I can't believe it, but our little girl has turned 4 years old! It has been so much fun watching her grow and learn this past year. She is thriving in preschool and any extra class we put her in like dance, gymnastics, swimming and soccer. She loves to learn and is starting to recognize and write her letters. Counting has always been her thing and she can go up to 20. She loves crafts, games, dressing up, and anything with friends! If she could have a friend with her every second of the day she would be in heaven. She was so excited to start sunbeams this year and loves every minute of it. This girl is super likeable and has such a good attitude about life and all the fun things there are to do. I still love her giggles! She is such a good big sister and really loves having Deacon as a buddy. They play really well together and the times I see her reading to him or helping him with something makes my heart melt! She is very strong willed and when she gets her mind set on something, it is very hard to change it. She still hates going to bed, even though we've recently gotten her a bigger and really cute bed so we could give our crib mattress to the new baby coming. We love our Bentley boo so much, and can't wait to experience life with her.
We just threw her a party on Saturday and Bentley had a blast! First we took her and three friends to Cora's for breakfast. It was adorable to see them all sitting at the table chatting and eating, especially with the happy birthday crowns I handed out. My mom came with me to help out (while Deacon stayed home with Jeff), and we also really enjoyed our breakfast! They even brought out a birthday treat for Bentley with sparklers and sang to her. It was a duck cut out of apple with some dipping sauce on the bottom. After Cora's, we drove the girls back to our house where I helped them dress up into princess gowns, accessories and makeup. Then we spread out a red carpet and did a little fashion show with music. Afterwards I had a few games planned, which included musical "carpets" (from Aladdin) instead of chairs, getting tangled in Rapunzel's hair (streamers), kissing the frog (we blindfolded them, put lipstick on, and they had to try to kiss the frog on the lips), and the poison apple passing game (if the apple stops on them they bite it, fall over dead, and the rest of the girls revive them by giving out chocolate kisses). They all seemed to really love the games! I also had some magic mirrors for them to each decorate with stickers and glitter. Then, we sang happy birthday, ate cupcakes, and opened presents. Bentley got lots of cute things and was very happy with how everything went. My mom, Cindy, and Jeff were also great helpers and we had lots of fun with the little princesses!
After all the hype of Christmas, we cleaned up the house and put all the decorations away on Boxing day. Jeff went back to work right away and I felt like there was nothing to do! All the regular activities were cancelled and we didn't have plans...honestly I felt a little blue. Not to mention the weather turned -30 and we felt stuck inside. I told Jeff that next year we should plan a trip somewhere for the week after Christmas!! Anyways, once we got through those weeks, things started up again and we got back into a good routine. Bentley started preschool, playschool, and also gymnastics. I decided to put her in something new, at the Foothills Gymstars, and see if she likes it. She has a good attitude about it, but she is the youngest in the class, and I can tell it is quite a push for her. So we'll see how it goes. She sure loves her gymnastics uniform I got for her though! She looks adorable in it.
Playschool has been such a great thing to have in our house. Both Bentley and Deacon love it, and everyone comes up with such great ideas. I also get to socialize with my friends, so it's really been awesome! Here's some pics from the latest ones. The kids learn about a different letter each week.
We've also been trying to remember to always have FHE and to spend lots of time together as a family. We took Bentley skating and she really loved it! She mostly just walked in her skates, but she was really excited about it. We also roasted marshmallows one night using a gift Kellie gave us for Christmas. Deacon was pretty enthralled with the fire, so we kept a really close eye on him! Bentley thought it was so much fun. The kids also love going to any new play place I can find, especially if there are things to climb on and large spaces to run around!
Well, Jeff and I have high hopes for this year. We will welcome a new baby boy into our family in March and we are going to strive to live healthily and happily. I'd say I'm officially into the uncomfortable phase of pregnancy and have resorted to wearing some of Jeff's shirts. I've also been feeling SO tired and just do my best each day to be a good mom and get dinner on the table, but that doesn't always happen. Pregnancy is hard and I often feel bad for all the things I'm not doing for my kids, but I also know that I'm doing my best right now and it won't be like this forever. One day while Deacon was napping I let Bentley watch TV so I could have a nap, and then when I checked on her I found she had gotten herself her own little mug of "hot chocolate." Mostly powder, a little bit of water, she said it was delicious. Anyways, this kind of thing is pretty ordinary in our house these days. I don't remember being so tired at this stage in my other pregnancies, but I guess now I'm keeping 2 humans alive while growing a baby!
