a Party fit for a Princess

I really debated having a birthday party for Jilly this year.  I knew she'd love it (and I'd love planning it), but she's still young and I was not interested in hosting a party full of whining, crying girls.  So I made it simple- we only invited 5 girls, just planned some basic activities, and had it on a Saturday when Bryan and my mom could be there to help.  We had a few tears, but for the most part it went really well, and Jilly loved it.

Naturally Jilly wanted a Princess Party so all the girls come dressed up.  We painted their nails, read a princess book, and decorated wands (I hot glued foam crowns onto dowels and let the girls decorate with jewels and foam stickers- I didn't get many pictures but they were cute and so fun to make.)  Then the girls had a princess lunch of heart-shaped pb&h sandwiches, apples, and popcorn.  We played Pin the Nose on Olaf, Princess Says, and turned on music to let the girls dance and play Follow the Leader.  Jilly opened her presents and then we ate cake- a strawberry cake with white frosting and strawberries on top- her very specific request.

Jilly still talks nonstop about how she had her friends over for a party and has already requested a chocolate cake for her birthday party next year so definitely a success!

^ We got this cake plate for our wedding and it has been at my parents' house for 7.5 years because it would never have survived a trip out west.  So fun to finally get to use it!

^ suuuper blurry but how amazing is that Olaf Bryan drew free-hand?

birthday-ing

Jillian was so so so so so so so excited for her birthday.  For the last week she asked me every night "when I wake up will it be my birthday yet?  So we were all pretty happy when it finally arrived.  On the night before her birthday Bryan said he was more excited than he had been for his own birthday.

On her birthday morning Jilly found balloons in her doorway, we had pancakes with sprinkles, and she opened a couple presents.  Then we did some shopping and playing at the mall and met Bryan for birthday donuts.  In the afternoon Jilly spent over an hour playing with her new princess play doh set (win!) then we went to Chick fil A for dinner (where else would we go?)  Later we skyped with Bryan's parents so she could open their presents.  It was a happy, fun day celebrating our big four year old.

Jillian's Four Year Old Birthday Interview-

favorite color- pink

favorite toy- balloons

favorite fruit- apples

favorite TV show- Doc McStuffins

favorite thing to eat for lunch- heart shaped sandwiches

favorite outfit- what I'm wearing now (her new ballet shirt and a pink skirt)

favorite game- Uno

favorite snack- grapes

favorite animal- zebra, giraffe, and panda bears

favorite song- "Let It Go"

favorite book- Elsa

best friend- Kate

favorite cereal- don't have one

favorite thing to do outside- swings and go down slide

favorite drink- oatmeal

favorite holiday- Christmas

what do you take to bed with you at night- "Tigie" (her baby tiger)

what do you like to eat for breakfast- pancakes

what do you want for dinner on your birthday- chicken nuggets and french fries

what do you want to be when you grow up- Cinderella

hey birthday lady

After spending a weekend with my family my sister said "I think being Jilly's mom would be exhausting."  

I'd never thought of it that way, but she's quite right.

Jilly is a ball of energy, constantly on the move and constantly needing attention.

But she's also sweet and helpful and thoughtful and my best little friend.

Happy, happy birthday sweet girl.  We love you to the moon and back.

happy birthday

He builds forts with the girls on Sunday mornings

When he reads bedtime stories he always does the best voices

We all cheer/breathe a sigh of relief when he comes through the door each night

He's smart and funny and works hard and takes excellent care of his girls

We love our Bryan and were thrilled to celebrate his birthday this week

As per usual, we spread out the birthday celebrations over a few days.  

On Sat. night we did some birthday shopping at the mall and got dinner while we were out

The restaurant was all out of kids' cups, which should be a crime 

The girls didn't mind drinking chocolate milk out of a glass cup but Bryan and I about killed ourselves taking care that said glass cup didn't break 

On Monday night we had ice cream cake

Mattie was a little terrified of the candles but Jilly was happy to help blow them out

And then on Tuesday (his real bday) we had crab for dinner

Our first taste of real Baltimore crab and it didn't disappoint

We're quickly learning that Old Bay Seasoning is Maryland's love language

And we're digging it too

Happy Birthday Bryan!! We love you

Mattie turns One

We've had a lot going on lately so I've been stressed and less than patient with the girls.  I planned for Mattie's birthday to be a low-key family day.  When Mattie woke up with a cold our plan sounded even better.  It turned out to be a perfect, relaxing day.

Birthday pancakes

 What are sisters for if not to help blow out candles?

I really kind of let Mattie do whatever she wanted that day.  Take all the ziploc bags out of the box and spread them throughout the house?  Sure.  (I paid for this later, but that smile was worth it)

After her nap we went to Toy Time at the library.  Mattie loves this car so much and luckily there was hardly anyone else there so she got to play with it the whole time.

We picked up McDonalds to have a picnic with Bryan at the temple (Jilly's location choice)

It was a terribly hot day, but we walked around for a bit til we started to melt.

While Mattie slept Jilly and I made a little cake for her in a mug and also some cupcakes.  We had our friends the Clements over for hot dogs and cupcakes by the pool.  Mattie wasn't her usual perky self, but she still enjoyed her cake once I cut it up for her (she wasn't into the digging in.)

It was a fun day celebrating our sweet girl.

Happy Birthday Mattie Claire!

And, just like that, she's one.  

Twelve things about our twelve month old:

1. In one month she went from tentative steps to speed walking.  She has great balance and walks everywhere.

2. Unfortunately this means she tried to walk down the stairs and tumbled so is celebrating her birthday with a scraped nose and bruised forehead.

3. She has finally chosen a special blankie, and it is nearly identical to Jilly's (we have dozens of beautiful hand-made blankets and they both chose fuzzy store-bought ones.)

4. She loves peaches, applesauce (but only in a pouch), smoothies, yogurt, cheese, goldfish, and all desserts.

5. This week her first molar showed up and it's been awesome... not.

6.  She sleeps through the night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (except for when Mr. Molar causes trouble)

7. She is super chatty.  We have incomprehensible conversations all day long.

8.  I love her dark hair.  People tell me all the time that she looks like me which is funny because my hair was light like Jilly's when I was little.

9. She loves to dance and will often dance on command whether there is music playing or not.

10. She's a mama's girl through and through and even though it's occasionally inconvenient I secretly love it.

11. She looooves dogs.  She'll say "dada," wave, and run over whenever she sees a smelly furball (I don't share her sentiment.)

12. That smile?  Takes up her whole face and it's the best thing in the world.

Happy Birthday sweet girl, we love you!

Thanks to Lisa for taking these pictures when we visited last week!

Stroll down Memory Lane-

five on friday

1.  Jilly outed me this week while Bryan had the day off.  I was getting in the shower and she said, "Can I go to the store with you?"  I was confused and told her I wasn't going to the store and she said, "So then why are you taking a shower?"  Bryan thought it was hilarious.  So maybe I only shower when we're going out...

2.  Way back before Jillian was born I made a holder for all my necklaces.  Then sometime later I made a smaller one for Jilly to hold headbands, but it's now in Mattie's room.  Jilly has been begging me to make one for her room, and she desperately needed some jewelry organization so I finally got to it this week.  She loves it, and we think it's so fun for all the girls to be matching.

3.  I know this makes me sound a little grinchy but I could hardly wait to take down our Christmas tree and other decorations.  I now have an itch to clean and de-clutter every corner of our house.  I rarely feel this motivated to clean so I'm trying to get a lot done before I lose steam.

4.  Mattie's latest trick (besides crawling) is pulling herself up on evvvvverything.  She's delighted by her cleverness.

5.  My 28th birthday was on Sunday.  It was a very happy day full of messages from family and friends, presents, and chocolate pie.  I've never been a huge fan of having my birthday so close to Christmas, but this year I learned a reason to be grateful- the girls were still so excited about their new toys, they played happily all day.

Birthday-ing

It's a little much to have one daughter turn 3 then the other daughter turn 6 months 2 days later.  It was a week of celebrating and a lot of sweet-eating.

On Monday night we went to Chuck E Cheese with Jilly's friend Kylie who also has a birthday in November.  The girls had fun playing games- and so did the dads.  Bryan hit the jackpot on one of the games and got 200 tickets.  Jilly was so excited as they kept coming and coming and coming.

On her birthday morning Jilly opened a few gifts and we had pancakes.  We gave her these chairs (from Ikea) to go with her little table.  I must admit these were kind of a gift for me since she loves to sit there and play by herself.

The thing Jilly wanted most for her birthday was to go to the park with her friends and have them sing to her and eat cupcakes.  Done and done.  We made these rainbow cupcakes and had so much fun with our friends.

 In the afternoon Jilly got to skype with her Gigi and Grandpa and open their presents.  She also got to facetime with her aunts and her Nana and got lots of texts from other family members.  When Bryan got home we went to "Chick-A-Way" and then sang once again and ate cake.  My friend had an Aurora cake topper she let me borrow, but cake decorating is absolutely not one of my talents.  I got frustrated and gave up and Bryan fixed it up a bit when he got home.  Jilly was happy and that's all that matters.

 Friday was Mattie's half birthday, and conveniently we still had half of the Aurora cake left.  We put a little candle in it, sang, and helped her blow it out.  Then we all ate cake and Mattie ate squash- yum.

We love these girlies of ours.