At the kids' preschool, they get to bring a special treat for snack time to celebrate their birthdays. So Anna picked out M&M cookies and we brought them in on Wednesday so she could celebrate with her friends. Her teachers gave her a special crown and she was so excited to show me!
Jealous brother wanted his picture taken too. He's struggled a little bit with his sister's extra birthday attention. Check out those dimples!!
This was not staged at all..... somehow the kids managed to launch an attack on both their parents in the same evening!
We've gotten the bikes out a few times and it became quite obvious that Anna's little toddler tricycle was too small for her. So we used some of her Christmas and birthday money and got her a big girl bike. It was crazy hard to put together (of course she had to have the one that was in pieces in a box) but it was all worth it to see her joy!
Jessie even has a place to sit!
On Saturday we FINALLY got to have our Jessie party (Anna decided about 6 months ago that she wanted a Jessie party and has already informed me that she wants a unicorn party for her next birthday). Let me start by saying there are basically no Jessie party stuff out there. I have spent hours on the internet looking for ideas, decorations, balloons, etc. and the absolute only thing I found was an idea to make Jessie's hat cookies (which are on the end of the table). So I had to improvise a lot. But we made it happen and Anna loved it!
I kind of just played it by ear for Anna's Jessie cake and ended up with this.
Anna loved everything, so that's all I needed. It is such a blessing to bring joy to these little ones! :) Here she is checking everything out after she came down from her nap.....
The birthday girl posing with her ever-growing stack of presents. She would ask each person as they came in the door, "Did you bring me a present?" She was so very excited!! (it was a long wait watching both brothers have birthdays before her) Isn't she beautiful?!?!
To come up with more ways to have Jessie things at the party, I decided to print off some coloring pages for the kids. Anna excitedly helped me set up the tables.....
Pleased little girl!
I spent hours looking for a balloon that has Jessie on it but found none. So I edited a movie poster of Jessie holding a three from Toy Story 3 and made prints to put all over the house.
Eating with some of her friends!
Anna also really loves Bullseye (the horse from the Toy Story movies). In my internet searching, I found a pin the tail on Bullseye. I wasn't sure if the kids would like it or not and it ended up being a big hit! Here's Anna getting ready to go first....
It's hard to see Anna with her excited audience.....
She got pretty close!
Collin took a late nap that day and so he was still eating while the kids played and definitely enjoyed his supper entertainment!
Benjamin got really close too!
After all the kids had a turn, they insisted their beloved Mike (who came early and gave us a big helping hand getting ready for the party, thanks Mike!) try it too!
Anna getting ready to open presents.....
The first one she opened was a skirt our friend Michelle got her so she could dance her ballet in. She's really getting into trying to do ballet, so I think we're going to sign her up for a class soon. Needless to say she loved the skirt and wore it the very next day!
She was so sweet running up and happily thanking everyone. Here she's thanking our friend Ryan for all her Hello Kitty presents.....
It was so fun watching her tear into her presents with so much excitement!
Opening a fun easel from Grandma and Grandpa......
I think this is by far their favorite gift. My sister put Anna's face on princess pictures and then made a memory game for her. Benjamin and Anna are really, really into playing memory right now and so my sister really had such a great idea! It's only been about 24 hours since the party and we've played easily 30 games by now!
Checking out a fun Dora guitar from cousin Jack.....
We had already given her our big present, but I had some fun little things for her to unwrap. Unfortunately, our basement flooded the night before her party. Dave and I were up until about 3:30 frantically trying to get the water up. Thankfully, we have a pretty nice home owner's insurance coverage and are having some people take care of the major cleanup of it. Dave and I were handling the whole thing pretty well. However, I lost it and started crying when I remembered at about 2 am that her bag of presents were on the floor in the storage room that had been covered in water. Everything was soaked and at the time I was thinking there was no way I'd be able to find the time to clean the present for her. After we got the ball rolling on getting outside help to fix the basement and I had sucked up most of the standing water, I cleaned off the plastic toys and threw the cloth ones in the wash and was thankfully able to get everything ready for her. It was a silly thing to get emotional about, but I was just really wanting a special day for my special girl and was afraid that wasn't going to happen. We are so blessed though and ended up having a fantastic party for our cupcake and she loved the things I had picked out for her.....
Benjamin and Anna enjoying all the new gifts....
Collin giving his tough guy expression (one that's often on his face) while toddling around with Cousin Katrina......
Anna happily waiting for the Happy Birthday to Yous to begin. :)
Happy Birthday!!!!!
We had some very happy kids on our hands with all the sweet treats!!!
The kids were getting a little wild after all that sugar, so I thought they needed something fun to focus on. Benjamin's Aunt Kelly got him a dancing Wii game for his birthday. The kids just have to hold the Wii remote and do the same dance moves on the screen and it tracks how well they are doing. It is a really fun game and Benjamin just loves it! All the kids had so much fun dancing (especially our little hip shaker, Collin) which meant all the adults had a great time watching!
It was a great party and we are so thankful to have so many wonderful family and friends who are excited to love on our little girl and celebrate her with us!
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