Sarah Turns 5

So far, 2012 has been rather busy for the Notos which is why I haven't been very good about posting on a more regular basis.  Now that things are starting to slow down though, I'm hoping to catch you all up on everything that's been going on with us these past few months.

To start, I wanted to share some pictures of Sarah's 5th birthday party from February.  Steve had the idea of doing a pajama party and I have to give him all the credit in the world because it was a lot of fun to plan and the girls loved it! 

Here is the birthday girl on her big day!

We asked each of the girls to wear their favorite PJs to the party and they did not disappoint, with some of them arriving in robes & slippers to match!  It was so cute to see them all dressed up and ready for "bed." Speaking of bed, here is a picture of the table for the party.  Once again, Steve worked his magic and made the table look like a twin bed.  A big thank you again to Grams & Grandpa for letting us borrow one of their headboards!  We decorated the "bed" with some flower sheets and even added a little nightstand for effect.  :-)  The whole thing turned out great and the girls LOVED it!

 










We had a few different games lined up to keep everyone busy, but the girls had the best time just playing and hanging out.  They did humor us though and played a couple of the games we put together.  Here are some pictures of the relay race and the donut game.

 The relay race started with a pillowcase sack race...

...followed by carrying a pancake on a spatula around the obstacle course. 

The donut game was by far everyone's favorite!  I wonder why!  :-)

In keeping with tradition, I once again made the cake for the party.  I don't really know that Sarah fully appreciates all of my effort at this point, but I hope one day she will realize this has truly been a labor of love on my part.  This year she decided that she wanted to do cupcakes so we had individual cupcakes for everyone and then I made one giant cupcake as the centerpiece.  I was happy with how everything turned out, but let's just say I wouldn't make it very far on Cupcake Wars.  :-) 

Here is the cake...

 All in all, the party was a big success and everyone had a good time.  I've posted more pictures in a slideshow on the right hand side of the page too for anyone who is interested.  Enjoy!  :-)

Breakfast in Bed

Look at what I woke up to on Saturday morning!  :-)  Sarah & Daddy surprised me with breakfast in bed complete with yogurt, donuts, and "Sarah's Specialty" (scrambled egg with cheese).  Sarah has always been a big help in the kitchen, but recently she's started wanting to do more and more things on her own.  It proves to be a little more anxiety provoking for me, but she's having fun and is so proud of herself when she's done. :-)  What a wonderful way to start the weekend! 

I don't know if you can see it very well in the picture, but she also wrote me a note that said, "To:  Mommy, From: Sarah" with a heart and our pictures on it.  So cute!  (not too sure about the creepy looking bunny, but she wanted him in the picture too!) 

Spring Concert

Sarah's preschool held their spring concert last Saturday and it was a lot of fun watching her perform with the rest of her class. She's been participating in their Christmas and spring concerts for a few years now, but this one seemed to be the one where she finally "got it" with regards to singing along and following her teacher. It was so much fun to watch her and remember back to her very first concert where she stood perfectly still and looked at the floor. :-)

Here are a couple of pictures, but this post mostly consists of videos so you can get the full pre-K concert experience. Enjoy! :-)







Here are the videos:

Easter 2012

It's hard to believe Easter has already come and gone, but we wanted to be sure and share some pictures of the girls this Easter and their annual Easter egg hunt. :-) The Easter Bunny has been kind enough to visit Steve's parents for the past few years and the girls just love going outside and hunting for any eggs he left behind. He certainly didn't disappoint this year, although it was fun watching Grandpa explain why he knew so much about where the eggs were hidden. :-)

Sarah is quite the pro at hunting eggs, but this was the first year Emily really seemed to understand what she was supposed to do. The hardest part though was keeping her on track because she wanted to stop and open each egg as she found them. :-)

Here are a few pictures from our day. I've added more pictures to an Easter slideshow which can be seen on the right hand side. Enjoy!








Below is a video Steve took of the girls on Easter morning with their Easter baskets. The bunny hides their baskets and they have to find them which is fun for everyone. :-)