Celebrations

Birthday Girl!
August 2012



Emmie opened up her birthday gifts in her jams on her big day before her Daddy had to leave for work. I have no recollection of what happened the remainder of the day (why I should have blogged about this 9 weeks ago!) but hopefully she had fun!

Her new goods from us included a doll crib, a bike seat for her dolls, some books, a Cinderella doll, and some new dollhouse furniture among a few other things.
She was a happy girl!
For her family birthday activity, we went to the waterpark Cowabunga Bay the Monday prior (Chris' day off). It's our 3rd year in a row going there for her birthday and the kids look forward to it all year, still screaming out "Cowabunga BAY" as we pass it on the freeway. So fun!



My Mom and Reed were in town for a minute for another function and they stopped by to give Emmie her gift, a darling umbrella and raincoat!

The next day, we celebrated not just one, but THREE princesses! These cute girls, Aunt B, Emmie and Grandma Lonczyna, all have birthdays within four days of each other, so naturally, we combined their parties!

Emmie got some fun things, and


it was extra fun that Aunt Cindy and Cousin Isaac were here for a surprise visit and were able to celebrate the day with us. Lexi and Isaac are just 8 months apart and it was sweet to see them love on each other!

The following weekend we celebrated Emmie one last time with a party at my Dad's.

 

The kids love the dart game and the prizes that go with it, and Emmie got a load of such fun gifts from everyone!

I think it's safe to say that she had a great week of parties!!

Exhausted from all the birthday celebrations!?
ME TOO! :):)

 

 

All about Emmie

 

This little Missy turned FOUR back in August! She has grown up so much this last year and her sweet yet spunky countenance is such a blessing to our family! This cute girl who loves all things pink and purple (purple is her fave) definitely keeps us on our toes, not to mention entertained. She marches to the beat of her own drum, and although sometimes it's a naughty drum, I have to appreciate her independent spirit. She is thoughtful, dramatic, gracious, cuddly, affectionate, passionate, creative, fearless, has a naughty streak that baffles me, and this girl- she's such a dreamer! I've mentioned before that she spends A LOT of time in her own little dimension, and it can take calling her name a good 30 times before she snaps back into reality and what's going on around her. She is perfectly content to play by herself for hours (so opposite of her brother who constantly needs to be entertained!) although, with her wild imagination, I'm quite sure she doesn't feel as though she's playing by herself at all! She seems to have many friends in the La La Land that she spends much of her time in! For example, she is always talking about her "old" family. She'll say things like, "Well, my OLD mom let me do it", or my "other brother", and "my old sister", etc etc. We were at The Gap at City Creek back in June, when I heard her let out a loud gasp. I felt her run to my side and she whispered urgently,
"MOM! My OLD MOM is here!"
Of course, intrigued, I looked around anxiously wanting to size up my competition that I've heard so much about.
"She is? Where??".
RIGHT. THERE!"
Eyes wide, I slowly followed her gaze to see a....
(are you ready?)
 HEADLESS MANEQUIN!!!
 Mmmmhmmmm!
 "Is that her?" With huge eyes and a serious expression, Emmie shook her head "yes" while shooshing me so that her "old Mom" wouldn't hear us... it was a very serious situation for her, LOL. So, there you have it,  just one of many examples of her quirky but perfect little personality. She is such a fun bundle of energy to have in our family! She is so tender hearted and sweet, yet can be a total spit fire...consider yourselves fair warned.

EXAMPLE:...
A few weeks ago she was saying nightly prayers (ever so sweetly), when suddenly, mid-prayer and with no pause - she sighs a very dramatic and frustrated "HMMMPH!", followed by a shouted, "LEXIS!!!" (who was babbling in her crib), IIIII AM TALKING! Be QUIET when I'm TALKING!!!", then went on with her prayer, sweet as ever. It was so surprising and out of the blue, Parker and I just gave each other sideways glances and tried our hardest (unsuccessfully) not to bust up laughing.
Moral of the story, you don't want to push this girl's buttons, or she will let you have it, no doubt! Even if you're a 12 month old baby...

She is such a social butterfly, though a little shy at times, and wants to be friends with everyone (imaginary or real). She loves to play outside with the neighborhood "posse" of friends.  She started as a Sunbeam at church last January, and hasn't looked back since. She was so ready and absolutely loves her primary class. She took a Jazz, ballet and tap class all last year (that she called "dancey") with some friends and loved it. She recently started a gymnastics class and thinks it's pretty awesome too!  She is left-handed and definitely sports the creativity that tends to go with a left brained person. She has got quite the imagination! She will tell me a flat out lie without batting an eye or pausing to think out her "story". She'll tell me, serious as can be, that the "baby did it"....which is quite ironic when the baby is sitting restricted in her exersaucer. Her stories can get pretty outrageous at times. I can't tell a lie to save my life, so I have to admit that I am intrigued as to how schooled she seems to be in this area. She is quite convincing, but unfortunately I have learned to know better than to believe her! I'm thinking she'll grow out this??
She has turned into such a girly girl. She's really into dolls lately and don't get me started on her obsession for princesses... If you couldn't tell by her princess party. :) She also loves to play with her dollhouse that she got from Santa last year. She loves to wear lip gloss and put on lotion, and is obsessed lately with having me put in headband curls after her nightly bath (the product is in the picture above). She also loves to have Auntie Sare paint her nails!

One of the many things I love about her is her graciousness, how when she is given something, she gets very excited and is genuinely thankful.  There is almost no need for her to say thank you, because her excitement says it all.{Unless she is overtired, then it's a different story...} I think this is a great quality and hope that she'll always be polite, grateful, and gracious!

A few pictures of each year of her life:

A few of her most repeated words these days would have to be, "SERIOUSLY!!!", (pronounced "Sare iss ly!), and "Awight" (alright).
 

She loves to ride the horses/ponies at Thanksgiving Point! She loves animals.

She loves to ride her bike. One of our neighbor's made this adorable bike basket for her birthday and she loves to ride around with her "Go-go Walking Puppy" or other treasures in it. She may be girly girl but she can definitely keep up with the boys outside whether it's riding bikes, scooters or just playing in the dirt!

 

 We're so thankful for our Emmie!
We love you cute girl!!!

Princess Emmie and her Royal Birthday Ball

Once upon a time there lived a very special Princess, named Emmie.

Not only was she a beautiful princess, but she was smart, sweet, enthusiastic, funny, affectionate, vibrant and thoughtful, among many other desired traits.
Not to mention, she had the best smile and cutest dimples in all the land!
Her fourth birthday was fast approaching, which meant, in her eyes, that she was all grown up. She was going to have her first friend party, and of course she desired nothing more than a
Royal Princess Ball!

 

 The invitations went out to all princesses 5 and under in the Kingdom, and Princess Emmie
could not wait for her special day!

 

After a much-anticipated wait, it finally arrived, and she put on her beautiful, sparkly, party gown. She truly looked like a Princess, in every way possible, as every true princess radiates her shine beginning from the inside out.  And this girl, she's got shine!!! :)

She made sure to have all of her special guest's crowns, wands, and thank you favors set just right for her fellow princesses.
 
(On a side note...The favors in the purple boxes were these cute custom bracelets made by Shelly...she can be contacted at www.mywatchesandbangles.blogspot.com for affordable and darling orders for your own princesses! She also made Emmie's darling charm necklace and matching bracelet to go with her dress! Just email her and she can make anything! She is awesome and these make the cutest gifts!!)

Opening gifts was very special for Princess Emmie. Her mom, (Queen Michelle? lol;) has been reading "The 5 Love Languages of Children" and has come to realize that one of E's love languages is receiving gifts. This makes her feel so special, so opening the darling gifts from her sweet friends made her feel very loved. She was so thankful for all that she received!

 The Princesses were enjoying a Royal Feast (E's favorite homemade mac n cheese, pink lemonade, grapes and carrots), when they were
surprised by a very special guest.....


RAPUNZEL!!!


The Little Princesses were very excited to meet one of their very
 favorite and much-admired fellow Princesses!

They listened intently as she told them about Flynn Ryder and showed them what was in his satchel, they played games with her, sang songs, took pictures, and each got her autograph. Sometimes the princesses were content to just play on the swing set while Rapunzel watched.
 As for Prince Parker, he was too cool to be seen with a bunch of princesses, so he observed from a distance and made an occasional appearance
(like for pinata and cake time, as any smart prince would).

These Princesses sure kept Queen Michelle and King Chris (please just laugh with me at the cheesiness) on their toes, but they were a lot of fun! Who knew a bunch of princesses would be more rowdy than a swashbuckling crew of pirate guests the month prior?!?!
Well, like my Mother-in-Law said, they ARE princesses.... ;)

I think (and hope!) Emmie felt very loved on her big day and we just hope she knows how special she truly is!!
We love you Princess Emmie!!!
xoxo

10 and 11 months

O---kaaay, hurry and snap your pic, mom....
 

Lexi at 10 months!



11 months:

Getting a picture of her by these cute signs that my sweet friend Lichelle emailed me has gotten next to impossible. I have about a 3 second window to take a picture before she tackles them! She is definitely an on-the-go, busy little girl!

Still a thumbsucker (like her big sis!) and still a tiny little miss! I'm hoping that by her 1 year appt she'll be at least 15 lbs, but with her never-ceasing crawl strolls, (and the fact that she's - and our whole household-  been super sick this week and she doesn't want to eat), I'm afraid she's not going to hit the mark.
 Maybe if she eats her whole birthday cupcake here in a few weeks...but it's going to be close! :)
 

(wearing one of Emmie's old dresses)

 These pics (above) catch a tiny glimpse of her cute, irresistable personality. Her countenance is such a sweet one, but she's also got such funny little sense of humor. She is constantly teasing me and trying to make me laugh! I crave to be with her when I'm home away without her.
She is a constant jabberer and loves to be heard. Whether it's baby babble or actual words, she likes to put her two cents in. In her 10th and 11th months she has added a few new words to her vocab..."Baby"-she loves to point out other babies (even when they are older "babies" than her) and looves baby dolls. "Dake do" (thank you), "Nigh-nigh", "Eyes" (as she pokes her own eye out or whomever is holding her), & she signs "more" for food. She is still constantly repeating "doddy" for the dog (every time she hears the dog bark or sees an animal it's a "doddy"), and her cheerful high-pitched greeting of "Hieeee", each time she sees someone never gets old. She rolls her tongue when she cries, making a vibrating noise. Parker made a similar noise when he was a baby.

She waves "Bye bye", and loooooves to play peek a boo. She isn't standing on her own yet but will stand up against a couch or the crib with some help.

Sisters!!! How lucky are they to have each other?!?!

 

 

And this cute threesome... I love these babies so so much!

This  last year has flown by.
Honestly, I can't keep up and I can't believe this pic was just a year ago:

 I'm still spinning from the whirl wind it was.

 It seems like this was just last month that I had those

big round cheeks and big round belly.

And now, in just 2 weeks, my cute baby turns 1!

Ahoy Mateys! P's 6th Birthday party!

 Right after his dinosaur birthday party last year, Parker reported to me that for his sixth bday party he wanted a PIRATE PARTY.
 And so, from that moment, the planning began.
A year ago.
 Er, better phrasing might be "the party pestering" began. We would be at a store, and Parker would say, "Moooom, why aren't you buying stuff for my pirate party? We need to get stuff for my party!". Or we'd be at home and he'd ask, "Mooooom, why aren't you making my pirate party decorations?". I would gently remind him that we still had a good 7,8, even 9 months to go until his birthday...
but he was on the countdown and he had grand plans for his big event!
Alas, July eventually rolled around and it really was time to get moving on the party plans.
No pressure, right?!



First went out the invitations.
To say he was ecstatic to deliver them would be an understatement.
Presenting...


CAPTAIN PARKER!
The day had finally arrived and he couldn't wait!

Here he is with his 11 member crew! I have to say they were just about the cutest pirate buccaneers around. Buuuut, I might be biased. :)
 First off we read one of Parker's favorite books, "How I Became A Pirate", and with an exagerrated and chorused "ARGHH!" here and an "AYE" there, they really got into their new identities! They were quite impressive! :)

The pirate attire!
As all the guests arrived, they transformed into mini Jack Sparrows with a bandana, an eye patch, and a sash to hold their swords (the swords had nametags so we could keep them straight). Yo Ho, Yo Ho A Pirates Life for Me was playing in the background. :)

 

Parker requested (months in advance) that pizza be served as the grub.
Aye, aye, Captain!
They also had canon balls (cheese balls), the Catch of the Day (swedish fish), Shark's blood (red Squeeze It's) and Pirate's Rope (Twizzlers). Very well rounded meal. It was okay though, because, afterall, they were PIRATES!

Of course they had to go on a treasure hunt!
 We are so lucky to have so many of P's buddies live right by us - as in both sides next door, and right across the street! So for the treasure hunt, the clues led them to some of the friend's yards, which made it much more exciting. I have to say, it was pretty darn cute seeing this crew run excitedly in character from clue to clue with their swords drawn and eye patches in place.
I love these little boys pirates!
 They were pretty thrilled to actually dig up the buried treasure (hidden in a pile of dirt that we happened to have on the side of our house).
 

Next up was an obstacle course complete with tunnels, walking the plank, blowing  paper boats across the water, a spinning stunt and a soccer goal. Emmie and Aunt B (who was sooo nice to help us out that day! Thank you thank you!), were the hungry crocodiles (I found croc hats at the dollar store!) waiting for unfortunate mateys to lose their balance on the planks.

Last of all, we had presents, a pinata (a must for my kids) and, of course, cake! (Thanks Costco! I owe the cute bakery lady for doing such an awesome job and making this cake custom at my pleading request..)

The matey's all took home these party favors
(plus their "treasures" and pinata bags).

 

Honestly, the party went great! I was sooo grateful that it all came together, for how smoothly it went, that the kiddos had fun, and most importantly of all that my cute little Pirate Captain had a great swashbuckling time at his much-anticipated event!
As for me, I needed a nap for the following 3 weeks, but hey, I would do it all again to make my sweet Pirate happy! Happy Birthday my Cute Pirate Parker!

 

Let the parties begin...

The birthday extravaganzas are finally coming to a close around here....
For a minute.
So now that I HAVE a minute, it seems like a good time to catch up on recording some of them! :)
The day after Parker's friend party, ( post of which is coming soon!), we had the Hansens over for a little celebration.
We surprised the Birthday Boy with this that day:


He had worn out his Buzz Light Year (ahem, piece of junk) bike from the year before, so this was his birthday request. His only requirement was that it be his favorite color, RED (2nd choice was orange). It took some serious searching around for a good quality RED bike, & thankfully Chris found this one at the last minute.
 It was a hit!
After racing it up and down the street for a few minutes, I asked him if he liked it.
He told me, "NO, I LOVE it!!!".  

I didn't do much for this party...all my birthday efforts went into his party the day before and I was just ready for a nap by the time this one rolled around! Apparently a few others were ready for one too... hence the THREE nappers in the pics above. Ha! I love it. I don't blame them, I would have been snoozing too if I could have. Parker loves this crew. They were nice to come out in honor of his bday. We barbequed and I even reused the 2/3 leftover cake from his friend party the day before. Call me tacky. I don't even care. :) Why make more to just be wasted?
 No thanks...

And since we all happened to have coordinating outfits on we had to take a family picture!

The next morning was Parker's actual birthday. Here he is opening his gifts in his jams before Dad had to run to work and the rest of us were off to church. 

That night we were off to Grandpa Todd's for yet another birthday celebration, complete with new Baby Jack in attendance, a Spiderman cake, and the the dart game!

Just a few of his awesome gifts... I love the girl's faces - they say it all!

On Monday, Chris' day off, we went on our family birthday outting. For the past few years, we have gone to Boondocks for P's big day, but this year we decided to try out a  new place - Planet Play. It was pretty fun and the mini bowling was a hit!

Yep, we pretty much celebrated his birthday for four days straight! We might be crazy. And tired. :) But, he looks forward to his birthday all year so I don't mind making a big deal out of it. After all HE IS a big deal.
I can't believe he is SIX!
We are so blessed to have him in our family & we love him so much!