Hello everybody. It's me Amelia. Coming in for the latest update. And boy is this one going to be FULL of pictures, videos, and fun....because I left off at the end of summer. Which also coincided with Lena's birthday. Party #1. Actually her birthday was on the 1st day of school. So let's get that part over with first. We have started yet another school year. Admittedly, my excitement level was not as high. But now that I'm a couple of months in...I'm liking 3rd grade. All my friends ended up getting different teachers, but I still see them at recess. Right now my favorite part of school is math. I'm now in 1st grade. And I have the same teacher Amelia had. At the beginning of the year she called me Amelia a couple of times, but I think she has it straight now! I love school and have made lots of new best friends.
I officially started preschool too!! I'm in the Red room. At first I wasn't so sure I wanted to go but now I like it. I ask mom all the time if I can have a play date with one of my little friends, I'm hoping one of these days it actually happens. I love when we go out and sing "This is the Day". I really love singing. I'm not so sure my family enjoys me singing all the time quite as much, but deal with it....right? Here are just a few videos of me belting out some tunes. I am partial to my Disney songs.
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Dad calls them my 'little' friends...but really they are all quite a bit bigger than me. You see, I'm not so tall. You haven't already heard that, right? Well after my 3 year check up where I weighed 24lbs and am 33 inches tall, barely making the 1st percentile, my mom made me go to Childrens Mercy to get a 'bone scan'. I wasn't too excited, but it really wasn't that bad. They just took a picture of my hand. Anyway, I guess at that point I was 36 months old, but my bones are size of 18-20 month old. So apparently I'm a slow grower. I keep telling mom I'll eat these things she says will help me grow, but I just don't like them. I'm OK with being little. I hear her tell other people that one of these days she will do the next step and take me to get 'blood work'...that doesn't sound fun so I try my best to keep her busy in other ways. 
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| this is my friend Lexi. We meet up with her every once in a while! |
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| I'm like daddy! |
Ok, let's go back to my birthday already! I ask mom all the time when it is coming again, because it was so fun! Siera still lived with us and was there to celebrate with us. And nana and papa made a last minute decision to come down too. So it was awesome. Lots of food and PRESENTS. We had donuts in the AM, and my shirt had donuts, and my cake. YES, I love donuts! I felt very special, thus why I want my birthday again. I also got to go to my 1st movie at a theater! We split up because Mimi and Heidi were scared to go see the real Lion King, but I was up for it and loved it! Then mom introduced me to the cartoon version of it. Who knew? I have now watched it probably 50 times. Just let me know if you want me to sing you Hakuna Matata....or recite lines from the movie. You can watch me list off my favorite things in the video below. I love videos of Lena - the girl is quite the entertainer. However she is also Miss Attitude, she thinks she is the boss quite often. I love playing with her, but she wants things her way a lot. And when we upset her she stomps off and pouts. Dad says she gives the exact same face and sounds that I do, so I can't complain. The other day at dinner, she was at the table and unhappy with dad and said "Put me down so I can go to my room and pout." Yes, that's Lena.
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| Grandma Elmo made me my very own piggy bank like big sisters got when they were 3. I got a unicorn! Mom had to put it up high though, apparently I'm not allowed to carry it everywhere. |
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| Sierra helped us make a tie dye cake! |
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| She is just like me. Did not like people singing to her |
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| we introduced papa to a new ice cream place! Yummy! |
Yeah, her birthday was fun and all...but it did come with a sad piece. Yes. Siera moved out. Not that we saw her all the time with all of her travels...but it still seems like something is missing at our place now. We have still got to see her quite a bit. Like...she came back down the weekend of our birthday party!!! I was so happy. We didn't have a party last year, so mom made sure that we planned something this year and boy was it fun. Heidi and I decided we wanted to do our party together...at a swimming pool! So we each invited our closest friends and had so much fun swimming, eating pizza cake, and of course presents!
It was a lot of fun. We did it the day after my birthday so I got to 1st celebrate being NINE at lunch with mom and Lena at school then I got to pick our dinner place. The buffet again of course. But this time Ava & Henry met us which was super cool! I like being 9. I've included my video below so you can watch all my favorites now that I'm 9. My mom says this is her favorite age for me so far. But I'm documenting that, because I am beginning to wonder if she says that every year.
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| We helped Siera with her squat workout |
I don't know....I turned 7 and I'm pretty sure my mom hasn't told me this is her favorite age for me. Whatever. I love being 7. I think it is so fun that I am the biggest (ok....oldest) in my class. Mom and Lena came to have lunch with me at school on the big day and then we all went to Jose Peppers - my usual choice- for birthday dinner. Bonus it was our school night there, so I saw lots of people. Sierra knows us so well and brought the perfect bday gifts for us. Don't you just love the gymnastics leotard? Yes, I still am in gymnastics. I love it. 
Next up on the party tour was Bailey's wedding!! I love weddings, I have been waiting for this for what seems like forever. Me too. I was the flower girl! They have been talking to me about it for a long time and then they got me a pretty dress (which was way too big so Mimi wore - yes, you heard that right. It came from China mom said). Anyway, they found a dress that would fit my size and I loved it. I felt so pretty. We practiced at home, but I kept asking if Mimi and Heidi could go down with me, because it seemed scary. 
Our job was to hand out programs - I told her I would go with her and hold her hand but Bailey really just wanted her to do it by herself if possible. Dad told me I could run down the aisle. So with Bailey's OK and them promising me a farm stable and horses that I saw at Matt's store - I was a big girl and I did it! Mom got a quick side video of me, apparently a lot of people missed my big appearance. Something about how quick I was and how I was shorter than the pews. Whatever, their loss. I kept my eye on the prize. I had fun playing with my horses during the ceremony and I just got up and down whenever Siera and Gabby told me to. I kept telling mom how pretty Bailey was, she looked like a princess. I couldn't wait till they kissed. Yep, once you officially kiss you are married. Mom and dad get married lots of times now it makes me giggle. 
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| All the cousins! And Seth. :) |
Anyway, lets get to my favorite part. The party. Actually there was a lot of time in between so we had a baby sitter and I changed out of my dress. I think Lena already mentioned, that I was wearing a size 2T/3T. It started getting a bit uncomfortable and ok I just wanted to wear a different dress. Anyway, we ate lots of cupcakes and danced lots! I danced with whoever would dance with me...and luckily we knew a ton of people. I danced with Hendrix a bit. OK well he was by me, but I'm quite sure he would have danced with me if allowed the time to show him how cool I am. If we get to see him next time we visit, I'm sure he will be my friend. I thought it was fun, but the long day and loud music got to me so I started getting really tired. Anyway, dad said the music/crowd started getting not so kid friendly so we headed out. 
It didn't take long for us to go looking for the next party! This time we went to our 1st Husker tailgate. It is weird going to Lincoln without Elmo being there, but it was fun to go see the Husker fun that everyone talks about. Actually, first we went to a super cool pumpkin patch - it was my first trip of the year. Yeah, Lena and mom came on my field trip to one in KC which was also super cool. We got lucky, both trips the weather was super nice. I didn't like the scary dragon. Let me explain, the place we went to also had a 'haunted' scary part that we left as Lena kept getting freaked out at. Ok, I admit, the creepy monster men walking around were not my cup of tea either. 
Back to the game...Uncle Matt brought his tailgate-mobile and almost everyone was there. There was a ton of food - and lots of people in red. We saw the balloons go up in the air, which I guess that means they scored a touchdown! We had fun with everyone and we even got to go to the Childrens Museum and play at Bailey's house while mom and dad went to dinner. Oh! And we slept in a camper in BJs driveway, so as dad said "like our own little hotel" but then we got to go in the house and play with Tess & Nora! We love playing with them, I wish we lived closer. Lena pouted and was not happy that we had to leave!
I was OK with not getting to go to the game, but I did kind of want to see the cheerleaders. I kind of want to be one. Both Heidi and I cheered at our high school (SMS) game recently and it was a lot of fun!
Because we were gone we did miss a lot of Halloween parties we typically get to go to...but we did still of course celebrate Halloween. We had snow the couple days leading up. You heard me right...snow in October! Eeeew. But Halloween night didn't end up being too bad. We had a lot of fun running to all the houses with the neighbors and got enough candy to last us thru Easter I'm sure. This year I was a dragon princess and Heidi & Lena were nice witches. I was also an elephant at school! Ah yes, they do Noah's ark at school so she got to be 2 different costumes. Halloween is definitely one of the best holidays!
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| My friend Charley and I were both withes! |
Then - the next day we all went to Silver Dollar City! You all know my love for that place. Dad's not so much. The sacrifices he makes. Well it was a beautiful Saturday and the Christmas lights were all up so there were a lot of people there. I was SO excited to ride rides. Mom kept telling me that I wasn't going to get to ride many because I was too short, she was right - I still have 3 inches to go to ride a lot of them. But trust me... I rode every single ride that I was allowed on. They were so much fun! I think my favorite were the hot air balloons! Dad did not like them as much as me. Now I finally get how those old parents feel when they talk about rides making them sick. Yep, at the ripe old age of 9 - I think I may have got my mom's crappy tummy. I have been noticing car rides are getting rougher, but the rides got the best of me this time. Out of our 9 hours at the park, I spent at least half of them with my head in a trash can or near it. It was not fun. But after some food & dramamine - I rallied and ended up riding roller coasters with Ava and crew enjoyed all the Christmas lights and parade before we had to make the long trek back home. I'm so glad. I know we don't get to see them very much so we have to make the most of it.
School pictures!
Dad came to be a 'watchdog' one day. They have a dad at school every day who hangs out in classes, lunch, recess...basically wherever they are told to go.
I also got to go on a special trip with Mrs. Winkler and 2 of my friends. We went for ice cream and street car, but then she took us to the 41 Action news station. The only station to watch here in KC! We got to watch them do the 5 o'clock news live and then they took pictures with us, let us go on set. It was SO awesome. They were all really nice and Kevin Holmes was super funny. I think I want to be a meteorologist like Gary Lezak now.
We had to take pictures next to the 'Home of the Chiefs'. Have I mentioned before my love of Patrick Mahomes? I know, everyone in KC loves him - he is the best player in the NFL - but I really like him. He is SO cute. When he smiles, he is so handsome. I put him right up there with John Legend. I digress...More highlights. We got to go to a Sporting game with Zach and Evan and guess who was there? Mrs. Winkler! Yep, she gets around! :) She goes to all the games.
I like going to Royals games better I think. Even though we didn't go to many this year. Hopefully we will make it to more next year.
Speaking of sports. I had an entire season of volleyball start and end since the last blog. Mom was my coach. I had a lot of fun. I can't wait till next year!
No sports for me yet. Although I swear they told me that I got to do gymnastics like Heidi once I started going on the potty. I guess I need to keep bothering them on that subject. I did get my 1st trip to the dentist though. I was a bit apprehensive, but I watched Heidi and Mimi go and rocked it. They gave me a balloon, toy, and ice cream so that place isn't that bad. Now Heidi may have something else to say about it in the future as she has to go back for a filling.Ok, a few more random photos/videos that I'm just too tired to explain below. Steffen Sisters OUT!
