Princess Tea Party

The opportunity to attend the Princess Tea Party finally arrived!  Priya was beyond excited to get there and to meet all of the princesses.  She went through her dress-up box and decided that she wanted to wear her Ariel dress so that's what she went as today.  We sat at Jasmine's table and Aladdin was there too.  There weren't any others seated at that table so Priya had them all to herself.  She was pretty shy at first but warmed up after a while and was glued to Jasmine's side for much of our time at the tea party. 

Coloring Aladdin and Jasmine pictures...

 

Here's a glimpse of how the room was set up.  I was truly impressed with the detail that went into this event.  Each area was decorated with the theme of each princess and was extremely well done.  This video doesn't do justice to how fabulous it really was!

There was so much to take in!  Priya couldn't stop for a second to look at the camera for most of her photos - she was too busy looking around at her surroundings.  :) Here she is with Ariel and Jasmine.

And here she is with Jasmine and Pocahontas (notice she's not looking at the camera - there was another princess behind me).

Off to Tinker Bell's table.  Rosetta (one of the fairies) was also there.  This was probably my favorite table.  The chairs were carved out of logs!  It was awesome!

The Queen of Hearts at Alice in Wonderland's table.

Giving Peter Pan a hug (the Queen of Hearts and her army of cards were chasing and searching for him throughout the party).

Cinderella (again, Priya is looking at another princess behind me).

Sleeping Beauty...

 Priya and the Beast at Belle's table.

 

Saying goodbye to Mulan at the end of the tea party.

We made a quick stop at the mall after the party was over and Priya tried on some fabulous shoes at JCPenney.  It was too cute not to document. :)

Happy 4th Birthday, Priya!

It's official!  Priya is now 4 years old!  Seriously, how in the world did that happen?!  Has it really been 4 years already?!

Last night we had a small family party for Priya.

And this morning she got to celebrate with her classmates at school.  I was able to join her for a couple of hours this morning as well and had the chance to catch a glimpse of what school is like for her.

They made her a purple crown (her favorite color), sang "Happy Birthday" and ate cupcakes that we brought to share.

In typical Priya fashion, she ate the frosting and left the cake.

The birthday party was followed by group time where Miss Patsy read a few stories and then they got to rotate through several different activity/craft stations.

Then it was time for Group Time once again before lunch and my departure to head back to work.

It was wonderful to share the morning with my sweet girl, to get to know some of her friends a bit more, and to celebrate her birthday with her class.  We have one final birthday event coming up this Sunday so stay tuned for another update soon...

Sneak Peak

I know that we're more than a month away from Halloween, but we had some fun playing dress up tonight with Josiah's monkey costume.  He's becoming quite animated and responsive to picture taking and gave me all sorts of cute poses!  He loved the costume.

 Priya wanted to get in on the fun and enthusiastically tried on Josiah's costume as well. 

 I also wanted to share the results of Priya's first pedicure job.  She painted my toenails last night and did a pretty good job for an almost-four-year-old (she didn't even spill any of the nail polish).  I proudly displayed them today (apart from the healing mosquito bites all over my feet).  Thanks for pampering your mommy sweet girl!

This Can't Be Comfortable!

Since Josiah learned to go from lying down to sitting up, sleep has been a bit of a challenge for him.  He loves to sit up but has a hard time figuring out how to lie down again.  Every time he falls asleep I find him in this position and have to gently reposition him.  This can't be comfortable, can it?!

New Accomplishment

Josiah accomplished something new today.  He figured out how to sit up from a lying down position!  Way to go buddy!  Now he just needs to figure out how to lie back down again.  It's made for some interesting nap time issues today... 

 

He has also developed a humorous and cute new laugh.  Here are a couple of samples...

Preschool Open House

Our baby girl is growing up so quickly!  I can't believe that she's almost 4 years old!!

Priya started preschool again last week at a Christian school here in town and absolutely loves it (she attended from January through May last year)!  She's in a new class with two new teachers - Miss Barbara and Miss Patsy.  After her first day of school she came home and excitedly proclaimed, "I love my school!  I love my new teachers!  And I made five new friends!"  

Last year was bit tougher for her as she was still adjusting to having to share the spotlight with a new baby at home, me going back to work after being home with her full time for 6 months and her starting school (which of course was a completely new experience).  But that seems to be a thing of the past.  There are some familiar faces in her new class and some new friends that she is really excited about.  It looks like we're off to a very good year!  She will be attending 3 half-days per week (same as last year).

Tonight Priya, Josiah and I attended an open house at her school (sadly Ashish had to work so he wasn't able to make it).  It was great to have some extra time to talk with her teachers and to meet some of the other key figures in Priya's preschool life.  She proudly showed me where she likes to play, where they do crafts, some of the art work she has done, where they go to chapel, and the gym where they play.  She whipped up quite a meal for Josiah and me in the kitchen below as well. :)

 These are Priya's teachers.  Miss Barbara is on the left and Miss Patsy is on the right.  She adores them!

 

How do kids have so much energy?!  It is mind boggling sometimes!  Priya had a blast playing in the gym.  She ran circles around the gym for an amazingly long time. 

Tonight was a wonderful opportunity to see the world through our sweet daughter's eyes.  We couldn't be happier with the school, the teachers and especially with the contribution to a foundation of faith in Priya's heart and mind.  It's hard to see her growing up so quickly and to see the years slipping through our fingers, but we are so grateful for these positive influences in Priya's life that are helping to shape her future.

SU Square Dance

There is always so much fun to be had at the beginning of a new school year.  This year has certainly been no exception.  On Friday, New Student Orientation began at Simpson.  It's amazing to feel the campus come alive after being quiet and calm during the summer months.  Priya was overjoyed to see many of her old friends back on campus and was eager to greet the incoming students and their families.  She is SO energized by people so students coming back to school is always a very special time for her.  

Although Josiah isn't quite as outgoing as his big sis, he was quite excited by the hustle and bustle around campus.  He loves to be outside, taking in new sites so he thoroughly enjoyed people watching throughout the day.  He smiled and greeted people with giggles as they moved into the residence halls.

This evening, we attended the annual BBQ and Square Dance.  Fun was, of course, had by all.  Priya especially had a blast playing with her new friend, Fin, who is the son of Paul and Amanda Stonehouse, Faculty-in-Residence here at SU.  They just moved into one of the residence halls on campus.  Priya and Fin are just 4 months apart and have already become great buddies. 

  

 

 

 

Ashish's parents and Ami stopped by part-way through the evening and were able to join in on the festivities.

 

 

Getting a little bit tired from all of that dancing (not to mention the heat).

 

I will be extremely surprised if Josiah doesn't end up with music in his future in some form.  He loves music!  He falls asleep when I sing to him, sings along when music is playing, claps to the beat of music and below tried to dance along- almost on beat! :)

 

 

SURVIVOR - Simpson Style!

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.  Well, not completely at least...  I've been quite busy these past few weeks preparing for and executing SLOW 2011 (Student Life Orientation Week).  It was a ton of work but I think it all paid off.  We had a Survivor theme and were able to incorporate it throughout the week of training through media (videos and music), initiatives (team building activities that we referred to as Reward Challenges and Immunity Challenges), the students were divided into tribes and distinguished by the color of their buffs and we even had Tribal Council (where we voted for people who exhibited specific leadership qualities throughout each day rather than vote people off).  We camped (getting off campus for training for the first time in about 6 years), made tribal flags and were able to do quite a bit of training and team building in the midst of it all.  My sister-in-law, Jenetta, even designed a logo for us!  (Thanks Jenetta!)

Here's a glimpse of what we experienced:

Our first Reward Challenge...

Tribal Council...

 A special visit from the family (which totally made my day!)...  And yes, that's the tent I slept in behind us.

 Reward Challenges on the 2nd day...

 Preparing meals for 49 people outdoors is no simple undertaking...

 Immunity Challenge (a 3-part race - phase 1 involved swimming across the lake, one tribe member at a time to gather puzzle pieces)...

 Phase 2 involved some tribe members being blindfolded and following verbal instructions from one tribe member to locate the appropriate puzzle pieces for their tribe.  And then phase 3 involved 1 tribe member putting the puzzle (a tangram) together.

 The Commuter Life team won!

 Testimonies and worship by the lake on the last morning.

 And then back to lunch for lunch where families joined us and Josiah was able to play with his friend Georgia (they are 1 week apart in age).  Georgia is the daughter of my boss, Joe Slavens and the sister of Bella and Lucy (some of Priya's good buddies).

 Priya was happy to have her Mommy home again (and the feeling was definitely mutual!). :)