Rapunzel! Rapunzel! Let down your hair!

Jade's 4th birthday party was a true success in my book. She felt loved and celebrated, she had a good time with friends, and I had an outlet for some creativity and planning.

Inspired by Tangled, the decor consisted of lanterns, purple/sun banners, and lots of hair!








Please know that all ideas were found by simply googling "Rapunzel Party Ideas" and a bunch of printables came from SuperMom's website.

The braid has become quite the entertainment after the party.




The girls take turns hooking it into their own hair and running around with it. I have also seen it used as a jump rope. And have laughed when I hear the girls say things like, "don't step on my hair!", "oh, that's just my looong hair!", or my favorite- "Duke! Let go of my hair!".

We started the party with a little coloring while we waited for all the guests to arrive.

Then I donned each of the girls' heads with a headband of long hair.




I played a read aloud of Disney's Tangled to refresh the kiddos' memory of the story. Mainly about Flynn Rider and how Rapunzel used the frying pan to defend herself. Also about her friend Pascal. Knowing these things would help our craft and game to make sense!

For the craft we made these Pascal blowouts.



I think they turned out really cute.

The game was "Pin the Frying Pan on Flynn Rider". It was really enjoyed by everyone, even the 3 "older" girls (Sis Lily, cuz Avery, and big sib Sophie).











I love their blind folded smiles!

Probably the biggest hit of the party though was the food. I kept it simple with fruit skewers and cheese cubes. A fun part was making the blue jello "boats"...inspired by the boat scene in the movie. The girls helped me prepare them and they were gobbled up quickly at the party.





The most fun for me though was making the "tower" and cupcakes. Though as a six year old I dreamed of being a cake decorator, I had actually never held a piping bag full icing until two nights before the party. I started practicing on a plate and almost gave up. I was just trying to figure out how to make leaves or grass. Its amazing though what a little late night YouTube video instruction can do. It turns out I needed to thin the icing a bit to have the right consistency for what I wanted to do. I was happy with how it turned out. Dollar store faux flowers were the toppers on the cupcakes.



We sang happy birthday before diving into the food. Jade got all shy on us. So cute!







I love Lily's expression as Jade is trying to blow the candles out. She really wanted to help her but refrained. Good girl!

We all filled our plates and then the kids enjoyed a little bit of free play.




Then Jade decided she really wanted to open her gifts. I wasn't sure this activity would hold the attention of all the kids, but as you can see they were all over it!





I had them pose for a group shot at the end and then Jade passed out the "Rapunzel Paints". The girls got to take home their hair headbands and Pascal of course as well.






It was fun, but by that time I was so ready to put my foot up!

And I did! While the grandparents stayed to watch her open "family" presents. All the presents were loved except the one from her mommy and daddy! It was so funny when she opened this snow cone machine. I guess she thought it was just a pretend one and we overhead her telling Lily that she could have it if she wanted it. Then Jade mentioned to Jerry, "Wasn't that nice of me?"!! Later when she realized it made real snowcones she asked for it back though!





Her great uncle got her a wig and then she was transformed...






One last picture:


These guys really did the bulk of the work for the party. With Jerry taking a Greek intensive during the summer while working crazy hours, and with my job always being busy at the beginning of the month, the grandparents showed up early and worked their tails off until party time!

I appreciated their help so much...not much they won't do for their grandkids! And somehow I usually seem to benefit from that! ;)

Ouch!

Yes! That is a picture of my foot below!

Can you see the bruising?

I would really like to be picking and posting pix from Jade's Tangled party right now, but instead I am going to explain why I will be putting my foot up.



Party T-30 minutes- I was making one more round around the kitchen table making sure things were just so and my hip, which is apparently bigger than I realize, hit a book off the window sill (we keep our kids devotionals there for after dinner) and it landed smack dab on my foot. The corner of it to right below my fourth toe. Ouch! It really hurt. Like REALLY hurt.

But, the party was going to happen so I went about my business.

Party T-15 minutes - I looked down at it and WHOA. It was popping out like a goose egg. Okay, so maybe more like a hen egg. Let's just go with robin egg. But man it was freaky looking. I showed my mom (nurse) and she said I really needed to do something about it. And when had it happened and why hadn't I done something sooner. Something like that. And then when she started talking about needing to stop the ruptured blood vessel in there I started to get woozy.

Party T-10 minutes - I am laying on our bed with feet up trying to put make-up on while Jerry and my mom are trying to find bandage wraps. Mom applies pressure, oh my, and wraps it real tight. I continue to feel woozy but do manage to get my make-up on (important stuff).

Party time! I answer the door hobbling with the ugliest puffiest ace bandage wrap you have ever seen.

That night the pain was bad. I had a conversation with Jerry at one point in the middle of the night that went something like, OMG...I can't breathe. It's throbbing. I think it is broken. What am I going to do all summer with a broken foot. Jerry!!! How am I going to teach the 2 year olds in the morning?!?

Sunday morning I was less worried about those two year olds than I was finding a church shoe to fit over the swollen foot. I would not be sporting ace bandage. Once a sandal was found then my mind turned toward how was I going to get to the church building. Early!

We go to an urban church and there is basically no close parking. Even senior citizens have to be SEVENTY to park in the lot. For the rest of us, it is a long walk. And sometimes up hill. Jerry was able to drop me off at a somewhat close door and then it was two year old time.

We only had FIVE. PTL! We never only have five. What are the odds of one of them sitting in a rocker and that rocker coming down on my foot? The injured foot?!? I was proud that I didn't cuss nor cry because I felt like doing both.

Then after church the dog, Duke, who is nearing 70 pounds, backed all of his weight right onto me. My foot! The injured foot! Ugh. Let's just say that Lily has asked, "Momma, what does 'damn dog' mean?" since then. Lovely.

But the real icing on the cake was today. We were continuing party clean up and Lily was helping me put bottled waters away. She was handing me two at a time and I was putting them in the fridge. When all of a sudden she decided to toss them to me. Just seeing this in my peripheral vision made me wince. And of course! Where does one land? On my foot! My injured foot!

I cried. Jade cried. And Lily just stared looking bewildered. Poor thing! And my poor foot!

I must go put it up. Promised the girls a blueberry picking trip early in the morning. Hoping my tennis shoe will fit!



Rapunzel pictures soon!

Early morning shopping woes and someone is FOUR!

I tend to grocery shop at night. There is a perfect timing. The kids need to be down but it can't be too late. Too late would mean that the night stockers might be working (pain!) or that when I get home Jerry is already in bed and no help with unloading.

Well last night I was too tired, so I decided to make an early morning run today. I got there at 6AM. Though the door opened the store was dimly lit. Like maybe every third aisle had lights on above it. And the dairy section, oh my, I was just hoping I picked the right cheese. Night stockers were still finishing too.

By 6:45 the full lighting system came on. My buggy was full by then though and I was headed to check out. No check outs open! UGH. I asked the attendant if I was seriously going to have to check a full cart at the self check out lane. Yep, but she would help me. Well, if help meant chit chat about this, that and the other, while I fumbled through produce codes, she helped a lot.

I was just frustrated because a certain person would be waking up as a big four year old any minute. I am already a wreck about this milestone anyway, and missing her sweet face when she emerged from her bedroom would have pushed me over the edge.

A bag boy was also missing from the early morning scene so I can now add that to my list of reasons not to shop in the morning.

I called Jerry as soon as I got driving to see if Jade had already woken up. NO! Woohoo! Thank you, Jesus!

I would have missed this sweet face...


and this one...


ah, those pesky candles!


Jade: You are such a joy to our family. We love you SO much! You are such a caring little girl, often looking out for others needs and giving of yourself. I love how this plays out for me personally...you are generous with massages, always come to my rescue when sister or daddy are pestering me, and you even remember to close the bathroom door behind you when you come visit during mommy's shower.

You are so gentle with our animals, even that beastly Duke. Twila adores you...why else would she allow you to do all this with her and get comfortable in the process?


You like things to be in place. Even this afternoon at the dollar store you replaced a toy that was laying in the aisle.

You still call cupcakes "pup"cakes...and I am surely not going to correct you!

You are quite the conversationalist and especially like talking to your grandparents on the phone. They always ask who it is...thinking it must be Lily. You also like to talk to God. I love listening to your prayers...especially the spontaneous ones.

You are a great sister. Lily loves you to pieces. She can't stand it when you fall asleep before her or sleep in much past her. Lily is bored without you, my dear. When you do wake up, you always come in and find us and say, "BOO"!

Perfect popsicle partners...



You are quick to share, whether it is your food, a toy, or your seat in the van.

You are still my baby though. Sadly, one of the things I love most about you right now is how fidgety you get when you are scared. It is so cute and it makes me happy that you are still glad for me to be close by!

Probably not for much longer though...

Jade, how old are you?





And you slapped those four fingers right on our finger paint cake when mommy asked. You're compliant too! Most of the time anyway... ;)

Looking forward to celebrating with family and friends this weekend!

Ending the Bloggy Neglect

Well, hello there! Though I am pretty sure I am probably having a one sided conversation at this point. I had a moment, actually I have a week of moments, so I thought I might attempt to update the ol' blog a bit.

You might wonder how I have come upon a "week of moments". Must give a huge shout out to my in-laws for taking the girls this week. It started out as an innocent text to my MIL last Friday to see if they could watch the girls one day this week because I needed to go into the office. She responded that they couldn't watch them here, because they were headed to GA for the week, but that they would be happy to take them along.

Enter a pause, some consideration, amazement, etc, and then I responded with, "R U serious?"

So the short story is that after a long road trip, they are spending some time with not only Memmy and Paw for the week, but also their aunt, uncle and cousin who live in Georgia.

It has been...restful.

Apparently I am all slept out though because I woke up for boot camp this morning at 5AM like I had to rush back to children so Jerry could leave for work.

So yes, Boot Camp is a new adventure for me. Just trying to entertain the masses on T/TH mornings. Someone told me my muscles are just sore because I haven't worked out some of them in years. Um yeah...I replied that I was pretty sure some of these muscles hadn't been worked out ever. It has been quite a comical endeavor. I like to joke to my boot camp buddy that we really could just leave and head to Starbucks!

Another new endeavor we are starting is HOMESCHOOLING! What is funny is that for this whole past year of Lily being in private kinder, I have been thinking to myself that I really need to update my little info paragraph over there to take off the "homeschooling" comment. Ha! I guess the time to shoot me is NOW! Several factors brought us to this decision and I think I am finally at peace with it. I think the scariest transition for me is going to be going from a "drop-off" mom to an..."oh, there's Kerry, her girls must be in tow as well" mom. I must admit that I have enjoyed my 5 hours of MDO each week even if it was mainly used to work, breathe, and just not be talked to.

I have been neck deep in curriculum selection since April and have pretty much made my picks for the year. I am doing Explode the Code with the girls all summer and hope to jump into the rest by early August. Once I get all our choices ordered and in, I hope to dedicate a post entirely to that.

After taking a break from seminary this spring while he traveled to India and Indonesia, Jerry is back hard at work again. Greek II and Greek III are on the summer menu. It's Greek to me for sure! ;)

Between those two classes we are taking a road trip with the girls to WI for one of my cousin's weddings. We are looking forward to it, though it is bittersweet for me as it will be my first time going there with neither of my grandparents alive anymore. :(

Before all that though, we have a certain little Jader Tater who is turning FOUR. NEXT WEEK! Plans for a Rapunzel party are underway.

Here is Jade standing on the "4"0 yard line last weekend during a tour of Cowboys Stadium.



It was ridiculous to see PACKER fans there! Ugh. So thankful that our Mavs won the playoffs at least or it would have been hard to show our face in Wisconsin this summer.

Seriously...for them to win the Super Bowl in OUR stadium? It just can't get much worse than that.

Duke 1 - Barbies 0