Happy Birthday Annaliese!

Annaliese turned 5 on November 25th, but since that was the day after Thanksgiving, we decided to celebrate early and had her party the weekend before.  She had lots of different ideas about what she wanted her party to be like and what she wanted to do, but we settled on a Frozen theme with a few different activities for the kids to do. 

Some of her ideas included a piñata, riding bikes outside "Mom, I can ride my bike and everyone can watch me" and playing Candy Land and Sorry.  "Me: I think you will have too many friends to play those games. Annaliese: Well, some friends can play Candy Land while other friends are playing Sorry and I can just go back and forth." Of course, why didn't I think of that! 

Since Annaliese just wanted to be able to hang out with her friends and I was not super excited about the Frozen theme, we kept the decorations to a minimum. Annaliese helped string cotton balls to make icicles and we cut out a few paper snowflakes and called it good! We had a few different coloring pages set out for the kids to color and another table where they could build their own Olaf out of marshmallows. Annaliese opened presents as each person showed up and after playing inside for a little while, they all bundled up and went outside to play!

Busy making snowmen!

We made these fun Olaf string cheeses, but forgot to put them out for everyone to eat!

Blowing out the candles...it took a few tries to get all 5 candles!

"I want sprinkles, chocolate chips, and M&Ms. And I want it to say Feliz Cumpleaños."

Playing with as many new presents at one time as she could!

When we set up Annaliese's birthday party, Elias and Mallory weren't going to be able to make it and Annaliese was super disappointed. So we set up another party on her actual birthday since we didn't have school and Kelsey and Ben were planning on being in Bellingham for Thanksgiving. Although they didn't end up coming up here, we still went ahead and had Grandpa and Grandma, Kim, Thane, Elias and Malachi over for breakfast. After a delicious breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon, Annaliese opened up the rest of her presents and spent the rest of the day playing with Elias!

Somebody is very well loved by all her family!!

Checking out her new bike! It has Elsa and Anna on it just like she asked for!

 At school, every week at chapel they sing Happy Birthday to all of the kids who had a birthday that week. This week, Annaliese's class led chapel so they sang Happy Birthday in Spanish. Enjoy!

Kyle is 33!!

Kyle turned 33 on April 28 and to celebrated we had a little party at our house. We invited friends and family over to enjoy hamburgers and hotdogs on our new BBQ (a Christmas present from Mom and Dad Gillette,) play cornhole, throw the frisbee and hang out together. Quite a few of the people were guys (and their families) from Kyle's small group at church that I hadn't met so it was nice to be able to put a face with the names he talks about! It was also neat just to look around and see how many friends we have made over the past year and a half since moving here!

Putting the new BBQ to the test...it passed! 

Uncle Ben, Uncle Thane and Auntie Kim with the boys:)

 

Auntie Kelsey and Mallory

Haleigh was a big fan of the cupcakes...especially the frosting!

 

Auntie Kim and Malachi

Trying to light the birthday candle!

 

Happy 2nd Birthday Haleigh!

Yesterday, March 7, was Haleigh's birthday! The day in and off itself was rather uneventful, but only because we had her party with family last weekend when Grandpa Jay and Grandma Kelley were here. She has totally been into her train set that she got for Christmas so we did a train theme, and basically just ate lunch and hung out together. 

 The train birthday cake

For lunch, everyone got to make their own pizza; we had chicken, ground pork, pepperoni, artichokes, olives, peppers, cheese, marinara sauce, and pesto available so that everyone could make something delicious! 

 

Malachi enjoying some avocado

 Thoroughly enjoying her cake!

 Somebody has her eye on the cake!

Opening presents!

 Haleigh and Grandpa Jay

 Elias and Annaliese showing off their conductor hats!

 Giving out thank you hugs!