Halie's 4th Birthday!

 This post has lots and lots of pictures.  So those of you who are missing this little gal will have plenty to look at.  : )

A couple of friends that we invited to her party weren't going to be able to come, so we were able to meet them a few days before her birthday at the McDonalds Playland for some fun play time.  They even brought her a gift.  So sweet!



Kaitlynn, Allison, and Halie

 Her 4th birthday started out with a trip to Bob Evans for a free birthday breakfast (I signed her up for it a couple of months ago.)  Then we stopped by K-mart to use the Birthday Club email we received.  She got a free birthday fun pack with a crown she could color and some crayons.  She also got $5 in Birthday Bucks that was good towards any toy $5 or more.  She picked out this cute tea set for exactly $5.  She was a happy girl.  : )

After we got home from that, we made her birthday cake and put it in the oven.  I had rented Tangled and once we got the cake in, we sat down and watched a movie together.  We spent the afternoon just playing and doing things she likes to do. 

Then for dinner we went to "The Peanut Store" (aka Texas Roadhouse).  I had another email for a free birthday dinner for her, and she LOVES "The Peanut Store" so it was a win win!  When we got home from that she opened a few gifts.

A little gumball machine and new bath toys from Mommy and Daddy.

A camera from Meemaw and Papaw Cantrell.  She LOVES it!

A book and a shirt from Great Grandma Staffa.

After gifts, we ended the evening with the Birthday Cake ice cream she picked out at the store.

So, all of that was on Friday, her actual birthday.  Then on Saturday, we had her Pinkalicious party.

  (If you're not familiar with this book, the short version of it is that Pinkalicious eats too many pink cupcakes and turns entirely pink.  The doctor diagnoses her with "Pinkititis" and tells her the only cure is to eat green food to return to normal.)



Pinkalicious




 I hung balloons outside the house and put a sign on the door so our guests would start to feel Pinkalicious as soon as they saw our house.



I set up the food table in the living room.

Everything was pink of course!  And I made a banner with her name for the front of the table.

Here's the cake Halie and I made.  It was strawberry, so it was even pink on the inside, too!

We even had pink popcorn!

On the coffee table, I set up the book, pink M&M's, and one of Halie's Pinkalicious toys with a Happy Birthday note on it.  And her Pinkalicious doll had to be in there somewhere too, of course.

The birthday girl in her pink t-shirt she and I made just for this party. 

3 little friends joined in the Pinkalicious fun! 



Suzanna, Olivia, Halie, and Sallie



They enjoyed playing in Halie's room for a few minutes while I finished up some last minute details (and picture taking). 

We started off the party by reading the book so that everyone was familiar with it.  The girls munched on the pink M&M's while I read.

I had a little photo-op area set up in the kitchen with all of Halie's Pinkalicious dress up stuff, and we hung a tablecloth for the background.

After the story, each girl had a turn dressing up as Pinkalicious.

 

Then it was time to sing, blow out candles, and eat all that pink food.

After they finished eating, they each got to decorate their own pink cupcakes.  I had lots of things for them to use, sparkly pink icing, all kinds of sprinkles, candy flowers, pink M&M's, and cherries.

They made a huge mess and had TONS of fun!

The finished creations.

Then it was present opening time!

The girls had fun helping her open her big gift from Mommy and Daddy.

A crib and highchair for her baby dolls.  (Nana and Papaw DeLamarter ordered her a toy baby monitor to go with it.  I know she'll be SO excited when that gets here!)

Then they headed outside for some play time in the yard.

When the party came to an end, I passed out these favors to each of the girls and told them to be sure and eat their green food so they wouldn't turn pink from all that pink food they ate.

The other side of the bag topper said, "Thank you for making my party Pinkalicious!"

(This was not my original idea.  I found them on someone else's blog who had also done this kind of a party and she had the toppers available for free download)

So, that pretty well sums up her 4th birthday.  There are no pictures with Burl because he napped through most of the party, and only woke up right at the end as everyone was getting ready to leave.

  After her party was over and her friends had all gone home, she said, "For my next birthday I wanna do Purpleicious!"  I'm kind of hoping she forgets about that come next year.  : )

If you'd like to see more detailed pictures and explanation of the decor and food, you can see that on my other blog {HERE}.

Randomness from July

I realized that I had a lot of pictures from July that weren't anything specific necessarily, so I've just lumped them all together for your viewing enjoyment.

A pretty new dress from Meemaw and Papaw Cantrell (and new
sandals that matched perfectly, found on sale at Payless for $3!!)



His hair never knows if it wants to stick up or lay down.  : )



 Our church had it's VBS in July, and they did a "Gold Rush" cowboy/western theme.  All of the scenery was handpainted by Sherry Mims (and helpers) and it all turned out superbly cute!



Robert let them use his saddle as part of the scenery, and it was also
the prop for the individual photos you'll see later.



Each night they did a segment of the skit, and the kids found it hilariously funny.  Ok, so did the adults.

Part of my job was to go around to each activity and take pictures of the kids in action.  Then the next night we ran a slide show for them to watch as they were waiting for things to start.  Burl tagged along in the stroller while I did my thing.

Halie and her friend Olivia

Robert was able to come one evening and he took care of Burl for me while I took pictures.  Here he was having fun with Daddy's hat.

Getting ready for craft time!

A lady in our church is a photographer and she brought her equipment and set up a little studio area and took a picture of each child sitting on Robert's saddle.  They put them in cute little frames that matched the theme, and on the last night of VBS they gave them out to each child.  Cute idea!

I hadn't even thought about Burl getting his picture done, or I would have dressed him more appropriately.  But someone was watching him for me while I ran the power point and they slipped him in for a picture.  He wasn't too thrilled with it.  : )  I still think it's an adorable picture.  You did a great job Wendy!

Halie had a BLAST and I'm sure she'll be excited for VBS again next year!

On another note, we love to play with Burl's hair during bath time.  He loves the attention and all the laughs he gets because of it.  : )

One Sunday morning none of us were feeling well and we all stayed home from church.  Robert watched the kids for me while I went back to bed for some extra healing sleep.

This is what happens when Daddy's given free reign while Mommy sleeps.  : )

The two of them had a good time being silly and playing dress up.  Apparantly Robert was lookin' quite silly too, but mysteriously there are no pictures to prove it.  Imagine that.  : )

So there ya go!  Now that pretty much fills in the gaps of July.  I still need to do a post about our trip to the Columbus Zoo and then July will be finished up.