Birthday Fun

Michael is very low key when it comes to birthday celebrations. 

For his special birthday dinner he chose homemade "shrimp frito misto," which is a copycat Olive Garden dish of fried shrimp & fried bell peppers and a spicy ranch dip. Aaron bought a little deep fryer and made it happen! It was excellent! 

For dessert, Michael picked "churro cheesecake bars." Sometimes this is called a sopapilla cheesecake etc. It's basically crescent rolls as the base, some cinnamon sugar sprinkle, a cream cheese mixture, topped with another crescent rolls layer and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and baked. Yummy!

I made a primitive "11" with two singular candles and he was just as happy as could be! 

For his gifts, he had a few things to open from us and he waited patiently all day to open them! 

My in-laws came over at dinner to give Michael their gift. My parents & younger brother came over at dessert to give him their gifts. Michael opened his stash from us (not including the early gift he opened on Sunday afternoon from his siblings). Michael's last gift was a scavenger hunt! He LOVED this, & my other kiddos are asking for scavenger hunts for some of their Christmas gifts. :) Michael had to go to four different locations in the house (toothbrush holder in bathroom, lightswitch in laundry room, under pillow in his bedroom, and eventually to our closet). His gift was a very large toy sword that I couldn't figure out a good way to wrap. Hence the scavenger hunt! All three kids were running through the house with grins & excited feet! This is the only picture I got from their adventure, but it was so fun! 

It was the perfect fun evening!

He had a fun day & is happy to be 11! 

Until Next Time,

Much Love, Reba

Michael is 11!

 Wow! How did we get here?! Today, Michael turns 11 years old! I am floored. Just yesterday it seems I had a little second grader eating lunch under our dining room table as something fun to do during the pandemic, and the day before that it seems he was a toddler running around the backyard with a stick, and prior to that he was a squishy little baby who giggled with precious fervor. And today he is this amazingly tall eleven year old! And he's still just as sweet! 

Michael and I will hang out together this morning (medical appointment), then he'll chill at home while I work, and we'll cool the meal of his choice and have grandparents over for the dessert of his choice. It's going to be a great day! 

I'll recap the birthday fun later on!

Happy birthday, sweet Michael! I love you!

Until Next Time,

Much Love, Reba

Avery's Frozen 2 Birthday Party

Avery's birthday party to celebrate with friends was this afternoon. We had such a good time! The theme she chose was Frozen 2 so we ran with that and put together a fun little gathering for friends! Two classmates showed up (one brought some sisters which was great!), and we had our little church friend too. Cousins couldn't make it to this party but we look forward to seeing them soon. Since I knew we'd have a few little girls age 7 and down, I tried to find activities to keep them occupied for the 2 hour party. 

Sometimes for parties, we set up the bouncy house but it makes the worship center super loud & I convinced Avery to skip it and do activities instead. It worked out so great!

We started out with some Frozen 2 themed color sheets & mazes. Every girl loved picking pictures & coloring. 

We played Pin the Nose on Olaf! This was something I purchased on Amazon and it came with 2 blindfolds & lots of sticker noses. 

We played "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" where I set out marshmallows, pretzel sticks, mini chocolate chips & orange jelly beans and the girls created their own Olaf! 

After this, we sang and & had cake. I asked my mom if I could borrow her castle cake instructions. I had this cake so often over the years and it was fun to make our own version of Arrendelle. 

After cake, we brought out our craft kit which is a wonderful mix of all types of crafty things. The girls loved choosing anything they wanted & just making random things. 

We had our gift area in the same room. That way, the girls could craft while Avery opened her gifts. 

After gifts, we played "Land Giants Destroy the Dam." The girls built a wall with pretend bricks, then they made boulders with foil and threw them at the brick structure. This is referencing a scene in the movie where stone giants release a dam to save the town. The girls loved this! 

After this, we played Dance Freeze Party where each girl got a balloon and I played the Frozen 2 soundtrack. Periodically, I'd pause the song & they'd freeze. It was so fun! 

Here's the birthday girl with her loot!

I used a Frozen 2 party decorations kit from Amazon for much of the party decor, and I purchased the large mylar 6 balloon from Amazon as well. In our Walmart order this week, I got a balloon inflator machine. Until this morning, I inaccurately assumed it was a helium filler. It was not. But that's okay. It was easily able to fill each balloon including the mylar one!

Earlier this morning, I looked up templates for paper snowflakes. I made one of each of the 6 but only took pictures of the Olaf & Sven ones. 

In my morning research, I also came across a tutorial for making 3-d crystal shapes to mimic the shape Elsa sees when she sings Into the Unknown. This was super easy!

We also made tiny ones as table decor filler. 

Overall, this sweet girl had a great celebration and a great time with friends! 

Until Next Time, 

Much Love, Reba

2 Years

My Popa entered Heaven two years ago today right in between Avery & Michael's birthdays. He attended Avery's 4th birthday party but was gone by the end of the week when Michael celebrated his birthday. I remember my little nephew came into my house for Michael's birthday and looked up at Nana and asked where Popa was. How strange it was for him to have been there merely days before! It was hard. It still is hard. We think of him and miss him daily. I know he's having a marvelous time though worshiping Jesus and observing all that Heaven has to offer. 

We miss you & love you, Popa. 

Until Next Time,

Much Love, Reba

Avery is 6!

Yesterday, sweet Avery Kate turned 6 years old! We celebrated at home before church with a couple gifts, then had a family pool party in the evening with all the grandparents. She'll celebrate with friends later in the week. We're so excited for her excitement at turning 6!

She came home from school on Friday with a birthday treat & birthday hat. 

She decorated her own cake!

She was ecstatic for her new dress & coloring book! 

We will be having a Frozen 2 themed party, so I borrowed the banner from the party supplies for a special touch at home. 

She was thrilled with every card & every gift at her special family party. 

Happy birthday, sweet Avery girl! We live you so much!

Love, Mom

Until Next Time,

Much Love, Reba