We had a "Pretty and Pink American Girl Doll Luncheon" So she wanted a tiered cake. I have never made a layered cake, let alone a tiered one. But when I called the local bakeries they wanted to charge me wedding cake prices. I am not sure in the end I saved much money. And I spent two days throwing away big mistakes. But in the end I DID IT! I have to admit, I am so proud. Now I can do it quicker and cheaper.
We had a seperate table set up for the dolls to eat minature size food.
The big girls ate Pink Pudding, jam sandwiches (flower shape), fruit, and small cookies and crackers, and sherbert and sprite.
Shauna face painted while my hired help made baloons, and I cleaned up the lunch.
Then the girls did the dolls hair and we took a group picture!
I had Brooke and her friends hang braclets from the trees to find during the Hidden Treasure Hunt.
We hid 6 buckets of surprises around the yard and the girls ran around and tried to find them.
It was such a beautiful day that the girls just loved to get out and run. They had a blast!
I know...another birthday event for Chlesea. I have to admit, by the time her actual American Girl birthday party was here I felt like we had just had the longest extended birthday ever. But I am so glad that we did it, it turned out to be one of the smoothest birthday parties yet. So to all you moms out there with little ones I am going to share what worked for me.
After having the girls from her school class go to the park for 1 hour and 45 min. and realizing that the activities that I had planned lasted 45 min. Everything moves super fast and they are ready for the next activity. (I find that around 8 they do more entertaining themselves). This party was from 11:30-2:00, here is how I schelduled it.
11:30-12:00 make bouquet of paper flowers (kids loved it and it held their attention for 30 min.)
12:00-12:30 Pretty and Pink luncheon
12:15-12:45 Balloons and face painting
12:45-1:00 American Girl Doll hair
1:00-1:15 Hidden Treasures
1:15-1:30 Cake and ice cream
1:30-1:45 Presents
1:45-2:00 American Girl Bingo
We got everything done except Bingo. I definately say that overplanning is better than underplanning. (Until the kids get older)
And I hired one of our babysitters to help me, but if it wasn't for Shauna (my sister) and Connie (one of the girls mom-and good friend) who stayed and helped the whole time, it would have been hard to pull off. So my advise....if one of the moms volunteer to help, let them. Otherwise , ask one of them to help or two, better yet three.
We had such a blast and it was worth every effort!
This has been a week full of fun events worth journaling. So since this blog is my way of journaling our families lives, everyone gets to be involved. Chelsea lost her first tooth.
Check this boy out. I can hardly recongnize him. He was hidden under all that hair. I have not had his hair cut for at least 6 months. I know that is bad, but how else would I ever appreciate his new hair? The before is below!
For family night we flew to Ireland. As you can see Dad was the pilot, and a great one at that! The kids loved it. I am so glad he came home early from work to fly to Ireland with us. I never could have pulled off what he did! We put a movie on about the scenery and animals of Ireland, so as they flew over Ireland, they could see the country.
I served the drinks and fruit roll ups.
We then learned all about their heritage and traditions. We ate Irish Stew, and crusty bread for dinner. Then the kids colored the orange, white and green flag. Then they hunted for the lepercauns. Once they found them, they looked for the rainbows, which of course lead them to pots of gold!
I am so proud of Brooke, she tried out for her first play. I can hardly believe it. Three weeks ago she came home and said she wanted to try out for "The Sound of Music", I blew the whole idea off, because it is a pure musical and Mark and I are not what you would call "Musical". I thought she would forget. Instead, she ran with the idea, and decided if she was going to try out it was up to her. She got the music from her music teacher and practiced in her room, by herself, without any music. She found out when the auditions were. And she borrowed the movie from a neighbor, so she could get the songs right. After alot of hard work and determination, she went and auditioned. The parents could not go into the auditions, but she said there was 4 judges, and she had to go up on a stage, read, and sing a song. In the past she has been timid in front of people, especially performing. But she felt like she had confidence, and that she did well. Whether she makes it or not is fine, but think of the experience. 
Our town has a 5K, and they have a 2 block kid run. This was Luke's first time to run. I actually did not even know he was old enough to run. So he only had his crocks on. But it was no big deal, since he didn't exactly run fast. I asked a friend if he could stay with him, so I could meet him at the finish line. Well, he wouldn't let go of his hand the entire race. Thank goodness for good friends.
Chelsea was counting what number she was. I asked her if she was running fast and she said "Yes, super fast, but it's hard to run fast and count." 
Everyone gets a ribbon and treats. That is the main reason to run.
Chelsea is showing off her #1 race number. I'm not sure if she realizes that everyone is #1 in the kid races.
Now here is the highlight of the night. Brooke ran her first 5K. I was so proud of her. She was going to try and train for it, but time ran away from us. She almost backed out, but she did it! I was so proud of her. Dad ran with her!
Well, he ran with Brooke and Kris Vander Leest.
We had a "Pretty and Pink American Girl Doll Luncheon" So she wanted a tiered cake. I have never made a layered cake, let alone a tiered one. But when I called the local bakeries they wanted to charge me wedding cake prices. I am not sure in the end I saved much money. And I spent two days throwing away big mistakes. But in the end I DID IT! I have to admit, I am so proud. Now I can do it quicker and cheaper.
We had a seperate table set up for the dolls to eat minature size food.
The big girls ate Pink Pudding, jam sandwiches (flower shape), fruit, and small cookies and crackers, and sherbert and sprite.
Shauna face painted while my hired help made baloons, and I cleaned up the lunch.
Then the girls did the dolls hair and we took a group picture!
I had Brooke and her friends hang braclets from the trees to find during the Hidden Treasure Hunt.
We hid 6 buckets of surprises around the yard and the girls ran around and tried to find them.
It was such a beautiful day that the girls just loved to get out and run. They had a blast!
I know...another birthday event for Chlesea. I have to admit, by the time her actual American Girl birthday party was here I felt like we had just had the longest extended birthday ever. But I am so glad that we did it, it turned out to be one of the smoothest birthday parties yet. So to all you moms out there with little ones I am going to share what worked for me.
