Taylor turns 8- Angry Bird Style

Lauren is Six!

Lauren was so excited for her Barbie birthday! We are building an addition to our house so we had to get creative. Creative being it had to be outside since I have no kitchen. When the girls came they designed their own outfit for Barbie.

I love girls… they just giggle about everything! Then she wanted to play Barbie musical chairs.

Lindsey had a hard time keeping up w/ the older girls so we put her in charge of stopping the Barbie music. Then she wanted to do musical chairs by herself. She is such a hoot and was THRILLED when she got the chair. Lauren’s friends are always so good to Lindsey. They let her come and go when they are playing and just let her think she is playing with them.

We then decorated hot pink and black sunglasses with gems. Next, the girls had a snack. Hot Pink cookies with hugs. You can’t see the hot pink sugar- but that was Lauren’s favorite part.

Then the girls dressed up a Barbie and gave her a name. After that they got dressed up as well for the fashion show.

I had a questionnaire I helped the girls fill out. As the girls walked down the “red carpet” Greg described the girls and their Barbie's.

Then they just wanted to dance to Barbie songs with their Barbie’s.

Lauren and I both really wanted to tackle the Barbie cake w/ Barbie head sticking out. However, with no kitchen- zebra cakes w/ hot pink candles was a close second. She loves Zebra cakes so she was actually very excited about those as well.

The girls went home with their sunglasses and a Barbie party favor bag.

Then we were off to get her ears pierced and out to dinner. Very fun Barbie birthday!!

Lindsey Bug is Three

I had a hard time deciding on a theme for Lindsey’s birthday party.  Her Crayola party was so cute and fun last year- I was tempted to do a redo party.  Then as I was reading to her one night it dawned on me.  She LOVES all of Sandra Boynton’s books and we are always listening to her CD’s. So a Sandra Boynton party it was.

There wasn’t much on Pinterest for this party so I had to actually get creative on my own. That hasn’t happened for a very long time. I couldn’t resist making the subway art. When the girls got here they colored some Sandra Boynton coloring pages. Then we read the Birthday Monster book. Lindsey’s favorite book is Blue Hat, Green Hat. She loved reading it to them and then we role played and did our own Blue Hat. Green Hat. They all loved being the “oops” person. Then we read Horns and Toes and traced our hands like they do in the book.  Another favorite thing Lindsey loves to do. We are always tracing each other’s hands and fingers. Next up… a Monster snack

Lindsey loves popcorn- so popcorn it was. Of course, the kind with white chocolate, peanuts, peanut butter and candies it in. Then we read Perfect Piggies and listened to the song, “Pig Island”. The kids had pig puppets and when they heard the word pig they held up their puppets. With all the dancing that was going on it was hard for them to do both.  We even had to do it again later- it was that fun! (A blurry, but cute picture)

Then it was time for ice cream and cake. I usually like to make my cakes, but this one was beyond my limited skills.  So a week before the party, I took my book and detailed instructions to Wal-Mart bakery (big mistake right there) and told them what I wanted. The day before, they call me and tell me it can’t be done. Really? So I call my friend in a panic and she saves the day for me.  Check out this cute Monster she made.  I love it. And so did Lindsey.

Then we played Boynton Bingo with pink starbursts. Lindsey loves Starbursts and honestly I buy them because she says “Starbursts” so dang cute.

And of course, we couldn’t let our friends go home without a Sandra Boynton book!

I love my little 3 year old, eating her “pupcake”. Greg’s been working with her on getting those 3 fingers just right all week!

Birthday Book

I just got one of these for each of my kids.  I have missed out on some things since they are for ages 0-18, but it is still really cool.  I'm really liking them.  It's a Birthday book, not a baby book.  It has a place to put all the fun details of their birthday and a few pictures. There is also a place for a random picture of them from that year.   There's more. It also includes an envelope for a few treasured drawings, notes, etc.  The part I love the most is the fun questionnaire you ask them.  Like how much does our van cost? ( I wish $20) How many people live in your neighborhood? (Well, we have 9 houses in our circle, so 9.) Makes sense, right? 

Yet another fun tradition!

Taylor turned 6- Star Wars Style

 Ok, for my 3 readers out there- beware of picture over load!  When the kids first came they made their own planets out of 2 paper plates.  They got very creative with their names.  It was hilarious.

 I made each kid their own Light Saber from swimming noddles.  Colored duck tape is a beautiful thing!  The entire party consisted of SIX individual trainings to become a Jedi. Perfect for a 6 yo boy party.  Lots of running, jumping and crawling around! And I LOVE LOVE that is it in the middle of Nov. and we are outside!  The first one was to pop the bubbles with their light sabers.

 Then they had to weave in and out of SIX cones without getting caught by Greg.

 And walk along the board fighting Greg the entire time without falling off.

After all that training they needed a snack.  They had Yoda Soda and light sabers. (Green Hawaiian punch and Pixie Sticks ) Back to more training- one that was harder than I thought was to carry a ball between your knees from point A to B.  I should have used a balloon.  Then they had to crawl through a tunnel in lighting speed. And the last one was to slash between a maze with your light saber.

 Taylor wanted a light saber cake- cupcakes work, right?

 Then we went outside to destroy the Death Star (Pinata)

 The kids got to take home their light sabers, Star Wars notebook and pen.  Star Wars cup and Starbust and Milky Way candy.

 Taylor had a great party.  He was heaven the entire time!

 Taylor and Darth Vader

For Taylor's Birthday dinner he chose to go to Pirate Island Pizza.  So we met Gma and Gpa Gardner there for dinner. Taylor thoroughly enjoyed his dessert!

The next day Taylor didn't have school and was content the entire day playing with his new gifts.

Lauren is Four!

Lauren turned 4! Last years Pinkalicious party was so cute and fun.  I knew it just couldn't be beat.  But she wanted a Tinkerbell Fairy party and it was darling! So we had her little girlfriends come over dressed as fairies.  They all looked so cute.  I got pictures with each of her friends, but forgot the group picture.  When they were all coming in, I had the girls color fairy bookmarks.  They loved it.  I loved it.  I love little girls.

Then the girls made their own fairy houses.  It's so fun to listen to them just chit chat away about fairies and pixie dust!

Then we had a little snack- Pixie Punch and Fairy Wands

 Next, the girls went on a fairy hunt and there were clues to find each fairy.  Fawn is the Animal Fairy so she was close to some stuffed animals in the office.  Rosetta is the Rose Fairy so she was out by the roses, etc.  There were 5 girls and 5 fairies so it was perfect.  Next to year clue was a Tinkerbell fruit snack that the girls got to eat.

Next, we had cupcakes!  Cupcake wrapper and toppers are my new favorite thing.  Especially when I can't come up with a cute cake idea- like this year!

Our next game was going to be Fairy Freeze Tag with fairy dust but we ran out of time.

This picture is a little blurry, but I still love it.  It totally shows Lauren at her party.  All smiles and just laughing.  And a handful of pink, green and purple skittles!

Such a fun party!