Maddox's Tinkerbell 4th Birthday Party



Maddox got a light up/singing Tinkerbell birthday card from Aunt Kelly!! She absolutely loved it and by the end of the night had actually learned the words to the entire song. ( and so had we :)  Kennon thought it was pretty cool.  That Aunt Kelly knows just the right stuff to purchase. 



Boy did we have a fabulously great weekend and the weather was SO perfect for all the festivities.  The Knowles family joined us Friday evening so the cousins got to get their groove on Friday night and play around a bit together. We managed to get all 4 kids down and then Tyler, Brooke, Eric and I were able to enjoy in some good ol' adult conversation and adult beverages!!   ( after Brooke and I hand crafted the Tinkerbell wings) . I am so thankful they are close by to be able to get together so easily now.  Love my little bro and what a special friend I have in Brooke.  Most of you know we had decided on the Tinkerbell theme for Maddox's party, directed by Maddox.  Before we went to bed Friday night we started talking about Tinkerbell visiting the Kies house (  this was sort of ploy to get them to go to bed and maybe Tinkerbell would come in the middle of the night). So after we got the kids down Brooke and I put together the wings for the Pin the Wings on Tinkerbell game. I am not crafty and Brooke claims she isn't either but I'd say our wings turned out pretty darn cute. We positioned them high above the kitchen table and when the kids woke up Saturday morning they were excited to see that 'Tinkerbell' HAD been thereto deliver the wings!! They were super excited.  We loaded up for Maddox's soccer game. I was hoping that having Aunt Brooke, Carter and Uncle Tyler present would sort of coax Maddox into playing the game but she is going to take her own sweet time with that part of her soccer experience. She does great during all the drills but then just gets scared for the game part. She did actually keep her feet on the ground during the game this week as compared to week one where she spent much of the game time up in Eric's arms. So hey, we are making progress.  Tinkerbell came again while the kids were taking their much needed afternoon naps.  She spread her Fairy dust on the table in letters  shaped to spell MADDOX!   It was pretty cool and the kids were excited to see she had visited again.  I kinda felt at that point that a Grand Entrance from someone dressed as Tinkerbell would have put the icing on the cake but I didn't really formulate that in my plan ahead of time.  As it was, the kids had a good time playing Pin the Wings on Tinkerbell,  hot potato, reading books with Aunt Diane and eating pizza and cake. We had the neighbor girl Priya over to join in the festivities.  It seemed like everyone had a great time.  Thanks to all the travelers who made the trip over and showered Maddox with wonderful Princess themed gifts. We are so lucky to have everyone so close by to join us.  

Aunt Diane playing Hot Potato with Maddox Priya and Carter..!! The kids have been loving that game...  what a good choice Pap Dick.  

Hot Potato

Our homemade Pin the Wings on Tinkerbell game. If you look closely you can see Tinkerbell under the wings!!   Aunt Brooke and I put together the wings Friday evening after the kids went to bed but we have Aunt Diane to thank for the great idea of pipe cleaner and tooling wings!! 

Tinkerbell left Fairy Dust in the shape of 'Maddox' on the kitchen table while the kids were all taking their naps!!

Maddox's favorite food: Orange Melon ( cantaloupe ) and TRI colored pasta

Maddox's favorite toy:  Baby Doll and stroller 

Maddox's favorite color: Pink Purple and Yellow

Maddox's favorite past time: Dancing and twirling in the living room with your little brother to Friday Night Dance Party music

What does Maddox want to be when she grows up: Tinkerbell or Cinderella

Maddox, you continue to surprise us each day with your thoughtfulness and occasional kind loving actions to your friends and little brother Kennon.   You are very sensitive and need lots of re assurance in new situations. We are excited to see you learn the new game of soccer but are not surprised by your timid  and fearful personality for the majority of the game.  You still take afternoon naps usually about 1 to 2 hours long and if you don't get your nap...LOOK OUT...you can be kind of crabby.  You hate to be woken up ( by your brother) in the middle of your sleep cycle. You are a great sleeper and require a lot of sleep.  Your teachers at Kindercare tell us you are 'so smart' and well behaved.  You make us laugh each time you and your brother dance and twirl like crazy fools  around the living room.  You love to read books to your baby dolls and to your little brother Kennon and display lots of 'teacher like' qualities.  We love you to pieces Maddox and are excited to see what you have in store for your next year of life. Happy 4th Birthday. 

Kennon getting his hand on a little frosting before the cutting of the cake!

Kennon had his first official DRY day at Kindercare yesterday. We were happy to learn that there are a couple of boys that have now started potty training.  So the teachers said that will help!!  He has been totally waking up dry in the morning WITHOUT waking him at 2am to go now. I usually just wake him up when I go to bed about 10.30pm and then he makes it the rest of the night waking about 5:30-6 yelling in the hallway ( also waking up Maddox...gggrrrr) 'Daddy I have to go potty'. Eric wakes from a dead sleep and rushes down to help into onto the potty.  We are so proud of him!!  He is a talking fool.  Just in the last week he is literally stringing together  5 to 6 words at a time and is really finding his own in communicating with us.  He and Maddox are starting to play in the basement SOLO while I am upstairs WITHOUT pulling each other's hair out.  They play school and baby doll with Kennon being the baby doll and Maddox being the mom, of course.  She even helped him go poop today....not sure how all that went down but they were both so excited to run upstairs to tell me that  Kennon had told Maddox he needed to go poop and she apparently helped him fulfill the task in the basement toilet unbeknownst to me.  Uncertain how the whole wiping experience worked itself out but I didn't see any carnage so they must have handled it ok.  

All the cousins....Maddox baby Reid, Hannah, Kennon and Carter

We got back the kids pre-school professional pictures taken by Our Savior. If you'd like to see them go to www.kristingeertsphotography.com  Click on the 'full screen' link that is in the bottom left. Then go to 'proofing' top left.  Enter the password as below and then click on submit.    Oddly enough when Maddox and I were going through her class a boy on her soccer team named Carter showed up!! Carter is the coach's son and he TOO, despite being the coach's son, is pretty timid.  Maddox must not play with Carter at Our Savior all that much because she doesn't mention him and she did not even realize he was on her team....which is not surprising given the fact that both Carter and Maddox are generally hanging on their parents' legs :)  You'll figure it out soon guys!! 

Maddox's class password    MWAM6

Kennons's class password  MW4 

I think both of their pictures turned out pretty cute. 

So I got the advantage of Aunt Brooke's FLASH on her good camera.  Need to either get our good camera fixed or upgrade to a new one. The Iphone just doesn't take very good indoor pics. I think Maddox looks a ton like I did at her age in this picture  Reid looking a little hesitant...

Had to put this one in because I love CARTER's expression!! So funny! 

Maddox on the way to Church School on her birthday day. She got to decorate the yellow crown they sent home with her last week.  I tried to get her to write her own name and put a '4' but alls she really wanted to do was put stickers all over it!!