Rapunzel party + waterslide = 2 happy 5 year olds



My 5 year old old little girls with their super hero. Hassie Clare is holding Rapunzel's frying pan and Quinn is holding her hair brush.

 I am not a crafty person. In fact, I'm comfortable saying I'm the opposite of creative. But when the girls finally decided they both wanted a Tangled theme party, I knew I had to get my "crafty" on. It's not glamorous. Fairly simple. But we pulled it off.

I just realized I didn't get a picture of our outdoor decorations. I bought 2 large thingys of yellow yarn. We braided a 25ish foot braid with an extra large lavender bow at the end and hung it out of the upstairs window. It hung down in the front of the house and laid on the steps in the front yard (get it ... her long hair is coming out of the tower window:). I thought it was super cute and it made my girls giggle.

Look at the post on the right hand side of this pic ... you can kind of see the long braid and get the idea.

For 3-4 weeks prior to the party, Hassie Clare and Quinn started painting and cutting. They thought they should paint their own decorations since Rapunzel was a painter. They used large and small paper plates (for the sun pieces) and leftover, faulty, orange file folders that the Hammer's generously donated when they were shipped in error to their office. They make great art paper! After daily painting sessions (thanks to their nanny Meredith) we had enough art pieces to string up our decorations. I punched holes in the top of them and used lavender sting to decorate the kitchen and mantle in the living room. We decorated the window slabs on the doors with the sun pieces (if you haven't seen the movie you would not get it).

This is what the tops of my counter would look like at the end of every day. All of their masterpieces had to dry!

Of course my ever so talented friend from high school, Jennifer, created the cake. I told her a few specifics (tower, 2 separate small cakes for each kid)  and she went with it. She totally outdid herself on this one!

It was glittery, had flowers and tasted delicious (lemon and strawberry - the girls picked the flavors). Of course she used homemade buttercream frosting. It smelled up the whole kitchen. The picture does not do it justice!

You can see some of the girls decorations well in this pic. In case you are wondering, the large oblong things are wishing lanterns and the lizard looking things next to their name is Pascal (Rapunzel's best and only  friend that happens to be a Chameleon).

Party favors. Me, my mom and the girls headed to a craft store to find the perfect party favor to go with our theme. The girls wanted to give their guest either something sweet they could eat or something they could paint. We found these wooden masks for $1 and paints with a brush for $1.00. I printed off some labels (I noticed when uploading a pic that I goofed up .... the label is suppose to say "RAPUNZEL PAINTS Thanks for coming to our party. Lots of love (not love of love), Hassie Clare & Quinn. My few crafty brain cells were in full force which apparently hinders other areas of my brain. I braided yellow yarn, put the labels on the paints, tied it all together and BAM ... we have party favors.  We had a total of 24 kids but I only expected about 15. I made 20 just in case so some of the older kids got left out.

Rapunzel herself made a special appearance all the way from Jonesboro, AR Disneyworld. She was precious. She sang a song, read a book, played a game and visited with the girls. The boys at the party took cover in the play room when she arrived. All of the girls were gaga over her.

They are all dressed for the waterslide (swimsuits & cover-ups) but wishing they had worn their dress-up dresses!

A big girly group hug with Rapunzel.

The girls picked out all the party food. They said Rapunzel was a healthy girl and that she eats lots of fruit and veggies. So here was the menu they came up with:
broccoli, carrots & cauliflower with our fav Lite Ranch
blueberries, raspberries, grapes & pineapple (the raspberries disappeared before the party started... hhuummm)
Later they added:
Cheese dip from the Mexican place and chips
Pizza Rolls
I can only assume they were craving junk food when they added the last two. I added some guacamole to the list and picked up almost everything at Sam's a few days before. I was clearly mistaken when I thought 350 pizza rolls would be enough. But I didn't realize 45ish people would show up!

I picked up a couple "Pascal" metal table decorations at the dollar store.

After Rapunzel left we headed outside to the water slide. It was a sauna outside and the perfect way to end the party. We got to keep this thing all weekend. The next day we bellied up to it redneck style and had a big time!

I ordered a bunch of Wishing Lanterns (AKA Chinese Rice Lanterns). The movie is based around these wishing lanterns that the castle sets off every year on Rapunzel's birthday. They were much bigger then what I expected so I wasn't able to decorate with them like I planned. And ... we were not able to let them go after we would light them cause of all the trees and it was a fire hazard ....blah, blah, blah. So, I tied string to them and we fired a few up after most of their school friends left. I thought it was a sweet gesture even though it didn't turn out as planned.

You can see some of the wishing lanterns hanging from the back of the house. We saved a few to set off at the lake so the girls could make more wishes.

I did a terrible job of taking pictures. I hope some of my family got more pictures .... I literally have 20 pics and a little bit of video of the entire day ... and most of them are from before and after the party. But the look and excitement in my little girls eyes will be forever embedded in my memory. Hassie Clare brings me something of hers everyday and says "Here Mommy. This is for you for letting us have a great birthday party." This morning she brought me a sheet of stickers with only one sticker left and said "This is for you for letting us have cheese dip at our party." The truth of the matter is that we could have invited a few of their friends over to play on their swing set or their blowup pool, ate a Kroger cake and watched Tangled on the TV and they would have been just as happy and excited. I guess that is how 5 year olds roll!

Since their party, my little "Rapunzel's" have not gone anywhere without their frying pans, always want me to braid their hair and they never want to wear shoes .... just like their super hero.

A Father's Day to remember - 2011

Jamie is so wonderful that on Father's Day I let him cut the grass, cut up 3 trees that we lost during a storm last week and then haul it to the curb ... in 98 degree heat, go to the grocery store and finally ... grill our dinner. You're welcome sweetheart ... thank you for being such an amazing father to our little bambinos.

I try not to spoil him but I went up and beyond the call of duty by letting him take a nap in the middle of the day to shake off any heat stroke related symptoms from all the yard work.  All is well.

Despite the abuse, he is loved. Very, very loved. He provides for his children. He meets there basic needs. But what makes him so unique and special are the rare "fatherly" qualities he possesses. Here are some examples:

The girls believe that he is a real life prince. He danced with Cinderella just to see the stars in their eyes!

He stood up to the wicked step-mother so that Quinnie would not be afraid of her. It didn't work. Quinn stayed underneath the dinner table until the step-mother was out of sight. But it was the thought that counted.

He is the only one that can convince Quinn to do things she is afraid of.

He does goofy things just to make us smile. And because he is a goof-ball.

He actually enjoys spending time with his kids and loves new adventures.

 Happy Father's Day to our Prince. You truly are one of a kind!

I'm officially a grown up

4 huge, ginormus things happened to our family this month so far:

1) We paid off our family car, AKA my car, AKA the grocery getter (I've never had a title to a vehicle in my name ... I can't wait to see it)
2) I paid off my student loans from graduate school.  I've paid this monthly (except those first couple years when I only paid the interest) since Jan. 1998 - the month I started my first job .... which is still my current job ...but different position.
3) Our kids turned 5.
4) We will be nanny-free for the first time since the girls were 8 weeks old.

I'm extremely stoked about the first 2, mixed emotions about the third one and scared to death about the last one.  But ... everything happens for a reason.

So what does all these major finiancial happenings mean? A nice built-in swimming pool in our back yard? A new car? A boat? A dream vacation with just me and my hubby? Well hell heck no. It means we can fork out the $10g's for the girls to go to private school next year without going into debt. Which makes me happy. At least that is what I keep telling myself.

Still "Mommy" .... for the time being

My kids are 4  ..... at least for the rest of today. Goodbye toddlerhood. We will miss you. Sniff Sniff

Hassie Clare and Quinn are beyond excited about their upcoming birthday. Every morning for the past 40ish days they have asked me "how many nights do we sleep until our birthday?"

Things are a changin'. I bought booster seats the other day but I'm keeping them in the box for as long as the girls will hold out. We went shopping for bunk beds since they are still in toddler beds and their toes poke through the slabs of wood at the end of the bed. They recently started wiping their own booty. They started buckling themselves into their carseat - HUGE! They can climb up on the counter, get a cup and make themselves a cup of water. All of this has happened in the past month!

I'm sad their infant and toddler years are over but I'm UBER excited about all the adventers turning 5 brings. They still need "Mommy" so I will hold onto that while it's available. They still scream for me when they get the slightest injury. They still want me to hold them and rock them any chance they get. They still tell me all their secrets. They still think I'm funny ... no matter what silly thing I'm doing. They know and I know that I can comfort them like no one else in the world can. My sad day will come when all these things start to fade away and I just become "Mom."

So until then I'm going to enjoy my baby girls, make as many memories as possible and give it my best shot at helping them become the person they want to be in life. Good gracious I hope I don't screw it up!  Do you every stop worrying about that as a parent?

Funnies 
-Yesterday the girls and I went up to their former dance studio to check out a summer camp they have. They were super excited, especially since their cousin Josie was there. I told the girls all about it and they loved the idea of going to camp and meeting new friends. We pulled into the parking lot and HC said "Where are the tents?" I told her there were no tents and that the camp was inside where they had dance class. The Director was showing us around and HC said "Mommy, I need to ask you a secret." So I leaned down and she whispered into my ear, "Where are the smores?"
- This morning Quinn told me my breathe smelled like chicken and strawberries .... in the garbage can.

Bearded Rabbits

We were on our way to gymnastics yesterday and I made a funny face at the girls in the backseat. Quinn said "Mommy, you are so funniest." I asked her what that meant. She said, "you are funnier then a blue rabbit with a beard. And pink mustache. That is eating a carrot while going poo poo. And holding her sister's hand cause she doesn't eat enough carrots and her poo poos are too hard. So she eats a bowl of cereal to keep her poo poos from hurting. While still on the potty."
Hassie Clare chimes in and said "Don't be silly Quinnie Ray. A blue rabbit would be a boy and not a girl so he would have a brother and not a sister."
The reasoning skills of a 4 (almost 5) year old never cease to amaze me!

I get a series of pics off my phone that look similar to this at least 3 times a week. Plus video. The video usually involves HC doing something ridiculously silly and talking about poop while Q is dying laughing and encouraging her. I can never bring myself to delete any of the photos of videos.

 

First day of Day School (2) / last day of Day School (4)

Hassie Clare and Quinn started a Mother's Day Out / Day School program right after they turned 2 years old. I remember the feeling I had the first day we took them. Jamie and I were walking out of the building and I thought "Are we seriously just going to just leave them here? With strangers. In a strange building. They are only 2 years old. Who does that?" My legs were wobbly, my stomach was week and my heart was heavy. I sat in the parking lot for over an hour talking myself into driving away.

We spent the next 3 years getting up every Tuesday and Thursday morning and heading to school for 6 hours. And then one day it was over. My little girls were ready to be sent to big kid school.

On their last day of school this year we said our goodbyes to all 3 of the teachers they had during their 3 year stint. Our last stop was to the girls first teacher. She was the perfect first teacher for them and for me. She held my hand and comforted me as much as she did them. And then I lost it. I was sobbing. Of course I had just come from a co-workers funeral so that did not help my emotional state.  It was the end of an era. The end of their toddlerhood.

And so we left the building and walked to the car. And once again, my legs were wobbly, my stomach was week and my heart was heavy.

First day of school 2008 - 2 year old class with our beloved Mrs. Ilona.

I think they had just figured out that we were not going to stay with them at school.

First day of school 2009 - 3 year old class

Last day of school 2011 - 4 year old class. They are saying goodbye to their in-door playground. I assured them that their new school would have an awesome outdoor playground!

This is a video I took while loading up the car to take them to their first day of Mother's Day Out. Their sweet little baby voices brought tears to my eyes.

**Sweet nothings for me to remember - HC was obsessed with fireworks at this age. She talked about them all the time. Quinn had a tiny plastic baby that fit into the palm of her hand. She had it on her at all times and called her "Baby Crying." I saved this baby in a plastic bag with all their baby stuff. It probably still has finger jam hidden in the cracks.**