BIRTHDAY MANIA (Part 2) ~ Alexia is 6 years old!!

First of all...I have to say that time does truly fly by when it comes to raising kids.  How is it even possible that I have a 6 year old...I can still so vividly remember giving birth to both of these precious girls of mine -- and yet, 6 years later I am very aware of how fast they are growing up! 
I would say more about this, but would probably ramble on for so long that I would never get to Alexia's birthday celebrations for this year...I'm sure I'll be reflecting more on this in future blogs...but for now, here is how Alexia chose to celebrate her special day!

Alexia's bithday also fell on a school day, so she picked a snack for me to bring into the class.  The Kindergarten Academy has very strict rules about snacks due to their wellness policy, so no cake/cupcakes/or anyting with sugar allowed!!  BUMMER!!!  So, Alexia picked Microwave Popcorn.  Alexia also has a classmate who shares her actual birthday, so his mom brought in a special snack as well :)

Mrs. Deiter began the birthday celebration by having both Alexia and Vance stand on chairs in the middle of the classroom, while everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to them.  She also had them each share something special that they were going to do for their birthday.
What was very cool is that, on the same day that Alexia had her birthday party and had invited all of the girls from her classroom, Lance had his birthday party and had invited all of the boys to his party -- PERFECT...nobody felt left out of the birthday party madness!

On the evening of Alexia's birthday, it was a last minute surprise that one of her best friend's, Alayna, was able to come have dinner and birthday cupcakes with us!  Alexia and Alayna are such dear friends...they remind me of my best friend, Brenda, and I so very much!!

Now, compared to the prep and work that was required for Megan's party....Alexia made it very easy on me.  She asked for a Swimming Party at the YMCA!  Perfect!!

It was super easy to pull off this party, and Alexia has already announced that she wants a birthday swimming party when she turns 7, 8 and 9 years old!!  I'm not sure what that means we have in store for us for birthday #10, but I'm sure she'll have it all figured out...lol :)

Here they are...all lined up...ready to enter the indoor water park!!

I could not believe how much energy these girls had...especially b/c this was an evening party, but they swam up and down that pool non-stop for over an hour and simply had a blast!!

After the swimming portion of the party (although I think the girls would have been happy to just stay in the pool for the second part of the party), it was time to dry off, change clothes and head back to the party room! 
There, we had pizza, cheese balls, fruit roll ups and birthday cupcakes!

Here's our birthday girl...having a great time!  Does her smile give it away??

Ten of Alexia's friends came from school and church...and the friendship she has with each of them is so different, yet so special.  She loves them dearly!

An extra special surprise for Alexia was that her teacher, Mrs. Deiter, was able to stop in for the party!  I have said this many times, but I believe God hand-picked Mrs. Deiter as Alexia's first teacher...she was a perfect match for Alexia in every way!!

As has become tradition at the girls' parties, I asked Alexia and her friends to stop and pose for a quick "friendship pic" before she opened each of their gifts!

Alexia and Leann




Alexia and Sadie




Alexia and Reese




Alexia and Ava




Alexia and Kassie




Alexia and Cailyn




Alexia and Julia




Alexia and Alayna




Alexia and Keely




Alexia and Hope




Alexia and Megs (hopefully her closest lifelong friend) :)


After opening all of her special gifts, we attempted to get that infamous birthday party group shot...one girl was so tired by this point that she didn't want any part of being in the picture (poor thing), but here is the rest of the gang!

And, of course, they couldn't leave without posing for their "Silly Faces" shot...

I also want to share one "Proud Mom" Moment...while the girls were swimming, I had a chance to talk for a little bit with Alexia's teacher.  She shared with me that earlier in the week, there was a little bit of drama with a few of the girls in the classroom ganging up on another girl (drama...can you imagine??).  Anyway, one of the girls told Alexia that she should "uninvite" that girl to her birthday party.  Mrs. Deiter then shared with me that Alexia immediately stood up to the other girls and told them FIRMLY and BOLDLY that she would NOT do that...that it was not kind and that all of the girls were invited and welcome to come to her party!!  She then went on to give them a short lecture on how doing such a thing would hurt that girls feelings and that they should never treat someone that way.

Aahh...like I said, a very proud mom moment for me.  You know, I sometimes feel like I talk endlessly to the girls about how they should treat others, especially their friends ~ we talk about how to work out disagreements and arguments and how to authentically show someone you are sorry ~ we talk about how to handle conflict and what to do if they (or anyone they know) is ever being picked on or bullied ~ and following each of these conversations, I just hope and pray that they "get it" enough that it will make a difference when it really counts.
Just knowing how Alexia stood up for her classmate when all of the other girls were turning against her simply makes my heart melt!  She "gets it" and I am so very proud of her for making the choices she did in handling that situation. 

Way to go, Alexia...this is just one more sign of what a beautiful, young girl you are...on the inside and out :)  I love you so much!!

BIRTHDAY MANIA -- Megan is 4 Years Old!!

Well, if you look at the date of my last post...I have been MIA for about a month.  Why, you ask?  Because I have been in the midst of Birthday Mania!  Between Alexia and Megan's birthdays and all of their celebrations, as well as a few of their dear friends celebrating birthdays...we have been up to our ears in birthday balloons, birthday cake, birthday presents...basically ALL THINGS BIRTHDAY!  It's been a crazy month, but a super fun month, for sure!
I have hundreds of pics of all the celebrations...but here are a few of my favorites!

My 4 year old Megan...
Celebrating at school with her classmates...I took in cupcakes, which all the kids thoroughly enjoyed!!

For her birthday party this year, she decided she wanted a Berenstain Bears Party...Well, apparently not very many kids love the Berenstain Bears the way that Megan does b/c there was absolutely nothing on the market that I could use for the party...so, with a little bit of internet research, my creative juices got flowing...and this is what we came up with ~

Welcome to Bear Country!  We set everything up downstairs, due to a rainy day...at first, I was disappointed we couldn't do it outside, but everything actually worked out perfectly! 
Here was their entrance to the party...

After everyone arrived, we welcomed them and let them know that each of them had a special picnic basket with their name on it...and that they would use their basket throughout the party!

I would not call myself artistic whatsoever, but here was my attemt at drawing "Sister Bear" who greeted them once they had entered the tree house!

And, of course, we had to have a special cake...this cake was done by "Specialty Cakes" in Mechanicsburg...they never disappoint me -- it was fantastic!!

Ten of Megan's best friends came to her party and she was thrilled...Alexia was there, too, of course and she was Mama Bear's Helper throughout the party!

The first game was "Pin the Bow on Sister Bear"...

Then, we did a series of games/activites that went along with a particular Berenstain Bears Book...I did not read each book, but basically summed up the story and then explained the activity...

Berenstain Bears "Forget their Manners" -- they each were given a little bear container that had different kinds of candy in each one.  They were given instructions to offer their candy to a friend and then receive candy from another friend...all the while practicing use of their "manner words."
I was very aware that this could have backfired on me...lol, but thankfully the kids loved it and each one was thrilled with the candy that they received :)

The next book was "Berenstain Bears and TOO Much TV."  We talked about all the things that they could do besides watch TV and then they had about 20 minutes to play in the treehouse with their friends...

Berenstain Bears "Get the Gimmes."  We talked about how we were going to play a game about giving instead of getting ~ we then played a version of "Hot Potato" only we passed around "Sister Bear" instead of a potato...Megan later told me this was her favorite game!

Next, it was story time....and Scott and Alexia read the book "Going on a Bear Hunt" to the kids...and the kids had to act out the motions to the book...another super fun activity!

After their story time, I asked the kids what bears do when they are hungry and want to eat...thankfully, one of them boldly exclaimed, "They have to go and hunt for food!"  YES!!!  That's right!  So, I explained they were all going to become bears and were going to go on a hunt for their snack! 

Papa Bear led all of the cubs on their search for a snack...

Here's a look at all of the yummy snacks they found on their hunt...

And, once they were finished, they headed back to the treehouse with their goodies...

After their snack, it was time for birthday cake...Megan LOVED it when all of her friends sang Happy Birthday to her...

And let's not forget about the presents...Megan stopped for a quick snapshot with each of her friends before she opened the present they brought for her ~

Megan and Antonio

Megan and Gabby

Megan and Tessa

Megan and Grady

Megan and Connor

Megan and Brody

Megan, with sisters Maddy and Sammy

Megan and Mercedes

We tried mutiple times to get a group shot of all of the kiddos at the end of the party, but it was a challenge to say the least...perhaps I should have tried to do the group shot before we loaded them up on so much sugar...lol :)

Of course, we had to do one "Silly Faces" pic before all was said and done! 

I was so thankful that everything went so well for this party!  Megan was in her glory with all of her friends coming to her house to help her celebrate turning 4 years old!  How a year changes things...last year this time, I think Megan would have gone into hiding if I would have told her 10 friends were coming to our house for her birthday party...this year...she couldn't have had a better time!!!

Happy Birthday, Miss Megs!!  Here's to many more years of fun memories like this one!  I love you so very much, sweet girl :)