A Very Merry 5th Birthday!

Wow.. ok I very deeply apologize for anyone who had been following here and suddenly found I had dropped off the face of the earth. I guess with all three kids home, Christmas activities and then a trip to Mammoth to celebrate the new year and for Jackson to learn how to ski things got a bit crazy. Then as soon as we returned I was in full force on preparations for my sweet little Ava's fifth birthday party. She wanted an Alice in Wonderland tea party. I wanted to make it magical. It did turn out even better than I could have hoped for. The girls were completely enthralled with the details and I could tell Ava felt so special. That made all the work so worth it. I actually enjoyed the process and kept thanking God that I was able to do it. I've been feeling good and my hands haven't been aching so I was able to do a lot. It was a blessing and a joy to create this little wonderland for her.





We started with tea sandwiches called "Mad Hatter's peanut butter and jelly," "White Rabbit's Egg Salad," and "Alice's dreamy cream cheese and cucumber" sandwiches. THe girls sipped on pink lemonade and had berries and pirate booty.. I know the pirate booty doesn't go with the theme, but what child can say no to pirate booty. :)

THen Alice appeared and finished helping the girls who hadn't made their bead necklaces, put them together.


Then when lunch was finished she read the story of Alice in Wonderland to everyone.









Then she read the directions for a special scavenger hunt following the footprints of the white rabbit to find treasures along the way.



When they were finished we sang happy birthday to the birthday girl with the most scrumptious mushroom shaped cupcakes from 'Cake Crumbs' for the kids. They were beyond yummy. Most of the moms finished what the kids couldn't eat. I did make "The Queen of Hearts Gingerbread Cakes" for the grown ups. Then before the party ended the girls all got butterfly or ladybug tattoos. Before they left we took a big group picture of all of them in their aprons. I found the most adorable fabric made in Japan of cute Alice in Wonderland characters. I got the idea to use it for pockets on little tea party aprons.

When I realized all 12 girls were coming I knew I had my work cut out for me. But I listened to a lot of podcasts from Reality LA, a church whose pastor I really like. It passed the time and I felt myself really drawing closer to the Lord while I worked. Like I said in the beginning it was something I felt grateful to be able to do. All in all it was a magical day. I enjoyed it just as much as Ava!

On the 18th Day of Christmas

It's party time! All three kids had parties in class today. You know what that means...lots of food and lots of sugar. Which I had to start off talking about to show you these adorable cupcakes a mom made in Ava's class. I loved them. They're supposed to be snow globes, so the cookie on the bottom is the base. Adorable right?

I had Neal (who happened to be off today thankfully) go to Jackson's class. I split myself between both girl's classes. They all sing happy birthday to Jesus and then celebrate His birth. Have I mentioned that I love that we're at a Christian preschool. I find that the lessons and songs so reinforce everything we believe and teach at home. I love it when they come home singing Christian songs I hadn't taught them. They're little sponges I tell you. Ava's favorite song right now is "Our God is An Awesome God". I love it when she belts it out with gusto.


Here she is at her party with her best friend Campbell and her teacher Miss Jessica, or as Audrey likes to call her, "Miss Jesh-i-sha".
In Audrey's class they also got to decorate sugar cookies. Christmas season wouldn't be complete without an annual sugar cookie decorating session. I went to Ava's class first and then brought her to Audrey's party so she could partake in the cookie decorating too.


Shortly after these pictures were taken some of the little girls decided to drink the sprinkles. The grandma who brought them wasn't so happy. But I guess you shouldn't turn your back when there are little ones and sprinkles are involved.

Once home we opened the gifts the kids made at school for us. I love them all. Another moment of truly feeling like a mom. And they're so proud of their creations. Although Audrey didn't want to pose for the picture, Jackson is holding her handprint made out of cinnamon clay. Jackson made the cool silver tree and Ava painted the frame with the beautiful photo of herself.



Later in the night after dinner she decided she wanted to make ornaments for our tree. It never ceases to amaze me the creative ideas they come up with all their own. I'm completely obliging her and letting her hang them all over the tree. More pictures in the days to come of that. For now... I think it's time to get to bed before it's time for the 19th day to begin.

On the 17th Day of Christmas

Today was the big day for both girls to be in the Christmas show at the preschool. My sister, who lives in New York, had a layover in San Diego near where my parents live so she asked if they'd want to pick her up and drive up to watch the show and then bring her back to Downtown San Diego so she could be at work bright and early the next morning. They agreed so it was the first time my kids have had so much family at one of their Christmas shows. It was really neat.

Leading up to this big night they practice in the church across the street several times over a couple of weeks time. It's all very exciting because they get to ride in buses back across the street to school when the practice is done. The kids love it. On the big night everyone is in costume, from angels, to shepherds, wise men, Mary, Joseph (and a pretend baby Jesus), a drummer boy and girl, the star.. you name it, they've got it. It's a sort of organized chaos, but it all comes together. They run a slideshow of pictures of all the kids in the beginning, before the singing and story telling begin. It always brings tears to my eyes. I can't tell you why really. It's something about feeling like a mom at a Christmas show for one of my little ones. The very first one when my son was in the youngest class I totally teared up at the fact that I was officially a mom ... and still it happens every time. Of course it's also the sweet music they put to the slide show. I guess it's symbolic to me of their "littleness" and the fact that they're on the road to growing up. They're not afraid to go up on that big stage in front of so many people.


Ava's class were shepherds. She was so adorable with her patent leather shoes and frilly socks poking out. She was so brave and sang most everything. She's in the oldest class so they're on stage the longest. She was a major trooper standing up most of the time. In her class today the teachers asked the kids what their favorite part of last night was. Her answer was going up on stage. She is by nature more reserved and shy, so I was happily surprised to hear she enjoyed it.
The roses I brought for her afterwards made her beam. I could tell she felt so proud and I was proud of her.


You can see it in her eyes.. oh and big brother Jackson was so proud of them too. I was truly impressed by how sweet and nurturing he was to them. As a big brother there are moments where he taunts and doesn't always speak words of kindness, but tonight he was so encouraging. It made me smile.

Ok.. I'm jumping around a bit, but there were so many pictures I wanted to explain. Now onto the youngest classes. They are the farm animals at the stable. Audrey was a little cow. The youngest classes walk in singing Happy Birthday to Jesus. It's so adorable and doesn't matter if they aren't all singing. Everyone thinks they're so cute in their costumes. Audrey was singing and doing the moves, but being in the top row of her group she realized she could turn around and watch the show. In fact she had a pretty good vantage point of everything so that's what she did most of the time she was up there. You can see her on the right hand side of the picture in the front.... see the back of the black and white cow.


I was just glad she wasn't crying or having a fit and that she was calmly sitting up there soaking everything in. I think the fact that this was the first time the lights were on and everyone was in costume was exciting to her. She was enjoying it right along with all of us parents.


I had Jackson deliver the roses to her after the show. She also felt so special and was such a proud little cow.

Mommy sighed a sigh of relief with the second and final show wrapped. Now the extra rehearsals and making sure everyone had the right clothes and were fed and bathed early for the late nights were done. One more day of school left with holiday parties and then we have a two week break with no rushing around anywhere!

On the 16th day of Christmas

Wednesday night was Jackson's Holiday show at his school. My son is not a singer. But he really learned the three songs his class had to sing and he actually seemed like he was enjoying it. My husband video taped most of it so I don't have a lot of photos to choose from. It's crazy to me that he's in second grade and isn't a little guy anymore.

(photos will come later.. turns out my husband took the photos off onto his computer and I can't access them till tomorrow).

On the 15th day of Christmas

Today is our Community Bible Study day.. and today is the day the kids get up in front of all the moms and sing and recite their bible verses. The bible verses are actually set to familiar tunes like Ten Little Indians and Frere Jacques. It was super cute. It was my small group's turn to help out with all the classes so this time I volunteered in Audrey's room. It was sweet seeing them all together learning about Jesus. The ladies that teach are all volunteers and they so selflessly give of themselves. Ava was also given a new manger for her baby Jesus to add hay to every time we do something kind for someone. It's actually being used, although sometimes mommy needs to remind that the manger needs more hay. Ava is the most active with it. She loves taking the responsibility to add pieces of hay.

Oh and I stayed in the back so that Audrey wouldn't try to run up and get me so my pictures of the performance aren't that great. So I added a couple of the girls afterwards wearing the crowns they made.

Can you guess what Audrey's favorite color is?

The 14th Day of Christmas

Out of the mouths of babes as they say. On Monday the 14th I made a mental note, I must write this one down. The kids are so enamored with the lights on houses and like to ooh and aah if we're out when it's dark at the different glowing decorations.

This house in particular Audrey said, "Ohhhh, look at all the reindeer!"

I said, "They're cool aren't they Audrey?"

To which she replied, "Yea, they're cool, but Santa's not cool."

Which made me wonder, "Oh really, what is Santa?"

Her response was a very matter of fact, "Santa is Santa."

Ok. Got it.

But then she added in such a sweetly innocent way, "But he's handsome... and presents, they're pretty."

So that's her very descriptive summary of Santa, presents and reindeer. I never knew a two year old found Santa handsome. Adorable.