Opening Presents

Morgan got 2 pairs of shoes from Kasey & Aunt Roxanne (and a reusable bag)!

Jaden showing off dresses from Grandma Leslie and Grandpa Lyale

Jaden hugging the stuffed dog she got from Kasey & Aunt Roxanne

This is the dog carrier (above)

Gavin, the Petersons and Peads gave Jaden a dress, jump rope, and jewelry

Jaden had a lot of fun opening up presents at her party. She got a $10 gift card from Paula, and some money in the mail from others that will be mentioned later. Since her birthday technically wasn't until 4 days after the party, I saved the rest of the presents for later... So, you will see her open up the other presents in future posts. Stay tuned...

Birthday Activities

Gavin putting his home-made body glitter on his grandma (Aunt Carol)

Jaden making body glitter

Check out Gavin's huge lolli-pop! It was so big that it folded over!!

Look at that BIG Lollipop!!!

Getting the candy ready to make the lollipops

Kasey, Morgan & Jaden taking the candy out of the wrappers to make their lollipops.

The candy laid out on the pan before going into the oven.

Trofast from Ikea

It is very difficult to impress me with high ticket items (things that would cost me over $100). However, with our storage issues & organizational problems, these have caught my attention. Especially, since we are home-schooling, we need a better storage system. I am not sure how I got on the Ikea mailing list, but I got their catalog the other day. I finally opened it to the children's IKEA. My mouth dropped open when I saw the coolest system that could solve most of our storage problems. The cool thing about this system is you can make it as big or as small as you need... Plus, for people like me who can't afford to buy a HUGE system (even if I need one), you can buy it a few pieces or one piece at a time. Now, I don't know when I will be able to buy my first piece, but I am working toward that goal. I am already dreaming about the possibilities. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/search/?query=trofast&pageNumber=0

Making lip gloss

I had the kids make their own lip gloss, & then, they gave make overs to Grandma Leslie, Aunt Carol & Nicole!!! The three lucky ladies came away from the party looking gorgeous, as you can tell ;0)

The lip gloss was made with vegetable shortening and kool-aid. They made grape, fruit punch, and orange flavors.

I think this was Jaden's favorite part

Jaden was so excited to hear everyone singing to her and looking at her. I love to see her with her big, dimpled, & genuine smile!!

Did someone say it was time to eat?

Getting ready for a Bratz Party!

Grandma Leslie got the balloons for the party. There was one metallic Bratz balloon, a few balloons with the number five on them, and then some plain balloons mixed in.

Jaden made the goody bags. She colored Bratz girls and then glued the picture to a brown paper bag. She really enjoyed making and filling the bags for her friends.

Grandma Leslie provided the food: brisket, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, a vegetable plate, and a fruit bowl.

Since no Bratz cake could be found, Grandma Leslie picked a plain cake with purple and pink balloons. I found a Bratz candle to add a little Bratz flair.

These are the pics I took before the party got underway. More pictures to come!

A day of errands

Friday was a big day of running errands. We had to buy a few more things for the party and catch up on some of the things that I haven't had time to do in the last few weeks. After 3 hours of errands, and with another 2 hours of errands looming ahead of us, I let the girls sit down to eat a hotdog at Target. I don't usually give in to stopping somewhere to get something, BUT we still had more errands to run. The hot dogs were only $1!!! Not bad for eating out!