60 months

I am not sure where five years have gone, the time just flies by much faster with the second than with the first, it seems that it was yesterday that she was turning one and we were moving back to Florida. Fast forward four years and here we are, with another one who is way too big for her britches, there is no baby left in this one which makes me a little sad, but I love the little person she has become, even if I can't carry her anymore! She got her own set of "big girl" colored pencils for her birthday and has asked to sleep without the bed rail (we'll see how that goes for our girl who likes to sleep walk!). She still loves her babies and carries them around the house everywhere, that is about the only little girl she has left in her. 

Nana came to visit a couple of weeks after C's birthday and all she talked about leading up to her visit was that she was going (by herself) shopping and to lunch with Nana. J had done this with Nana for her birthday and when Nana asked C if she wanted a birthday surprise or to go shopping and to lunch she quickly said shop! I don't remember if Nana picked her up from school early or if she got to play hookey that day but she was excited for her special time! Her mission was to find dresses, she is definitely my girlie girl, and at the first stop, which happened to be Target, picked two cute ones out (after trying on many and putting them into "love it", "like it" and "nope" piles), I love Target for clothes and their Spring line has been great! They then went over to the mall for lunch at Kona and to stop into her store to pick out accessories (and get a little something for J too which she was excited to give her when she got home). They ended their afternoon with a stop at Walmart and ice cream at Menchies. I don't see her wanting surprises again and rather spending a special day like this!

We all love the "new" Mary Poppins, heck we saw it three times in the theater and have been anxiously awaiting it to come to video. We listen to the music in the car and it is all C has her Alexa play each night at bedtime, she knows all of the words to the songs and when I asked her if she wanted me to put together a costume she scraemed yes!  I found the shirt and skirt on the site where I buy the girls cosumes, found some red fabric to make a scarf (couldn't find polka dot so that has to do) and ordered her a hat to which we changed out the ribbon color and added feathers and a bird (she helped with the hat and picked out all she wanted for it). When we were finally done and she tried the final product on she looked as cute as ever (and has the attitude to play the part), all that was missing was the umbrella which of course she said she needed!

 

While Nana was here we took a quick trip to Disney. C was excited to wear her Mary costume and meet the real Mary (we planned our whole day around meeting her)! We spent our first day mostly in Epcot where after riding a few rides we had a nice brunch with the princesses in Norway, C loves her princesses, especially Ariel! She enjoyed Mickey waffles and eggs, posed with them all and paraded around the room when they did their little princess procession (and most commented on her Mary costume). I love that she still wants to partake in these things and not follow her sister who at times "is too grown up now". After brunch we strolled the countries and the girls got to pick out their umbrellas I had promised they could get (of course Mary needed one). When we made our way over to the UK to ask about MP and get in line we were told the wind had blown her to the Magic Kingdom this day and that she wouldn't be in Epcot, someone was upset. After talking to the cast members and telling them about her costume and wish to meet Mary (and that this was our only opportunity) they told us to hold tight and they would see what they could do. About 20 minutes later they came back and told me the winds had shifted directions and that she would be arriving shortly! Someone was excited but very shy when she finally got to meet her, everyone kept commenting on her costume and kept saying if she didn't show up they would just take a picture with C! It was a memorable character meeting, now I need to make a costume for J and they both need to visit her again! Our last ride before leaving Epcot was Soarin, C's new favorite ride. On the way back to the front of the park the girls twirled with their umbrellas and posed for pictures along the way, while trying not to poke peoples eyes out! We spent the evening at the Studios, we were all going to experience Fantasmic for the first time! We saw the new Disney Junior show, the girls sang and danced to the music, saw the Frozen show where we did some more signing, ate dinner and got a special treat, funnel cakes as we made our way to the amphitheater for the show! Everyone enjoyed the show and by the time we got back to the hotel we were all exhausted! It was a fun day and C wore her Mary skirt all day!

We spent the next day at the Magic Kingdom, it was the first time we had been there since the birthday celebrations started for Mickey and Minnie. We got there bright and early as we knew it was going to be crowed, not sure why I got the bright idea to go on President's Day but I did! We raced for Thunder Mountain at rope drop, that is what C wanted to do first and she told us she wanted to ride it 10 times! We were able to ride twice before the line started getting crowded and by the second time she was riding with her hands in the air! We rode Small World, The Little Mermaid, Buzz and the carousel and cooled off and had a snack at Gaston's Tavern mid-morning. We met Snow White, Nana's favorite princess and for the first time got to meet the Fairy Godmother, she was so sweet! C was excited the Move-It Shake-It Birthday Dance Party was back, they were super excited to see Donald Duck and his Caballeros friends on his new float, they especially liked seeing José Carioca who is the parrot from Brasil! We had lunch in the Beasts castle, we had been there one before for dinner and it was good, lunch was just ok and we all would have rather have gone to Tony's, oh well lesson learned. Just before leaving (we left early to get home for C's basketball game) we met Mickey and Minnie at Town Square and got to see them in their new birthday outfits, C still has a thing for Mickey and giggles and runs to give him a big hug when it is her turn, still melts my heart! It was a great two days and even though the girls have been more times than they can count there is always something new they experience.

School is great and I can't believe our time at our beloved preschool is slowly coming to an end. I don't want to think about her leaving her little friends and starting at the big school, she has practically grown up here and while she is ready to soar in kindergarten I secretly wish she had one more year. Her writing is getting better and she is taking her time more than just rushing to get through her work. They had Dr. Seuss week and celebrated Valentines Day (she wrote all her own Valentines out this year) with a little class party. We have to come home from school every day and do her self assigned homework. C made her way up to sight list four and at the recommendation of J's kindergarten teacher (we saw her at school and C told her what she was working on) we went back and started on list one so that she can work on writing and learning the spelling of each word. At first she didn't want to write the words so I pulled out some stickers and told her she would get one each day she wrote the words out, she hasn't hesitated since and closes her eyes when she is done so that I can surprise her with her sticker of the day. I hope she isn't going to be too bored when she starts school in August, I don't want to hold her back since this is all self driven, she is eager to read on her own, which she is starting to do and getting much better at it!

C really enjoyed playing basketball at the Y with her little group of friends from school. I am proud of her that she tried something new and she was actually pretty good at it, well as good as 4-5 year olds can be, thank goodness they disregard traveling at this age! The second half of the season they played games and they actually got a little better as they progressed. C was the little hoopster/ringer on the court, almost every time she took a shot she got a basket, and the look she would give when it went in was cute, sort of like a "yeah it went in, not sure what the big deal is look". Let's see if she wants to play again, she has some height so this could very well be her sport!

Here are the pictures from the month and our Disney trip.