Mikayla's Orphan Annie Birthday Party

Here it is: The long awaited Annie birthday photos are here! (Ha, ha) I am doing this post for all those random moms out there who have a daughter who wants to have an Annie party. Hopefully when you do a Google search, you will find this post and get some ideas on your party...because it was hard to put it together with nothing out there! Annie is just not that "cool."

1. I started with the invitations. I had ordered a dress off Ebay for $20. I color-copied the photo and burned copies of the CD so the girls could listen to it before the party and have an idea of what kind of party they were going to! I was surprised though how many moms ran out and rented to movie for their daughters before the party...so sweet!

My goodie bags were simple....little tin pails that I put their names on, lockets and sun tattoos. The total cost per goodie bag was about $1.75.

I rented the clubhouse and invited 10 girls (counting my two).

I found the Annie doll and Miss Hannigan on Ebay for about $7 each. They were her birthday presents and then I stuck Annie on the cake. Before the party started, Mikayla shoved Miss Hannigan on the cake too!!!!

I ordered the cake over the phone at Publix and they did a great job. I wanted the colors to be hot pink, red and yellow. (Mikayla wanted the hot pink and a colorful bouquet of balloons for her chair.)

I had red butcher paper on the kids' tables and crayons for the opening activity. I also put gold coins for the mansion.



I had the girls all wear their "rattiest orphanage frock" and they looked so cute! Dave dressed as Punjab (not sure how to spell that). We would have done Daddy Warbucks, but couldn't find a bald wig. He already had the turban from his India trip...hilarious!

After coloring on the tables and dancing around, I sat the kids down and briefly told the story of Annie. Then I gave them all a rag (ripped up pieces of left over fabric I had) and put aprons (that my mom made) on all of them and told them to clean!!!! They danced and dusted to "It's a Hard Knock Life."

We played pin the nose on the sun, and whoever was closest got to give out the horns for the "Sandy Dog Parade."

Look how cute they are! I forgot to play "Miss Hannigan says." That was supposed to come next, but oh well!

The girls all brought their favorite stuffed dog to parade around. I brought a couple extras for anyone who forgot.










Then we did a "rag toss" (really it was balled-up tin foil) into buckets. They had so much fun with this!

It was a great party! We finished with cake, ice cream and presents.

Mikayla was so happy!

Hopefully this will help out anyone else who needs to plan an Annie party!

Mikayla is Five!

Happy Birthday Mikayla Mae!

And here are just a few reasons why I love this sweet little girl:

1. She loves to look "fashion" but has her own distinction of "cute" and "fashion" and has a certain preference each day.

2. She is terrified of sharks and always asks me if there is a shark in the lake, or river, or whatever body of water we are passing.

3. She still mixes up her pronouns. For example, she says, "Him is so mean! Him is not invited to my birthday!"

4. She gives the best hugs and squeezes so tight that she chokes me.

5. She is loyal and always sticks up for her friends.

6. She is a trooper. I forget how young she is compared to the Daisies (she's not supposed to be in the troop) and I still expect the same out of her and forget that she's a lot younger.

7. She's strong! She can go across the monkey bars and is really good at gymnastics. 8. She's shy. She gets SO nervous in front of a lot of people, or even just in a room with a lot of people that she doesn't know.

9. She's funny. She makes everyone laugh. She's always the kid that says the most inappropriate things (about panties or "stinky toots" or whatever) in the class, even though it drives her teacher crazy.

10. She likes to disagree. She tells me she has a bad day, just because in the morning I told her she was going to have a GREAT DAY. She tells me she hates ice cream just because I had mentioned that she loves ice cream! She insists that she's getting tattoos and a belly ring just because I told her how much I hate them.

11. She is really, really good at art.

12. She can play dolls forever by herself. She loves Barbies, PollyPockets, her American Girl doll...whatever.

13. She loves to get dirty. This did not come naturally, but with the big sister she has, she took it on and then took it to a whole new level.

14. She's very independent. She potty trained herself at 20 months and has never let me help her in the bathroom. She dresses herself and gets mad if I try to help her wash her hair.

15. She hates to clean up. She is really good at getting away with it too...like she'll pick up two dolls and then start playing quietly while everyone else cleans.

16. She loves shrimp and can eat more shrimp than I can in one sitting.

17. She's compassionate. She cares deeply about the people she loves.

18. She loves make up and jewelry and to "jam out" in the car.

19. She knows what she likes. It doesn't matter that every other girl in the world is having a Hannah Montana or High School Musical Party...she wants an Annie one!! (more to come later)

20. She loves to hang out at the elementary school and feels very important. She will enter kindergarten knowing every kindergartent teacher there!

I don't know what I would do without my sweet Mikayla. She adds the spice to my life...and a whole lot of sugar too.

Happy Birthday!!!!

Dave R.'s Tag

Okay, Dave R., I'll play (but only because it was very interesting to read yours!!!!)



1. If you were trapped on a desert island who wouldn't you want to be there with? ummm, I better not answer that one.



2. For 100 million dollars would you cut off the first inch of your pinky finger? absolutely



3. Who do you find more attractive yourself or Bill Clinton? me, totally



4. What would you rather clean up poop or puke? poop, with no doubt.



5. On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your intellect against your friends? 7.5



6. If you had to choose one food to survive on for the rest of your life and only had the choice between mayonaise, catsup, horsey sause, or fat free Italian dressing what would it be? Fat Free Italian Dressing, but that's gross. Can I choose Diet Coke??? or Dots???



7. If you had a free pass that let you commit any sin without having to pay for it what would you do? Absolutely rob a bank...or maybe stop paying bills for the year.



8. If you had a billion dollars given to you what would be the first thing you would buy? Pay off my house.



9. If the best plastic surgury clinic in the world told you they would fix any part of yourself for free what would you have done? I could use a lot of work, but I would just get Lasik on my eyes (I know, that's not plastic surgery). I just couldn't do anything else and handle the recovery or the possible regrets. I can handle my small chest and large thighs and droopy butt.



10. If you were given a choice to start your freshman year of high school knowing what you know now, having the mentality you have now transporting back into time into the old body you had with your adult brain, would you do it? Ya, I probably would, but I would be worried that it would change the course of my future. It would be fun though.



11. If yes to #10, do you thing you would be a better person reliving your life knowing the consequences, or would you be a worse person having a much more powerful brain? Man, I don't know...I would hope I'd be a better person and make some different choices (especially socially) and then I wouldn't have the same consequences. I've already learned from them by doing it wrong the first time so it would be fun to go back and do it all right or at least better than I did.



If no to #10 why no?



12. Name one person that you would never eat dinner with, even if you were paid 300 dollars to do it? Oprah



13. Have you picked your nose within the last 7 days? Yes (Have you seen the pollen in Georgia? I have to brush it off my car and pick it out of my nose.)



14. How many questions on my tag have you not been 100% honest to? none

So Scary...

My kids have never liked raisins. When Amelia was two years old she would take one look at the box and cry. I thought it was kind of weird that she hated them THAT much. As she got a little older and easier to understand, she kept saying "scary, scary" every time she saw the box. Another year went by and I just never bought them, but whenever both my girls would see a box, they would turn them over so you couldn't see the girl. Finally Amelia explained to me that the girl on the box is SCARY!!!! I guess she somehow passed that fear on to Mikayla because this has gone on now for about five years with both of them. Amelia watches 'Curious George' every morning before school and after it will say "this show was sponsored by Sunmaid raisins" or whatever and she starts to freak out a little. I find it quite comical.

Lessons Learned from Spring Break

• I learned a lot of things during Spring Break. We did so many fun things...too many to post about, but here's what I learned. If you buy expensive toys for your children (Leapsters), they will lose them.
• Don't forget to pray when you do lose things because we found it in the oddest place after eight days...in the back of Aunt Miki's car.
  

When your kids are fist-fighting (literally) get them outside! After a horrible day of fighting, I took the kids on a 2.5 mile hike and we pulled everything together again.

I think my girls learned their posing skills from their dad.

It doesn't matter if I buy my kids cute clothes, they will pair them with other cute things that totally don't match.

It is time to use sunscreen again...they are both very sunburned.

It is really great for Dave to be able to call me in sick to work saying he has to watch the kids, so he can take the day off to hang out with us.

Utah Represent!!!!

I just wanted y'all to know that the Utes were proudly represented at the elementary school on "College Shirt Day." They were easy to pick out in a sea of Georgia Bulldogs and Georgia Tech fans. They weren't afraid though...Go Utes!

And a big thank you to Aunt Chell who sent the shirts (and bracelets and socks!) for Christmas. Our little neighbor wore Mikayla's shirt.

TV

Okay, so I don't love TV, but there are certain shows that I absolutely have to watch. I don't turn it on during the day, unless I'm in the kitchen and no one is home and then I watch Fox News to catch up on everything, but there are certain shows that I HAVE to watch each season. I DVR them so I can get through them faster, but I LOVE THEM, so I guess maybe I do love TV. So, right now this is what I watch:

The Hills

American Idol

The Biggest Loser

America's Next Top Model

Survivor

Lost

Oprah's Big Give

I stumbled across Oprah's Big Give (I think that's what it's called) and I LOVE it. I really, really don't like Oprah (gasp!) but I think that show might be the best on TV. I was going to post about it, but my friend Jessi beat me to it and did a better job saying anything I would have said, but I was also going to include another show that I stumbled across...it was the Primetime: What Would You Do? series. I think that's what it was called, but anyway, it was awesome.

If you haven't seen it, what they did was set up situations where some sort of wrong was being committed and had hidden video cameras to see how people reacted. Some examples: A white store clerk refusing to serve a Muslim woman in a deli, a man crying in a park, teenage girls picking on another girl, and also teenage girls making fun of a very large woman at a beach, and so much more. Anyway, it goes on and on...it was amazing to see people's reactions and whenever someone did something great, I would find myself sitting their bawling. It was just so touching.

Anyway, they had this one scenario where these two girls were parked in a handicapped parking space and an obviously handicapped driver with a van had no where to park and they wouldn't move. Some people just walked on by but others started YELLING at the girls to move and even offered to help the other lady park her van.

I have never parked in a handicapped spot, but I have used handicapped restroom stalls before and let me tell you something that happened. One day I was in Macy's and the girls were VERY young. I went into the restroom and nearly every stall was open, except the handicapped one (which I probably would have used and brought the stroller in). So instead we used a tiny one and were washing our hands when a lady in a wheelchair came in. She had NO WHERE to go. There were ten open stalls, but the handicapped one that she needed was occupied, so she had to sit and wait. When the lady came out of it (obviously not handicapped), she looked a little embarrassed, and I was glad that I hadn't used it! It was a good reminder to me that maybe those stalls should be saved for people who need them.

Anyway, this was not a very deep and profound post, but I just wanted to share!

It's Spring and Mikayla and I are doing yard work all day! I even had Dave take the car so I could use his truck to load mulch. Wish me luck!

Happy Easter!

I just wanted to share some photos of our weekend fun! The egg hunt was a blast!

The Easter Bunny did a treasure hunt after the kids found eggs and left all the kids big bouncy balls. It was super fun, but the little kids only lasted half-way through!

This picture of the girls and their best buds just makes me happy!

Coloring Eggs

Mik's Preschool Party

Amelia's Kindergarten Party --her teachers are so awesome. They really can't have "parties," so her teachers call them "Spring Centers" or whatever the season is and have them anyway!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Overheard in March

Mikayla: "Now that it's Spring, when can we go climb-walking?" (hiking)

My mom took all these photos. I didn't have my camera at the infamous "Hannah Montana Tornado Birthday Party" so I thought I would post this one here for you to see! She had to paint nails and didn't even sing one song because it was dark and there was no power...I hope her mom got a discount!

Amelia: "Mom, I think cotton is made from clouds, not t-shirts!"

"Mom, I know why you married Dad. ‘Cuz 'C' is next to 'D'.” (She is learning about alphabetizing!)

I can't believe Easter is Sunday. My kids have wanted Leapsters (I think that's what they're called) for a VERY long time. The Easter Bunny will be coming through with those along with a chocolate bunny. I am having an egg hunt at my house on Saturday. For all of my local friends, I'd love to have you! Email me if you want to come at 1:00 so I make sure I have enough prizes at the end of the treausure hunt. (Yes Dad, in your honor I have a treasure hunt. It's not so difficult though...we don't step in snake holes, and twist ankles, and walk for miles in sage brush and have to figure out Dr. Seuss rhymes.)

Mom and Dad's ATL Highlights

There is just too much to post, so here is my mom and dad's trip in highlights:

• Celebrating Dad's birthday.... I painstakingly ordered the cake a week before...pistachio almond from Coldstone, with a very special Marsh Girl birthday wish....enough to feed 12. However when we picked up the cake, it was the size of a tea cup plate, seriously.
  This led to a lot of fun, such as me asking the girl, "12 people???? This feeds 12 people???? I guess you don't know my family!!!!" We lovingly refer to our ice cream portions as "D bowls" which is easily half this cake.


• Amelia just said, "Mom, I think they made that cake for leprechauns." The next day they were reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and had to write a little story about what else the caterpillar would eat. This is what Amelia wrote: he ate a cak. it was the smolist cac evr. Her teacher had no clue what she meant, but we laughed for five days about it.
• Friday we took the girls to the American Girl Doll Bistro. We had a fabulous time and a yummy dinner. The dolls got make-overs and new outfits and we had a blast.
  

• Saturday Mom and I decided to go ahead and take the girls to a birthday party. I mean, this was a BIRTHDAY PARTY! It was at the police lodge (a tin, manufactured building on Spot Road) complete with DJ and dancing for the first hour, a Hannah Montana impersonator for the second hour and food, cake and presents the third hour. After finally finding the place in a serious down-pour, we went in and started jamming. Twenty minutes later, we can see all the parents and their friends (all police officers) on their walkie talkies. We knew SOMETHING was going on. The next thing we know, they hurry all of us into a tiny hallway--like a closet---and tell us that a tornado is heading our way.
• My mom and I realize that we need our purses and cell phones. So, I leave the shelter into a complete hail storm and retrieve them. I also ran into "Hannah Montana" being dropped off by her mom, but they hid her until we could come out of the shelter.
• Then, the storm hit. It was the worst, scariest thing in the whole world...20 5-6 year old girls, some without moms there, and the rest of us adults trying to be calm for them, huddled in the closet. The power went out; the girls were so scared. None of us had phone service anymore, so we gave the girls our phones to give them some light and all said our silent prayers.
• We could see all the officers on their walkie-talkies....and HEAR the dispatcher saying that it is headed down Spot Road and would be at our location at 1:38. It was the scariest five minutes of my life.
• My friend called (not sure why my phone only got an incoming call) and said that the tornado was hitting Hampton (my subdivision). I knew my dad was reading upstairs and Dave was at the gym. I had no clue how we would let me dad know to take cover, and we were sick with worry about him.
• The storm went over and the girls came out. There was no power for Hannah to sing, so she painted nails and the party went on. Then "Hannah's" mom comes running in screaming and crying because she had just gone to Kroger and they moved all the people to a back room and told them the tornado was on Spot Rd. and heading that way....she had just dropped her daughter off at the party on Spot Rd., so she jumped in her car and faced the storm to make sure her daughter was okay.
• Mom and I started noticing that all the officers were getting on their walkie-talkies again, so we decided to leave. Amelia inisted on putting up her umbrella to get out to the car, which got Mom drenched trying to get it in the car. We got all settled and knew we had fifteen minutes to get home before the next one hit. THEN, one of the officers comes RUNNING OUT to the car, screaming for us to get inside and grabs Mikayla to run her in.
• Once again, we were in hiding. This time a mom and daughter came in off the road...that's how bad it was. She couldn't even see and just ran into the first building she saw with cars.
• We made it home and watched the news and realized how devestating it all was. Ricky Sixx was okay, and Dave was home and we were all traumatized.
• Sunday we were sure that we couldn't go downtown to the aquarium. Dave kept telling us that the baluga whale had probably blown out of his tank and was flopping in the middle of Main Street. However, it was up and running and we had a fabulous time and it was a beautiful day!

• Please take note of the girls' fabulous outfits....Mom's only comment: "Ya know Chaun, I don't think I dare buy your kids clothes ever again. They sure have their own fashion sense, don't they?" Oh, and while we're on our attire, Mikayla really loved Granddad's. She kept asking him, "Why do you have flowers on your shirt????"

• The Sea Lions were my favorite because it was beautiful outside and the trainer was so good and so patient with the crowd. She asked if anyone had questions, and of course both my girls raise their hands. After answering all the adult's questions, she turned to Mikayla who asked, "What do they drink?" which was a great question...it turns out, that they don't. They get the water they need from squid. Then it's finally Amelia's turn and she asks, "Do you just catch the fish in the aquarium and feed them to the sea lions????" Mom and I were laughing so hard, that we were crying, but we couldn't let her see that. I think maybe you needed to be there, but it was so dang funny.

So, it was adventurous and crazy, but so fun and full of love that I never wanted them to leave. And guess what? When we are having scary times, don't we all just want our moms? Well, mine was here, and I was so glad! I'm also grateful that we still had so many good times to make up for the scary Saturday!