Rethinking Birthdays

Emily's birthday was just this past Monday. Right before her birthday we had about 3 weeks of colds going through the family and the craziness of Christmas. Her birthday party has yet to be planned because of all that. Hubby and I did however continue the tradition of taking the day off and making the day all about the birthday child. Being 3, Em's birthday family day was simple. We stayed home and she stayed in her pjs all day. She got lots of extra snuggles. We played games, watched a movie and played with new toys. I baked her birthday cake and she helped decorate it. And she got to pick all the meals for the day. We had blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and animal crackers was lunch. And pizza was dinner...her original request of cake for dinner was turned down. She was such a happy birthday girl telling us and singing "I'm the birthday girl!" "It's my birthday" and "I'm three!!" all day long. It got me thinking about how days like that are really want the kids want. While big parties are fun, I'm beginning to think that maybe we can change up birthdays a little. The kids all really love our family day tradition so that will definitely stay the same. When it comes to their parties, they tend to just end up becoming a playdate with friends with cake and gifts added to the end.So, we're going to experiment with splitting it up. We're going to try birthday playdates with friends. It'll just be a get together kinda thing with friends at a park or similar place. It won't be a party per say. Gifts will be discouraged and there won't be cake. It'll just be time for the birthday child to have with friends. Then we'll take their birthday family day and expand it a little. That evening (or one soon around then) we'll invite the extended family (grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins) over for dinner and cake. Grandparents especially like to spoil their grandkids so no gifts probably won't go over very well for this party. ;) Plus, birthday kiddo does deserve a little something new. Now I guess it's time to plan Em's belated birthday dinner party.

Emily's birthday cake: I love the sprinkle pile she made. :)

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Maddy's 4 Year Update

A month over due, but better late than never right? Maddy turned 4 on April 1st. Maddy is still just as artistic. She loves art and fashion (as in she has her own fashion). She is energetic but she's also a snuggler. She loves to have someone to talk to too. We just recently changed her nightly routine to include some talk time. She can't seem to unwind at night unless she lays in bed and talks to someone a lot longer than Sean needs to. Since we started that there haven't been any bedtime fights! Maddy's growing like a weed. At her 4 year check up she was 36lbs (~50th percentile) and 3ft 5in (~75th percentile).

Last month we celebrated Maddy's birthday with a mermaid party. I made her a mermaid tail. Everyone got sea shell necklaces. The kids played under the sea themed bean bag toss. The boys turned their wands into swords. And everyone had a great time!

A preview of Maddy's next update; her dance recital's coming up!!

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Madison: 3 Years Old

I know it's cliche but I can not help but think "where has the time gone?" every time one of my kids has a birthday. My little girl is now 3 years old or 3 old as she'll tell you. She'll be the first to tell you that she's a big girl now and that's why she can...fill in the blank a long list of things that only 3 year olds can do! The time has flown by! But at the same time I'm often reminding myself that she's only 3. At 31 lbs and 3ft 3in she's bigger than her 4 1/2 year old brother so there are even times where I have to remind her that she is younger than him. She takes it in stride because she's the spunky one. At times that causes me to wonder if she turned 3 or 13. After her party she told us that the reason she kissed her friend Charlie was "Because he likes my kisses!". He's supposedly her boyfriend. See!? 13 I tell ya! My mini teen is a firecracker. There's never a doubt how she feels. When she's happy, she's very happy. When she's sad, she's very sad. When she's mad, she's furious! Don't get in her way when she's mad! But when she's loving, you won't find a better cuddler. Hugs and kisses are one of her favorite things. Unless you're daddy. She randomly told Richard recently that she does not like his kisses anymore. I don't see that lasting long! She tends to gets a little carried when it comes to babies but she means well. One of Maddy's most favorite things at the moment is art; the messier the better. Hand her art supplies and she'll stay busy for hours. So what a better theme for her party!?

Her birthday begun with sprinkle cake batter pancakes. They were a huge hit!

I got the idea/recipe from I'm Bloggin'.


Then it was time to get ready for her art party! Our house is just not big enough for birthday parties so we hoped and prayed for no rain so that we could have it outside. We got a beautiful day! With rainbow paper chains, rainbow fruit, Maddy's art gallery and the rainbow aprons attached to the fence easel, the yard was equally beautiful!

The guests arrived and the kids got to painting. Off to the side I had a little washing station set up for the impending mess. We may try this party idea again in the future. The kids seemed to love it but the older kids did more painting while the younger kids got distracted but the yard toys.

At last, it was cake time! I had my own plans for the cake but at the last minute Maddy informed me that she wanted a princess cake. What's a mom to do but combine the two! She got a princess cake with a twist. I knew I had done good when, as I was putting the finishing touches on the cake, Maddy exclaimed "WOW!".

Princess Belle waving hi in her cake dress:

Surprise!

The birthday girl chowing down:

For more art party ideas, check out my art party pin board.

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Sean's 4th Birthday: Lego Party!

I had a lot of fun planning this party! There are so many wonderful ideas on pinterest but the best part was how cheaply I was able to pull this off. We decided to have a family party and a birthday playdate because of limited space. I spent less than $30 on both combined!! Please check the bottom of this post for links to all the resources I have to share. I know the decorations were a hit because before the party started Sean told me "Looks like a party here!".

The first thing the guests saw was the door sign:

I printed out Lego blocks and Lego men for the wall. The balloons were left over from the dance recital last summer (helium tank too).
At the last minute, Sean insisted on party hats so I made them too.

I also made the banner:


For the playdate, I made cupcakes with Lego man heads made out of marshmallows.
At the party, we had cake and marshmallow Lego man head pops:

Now let's get to the party!!
Up until now, the only Legos Sean's played with were daddy's and Uncle Justin's old Legos. He now has some of his own.
Cake time!




Cousins playing:


Links:
My pinterest board
Invitation
Door sign
Lego blocks for wall
Party hats
Lego man cut outs
Cake
Lego man head marshmallow
*The link for the Lego man head marshmallow is the inspiration but I did it differently. I mixed yellow food coloring with water and painted the marshmallows. When they dried, I drew on the faces with food markers.


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