Lia's Beanie Boo Birthday Party

After hours of preparation, I am happy to say that I successfuly wrapped up Lia's friend birthday party yesterday.  Unlike previous years, Lia went back and forth as to what theme she wanted to have this year.  On her own, she came up with the idea of a Beanie Boo party one day this past fall, but I told her I would only do it if there was a plethora of ideas on the internet.  However, I never got around to looking into it until the beginning of January when the holiday season was over.  I was blown away to learn that there was hundreds of ideas online and so I told her it was a "go!"  And I am happy to report that this was our cutest friend party yet.  I really had a fun time coming up with ideas for the decorations, activities, games, and the cake.  In addition to the Beanie Boos, I decided to go with a lavendar, turqouise, and bright pink color theme with polka dots.  Like Lia's 6th birthday party, we invited 18 girls and got a "yes" from 17!  Ahhh!  I let Lia add one more to the list and so we had 19 girls under our roof for two hours.  But thanks to having everything planned out and having Ron's assistance, the girls had a great time and the party was a real success!  I am so grateful for the wonderful group of friends that Lia has from church and school.

This the second year in a row that I made a coordinating wreath out of deco mesh to hang on the front door.  We just happened to have five, minature Beanie Boos that matched the color theme to put on the wreath.

Although Lia loves Beanie Boos, she does not have a large collection (mainly because I can't stand  piles of stuffed animals in my kids' rooms).  As a result, we had to borrow 35 Beanie Boos from three of Lia's friends.  It really helped to make the party so cute.  Here is the mantle all decorated.  The penant says "Happy Birthday" with a different picture of a Beanie Boo above each letter.

The grand table set for nineteen girls!  I leared how to make tissue poms this year which hung from the ceiling and the windows in addition to the balloons and streamers.  We also ran Beanie Boos down the entire length of the table.  It looked so cute!

The birthday cake with Lia's Beanie Boo unicorn, Magic, on top!

A close-up of the table with the polka dot plates and napkins, the confetti I made out of scrapbook paper, the Beanie boos, striped straws with the Beanie Boo strawtoppers I printed and cut out, and polka dot pillows I sewed for each of the girls' Beanie Boo (that we asked them to bring).  

After the girls arrived and had a chance to color a Beanie Boo coloring sheet, we did two crafts with the girls--making bead necklaces and party hats for the Beanie Boo they brought.  Here are the girls working on their party hats.

Suzette, Lia, and Charlotte decorating their party hats.

The group of girls hard at work. 

After the two crafts, we played several rounds of Beanie Boo Bingo on bingo cards I printed out.  Here is Ron leading the game.

The girls searching for a picture of the Beanie Boo Ron just called out.

Instead of playing drop the clothespin in a jar, we played drop the miniature Beanie Boo in the jar.  This game turned out to be harder than I thought and we only had two rounds instead of three!  Here is Sienna dropping the stuffed tiger into the mason jar.

Lindsay taking a go at it with Addison and Adalyn looking on.

We then opened gifts next.  Here is Lia opening up a gift with her new friend, Bella, who just moved up the street this past October.  

Lia reading Maddison' card.  Maddison probably gave Lia the most surprising and generous gift of all--a miniature American Girl Lea Clark doll and her first, two books.  

Lia showing off the two Beanie Boos that sisters Mollie and Gabriella gave her.

Lia reading Addyson's card. 

We finished off the party with cake and ice cream.  Here is Lia making a funny face as the girls sang "Happy Birthday" to her!

Lia blowing out the candles.

The girls enjoying their cake and ice cream.

From left to right:  Lilah, Gabriella, Mollie, Isabel, and Suzette.

For some reason, the girls fell in love with the blue, Hawaiian punch we served.  They kept on asking for refills which kept Ron very busy until they drank up the entire large jug of punch.  I managed to get this funny picture of three girls holding up their cups for refills with Lia eating in the background.  

My sweet birthday girl with her new Beanie Boo friends at her side.

Logan's Fourth Birthday!

Yesterday we celebrated Logan's fourth birthday.  We had a pleasant, little party with my parents who came down for the evening.  We ate a nice dinner in the dining room followed by a minion cake (par Logan's request) and ice cream.  I made my favorite, chocolate cake from scratch with butter cream frosting and it was delicous.  We then moved to the living room for gift opening.  Logan was quite pleased with his lot and favorites included a Lite-Brite set (yes, they still are around), Logan's own Merida quiver, arrow, and four bows (since Logan loves Lia's and broke all of her arrows), foam bullet refills for his Star Wars gun, and an awesome flying track for Dusty from the Planes: Fire and Rescue movie.  We finished off the evening with a scavenger hunt for Lia and Logan that took them all over the house where they ended up in the master bedroom closet and discovered balloons and a banner that said, "You are going to Hawaii!"  Although we decided to go on this trip this summer to celebrate my 40th birthday, I thought it would be fun to "give" it to the kids as part of Logan's birthday.  Lia did a great job following the clues all over the house and gave us the best reaction of all by screaming and jumping up and down when she discovered the prize at the end.  Logan was clueless as to what a trip to Hawaii meant, but he'll figure it out when we get there in July!

Logan's minion cake before devouring it that evening.  I think it turned out quite cute.

The grandparents with Ron and the kids at the beginning of dinner.

Logan listening to us sing, "Happy Birthday."

And blowing out his candles.

Logan eating his cake.

Lia enjoying her dessert...

along with baby Ella.

Ella watching Logan open a gift.

Logan opening up his Lite-Brite magic screen.

Logan opening up another present.

Helping Logan open up his foam bullets that are now scattered all over our house,.

Finishing up the gift opening with Ella's assistance.  

Lia finding one of the clues to the scavenger hunt in an upstairs closet while Logan looks on with his bow and arrows.

Lia reading the clue out loud to Ron, my mom, and me.  All seven clues were tied to an item that related to Hawaii (this one was tied to a flower lei).

Lia and Logan heading out the garage to find another clue.

Lia coming out of Ron's truck with another clue tied to a pair of sunglasses.

Lia and Logan racing into the children's bathroom to find another clue in the bathtub.

Lia reading her second to last clue tied to one of her bathing suits.

On the outside of our bathroom door, Lia found her newest American Girl Doll, McKenna, waiting for them wearing a hula outfit and holding a balloon.  Here is Lia posing with her beloved doll before heading in!

One of the many shots I captured of Lia screaming after reading the banner she found in our closet. I just loved her reaction!

The three kiddos posing in front of the banner.  Just precious.

At the end of the scavenger hunt, baby Ella put on the lei and Lia's swimsuit like a backpack.  It was hilarious.  She hopped up on our bed after we were done with the hunt and started dancing around.  Here she is posing for me.

Of course, Lia had to jump in on the fun and get in a picture.

This is a picture I snapped trying to show how Ella had put Lia's swimsuit on like a backpack.  Such a funny girl!

L-O-G-A-N

As Logan approaches his fourth birthday, I am seeing all sorts of signs that my boy is really starting to grow up.  And a big one happened today!  It was during the rushed, before-we-take-the-girls-to school part of the morning.  I was downstairs about to start breakfast when Logan suddenly appeared in the kitchen holding a piece of paper.  I was in the middle of doing something and didn't realize what he was was talking about until I looked up and gave him my full attention....and, boy, was I surprised to see his entire name written on a piece of paper!  Logan has only written his name by tracing letters that have already been written or printed out for him.  At first, I was so shocked that I asked Logan if Lia had helped him do this.  After he told me several times that he did it by himself, I finally began to believe him.  I was so excited for him.  This is a big deal for our little boy as lots of things have been much harder with him in the past few years than they had been with Lia.  Some days, I wondered what the school-age, Logan would be like....buy it's starting to look like he might just be a well behaved, little student after all.  Good job, Logie boy!  I'm so proud of you!

Logan proudly holding up the paper with his name on it.  

A close-up of his name.....never mind the fact that his "N" looks more like a "C."  Oh well, it's a great start!

Later on that same morning, Logan took the paper with his name on it and drew a picture.  Since his normal picture consists of nothing but a bunch of scribbles, you can imagine my surprise when he showed me this piece of paper with an actual plane on it.  It even has a pointed front and a tail on the back.  I couldn't believe my eyes!  He then went back to the table and wrote his name inside the plane and drew a few lines through it, but still the plane remains visible.  So, Logan officially wrote his name for the first time and drew his first picture on the same piece of paper on the same day!

22 Months Old Today!

Our little peanut turned 22 months old today.  I just can't believe how close she is getting to her second birthday.  I wish I could make it stop!  Regardless, our little Ella is sure turning into a toddler.  Her new favorite word is "No" and she uses it all the time!  In fact, she often times says, "No, no, no, no!" when she is not happy with something.  She also has perfected the mini tantrum which fortunately doesn't last that long.  I am sure that her brother is to blame for teaching her this!  Ella is turning into a really independent, feisty little girl.  She loves doing everything Logan and Lia do and runs everywhere she goes. It just cracks Ron and me up.  Every time she hears music, she will break out into dancing and really has some good moves.  She also folds her arms over her eyes whenever it is time to say a prayer which is the funniest thing.  Due to Logan's love of playing hide-and-go-seek several times a day, Ella hears me counting to ten all of the time.  As a result, she has gotten really good at counting to five.  In fact, I caught her counting her fingers over and over again in the car the other day.  So cute.  Ella continues to say one or two words at a time and is getting better at expressing her thoughts.  Ella has really started to love dolls this past month and carries Lia's old, baby dolls (which have been passed on to her) all over the house.  She also continues to love soft, cuddly stuffed animals and will hug them super tight and kiss them.  She will also do this to me from time to time which just melts my heart.  Ella still is a total diva and can be found walking around in my high heels with a purse in hand and multiple necklaces draped around her neck.  She still loves her ya ya and pink blankie and continues to sneak up to her room on a regular basis to steak a pacifier out of her crib.  Oh, that girl.  Ella loves reading books and any one-on-one attention that we give her.  She is getting a little better at eating dinner foods again and can be coaxed into eating most meats and vegetables.  Feeeyooh!  Ella still takes a great afternoon nap every day and sleeps most nights for eleven hours.  She is just the sweetest, cutest, feistiest thing and we love her to pieces! 

My precious girl!

Logan's Preschool Class

One of the moms in our co-op is a photographer and offered to take a class picture today in her in-home studio.  As one could imagine, the rest of us jumped on board since it was for free!  Here is the best picture that she was able to come up with.  I wonder how much head swapping she had to do to make this work!  :-)

Top Row (left to right):  Logan, Kyler, Claire, and Reese

Bottom Row (left to right):  Kaden, Sterling, and Vera

Kyler and Kaden are twins and the sons of my friend, Cassie, who also has a daughter a year younger than Lia.  She has been a perfect friend to have these past few years since we actually have children close in age and the same gender.  As a result, I sure was disappointed to learn that they were suddenly moving to Eastern Washington the beginning of February in order for her husband to start a new job.  Sadly, next week will be Kyler's and Kaden's last time coming to preschool.  Bummer.  It was a good run while it lasted!  Luckily, a new mom moved into our ward this past October who will be taking her place.  She, too, will be putting both of her boys (ages 3 and 5) in our co-op.  At least we won't have to host preschool more often than we already have been doing all year long.

Baby in a Basket

Since Logan and Lia were such large babies and toddlers, it still surprises me from time to time how small Ella is.  But, I absolutely love it!  I love still having a little baby to carry around and rock in the chair at bedtime.  I am really going to miss it when this girl starts to "show her age."  But, I digress...
Anyways, I found it totally funny tonight while making dinner when I turned around and found Ella sitting inside one of the baskets that I keep by the fireplace in the family room.  She had pushed it into the kitchen all by herself and promptly climbed into it.  Such a cute and funny girl.  I had to snap a few pictures before I pushed her all over the house in it like she was riding a little car.  She just giggled and giggled during the "ride."  Here are some of the pictures I took...and, please note, that normally her camera-shy brother even jumped in for a few picture with her.  Look how he put his arm around her.  Oh, so cute!