Birthday Celebration, Part 3

Our birthday fun continued after Lily's party on Saturday evening when the Henderson family joined us for burgers and hot dogs on the deck.  All the kids had fun eating on the new picnic table and playing together.  Our four kids are great friends, and we look forward to watching them grow up together!

We had such a big day on Saturday that we all slept in just a little bit on Sunday.  We slowly got up, ate breakfast and then went to my parent's church.  It was homecoming at First Baptist Church of Chattahoochee which is the church I grew up in.  I love returning to that church for a visit because it is wonderful to catch up with so many long-time friends and see all the exciting things the church is up to.  The sermon was delivered by John Foster who was the pastor there while my dad was in high school.  Mr. Foster and his wife remained good friends with my grandmother and grandfather after leaving to pastor another church in the mid-1960's.  I have heard about him all my life, so it was nice to finally get to meet him, and hear him preach; he did a great job.  Of course, homecoming is also great because there is a ton of delicious food to enjoy with everyone after the service!  It was a beautiful day to be outside enjoying friends, family and food.  I am so glad we were able to attend this special service!

We spent most of Sunday afternoon relaxing.  After dinner we let Lily open her presents from the day before.  We were having so much fun at The Little Gym that we didn't have time to open presents there, so we brought them all home.  Lily loved every one of the gifts she received; it was fun to see her get so excited about them.  There are several pictures at the bottom of this post; the formatting has changed, and the pictures uploaded in a weird order.  After the presents were opened, we enjoyed dinner and then Lily and I decorated the cupcakes we had made earlier in the day.  I had promised her we would make cupcakes together and take them to school on Monday.  She wanted the icing to be hot pink and bright purple, so we did that first.  Then she decorated them with princess toppings which complimented the princess cupcakes cups nicely.  Here's a picture of her showing off the Snow White red apple topping.  I always have fun cooking with her!

 The birthday girl!

 Lily and Mia - so sweet.

 Lily and Mommy.

 Mia and Mommy.

 Lily and Daddy.

 Mia and Daddy.

We dropped the girls off at school and then came back just before noon as promised to Lily.  We had to walk past Mia and her class eating lunch to get to Lily.  Mia was so excited to see us, and then broke down crying as we walked past; it so sad!  Lily was very excited when we got back to her class which was finishing up lunch.  Here's a picture of Lily excited to have her pink cupcake.  She was also excited that Ms Amanda had given her a pink birthday tiara to wear!

 Lily's class enjoying their cupcakes after lunch.  They were all so well-behaved and polite.  I was very impressed.

My mom came over after school to keep the girls so we could return to work.  After nap time, she and Lily started working with a Make Your Own Jewelry Tinkerbell set that Lily's friend, Sierra, had given her.  She was very proud of the fairy necklace they made together.

This beautiful floral and balloon bouquet arrived for Lily this afternoon from Great Grandpa Hooks and Lois.  Lily was very excited to receive this delivery, especially when she realized that Skittles candy came with it!  She also thought the Silver Dollar they gave her was pretty cool.  Here's a picture of Lily "reading" the card that came with the bouquet.

We asked Lily where she wanted to go for dinner tonight, and she settled on Steak and Shake.  She originally said Moes, but then she realized she wanted a milkshake instead.  We had a yummy dinner, and then we decided to have one last birthday treat.  When we got home, we put Mia to bed and told Lily we were going to pop some popcorn and have a movie night.  We proposed How the Grinch Stole Christmas (she has been singing the song for a week or so now), but she wanted to watch some old school (circa 1950's) Mickey Mouse cartoons instead.  This was the first time she has had popcorn because I have a crazy fear of my kids choking on popcorn; she absolutely loved it though.  She enjoyed the cartoons too, and we agreed we would do another movie night again soon.  Here's a picture of us enjoying the cartoons and popcorn together.

 Here are some of the pictures of Lily opening her presents.  She was excited to receive a new View Finder and two reels from Charlotte; Mia destroyed her original one a few months ago.  This new one is to be kept safe and sound out of Mia's current reach in Lily's room.

She thought this Dry Erase Activity Center from Parker and Macey was awesome.  It has different pages that you slide under the board to help her learn to write her letters and numbers, plus it has games and free space for drawing and writing.  It's a really neat toy that she is already enjoying.  

My parents gave Lily this cookbook and a great "real" chef set which she is fascinated with.  She loves to pretend in her kitchen, and she also loves to help me cook real food.  This set is intended to teach young kids how to cook, and it includes all sorts of cool kid-sized items like a mixing bowl, spatula, spoon, whisk, measuring spoons, measuring cups, scissors and a sand timer.  The cookbook has some good looking recipes in it too, so we can't wait to start using it together!

Lily is all about Tinkerbell these days.  She was beyond excited when she saw this DVD from Vivian and Claudia!

When we went to New Smyrna Beach in July, our young cousin, Francie, shared her doll with Lily.  This wasn't just any doll though.  No, this was an Ariel doll that can actually swim in the water.  Lily was enamoured with this toy, and she has talked about it on numerous occasions since the beach.  Just last week when we were leaving the bakery, out of nowhere, Lily said "You know what I miss Mommy?  Swimming Ariel.  I really want to play with her again."  Knowing how much she loved this toy, I suggested it as a gift from Granny.  Lily was ecstatic when she opened the bag and saw this toy.  She has barely put it down since getting it; she has slept with, taken it in the car with us, enjoyed playtime with her...seriously, it barely leaves her sight.  She squealed with delight when she saw it and said "Mommy, it's a swimming Ariel of my very own!"  While she loved all the gifts that were so graciously given to her, this was definitely the highlight!

I think it is safe to say, this has been a wonderful birthday for our sweet Lily!

Birthday Celebration, Part 2

We had a great Saturday afternoon! The girls were exhausted from an early morning filled with fun (see earlier post), so they went down for their naps just after 1. They both woke up right at 3:00, and we needed to leave at 3:15 to go to Lily's party! We had Lily's party at The Little Gym which is where Lily has taken gymnastics classes, summer day camps and currently, dance classes. She loves it there! Lily's other three birthday parties have been at our home, and while they have been fun, we thought this would be a stress-free party, and thankfully, we were right. The Little Gym did an awesome job. Lily had a great time, and we have many wonderful memories from the party!

When we arrived, Tara, Morgan and Maria introduced themselves as the teachers for the day, and they did a fantastic job. They let the kids start playing while everyone arrived. Lily was so excited to see so many of her friends. My nieces and nephew came, and both Lily and Mia adore them. Lily was thrilled that her friends from school, Sierra and Ally, were able to come; it's so fun for me to see the friendships that Lily is making. Several of our friends and their kids came too, and Lily always has fun with them. Once everyone arrived, Tara got all the kids in a circle on the mat. She introduced herself and then had Lily sit on top of a big cushion. She then asked each child their name and favorite ice cream flavor. I was really impressed with her ability to remember all the kids' names; there were 15 in all. They went over the basic rules of the gym and then got ready to have fun.

They started out by giving each of the kids part of a pool noodle which became their dance partners. They had fun running, jumping, skipping and banging their noodles on the mat while fun, upbeat music was playing. It's always great to hear squeals and laughter coming from kids!

Then they put all the noodles up and let the kids have free reign for a few minutes. I think it's a great idea to give them some "downtime" from the structured play every so often; it seems to keep their attention better. They gave this free time between each activity, and the kids loved it. 

Mia having fun while McKayla helped Zac across.

 Hadley and Molly both liked the beam too.

 William tried the rings while Vivian liked the low bar.

 Parker enjoyed swinging with Zac and Hadley while Macey looked on.

Mia trying the bars then McKayla showing how its done.

 Next, Tara and Morgan set up these two huge wedge-looking pieces of mat and told the kids they got to knock over and slide on the "cheese wedges." It made such a loud thud as the wedge would hit the mat which made them laugh really hard. The kids did a great job taking turns, and I think Mia enjoyed it the most. I wish you could have seen the look on her face when she got to knock it down! 

After a little bit of free time, it was time for the inflatable track which is one of Lily's favorite activities at the gym. They have all the kids lie down on the flattened track and then flip the switch to have it blow up. The kids loved this little ride! Once it was inflated, they got to jump down, flip down, run down and scoot down the track. Inflatables are always a hit with this age group! After some time on the track, the kids lay down again and help it deflate; then they have fun stomping out the air bubbles inside. 

After it was deflated, it was time for a little bit more free play.

Next up, the kids make a train and put their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them. Then as they sing Happy Birthday, their train walks over to the snack room stopping for some hand soap along the way.  The gym provides juice for all the kids, but we brought the cake. Lily loves the new PBS show called "The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That," so we had our local bakery (McEntyre's which Lily loves to visit) make a Cat in the Hat cake; it turned out great, and Lily was so excited about it. Everyone sang and then Lily asked me to blow out the candles; she said she doesn't know how to blow out candles yet, but I think nervousness played a bigger role since she does a great job blowing bubbles. Anyway, all the kids and adults enjoyed cake and a few minutes of rest.

After cake it was time to go back out to the gym for one last activity - the big multi-color parachute. I remember loving these as a kid, and Lily seems to love them too. They pull them up, push them down and shake them all around; they all loved getting to hide under the parachute too. Lily's highlight came at the end when she sat in the middle of the parachute and everyone else gave her a ride as they turned it in a big circle. They finished this game up by throwing the parachute into the air to see if it would stick to the ceiling. Lastly, all the kids gathered in a small circle and laid down on the tummies. They did one last birthday song for Lily which included banging their hands and feet on the mat...always fun to make noise!

After this, everyone came out to put on socks and shoes and collect their party favor. We had small Dr. Suess books for each child and Little Gym had tied a balloon around each one. Then it was time to tell everyone goodbye and thank you. 

 We were so grateful that Meme and Granny were able to come see the fun!

I know Lily absolutely loved this party. She had a huge smile glued to her face the entire time. As she would run around, she would run past me with her arm out to give me a high-five. She had a blast! By far, this has been her best birthday party yet!