Brynn's 5th birthday

Brynn turned 5 on March 7, 2016.  We celebrated on two different days...Monday (her birthday) and Saturday the 12th.

We were planning a big pancake breakfast for her party so I let her pick out her favorite cereal for her birthday breakfast.  She picked Lucky Charms.

We sent the kids off to school and then she helped me get ready for her sort-of party that night.  (Grandma and Grandpa and Brett were coming.)  We were saving her cupcakes for the friend party but we still needed a cake for her birthday.  We made chocolate sheet cake with peanut butter frosting.  She helped stir the cake batter and sprinkle Reese's on the top of the frosting.

The rest of the day was fairly normal.  I tried to let her do whatever she wanted.  We made her birthday dinner together and we also went to activity days.  When Justin got home, she opened her presents.  It was her first birthday in our house and so she got a scavenger hunt like the other kids did.  For her birthday from us she got a few of her favorite treats (bubble gum, suckers, and gummy bears), a soft Elsa doll, and a balance beam that Justin made.

 

Ivy has been so funny with the beam.  She loves to sit on it and bounce up and down.

After presents, we had her birthday dinner.  She had requested red meatballs.  A crowd pleaser for sure at our house!

Grandma and Grandpa came up after dinner (Brett was sick so he stayed home and my kids were definitely sad about that!).  From them she got the 5-year-old figurine, a jewelry box, and the "Eye Found It" Disney game.
 
We set the game up right away and played before we had cake.

Then we sang to Brynn, she made a wish and blew out her candles, and we ate cake.

The party was over then but we had to squeeze in a quick game of Foosball before they left.

This year Brynn got her first friend birthday party.  The sad thing about this is that she hasn't really met a lot of friends up here yet.  So we settled for inviting three neighbors (only one came because the other two were in Disneyland), the daughter of my visiting teacher, Camille's boys, and Grace and Tessa.  Brynn seemed happy with this group.  She was just excited to be having a party!

Riley, Cameron, Stockton, McKinlie Edwards, Grace, Molly, Harper, Brynn, Maive Pauley

We started Saturday morning with a pancake breakfast with buttermilk syrup, strawberries, bananas, and grape juice.  Some kids took longer to eat than others so while they waited, they jumped on the tramp.

We probably could have had a party and just told the kids to play outside but I did have a few games planned.  The first one was a balloon pinata.  I blew up a whole bunch of balloons with candy inside of them and then Justin stapled them to a big board. 

The only hitch we had with this game was that I was never able to find any darts to throw at the board.  We thought they would be able to shoot bb's at the board and pop balloons, but that didn't work well.  The bb's either missed the balloons, bounced off of them, or ricocheted back into the waiting line of kids (luckily no kids were injured!).  So instead we just used a tool of Justin's with a pointier end and had the kids go up and pop their balloon and collect their candy.  They each got to pop 4 or 5 balloons.

We played pass the present-I wrapped a prize a whole bunch of times and if they rolled doubles, they got to unwrap a layer.  The last game was pin the amulet on Sofia.  I found it at Zurchers-my favorite touch was the blindfold that all the kids-even boys-wore.

Brynn opened presents.  She got a Sofia the First art activity kit, bubbles and a bubble blower, a Cinderella Barbie, a Belle dress-up, and a cute outfit. 

Instead of a cake, we did cupcakes.  She picked out pink cake (strawberry) and purple frosting. 

We had some time to kill before the party was officially over so I just sent the kids out to the yard and they entertained themselves for the last 15-20 minutes. 

When all the guests had gone home except Grace and Harper (my mom had brought them) my mom gave Brynn her gifts.  She got some clothes, a swimsuit, and a pair of shoes, some Barbies and a Ken doll (she wanted a Barbie family and a boy Barbie), a soft Ariel doll, an Elsa nightgown, and a new girly bike.

That was the end of the birthday celebrations but we spent the rest of the day playing with her new things.  Stockton played Barbies with her all day and the following Sunday.  He was Ken, of course. 

She also got to spend some time on her new bike.  It is a bit bigger than the one she was used to but she got the hang of it quickly.

We love this girl.  Can't believe we've had her for 5 years!  Happy Birthday, Brynn!

Brynn's birthday interview:

Favorite color: pink and purple

Favorite movie: Aladdin (the last one she watched)

Favorite breakfast: German pancakes with white syrup (although I never serve german pancakes with white syrup)

Favorite dinner: red meatballs and spaghetti (she calls spaghetti "slurpy noodles")

Best friend: Corbin and Easton and Owen (Owen Reed from Spanish Fork)

Favorite TV show: Bo on the Go and Little Einsteins and Barbie

Favorite scripture story: Adam and Eve

Favorite book: Dinosaur vs. School

Favorite game: Guess Who and Sleeping Queens

Favorite story: Little Einsteins

Other kids think that I am: that I'm nice

What do you like about your Mom? She loves me.

What do you like about your Dad? He tackles us.

What do you like about Molly? She is love and kind to me.
 What do you like about Stockton? Everyday he almost plays with me.

What do you like about Ivy? She's fun.

What do you like about yourself? That I am always happy.

When I grow up I want to be: a princess

I like learning about: loving others

I want to go to: to Lagoon

If I had one wish it would be: that we could live at Lagoon

Favorite thing to do: play...like princesses...and do chores...at the same time (???)

Favorite song: I Love to See the Temple