rather than just fighting for attention. Haha. Livia just loves to laugh when her sister does things. So I think Noelle likes that attention there.

Polly Pocket is a new interest. She also is showing an interest in sports. She and I go into town every Wednesday night for Caring Place sessions (group therapy for grieving children) and drive past the ball park. She's fascinated with the building and wants to see a game.

Last month we were in Aunt Bethany's wedding. Noelle was a little party animal. If you go to the pictures page, you'll see a TON from the wedding. In the table camera pictures, you can just see Noelle dancing everywhere. I think she was ready to outlast everybody else. During the actual wedding, she was funny. She was a flowergirl and wanted to walk down the aisle herself before Bethany did. Well, when Livia and I got to the front, Noelle yells: "Mommy wait for me!" and sprints up the aisle. We only got pictures of her running.

Her excitement this month was a visit from MawMaw and Great-Aunt Karen. Noelle talked for weeks and weeks about MawMaw visiting her. We went to the zoo which was a lot of fun for the girls. On the wall across from where the walrus' will be in the underground tunnel, there are two bricks dedicated to their dad. So we went to see them. They're really nice and I think the girls will enjoy it as they grow.

I think that's it for this month so far!

Next month we have a big vacation coming up down to Virginia!

Being a princess is hard work

Princess Noelle is quite a girl. Some days she's very quiet and just plays with her dolls, but others she's a chatty Kathy and won't stop telling you stories, asking questions, and wanting to have an adventure.

Noelle is doing great at preschool. She's learning quite a bit. Of course, she already knows her letters and numbers. But she's starting to write a bit more and doing very well with things like patterns, more and less, and opposites. Noelle loves to learn and is very inquisitive. One of her favorite activities is reading her new Zoobooks magazine every time it comes in the mail. We'll read the magazine front to back before bedtime and she just loves discovering new things about animals.

Noelle has been very into her dance class. They danced at the mall in December and had their Winter recital in January. You can see the pictures in the December photo album. She's made quite a few friends at dance class namely Corinne, Riley, Kirsten, Cassidy, and Jamie. She loves to see all the other kids each week. This summer, her class will be dancing at Idewilde Park so everybody should come see her.

The favorite activities of the month are dress up, playing My Little Pony, playing with Playdo, and playing with Barbies. She's very much a girly girl wanting to wear a princess dress or ballerina outfit most of the day.

Noelle also can have a diva attitude when she's not getting her way. Mommy has gotten a 'humph' and a hand on the hip more than once. Beyonce, look out!

As far as things Noelle is looking forward to: Aunt Bethany's Wedding. Noelle was practicing walking down the aisle today. Grandma got her to not dance to the music which will be a good thing. Don't worry, we'll have lots of pictures!!

Trick or Treat

Halloween came and went, but we had so much fun! Noelle was a self called Barbie Fairy Princess. Her pink birthday princess dress had wings on it, and she wore a princess hat thing that Aunt Kris gave her. She spent the day twirly in her dress and just enjoying being a princess. But we're not surprised about that. Haha. Daycare went trick or treating at the shops in Bellevue, and then daycare had their Halloween party.

Noelle carried her special witch bucket that Lynda made for her and pranced up all the steps having to hold her dress up because it was so long. Or Mama helped her carry her 'train' up the steps. After awhile, the princess had to rest and rode in Livia's stroller. It was called her coach and she would say things like "Mommy, I'm at my stop" or "My coach has arrived"... then she'd get out and go up to the house. It was rather funny. She definitely played the part.

The kids were exhausted when we were done and slept good. Grandma and Mommy were ready for bed too! But it was a perfect day for Halloween. Nice weather and a lot of fun.

Camping

Our new camping pictures are up for everybody to see (go to the link on the right of the page or click here)! We had a lot of fun. Noelle and I stayed in a two room cabin. She wanted to sleep on the bunk beds at first, but she got a bit intimidated by it and ended up sharing a bed with me. She loved sleeping in her sleeping bag and just being outdoors in general.

When asked, "playing" was her favorite thing to do... when asked in more detail she liked throwing sticks in the lake (which are in our pictures), playing with the two Ashleys, and the hay ride (which had no hay) where she got to howl at the moon with Aunt Sue (who Noelle reminds me was being a lamp by holding the light while cooking Friday night). She definitely did not want to go home, but it was time. She was happy to see Baby Liv and her toys when returning back to the house. Although, we miss the fresh outdoors air already!

Plenty of pictures are up and we had plenty of fun. We will definitely be back next year.

I am not a rockstar.

So apparently "Rock star" is not a nickname Noelle likes. I (and many others) end up calling her that when she's decked out in all her bangles and sparkles. We are quick to be corrected that she is a Princess and not a Rock Star. Usually a conversation with Noelle goes like this when somebody meets her for the first time (or hasn't seen her in awhile): "My name is Noelle Claudia Chase. Sometimes I am called Princess Noelle. And I call myself Cinderella." And occasionally she throws in at the end: "And I have three cousins... Logan, Kaiden, and Baby Madelyn."

Noelle is excited this week because we went to the pumpkin patch where she picked out a pumpkin for herself. We will be taking the pumpkin to a class at the zoo called "Wildlife Pumpkin Painting." She wants to pain zebras, but I don't know what the class is about so we'll see. A picture will definitely get posted of it. She is also excited because I'm taking her camping with the Hilliards this weekend. We'll be staying in a cabin, but I think she's mostly excited to get some Noelle/Mama time. I'm sure there will be picture of that up too.

For Halloween, Miss Noelle is going to be a fairy princess. I bought her pink wings to go with her fancy pink princess dress... which you will see in her birthday pictures.

Her birthday party was fun. It was a bowling party at the local duckpin bowling lanes at the Bellevue Knights of Columbus. A few of her friends from school came: Raven, Caroline, and Nathaniel. Tia, a 'distant' relative of some sort, came as well. The adults were the usual suspects really. :) You know who you are!! The theme was princess so she had her Disney princess cake. The kids had a blast bowling and the parents were all great helping. Of course, the presents were the highlight for her. To go with her new fancy pants princess castle doll house, she has several new princess barbie dolls and horse. She loved everything she got from everybody. We read all the new books almost every day. She plays with all her new Barbies... and many sleep beside her on her pillow, as well. Apparently, it is great being 4.

Small new things

We'll have more information and pictures up from our trip to the beach last week soon. But we just wanted to make a few small notes about the things that Noelle is up to right now...

Noelle started her Intro to Dance class a few weeks ago. They learn tap, ballet and tumbling every Saturday morning. Noelle loves dressing up in her ballet clothes and seems to have fun each week. There should be a few recitals or shows through the year so we'll get lots of pictures!

Today Noelle is going to take her first monthly riding lesson. "Aunt" Stacie has been teaching horse back riding part time and Noelle is going to be one of her students. Since Noelle is still small, she's going to start on a pony, but that's okay with Noelle! It's only once a month, so we'll keep you posted on how that goes.

Noelle is still in love with princesses and has now moved into Barbie princesses also. She is so excited about her birthday next week! We'll have more to tell later.

Princesses & Festivals

A funny story from Mom...

Noelle really enjoys her princess things as everybody knows. Well, Thursday night after bath time she wouldn't get into her pajamas for Aunt Kris or Grandma... she put her pink princess dress back on (it was her Easter dress) to sleep in. Eventually she got out of her bed to put her tiara on too, but Grandma convinced ehr it might get broken so that got put up. When I woke her up on Friday morning she had her dress and princess shoes on sleeping. And then she only wanted to wear it to daycare. There was no getting her to change. So I gave in and let her wear it. She was definitely trying to play the part. She was blowing kisses to everybody and greeting her friends at the door. I eventually convinced her she couldn't wear it for a third day on Saturday because it needed cleaned... but boy does she have fun being a princess. Livia has learned to play the part of the fairy godmother for Noelle. She can say "Bibidi Bobidi Boo" now.

But the real fun of Saturday ended up being Assumption Church's festival. It's semi tradition to go to it since that's the school we went to as kids... we took Noelle last year and she loved it. So we went back this year. Noelle enjoyed getting her hands painted rather than her face ;-) She rode the train, mini Whip, and loved the bouncy castle. One of the highlights had to be running into some of her daycare friends... what 3 year olds converse about is funny. It was all about the shiny whistle Noelle won at the duck pond. Watching the kids light up with the games, prizes, and fun is just well... fun.

Noelle also got her hair cut really for the first time. I only had a few inches taken off the back of it... but still. She never had her hair cut before and I miss her little curls at the end ;)