Carson's Pony Party

We decided to have a pony party for Carson in honor of her new pony, Lucky! Matt's parents got Lucky for Carson this past Christmas. Now, you might think since we live in such a small space, Lucky might be a small stuffed pony. But, no, actually Lucky is a full fledged life sized pony that you can bounce and ride on! This pony ensures that we get a new house with extra space for Lucky to be ridden to its full potential!
Since Carson is a Valentine's baby, we decided to celebrate Valentine's Day with the girls in the morning and then focus on Carson for the rest of the day. We had her party at our friend's, the Sanborn's, house. They were gracious enough to open their house to us and let us fill it with a lot of kids! The celebration started with the kids making their own stick ponies. Then they could find hidden sheriffs badges in a bowl full of oats, make a foam frame with a horse scene on it, or make a ranch scene with stickers, and of course, ride Lucky!! Everyone got their own bandanna

when they came in so they could be real cowgirls and boys.









































Matt led a rousing game of "trainer says" (aka Simon Says), in which the kids went around in a circle either galloping, trotting, jumping, or walking with Matt taking the lead. The kids loved it. They loved it even more when Matt's horse head fell off his stick while galloping around the circle!

Then the kids played horse, horse, pony (aka duck, duck, goose). It was very fun to watch; once someone was tagged, ALL the kids got up and ran around the circle. When the game playing was done Carson enjoyed opening her gifts. When we told her who it was from, she went around to each person and thanked them for their gift and gave it back to them! She didn't quite understand that it was a present from them not to them!! After present time was cake time. As Carson went to blow out her candle, her friend, Caleb, blew it out just before her!! It was very funny. So we lit it again, sang the last part of the song, and she got blow out her candle!!
We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at home and resting and enjoying Elsie's friend, Kaylin, over for their first sleep over at our house.
The next day, we celebrated Carson's birthday with the family. We had a great day together with yummy enchiladas and more birthday cake and root beer floats! Here are some pictures as we enjoyed our weekend.

Attack of the geese

We went to La Mirada Reginal Park, AKA: The Duck Park, the other night to feed the ducks and play on the playground. The geese at this park are SO aggressive so we usually steer clear of them. While feeding the other ducks, the geese found us and decided they wanted some bread as well. They started coming faster and faster at us and, well, you'll see...my favorite thing about this that Elsie has unknowingly taken off and is running around behind me...check out her helmet!



In this video, Carson decides to get down and feed the ducks as well. Check out her reaction, or shall I say, non-reaction and listen to Elsie in the background trying to "save" her sister from the attack ducks (While still wearing her helmet!)!

Elsie's starts preschool

In January, Elsie was given the opportunity to start preschool. This preschool is a little different than the typical one. Our friends at church told us about this reverse integration preschool at the local elementary school. Instead of integrating kids with disabilities into a general education classroom, they take general ed kids and place them in a special education classroom. This way they can be roll models for the other students and learn about diversity and being sensitive to kids that look or act differently. We are so blessed to have Elsie in this program. It will be a great way to ease her into school for this fall.

One day she came home and I was asking about the kids in her class. I mentioned that I saw a girl with a pink helmet on and asked what her name was. She told me her name and then said, " I don't know why she is wearing a helmet and knee pads, she didn't have skates on or anything!"

On another note about Elsie; we went to a BBQ restaurant with some
friends a few weeks back. Elsie was using the handi-wipes to wash her hands. She looked at me and said, "Mom, are there anymore handicap wipes!" She is very PC!!