Baby Minnie Mouse Birthday Party

After much pondering, Sarah and I decided for Hannah's first birthday party to be a "Baby Minnie Mouse" theme. We had so much fun planning it for her. I bought Hannah and Sarah coordinating Minnie Mouse (MM) outfits to wear for the party and MM ears - so cute! Sarah helped me plan everything from the cake to the games. She is such a little mommy!

So, in order to get everything prepared we had to get the grocery shopping done several days in advance.
Much to my friends and family's astonishment, I baked and decorated the MM cake. My friend, Rebecca has been my "cake lady" for several years, as well as Publix. However, I made Sarah's first birthday cake, so I wanted to make Hannah's as well. I found a picture of a MM cake on-line, so I copied it to the best of my ability. MM ended up being a little tan; however, she does live in Florida. The fondant bow was a little floppy, but it looked pretty descent.
The girls pre-party in their pj's after breakfast - before the chaos begins!
I made these MM ears for the mailbox for a little pizazz. I made them out of Styrofoam and just painted the foam after I cut the shape out. It took several layers of paint. Then, I just added a bow with wire and another wire around the bottom to keep it in place. I think it turned out pretty cute for our "925 Disney Drive" party.
Sarah set up a lemonade stand for the guests. Our church is raising money for orphans in Russia and Ukraine through the children having "lemon-aid" stands. The money will go to buy school supplies, birthday presents, and Christmas presents for the children. Sarah had a great time setting up the stand and passing out lemonade. Her cousin Trey helped her with it as well.
Here is the final presentation of the cake and cupcakes before they were indulged. My mother, Baba, offered to help, so I assigned her to the MM cupcakes. I was going to put little Twizzler bows on them as well; however, the bows did not stay put too well.
Here are the MM cupcakes on their display before the kiddos ate them up. She bought Oreo Cakesters, cut them half, and placed them on the top of each cupcake. They were delicious - thank you Baba!
I borrowed a MM plastic container from my mother, so I pondered what to do with it for the party. I came across a recipe for a Jello Fruit Mold, so I decided to give it a try. I think it turned out as a refreshing healthy snack.
This picture makes me giggle! Sarah, my niece Morgan, and Ellie are eating their lunch while Hannah snatches food from their plates. Hannah is thinking: "It's my birthday party, why is everyone else eating and not me?"
Our family photo before the girls got messy and wet.
The kids played water balloon toss. Hannah was the youngest child at her party, so I was gearing the games more toward the the other kids. So, Mark held Hannah for the water balloon toss. We didn't want her to be left out.
Sarah is chasing me around the yard with a water balloon!
Lucas enjoying the bucket of water after the game - much to Rebecca's disliking!
The kids are participating in a sponge race now.
Sarah and Ellie racing back to their teams!
I think this was my reaction to Noah falling into the baby pool full of water, which started a domino reaction - of course!
This is Hannah post-birthday cake. Silly Mommy forgot to put the precious MM ears on her for the candle lighting and birthday singing - oh well! She's precious anyway!
Sarah and Ellie playing dress-up post-party. They have always enjoyed playing princess dress-up. For some reason, Ellie seems to always end up in the Snow White dress????
Sarah and Ellie playing "spa" post-party. They wanted a manicure and pedicure! Like mother - like daughter!
Some more post-party fun! We busted out the slip-n-slide for a whirl! Daddy demonstrating how it works!
Sarah finally getting brave to really give it a try.
Little Hannah appreciating the coolness of the water in the 90+ degree day.

We truly had a fabulous day celebrating Hannah's first birthday! I still have hard time realizing that my little baby isn't such a baby-baby anymore. We are blessed beyond measure for our precious girls. I pray Hannah will always know she is loved by her Mommy and Daddy!
Happy Birthday my sweet Hannah Joy!!!

July 7, 2010

Today we celebrated Hannah's special day! It is hard to believe that my little baby is already one year old! Wow, yes, time does fly by when you're having fun! I am so very thankful for my sweet Hannah Joy who came into our lives weighing 7 pounds 9 ounces at 6:51 p.m. Her name truly fits her precious personality.
Our church was doing a week long event called Synergy where the church body works together to bring glory to God through missions. The church body had 15 various mission activities throughout the entire week. Mark took 2 days off of work to build a deck for a widow lady in Tucker, Ga. I took the girls to the Lawrenceville Coop to hand out food, do crafts, and play games with the kids.
I thought it was special that Hannah was able to spend her first birthday serving the Lord, even as a one year old. It was important to me for my girls, especially Sarah being 4 years old, to see what it's like to be a servant for the kingdom. I want her to grow up being able to see a need, see when one is hurting, and be comfortable enough to show God's love to the people around her.
She is helping a little girl make her door hanger craft. My desire for my girls is for them not to be so self-absorbed and think that everyone else lives like we do, but that there are people who are in need and lacking many of our everyday things we take for granted.
When we left the Coop, Sarah said, "That was fun mommy! Can we do it again?" I am going to try not to let this just be a one time thing, and make it become a family mission we do fairly often. Hopefully, I will be consistent about this - I need some accountability!
My sweet friend, Mrs. Marlene, was helping out at the coop as well. So, she entertained Hannah while I helped the children make crafts. She is such a selfless woman - love her dearly!

Hannah and Sarah sitting in the shade enjoying a little break and some cold refreshing H20.
Later that day, we all took Hannah to the pool for her birthday.
Daddy is trying to keep Hannah from crawling out of the pool - it's quite a challenge. She is on the move!
Mommy and her girls - "Quick Mark take the picture before Hannah jumps out of my lap!"

To think that I was in the hospital last year at this time cuddling with my little 7 pound 7 ounce baby girl, and now here we are one year later - not too much cuddling time anymore! We are so thankful for the Lord giving Hannah to us! Happy Birthday sweet Hannah Joy - we love you!!!

July The Fourth Weekend Celebration

One of Sarah's favorite things to do is to go grocery shopping with me, especially when there is a really cool grocery cart. We rarely go to the Kroger in Loganville, but when we do it is a special treat. It is a new Kroger with special "kid-size" grocery carts. So, Sarah loads up her "children" for the trip. On this particular visit, we were going for there special sale ($1.50/box) on "Honey Bunches of Oats" (our favorite cereal).
As a child, I remember having a blast preparing our golf-cart or bikes for the neighborhood Fourth of July parade. One year we put a huge inflatable whale on top of the golf-cart and a sign on it saying, "Have A Whale of A Fourth." Another year, my brother and I rode on the back of my dad's convertible. My mom made me a Statue of Liberty costume and my brother a Flag costume. I have very fond memories of this time of year. So, I wanted Sarah and Hannah to experience just a taste of it. After Mark got home from work on Friday, we loaded up the van and headed to Baba and Papa's house for the Fourth of July Celebration to begin.
We woke up early Saturday morning for the day's events to begin. Papa had already decorated the golf-cart, trailer, and red-flyer wagons. Yes, my father has farm animals in his backyard: bunnies, chickens, a rooster, and doves.
I am shocked that his neighbors have not called the authorities yet about his rooster, because it is an early riser!
The four of us on the back of the golf-cart.
Trey, Sarah, and Morgan ready for the parade to begin. Papa and Baba bought the grandkids matching outfits from Gymboree just for the festivities!!
Hannah wearing her coordinating Gymboree patriotic outfit!
The kids in position before we headed off to the pool for the parade to begin.
Here we are waiting for the parade to begin. We were lucky enough to be the first float. Not hard to do that when there were only 5 floats. The participation has lightened up a great deal since I was a kid. Our float won the "youngest participant" award, since we had Hannah on board.
After all of the parade festivities we all stayed at the pool for a neighborhood grill out. Mark, Sarah, Hannah, and Aunt Heather getting cooled off while waiting on the greased watermelon game.
Uncle Matt participated in the greased watermelon game. The lifeguard used Crisco to grease the watermelon and separated the age groups. Half the participants are on one side of the pool and half on the other side of the pool. Then, the watermelon was dropped in the middle of the deep end, and you have to get the watermelon to the opposite side of the pool. It makes for a great memory!

I am really glad we were able to drive down for the festivities! The girls, well Sarah, had a fabulous weekend of celebrating! Happy Fourth of July!!! I hope your 4th was a special one too!

Mark and I left the girls with my parents overnight, so we could go back to Atlanta to run the Peachtree Road Race on Sunday morning. We left home at 5:15 a.m., rode Marta to Buckhead for the race to begin. Mark started in wave C, and I started in wave F. We ran all the way to Piedmont Park 6.2 miles. I had an awesome experience and loved every minute of it - sounds bizarre I know. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the music along the way, the people lining the streets, and the water sprinklers. It was great fun experiencing the whole event with Mark. I found him afterward, and we walked around talking about how much we want to do it again next year while we were eating ice cream of course.