March 3, 2009

Still seems like yesterday that my little Jaycee was being born at 11:15pm with family all around. 
I always wanted a girl first and one that was just like little Rylee.  And it's just what I got.  And I couldn't be happier! 

I love my Jaycee.  She is my little buddy.  She has a little halo that rarely comes off.  She is so fun and makes me laugh.  She really is my mini-me and is really scary sometimes how much we are alike.

On her actual birthday it was pretty low key since we had her party just a few days before.  She got to choose her bfast & dinner and dessert.  We didn't want to do cake and she was just fine with that. 
I made her one of her favorite breakfast of pancake faces.  We did have to run over to the store to get mix & whip cream so I could make the whipping cream.  So bfast was a little later than normal.  We then played most the day and ended up at the park for a while.  For dinner she requested her favorite of noodles & white sauce and even had fresh bread from one of the girls in the ward for her fundraiser for Girl's Camp.  It was all so tastey.  Jaycee chose Frozen Yogurt for her dessert as she could choose whatever she wanted.
She was reminded that she wouldn't be getting presents from us because of her party but she really was fine with it.  Grandma Parker did send an adorable outfit (maxi skirt, shirt & cardigan) with a fun little magnet toy.  Aunt Dana sent her some little puzzles.  Aunt Aimee gave her a pony castle & Gma Allen sent her a little card.  She was overjoyed with it all.

She had absolutely no idea that there was a brand new bike in the garage!  We kept it a huge secret.  Now, we do have a birthday budget but the problem is that her bike is way too small and won't make it through the year with her growing.  So either way we were going to get a new bike for her this summer to use.  Might as well do it as a surprise.  It was the cutest thing to see her so excited and I was glad to catch the whole thing on camera.  ***I did try to post but wouldn't upload***  She ended her big day riding for a few minutes & having a sleep over in mom's room.  She was spent.  She loves, loves, loves her new bike.  In fact, a few days later rode it for 3 miles!!!  While Craig & I jogged.  I couldn't believe she did it the whole time without stopping even.  She's a pro and acts like it.  We did take off her training wheels and are starting to practice.  I think it'll be soon that she'll be to 2 wheels.  She even asked Craig to take off the petals so she can walk with it to learn how to balance.  She is so dang determined to be riding. 
Thank you everyone for making her feel special and loved on her big day!

Jaycee with Zig & Sharko

This year Jaycee was turning the big 5!  It's still shocks me that I have a 5 year old! 
I gave her options for her birthday; she could do Chuck E Cheese & dinner with presents; take 2 friends to Kids Club or Dizzy Castle with a present; or do a party but all the $ for presents would be for the party. 

She made up her mind with a party.  We had fun thinking of themes and had the idea of a Pretty in Pink&Purple, Candy theme and Dad suggested one of her favorite shows Zig & Sharko.  Of course, she would choose the hard one haha.  It was fun although a little challenging.  We made little invites and did a quick list of 10 friends.  It quickly went to 13 when she really wanted Xander there (our boy neighbor) so I had to add 2 boys in her class at church so X wouldn't feel weird as the only boy.  Then 13 turned to 16 when Jaycee invited siblings as she was delivering invites.  It was pretty funny. Here's how the first 2 houses went:
Drop her off and wait.  And wait.  And wait.  A good 5-8 minutes later she comes back.  After she tells me all about what they talked about then she says....Oh I invited her brother/sister.  Such a kind girl.  I quickly told her we need to make it quick or we'll never get home and we need to stick to her list.  We had 16+ kids BUT it was a blast! 
She was soooo excited for her big day.  We had a talk before about having manners with all the friends.  No singling out friends.  Letting them get things first.  And mostly when opening gifts, being kind and saying Thank You even if she already had it or didn't like it.
Dad was super stoked to do her cake.  If you haven't seen the show it's about a Shark that is the mermaid's boyfriend and he does everything to protect  her.  So a lot of it is on an island with a volcano.
The day of the party Craig went to basketball & rushed home to make 3 cakes.  Yes 3!  One for the ocean. One for the island. One for the volcano & remainder for cupcakes.  That's a lot of cake.  The guys were making fun of Craig how excited he was to rush home to make it.  You should've seen his drawing he made.  Such an engineer-haha-

As the kids would come they would get a Lei. Then we had a table set up for them to sign a picture of Zig & Sharko for her memory book, and then they could place their gift on the table.  We had the show playing for the first 20 minutes while people came.  Then we played the fishing game.  They would get a fish with a number and a prize would coordinate with the #.  After that we did a pinata in the garage.  I felt bad we only made it through half the line when it broke open.  But the kids were awesome.  They patiently waited and made sure it was safe to run & collect candy.  It was so cute because Jaycee ended up with seriously like 3 pieces (there was so much candy!) and she was kinda sad. Craig and I felt bad and told her we could take her to the store to get some later.  Quickly at least 3 of her friends ran up to her and offered some of their candy.  Her face lit up.  It was so sweet.  Next was cake & ice cream.  Then presents.  They had about 10-15 minutes so we let them all play until parents came.  In their goody bags was their pinata candy, fishing game prize & a little thank you note from Jaycee.  It was so much fun.

Our neighbors did end up staying until 11pm (party ended at 4!) but it was soo much fun to talk & visit and let the kids play.
Looking back on the day I just feel so blessed to live in a great area for my kids.  There are so many kids from church and neighborhood; boy or girl; everyone is so kind and there are plenty of friends to play with.  I even felt bad cuz there were more kids that she wanted to come.