• Flashback Friday: Happy 5th Birthday!

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    Karlie with her Rocket Cake and Brina with her Princess Castle Cake made by Aunt Kristen!

    Today we flashback to February 2010 when the girls turned 5 years old!  It was a fun birthday party at our house.  We did a dual theme for the girls this year which was a lot more work than I initially realized!  Karlie was really into space and rockets while Brina was into princesses.

    Half of the house and party was about Space and the other half was about Princesses.  The nice part about the theme is that it appealed to both the boys and girls who attended the party.  We did a castle out of cardboard in Brina’s room and a rocket out of cardboard for Karlie that was put on the front porch.

    Somehow we didn’t get a picture of Karlie’s room inside the house where we put black trash bags on all the walls, stuck glow in the dark planets and stars on them, and replaced the lights with black lights.  It turned out really well, but it was darker so none of the pictures actually turned out which is a bummer.

    Aunt Kristen made the beautiful and delicious cakes for the girls birthday, which they LOVED!  The girls had a wonderful time celebrating their birthday and we are thankful for our family and friends who helped with the party and came out to make this day extra special for the girls.  Thankful for the blessing of these two girls!

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    Checking out the cool rocket that Daddy, Grandpa Russell, Uncle Lee, and Uncle Josh stayed up after the kids went to bed to build.

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    They had no idea that the guys were building a rocket (and castle, see below) for them!  As they were eating breakfast the guys rang the doorbell and “delivered” their special party props!  They were so excited!

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    Karlie hugging her rocket (notice she is wearing her favorite rocket pjs)!  Too cute!  She was thrilled and kept going back outside to play with her rocket!

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    Had to check everything out!

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    After a few minutes of coming back into the house the back doorbell rang and the guys delivered the other party prop, a giant cardboard castle!  Daddy, Grandpa Russell, Uncle Lee, and Uncle Josh worked on putting this together and painting it after the girls went to bed the night before the party.  They were super excited!

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    The castle was huge!  They are standing on chairs in order to peek through it!  The castle was a big hit in the princess room!

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    Dad and Grandpa Russell putting the finishing touches on the castle!  It had a tower, door, and even a roman numeral “V” flag on it!

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    Time for all the princesses and princes to come to the party!  The castle was a big hit with all the kids!

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    Karlie all smiles as she sits by the easel.  She loved coming outside to check on her rocket which was next to the easel!

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    Hanging out in her rocket as people started arriving.  Very content to stay right there with her special rocket!

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    Brina’s princess cake turned out beautifully – thanks Aunt Kristen!

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    Karlie LOVED her rocket cake!  Thank you Aunt Kristen!

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    Lighting the candles!  Kristen put candles at the back of the rocket so it looked like it was taking off – so cool!

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    Getting something to eat and hanging out with cousins!

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    Grandma Penny and Brina putting a puzzle together!  Super fun!

  • Flashback Friday: Happy 4th Birthday

    Karlie's Shark, Brina's Turtle and the Ocean Cakec

    Happy 4th Birthday!

    Today’s Flashback Friday brings us back to the girls 4th Birthday Party Celebration!  The theme was “Under the Sea”!  We had a great group of family and friends join us for the celebration.  The kids had fun playing games, eating delicious cake, and snacks!

    We had two main games for the party – pin the tail on Willy the Whale and the favorite game for the event, for both the kids and adults, the Goldfish Races!!!  We picked up the goldfish at the pet store the day before the party.  We used a long and flat storage container to put the water in and divided it down the middle with a board.  Two people were given straws to blow on the water to get their fish to swim faster.  The person whose fish to got to the other side first wins!  All the kids got to take a fish home with them at the end of the event (not sure this was the highlight for the parents, but the kids liked taking a fish home with them).

    Brina and Karlie with the Rainbow Shark cakec

    Grandma Kay made Karlie a shark cake!

    Brina's Sea Turtle cakec

    Grandma Kay made Brina a turtle cake!

    Noticing the 4 on the cake - Karlie and Brinac

    Fascinated by the cool cake!  Thanks Grandma!

    Grandma Kay and Brina's fish swimming down the lanesc

    Grandma Kay and Brina racing their fish!  Super fun!

    Jack got a fish, Karlie enjoying her goodie bagc

    Jack showing off the fish he is taking home with him.  Karlie enjoying a treat!

    Jack playing with the tractor book in the ocean roomc

    Hung streamers on the wall and put a variety of fish on them!

    Karlie scaring her fish the wrong direction, ha so much func

    Karlie blowing on the water with her straw to get her fish to swim faster!

    Luke & Kristen demonstrating the fish racesc

    Luke and Kristen racing their fish!

    Mandy and Sam racing their fishc

    Mandy and Sam racing their fish!

    Owen & Karlie - Go Fish GO GOc

    The fish races were so much fun the kids did them several times!

    Uncle Josh and Rachel raced their fish tooc

    Josh and Rachel racing their fish!  Even the adults had fun doing this activity!

    Ocean and fishy snacks in the kitchenc

    Fish snacks anyone?!

    Snacks - Autumn, Karlie, Brina, and Jackc

    The kids enjoying some snacks!

    Kids colored their tails and then played the game, some kids took their tails homec

    Pin the tail on Wally the Great White Whale!  The kids did pretty good with this game!