A Picture Post

Laila has been 5 now for almost a month...so perhaps it is time to show some proof of the celebration:)

The girls had a lunch buffet and pink lemonade

This was our 'photo booth' for the princesses to dress up and get a pic with the birthday girl

 For the craft the girls painted wooden vanity mirrors and then added rhinestones and glitter

       

The mirrors dried and then Jon screwed the glass part back in and we popped them into the princess paper bags and they doubled as the party favor:)

Laila had a fabulous time playing dress up, painting, and spending a great afternoon with her friends!  This birthday feels like such a 'marker' in time for Jon and I; we have been parents now for half a decade and we have a 'kindergarten-er'.  So crazy how life really does fly, especially once you have children!

For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanishes away (James 4:14).

My precious little babe:)

  When you live near all of your children's grandparents, celebrating said children's birthdays can get a little crazy.  Sometimes the birth'day' turns into birth'week', having a birthday dinner here, a birthday lunch there, etc.  Why not just combine all friends and fam into one big bash, one might wonder?  Well, we have done that, many times and will again.  But sometimes it just works out, for schedules sake & for the love of simplicity, to divide and conquer.  This was one of those times.  So, hence, the week long celebration of Maier's 3rd year festivities have finally come to a halt.  They began last week with chocolate cupcakes and strawberries{at Maizel's request}for her preschool class, and ended, several events later, last night after dinner with Gramps, Gigi, and Uncle D.

I thought I would wrap up my littlest lover's crazy week with sort of an official introduction to her.  Bullet point style:)

Maier Rose:

• Born on February 29th; yes, that's right.  Leap year.  Whatever the heck that really means.
• Weighing 8 lbs 3 oz
• Welcomed by a dad, mom, and 19 month old big sister

• She spent the first year of her life being fairly reserved with new people; you had to work to get a smile from this cautious babe{unless of course your name was mom, dad, or sister}
• She had a way with her big blue eyes right from the start

please don't feel bad if you have the urge to laugh at this pic;
this is one of 'those' baby pictures that cracks me up so laugh away:)

• During her second year, she became besties with her sister and her pacy
• And threw caution to the wind by falling down a flight of stairs, tripping and breaking her front tooth in half, and eating anything in sight {including any green leafy thing and art supplies}
• This is the year that her love affair with baby dolls began
• I gave her, her first hair cut:)

• During this last, most recent year of her life, so much has changed and grown; from '2' to '3' is a crazy leap in the year of a little one!
• She has become independent, bossy, a conscious dare devil, hilarious, a little mommy{still obsessed with anything 'baby'}, and more affectionate{always saying I love yous}
• Those ever present blue eyes and trade mark teeth 'have me hello' every stinkin day
• Conquered her fear of the water and learned to swim with floatys and sometimes w/out in the pool
• She began her first year at preschool, and talking became the norm as a result!
• She has said 'good bye' to her pacy's; passing them on to the Pacy Fairy so that they will be recycled to a 'new' baby, little Scarlette;)

oh how I will miss that "pacy mouth" :(

first day of school

So there you have her, in a nut shell.  Of course I could write pages and pages about her and all her amazingness at pitching fits and her creative mind.  But then again, I haven't written in her baby book for I don't know how long.  I should probably go find it and record some stuff while I can remember!  

Maier's 3rd birthday & a recipie

So it was a successful party over this past weekend; we had one big giant play date outside {thank goodness the weather was amazing-65 degrees and sunny} complete with all the bikes, scooters, and mini-motorized vehicles for riding, a {free/borrowed} jumpy castle for the static cling, and a craft table for the artists.

Umm, Maier?  Are you crashing from a sugar high?  

The parents of all the children that came are also mine and Jon's friends, (many of them already knowing each other), so the adults got to enjoy some great company while our kids enjoyed the fresh air and amusements of freedom outside:)  I didn't get any pictures of the 'grownups'!!  I can't believe that!

I wish I had taken more pictures and better ones of the b.day banner; it was glittery but none of my pics show it well, bummer.

And as I mentioned before, we sang happy birthday and Maier blew out her 3 candles on some Oreo Surprise and it was so good.  And I took pics to I can share the recipe with those of you that were interested in it from Kayla's shower:)  If you hadn't considered it before, you definitely  should because I'm telling you, this is the easiest crowd pleasing dessert you can find!


(Disclaimer: I doubled my recipe b/c I wasn't sure how much we would need; 10 adults+12 kids=more than enough.  We will be eating Oreo surprise for a week! But 1 batch wouldn't have been enough.  The recipe below is for one 'batch':

Oreo Surprise

• 1 bag of oreos or any chocolate/cream sandwich cookies
• 1 large tub of cool whip
• 1 large box of vanilla or french vanilla instant jello pudding plus the milk it calls for
• a little milk in a bowl for dipping cookies

Directions:

1. In a bowl mix pudding according to directions on the box;don't forget to let set for a full 5 min. in the fridge
2. Then mix in the cool whip with the pudding**Cool whip needs to be thawed to a soft consistency so it mixed well
3. Then in your dessert dish you will begin the first layer with the cookies; dip each oreo into milk and make one flat layer.
4. Cover cookies with a layer of pudding mixture
5. Do this until pudding/cookies are gone or your dish is full; and you can crumble some cookies on top for the last bit.
6. Refrigerate for a few hours to 'set' so it won't be soupy.

This is so easy and you can really get creative with the flavors of pudding, cookies, and toppings.  I hope you try it!