Essie's BirthDAY

I totally forgot to post about Essie's actual BirthDAY!  The night before we ate birthday cake pancakes and she opened her birthday pajamas.  Travis and I both had to work that day so we didn't get to take her out for lunch like we always do.  She did choose to go to Purple Cow for dinner.  We invited Lexie to go with us and they even sang Happy Birthday to her.  It was precious to see her little sweet face light up! 

Afterwards she chose to go bowling...we had such a blast!

Beach Vacay 2014

This year we got to go on our very first REAL beach vacation.  We went way back in June (the week we got out of school in fact!).  We set out Saturday afternoon after E's final T-ball game and headed on to Gulf Shores.

I found a great condo at The Beach Club at Fort Morgan and we LOVED it.  We didn't get there until midnight and then hubs and I went to Wal-Mart for groceries so we got in around 2 am.  The next morning came early and we couldn't wait to get on the beach.  Each day we pretty much had the same routine...wake up/eat breakfast and head to the beach.  Stay at the beach for awhile, hit the pool for a bit and then lunch.  We then would drive into town or hang out during the hottest part of the day and then end our day back at the beach/pool. 

 The girls loved shopping for souvenirs!  They loved this shark mouth!

 

The beach at sunset is now my happy place! I was obsessed with it!

 I loved sitting by the pool and reading. 

 Essie was obsessed with seashell hunting!  She found bag after bag of them.

 One of our favorite places was LuLu's ...the girls did the hamster balls and we saw dolphins while we waited. 

 We went crab-hunting at night...we were not fans!

Our last night we took family pics on the beach!

We had a blast and cannot wait to go back!  We made so many memories and are definitely beach folks now!

A "Kinder-filled" day...

We had a very "Kindergarten" filled day this week.  First, we took Essie to her 5 year old/kindergarten physical.  She weighs 42 pounds and is 44 inches tall.  She gained 6 pound and 3.5 inches from last year's exam.  She did not pass her hearing screener but I think it may be due to her not fully participating.  Our school nurse will re-examine her again when school starts.

Afterwards we headed to target so we could school supply shop.  She thought this was a blast...I just think back to all the years I couldn't wait to have a little one to school supply shop with!  We got all her supplies and she is beyond excited now.

Then when we got home she found that she had gotten some mail! She received her invitation to our school's Kindergarten Camp!  I love that she will get to go with me this year!

FIVE Photoshoot

A local photographer was hosting a mini photo session to raise money for a little boy needing a service dog so we signed you up!  The pictures were taken in a beautiful field of flowers and I think they turned out beautifully. 

Essie's Frozen-tabulous Fifth Birthday Partaaay

Essie (like every other person in this world) is OBSESSED with Frozen.  She decided last November that she wanted a Frozen themed birthday party.   We decided to have the party at home since our house looks like the lodge in the movie with all our wood trim! Ha! We probably spent less than $30 on decorations for the house. I lucked into a ton of Christmas clearance at 90% off so the majority of her decorations/favors came from that. I bought a roll of white tablecloth at HobLob and used a 40% off coupon.  That tablecloth was used for so many things and we still have tons leftover!

We didn't decorate outside very much...we hung some pompoms I made from large packs of white tissue paper that I got for pennies.  A friend gave me the Frozen Stand-Up thing and we had to put out our balloon wreath of course.  I printed Olaf at a print shop and he greeted our guests as they arrived.

When you walked into our foyer ....I cut snow drifts from the white tablecloth roll and hung them on all our doorframes.

 Our favor table...Oaken's trading post.  Kids got to "shop" as they left.  There was Troll Slime (silly string), candy carrots, carrot straws, build-a-snowman kits with handmade bag toppers with Essie's Frozen drawings, and Frozen hair ties.

Our back room was the focus of the party.  I love the white wood ceilings back there and I wanted to play them up.  Our food table...white tablecloth, glitter wrapping paper, and  shimmer fabric topped the table.  We printed a large screenshot from the movie and framed it with blue plastic tablecloth, rhinestones, and a snowball wreath.  Icicle lights wrapped the room. Tinsel trees flanked the table.

 Our menu:

 Essie's ice-castle painting that she painted in art class was front and center.

The rest of the backroom

 How adorable is this cute birthday girl?! I loved the outfit I found on etsy!

The kitchen was more for the adults and we had a separate food table for them.  

 The photo booth was a hit! We printed out the ice castle and I bought the props at HobLob!

 We found snowflake headbands on clearance so the kids wore them instead of headbands!  Es was so excited to see her friends!

 After everyone ate, we played "pin the hair on Duke of Weselton".

 Our house was filled...we love our house full of people.  Its never happier.

 Another game we played was "Find Sven's carrots".  I found plastic carrot Easter eggs at Easter and bought a bunch, filled them with candy, and hid them outside.  The kids had Sven bags to put them in.  They were so excited and chomping at the bit.

 It was perfect timing that as soon as we were done with Sven's eggs Kona Ice pulled up!  I hired them to serve Sno-cones to everyone!  The kids flipped out when that truck showed up blasting the Frozen Soundtrack!

 Essie got to get on the truck and make her own sno-cone!

 She loved getting to pass them out to the kids!

 It was the hottest day of the year and you could tell where the shade was....

 We LOVE Kona Ice....

 After Kona Ice, E got to open her mound of gifts and we ate cake. She was so blessed to have loving friends.  She got a ton of craft kits...her friends know her so well!

 Once the party was over and most people cleared out, we had a Troll Slime fight with the left-over Silly String!

When E crawled in bed that night she thanked us for a great day.  It was so special to see her smile and laugh so much.  She really had a great time and is already planning her 6th birthday! Ha!