Happy Birthday to our sweet Calder! This has been one great year and it has been a joy to have this little one in our family. His big grins and his eagerness to explore everything around him make him so fun to be around.  He reminds me that this world is full of delights, miracles, and beauty. We love you, Calder!

Our sweet boy still loves those fingers.

A big thanks to Marcie for the wonderful pictures! If you need pictures in the Utah Valley area, check out www.jesseephotography.com . She's awesome.

Calder had a blast crawling around on the stone. Poor knees!

He also found this hay stuff quite tasty.

There's that smile!

Our handsome little man.

So, Happy Birthday, my love! May this coming year be as fantastic as the last!

P.S. I forgot to give due credit to my other friend, Mandi, who took the fabulous pictures of Amelie. Her website is http://leetaylorphotography.blogspot.com/  I’m so grateful to have friends who double as wonderful photographers!

I may be hitting a new record for most posts in one day, but I couldn’t end without some pictures of my little guy. He’ll have his own birthday portraits and party pictures in a couple weeks, but here’s some others in the meantime.

Something about this picture just makes me want to kiss his little mouth.

Wearing one of Bryce's old outfits and working with his blocks.

I love that he gets to wear items from the Haymond past. So cute!

With his buddy Isaac. It's great fun having neighbor kids to play with! Well, to play with and poke and slobber all over 😉

In another Bryce outfit. The shirt is ours and the only one I could think of to use that day, but I love the shortalls. Nothing cuter than chubby little baby legs!

This picture pretty much sums up Calder: Always eager to explore and reach for new things. He is not one for sitting still and is always ready to explore everything around him.

Although he definitely keeps me busy, Calder is such a joy. His big smile brightens my life and I am so glad to spend my days with him.

This was one exciting week! On Thursday, Amelie started going to dance class. It’s just once a week for 30 minutes, but I think it will be fun for her to learn more about something she already loves to do. It was so fun to watch her through the classroom windows and chat with other parents about our budding ballerinas.

Sitting in her spot. Literally.

This was through the window, so the picture quality isn't that great, but I thought it was just too sweet not to share. Working so hard to hold her arms just right. And you have to love that little tummy sticking out 🙂

So, another fun adventure begins!

As an extra special treat on her birthday, Amelie started preschool! We found a wonderful little school for her. Her teacher, Miss Rebecca, runs the Montessori preschool out of her home and she even does Kindermusik with the kids every Wednesday! You can check out this article for more information on what a Montessori education looks like and here’s some information about Kindermusik if you’re interested. I’m very excited about both.

It was fun to have her first day of school be on her birthday–it made the day even more special for Amelie. Because it was her birthday, I came in and did a little show and tell with some of Amelie’s favorite things and I got to watch as she experienced a lovely Montessori birthday tradition. The teacher had all the children sit in a circle and she lit a candle and placed it in the middle of the circle. Then she gave Amelie a small globe of the earth and had her walk around the candle holding the globe. The candle represented the sun and so Amelie walked around the sun three times to represent the three years she’s been alive. The children sang a song about the months, weeks, and days of the year while she walked and for each year, I said something special that she did that particular year. It was really sweet and almost had me in tears. I just can’t believe she’s 3!

Here are some pictures from that first day:

I had fun detailing her school bag. She was supposed to bring a canvas tote with her name on it and I couldn't help adding the cute buttons.

Off to school!

On Thursday, her little class had a balloon send-off to welcome in the new school year. She looks so small here--she must be standing next to the big kids. And note to self: her cute little bare midriff means she has outgrown that shirt 🙂

After the class sang, "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold," they let the balloons go and watched them disappear into the sky. When I went over to Amelie, she was looking for her balloon and saying, "Bye, balloon! Happy new school year!"

Amelie truly enjoyed her first week at preschool. She seems completely at ease there and whenever I drop her off, she runs over to some engaging activity set up around the classroom without a moment’s hesitation. I will be coming in to do some Spanish time with the class once a week and I am really looking forward to getting to spend that time with her and the other children and being a part of this fun new experience.

Sorry it’s taken me so long to blog about all the excitement of this past week. Bryce took apart our computer and rebuilt it, so I haven’t been able to access our pictures this week. But now our computer is amazingly fast!

My little Sweet Pea is now 3 years old! Each day she becomes more of a little lady. She loves to help in the kitchen, read books, play at the playground, dance around the house to music, and sing sweet little songs. She truly is my sunshine and I count every day with her as a precious gift.

We had a pool party for her on Monday, August 31st. There was cake and ice cream, lots of fun presents, and some splashing in the pools.  Other the mosquitoes and the hot tub that was more warm than hot, it was a fun night! Some highlights:

A friend of mine took these great birthday shots of Amelie. Here she is with one of her favorite teddy bears.

Amelie loved exploring the fields where we took the pictures.

My sweet girl.

When she opened this present and saw the beautiful dress Grandma Austin made her, she just had to put it on right then and there. She adores this dress and loves to dance around our house in her "princess dress". Thank you, Mom!

Amelie was determined to open the presents all by herself. It went a little slow sometimes, but she was patient and in no hurry.

Enjoying the attention, the sparkly dress, and the fun presents.

Another favorite gift--a book that reads to her! This one has already been ready many many times and we've only had it a week! Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa Haymond!

The perfect dishes for a princess in her princess dress. Eating is so much more fun when you have a princess bowl, cup, and plate! Thanks again to Grandma and Grandpa Haymond!

The gifts, pictures, cake, and other goodies. It was great to use the wonderful birthday banner that Aunt Nicole and cousin Claire made for Amelie last year--so cute!

You can't really see it in this picture, but Amelie was so excited about the cake that she managed to dig her little spoon into it a couple times when we were busy setting everything up. I was able to make it look presentable and we just thought it was cute that she couldn't resist the tempting frosting!

So, happy birthday, my love! May this coming year be as delightful as this last one!