Flashback: Sabrina's 5th Birthday and Party

Sabrina's Birthday fell on a Wednesday this year and unfortunately Mike had to be out of town.  She got to take M&M cookies to preschool that day.  That night we had our good friend's the Horspool's over for dinner and cookie cake with strawberry ice cream.  They also gave her the sweetest present, a pen pal kit, to help Sabrina and Raegan keep in touch when the move next summer (which will be the saddest day ever).

Mike took Friday, November 11th off so we really celebrated her birthday that day.  She opened her presents that morning.  She got a new bike, same size as Grace's, so they don't have to fight over bikes anymore.  That night we had her baby birthday party with 5 of her friends.  We had pizza and hot dogs for dinner.  Each of the girls brought a baby doll and we decorated "diaper bags" for them.  We were going to make matching bracelets for them and their babies but that was a little more difficult than originally anticipated, so they each just made a bracelet for themselves.  They also played "Mommy, Mommy, Baby" (duck, duck, goose).  We were going to have a stroller relay race for the girls to get the party favors for their diaper bags but we ran out of time for that too.  An hour and a half isn't actually very long.  I think Sabrina had a fun time and all her friends got along well and seemed to enjoy it.  The cupcakes were supposed to be sleeping babies.    

Sabrina has grown up so much the past year.  She is so mature for her age that I have to remind myself all the time that she is ONLY 5.  She is SOOO ready to start school next year.  I have no idea how I will survive without her during the day, she is such a help to me.  She and Jillian definitely have a special bond and have since Jilly was a baby.  When Jilly is mad at Mike or I she seeks Sabrina out for comfort and sympathy.  Sabrina still loves babies more than anything and is looking forward to the arrival of our new baby brother.  Sabrina has lots of friends and loves to have play dates.  There are many weeks where she has had a play date every day or at least 4 out of 5 days.  She loves her dance class and has some pretty sweet moves, we have no idea where that comes from (not Mike or I).  She has wonderful handwriting and spends lots of time coloring and writing.  Sabrina is one of our best sleepers.  As soon as her head hits the pillow at night she is out and she is almost always the last one up in the morning.  She likes to wake up slowly which is the only thing that makes me nervous about her going to kindergarten in the fall.    

Here is her 5th year picture collage.  

*Unfortunately on Sabrina's Birthday when I went to turn our camera on, the screen was dark.  I could still take pictures and then review them on the screen but when I wasn't in review mode I couldn't see anything.  Made it kind of hard to take pictures.  We didn't get a new camera until after Jillian's birthday so we are lacking in pictures for a while.  We did put numbers and balloons on her door, but I never did get a picture of her with them, so sad.  

Flashback: June 2011 Grace's 6th Birthday

Grace's birthday fell on a Thursday this year.  It was also her final day of dance camp so we all went and watch her performance including Daddy.

 To celebrate that evening we went to Olive Garden for dinner and then came home and had Reese's brownie cupcakes, her favorite dessert.  Grace got a new big bike for her birthday that I guess we didn't take any pictures of.  Our Gracie sure does add a lot of spice and fun to our lives!

And here is the collage of Grace's 6th year!

Flashback: June 2011 Grace's 6th Birthday Party

For Grace's Birthday we decided to do a Luau Birthday Party.  We actually did a combo birthday party with our friend Raegan who turned 5 the week before Grace turned 6.  We basically invited all the girls around their age at church along with a few other friends for a total of 16 little girls.  It was pretty crazy but lots of fun.  The weather that day was beautiful but a little on the cold side so we skipped the water balloons like we had planned and some of the girls didn't wear their swimsuits because it was a little cold.

Most of the ideas came from Parents Magazine, including the invitation, which I thought turned out so cute.


The first thing we did when we got there was decorate flip-flops.  We bought Old Navy flip flops when they were on sale and then tore some strips of fabric and ribbon which the girls tied around their flip flops.  Then we played some games.  The first was pass the coconut (like hot potato).  When the girls got out they would get up and dance (I even created a special Luau themed playlist for the occasion).  Then they did the Limbo which was so fun to watch.  Uncle Bryce and Mike were kind enough to hold the tiki torch for the girls to go under.  The girls had lots of fun doing this one.


The final game was a ring toss with swim rings and tiki torches.  They also played on the playground at the park where we had the party.  The cute cupcakes are flip flops sitting on the beach.  I was pretty proud of myself because the flip flops were an original idea of mine.  We dipped nutter butters in candy melts and then used licorice strings for the straps with a little frosting flower in the middle to hold the straps on better.  Then we frosted the cupcakes blue for the water and dipped them in graham cracker crumbs for the sand.  You'll notice in the picture of 14 of the 16 girls that they all had matching hair flowers, leis, and pink hula skirts.  Also on their leis there is a flower that had each of their names in Hawaiian on one side and English on the other.

I think Grace and her friends had lots of fun and it was fun for me to put together.  Hopefully Grace felt extra special.  Aunt Kathleen, Uncle, Bryce, Spencer, and Baby Owen even came up for the occasion which we appreciated.  It's fun to have family so close!

Flashback: June 2011 - Summer Activities

During June each of the older kids got to do a special camp.

Benson participated in Make Believe Theatre.  All of the kids helped to write their own original play that they performed at the end of the month.  The play was about a group of animals that lived in the jungle.  There were several different types of animals and each of them had one of their kind that was different that they made fun of or weren't nice too.  So each of those animals decided to run away together.  In the end they all missed each other and all lived together again.  Benson was a lizard.  They practiced every day in June from 9am - 12noon. He really enjoyed it and it was lots of fun watching him perform.  Sabrina and I went one night and Grace and Mike went the next.

Grace and Sabrina each got to go to Dance Camp for a week.  Sabrina and her friend Raegan went the first week.  At the end of the week they performed a dance to Cinderella.

Grace went with her friend Grace and at the end of the week they performed to the Nutcracker.  Grace's performance fell on her birthday, June 16th.

I arranged some field trips for our church playgroup in June as well.  One week we went to the K-State Dairy Farm (no pics).  We also went to the Salina Zoo.

The last week we went on a tour of the Tuttle Creek Dam.  The guy actually took us out on the catwalk which frankly was quite terrifying with all of those little kids.  The pictures on the bottom left and right are looking out off the catwalk.  Then we went and hunted for fossils in the spillway which they had to let flood in 1993 when the reservoir was too full (that's the digging picture in the bottom middle).

When we didn't have camps and scheduled field trips we were running a pretty strict routine here at home.  We had our day split into centers.  We would have breakfast and do morning chores and then some of our centers were:
Practice Time - practice piano, typing, writing letters/numbers, math, etc.
Creative Time - art projects, coloring, playdough, etc
Reading/Quiet Time
Screen Time - TV, Computer, DS, Leapsters
Play Time - free play outside or inside with toys

The centers really helped the days to not be so long and to accomplish some of the goals that we (I) had for the summer.