Good Things Come...To Birthday Girls

Later in the evening we had our family party for McKenna. Poor Dave had to work late, but that gave me time to bake more layers for her cake. Apparently this ballerina Barbie is taller than the one I had measured with earlier. It was 6:00 when I discovered that the cake only came up to her thigh. A few pictures to kill some time... Finally, Daddy arrived at 9:00 PM with a ladybug Snuggle Pet (knock off Pillow Pet from Macey's...the kids can't tell the difference), McDonald's, and flowers for the birthday girl. What a sweet Daddy.

I'd like to think that I am a genius. McKenna loves combing my wet hair after a shower, so I bought her a hair tool play kit (blow dryer, brush, curling iron, etc.). And with no sisters to use it on that means I get more hair-playing time on me!! Whahoo!

We love our sweet McKenna. She is still a little Mommy to her brothers, so good with little Ryan, but she can definitely be heard when they bug her. She loves to dress up, dance, sing, and play with her princess polly pockets, but loves a good wrestle or pillow fight with her brothers and Daddy.

Happy Birthday, McKenna! We love you!!

Princess McKenna's Party

McKenna's 3rd birthday was a princess theme. I've never thrown a friend's party for such a young age...but then again, this is really only the second real friend party I've ever done. The invitations asked the guests to wear their "princess best". I gave each girl a tiara when they arrived. Four girls were invited which is plenty with a group this age.

Alena, McKenna, Abbie, Kalista, and Chloe

The girls all danced to songs from princess movies while I finished lunch.

They loved the pretty decorations!

If only these pictures had sound! Girls are loud on a whole different level than boys.

My friend heard I was running out of time and volunteered to draw this Cinderella for a "Pin the Tiara on The Princess" game. McKenna cheated. :)

Then it was time for presents. The girls got so excited over each one. McKenna got some really fun things. The hour and a half went by quickly. I gave the girls a goodie bag full of princess stickers, bracelets, snacks, etc. and took them home.

The aftermath.

Oh how quiet my house felt went I returned home. They sure left a wake of disaster. It was a lot of fun and I would do it again. It made McKenna so happy.

My Inner Princess

Don't get me wrong, I have loved making birthdays for my boys...but making a princess party was heavenly! I spent many shopping trips in the wedding aisle and even drew sketches of my ideas. Fancy Nancy books were actually a great inspiration too! At one point Dave asked me if this party was for McKenna or for me. I had to admit that it was mostly for me. But really, is there anything wrong with that?

I cut up a plastic table cloth and added tulle to decorate the chairs.

I downloaded the Disney font and made these place cards for each princess guest. And yes, I added plastic gems to the spoons. The dollar store was a great place for the doilies, plates, and cups.

I found these crowns in the dollar section at JoAnns and they were half off! They were just unfinished wood so McKenna and I painted and glittered them. I loved how they turned out.

Poor Ry Guy

Ryan recently had a little trip to the hospital. Poor baby. He had a rash in his diaper area for a few days. Most of the bumps cleared up, but one got infected and turned into an abscess. We noticed it early Monday morning and by the next diaper change it had doubled in size. By Monday afternoon it had tripled, so I called Dave at work and they said to bring him in. One of the surgeons Dave works with tried to lance and drain it, but it was far too big at that point. He recommended that we take him straight to Primary Children's Hospital. By the time we got to the ER it had grown even more and was very red. They started an IV, which took far too long and about 3 tries. Ryan just cried and looked at me with sad little eyes that were begging me to make them stop. They took him into surgery around 8 PM and everything went well. They made an incision at the top and bottom of the long abscess and threaded a drain (tube) under the skin. This would help the rest of the junk drain out. It was nasty-looking and my stomach turned when I saw it. He spent two days in the hospital while the IV antibiotics did its job. He mostly slept and didn't care to move around too much. I had to toughen up, and after many dry heaves, eventually became the soul diaper-changer. I was very proud of myself! My friends were amazing and took care of my other kids while Dave was at work. I was so thankful for them! We even got a visit and dinner from my parents. He came home on Wednesday and I felt that fear when you take a newborn home for the first time. Luckily Dave took the rest of the week off to help out. He has healed well and without complications. We have appreciated all the prayers in our behalf! Check out my sweet digs.

Guess who's learning to play this?

Derek!
Derek started piano lessons this month. I haven't had too much experience with piano. I'm afraid my one semester of piano at BYU will not be enough to help him, but so far so good. He's very excited and seems to be understanding it so far. He's even started "composing" his own songs.

The Best Morning of the Year

Christmas at our house starts when everyone is awake. It's hard to spring out of bed when you've been asleep for 2 hours, but I tried. The kids pushed and pulled and finally got me going after 30 minutes of torture. We plugged in the lights and turned on the music and Christmas began. I love the excitement on kids' faces as they open their presents. I couldn't resist Snuggies for half price. My kids went crazy over this gift.

After opening presents, we ate our traditional breakfast of cinnamon rolls, bacon, scrambled eggs, and egg nog. Yum! Later we drove to my parents' house and continued the celebration...watch for a details in another post.

Christmas Eve

This was a very stress-free Christmas Eve. I finished most of my projects the week before and postponed my unfinished ones for the week after. The day was spent playing games with my kids, delivering neighborhood gifts, acting out the nativity scene, and eating Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner. It was wonderful.

The Nativity Cast (Some had to play two parts...we need more kids.)

Dave always has to add flare to things...in case you were wondering, he's King Herod. :)

The kids each opened a gift that night. Yep, jammies....surprise, surprise.

Dave and I stayed up until late watching "It's a Wonderful Life" and wrapping last minute gifts. (Okay, so he fell asleep early into the movie and I stayed up until 5 am wrapping gifts...that's a little more accurate.) I love Christmas Eve and the anticipation of the following morning!