Happy 8th Birthday, Lily!

On Saturday, August 3rd, Lily celebrated her 8th Birthday! It's so hard to believe my baby girl is 8 years old. I swear, I just had her, but she grew up far too quickly. I just want her to stay little, sweet, and innocent for as long as possible!

Lily's Birthday was a busy one, and she had to share her special day with a family event. My family reunion is always the first Saturday in August, so every few years, Lily's birthday is the same day as the reunion. She didn't seem to mind one bit. She celebrated her birthday with some of the people she loves most, and had the loudest happy birthday song! She said her birthday was so much fun!

One of our birthday traditions is to have a mini photoshoot, and answer questions in a yearly birthday interview. I love seeing how their answers change from year to year, and I love watching them grow! Motherhood truly is bittersweet - you want to watch your children grow, but you also want them to stay little. I honestly love my kids' birthdays so much more than my own, so we make birthdays a BIG deal around here!

Here's how we celebrated Lily's 8th Birthday...

Eight is Great!

Alexandria Elizabeth
Age: 8
Stats: 4'3" and 51 lbs




1. FAVORITE COLOR? Pink
2. FAVORITE TOY? American Girl Doll
3. FAVORITE CHARACTER? Jessie
4.FAVORITE SUPERHERO?  Wonderwoman
5. FAVORITE FRUIT? Blueberries!  (She finally tried them a few days ago for the first time in 6 1/2 years, and she loved them!)
6. FAVORITE VEGETABLE?  Corn.
7. FAVORITE BREAKFAST?  Chocolate Chip Pancake Minis
8. FAVORITE CEREAL? Fruity Pebbles
9. FAVORITE LUNCH?  Velveeta Mac and Cheese
10. FAVORITE DINNER?  Mashed Potatoes and Gravy with Corn
11. FAVORITE DRINK? Iced Tea
12. FAVORITE SNACK? Banana Twins Snack Cakes
13. FAVORITE RESTAURANT? Olive Garden
14. FAVORITE TV SHOW? Jessie
15. FAVORITE MOVIE? Titanic
16. FAVORITE ACTOR/ACTRESS?  Bridgit Mendler from Good Luck, Charlie
17. FAVORITE SONG?  Dynamite by Taio Cruz
18. FAVORITE SINGER/BAND? Fifth Harmony
19. FAVORITE BOOKS?  Junie B. Jones is a Party Animal
20. FAVORITE BOOK SERIES? Junie B. Jones
21. FAVORITE OUTFIT? My tiger t-shirt with lace-trimmed jean shorts.
22. FAVORITE GAME?  Minecraft
23. FAVORITE SPORT?  Gymnastics
24. FAVORITE ANIMAL?  Bunny
25. FAVORITE PLACE TO GO? The Mars Park
26. FAVORITE THINGS TO DO? Play Xbox with Dylan, go visit Nina and Papa, and have a sleepover with Aubrey.
27. FAVORITE SUBJECT?  Science
28. FAVORITE STUFFED ANIMAL?  BunBun (and Blankie)
29. FAVORITE DAY OF THE WEEK? Friday
30. FAVORITE MONTH?  July. It's a very exciting part of the year!
31. FAVORITE SEASON?  Summer
32. FAVORITE HOLIDAY?  Christmas
33. WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND? Aubrey!  Also McKenna. Oh, and BunBun and Blankie.
34. WHO DO YOU LIKE TO PLAY WITH?   Aubrey and Dylan!
35. WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY?  When my family is all together!
36. WHAT SCARES YOU?  The Titanic sometimes haunts me and will for the rest of my life, but I'm into it!
37. WHAT MAKES YOU SAD? When there's a tornado.
38. WHAT DO YOU WISH FOR? A Live Pet hamster! (That would be a toy. Of course, she has a real hamster named Coco Loco, and she adores him!)
39. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY?  When I had Cosette.  She felt like a sister.  (Our cat who passed away.)
40. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?   A vet
41. DISLIKES?  When Dylan pinches me!  (This one was followed by giggles!)

Eight really is great!  I'm SO proud of this sweet, loving, kind, compassionate girl.  She truly is beautiful inside and out!

The Party

What do you do when a big winter storm passes through on the day of your birthday party? Party on!!!

We celebrated Lexie's 8th Birthday with our immediate family members and closest friends on the day before Lexie turned 8! During the snowstorm. It was quite a day, that's for sure!

Shortly after we woke up, I walked past the window, and noticed that it had snowed a ton overnight.  The roads were completely covered with several inches of snow.  Even worse, the snow was still falling. Rapidly. 

My heart sunk as I realized her party would have to be postponed, and I felt even worse after we broke the news to Lexie.  She burst into tears, just as I expected.  Her dog had just passed away two days before, and then her party had to be rescheduled.  I felt awful. 

BUT...we have THE best family and friends around.  When I called and sent texts to everyone who was invited, they all said they would still come!  I was truly surprised and so thankful!

This year, we decided to keep it small.  We only invited grandparents, parents, siblings, and closest friends.  Lexie chose to redo her bunny theme in honor of her lovey, BunBun.  This made it extremely easy for me, because all the Easter stuff was out in the stores!

After a hectic morning of trying to decide what to do, we had to rush to get everything set up in time for the first party for family. We finished just as the first guest arrived, and I only had a chance to take one picture of the food and decor.  By the time I had another free moment, the food was half eaten and the house was a mess!

That's real life, and this is all I have!



For our bunny-themed food (there was also non-bunny-themed food), we had:

• Carrots and Celery with Ranch Dip
• Cheetos "Carrots"
• Cheese Ball "Bunny Tails" 
• Veggie Straws
• Organic Bunny Fruit Snacks 
• Bunny Cookies

The big hit was a pretzel stick, "bunny tails" (mini marshmallows),  and "bunny poo" (chocolate chips) snack tray with vanilla frosting in the middle.  Seriously.  Everybody loved it, and I refilled that tray so many times!

Everybody arrived quickly.  After some mingling, playing, and going outside in the snow, it was time for presents!  Lexie got a kindle fire, gift cards, money,  an entire Mi World, craft sets, pajamas, a journal, a necklace, lip gloss, and a stuffed turtle.



After presents, we moved on to the cake!  Once again, BunBun topped her cake,  and some bunny-adorned cupcakes were the perfect sidekick!





Lexie is so lucky to have such an amazing family who loves her so very much!





By the time the family party ended, the roads looked a bit better.  Everybody made it home safely! Aubrey (my niece and Lexie's BFF) stayed at our house for a sleepover, so she and Lexie ran off to play while we quickly cleaned up the house and set up for the party with our friends.

We didn't get much of a break before Birthday Party Round Two began!

Awesome presents (an American Girl doll double bed, doll hair salon and accessories, clothes, craft sets, gift cards, and money. Lucky girl!)...



More cake...




Fun with friends...



A happy boy on a sugar high...



The infamous bunny tails and bunny poo snack...



And the perfect bunny-themed favors:



It was such a fun night, and we are so blessed to have an amazing group of friends!  They really are our "chosen" family!




As if the excitement of two parties wasn't enough, we concluded the day with a huge sleepover.  11 kids total in my house!  Let's just say I stayed up late and woke up early! 



Despite the rocky, uncertain start, the day turned out perfectly!  Lexie had a great day of celebrating with those who love her most!

Happy 8th Birthday, Lexie!!!

Eight years ago, on February 22nd, at 4:16 PM,  a beautiful little girl entered the world.  Our sweet Alexandria Elizabeth captured our hearts at that very moment, and never let go.





Last week was incredibly rough for our family, so we were determined to give Lexie the best birthday we possibly could.  We didn't want her to remember her 8th birthday happening during a time of sadness. Birthdays are always extremely special in our family, and we may have stepped it up a notch this year.  She is worth it!

All Lexie wanted for her birthday was a REAL American Girl Doll. We picked one out that had the same hair color, eye color, and skin color as Lexie.  It arrived on the same day that our beloved dog passed away.  After watching her cry, Grant and I decided to cheer her up with an early birthday present.  Although it didn't take away her pain, she was thrilled!  The price may have been hard to swallow, but she truly loved it.



The day before her birthday, we had two birthday parties for Lexie, during a snowstorm, followed by a sleepover with 7 additional kids.  (That post coming soon!)  On the morning of her birthday, she woke up to a new sweater hanging from her chandelier, a houseful of family and friends, and our traditional doughnut breakfast!

After everyone, except for her cousin and BFF, Aubrey, left, we surprised Lexie with a few extra presents.  One from Dylan, one from Lily, and one from Liam! She loved her FurReal Friends Luvimals Sweet Singin' Bunny, doll camping set, and American Girl Doll Yorkie in a carrier!




The rest of the afternoon was spent playing and napping!




We all left the house around 3:30.  My niece met up with us to get Aubrey, and we met up with a friend who let Lexie pick out a gift.  After shopping, we headed over to Olive Garden for Lexie's birthday dinner (her choice), but there was a really long wait.

She was very disappointed, but we compromised with her second choice: A local restaurant called the Deckhouse.  It turned out to be a big success!  Dinner was delicious, we ran into family we hadn't seen in a while, the kids were extremely well behaved, and Lexie got to spin the birthday wheel and won $5!



After dinner, we ended up at Petco! Lexie had a hamster named Toby for 2 years, and she adored him.  She took such great care of him, and was devastated when he passed away.  We never replaced him, but still had his cage and supplies.  She still mentions Toby frequently, and has been talking about wanting another hamster.  After our dog was put to sleep on Thursday, Grant felt awful, and promised Lexie a hamster for her birthday. 

Lexie picked out an adorable, sleeping hamster.  Well...psycho hamster bit the lady who was boxing her up for Lexie, shook the box the entire way home, then chewed a hole through the bottom of the box and escaped.  Luckily, she has since calmed down, and seems very friendly. That being said, Coco earned the nickname Loco Coco! But Lexie is in love, and I have no doubt they will be best friends!



That evening, Lexie, Dylan, and Grant went to a friend's house for a few hours.  When they got home, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Lexie, had cupcakes and ice cream, and took a few pictures with our favorite 8 year old!







As Lexie's special day came to an end, she got ANOTHER unexpected surprise: A 2 hour delay at school the following morning!  She got to stay up late, and finally had a chance to read the special birthday letter I wrote to her in her birthday card.  She was pleased!



Lexie had a birthday every bit as wonderful as she is! She said it was the best day, and it was full of fun and full of love!



Happy 8th Birthday, Lexie Bean! You are truly beautiful inside and out. You are a wonderful sister, and you are Liam's number one fan. You take such good care of him, and we know you will always defend him, and everyone you love, with every ounce of your being! You are so smart and so sweet. You are compassionate, responsible, polite, funny, strong, and mature. You love fiercely. You have a beautiful voice, and we see your talent and confidence blossoming. We are SO proud of you, sweet girl! Even though we want you to stay our baby girl forever, we can't wait to see what the world holds for you. We know you'll do great things! We love you forever and ever!

Celebrating Dylan

On November 24th, our family and friends gathered to celebrate Dylan's 8th Birthday!

It was a last minute, thrown together party.  With everything that had happened during the previous month, we weren't exactly sure that we were going to have it in us to plan a big birthday party, but as the day neared, we felt guilty.  We rented out the community room at our local library (it was perfect!) and threw together a party for our sweet boy!  He insisted on a Halo theme, but there really wasn't much we could do with that, other than a cake.  Despite the lack of planning and the fact that there were more last minute cancellations than party guests, Dylan had a GREAT party!

In fact, he insisted it was the best party ever!  I guess we did something right!






























After several hours, the fun (AKA mass chaos) came to an end.   We quickly cleaned up and loaded up our SUV.



The party was a success.  Dylan was surrounded by his loved ones, got some great gifts, and had so much fun!

The fun didn't end there.  Many of the guests returned to our house for an after-party.  We ate all the leftovers and just hung out. Somehow, the party turned into a slumber party!  3 of Dylan's friends slept over and my great-niece, Aubrey, had a sleepover with Lexie!



We were up SO late, but it was worth it.  We created a memorable 8th Birthday for Dylan!