Happy Birthday to Garrett!

Garrett turned 5 a few weeks ago and we partied it up pirate style. He has been planning his pirate party since we had Abby's princess party in January. Of course, Greg was able to get Garrett in tears a few times when he told him we were just using Abby's princess stuff and having another princess party, but the pirates pulled through on the big day! 

He couldn't wait to open his presents and was even sweet enough to let Abby help.

Greg got Garrett a little set of toolbags he can wear when he helps Greg at work. Garrett loves to go work with his dad and was excited about his toolbags that are just like dad's.

Grandpa Willy and Grandma Jan gave Garrett this baseball glove and ball. Garrett was so excited and I found myself getting a little choked up thinking about Garrett being old enough to play baseball this year.

Of course, we had to share some good family baseball stories and Greg did his best impersonation of one of his brothers who especially loved America's Favorite Pastime. (Any guess who he might be here?)

 I asked Willy if the gift included a contract promising he would pay to replace all of the windows broken by the above baseball. He told me that over all of the years with all of his kids, they only had one window broken by a ball...and it was a soccer ball. Greg started laughing and shared the story of how his dad had told him not to kick the soccer ball against the side of the house, but of course, he kept doing it until he broke a window in the garage. He panicked and found a huge rock and set it in the garage by the broken glass. When Willy came home, Greg told him somebody had thrown a rock through the garage window and broken it. Willy got upset and was ready to call the police when Greg figured he better just come clean and tell the truth. It's been a favorite family story ever since.

Garrett also got his first set of real Legos and has had so much fun building with them. Grandpa Willy needed a little screwdriver to assemble something that came with the Legos and was pretty impressed by lovely pink toolkit.

As previously mentioned, Garrett had requested a Jake and the Neverland Pirates party. (It's a Disney show he loves). For about 30 seconds, I dreamed of inviting all of his little friends over and throwing a pirate party worthy of Pinterest, but then I came to my senses and bought some cheap decorations at Wal-Mart, hung up some crepe paper, and invited our families over to celebrate. I figure I'll hold off on the billion dollar friend parties until he is old enough to actually ask for one and care.

We grabbed a bunch of his pirate toys from his room and threw them on the table with the cake and it turned out great!

Speaking of cake, I was pretty proud of this one. I bought a simple cake from Sam's Club and put some of his pirate toys on it. It was really cute and he loved it!

Garrett cracked us up when told us he wanted to have a "surprise party." He had us rolling when he explained exactly how it would work and even made us practice where we were going to stand and what we were going to say when he walked in for the big "surprise." When it was time for the party, I sent him out back with Greg while our families came in. Our families are such good sports and even dressed up as pirates for the big occasion. Garrett was so excited when he came in!

Garrett had been telling us for several weeks he really wanted "The Jolly Roger" (Captain Hook's pirate ship) for his birthday. He already had a pirate ship and I had decided I wasn't going to buy it for him because I didn't think he didn't needed two, but that's what grandparents are for. My parents didn't want him to be disappointed on his big day and came through with the beloved Jolly Roger. Garrett was thrilled! Thank heavens for grandparents who are nicer than moms and dads.

We have the cutest video of Garrett when he walks in to his "surprise party," but I can't get it to load. I'll keep trying. 

V-Day Etc.

I can't even remember why they were so tired, but I love this picture of Greg and Abby. Little sleepyheads!

I've basically been a lousy wife/mother/person in general for the past few months. I am so excited and grateful for the opportunity to have another baby, but I am so sick of being sick!!! I usually try to go all out on holidays and make them special for our family, but I just didn't have it in me to do much this Valentine's Day. I wasn't feeling up for a trip to the store to buy Valentines, so I just pulled out our basic old art supplies and let the kids have at it. They had so much fun and did such a cute job with them that I felt okay about my previous lack of V-Day planning.

The kids love to play dress-up when we go to my parents' house. Somehow this awesome wig found its way into the dress-up box and onto Abby's head. We all got a good laugh and she thought she was absolutely hilarious!

Happy Birthday, Miss Abby!

Our little Abby is three years old! (She actually thinks she is five--like Garrett and Gracie--and will tell you she is five if you ask her.) She loves all things Disney Princess and has been talking for months about her Princess Birthday Party. Greg and I decorated the house after she went to bed and she was absolutely thrilled when she woke up. I totally forgot to take pictures of the decor. It was simple, but really cute and I think we met all of her expectations. :) 

Grandma and Pops came down to visit and give her a birthday present. She loved the Cinderella doll and dress!

We went to Pizza Plus (the kids' favorite) for a special birthday dinner. Abby loves her breadsticks, pepperoni pizza, and ranch dressing!

She was so excited to open her birthday presents when we got home. Garrett couldn't wait to give her this little Princess wagon to haul all of her treasures around in. 

We had our families over on Sunday to celebrate her big day. I woke up sick and we just happened to get a massive snowstorm that day, so we almost cancelled the party. Poor Abby was so excited, though, and enough people still wanted to come that we went ahead with it and had a glorious time.

It's sure nice to have this cute little smiling face back with us!

Abby got all decked out in her best party clothes and was ready to welcome her guests.

My Aunt Paula's family is the best and you can always count on them for fun. I told them we were having a Princess party, so they came all decked out in their Princess gear. The kids loved it! I didn't get pictures of Marlee and Marijka, but they were also looking quite dashing.

We had a fun little surprise for Abby to open. She wasn't nearly as excited about it as everybody else was!

I figured Brooklyn would be among the most excited, and I was right. She was way more excited than Garrett and Abby.

 

Greg was happy just to drink his DC and try to stay out of the spotlight.

Abby loved her cake! Brian and Sher braved the storm to deliver the cake and we decorated it up with Abby's new princesses from Grandma Jan and Grandpa Willy.

We hope it was a fantastic birthday for our little Abbs and that her Princess party was everything she had been dreaming of.