Princess Baking Party

Halle Kate and I went to the most fun birthday party tonight. A girl in her class turned 4 and had a party at Pink Pastry Parlor. It was one fun night!

Be ready to be shocked. The invitation was pink, had princesses all over it and HK still wanted to go. She even dressed herself in a dress and bow.

 

When we got there the girls got to jump on a big bed and have a pillow fight. At first they all looked nervously at us moms like “are you sure we’re not going to get in trouble?”. Once we’d given them permission they were all giggles and bounces. And all us mamas had huge smiles watching them have so much fun.

After they jumped for a while we went into a room where, with the help of a pink employee, every two girls made a batch of cupcakes. They were so excited.

 

Once the batter was in the oven they got to make their own icing. Pretty much every girl chose pink or purple….except HK who wanted “green like slime”. That’s my girl! She also was more than happy to sample her icing. They were some sugared up girls by the time we brought them home!

 

While the cupcakes baked the girls went to dance on the runway. At first they were all very shy.

Poor HK. Do you see her in the picture below? Yep, that’s my peanut with the hat that kept falling over her head. I finally took it away. All these girls are together in class at preschool. HK is not the youngest but she sure is the smallest.

Once the music cranked up the pink employees helped teach them a dance.

And then HK showed her true colors. See her jumping in the picture below? By the time Justin Beiber was done singing “baby baby” Halle Kate had danced and jumped so much that her tights fell all the way around her ankles. I was videoing and you can hear me say “her Daddy will be so proud” as another mom pulled them up for her. Many of the other girls eventually warmed up and danced but HK stole the show. She was wild! Several parents commented that “she sure knew that song” and I had to tell them that no, she’d never heard a Beiber song before. She’s just that wild!

Once the dancing was over we went into another room for a tea party and dinner. There were sandwiches, fruit, veggies, chips, brownies and marshmallows. HK’s plate ended up with brownies and marshmallows. Again, sugar rush!

 

The birthday girl had a huge Barbie cake and a cupcake tower. The girls ate cake and when they finished the cupcakes were out of the oven.

Time for icing! Each girl got 3 cupcakes to ice and then we packed them up to bring home….along with another cupcake from the tower. It’s a shame sugar isn’t a food group!

Halle Kate was very proud of her green slime creations!

After cupcakes we headed into another room with doll houses and TVs. My child found a punching bag and stayed there beating it while everyone else cheered her on. She has seen me wearing gloves/doing that in a class at the gym and was very proud to get to try herself.

Doll house area.

At the end all the girls sat down for a picture together. They were shown how to cross their legs and sit up straight but that lesson didn’t stick!

 

Honestly, I wasn’t very excited about going but we had such a fun time. I think as a parent if your baby girl is having fun then you’re having fun! I know both of my girls would love a party there, especially Matney. I went to the front desk to ask about parties before we left. Ummmmm, holy smokes! The smallest size you can have is 7 children for this party. Which costs……wait for it…..grab your water so you don’t choke…..$700. Yep, $100 per kid for the first 7 kids and then $66 per child more than 7. So, in case you wondered, no, you will not be getting an invite to a party here from us EVER. If you’d like to throw a party for your child here pretty please invite ours because they’d love to come!

Frankie and a Car Ride

Every day the girls take FOREVER to load up and leave for preschool because they have to take a “guy” on the trip. Some random dolls/toys always ride along to school and then get strapped into the carseat while the girls are at school.

 

On Friday, Matney left McKenna in the car and went to school while HK ran around town with me. In one store I had a $10 credit and HK fell in love with this random guy left over from Halloween and named him “Frankie”. He was only $1.85 so she got to bring him home and we picked out an owl for Matney. I paid no attention to what she was doing in the backseat until we got in the carpool line to grab Matney. This is what I found when I turned around….who thinks that Matney was impressed when she got in the car? She.was.not. According to Matney, Mckenna will NOT be riding with Frankie and Robot….and HK thought it was so dang funny. Rotten girl!

Sunday Fun Day

We spent the day on Sunday having a fun time as a family… before Evelyn gets here and we don’t get to leave the house again for the next two years!

Jared surprised the girls with a trip to Panera for breakfast. Matney LOVES a cinnamon crunch bagel and HK LOVES a chocolate chip…and I’m pregnant, all bagels are yummy!



It was 70 degrees in January so we played outside in the backyard for a while. It was so nice to be in fresh air! In these pictures Jared was being a troll under the bridge (slide).


Then they had all sorts of races around the yard. Halle Kate got new shoes that morning because her current grey shoes were falling totally apart. She had worn them every day since August. I’d tried getting her in cute grey TOMS but they all have glitter or sparkles and she wouldn’t wear them. We found these in the boys shoe department at Target and HK was sold!  



The girls picked Mexican for lunch. HK LOVES cheese dip and M likes a quesadilla and we all like chips! We hung out at home for a while in the afternoon and then went to the grocery store together.  We had such a super fun day.

We are all excited to have Evelyn join the family but we’re going to fit all the fun we can into these last few weeks of free time as family of four!

The girls move-in together!

***Just found this in my drafts file – ooops! Should have posted this months ago. I’ll move back to 2012 in a week or two.

When we found out there was another baby on the way we started talking about what to do with the rooms upstairs. We had our bedroom, one guest room and Matney and Halle Kate had their own rooms. After talking to the girls we decided to keep a guest room and put the girls in together. Several people had strong opinions about not putting them together but in the end we decided to give it a try….and they LOVE it!

Both girls had begged to share a room and the only concern we had was how well they would sleep. We waited until we got back from Disney and they were out of their routine and used to being in the same room at night. Jared and I were nervous but it has gone so well!!! Listening to them talk to one another over the monitor is the sweetest, cutest thing in the world. They tell each other stories and sing songs. At least once a week we hear them running around, and most of the time we ignore them, and it is SO DANG FUNNY to go check them when they finally fall asleep. We have  found out them in totally different clothes than what they were wearing when we tucked them in and random toys everywhere. So dang funny! 

Going to bed at night hasn’t been an issue but some mornings have been a struggle. They are both supposed to stay quietly in bed until their Mr. Sun light comes on. Then, the first person awake is supposed to tip toe out of the room…which almost never happens. The first girl awake has been known to come flying out of the room like a stampede of elephants while shouting the other girls’ name. Nothing like hearing “Halle Kate? Halle Kate? HALLE KATE!!!! are you awake?” before the sun comes up!

All together it has been a great change. The girls love being together and both have said some version of “I know I don’t have to be scared at night because (my sister) is with me”. So sweet. And, hallelujah! Ever since HK was a baby I have been in her room at least once a night, just to pat her back when she was crying. Now that she is in a room with Matney she almost always sleeps all night long. Whoo hooo! They may fight like cats and dogs a lot of the time but they do love each other a whole lot.

Here are some pictures of the room. Jared cut the headboards out of plywood and I covered them with fabric. And then I made Mom work in my sweatshop and make the curtains. I have some things to go on the walls but all of that will have to wait until after Christmas and after the dust settles on the built-ins downstairs.

 

What our bedroom looked like the morning of the big move. HK went to M’s room, the guest room went to HK’s old room and M’s old furniture went to the nursery which was the guest room. IE – pretty much every single thing upstairs except our room had to be cleaned out – closets, drawers, everything. It took FOREVER to dig through it all!

Moving the guest room into HK’s old room.

The girls occupied themselves for most of the day and let us work. They were excited by the mess.

The start of the girls’ room. I’d hoped the painter would be here before the move but he couldn’t come until after Thanksgiving. We promised HK if she went to M’s room that we’d repaint the walls. HK and a pink room was not going to work!

Had to have a picture of J smiling. He worked solid for 2 days moving stuff around and (most of the time) stayed in a really good mood. I love this picture of Jared – I married well, he’s a stud!

Getting new beds!

Here is a picture of the wall color changed. Some day I will get up a picture with made beds and stuff on the walls.

Evelyn Update

The nursery is finished, I’ll be full term (37 weeks) in a few days and we’re almost ready for Evelyn to arrive! With the girls out of school they got to come to the dr with me, and of course they both had to bring their own babies. Nothing like a tiny exam room with 2 wild girls and their baby dolls. And yes, Halle Kate is in a dress. Sometime over Dec she decided she wanted to wear tights….which means she is wearing dresses. We went right to the store and got the girl some tights! If you see her do NOT say anything to her about it, just admire the cuteness.



Here are pictures of the nursery. The color looks blue in these pictures but it is actually a light green/teal color. It looks exactly like its name, “watery”.  I found the curtain material at a fabric store and loved it right away. After the girls bright, girly rooms I was ready for something soothing and calm. I LOVE this room.


I put mom in the family sweat shop again and had her make the curtains. A lady on etsy made the crib bumper. If I end up with time I am making the crib skirt but I forgot how much it won’t show in this crib so making it hasn’t been high on my priority list. Once that mattress drops down again it will have to come out anyway. The furniture was Matney’s for the past 4 years.

If you enlarge this you can see the prints above the beds. They are the words to “You are my Sunshine” and again, I used etsy. I mailed the woman paint/fabric swatches and she made them to match. That bottom left picture is darker than the rest….maybe not to anyone but me but it is driving me nuts so she’s sending a new one.
The table and lamp I pulled from another room and painted white, then covered the shade with the curtain fabric. Spray paint and hot glue are miracle makers!

The opposite wall from the crib. The white lines in the mirror are reflections from the window and not something on the wall. Putting wipes and tiny diapers in that basket sure made it all feel real!

I am still looking for something to put on top of this piece of furniture. The thing on the wall is an old piece of foam board covered in the bumper fabric with a painted “e”. Cheap and easy.

View from the door. This room is pretty small but the big window and vaulted ceiling provide so much light. It is such a peaceful room…or will be until that screaming baby girl arrives!

I went to my 36 week appt yesterday. Ev is head down and has dropped but I’m only 1cm. My iron is really low, which explains why I can’t ever catch my breath, so I’m waiting for a call back to see if I have to go start iron shots or can just add another iron pill. Fingers crossed for the pill! If we want to induce we can by the 31st of Jan or we can wait her out. As ready as we are to hold her, I don’t want to induce unless we have to so I’m going to have to be patient (J can tell you that is not one of my best qualities!) and she’ll get here when she gets here. Hopefully I will be further along by next week’s dr appt!


And here is a picture of the belly at 36 weeks. I took my huge self to the gym with Jared and the girls last weekend. More than once I have had a fabulous running dream. I am so ready to go for a run outside in the sun and get moving again!

shark!

We met friends at Bass Pro Shop over the Christmas break just to get out of the house. All the kids LOVED playing in this shark. Funny kids!

 

 

 

 

The best part about getting into the mall before the stores open is having all the fun stuff to ourselves!

 

There are so many people we know with the flu/strep right now and I do not want us to get sick! Until this morning we’d stayed home the entire break – no food playgrounds, no mall, etc – I’d rather stay home deal with the girls trashing EVERYTHING than I would take the chance of us getting sick. This particular store opens before the mall and we were able to let the kids hang out before anyone else was really there... and we used lots of hand sanitizer. School started back today and we’re all well. My fingers are crossed that we can stay this way until Evelyn comes! Baby update coming Wednesday after my dr. appt.