Happy 5th Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Macyn! Its hard to believe you are five years old already! You are so smart, and too much for your own good! We can hold some deep conversations, and you can also throw a tantrum that makes me scared for you to be a teenager!

She hasn't had her checkup yet, but she no longer fits into 5T clothes and wears sizes 6-7 and wears a size 12-13 shoe. She loves playing with Barbies, doing puzzles, and playing with her American Girl doll. She plays games on her kindle and also likes to be outside. She has mastered the game of Candy land, Monopoly Jr, and Dominoes.

Here is Macyn's birthday interview:

Question and Answer:
How old are you? Five
What makes you happy? When I get to spend time with Mommy and Daddy and the twins
What is your favorite animal? Zebras
What is your favorite thing to eat? Chicken Nuggets
What is your favorite thing to do? Play at the park
What is your favorite TV show? Sofia the First
What are you really good at? Drawing persons
What is your favorite movie? Frozen
What is your favorite color? Pink & Purple
What is your favorite song? Let it Go
Who is your best friend? Paelyn & Kate
What do you and your mom do together? Go out to eat
What do you and your dad do together? Play together
What is your favorite sport? Football
Where is your favorite place to go? Dairy Queen
What is your favorite book? The Belle Book
What do you want to be when you grow up? A doctor

Fill in the blank:
I'm special because... I love my whole family
The place I'd most like to visit is... the zoo
One thing I really want to learn is... learn about animals
The best thing about me is... I can give kisses
My favorite subject in school is... Learning about firetrucks
I have a pet... used to have Buddy & Gilligan

Frozen Birthday Party

Macyn had a Frozen themed party with friends on Saturday and family on her actual birthday (Tuesday). Once again, I made her birthday invite, and I even made her "Elsa" dress! She was quick to tell everyone, " I wasn't actually frozen, my mom just photoshopped me in."

First up - her friend birthday party. She had invited six friends over and they all showed up and had a great time! The girls played with her gifts, did some sand art snowflake necklaces, watched frozen with some popcorn, played "pin the nose on the snowman" and Sven ring toss. It was a great time, but a party of me is excited I don't have to do this again for another year :)

On the day of Macyn's birthday, I went and ate lunch with her at daycare. She thought that was a big treat! For supper we did buffet at Pizza Ranch and she also opened her gifts and had some cake as well. She received barbies, clothes, Frozen stuff, American Girl doll, and a sleeping bag. She had a great time and it's hard to believe she's 5 already!

 

First Birthday Celebration

We had a very small party for the girls - more like a celebration and a little less commercialized. It was simple, it was small, and it was meaningful. This time around I didn't have anything really planned. I bought a cake the day of, created a video two days before, and decided if we would have food or not the day before. For anyone who knows me, they know I am a planner. After this past year, I have realized that planning can overwhelm, and things will happen whether or not you plan in advance. So I kept it simple, stress free, and fun! We even played a game called, "How well do you know your twins?"

The girls LOVED the cupcakes, and Macyn picked out the cake. I try and find ways to include her, so I let her pick out whatever she wanted. She ended up picking a cute giraffe. We had simple decorations of pictures and one of the preemie sleepers they wore in the NICU. Its crazy how small they were. It was just an all around good celebration of how far they have come. Here are some pictures:

 Happy First Birthday, Kamryn & Laityn! Love you soo much and so proud of how far you have come!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

DH celebrated his last birthday being in his 20's - can you say big party next year for the big 3-0?! Anyways, I made him a donut cake for his birthday this year. It was really simple - I used an angel food cake pan, melted a can of frosting just a little bit and poured it over. Add some sprinkles - and you got one big donut cake! We didn't have the right amount of candles so we had to improvise - 14+15 candles = 29!Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Macyn - 4 Years Old!

Happy Birthday, Macyn! Its hard to believe you are four years old already! Just think, in 10 years you can get your permit - yikes! Macyn has quite the sassy personality and can also throw one heck of a temper tantrum. I usually ignore them, but she is an extremely strong willed child. It makes for some trying days, but we still love her just as much. She is always singing or dancing or skipping wherever she goes. There is never a quiet moment until she goes to bed (sometimes even that isn't that quiet!) She says some funny things and likes to tell it how it is. She loves to do puzzles and doing crafts. She also has a big imagination and can be dramatic. She loves being outside and going to the park, too.  She has a big personality, but can get shy when lots of people are around. She also goes to preschool this year and she seems to be doing well.


At her checkup she was 39lbs and 44" tall - still in the 99th percentile! She wears size 5T shirts and pants, and 10-11 size shoes. So needless to say, shes still huge. I have decided to start doing a yearly interview with Macyn - it will be interesting to see how her answers change!

Question and Answer:
How old are you? Four
What makes you happy? When my mommy and daddy keep me happy
What is your favorite animal? A horsey
What is your favorite thing to eat? Corndogs
What is your favorite thing to do? Play with Barbies
What is your favorite TV show? Cailou
What are you really good at? Drawing people
What is your favorite movie? Ariel (The Little Mermaid)
What is your favorite color? Red
What is your favorite song? Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Who is your best friend? Paelyn
What do you and your mom do together? Wash bottles
What do you and your dad do together? Clean
What is your favorite sport? The Vikings
Where is your favorite place to go? California (never been there!)
What is your favorite book? The Big Belle Book (Beauty and the Beast)
What do you want to be when you grow up? A cowgirl

Fill in the blank:
I'm special because... I love my baby sisters
The place I'd most like to visit is... Disneyworld
One thing I really want to learn is... Jumping jacks
The best thing about me is... I like my whole self
My favorite subject in school is... Learning letters
I have a pet... Gilligan (the fish)

Family Birthday Party!

Since we have just a smidge more going on this year, we asked Macyn what she wanted to do for her birthday, and she chose Pizza Ranch. I am a-okay with that, instead of hosting everyone! We had lunch along with some birthday cake and gift opening. It was a nice get together. For the first year, I didn't make Macyn's birthday cake - I had the bakery do it. I wasn't for sure how it would turn out since they weren't even sure they could make a Sofia the First cake. Once I saw it for the first time it was completely awesome and Macyn loved it! Sure, it was more expensive than a home made cake, but the $17 price tag sure beats me trying to create one myself and mess up the kitchen all while watching three kids!

Gift opening

Macyn received some pretty good gifts. Items included: puzzles, tattoos, movies, clothes, purses, doll blankets, a Barbie set & Palace Pet from Mom & Dad, and Don't Spill the Beans game. After gift opening we sang Happy Birthday and Macyn blew out her candle and she served us her cake!

 

Happy Birthday, Macyn! Love you!

Its Party Time!

Party Girls!

Macyn had her very first birthday party with friends. I wasn't sure how this was all going to go, but all in all it went well. We had some typical girl drama (one girl wanted to sit by Macyn, and arguing over who got which Barbie). Other than that, we decorated pumpkins, watched Sofia the First, read books, played Barbies, played outside, ate some cupcakes, and had some hot chocolate!

We decorated the pumpkins with glitter and jewels. Even though I didn't get a picture of the finished pumpkins, they actually turned out really well!

 Macyn and I also baked some cupcakes. I made some cheap cupcake picks by printing out some Sofia the First circles and taping them to toothpicks.

The party went well for the most part. Birthday girl ended up pouting in the bathroom for a while for unknown reasons, but once she got over that she was able to enjoy her party as well!

Princess Party

Cinder-"Macyn" and her birthday cake

Macyn with Great Grandpa Bernie

Presents!

Blowing out her candles

We had a small get together for Macyn's birthday! Both sets of grandparents, Great grandpa bernie, and Auntie Brandi, Kelly & Caden came to help us celebrate! She had a great time at her party!

Cinderella Cake

 I took the day off to get ready for Macyn's party on Saturday. I knew I wanted to make her a Cinderella cake, so I looked for some ideas on how to make a Barbie cake. I watched a YouTube video and it looked easy enough. Well, I had some issues. First, my dome cake fell apart. Then my crumb coat didn't work, AND the Cinderella Barbie was too tall....and her knees didn't bend. Sigh. So I just frosted up on her dress a little more than I had planned. I didn't spend a lot of time on it, because I was in and out all day of the hospital, visiting my grandpa. Quite frankly, this cake was the least of my worries at that point. But, I think it turned out pretty well - not my best work, but good enough considering the circumstances!

Birthday Treats

Macyn was super excited to bring birthday treats to daycare! We picked out some mini cupcakes and she decorated them with Cinderella toppers. The kids must have liked them - there were only 4 leftover!

Hear Ye, Hear Ye....

Here is Macyn's birthday invitation this year. She decided after all she wanted a Cinderella party...so that is what she is getting! I have been busy working on birthday stuff, and are looking forward to her party on Saturday. (Her birthday is actually Sunday) It is always fun to compare the previous years, too.

First year invite

Second year invite

Birthday Party!

Here is Macyn's party, through pictures!

Macyn with her cupcakes!

Auntie Brooke and Grammy T

Mommy & Macyn

A little Minnie, Great Grandpa V.A. and Grandpa V.P.

Macyn with the V.A. cousins

Great Grandma V.A. and Macyn

Macyn with Grandpa and Grandma V.A.

Macyn with her aunties (and Caden)

Macyn with cousin Caden

Macyn with Great Grandpa and Grandpa Y

Macyn opening her presents. This consisted of opening them as fast as she could, tossing them aside, and going to the next gift she could get her hands on.

I love this picture. She was crying because there weren't more presents. She kept saying, "more? more?" and then threw a fit. Hey, its her party - can she can cry if she wants to!

Macyn blew out her candle all by herself!

Minnie Mouse Cupcakes

Cake pans with cut off tops

For Macyn's party,  I made simple cupcakes - boxed cake mix and canned frosting. I did buy the pink fun-fetti frosting and added a little bit of pink food coloring to make it more saturated. I also put white pearl sprinkles on the pink cupcakes, and pink pears on the white cupcakes. I stuck 2 mini oreos in each cupcake to make it look like Minnie ears. I also created the giant cupcake with a pan I borrowed from work. It looks nice, but it was big mess! I filled both pans up to the top and they proceeded to overflow in the oven. I would scoop out extra batter ever 10 minutes or so. After they were completely cooked, I cut off the tops, so they would be flat when I put the giant cupcake together. Sooo happy it turned out (and that the cakes didn't stick!) Here is how everything turned out!

Birthday!

Even though Macyn's party isn't for another day, we decided to let her open up her presents from Mommy & Daddy when she got home from daycare. (Mom was busy baking lots of cake and cleaning the house!) She wasn't too excited about her presents and was a little bit crabby. (Isn't that what the 2's are about?) Since we already gave her the kitchen when we rearranged the living room for it it to fit, all she had to open were some realistic pots and pans along with some utensils. All this stuff came from Ikea when we were in Minneapolis a couple of months ago. Here is how the kitchen turned out. Oh, and I built it all by myself!

Macyn has a great time playing with and it occupies quite a bit of her time. She loves to cook and give her baby a bath in the sink. The burners also turn on and she cooks things on the cook top, and she always remembers to turn them off. Here are some pictures of her playing with the kitchen and cooking with leftover sprinkles from the fun-fetti frosting.

After present opening, we ate a nice meal of chicken nuggets and shrimp. They are two of her favorite things and she happily devoured an entire plate. Then we had a late notice phone call for a birthday party (for her 1st cousin, once removed - I'll let you figure that one out) at the Ranch. So we let her eat a cupcake, blow out her candle, and headed over for some cactus bread. It was a nice little party and a nice family birthday with just Mommy & Daddy. Tomorrow will be the "big" party!

2 Years Old

Where has the time gone?! Our little girl is two years old. It seems like just yesterday I was holding her for the first time in the hospital. I never knew how much work kids are and how tired you always are (even 2 years later!) But, I wouldn't change it for the world!

Macyn is her own little person. She enjoys playing with her babies, cooking in the kitchen, and throwing tantrums when she doesn't get her way :)

She is also super sweet too. I told her my tummy hurt and she comes up and gives it a kiss and says, "All better!" Last night at the supper table, Josh said, "here wife!" and Macyn chimes in and goes, "Here you go wife!"

She enjoys saying please and thank you for pretty much everything, even though it doesn't make much sense. She loves to be tickled and often says, "Teeek ulll!" or "No Teek ull, Mommy."

Even though she says pretty much anything you ask her, sometimes we can't understand what she is saying. This usually results in a fit of frustration. Like last night, she was in the kitchen yelling, "BEES!" "NO BEES!" "BEES!" and we finally figured out she wanted a Mr. Freeze. Its nice that she can talk, but not so nice when we can't always understand her. She also talks with a slight lisp with her s's.

She has a hearty appetite (when she feels like it) and loves yogurt! She will sit down and eat an entire serving. Bedtime can still be a challenge. We still rock her and i feel ridiculous doing that with a large child, but I figured soon enough those days will be over. So I continue to do it and cherish it every time I put her to bed.

I never knew how much love someone could have for a child, until I became a mother. I still stare at her in amazement, that I created that. She's beautiful. Happy 2nd birthday Macyn, we love you!

Minnie Mouse Shirt - DIY

Since the dress Macyn wore for her Minnie Mouse pictures is too big, I came up with another idea as to what she should wear for her pictures - I would make her a shirt! I ran over to Walmart and picked up a white shirt, iron on letters, and ink jet iron on transfers. I also had ribbon and stick on jewels leftover from other projects.

I made a pattern of Minnie Mouse ears and printed them out on the transfer paper. I also laid out the way I wanted Macyn's name.

After that, I ironed everything on and added jewel stickers to make the 2. I wasn't sure if they would stick, but i figured I wouldn't wash it anyways. In fact, the iron on transfers do not suggest washing the garment! Crazy! I added a Minnie Mouse bow, and ta-da! A custom Minnie Mouse shirt on a budget!

Can't wait for her to wear it!

Minnie Mouse Ears - DIY

I thought it would be a cute idea to have the guests at Macyn's party to wear Minnie Mouse/ Mickey ears instead of birthday hats. I still think it was a good idea, but had no idea how time consuming it was! But I did this on a pretty cheap budget and was happy with the way they turned out. I first bought some cheap-o headbands from Gordmans. Then, you cut out long strips (I used felt) that will cover the entire headband. Use hot glue to attach. Then, you make an ear pattern by making two circles with a rectangle in the middle. Dimensions will vary, according to what kind of headbands you purchase or how big you want your ears.

Then, you cut out 2 ears for each headband. You also need craft foam to cut out circles 1/2" smaller than the felt ears. You glue this circle to the center of the ears. Fold the other side over to cover up the other side of the foam and glue, but not the bottoms yet!

Once you have all the headbands covered, slide the ears onto the headbands using the loop you created when you made the ears. If my directions don't make sense, go here. Way more detailed than I am :)

And you are done! If you wanted just Mickey ears, don't add a bow. If you want Minnie ones, add one. I created the bows myself using ribbon (see previous post) That simple. Here is how mine turned out.

And here is how they look on my 2 year old!

I made enough ears for everyone at the party. We have decided if the guests refuse to wear them, they will have to donate $20 to her college fund :)

Cupcake Tower - DIY

Remember when I blogged a couple of weeks ago about the Halloween cupcake stand I bought for $1? Well, it is officially finished and it turned out great! I started out by wrapping white pieces of cardstock to cover up the centers of the platforms where there were holes. Then, I wrapped zebra & pink ribbon around the canned goods that will work as the support for the tower.

There was also a topper that I decided to modify and put on top of the giant cupcake on the top tier. I first measured how large to make the ears, which I cut out of craft foam. I then bought stick on jewels to make the 2 on the center of the ears.

All that was missing was the bow! You can make a simple bow by making a loop with whatever ribbon you like, pinch in the middle, and tie off. I also hot glued it so it would stay.

After I attached the bow to the ears, it was time to assemble the topper. I just hot glued it to the bat and covered the bottom with some zebra ribbon.

Before and After

Here is how everything turned out all together. I couldn't be more happier. I also found some cupcake wrappers from Hobby Lobby that match the Minnie Mouse theme.