Claire's birthday

A couple of weeks ago we had Claire's 5th birthday party.  It is hard to believe that she is already five and headed to Kindergarten in the fall.  When I asked what kind of party she wanted she said Hello Kitty without hesitation.  I looked around for some invitation ideas and I saw these on Etsy.  They were so cute!  Claire invited her friends from school and church - 10 in all.  We had 7 girls come and they all seemed to have a good time.

For decorations I wanted to make it fun and pink of course.  So we hung different swirls and decorations from the ceiling.  Claire was so excited to help put them up and decide where they should go.

I went to get some balloons blown up and Claire I saw this large Hello Kitty balloon.  So we got that too.  It it still in Claire's room.  I think we will have it for some time.

I made these Hello Kitty decorations out of white paper lanterns.  I saw the idea on the internet and I was worried that they would take a long time to make, but they were really easy.

Our first activity at the party was decorating their gift bags.  I also had pictures for them to color.  At first they put on just a few, but then they decided that they liked the sparkly stickers and added lots more.

The completed bags.

The main activity that I had planned was making bead necklaces.  I got some Hello Kitty charms and put them on the center of the necklace and I had the girls pick the rest of the beads.  It was funny because after they put on maybe 6 beads they said they were done.  I had to coax them into putting more on until they filled them up.

The finished product!  They all turned out really cute. 

The next game was pin the bow on Hello Kitty.  Claire really wanted to go first so she did.  However, she got really upset when she didn't get the bow in exactly the right spot.  I had to promise that she could move her bow later after the party.  We also played Hello Kitty bingo and watched a short Hello Kitty cartoon.

I got a Hello Kitty cake pan at Michaels.  I was really nervous about trying to get it done the night before the party.  I started in the top right corner with the icing stars.  Then the icing got too firm, so I took it out of the pastry bag and added more milk.  I think I may have added too much and the icing got a bit runny, so as you can see the texture changed on the cake.  I didn't have time to make it again, so we went with it.  Claire loved it though.

The birthday girl blowing out the candles.

Next up was opening the presents.  Claire was so excited to open them and look at all of the cute things she got.  One of the presents was a Hello Kitty bank that she could paint.  That is right up her alley!

The next day she painted the whole thing.  It was funny because she couldn't decide on the colors, so she kept using a baby wipe to take off some of the colors and try another one.

We got her some books and a Hello Kitty stuffed animal and puzzle.

It seems like Claire grew up over night.  She is really excited to go to Kindergarten and especially to learn to read.  She loves to play with her friends and now she enjoys riding her new bike. 

Easter

I feel like Easter sort of snuck up on us this year.  Spring is always a busy time around here and this year was no exception.  We were able to get Easter egg dying in between Grant's nap (this would have been crazy with Grant helping), a baseball game, a playdate and a play.  I boiled the eggs the night before so that we would be ready go when Andrew got home from his game.  I went to eat one and, ooops, they weren't totally hard boiled.  We'll we decided to move forward anyway.  The dye was made and Andrew and Claire were excited.  We worked on getting them to leave them in the colors longer so that as the box says they would be vibrant colors.

The finished bunch.  I was so looking forward to making deviled eggs, but I couldn't. I'll have to try it again soon.

Easter morning was very exciting as usual.  Andrew and Claire got up early to see what the Easter bunny brought.

I had them wait until Grant woke up to start looking for eggs.

We weren't sure if Grant would understand the egg search.  After both Andrew and Claire helped him a few times he got it. 

He was very excited to look for eggs.  Then even more excited to open them up!

There were some hidden outside as well.  Grant didn't like the fact that some of the eggs were wet with dew.

Andrew still searching inside for some that were over looked.

I tried to get Grant to pose with Andrew and Claire, but he got side tracked by the toys outside.  His basket made it into the picture though.

This is a shot of all three of them after church.  Andrew and Grant had matching shirts and ties - so cute.  Claire insisted on holding a butterfly garden decoration.  I took a lot of shots and this was the best one.

Later on eating their chocolate bunnies.  It is interesting how Claire started with the ears and Andrew started with the legs. 

We had a great dinner at my parent's house where we all got more chocolate.  Hopefully it will all be gone soon so that I won't be able to sample it anymore.

A big girl bike

We had been talking about getting Claire a big bike for a while, but we weren't sure that she was ready.  She hadn't spent a lot of time trying to ride her bike without training wheels.  She had, however, been riding one of Natalie's balance bikes.  Natalie and I had been talking about bikes and what kind and size to get her, so when she called me at work about a bike for Claire I wasn't surprised.  I was surprised to learn that she tried to ride one of Natalie's bikes without training wheels and that she did it!  So on the Saturday before her birthday we went to the bike store to try some out and look around.  Well, she settled on the "pinkest" most girly bike they have and I have to agree that it is really cute.  Here she is after we got home.  She was so excited to try it out.  It even came with the basket on the front!

There are bows on the handle bars and the on the seat.

Although she is in the size range for a 20" bike, it is a little bit big for her.  I imagine the feeling is the same as when I got the van.  She can ride it, but she is a little unsure and unsteady. 

Plus, there are some roadblocks along the sidewalk where she was riding.

The week after she got her bike it rained all week, so we haven't been able to practice much.  She is excited to practice on her bike and I think that she will be riding it around in no time.

Pirate Night

I am late posting this, but I definitely wanted to include it.

Claire's preschool has a dad's night at the school which is a Pirate Party.  She colored the invitation below and brought it home about 3 weeks before the party.  She then asked every day when the party was.  "Is it tomorrow?" "When is Thursday?"  "How many more days?"

There was only one picture taken at the actual event which was the one below.  I scanned it, so it isn't great quality.   They got to dress up at the party and take a picture next to the treasure chest.

Then they each decorated their own pirate hats. 

Here is a close up of Claire's hat. 

They got to go on a treasure hunt and bring home some gold (chocolate coins).  I keep finding the wrappers strewn about her room.

She also drew a picture of herself and Danny.  They also decorated cakes like pirate boats, but I didn't get a picture of that before it got picked apart.  There were also games like walking the plank.

She had a great time and talked about it for a long time.  I am grateful that she got to spend some time alone with Danny.

Baseball

 Andrew's baseball season started a while back, but they haven't had many games because they keep getting rained out.  This season he moved up a division and the kids pitch to each other.  It seems challenging to me to learn how to hit this way because the ball is all over the place, but they seem to be able to handle it.  If after too many balls, then the coach comes in to pitch to the kids.  This year Andrew is on the Angels.  Danny is one of the coaches, so he is able to get Andrew to the practices on time which is great.  The downside is that I have to try to keep Grant and Claire busy/happy during the game.  They seem to eat through all of the snacks quickly.  Grant wants to run onto the field, so we often don't make it through a whole game.  Here are some highlights from a recent game.

The kids rotate positions, so sometimes they pitch while other times they are in the infield or outfield. Andrew likes to pitch because he says the outfield is boring.

During this game though, he got a ball hit to him.

Batting warm up. 

Hitting.  He got to first base on this hit, but I didn't get a picture of it.

Danny doing pitching warm up. 

Huddling to hear their positions before the next inning.  The games are long - at least two hours.   They start at 5:30 on weeknights and they don't get home until almost 8:00 pm when it is dark.  They have to put away the bases and set up the field for the game or practice the next day.  Andrew and Danny spend a lot of time throwing the ball back and forth in the backyard.  Andrew enjoys being part of a team.  He is struggling a bit to hit the ball, but he is keeping is spirits up.  Only 6 more weeks until the end of the "regular" season.