Ivy's 5th birthday

Ivy turned 5 on Sunday, January 19, 2020.  We celebrated her birthday at the cabin with my parents since we were there for Martin Luther King Day.  She requested purple crepes for her breakfast so that's what she got.  She also had buttermilk syrup, fresh berries, and whipping cream.

We went to church at the Laketown chapel.  When we got home, the kids worked on a scavenger hunt for Ivy's presents.  From Justin and I she got treats (gum, tootsie roll mix, gummi bears), a mermaid blanket, an umbrella, and an Echo dot for her room.

an umbrella was the one thing she asked for-she was super happy when she figured out what it was

My mom and dad gave her clothes, a jewelry box, and a Frozen 2 art kit.

For dinner she requested her second favorite food: spaghetti.  Unfortunately, her first favorite food (corn on the cob) is not in season in January so she had to have her second favorite.  We also had garlic parmesan rolls and salad.

We watched the 49ers beat the Packers on their way to the Super Bowl.  Molly came up with Ivy's cake.  She wanted to do a confetti cake with white chocolate drizzle.  I had made the cake layers at home and kept them in the freezer until it was time to assemble.  I helped her with the assembly and the drizzle but gave her all the credit and she was very happy with herself.  Ivy was happy too.

Before we sang to Ivy and served up the cake, we went outside for a walk on the golf course.  Stockton and Molly tried the skis again and even found a bigger hill than the day before.  It felt nice to get out and be active that afternoon.

We did cake when we got back.  Happy Birthday to our caboose!

We left first thing Monday morning so Justin could get a little work done on the house.  Gene and April came up to celebrate Ivy and help Justin with painting.  They gifted Ivy her 5-year-old doll, a bluetooth microphone, and an aquadoodle mat.  We spent the rest of the day listening to her walk around the house singing Frozen 2 songs in her microphone.

We had had a couple of good days celebrating Ivy but there was still one more celebration-since she was turning 5, she got to have a friend party.  This was a big deal and she was very excited.  I don't love 5-year-old parties but I think after doing one for Molly, Stockton, and Brynn I kind of know how to do it.  Mostly plan a lot of activities and keep it short.  I tried to do this and it went well.

We had the party on the Friday night after her birthday (Jan. 24th).  Ivy's guest list included Maive Pauley, Raylie Anderson (who was sick so Corbin came instead and did all the activities for her), Zeyta Mitchell, Verity Phelps (also was sick that night), Lydia Evans, Reese Allen, and Ali Robinson.  This was a mixture of neighbors, ward friends, and preschool friends. It was a Frozen 2 party and we wrote on the invitation to wear their pajamas.  Ivy wore her Elsa dress up.  As the guests came, we had them come to the kitchen table to decorate a crown.

Lydia, Brynn, Ivy, Ali, Reese, Maive, Zeyta, Corbin

Ali, Reese, Ivy, Lydia (had found Ivy's Anna dress-up), Zeyta, Maive

When they were done with the crown, we had dinner.  (That's another trick I have for parties-if I can I try to feed them a meal because it takes up time.)  We had breakfast for dinner-french toast sticks, strawberries and blueberries, yogurt, chocolate milk, and orange juice.  Some kids ate a lot and some kids ate nothing.  I guess that's what you get with 5-year-olds.

Reese, Ali, Maive, Zeyta, Lydia

Corbin and Brynn (also, Brynn bought that Anna dress-up with her own money just for the party

We had a snowball treasure hunt.  Molly hid cotton balls all over the room while they were eating and for each snowball they found, they could exchange it for a piece of candy.  There were also a few blue pom-poms hidden and those earned two treats.

Reese, Ivy, Ali

Molly was a huge help!  Ivy, Ali, Reese, Maive, Corbin, Zeyta, Brynn, Molly

 We opened presents.  Ivy got lip gloss, a unicorn stamp, a fur-real walk-a-long puppy, a Target AG doll (from Maive-her mom is a huge couponer and got it for like $7), chapstick, a Frozen 2 art set, a beanie boo (from Kelton Webb who came over to hang out with Stockton), a fairy Barbie, and princess coloring books.  She was very careful to organize all her toys in the corner of the room.

Ivy and Lydia

Reese and Ivy

Ivy and Maive

We played pin the nose on Olaf.  This set I got from Amazon also had a pin the snowflake on Elsa's hand so everyone was able to go twice.

We played snowman slam-try to knock down the tower of snowmen.

We had cupcakes.  I did something I have never done before: ordered cupcakes from the grocery store bakery.  And it was okay!  (Also, they only cost $8-I couldn't get all the ingredients for less than that!  Although homemade always tastes better).  The snowflake rings on the top were popular with the girls.

We fit all of that in 90 minutes but we still had a little time to kill.  I had printed off a "Don't Eat Olaf" game that Molly played with the girls and then Stockton and Kelton came up and started launching stuffed animals from the loft so they ran around dodging those until parents started to arrive.

Molly, Ivy, Brynn, Corbin, Reese, Maive, Ali

Ivy, Stockton, Molly, Kelton, Reese, Ali, Brynn

It was a successful night-Ivy had a lot of fun and I never have to do a 5-year-old party again!