Happy 5th Birthday, Madison!

Bounce U was such a hit for the girls' parties last year that Maddie just insisted on going back this year for her party!  Who says variety is the spice of life?

These three kids were thrilled to pieces to be back at Bounce U!

There was bouncing basketball...

and all kinds of cool slides. 

These fearless girls had a blast...

as did all of Maddie's classmates and friends who came to celebrate with her.

She loved her Tinkerbell cake from Annie's Bakery.  Yum, yum, yum!

After all that hardcore playing, it was time for some dessert.

We lit the 5 candles and everyone sang Happy Birthday to Miss Madison...

then she made a wish and blew them out all on her own.

After cupcakes for the little kids and chocolate cake for the big kids, it was time to open some presents.

Her friends liked getting to watch her open each gift and she was really sweet about always thanking them for what they brought her.

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!  You are so loved!  By us...

Uncle Andrew and Aunt Maria, Memaw and Poppi...

and Gigi and Boom, too! 
We loved celebrating with you and are so excited that you are 5 years old now!

Cheering for the Cubs

Baseball season is here! This is our fourth season with the Cubs and we are loving it.  It's intense, with practice twice a week and games on the weekend, but it's such a great group that we don't mind one bit.  A few weeks ago a group of moms were talking about how fun it would be to get shirts made for the season.  I liked mine so much that I just had to get Lila one, too!

Hers is blinged out on the front...

and I just adore the back!  She's so proud and tells everyone that it says "Jackson's Sis" on it.

Friday night was J's first game.  After practicing for over a month and then getting rained out twice, this kid was READY!

His biggest fan.  Melt. My. Heart.

Cole and J were the first two players there and got to warm up together.  It's so fun that Jackson's best buddy is on the team.   



I think 8 moms ended up getting shirts made--we were missing 2 of them at this game, but the rest of us rocked our Cubs shirts. 



Game time!  Jackson started at first base and also played short stop, which is new for him.  He did good at both and made us proud.

Hey batter, batter!  His legs look so long to me--my baby is growing up way too fast! 

As are these girls. 
For Saturday's game, Madison borrowed J's shirt.  She wanted to show her love, too.  These girls are always such good sports about going to the games.  Doesn't hurt that they get fun things from the concession stands, like popcorn and snowcones, either, thanks to their grandparents!  The Cubs won again and are 3 - 0.  Let's see if they can continue this winning streak tomorrow night.  Stay tuned!

Happy Fun Friday

We are just starting the weekend off right. Maddie came to play yesterday afternoon and was here to see Lila's very first bike ride. 

After getting her helment and pads on, we took off to hand deliver a princess thank you note.  She did such a great job riding to Elise's house that we just kept on going to the park.

She's not in the baby seat any more.  There she goes!

The kids were having so much fun with each other that Maddie asked to spend the night.  Hooray!

Happy Friday, everyone, from Jackson's silly class and us, too!

Disney On Ice!

A few weeks ago I was looking through the newspaper and saw an advertisement for Disney On Ice.  It was in town over the weekend and since it fell so close to Lila's birthday, I knew that should be our present to her.  I had no idea how cool it would be though!

We got there in plenty of time and she kept talking non-stop about what was behind the big curtain.  She was ready for the show.

At 5:30 on the dot, out came Minnie, Mickey...

Donald and Goofy!  They were the hosts of the show and such a fun way to start things off.  The first big act was about to rock Lila's world.

"Mom, it's Ariel!"  And cute Flounder, too:)

We loved watching Sebastian dance with Ariel's mermaid friends...

and the Starfish busted a move, too.

Then mean old Ursula came out and Lila got a little worried.  She must have asked about the "mean lady" 22 times after she had left the stage!

Ariel did lots of cool tricks, including this one that was very high in the air.

The second princess to come out was Rapunzel and her seriously long hair.

Lila tried her best to get Rapunzel's attention!

She loved this part, too, especially since it featured an ice-skating horse.

By intermission both kids had declared it "Good!" and "Very cool!"

After a short break, it was time to bring out Merida from Brave.  The dancing kilted men were neat...

but not near as awesome as when Merida shot an arrow and hit the bullseye, which triggered these fireworks.  It was so cool!

The last of the princesses to come out was Belle.  She and Gaston sang a few entertaining songs...

and then the Beast arrived!  He was intimidating, for sure, but Lila assured me that "he's not really mean."

We loved watching and singing along to "Be our Guest."

And cheered when the Beast turned back into the handsome prince and danced with Belle.

Goodbye princesses and princes, Minnie, Mickey and the whole crew!

We loved the show...



and it was a whole lot cheaper than a trip to Disney World!



Princess Lila's Royal Birthday Party

When it came time to choose a theme for Lila's birthday party this year, there was really no debate.  It simply had to be a princess party.  The girl loves dolls, princesses, getting her hair and makeup done and putting on fancy dresses and high heels.  Can we say girlie girl?  I love it.

Her Aunt Lyndsie designed and baked her a delicious dark chocolate cake, complete with a gold crown and sparkly 3.  So fun!

The party started out low key with a little coloring while we waited for all the princesses to arrive.

The menu for our Royal Celebration included Jasmine's Jelly Sandwiches (PB&J), Ariel's Under-the-Sea Treats (goldfish), Fairy God-Mother Magic Wands (white chocolated covered pretzels with red sugar), Snow White's Candied Apples and assorted royal candies (left over Easter candy!).

All princesses must have sparkly eye shadow and pink lips, so little Sleeping Beauty got right in line!

Gigi did a fantastic job!

While the girls were getting all fancy, the boys were busy sword fighting.

We had five fierce knights attend the party.  A few even wore their own costumes.  Very cool.

Meanwhile, back in the princess room, all the little girlies were buzzing about.  They had fun tutus and dresses to choose from, as well as high heels and purses.  Aunt Maria and Gigi were their esteemed make-up artists and before we knew it they were ready for the Princess Parade to begin.

We called all the guests in to watch the parade...

Knight Jackson escorting Princess Lila!

Knight Jackson escorting Princess Madison...Knight J was in high demand!

Princesses and Knights galore.

Knight Cowen held his own with Knight Jackson!

"Hmmm...these candied apples do look good."

Cake time!

Lila was so excited that she blew out her candles before everyone had a chance to sing!

We re-lit the candles and everyone sang to her...then she blew them out for real:)

Eye on the prize.  She had her sights set on a Princess Aurora cupcake.

After we loaded the kids up on plenty of sugar, we turned them loose in the backyard.  How many kids can fit on a trampoline?  I'm pretty sure we went over the safety limit...

and Lila Lou loved every single second of it!

She has her daddy wrapped around her finger so much that he even wore her "birthday princess" crown on his head in order to make sure it didn't get broken on the trampoline:)

While the wilder kids were having the time of their lives on the tramp, the littler ones were enjoying the playground.  We let the kids just play and enjoy the fabulous weather for a little while...



and then we rounded them all up for present time.  The kids sat in a circle and passed "Princess Bear" around while the music played.  When the music stopped, the guest holding the bear got to give Lila the present that they brought her.  They all did great and it was a slower-paced gift opening than just the normal free-for-all that usually includes lots of flying tissue paper...cards being tossed around...and makes me a little crazy!



Lila was so happy that her friend Chloe finally made it to her party.  Such a precious Snow White.

She got all kinds of fun gifts, including this mini-princess CD player with three miniature disks.



She was so thankful for all of her thoughtful gifts, but this one was definitely at the top of her list.  Wedding Ken and Barbie!  Her brother picked them out for her and was so excited to give them to his baby sister.  He was such a good helper all day...he helped us set-up for the party, tried to plant flowers, cleaned off the outside patio table, helped make the coolers, moved furniture with me and then helped her open each gift, too.  He even missed his first game of the season to be at her party.  And you know this kid loves him some Cubs baseball--a lot! She's one lucky little girl to have a brother who loves her so much.

She was really happy to have Memaw and Poppi at her birthday celebration...

along with her Boom and Gigi, too.

And the party would not have been complete without her very favorite cousin.

These two have a blast together.  Sawyer was loving tramp time, too, and we were all so glad that he and his parents stayed and hung out after the party was over.

Jackson had Adam running routes...

and throwing passes...and even talked Boom into joining the fun. 

Then he got Hayley to be his receiver and was so happy when she caught this pass!

We were tired from our long-day, so we just ordered pizza and ate at home.  Lila had to have been hungry, but she insisted on opening wedding Ken and Barbie first.  Think she liked them?!

Thank you so very much to everyone who helped us celebrate our precious little girl.  When she laid down to go to sleep last night she said, "Mommy, I really had fun with all the little boys and girls today. And I'm so glad Jackson came to my party."  It made me so happy to hear that and we loved getting to spoil her just a tad on such a special day.