M.I.N.E.: Birthdays

Showing posts with label Birthdays. Show all posts

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Happy 5th Birthday, Maryn!!!

Maryn turned five early this morning and we had a wonderful party today at noon with some of her best friends.

We couldn't invite all of our church AND seminary friends over for a gigantic birthday party, so we just invited a few friends who we knew would be home during the day. Because of that I'm posting some pictures here on the blog instead of facebook and ask that if you repost these pics, please don't tag me. :)

Mommy really made sure this party-loving, decoration crazy girl got the party of her dreams. I did it up right this time!

She was so, so, so very excited for her big day.

We had a cake and ice cream sundae making station, so the kids got to choose from strawberry or funfetti cake, fruit (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, maraschino cherries), whipped cream and sprinkles.

We wanted to make sure all the Strawberry Land girls were included in the party preparations. So Lemon Meringue made the lemonade and Blueberry Muffin, Raspberry Torte, and Cherry Cuddler all helped provide the fruit.

Josiah and Maryn loved seeing Gracyn and her new baby brother. They used to be our neighbors and we miss them very much.

Maryn had six little girls here to play with and she spent a majority of her time playing with her buddy, Eli. :) I love the friendship these two have, especially since Maryn used to pretty much hate him. :)

The Erdmans and the Powells. Minus Aidan. Oh, here he is....

I missed getting pictures of the McFarlands and the Wiggers, and Gracyn would not look at the camera! But we had ten little kids here, plus three toddlers/babies. And two pregnant mamas. It was a lot of fun!

This is our "pin the strawberry on the vine" game. Who did the best? The two and three year olds! Josiah was the winner!!!

We ate three large Papa John's pizzas, one with Maryn's favorite toppings (mushrooms, olives, pepperoni, extra cheese, sausage) and my kids were the only kids who would eat that one, lol. Ella Grace devoured three pieces of pizza plus her ice cream and cake! We listened to Strawberry Shortcake music and played in the kids' rooms, and played outside. All the girls got cute reusable Strawberry Shortcake cups with fun favors inside (mostly jewelry, accessories and candy). The boys got reusable Batman cups with fun favors, too (candy, disc shooters, sunglasses, Batman stuff).

I think all the kids had a lot of fun. I even enjoyed it, too! I like simple parties, and although the decorations and the food did take a lot of time and money, Maryn was so happy....She just LOVES this kind of stuff. She is such a girly girly girl!

I totally did not plan well and we aren't going to be able to have Maryn's favorite for dinner tonight. Pasta instead. This mama is too tired to make chicken and mushrooms anyway!

Maryn, I love you sweet girl. And I love having parties in your honor! I just hope somehow we can make your brothers think that they don't need big parties too, or we are going to go broke. Haha! Maybe we'll say the 5th Birthday is special?

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Josiah is THREE!

Josiah had an awesome birthday. His birthday was Monday, the day after we got back from Tennessee, so it was kind of low key. We woke up and tried to get moving quickly so we could get some groceries (cake, ice cream, etc.) and go to Party City, where we got 6 balloons and a big Spiderman balloon. My kids LOVE balloons and always request balloons, party cups, etc. for their parties. They had no party hats, but they did have this adorable (and really nice) Spiderman ball cap, so I bought it, along with Spiderman decorations, cups and plates.

Josiah LOVED this card from Great Grandma Erdman.

We had Josiah's favorite meal: Hot dogs, french fries, and broccoli.

He loved the grilling game we got him, too.

Josiah is a pretty humble and sensitive little boy, so when we sing Happy Birthday to him, he just glows and gets a little bit embarrassed/shocked that everyone is singing to HIM!

His cake had a Spiderman action figure on it that said outloud, "Happy Birthday from your friendly neighborhood Spiderman!"

He chose cookie dough ice cream to go with his cake.

He loved it :)

Make a wish!

On Tuesday, we took Josiah out to a really fun and delicious pizza place called Old Chicago. On Tuesdays, kids eat for $1.99 and can make their own pizzas. It was so cool! They each got their pizza dough in a pan, a good amount of cheese in cups, plus two toppings of their choice. My kids are so funny. Maryn chose mushrooms and olives (but used a lot of sausage off my pizza and Josiah's...she loves sausage), and Josiah chose sausage and pepperoni. John, Owen and I had the "Chicago 7" and it was mighty delicious.

I hope we can spend many more Tuesdays at this restaurant. YUM-O!

Amd Josiah, you are so big. We are so proud of you and the young man you're becoming. It drives me nuts when you climb into our bed and caress my face and my arms, but I love that you're cuddly and sweet, sensitive and silly. I pray you someday marry a wife whose love language is physical touch. :) And you're not dating anyone until you're married. ;-)

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Happy Birthday, Maryn!

I just had to include this adorable pic of my sweet baby.

On the day of Maryn's actual birthday, I woke up early and Josiah and I made her some yummy cinnamon rolls, which we stuck a 4 candle into and sang her "Happy Birthday" when she awoke. She ate two whole cinnamon rolls!

Then after Daddy woke up, we got ready for our day and headed to the seminary clinic for SHOTS. Ah! I hate shots! But they all did just fine (Josiah didn't cry one bit!), and haven't had any side effects so far. Then we had lunch at the seminary, including ice cream sundaes for dessert. I love college cafeterias. :)

That night, we made Maryn's recent favorite dinner, Chili Mac, and ate leftover birthday cake and rainbow sherbet. Then she opened presents from Mommy and Daddy.

Maryn loves to build! We got her her first set of real Legos.

And a princess Barbie with matching unicorn!

On Sunday afternoon, we had our community's quad cookout but made it Maryn's birthday party as well :). Meaning, the carry-in item we brought was a huge birthday cake!

I just had to add this cute picture of my boys. :)

I love her so much!

Showing off her ballet moves, her new ballet skirt, new shirt and new headband. Spoiled!

I'm so proud of our sweet girl and the young lady she is becoming. She has a strong will and a strong mind to match. John and I are making more of an effort to answer her questions. We know this is not a behavior she will always possess--someday she will find her answers other places. We are trying to see these questions as windows into her heart and opportunities to strengthen her mind and thought processes. We love how she makes us think, and appreciate all she teaches us every day. Being her parents is anything but easy, but it sure is a gift.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Happy 2nd Birthday Josiah

Josiah is the child in our family who is rarely the center of attention.

But he's also the one who captures everyone's hearts.

He is our junk food junkie, but he recently did start eating vegetables.

He loves balloons, balls, swords, sticks, rocks, trains, planes, fast cars, music (especially drums, guitars, and country music) and most of all, DIRT.

And he loves his Mama, and any women in the family. And also Juju, our sweet neighbor girl. :)

He was so blessed to be able to spend his birthday party with Aunt Anna and Grammy here!

His face just lit up with joy and pride when we started singing to HIM!

Here's your crazy family, buddy. Sorry :)

You little cutie!

He is an optimist. He broke his Lightning McQueen balloon after only 20 minutes. But he didn't shed a tear. He just scooped it up and started playing with it, without it even having any air. It made a great coat. It also was fun to kick around.