Festivus

While Anna was having her fun friend birthday party, Mark was competing in the Festivus crossfit games at I35. 

His team: Jessica Youmans, Brandon Hearn, Mark, Kelly Margheim

And my new favorite photo of him:  

Nativity

Time for the Nativity!

I am always amazed at how they are able to transform the gym into a beautiful venue that you are proud to invite your friends to.  Just think how much money that person could earn if they market to Mormon brides that don't want to have their reception under the basketball hoop!

I (of course) played viola. My stand partner this year was an adorable 7th grader named Sedona. She was pretty good!

Mathew sang in the youth choir and volunteered for a shift as a shepherd in the live Nativity.

Anna and Laney lining up to go in for their children's number:

All lined up on the second night. I am so glad the girls participate in this (Megan ditched this year). I love the feeling that you get when you make music in a group. I also really love that I'm busy playing my viola and I'm not in charge of keeping all of these kids quiet.

And when it's all over, we get to go peruse the cookie selection and do the speedy version of the Nativity scene scavenger hunt. It always seems like a great idea to promise the kids before the performance and like the worst thing ever after the performance. Next year I need to hunt down a cheat sheet.

Anna's Super Pajama Cocoa Party

We've come to the end of our "Friend Party Year".  This is our last one and we are home free! All next year we will enjoy a favorite meal and make a cake. 

Anna's birthday is during the winter, and typically cold, so we decided on a morning party....with pajamas and cocoa! Two of our favorite things.

We set up our cocoa and donut accessory station. So glad I bought that little lazy condiment server....it's makes everything a little fancy. And five year old girls put a premium on fancy.

We didn't have to worry about getting dressed up. Jammies! So all we had to do was cut the fruit, dig out the sprinkles and open a box of donuts from Price Chopper.

This is my kind of party.

Soon kids arrived in there snugglies and socks.

I love Anna's smile.

Megan and Laney supervised "Pin the Star on the Christmas Tree".

I love big kids!

Then we played Bows in a Bucket relay races in the kitchen.

And then we raced to see who could build the tallest tower with their marshmallows.

It wasn't long before someone discovered the advantages of licking the marshmallows.

We whipped up another cake, so they could sing and she could blow out the candles, but we didn't slice it up to eat.  They were still riding high on the cocoa and donut wave.

Unfortunately, while Anna was trying to blow out her candles, she got a little too close and her hair started on fire! She lost a couple inches of hair on the left side, but no major damage was done. 

While we waited for the parents to come pick kids up, we played "Build a Snowman". Which was silly and fun and taught me that it's not that easy to wrap someone up in toilet paper. It keeps breaking and you have to have a very continuous and steady pace to wrap someone effectively. 

These are not common traits of 5 year old kids. 

We sent everyone out the door with a cocoa mug and some fuzzy socks, a container playdough and a chocolate penguin. Hip Hip Hooray for the dollar store!

Happy 5th Birthday, Annagator!

Coffee filter snowflakes...Advent begins!

It's December 1st and that means it's Advent Calendar time!

Tonight we make snowflakes out of flattened coffee filters. They're so light and airy and easy to cut and super cheap. So I don't feel bad if they make hundreds. 

The end of Movember

I'm not sure when this started, but November is now Movember.

Men all over the country (world?) grow out their mustaches and beards. 

So that's fun.

Especially because he's super cute with a beard.

And when November is over, there is even more fun!

Anna turns 5!!

Somehow we try to make the morning of a birthday feel special. Sometimes we run through the streamers, or have breakfast in bed or bed o' balloons.

But Anna is a sleeper. I'm not really sure how late she can sleep because we always have to wake her up to get started with the day. 

So we decided to wake her up with a rip-roarin rendition of Happy Birthday.

She was not amused.

Ethan whispered to her, "There are some presents for you to open!"

Everly gave the wrapping paper a good pat, hoping to entice her out.

Laney offered a detailed description of what the present felt like....a little squishy!

And she emerged!

Who can pass up presents before breakfast?

I she received a new dress to wear! One of the few perks of having your birthday on a Sunday.

A box of Marshmallow Mateys and 5 years old is looking pretty grand.

Later, we cooked her dinner of choice, Caramel Apple Pork Chops with cous cous and fresh strawberries.

Mark and the kids decorated and Megan brought her a royal birthday crown.

Big sisters are awesome.

Happy 5th, Sweet Anna!

She received a play restaurant set and she was super surprised!

Megan and Laney worked all day to put together a bucket of butterflies and caterpillars and dragonflies made from all their craft supplies. It was so cute.

Big kids are the best.

And she received the super cutest pillow case from Grandma Kathleen. I'm now worried that she'll get a bloody nose and ruin it. ack!

We had a nice day and I'm so excited for the year she has coming. Kindergarten if coming!! At long last!

Decorating the tree...hee hee!

Ta da!

Let's bedeck this sucker.

She's moments away from seeing a box full of sparkly things.

Mathew helps Everly reach a high spot. The girls take their chances on the rickety piano bench.

My favorite branch of the night: