There is something about a 5 year old that makes them think Chuck E Cheese is the only place for a birthday party. So far each of my kids has begged to go there on their 5th birthday. There’s not much to say. . .it was the typical games, pizza, more games, cake, and more games!
He invited cousin Payton, cousin Lane, and preschool friends Xander, Elijah, and Grey.
Derek really wanted a race car cake but was a little bothered that it looked like a number 8 :)
New bike from Mom and Dad!
This year we headed down the street to celebrate with the Rippys and a couple of other families. Olivia got lots of compliments on her curly pigtails with the tiara. The best part? Garth did it!
All of the kids made it past midnight except the the New Year’s princess. She got a bloody nose about 10 pm and it was just too hard to stay awake lying in mom’s lap trying to get it to stop.
To round out all of the Christmas celebrations, we headed up to Canada to spend some time with Theresa and Tony. We did dinner at Montanas the first night, then opened presents in the condo.
Olivia got an insane amount of new dress-up. She loved it, of course and spent the rest of the time trading from one pretty outfit to the next. She even dressed her napping dad up.
Theresa and I took Derek, Olivia and Syd to the magic carpet to get their bearings before heading out to any real runs. Derek was hilarious. He would not stop, or do a pizza. He kept telling Theresa he wanted to do a 360 and that’s actually what he kept doing. He’d get going to fast, turn around backwards, sometimes fall and other times he’d keep turning around and continue skiing. Unfortunately he had no real control so this is where he skied most of the trip.
Here’s pictures of the process. . .skiing forward
Then backwards. . .
Then forward, then backward!!!
Olivia had her first ski run on the little magic carpet. She had a great time! She had no control and no turns but had a lot of fun.
Sydney was cautious as usual but after a lesson was skiing better than ever!
Carter also had a lesson and gained some real confidence. He kept wanting to ski on runs that were over his head but he kept a good attitude and had fun (a first for him).
Headbandz in the condo.
Theresa got the kids a snow painting kit. It wasn’t quite what we thought it was but they had a good time regardless.
This year, Santa finally gave in and got my kids a Wii. They each had a Wii game in their stockings and it was hilarious to see their confused reactions. Carter was especially confused and guardedly hopeful. Sydney was so optimistic. . .”oh fun! now we can take our Wii games over to the Youngs and play them!”
Then we let them all open the Wii together and their reaction was perfect!!!
Olivia was so happy about her big girl car seat (she has such a practical gift-giving mother :)
Sydney got the ridiculously large Dream Duffel which will make both our lives easier for hauling stuff to dance competitions.
Then they played, and danced, and played and danced on the Wii til it was time for another Christmas celebration at the Hamilton’s.
Some favorites at the Hamilton’s were. . .
BB Gun from Norm & Ele
Princess barbies
A remote control Cars 2 Car and a crazy large pirate ship
And this amazing barbie house!!! Built by Norm and decorated by me, it was a HUGE hit!
They also got a bunch of wooden furniture to finish off the house. I think I love it as much as they do!
We also got to enjoy the newest Hamilton baby Maren (daughter of Keith and Karyna) so sweet!!!
When I looked at my pictures later, I noticed Sydney had done a little photography. . . Here are some of her pictures.
