A Swashbuckling Ball

Rylee just turned 5!  Wow, I cannot believe that this is the year she will be boarding the bus and heading to kindergarten.  But let’s not get ahead of things….

05-May-2012 11:50
 

In keeping with the past two years Rylee wanted yet another princess party.  Bill and I really wanted her to have a theme that would also be appealing to the boys in her class so Bill suggested a Pirate & Princess party.  Rylee thought that was a great idea and got excited about what she would wear and what we would do at the party.

I knew right away that I wanted to hire someone to do face painting for the kiddos.  I thought this would be fun and add to the theme.  I hired Stacey’s Face Painting and the kids loved it.  Well…the girls loved it.  The boys, not so much.  But our friend Michael thought it was great and Paula said it was tough to get him to take it off to go to bed that night.

05-May-2012 11:47
 

 

Rock on little pirate!

 

 

05-May-2012 11:40
 

 

Some of the moms even got in on the face painting!

 

 

05-May-2012 11:04
 

 

The kids came dressed in their finest ball gowns and pirate attire.  I will say that I think my dad stole the show.

 

 

05-May-2012 11:57
 

 

The kids played a game where the kids used a pirate hook to pick up pretzels.  Brooke won with over 20 pretzels!

 

 

05-May-2012 11:25
 
05-May-2012 11:25
 
05-May-2012 11:25
 

 

We had a pirate and princess food for lunch as well.

 

 

05-May-2012 12:37
 

 

Everyone enjoyed the cupcakes as they had either pirate or princess rings on them!

 

 

Here is our royal gang…

05-May-2012 11:52
 

 

 

 

 

And here are the princesses and pirates…

05-May-2012 11:37
 
05-May-2012 11:48
 

 

 

 

 

Rylee said it was “the best day ever!”.  I think that’s the best thing a five year old could say about her birthday party.

Happy 5th Birthday Rylee!

Love, Momma

Brynn is 3!

How can that be?  She was just a baby, sucking on two  fingers and scooting backwards across the carpet.

This year Brynn was beyond excited for her birthday.  She talked about the theme, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, since last summer.  Thanks to some help from my sister-in-law Julie and my friend Erin she loved it.  Erin made a great personalized banner with a Mickey Mouse theme.

04-Feb-2012 12:02
04-Feb-2012 11:47
 

Julie made this amazing cake.  She really did a great job on it and Brynn was in love with the cake.  She was particularly excited that she got to keep the figurines to play with at home.

04-Feb-2012 14:02
 
This party was on February 4th and it was to celebrate not just Brynn’s birthday but her cousins’ Maiah and Zoie’s birthdays as well as their Dad, my brother Danny, we got the best party ideas from http://www.jumpersjungle.com/south-gate/.  Julie was so clever because she created “another” cake on the backside of Brynn’s Mickey cake for Maiah & Zoie.  The girls had told Julie what colors they wanted on their cake and Julie hit it dead on.

04-Feb-2012 14:04
 
Not to slight Danny she made him his own cake.  I will say he was a bit selfish and didn’t share his cake with anyone.

Since Brynn’s birthday was on a Saturday we made cupcakes for her to take to school on the Friday before.  Both Rylee and Brynn helped to mix up the batter.  I decorated them after Brynn went to bed and she was so excited to see these in the morning:  

16-Feb-2012 19:26
 

Here are photos of her at school on her special day.  She was excited because she got to be line leader too.  That means she was first whenever they went out side to play and to come back inside.  Her teacher, Miss Erika, made her the cute hat that she has proudly worn ever since she got it.  Note the big difference in the before and after shots!

17-Feb-2012 14:48
17-Feb-2012 14:57
 

Love ya like Brynn love cake!  I like the bit of icing on her nose the best.  (Of course she commented on how messy Ryland’s face is in the background.)

On Brynn’s birthday, this past Saturday, we headed out for a fun day that Bill and I planned a few months ago. Brynn couldn’t wait to get started on her fun day.

Our first stop was Adventure Aquarium.  We took Maiah and Zoie many years ago when it was first remodeled.  There’s a lot more fun stuff now and there’s still one area, for the kiddos, that is under construction and will open in the Spring.

Brynn’s favorite part was the Hippos.  We had to go back to the exhibit about four times because she wanted to “see them again!”.

Bill and I really enjoyed the shark tunnel..

18-Feb-2012 11:14
18-Feb-2012 11:36
 

18-Feb-2012 13:10
 
Rylee said that “everything!” was her favorite.  She really did enjoy the touch pools they had.  Brynn wanted no part of them though.

18-Feb-2012 12:00
 
We got to see a 4D show too.  We saw Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs and Sea Monsters.  We really thought the girls would enjoy it, but we were wrong.  Also, the 3D part of it was rather blurry.  But didn’t Brynn look great in her glasses?

It was such a fun time for all of us.  We’re thrilled that we got a super deal on an annual pass because we all want to go back again soon!

18-Feb-2012 15:30
 
After leaving there we headed toward home and Chuck E. Cheese.  The girls really have a lot of fun playing the games and riding the few rides they have there.  Rylee is definitely getting better at the games.

Once the girls turned in their tickets and gathered their loot it was time to head home for our family party.  Brynn loved her ice cream cake and the gifts she got to open too!

18-Feb-2012 19:01
18-Feb-2012 19:12
 

Happy 3rd Birthday to my Baby!

Love, Momma