Adley's Stuffy Party

 We were so happy to celebrate Adley's 4th birthday this spring with a small group of playgroup friends. We decided on a stuffed animal theme, and it made for such a fun party!

All four of Adley's grandparents came over to help the party run smoothly. 

When Adley's friends arrived, we had them sign this cute birthday book we purchased for Adley. 

As the kids trickled in, Cody and Jaden led an informal game in the living room. The boys took turns hiding a stuffed animal under a blanket, and then had the kids blindly feel each animal and try to guess what it was.

When everyone had arrived, we started the party by explaining to the kids that they would be "adopting" a new stuffed animal pet to play with at the party and then to take home.

We had a matching group of Beanie Boo huskies--complete with their own personal pet carrier (gable box)-- all ready to be adopted! The kids seemed excited to receive a new animal.

The kids' first order of business was to name their stuffed pet. Then, they created dog collars using both colored beads and alphabet beads. 

We also had Pet Adoption Certificates for the kids to fill out with their new pet's name.

We knew the name collars would be important for identifying whose dog was whose for the rest of the party!

Next, we said the pets needed to get checked out at the vet's office. We had various play tables set up for the kids-- a station for "washing" their pets...

and a couple tables with doctor tools and even a health checklist so the kids could give their pets a check-up.

After giving the kids sufficient time to play doctor on their pets, it was time to decorate the pet carriers. Adley has some very artsy friends, so they all stayed at the table for quite some time! The gable boxes were soon filled with stickers, pom poms, gems, and doodles.

Next, it was playtime for the animals! We played a few rounds of hide and seek with half the kids hiding their animals at a time.

Then, Jason led a fun obstacle course outside. The kids had their pets jump through a couple hoops, play fetch with a ball, and run around the fire hydrant in our yard.

We also played "Doggie, Doggie, Where's Your Bone?" enough times for each kid to have a turn finding the hidden bones.

Finally, it was time to eat! Instead of birthday cake, we served animal cupcakes. These were so fun to make! I was originally planning on making just 3 or 4 varieties of animals, but Pinterest had too many cute ideas. I settled on my favorite six-- pigs, sheep (my personal favorite!), bears, monkeys, cats, and dogs.

We also served a variety of snacks-- popcorn, pretzels and fruit.

When the kids started getting a little restless at the table, I read Adley's new storybook to them. It's a cute tale about a little boy who loves his stuffed bear so much that it starts breaking apart. In the end, even though the bear is missing one eye and most of his limbs, the boy decides that he doesn't need his bear to be fixed-- he loves his bear just as he is. So sweet!

We sure love this group of kiddos and were so excited that they could all share in Adley's birthday celebration. It was a fun morning to honor our new 4 year old!

FOUR Celebrations

 For Adley's actual birthday, Grammy and Papa invited Adley over to their home for a special "four" party. They had so many creative ideas to make her day unique. All of the activities Grammy planned had a "four" theme. Along the front walkway, Grammy had written an "Adley, Adley, we love you!" chant four times.

Once we got inside, Adley had to follow directions, instructing her to do various movements four times--including spinning in a circle,

clapping her hands,

and bouncing a balloon into the air.

Then, Adley did a series of four-related activities. Each activity was listed on a slip of paper hidden inside a balloon. Adley was excited about popping each balloon to discover her next activity.

Papa planned an activity in which Adley counted four marbles and placed them into blocks.

Another activity was looking at photos from Mommy's 4th birthday WAY back in the day!

We then built figures with four sides...

...and played a few rounds of Connect 4.

After the balloon-filled activities, Adley followed scavenger hunt clues around the house to discover her birthday present.

Can you tell how eager she is as she listens to the clues? Adley LOVED this!

Last, Grammy and Papa served a special lunch. Adley counted out four samples of a wide variety of foods-- grapes, strawberries, goldfish, cereal, carrots, pretzels, M&Ms, chocolate chips and more. Adley thought it was so silly!

In addition to her "four sampler platter," Adley had one of her favorite lunches, waffles, on the side. Yum!

They served a sweet roll for dessert. What a special morning!

That evening back at home, our family sang to Adley and celebrated with birthday brownies.

Over the weekend following her birthday, we invited our large family group over for a birthday meal to celebrate both Adley and Grandpa, whose birthday is the day before Adley's. Grandma made a delicious carrot cake for Grandpa, and we served cupcakes for Adley.

Adley was sure treated royally surrounding her special day! We thank God for our sweet FOUR-year-old!

 

Birthday Interviews

 I asked Adley some questions after she turned 4, and here is a taste of her 4-year-old personality!

1. How old are you? 4

2. Who is your best friend? God

3. What is your favorite thing to do? play Zingo

4. What is your favorite color? red and all the other colors

5. What is your favorite food? carrots

6. What is your least favorite food? cooked carrots

7. What do you like to do with the family? watch movies

8. What is your favorite toy? my music player with my new headphones

9. What do you want to do when you grow up? be a doctor and a mommy and a singer and be in the army

10. What makes you happy? playing Zingo with my family

11. What makes you sad? that we don't have our other TV.... (as she is staring at the new TV)

12. What is your favorite book? Bad News, Good News

13. What is your favorite show to watch? Molly of Denali

14. What is your favorite movie? How to Train Your Dragon

15. Where do you like to go? to the zoo

16. What is your favorite treat? chocolates

17. What is your favorite animal? lions (I think Daddy has a bit of an influence on this one!!)

18. What is your favorite song? Jesus Loves Me

19. What is your favorite thing to wear? the summer dress that I always want to wear

20. What are you afraid of? (giggling) monsters in my closet

21. What is something you're really good at? taking care of my animals

22. What is something you're not very good at? being brave (more giggles) when I'm pretending there are monsters in my closet

23. What is your favorite restaurant? Max's Donuts

24. What's something you like to do with Mommy? learn letters... I wish we could do all of them in one day

25. What's something you like doing with Daddy? go running on Daddy and Adley Day to the playground

26. What's something you like to do with your friends? celebrate my birthday

27. What's your favorite game? Zingo

28. What do you love about Jesus? that he didn't make monsters and that he put bears really far away

29. What's something you'd buy with $1000? 1000 animals for all of our family

Adley is Four!

 This sweet girl celebrated her 4th birthday at the beginning of March. She continues to be a very curious, observant, and perceptive girl. We are always amazed at what she understands and at the details she can piece together. She's one smart girlie! Adley has a caring heart and is always eager to help. She brings much joy and (deep) laughter to our family. We love seeing what God is doing in her life and are excited to see all that He will continue to do through her!

Current details on Adley:

Physical

• Height - 42 inches
• Likes brushing her teeth on her own in the morning and remembers this job on her own
• Very adept with scissors (including cutting out shapes)

Language

• Can write all capital letters, most without guidance
• Learned to write her name using lower case letters
• Recognizes all lower-case letters
• Still loves listening to books and can even sit still for entire short chapter books (like Mercy Watson and Princess in Black)
• Can skip count by 10s to 100 with only a little help

Playtime/Other

• Loves doing various letter activities with Mommy and getting library craft kits
• Favorite game by far is Hide and Seek, but also enjoys Zingo, her new Garden Game, and Race to the Treasure
• Enjoys Highlights hidden pictures books and coloring books
• Outside, loves playing with bubbles, creating "blueberry stew" and kicking a ball into the soccer goal
• Likes drawing pictures for Mommy and Daddy and hiding them behind the pillows on our bed
• Favorite shows include Doc McStuffins, Mickey's Clubhouse and any PBS kids show like Molly of Denali and Nature Cat
• Likes listening to her toy music player and playing on her toy laptop
• Regularly skips naps about twice a week, naps are shorter (60-90 min) when she does sleep
• Enjoys helping Mommy bake in the kitchen and riding in the jogging stroller on Daddy's Friday runs
• Started to enjoy building Lego sets
• Still often difficult to share and play with her big brothers
• Gets SO excited about playdates with friends
• Helps fold washcloths when Mommy is doing laundry
• Loves watching videos or looking at photos of "when I was a baby"

Asssembling a Lego Friends set 
she received for her birthday

Some weekly library "craft kits"

The Freeze

Before I journal on these photos, I must comment on my title.... After we had this historic freezing cold front hit Texas in mid-February, I found it very entertaining to hear the various monikers people attached to this event. Some common references included Snow-mageddon, Snow-pocalypse, the Arctic Blast, the Texas Ice Storm, and the Historic Winter Outbreak. Considering we only got a dusting of snow measuring less than an inch, I found the Snowmageddon title especially amusing.

Now that we're several months removed, however, most people simply say, "The Freeze," when referring to our crazy Valentine's Week storm. Now, don't get me wrong-- this storm genuinely was very chilly and particularly rough to handle, especially since our poor state wasn't built for frigid temps. But, after living in Montana for 8 years, and going through winters where the actual temperature would hardly ever climb above freezing for weeks, even months, on end, it does make me chuckle that we can refer to our storm in the singular-- The Freeze-- and everyone knows exactly which winter week is meant!

Anyway, Jason and I were very thankful that we had returned from our Asheville trip only a few days prior to this storm developing. The temperatures dropped significantly and the snow fell on a Sunday evening. The boys had off school on Monday anyway, due to President's Day, but they ended up getting off the full week after the storm as well. Just like many Houstonians, we lost our power through the night on Sunday and woke up to temperatures outside in the teens, snow on the ground, and a home that was gradually feeling colder and colder!

We made our children wait several hours before they played outside, as we were hoping our power would come back on, and warming up would be easier. Unfortunately, by mid-morning the status of our power still wasn't looking good, but we decided to let our kids play in the snow anyway. Our Texas kids were thrilled!! Even without actual snow boots or snow pants, all three kids didn't hesitate to enjoy the snow full-on.

Even though the temps were colder than anything the kids had felt in years (or the coldest ever temps for Adley!), they didn't complain about the chill outside. They bundled up and had a blast attempting to throw powdery snowballs at one another. Of course, here in Texas, our family doesn't own a sled any longer, so we created a makeshift Rubbermaid sled of our own! Jason took the lion's share of this job, but we both had a turn pulling the kids across the icy ground. It wasn't easy, but the kids sure had a wonderful time!

After 13 hours of being without electricity (and no heat!!), our power finally came back on around 3:00 in the afternoon. We had started to wear multiple layers, gloves, and even stocking hats inside, so it was a wonderful relief to have our heat return. Our home thermostat registered at 58 degrees when the power was restored. Brrr!!! We were put on rolling power outages for the next 24 hours or so, but thankfully we were only without power for 2-3 hours at a time.

In addition to losing power, our neighborhood also was without water. We all learned the hard way that Texas infrastructures are definitely not designed for this kind of weather! For FIVE full days, our family had to get creative with our lack of water. We boiled snow and collected rainwater for flushing toilets, and we brought in coolers full of water from CLHS and my parents' home for cooking, washing dishes, and for drinking. My parents also graciously allowed us to stop over for baths and showers and eventually for doing laundry. They served us dinner on a couple different nights as well. What a gift!

As power and water slowly started to be restored to various neighborhoods in our area, and as the temperatures started to rise above freezing again, we all breathed a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, an even more serious problem arose for many Texans-- busted water pipes caused terrible flooding and water damage throughout people's homes. There were so many issues with broken pipes that plumbing companies and hardware stores quickly started running out of the supplies needed to repair the pipes!

Sadly, my sister Kim and her family had trouble with a busted pipe in their kitchen-- one that gushed water through the ceiling right over their kitchen table. What an awful experience for so many! Thankfully, we didn't experience any busted pipes, though we nervously held buckets around our home as we finally turned our water back on for the first time.

This cold snap was definitely a historic time in Texas and a very crazy event for us all. Other than the annoyance of no water for that stretch of time, though, our family felt very blessed to make it through "the freeze" without too much trouble. The kids enjoyed their days playing in the snow and (of course) were thrilled with the extra days off school! We were thankful for the Lord's protection and certainly became more appreciative of our modern conveniences of heat, electricity, and running water. These will definitely be days that we will always remember!