Elizabeth's Birthday Bonanza

Elizabeth’s class had four birthdays in one weekend.  Luckily (or not) they were all at different times so they didn’t compete with each other.  Elizabeth had planned a Bounce U party with a Tinkerbell theme.  A week or so before she somehow forgot the Tinkerbell part and thought it was going to be Jayhawks or princess.  She was persuaded by the fun treats we had already bought and got back on board with Tinkerbell.  Her party was on her real birthday on a Sunday so she was the last party of the weekend.  Mom was a little worried the kids would be super tired by then.  They were getting there, but powered through the party with excitement so it went really well. 

Earlier in the weekend, we had been at Bounce U, Little Gym and on the Fun Bus.  Elizabeth loves her friends in a regular context, but when she has a parent along and it is a different location than normal, she tends to be a wall flower.  She bounced a little at the first party while Mom partially climbed in with her.  She only did the slide on the Fun Bus and just watched most of the time.  She enjoyed Little Gym a lot, but needed someone nearby her side to hold her hand or watch her do the activities.  

Elizabeth and friend, Coop, at one of the many birthdays.

We decided we would all just join in at her party so she was sure to have a good time and it really worked!  We went on the big slide together and bounced and bounced and bounced!  It was a great time!  We headed to the party room later on for cake and the attention of the birthday song did her in.  She buried her head in Mom’s lap and time seemed to freeze.  Mom had to decide how to take care of blowing out the candle.  It was quite a predicament.  Mom eventually bargained with Elizabeth that she needed to pick her head up and watch Mom blow out the candle.  Can you imagine the pictures we got?  Once Elizabeth got to move to the birthday throne for presents, she did pretty well.  She was removed enough from her subjects that she could enjoy looking at her gifts.  Our house now looks like the girl aisle in the toy section.  She apparently let all the boys know that she likes princesses and Tinkerbell and they delivered.  It is almost embarrassing how generous her sweet friends were.  She is very blessed!

One of our major accomplishments of being four is getting to take two gummy vitamins instead of one.  She loudly asks each night – How many vitamins do I get now?  (You get two.)  Why do I get two vitamins?  (Because you are such a big four year old now!)  I get two because I am four!!!  There will certainly be other victories, but that has been the most meaningful to her so far.  She keeps us entertained!

We celebrated the next weekend with extended family at IHOP.  This girl loves some breakfast so we thought that would be a fun place to go.  It was an adventure getting 12 people a table on a busy Saturday morning, but we did it!  Elizabeth wanted the Create a Face Pancake which she devoured the entire thing proving her love for breakfast.  She enjoyed being the birthday girl again with more family and couldn’t wait to get to the presents.  She was spoiled again and actually relished the opening and mildly enjoyed the attention.  There was no singing or candle, so that probably helped some.  Thank you all for blessing us and our sweet E.  She is so so big!

Happy New Year

Mom and Dad got to go to a wedding on New Year’s Eve so the kids had a countdown party in Coweta with Grandma and Grandpa.  They had pizza and cookies and watched movies and had a great time.  They came home with hats, horns and streamers and are ready for another sleepover!  

Mom and Dad enjoyed a fancy wedding with lots of food, dancing and friends.  We even made it to the countdown!

We are looking forward to a great 2013!  Our family is reading The Story together which is a chronological version of the bible in various age appropriate levels.  So far it has been a great experience and we love getting to study together this way.  Dad started a new role at work and has been busy with that, but should enjoy less lengthy travel.  We are all getting back in our groove after the holidays and planning out our vacations, enrolling Elizabeth in pre-K and making other plans for the year.

Christmas Vacation

We started with a couple of days of just some fun family time before the celebrations began.  That is when we did some of our serious baking.  We had a long weekend before Christmas Eve and just enjoyed getting ready to celebrate and counting down the days till Christmas.  The day before Christmas Eve we celebrated in Coweta with gifts and pizza.  It was super relaxing and fun.  The weather even allowed us to take pictures outside without our coats on.  The kids got fun remote control cars that they raced around the house.  On Christmas Eve, Mom’s family came over for dinner.  We enjoyed a big yummy meal and opened gifts with extended family.  The kids got a special gift that Papa would have wanted them to have as he loved Christmas so much.  It was really sweet to see their reactions and their eyes really did light up like he would have wanted.  They got fancy sleeping bags and a special toy to enjoy.  There were way too many other fun presents and it seems like the kids kept opening and opening!  It was so much fun!   

Trying to sneak a pic of all three "Gallimore" kiddos

That night when our guests had left we settled down for bed and read Twas the Night Before Christmas (a family tradition).  The kids put out cookies for Santa, tiny cookies for the elves and water for the reindeer.  So thoughtful!

We kept our Christmas Day to just the four of us so we could soak up each moment and not feel rushed.  It was such a great day!  The kids woke up ready to open and we convinced them to hang back until at least 7, maybe even 7:30.  Mom stuck the pullapart bread in the oven to bake and we went to see what Santa brought us.  Ben was pleased with Star Wars Legos, video games and other wish list items.  Elizabeth was excited about Doc McStuffins and her Barbie set with puppies.  The unexpected surprise from Santa of a Barbie microphone was the star of the day.  Or actually it made her become the star of the day.  We enjoyed lounging around most of the day and just playing.  We packed that evening to head to Kansas, but that was the most work we did all day.

We headed to Kansas for a few days on the 26^th.  The kids were eager to show off a few of their new toys, but they were so excited as they knew that more were coming.  They waited patiently until cousin Brynna arrived and we settled on opening gifts the next morning.  The kids enjoyed more treats from Santa as he left them a stocking full of fun in Kansas as well.  They were thrilled to open more family gifts and played the rest of the day with all of their new things.  In addition to their new things, they enjoyed a lot of play time in the basement with the ping pong table, kitchen, pool table, mini trampoline and lots of puzzles and games.  It was nice to be together.