Birthday Parties - My babies are 3 and 5

Lexy's 5th and Josiah's 3rd birthays have come and gone. The years continue to fly, but what a wonderful time we had celebrating their lives! I am so blessed to be their Mommy and want to savor every day that I'm given with them. Josiah's Handy Manny Party Josiah insisted on a Handy Manny party, eventhough I could count on one hand the number of times that he's seen the show. We decided to have his party in the gym and set up stations for the kids (ages 2-5) to explore. Each boy received a hard hat with their name and a homemade tool belt (my first sewing project!). The girls received sun visors and garden tool belts. They decorated their hats with stickers as one of the activities.

Of course, Handy Manny had to have his repair truck there. The kids had fun driving it around the gym.

Other stations included: an art station with a tool box to create, work benches and tools, Melissa and Doug cardboard bricks to build with, Mega blocks, Construction Moon Sand set, and a bounce house.

After all their hard work, they took a lunch break...

...and played some more!

Josiah finally got his cake that he talked for days about...and then only a a bite or two!

He also enjoyed opening up his presents from friends and family. Thank you for celebrating with us!

Lexy's Madeline ParTea

Alexis has a reputation of picking hard themes for her birthday. All Madeline decor and toys have been discontinued for the most part. Madeline, however, is her favorite character. She enjoys the movies and books so much. So, we went with it!

Happy Birthday, Alexis!

Of course, a Madeline party had to be set in Paris! The girls enjoyed creating French flags and playing "Pin the flag on the Eiffel Tower."

Her Madeline hat cake (don't look too closely).

So Cute...a friend of mine came across a toy store that no longer needed their Madeline display. They gave it to her, and she gave it to us!

A tea in Paris is a perfect way for a little girl to celebrate her fifth birthday. Each of the girls received their own handmade Madeline hat (idea found at Family Fun).

Lord Cucuface even made an appearance...

...and led the girls in their prayer after the rhyme. "We love our bread, we love our butter, but most of all, we love each other."The girls each got their faces painted. lexy got Madeline on one side and the eiffel tower on the other.

They also visited the Louvre!

They stopped their tour of France with a picture in front of the Eiffel Tower. Notice little Pepito on the left!

We also read "Madeline's Rescue." Afterwards, they had to find Genevieve. Geneveive was a dog pinata.

We took a break to open presents. She was excited to receive American Girl bitty twins!

Lastly, they enjoyed cake and icecream while watching an episode of Madeline.

Now, to enjoy another year with my precious children!

Lexy's 4th Birthday

Lexy has known for 6 months that she wanted to have a baby doll party when she turned four. Since playing with dolls is her favorite activity, it was the perfect party for her. We had a lot of fun planning for this party. She told me different things that she wanted to do. We were able to use many of the things that we already had. Favors and decorations were mainly purchased at the dollar store.

Lexy had a large part in preparing for the party. She and her cousin/friend decorated the cupcakes with minature babies, buggies, pacifiers and bottles found at the dollar store.

She helped me create the invitations by making paper dolls to put on the front. We glued a ribbon on each doll's hair. Inside, we put a poem about Lexy turning four and being a little mommy is what she adores. We told each girl to bring along their favorite baby doll.

As the girls all arrived, they sat down to create paper dolls. Josiah was happy to be their babysitter...at least for a few minutes.

Each girl received $20 of play money. They used their money around the town of "Lexyville." Their first stop was to the Little Mommy Mart. They each bought a diaper bag with their name on it (found at Hobby Lobby), diapers, a bottle, a baby toy, candy nail polish and lipstick, a candy bottle, clothes for their baby, another baby item of their choice (bib, wipes, bowl, etc), and groceries. The items that they bought to fill their diaper bags also served as their party favors.
When their shopping trip was complete, they went "home" to put groceries away and bathe, diaper, clothe, and play with their babies.

My husband ran the Doctor's office, and he did a great job of it. He examined each baby, weighed them, filled out a doctor's report, and gave each baby a birth certificate.


Doctor Daddy had a little helper.

Their babies got their first haircuts at the salon. Then the little mommies treated themselves to manicures.

They took their babies to the library where the librarian (me) talked to them about the importance of reading to their babies. Then we read a story to the babies.

We were blessed with a beautiful day, so the girls took their babies for a walk through the neighborhood.

After the busy morning, the girls were hungry and ready to visit the "Sweet Treat Cafe." They were served peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pretzels, fruit, cupcakes, and ice cream.

The icecream was made to look like little babies.

We visited the "park" (our backyard) with their baby dolls.

Later that day, we celebrated her birthday with family. We played a game of Baby Bingo, opened more gifts, and had some more cake and ice cream!

Mama and Papa suprised her with a homemade dollhouse. This dollhouse has been in the making for about 25 years. The project began when I was a little girl, so I was very excited for it to be completed and given to my little girl to enjoy! She loves playing dollhouse. We will have many years of fun playing together. Papa even added a real picture of Lexy framed on one of the walls. What a great touch!

The dollhouse has a turntable attached so that it can easily be turned around during play.

Phew, what a day! We had such a fun time celebrating with Lexy. I hope that the day was all that she wanted it to be. Memories were definitely made!

2nd Day of Easter AND Lexy's Birthday

Our 2nd day of Easter was shared today with Lexy's 4th Birthday! We did a few Easter activities, but also had fun celebrating her birthday as a family. I can't believe that my baby is four! She will have her "baby doll party" this Saturday and is very excited. Check back for pictures!

We started our morning with our Resurrection Eggs. We reviewed the palm branch ornament and then hung the cup ornament. We read and talked about the last supper.

Next, the children painted some Easter decorations to hang. Once again, Josiah lasted only a few minutes before he was done painting. I've never met a child that didn't enjoy painting until him. He did enjoy dumping his water cup out twice during his 5 minutes of painting. Lexy, my little artist, worked contently for at least half an hour.

Book Basket: Our book today was "The Easter Story" by Patricia A. Pingry. I thought this was a good book for sharing about Jesus' life, God's love, and Jesus' death and resurrection. It was simple enough for a preschooler to grasp.

Easter Movie: I let them pick an Easter movie to watch today. They picked Easter with Max and Ruby.

The rest of the day was full. Lexy took some treats to her ballet class to celebrate her birthday. Then we had lunch at Daddy's work. Mama and Papa came over for cake and ice cream in the evening. She is very excited about being four...a little more excited than I am about it. She was really excited about her two new Madeline movies that Mama and Papa got for her. She will open her gifts from us at her party on Saturday.

Click the following links to see the other days of Easter:
Day 1




To see what other preschoolers are up to, check out the Preschool Corner.

Josiah's 2nd Birthday

We celebrated Josiah's 2nd birthday this weekend with a Sesame Street Party. Everyone had lots of fun! With the help of some friends/family, we made our own decorations and games. My wonderful husband put together lots of Sesame Street songs for us to play during the party. We had pizza - Elmo's favorite food. Here are some pictures...














Feeding Cookie Monster




Playing with rubber duckies




Giving out thank you hugs




Playing with his new tool bench




Eating cake




Yummy!


We had lots of fun. Now, we have to prepare for big sister's party in just a few short weeks!