Lily's 4th Birthday

The other day, Lily snuck into Jamisen's room and absconded with some of his Halloween stash (yes, he still has quite a bit of his Fall plunder). She looked at me, with an impish smile and said,

"Every time he's away I take some of his candy."

I asked, in a neutral tone, "Why?"

Her quick response? "Because I like candy so much. "

Our 'Little Lily' isn't so little anymore. She is four years old and growing into quite a quick-witted study of human behavior and sweetly innocent manipulation. 

It's hardly believable that she's gone from a tiny little 5 pound bean to the walking, talking dynamo she is. She loves to read (be read to), adores snuggling, and is remarkably giving and generous with everyone around her. She frequently gives gifts to her playdates and of course, her older brother (whom she adores).

We held Lily's birthday party at a local toy store. They offered a variety of themes (Princess, water, etc). We chose Dr. Seuess which was super fun. 

The kiddos were enthralled with the laundry soap/hydrogen peroxide volcano thing. The teenage party host was flustered the project didn't work quite right away, stating they had bought a different brand than usual of the hair dye so then she dumped a whooooooole lot in and gave the kids quite a performance. 

Each of the kids made a Dr. Suess hat when they got to the party as their first party activity. The kids were very cute, all wearing their colorful Dr. Suess hats. 

Our happy Lily is fiercely independent, loves her brother (so so so much), takes easily to strangers and new people and claims her favorite food item is 'sugar'. (ay yai yai). She is in the 3 to 6 classroom at Montessori school and has never met someone she didn't want to connect with. As her teacher told us proudly, "Lily knows everyone's name; she is friends with everyone." 

Baby Alise came to the party as did Lily's top man, Sasha. She also invited other friends from school and it was fun to get to know the parents outside of a school setting. 

One of the games was a bean bag toss. The kids enjoyed it though were spectacularly not good at it. 

Baby Alise is growing by leaps and bounds. Her vocabulary is so big now (!) and she is a delightful, happy little cousin.  She is also extremely well behaved and I do fear that Lily's natural leadership tendencies  (read: bossy and completely wholly unaware of consequences like punishments or gravity) may bode badly for that dynamic duo when they are teens. 

The kids loved the scavenger hunt that the store set up as well. Of course, all of the parents noticed that there was definitely a method to the madness (up every aisle of the store, lots of stopping in front of expensively lavish displays of toys).

We had such a good time celebrating Lily and her birthday - and we can't wait to see what's around the corner for our little dynamic social butterfly.

Jamisen Selling Bath Fizzies at the Farmer's Market

Both of the kiddos have been crafting bath and body products since a young age. I think they both started around the age of two so Jamisen has been making nail polish, bath fizzies, soaps and lip balms for over four years now. 

The Bellingham Farmer's Market has a children's market one time per month. Kids can rent booth space for $5 and the promise to stay until all of their products are sold out or until the market ends, whichever is first. 

Chris and I staked Jamisen his first ingredients and his booth rental fee for his first week of sales. He helped me make the bath fizzies and was able to share his thoughts with buyers about his technique and the fizzies.

Jamisen's sister helped for multiple hours for each market. Jamisen's first market, he made $48 (minus his booth fee) and his second market, he made $63 (minus his booth fee). He's improving on his sales technique and has all the appearance of a mogul in the making.