Happy Birthday week!

Ms. Whitney had a fun week celebrating her 4th birthday this week. The festivities began last Saturday with a party at Nana and Papa's house in AZ. She, of course, was well spoiled by her Nana and Papa and their friends that attended along with Nana-san and Papa-san that were visiting. Earlier that day she got to go shopping with her grandmas to pick out some of her presents with the money Nana & Papa gave her. When she was opening gifts that night she would ask the ladies sitting next to her to read the cards. However due to the poor light and lack of reading glasses on them it made it entertaining to watch them try to make out the words on the cards until they eventually gave up and said "It says Happy Birthday!". Whitney was satisfied with that. She celebrated her actual birthday with a trip to the beach with Dad (Mom had to stay home with tired Maren) and dinner at Chick Fil A (her choice). Today she had a fun party with her friends. We were going to do it at the park but the 80% chance of rain changed the plans to having it at the house. The weather was actually pretty nice until just towards the end when it began pouring rain. The kids enjoyed doing a butterfly craft, a picnic in the backyard, and pinata along with the cake and presents. (We ended up having to tie a noose around the butterfly's neck as the anchor had ripped out of the top before the kids broke it open.) Happy Birthday, princess! Here's my quick attempt at a butterfly cake:

Snow to sun....

We've been slacking in our posts but have an excuse at least for these two weeks. We're off having fun visiting family in Utah and Arizona. We've gone from snow in UT to 90 and sunny (with no humidity!!!) here in AZ. Mom and Dad have had fun rock climbing, mountain biking and doing a triathlon (they decided to sign up for one in UT while we were there.) Even Whtiney did some rock climbing! Dad had to go back to work but the girls are having fun swimming and golfing in AZ. Whitney can't wait until 4pm each day for the kids swimming time to start at the pool. We'll post some pictures of our adventures upon our return!

This week's fun...

We've been slacking...again. Sorry will try to get some new posts up soon. Check out our friends blog for what we did this last week. We joined them for many of their spring break adventures! You can click on the roller coaster pictures to enlarge them. Thanks Napoleons!

Sisterly love....

I walked into the living room the other day and this is what I saw! Good sister bonding!

Some great bedhead and silly faces from the other morning!

Weather Forecaster and Table Climber...

Yes, it's been a month since our last post. Sorry we've been slacking! This week when we were driving to the airport to pick up Grammy and Pops we were listening to NPR. The announcer was giving the weather forecast (I think for the following day) and said it was partly cloudy. Whitney all the sudden pipes up from the back seat, "It's not partly cloudly, it's sunny!" And it was a sunny afternoon with beautiful blue skies. We have a weather chart that we use with preschool so I think that is where she's picked up her weather forecasting skills.

Maren is showing her true Dahle genes lately. Her favorite place to hang out lately is on the kitchen table. At first we could just push the chairs in and that would keep her off, then she figured out how to pull them out. So we started to put the chairs on the other side of the kitchen but now she's figured out how to push them across the floor to the table (at least then I can hear what she's up to!) Many times she likes to climb up there and finish off what Whitney's left on her plate. She outeats her older sister most meals!

They ditched us!

M: We've enjoyed all the time that Daddy's had off since he got back from his deployment. Unfortunately he had to start back to work today :( However, I think he was secretly happy because he says it's hard work to watch the two of us all day. Dad and Mom took advantage of the time off and went on a trip to New York City.
W: Yeah they ditched us and went to have fun. It was OK though as we had fun hanging out with our friends. They even took us to McDonald's for dinner!
Mom: Maren was sure happy to see us when we got back but Whitney enjoyed her long sleepover. We had a great trip to NYC. We drove up and spent 2.5 days doing as many of the tourist things we could fit into that time. The highlight was being able to see Phantom of the Opera and Wicked on Broadway. We were excited to meet up with Jim's sisters Michelle and Sue for part of our time there. Some of the sights included Federal Hall (where George Washington was inaugurated and located across the street from the NY Stock Exchange), a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, Ground Zero, Grand Central Station, Empire State Building (an amazing view), Central Park, NYC Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art (an outstanding collection), United Nations, Times Square, Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island. We had a great time away and were glad to not have little kids (shh, don't tell them!) in tow especially on the day that it was pouring rain. If you've never had the chance to visit we highly recommend the trip.

Agility training....

W: Dad and I like to play a new game each night before I go to bed. Dad got a foam blow dart gun for Christmas which he sits on the bed with. My job is to run around and try to dodge his three shots. For each one I dodge I get an extra book to read before bed. I'm getting lots better or Daddy is becoming worse shot (he tries to blame the gun). Little does he know that I've put my trusty little sister to work chewing on the darts so they don't fly straight anymore! Mom just shakes her head and says at least it provides me good agility training. In other news this week, Dad got a fancy new road bike so he can try to keep up with Mom. I think he's afraid she might beat him in the triathlon next month. We had some nice days this week so Mom and Dad took me over to the base so I could go for a bike ride with Dad. We rode about a mile before my little legs got tired. I've got to figure out how to keep my feet on the pedals and then I'll be a speed racer!