4th Birthday Party

It just so happened that Caleigh's birthday fell on a Saturday this year, so we planned her party for that exact day. I was super excited about her party this year because she gave me a theme that I could do lots of stuff with. She said she wanted an "Under the Sea" party. I asked her if this meant that she wanted an "Ariel" party and she told me "No, Under the Sea, but Ariel can come too." So, I set out to plan an under the sea party. I got ideas from blogs and Pinterest and came up with so many that I had to pick and choose what to use.

First and foremost- her party dress. She told me she wanted to dress like a mermaid princess so I hunted at every clothing store I went to for something I thought she would deem appropriate. I finally found this dress and Caleigh fell in love with it. It hung in her room next to her window for over a month and she called it "My Beautiful Party Dress." She was ecstatic to get to wear it on party day! I also picked up the tights at Party City on clearance right before Halloween. They had Ariel written in glitter on the leg. She loved the glitter flats we got her to go with it, however they didn't stay on very long.

Decorations- Blue and teals were the colors of choice. We donned tables with blue coverings and added foam shells and sea life to them.
The food table contained a treasure chest that had beads, coins, jewels, and rings spilling out of it.
A string of Christmas lights draped the table area.
Centerpieces were made from glass vases holding water with blue food coloring wearing a pair of goggles. The vases were surrounded by chocolate gold coins and beads.



A net was hung over the fireplace and pearlized balloons were stuffed behind it. Over the top of the net was a sea creature banner with her name on it that was created by my mom. I absolutely loved this banner.

Windows and doors were adorned with aquatic window clings and bubble machines greeted guests as well as filled the back yard play area. If you look closely, you can see some of the bubbles in this pic.

Streamers were hung from the ceiling fan to the walls to gave a wave effect overhead.

Chad painted a picture of a mermaid and we cut the face out. We made guests (young and old) pose for pictures behind it.


Food- Since it was an under the sea party, seafood was served. Captain D's fish, shrimp and chicken tenders were on the menu. There were hush puppies galore! "Seaweed dip"-aka spinach dip was a big hit as well. There was a cake made to look like underwater and cupcakes to match it. Of course there were Swedish Fish candies and lots of Goldfish crackers, Goldfish cookies, and Whale Snack Crackers. Cheese balls and applesauce for our littler guests was also served. I always end up having way too much food and this party was no exception. However, I would rather have to much than not have enough any day!



Games- We picked up a stick the crown on Ariel game at Party City the day we got the tights, so this game was essentially the very first thing we planned for her party. She had lots of fun getting dizzy and trying to stick her sticker on Ariel's head.
Even her Granny got in on the action.

Our inflatable jumpy was put up outside and we filled it with sea animal pool toys.

I also bought some AquaSand and set up a table so kids could play with it in small tubs of water.
Another table contained "Edible Sand Art". Baby food jars are filled with colored Pixie Stix candy and then decorated. Kids could take them home and later eat their art.
The swing set also proved to be a big hit that day since the weather turned out to be so beautiful.
Inside, a small baby swimming pool was inflated and ball pit balls were added so that even the littlest guests could have some fun.

Favors- Buckets with the children's names on them were filled with bath toys or outdoor water toys, goggles, Goldfish, and Swedish fish candies.



Presents- Caleigh ened up with so many presents. All I can say is that she is one loved little girl!




I hope she had an amazing birthday! I can't say enough how much I love this precious girl!

Party Planning!

Here it comes! Caleigh is turning 4! I can't believe it. I just found some old home movie tapes and watched one of them that went through random times in Caleigh's life from the time she was eight months old until she was just over a year. In the beginning of the tape she was a drooling little baby who would roll around on the floor or get up on her hands and knees and rock. This progressed into an army crawl a few scenes later and and then into a full out, chase her around the house, crawl. Then it was scenes of her holding on the furniture and walls and walking around. By the end of this tape, she was walking and even running! As I watched that tape, I thought about how fast all of that really happened. From rolling to running in less than five months! Amazing! Sadly, I feel like that it what is happening now. She has gone from infant to a little girl in far too short of time. But I realize in her mind that time is endless. She lives each day with excitement and enjoyment and always anticipates tomorrow. This is why I am so excited to throw her her fourth birthday party. She brings me such happiness and in doing things just for her, whether it is making her lunch or throwing her a party, she shows her appreciation in a way that my heart can never get over.

Where did October go?

Well, as you can tell from my previous post, we tend to be a pretty busy family in the fall. So busy in fact, that it is now November and I am just now writing the post that finishes out all of our October events and I am wondering where October went! Aunt Mish's birthday fell smack in the middle of the month and Caleigh and I got to take her our for lunch that day! Mish and Caleigh seem to have a really close bond and she loves to hang out with her.

In the midst of all of our partying hard through the month, Caleigh manages to start feeling badly. This comes as no surprise to me since the 70/80+ days give way to 40/30- nights and drastic temperature changes wreak havoc on Caleigh. After a fever off and on for several days in a row, she took a trip to the doctor who told us it was nothing more than her usual asthma related problems and possibly a virus that had run its course. Back to breathing treatments daily we went and will have to continue to do so a minimum of once a day through the rest of the fall and winter. Thank goodness for Charlie Brown. She will gladly take a treatment if I put an episode of that on for her to watch while she does it. I don't know why she does, but I distinctly remember her doing the exact same thing last year as well!

She was out of school most of the week she had the fever but she was determined for feel better for that Friday since it was "Farm Day" at school. They were all told to dress as farmers and they got to go into the gym and pick an egg from a chicken coop, then crack a real egg, and then watch some eggs being cooked then eat them. I was the lucky mom that got to cook the eggs for the 80 3-year olds that morning. They also got to squeeze oranges followed by drinking orange juice, butter and eat toast, dig through dirt for vegetables, and play with farm toys. All the little ones in their overall, straw hats, boots, and bandannas really did make cooking all those eggs worth it!

Picking a costume for Halloween this year was not as easy as in the past. Formerly, I have been able to just pick out what I wanted her to wear and put it on her. This year, SHE wanted to choose. And rightfully so. We took her to Party City where she stared at the giant wall of pictures of costumes and decidedly picked out the Olivia costume. For those of you who are unfamiliar with preschool television, Olivia is a creative, imaginative, pig who lives with her dad, mom, and two younger brothers and her show is a staple show on the NickJr network since 2009. This was the first year that an Olivia costume was made and they only made it in a toddler size and a kids small. Well, neither of those would fit my little piggy so I resolved that if that was the costume she wanted then I would find a way to make it for her. After searching the internet and coming up with a few ideas, I enlisted the help of the sewing talents of my mother and we went about making her an Olivia costume that would fit her. In the end, I was so pleased with the finished product that I liked it much better than the one we could have bought if they made it a little bit bigger. While many older people had no clue who she was, practically every kid that saw her knew exactly who she was. I loved hearing some little kids squeal in delight to their parents, "Look mom/dad! It's Olivia."

We went to our local library's Halloween party and she got to listen to stories, sing songs, check out decorated pumpkins,

have cookies and juice, and create a paper bag scarecrow puppet. She really enjoyed the evening.

That same weekend we joined Mish in attending a craft fair in Conyers. We shopped and enjoyed some ice cream and italian ice before heading to my mom's house for pizza and a movie. Well, pizza and a nap for Caleigh. She was wore out!

The following week was her fall festival at school where she got to wear her Halloween costume to school for the day. She was very excited about this and really had fun playing the games and winning candy. She was even more excited that I got to come and play with her while she was at school!


We never made it to a pumpkin patch as a family this year but Caleigh did get to go to two earlier in the month so I didn't feel like she was missing out on anything. I went to Wal-Mart and purchased a few very large pumpkins and Caleigh chose what she wanted it to be carved like this year. Her fist Halloween we carved Moose (again from NickJr), her second year it was Wow Wow Wubbzy, last year was Tinkerbell, and this year she chose Ariel. I am not a carver, so Chad gets to try to impress us each year with his design of whatever Caleigh has chosen. He didn't fail this year either. Caleigh thought Ariel was awesome.


We participated in Trick or Treat on the Square in our hometown

and attended the first ever Zombie Walk to the Square in the same weekend.


We went to a church fall festival with the daughters of one of Mish's friends.

And this made the fourth time she had worn her costume and it wasn't even Halloween yet!

On the night of Halloween, she donned her costume and trick or treated at my mom's

and my husband's mom's house.

We met up with one of my friends at his mom's house and we headed to a huge fall festival at her church.


She was supposed to be working the event but they had enough volunteers so she got to hang with us for most of the night. Caleigh wanted to slide down a giant slide but because of her age, they would not let her do it alone. So, I trekked up the slide and slid down with her in my lap. I am pretty sure I gave my friend a really good laugh.

So now, October is over and we are a week into November. I am frantically making party arrangements for Caleigh's 4th birthday and trying to figure our birthday presents and planning for Christmas at the same time. I know everything seems to get all mushed together for a lot of people, but for me, it seems to be jumbled just a little bit more because I have a birthday thrown in the mix too. I have told Chad that from now on I might as well say "Happy HallowBirthdayThanksgiveoChristmasYear" because that is exactly what it feels like!

Fall Fun Weeks!

My, oh my! We are in full fall swing around here! The weather has included some overcast days and there have even been days of.........wait for it.......rain! Amazing! Cooler, darker mornings have made the littlest member of our household not want to get out of bed so easily in the mornings. I can't say that I blame her, but getting her ready for school each day has become increasingly more difficult despite the fact that she gets upset every Saturday and Sunday when there is no school!

We started out the fall festivities this year by attending my sister's school (she's an elementary school teacher) fall festival. Caleigh really enjoyed her time at this outdoor festival. She got her face painted, played a few games,

jumped in a jumpy, slid down a very large slide,

rode on a horse,

held a chicken and a bunny,


and collected enough prize tickets to get herself an interchangeable princess necklace, a Kit Kat bar, and a ladybug temporary tattoo. She was most pleased with herself and did not want to leave.

The very next morning was the Fall Festival and Auction at Caleigh's preschool. This was an indoor event (and thank goodness it was because it was so very windy outside).

Here, Caleigh got to play games for candy prizes,

make a sand art bracelet and necklace,

have her face painted, jump in a jumpy, slide down a giant inflatable slide, and visit a fire truck.

She got to have all three of her aunts, her two cousins, one of her uncles, and her granny come to her school festival! She was very excited about this. She played the cakewalk alot with them!

I got to participate in the silent and live auctions for some very good things. I was really impressed with the amount of items that were available to bid on. The craftiness of some of the baskets up for auction were inspiring! I would have never thought to concoct some of the baskets that were there. I even bid on and won Caleigh a handmade Halloween dress and coordinating hair bow! So cute! I also won the bids on a Mexican themed gift basket that included a sombrero plate holding a giant bag of Tostitos, a jar of salsa, a jar of cheese dip, a jar of jalapenos, and a $30 gift card to a local Mexican restaurant. Chad and I have already went and used the gift card on a date night! In addition to those two auctions, I also won the auction for $30 worth of gift cards to Red Lobster. I foresee another date night in our future! :) There were also door prizes available, a 42in LG flat screen HDTV, an iPad2, and a years tuition to the school, none of which I was lucky enough to win. :( This festival was very fun and we spent most of the afternoon participating in all the activities.

Unfortunately for us, Chad has a very lousy work schedule this month. He works until at least 8:30 every night he works and has to work every weekend. This doesn't include him in many of our fall plans this year. However, the county fair happened to be occurring on one of his off days so we loaded up and headed 5 minutes down the road to the outrageously overpriced amusements. Despite the hard hit to the pocketbook, the experience was nice. We called my one of my sisters and her daughter and they met us there. We purchased unlimited ride bracelets for the kids and I spent the rest of the evening watching the two of them bounce up and down on boats,

zoom along on a train roller coaster,

spin in an enclosed cage wheel,

and bump other cars in Barbie cars and Jeeps.

The carousel made me nervous as I watched Caleigh go round and round and up and down.

I am a big fan of this picture of her!
I am not really trusting when it comes to "pop-up" rides. There was one ride that I refused to let her ride but I was pretty accepting of most of the others. Chad did get me to ride one thing with him, the Ferris wheel. I have to admit, once I got over the shock of moving backwards and swinging whenever the ride stopped, I did enjoy the view of the sunset. But, that was the extent of my rides. Thank goodness my sister was there to ride some of the other rides with Chad. I wasn't about to be suspended upside down or subject myself to seizure inducing strobe lights while spinning around in circle for anyone. Not even Chad! LOL.

Continuing with our fall activities, Mish, Caleigh's oldest aunt, asked to take her to a local farm with some friends of hers that were coming to visit. I consented and noticed that there was a fall festival going on in the square she would have to travel through in order to come and pick Caleigh up to go with her. I advised her of the festival so that she could go an alternate route as to not get caught up in traffic on the way to our house. Instead, she suggested we all go check the festival out before they headed to the farm. So, Caleigh and I got ready and headed to the square and met Mish there with a special guest, Caleigh's youngest cousin! We walked around the festival and Caleigh got to jump and slide again, as well as play with inflatable baseball and basketball games.




She then met a clown who cut her a beautiful ballerina out of paper

and then made her a balloon animal.
I do not like clowns (bad childhood memories I guess) but this guy wasn't so bad. We snapped a few pics



and then Caleigh headed to the farm with Mish for the rest of the day.

Yes, she did a clothing change before she left. She had to root for the Dawgs like Mish. She got to play in a bin of corn kernels,

shoot corn out of a cannon,

went on a hayride,

got lost in a corn maze,

petted farm animals,

slid on a slide,

watched a pig race, and bounced on a bouncy horse.
When I picked her up, she was coated in a layer of dry red Georgia dirt! She turned our tub orange during her bath that night, but she had fun!



Our local Chick-fil-a has family nights every Tuesday night from 5:30-7:30pm. They do some kind of special event during these two hours. This particular Tuesday night was pumpkin painting night.

Caleigh and I drove there and met Mish and her husband to eat dinner and she got to paint and decorate a baby pumpkin.

Then she got to eat her favorite meal for dinner. After that she got to play in the indoor playground for a while. Then, the giant CFA cow came out and interacted with all the kids. She gave him hugs and high fives. She then traded her toy in for an ice cream and then got a balloon to take home. In the car she tells me that she had such a good time at that fall festival! LOL! I take her to dinner and she thinks I took her to another fall festival. Guess I got some cool mom points in her eyes! Go me! LOL!

This past week, we did something we have never done before. We purchased tickets to see Disney on Ice- Dare to Dream.

Caleigh loves the Disney princesses and this show was so amazing! I was in as much awe as she was I think! I don't know if I enjoyed the show or watching her reactions to the show more!

Chad brought all of our cameras to make sure we didn't miss a moment and then got in our seats only to realize there were no memory cards in any of our cameras! So, all of our pictures and videos were taken on our phones! Thank goodness Chad has a phone with a really good camera! The pics on my phone weren't so great, but at least we were able to capture some memories!

Of course we had to buy the needless light-up spinning Rapunzel toy and a Rapunzel cup with a snow cone inside of it in order to complete the night. The people of Disney really know how to pull on the heartstrings and the purse strings! LOL! I LOVED taking her to this show! It was quite magical!



This weekend is Mish's birthday so now we are in for some more celebrating and having fun! All these super fun activities are really adding up and we just now reached the middle of the month! We have yet to visit a pumpkin patch, carve/paint our family pumpkin, or do any Halloween related activities. There is still so much fun to be had!