Parker's Birthday Day

This past Tuesday- Parker turned 5 years old!  I won't go on and on about how I can't believe she's 5 because I can't. And I say it all the time.

But I did go back and read her birth story and I will say that it doesn't seem like it was FIVE years ago!

We had a pretty low key day and ended with a family party.  We left our gifts to her out on the kitchen table for her to find when she woke up.  She was a little bit excited about her big day.  :)  She ran out of her room...eyes squinty from the bright light coming in from the windows and said through a smile, 'It's my birthday!"

Geoff is explaining to her that she will need to share with Grace.

And Grace is telling her which one is hers.  ;)

We enjoyed pancakes, bacon, and strawberries for breakfast...

I was trying to finish up some things last minute...So Geoff sat down with her to do some school work.

Grace was entertained for about 5 minutes with these blocks.  :)

I must say, though, I was impressed with her stacking skills...

Parker wanted a Barbie party...but I had already decided we were going to do a gymnastics party for her friends...it was going to be the 'no hassle...no running around my house trying to clean for a party' party....but the kids would love it and have fun...and it was/is a win-win.

But to give her a 'Barbie' party....I just through in a few Barbie things....

My mom made these adorable shirts and I made the skirts to match....

It's hard to get a good one of all 3, but these girls were so excited and bouncing off the walls!

 **The banner and these water bottle printables were purchased here.

We ordered pizza....

Papaw and Gran

Grandad and Mimi

Poppa and Gramma

A special treat!  My granny and 2 of her sisters...Joann and Pauline...

This gal got way too much.  And was a little shy to say thank you...

She just needed a little 'talk'...and all was ok.  :)

I always set forth to take pics of everyone and everything and always fail miserably!  I did NOT get a picture of Aunt Aubrey and her fiancé Greg.....and none of Kristin and Uncle Phil...AND none of our family of four!  Arghh!

over the last few days...

...nothing too exciting has been going on.  But I did try to pull the camera out to document a few things since I rarely ever do anymore.

Wednesday, Parker was in school....and so I had some one-on-one time with Grace.  This is one of the things I have been looking forward to having Parker in school 2 days a week.  But it's taking some getting used to.  Grace doesn't really seem to skip a beat...but she does 'need' me more because she doesn't have Parker to entertain her.  I even had an hour and fifteen minutes to kill while she was in dance...and it was like I didn't know what to do with myself.  Don't worry...I'll get used to this and plan ahead and fill my time alone just fine. 

We had an afternoon tea party....

_________

 This morning we did a few school-like activities.  Practiced pre-writing skills with circles and straight lines....

Grace tries too...

I've had this activity printed out a while and never used...it's from Confessions of a Homeschooler and she just did letter matching (the spoons had the uppercase letters on them).  We'll do again later with lower case letters.

I kept little sis busy picking up spoons we weren't using.  ;)

Hiding from me before lunch....

While the girls were eating lunch....I decided that I wanted something sweet.  I decided on sugar cookies.  Easy and good.

BUT...this time I decided to go ahead and have all of the ingredients already measured out and we'd just have to pour and mix.  Grace is so grabby (more than Parker ever was)...so this helped tremendously.  And we had just as much fun as if they did the measuring.

Taking turns....

Their favorite part...

The terrible 2s have officially made their way into our home again.  Grace picked this shirt out to wear this morning.  Which is fine.  

She comes out and says to me...."Is my shirt on backwards?" 

 I said, "Yes- let me help you turn it around."  

Her, "No- I want to wear it backwards."  

And she did.  All day long.  She is a mess.

But she can be the sweetest thing, too.  Of the two- she is the one that will out of the blue just say, "I love you, Mommy."  And I say, "I love you, Grace."  Then she says, "I love you, too.  And I love Daddy.  And I love Parker."

Just the sweetest.