We love you Emily, more than you know!

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I am the big headed one and she is the little one.  In the picture she said she is trying on my high heeled shoes.  She wrote her name and Mommy too!  Not bad for just turning 3. 

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I bought some cute bug boxes from Oriental Trading Company for $1.00 each and had the kids decorate them.  They had ladybugs or bumble bees to choose from.  We were supposed to go on a bug hunt to find adorable plastic bugs that I found at Wal Mart, but that didn’t happen due to the “hurricane” going on outside.  Instead I just let the kids pick 4 bugs to take home in their bug jars. 

Then they made ladybugs out of black paper plates.  These were cute and super easy, thanks Ame!  We cut a red circle in half and then stapled them to the black plate.  I had the kids decorate the wings using dot markers and then had them draw a face for their ladybug on a smaller red circle.  They got to choose from either black or red pipecleaners for it’s antennae. 

After all the crafts we played pin the spot on the ladybug.  This was Emily’s favorite.  We drew a big ladybug on red poster board and then left some of the spots uncolored.  Whoever got their black spot clsoer to the ladybug’s spot won.  I found big bug bubble wands at Target for the prizes. I didn’t have a blindfold so my friend Ame came to the rescue again.  She made two small ladybug out of paper and taped them to her sunglasses, the kids loved this! 

Last but not least…we ate ladybug cupcakes.  I’m not a baker so I was pretty excited with how they turned out.  The kids loved them!

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So, I reserved a pavilion.  Then it started to rain.  It rained all week and the forecast called for rain on Saturday, the day of the party.  My husband & I decided to switch dates to the next Saturday to avoid any weather problems.  We called the park & e-mailed all the guests.  As it turned out only a few guests could come the next week, so we changed it back.  Afterall, as my husband said, “What are the chances of it raining at 10:00 in the morning?” I was so embarrased to call the park back I made my him do it.

Friday night, my friend Ame & I worked until 1:30am getting activities together just in case it rained.

When Saturday morning rolled around, it was bright & sunny outside.  We drove over to the park, set up all the decorations, dried off the playground equipment and got the grill ready for hot dogs.  Party time…10:00 and the guests start showing up.  Fifteen minutes later, we were in the storm of the century.  I guess the chances of it raining at 10:00 were pretty good.  Now we have nearly all the guests under a pavilion 100 yards from their cars, and lightning was literally striking at the park.  It was crazy!!! So much so I started to cry and I never cry.

I wanted to just call it quits and send everyone home, but my awesome friends had other ideas.  Several of them braved the storm, drove to my house, and had it cleaned before I got there.  We ended up doing most of the crafts & games from the comfort of my family room.  We have such a great community.

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Check out more Wordless Wednesday pictures at Ordinary and Awesome, 5 Minutes for Mom, and 3 Kids & Us.

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“Jesus, I love you and I like you.  And you know what?….gink you that we can see you in the Bible.”

It was so sweet and sincere.  I continue to learn so much from my girls. 

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We finally looked in the bathroom of her classroom and there was Emily sitting on the potty.  The substitute assistant had taken her to the bathroom about 15 minutes prior and got so busy with the other kids that she forgot about her.  Emily was just waiting patiently for someone to come and help her.  Her sweet teacher hugged her and started to cry a little while Emily was just smiling, as happy as ever. 

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We borrowed this amazing castle made out of appliance boxes from a friend.  It was so big we had to remove all the furniture from our living room.  It took 2 hours to put together but it was well worth it.  Right Honey?!?!  This kept the girls entertained for quite a while. 

I split the girls into groups and had them rotate between 3 different stations. 

Station 1- make tiaras.  I bought 2 packs of 6 foam tiaras from WalMart.  It included all the foam stickers as well and only cost $4.00 each.  (Much cheaper than Michael’s)

Station 2- The Royal Salon.  I had my mom and mother in law paint the girls finger nails and put blush on them.  While their nails were drying they got to listen to princess stories. 

Station 3- Pin the Lips on the Frog-  I bought lip stickers and had them put them on the frog. 

For party favors I bought cheap scrapbook paper and some glittery princess stickers.  I had a friend (who has much better handwriting than me) write Princess ________ on each paper and then I decorated them with the stickers.  I laminated them and made them into place-mats.  They got the tiaras they made and a balloon also.  It was a great party.  Here are some pictures.

My friend Sarah made this.  I wish I could take credit for it. 

This is what Emily was doing almost the entire time…EATING!

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We decided to let the girls sleep together in one big bed.  They stayed up until 10:00 both nights talking.  It was so cute!

Getting ready to go canoeing with Daddy

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1. Cut out a turkey shape from brown construction paper.  I traced one that I found online.
2. Have your child color a coffee filter with washable markers.  It really doesn’t matter how they color it but it will look best if they color most of it and don’t leave many white spots.
3. Have them spray the coffee filter with water.  This will allow all the colors to run together.
4. While waiting for the filter to dry, I had my girls draw a face on the turkey pattern that I cut out.  I let Ashlyn cut her own out. 
5. Once the filter is dry, fold it in half and glue or staple it to the back of the turkey for the feathers.  They turn out really cute!

I did a different activity with Emily and I was able to use the same turkey pattern.  This time I wrote her name on the front of the turkey and colored it.  Then I cut pieces of different color construction paper and wrote a letter on each piece that is in her name.  These are the turkey’s feather.  Now she has a game to practice how to spell her name.  I mix up the feathers and she has to put them back together in the correct order.

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