Kate is 5!

  I can't believe my baby is FIVE!  Life before becoming a mother seems like a lifetime ago and it's only been five years, however, it still feels a little crazy at the same time.
  Kate decided on a unicorn themed birthday party this year.  Her and Abby love unicorns and everything rainbow.  While looking at party plates Kate fell in love with Lisa Frank's rainbow horse party supplies.  Brought me back to when I was a little girl and had Lisa Frank folders and notebooks for school.  I didn't know her stuff was still around!  We decorated with rainbows and I had intended going all out with fun unicorn/rainbow themed games but didn't have time/motivation.  I'm so glad I didn't because the little that was made didn't really get used (unicorn hats for the girls and cardboard swords for the boys).
  So, we had the party at our house.  Kate invited her friends from church and our neighbor came as well as Uncle Jared, Aunt Kristen, Grammy, and Paka. We had our bouncy castle out, a bubble station, hula hoops, and our play set for the kids to play with.  The play set was really the only thing that got used.  Oh! and a unicorn pinata!  That was probably the highlight of the party.  We ate, played, bashed open the pinata, had cake and ice cream, and then opened presents.  It was the right amount of time for everything and everyone had a lot of fun.

Grammy and the girls making unicorn hats for the party

Kate picked out a picture on Pinterest of what she wanted and this was it.  I'm glad it turned out so well!

 Kate with the majority of her friends that came to her party

 Makena was up first to hit the pinata (Kate refused to take a turn).  She hit it three times and...

 the body fell off!  Everyone laughed while Andrew tied the headless unicorn back up to be bashed some more.

Darla taking a turn

Camille taking a turn

Everyone watching the fun

 After everyone that wanted to take a turn had gone twice, I was up.

After I busted it open, Cienna finished it up.  Once the candy began to fall it got dangerous real fast.  All the four year olds sprinted right in front of the stick that was being swung.  Thank heavens no one got hurt, although it was pretty close! :/

 After the candy was picked up it was time for Kate to blow out her candles 

After cake and ice cream we all went inside to cool down and watch Kate open her presents.

 There wasn't very much order to the opening of gifts and so it got a tiny bit crazy... but no one complained or cried so that passes as good in my book.

 Kate got lots of help from her friends :)

 while the adults watched

  The party was a success and I'm so glad everyone had fun.  It sure took quite a bit of work to put together though. I think next year we will pass on the parties.  We'll do something fun and new with maybe a friend or two.  

Disney on Ice

 For all of our birthdays this year, Jared and Kristen got us tickets to go see Disney on Ice. The show was 10 days ago and it was awesome!! We all enjoyed it, including Ellie who loved all the bright lights and characters skating around on the ice.
  I've also learned that my girls need to learn how to show excitement. And wear shoes. Abby threw the biggest fit EVER because she didn't want to wear tennis shoes. Holy cow. It was over the top.
  And the lack of excitement...man, it was bad.  I asked Kate if she enjoyed the show and she said yes, of course (...I would hope), but watching her throughout the show it looked like she could not have been less impressed. Abby was slightly better, showing excitement when Elsa and Anna came onto the ice.
  This is our second Disney on Ice and we'll most likely go to more in the future, but we definitely need to work on popping that bubble of theirs that is holding back all of their excitement.

Here we are before the show

During

The first part of the show was Toy Story 3.  It went on longer than needed for a Disney movie that I don't think is all that popular with kids, at least not mine, but the girls showed just as much excitement for Rex as they did Elsa. :)

Little Mermaid was next.  The costumes were so beautiful and colorful.

Cars came out after the intermission.  It was neat to see them "skating" around on the ice.

Mickey and Minnie were introducing the new segments as they came out.  

Frozen was the last movie to be featured on ice.  They were great, singing all the songs from the movie.

 

Ellie was happy to see herself in my camera.  

The amount of excitement in this picture is almost too much.

  A wonderful show with my most favorite people.  We'll work on the excitement part later. :)

Aunt Kiersten's visit

  The last person from the Williams side came to visit last month.  Yay for Aunt Kiersten!  It was her spring break and she graciously gave up a cool week by herself to spend it in the sun with us Floridians. Ha, kidding. But really, we were glad to have her visit us.
  On our way home from picking Kiersten up at the airport, we stopped by the brand new park on Hurlburt field.  The girls had a blast and Kiersten's delicate skin got sunburned right off the bat. Once we got home Kiersten was at the point of exhaustion due to being up all night flying.  So, as much as Kate wanted Kiersten to stay awake, she couldn't.  :)

  We went to the Zoo the next day and showed Kiersten the girls favorite exhibits:  the alligator and parakeet cove. Jared and Kristen came over for dinner that night and told us all about their awesome trip to Harry Potter World. They also brought large lolly pops for the girls. After eating her dinner, Kate chomped down on her lolly pop and a minute later came to me showing me a hole in her mouth. Uhh, ya. Her tooth came out! I was totally shocked but tried to keep my freaking out to a minimum so as to not make Kate cry. We never found her tooth, most likely swallowed, so we put a kernel of corn under Kate's pillow in hopes to fool the tooth fairy. She was fooled and generously gave Kate one dollar. Kate was so excited the next morning, she asked me if we could put three kernels of corn under her pillow the next night. Ha! Clever girl! 

  Saturday we went to the Pensacola Air Museum.  We ventured to the other side of the museum with all the WWII paraphernalia which I had not seen before. The girls got distracted by the propaganda playing on a tv. The majority of the time there we were chasing the girls around trying to prevent them from touching or climbing on certain things.  Once we came upon the tv they were hooked.

  About a month ago at Abby's last check up, her pediatrician was concerned with her heartbeat and had an EKG ordered. I figured I would take advantage of Kiersten being around to help and so on Monday we took all the girls with us to the hospital in Pensacola to get her checked out.  I was blown away with how quickly we were in and out of the hospital, and with no appointment scheduled either!  Like, less than an hour.  It was amazing.  Abby did great.  They stuck a bunch of stickers on her chest and arms, hooked them up to some wires, let the machine do its thing, and then we were on our way.  And, I did just hear back from Abby's doctor; everything is normal.  We went to Sams Club afterwards for lunch... and a few other things, and then headed home. 

  Tuesday we went to the Recreation Center's Pool.  I remembered the girls life jackets this time and they were elated to be able to swim about by themselves.  It did take Abby a little bit of coaxing to figure out she didn't need help if she had her life jacket on.  Once that obstacle was hurdled she was giddy and unstoppable.

  Wednesday was Kiersten's last day and it was also the hottest. Naturally, we decided to go to the beach. Kiersten was thoughtful enough to bring kites for the girls. One worked better than the other but both the girls had fun and that's all that matters! That night Aunt Kristen came over for dinner as did the sister missionaries. It was a great time and a great way to end Kiersten's visit with us.   

  Thursday morning the girls and I dropped Kiersten off at the airport. Since then the girls have gotten older and bigger and smarter. Time doesn't stand still for no one. Ellie is up on all fours, preparing to crawl. Also, her first tooth appeared a couple weeks after Kiersten left. Abby has become a pro at swinging by herself. And Kate is my little master gardener, helping me grow some veggies in the garden Andrew built me while Kiersten was here. And dang, those seeds are growing like weeds!

Birthday month

  March contains two of the five birthdays in our family. Abigail and Andrew. Abby's is in the 2nd and Andrew's is on the 15th. It's nice having two close together.  The girls get very excited and the excitement carries over to the next birthday.  It's a lot of fun.
  Abby turned three this year! I can't believe the time that has passed; and yet she's so grown up, sometimes I'm surprised at how long it took to get here. Abby is talking like a pro and has been for the past forever. She is learning her letters and numbers, knows how to spell her name, pray by herself, is fully potty trained, and as of last week can swing by herself, among other things. She adores baby Ellie and is eager to help. She's quick to laugh and puts up a good fight for anything she deems worthy fighting for. I'm excited for what this next year of her life has in store for all of us.
  We celebrated her birthday by throwing a party in our back yard and inviting our closest friends and family. It was mermaid themed, as Abby loves playing mermaid with Kate just about every single day. She puts her legs into her pillowcase, with the pillow still in cased, and insists of being carried to wherever she needs to be. I will indulge her make-believe a few times before I tell her she can turn into a human to get where she needs to go. If I call her Abby during this playtime she responds with, "Not Abby. Mermaid." 

  A week before Abby's party, her new mermaid swimsuit came in the mail.  I think she wore it for 2 days straight.  Her and Kate were so fun to watch as they played pretend.  

  I digress. So, party. It went great. Abby was so excited leading up to it. It was adorable to watch her so happy. She would go around the house and tell each of us, "You can come to my party!" Like I said, adorable! 

  The party went great. We had our bouncy castle up in the back yard along with an inflatable baby pool filed with ball pit balls. Between those two play stations, our play set, and a couple frisbees, all the kids and adults had a great time.  

  Abby blew out her candles like a pro and enjoyed taking a slice of cake to everyone. 

Afterwards, she was delighted to open her presents and play with her new toys.

Kate was excited to watch Abby open her present. :)

After all the presents were opened and her friends had gone home, Abby plopped herself onto the recliner and glued her attention to the tablet.  Oh technology.  Ruining children's childhoods but preventing .  As long as there's moderation in all things, am I right?

  Andrew's birthday went well.  Jared and Kristen threw him a surprise birthday party two weeks before his actual birthday.  He was totally surprised.  We then did our own family celebration on his actual birth day.  It was simple and sweet.  The girls were more than happy to help their daddy with his presents.  

Two birthdays down for the year, three more to go.