Anna Claire's 5th birthday

Anna Claire's birthday parties are truly labor of love and I enjoy planning them so much! When she told us she wanted a Peppa Pig birthday I got so excited. What a fun party to plan for! The episodes have such fun themes, not to mention pulling in the British theme.

We've celebrated her past two birthdays at liberty park, so when she said she wanted to have this one at her gymnastics i was a little relieved since it is air conditioned! It also gave the option of having it later in the day, giving more time to decorate the day of.

I may sound a little like a dork for saying this, but I watched Peppa Pig episodes very closely the weeks leading up to the party so that I could pull in little details from the show that Anna Claire would notice and appreciate. 

Because it's a British show, decorations are hard to find so I made many of them (in other words my color printer got a workout!)

I was surprised and impressed who how much Anna Claire wanted to help plan this party. She definitely had her own ideas like having a jumble like Peppa where each guest brings a toy they no longer want or having a real tea party with actual tea.

Friends who came: Lucas Murray, Maggie Williams, Emery Baggett, Avery Kate Lee, Lyla Stephens, Gracie McFarland, Ellie Burchett, cousin Ellie

Gifts:

Emery- art supplies

Lucas- easy bake oven

Gracie Barbie purse with markers

Ellie (cousin) Sofia teaset and wand

Lyla- Barbie pearl princess

Avery Kate - spin art

Maggie- my little pony outfit

Gracie- children's place top, headband, flip flops- 

Ellie B -Barbie purse

Anastyn-Barbie mega blocks

Ava -make your own stickers

Grandma- $50, Barbie head, bubbles, Sofia outfit

Mommy and daddy - outfits, watch, sunglasses, snoopy snowcone machine, Ariel towel, Aladdin, snoopy flavors, swimsuit (rash guard 2 piece )

Anna Claire asked to come along to pick up her birthday balloons.

Admiring her little umbrella toothpick. They were a hit with all the little girls...and fit the Peppa Pig theme! Peppa loves her muddy puddles.

Peppa Houses for party favor. Each child received either a tomato or a basil grow kit. Many of the episodes have to do with growing fruits and vegetables since Grandpa pig has a garden.

Nutella and biscuits: British fare.

Mr. Potato crisps.

I was excited to find these at Trader Joes. They taste like Heath bars.

Wiggly Worms! Served up with Muddy Puddles (chocolate pudding)

Ploughman's lunch: a tradition British lunch of fruit, cheese, bread and butter.

Ploughman's lunch

"Real" tea for the tea party!

Kids love laying on the air trac while it inflates.

Jumping up and down...on trampoline

I'd love to know what they're talking about!

Sweet cousins. Anna Claire went to Ellie's birthday the week before. It's neat they are so close in age.

This was my best attempt at getting all party goers in the same pick. Missing Ellie B and Lucas.

Daddy and Madeline

I think we have one happy little girl.

Giving Grandma some love.

Birthday girl with Lucas photo bomb.

Anna Claire and Lucas picking up markers.

They loved this My Little Pony card from Ellie. They weren't expecting ponies to pop out at them!

Ellie picked Anna Claire's Mooshka in the jumble.

Anna Claire picked Ellie's Tiana doll. Each child who brought a toy received a ticket (a printout of a British pound). At the end of the party they redeemed it for a different toy. So fun! Peppa and her friends have a jumble sale in one of the episodes.

Anna Claire had three special requests for her gymnastics party: air trac, parachute, and that Coach Codi would do her party. That's Codi in black.

Madeline decked out in British garb for the occasion.

Little girls love to color!

Jumble sale items.

In England they call sodas "fizzy drinks." If you've seen Willy Wonka you'll recall "Fizzy Lifting Drink."

Cucumber sandwiches to complete our tea party.

More tea please, Mommy.

Birthday girl and her cake.

Love her cake! You can see the teapots we filled with real tea on the left and the sprinkles in the artist palettes let the kids decorate their own cupcakes.

Anna Claire right now

I feel like we've been so busy trailing Madeline with all of her new mobile skills that I owe it to just give a little update on our sweet AC. 

She is such an amazing helper to me. She not only helps when asked, but she anticipates what I will need.

Sometimes she gets jealous and frustrated, as expected, causing her to act out. This looks like nail biting, not listening, calling out "look at me" 100 times a day, and getting territorial with toys...the baby's, not hers. She wants to play with Madeline's toys many days more than her own, then gets upset when sister wants them. 

We are really trying to be understanding and cut her a lot of slack, and give her attention and do special things with her. She calls this "mommy/Anna Claire time" or "going lots of places."

We adore her, but it does hurt my heart that we no longer have the time and energy to dote on her as we once did. And more so that she realizes this too.

Our Big Night

On the way to gymnastics, Anna Claire informed me tonight was her big night.

I asked, "Why is that?"

She looked at my incredulously and said, "Mommy, we're going to Grandma's."

Tubby Table: Finding peace at bath time.

We've had a power struggle at bath over lining up containers and spilling water on the floor.

Well, look what just came in the mail. I'm kind of excited about it. 

Tubby Table is awesome! The most peaceful bath time we've had in two years. No joke.

Planting Seeds

All week some amazing people have been investing in my sweet girl and planting seeds, that she would grow into a follower of Christ.

We have had some of the sweetest conversations on the way home from VBS this week.

Yesterday we were driving in the car and Anna Claire said, "Mommy I've been learning about Jesus this week. And God. And Jesus is God's son. And so they live together in heaven. But Jesus had to die on the cross and he had holes in his hands. And his feet. The soldiers put him on the cross. They put him in a toon. But he didn't stay in the toon. He went to heaven to be with God."

I said, "You sure have learned a lot about Jesus this week. That's awesome!"

"I know. I'm pretty smart, huh?"

"Yep. You sure are," I said.

"Guess what else?" she went on. "Jesus is bigger and better than us. He can do things we can't do."

"He is bigger and better. What can he do that we can't do?" I wondered.

"He can fly!" she answered and stretched her arms out as if to fly herself.

Teaching your child to sleep through storms.

Teaching your child to sleep through storms.

It's 1:00 AM, we're having a superstorm and my husband and  little girls are sound asleep. I'm lying in bed,  wide awake. By choice. The only thing keeping me up is my desire to write this post to hopefully help parents who may not be having as peaceful a night as I am.

Our success with this will sound really simple to you, possibly to the point of frustration, but it is the honest truth and we believe in it.

Here are our few short steps for teaching children to keep calm through a storm.

1. Keep YOUR calm during the storm. Each time you scream or jump when it thunders or when it's lightning, you're robbing your child of his or her ability to brave a storm.

2. Fake it till you make it. Sometimes storms are scary. Same is true of tornadoes. We live in Middle Tennessee where tornadoes are prevalent, and I am terrified of them. But I protect my kids from scary tornado talk and even of watching the news and weather. We do talk about safety and tornado drills and have a storm cellar if need be, but no "oh my gosh" or "woe is me" talk. We keep things business as usual for them, to the extent possible, so their routines are protected and things are calm.

3. Everyone sleeps in their own crib or bed, always. I believe the first time you deviate from this you've made sleeping in your bed an option for them. So just don't ever start doing it.

4. Daycare happens, but stay the course. I remember my oldest came home and shared that friends cried at nap or screamed during storms at school. She wondered why. I just asked her why she thought they were crying, and she said she didn't know. I used the opportunity to reaffirm that storms aren't scary and we talked about how she can help her friends understand there is nothing to be afraid of and that everything is going to be ok.

5. Find and share the peace of sleeping through storms. I love a storm and find sleeping through them to be peaceful; I tell this to my children. I have peace in my faith and trust God. I share this with my children. We have no reason to fear for he is with us.

My father-in-law lives with us and he has told the girls he has a CD of thunderstorms he plays at night to help him sleep.
My husband loves to stand on the porch during a storm and watch God's beautiful light show.

I love that my garden and flowers are getting the water they need and how it smells after a storm. I love the pitter-pat of rain on the roof and the roar of thunder.

We just create a culture of storm lovers in our home. I feel so blessed lying here listening to some of the loudest thunder I've heard in my life, knowing my children are sound asleep, and that they feel safe, calm, confident, and protected.

I pray one, some, or all of these tips can bring you and your sweet children peace during storms.

Build-a-Bear Birthday Party!

Anna Claire loved getting on this "computer".

She has the heart for her Build-a-Bear in her hands. So precious.

Putting the heart inside. So it can love her back.

Lyla and Anna Claire waiting to stuff their new friends.

Even Madeline got a Build-a-Bear. I mean, Anna Claire got 2 Build-a-Bears. Meet Teddy Playgroup.

Stuffing Pinky Pie.

Cleaning and brushing her new friend.

How Daddy occupied Madeline. Oh how she loves a shoelace.

Carousel rides are a must when you're at Opry Mills.

I can't imagine that any child at Maggie's 5th birthday party was more excited about going to Build-a-Bear than Anna Claire. She had never been, and talked about it for weeks prior. It meant so much to her.

I wish I had gotten a close-up of the t-shirts Miss Emily had made for each new friend with the child's name monogrammed on them. So thoughtful! Such a fun party!