After painting ourselves silly, we met our families at the park to celebrate Madeleine's birthday with them. It was BYOPF (Bring Your Own Picnic Food). The weather was gorgeous & I wanted Madeleine to have a chance to use one of her birthday presents (more on that later). After eating a picnic dinner the girls ran off some energy.
My monkeys at play
Then it was time to open some presents. Madeleine is holding a Caboodle from her Aunt Natalie; her favorite present of the evening. 
Cinderella & her horse. One of her favorite presents from her Grandma & Grandpa (Steven's parents).
After all of the presents had been opened (so she thought), it was time to unveil the biggest one. I was shivering with excitement because I thought she was going to LOVE it and go CRAZY
when she saw it.
Drum roll please . . .
A bike! My parents bought her a bike (Steven & I put a little money toward it, but it is mostly from my parents).
But, wait a minute. What is this? There are no training wheels?! There's no way I am getting on that bike without training wheels.
When I saw my dad roll the bike over without training wheels, panic set in. Madeleine is a very cautious child and I knew there was no way she was going to get on it without training wheels. Unfortunately, I was right and she made a stink about it. Instead of being a nurturing and encouraging mother, I might of said something like, "if you don't get on that bike we will take it back". In my defense (yes, I have one) I had the price of the bike imprinted on my brain. However, Audrey wasn't about to let a perfectly lovely bike go to waste.
If you won't ride it, I will.
In fact, everyone was riding the bike except for Madeleine.
Eventually she gave it a try.
but running is so much better.
I get very sentimental when my girls turn another year older and I try very hard to make them feel special with fun parties, impressive cakes, and presents. Unfortunately, all too often my ideals fall flat. Remember the rainbow cake I slaved over for Audrey that she said didn't taste good? Last year it was earrings for Madeleine that she refuses to take out because she is so squeamish. This year it was a nice bike. Just like every lesson I have learned in my life I have learned this one the hard way too. Little girls don't need to be wooed with expensive things. They are ecstatic about a caboodle with a lip gloss hiding inside. So, congratulations to Natalie for getting it right!
However, the story of the bike is not over. More on that in a future post.
Cinderella & her horse. One of her favorite presents from her Grandma & Grandpa (Steven's parents).
After all of the presents had been opened (so she thought), it was time to unveil the biggest one. I was shivering with excitement because I thought she was going to LOVE it and go CRAZY
when she saw it.
Drum roll please . . .
A bike! My parents bought her a bike (Steven & I put a little money toward it, but it is mostly from my parents).
But, wait a minute. What is this? There are no training wheels?! There's no way I am getting on that bike without training wheels.
When I saw my dad roll the bike over without training wheels, panic set in. Madeleine is a very cautious child and I knew there was no way she was going to get on it without training wheels. Unfortunately, I was right and she made a stink about it. Instead of being a nurturing and encouraging mother, I might of said something like, "if you don't get on that bike we will take it back". In my defense (yes, I have one) I had the price of the bike imprinted on my brain. However, Audrey wasn't about to let a perfectly lovely bike go to waste.
If you won't ride it, I will.
In fact, everyone was riding the bike except for Madeleine.
Eventually she gave it a try.
but running is so much better.
I get very sentimental when my girls turn another year older and I try very hard to make them feel special with fun parties, impressive cakes, and presents. Unfortunately, all too often my ideals fall flat. Remember the rainbow cake I slaved over for Audrey that she said didn't taste good? Last year it was earrings for Madeleine that she refuses to take out because she is so squeamish. This year it was a nice bike. Just like every lesson I have learned in my life I have learned this one the hard way too. Little girls don't need to be wooed with expensive things. They are ecstatic about a caboodle with a lip gloss hiding inside. So, congratulations to Natalie for getting it right!
However, the story of the bike is not over. More on that in a future post.
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