A Very Princess Tea Party

Emma Turned 5 on the 20th of March, so on the 21st we had a Princess Tea Party to celebrate.  This was Emma's first official Birthday Party (The past three years we have done a play group instead) so it was a big deal.

The Decorations: Of course, the colors were Pink and Purple, like every good princess

 We went with flowers for our center piece.  Emma will help me plant these in our planter boxes next week.  I needed to be somewhat practical.

The Activities: As the girls arrived, I wanted them to have something to keep themselves busy.  So we had a craft table set up to decorate their own crowns.  There was Glitter Glue and stickers to make their master pieces!

 After our crowns were done, it was time for some games.  Our first game was "Spin the Nail Polish Bottle.  Whichever bottle it landed on, they had one hand painted.  It quickly turned into the girl picked which color she wanted.  And Emma refused to have her nails painted? Oh well.  they seemed to enjoy it.

 

The next game was "Pin the Gem on the Crown".  The girls loved this.  Each got two turns, and wanted more.  It was fun to watch them, and they were excited with the final product.

 

  

Next we played Balloon Ping Pong.  This was also a huge hit.  We started with one balloon at a time, and slowly added until we had two balloons per girl.  They played this game for at least 10 minutes.

 

 The Food:

We had Sandwiches (Nutella with Banana, and Marshmallow Fluff with Strawberries), Carrot & Celery Sticks in Ranch Dip, Fruit sticks, Olives and mini chocolate cupcakes.  To drink we had Strawberry Lemon-aid and chocolate Milk.  The reactions on the food went from eating nothing but frosting, to eating everything, but most especially the carrots and celery.

 The Gifts: It quickly became apparant that with 6 4/5 year olds. opening presents was a group affair.  Lucky for me Emma is very gracious with her friends, and was happy to let everyone crowd in.

Wrapping Things Up: After the gifts, there was still 20 minutes until the girls parents were coming for them.  They were excited that they got to play, but I soon discovered that this lead to some chaos. People wanting to play with someone who was busy with another, or wanted to play with a toy someone else had.  My solution? Take them in the front yard for bubbles and sidewalk chalk.  They also started their own games of Tag and Hide and Seek.

As all the Mom's came, I had some party favors ready. Each girl got to take a balloon, a princess wand, a Bubble Pen, a candy covered Pretzel or lollypop and their crown (of course!).  Emma helped me with making the candy, so she was happy.

All in all, it was a great party, and as Mom, I was exhausted.  Most important of all, Emma loved it and is thrilled with her day with her friends.

Christmas Letter Update

I decided not to send out Christmas Letters this year, but decided to still do a Christmas Letter to update everyone on our lives over the last year.  But since I am not mailing cards, I decided to post it on my blog and share on Facebook.  So, hopefully most everyone will still get to see it (We may need to send a few special ones to Grandparents who do not use technology!)

So, here is our Family Update for 2013:

Glenn

• "Babysitting Computers" for IBM - will be celebrating his 20 years in the coming months
• Moved offices, cutting his commute in half - now only 10-15 minutes long! Yeah!
• Called as Membership Clerk for Brookwood Ward - so he is now the guy wandering around Sacrament Meeting counting all in attendance - sometimes he even has a little pink shadow following him "helping Daddy"
• Started attending Game Night with several men (mostly in our ward) a couple times a month
• Dealing with the loss of his Mother - Sharen Case - and planned her funeral.  We really miss her. 
• Playing Skylanders and Disney Infinity with Emma on the X-box 360 

Heidi

• Teaching Emma's Preschool
• Released as Primary Secretary after 5+ years
•  Joined Weight Watchers in April - has lost over 50 lbs
•  Going in for Carpel Tunnel Surgery two days after Christmas ... Finally!
• We were approved to adopt again - our profile is at https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/24602869/ourMessage.jsf 

 Emma

• Turned 4
• Completed 1st year of Preschool, and started 2nd year
• Finished potty training! Yeah (Mom is very excited about this!)
• Loves Pink, Purple, Cats, Hello Kitty, Unicorns, Horses, Cloths
• Quazi, her Imaginary Friend, has moved in with us. She is also often visited by several other imaginary friends daily. 
  

Looking Forward to 2014

• Visiting Disney World in May
• Taking Adoption/Fostering classes with DHS - looking at adopting older children.
• Emma starting Kindergarden in September

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Weight Loss Update

Current photo - down 51 lbs

Where I was last March

Last night at my meeting, it became official. I hit my 50 lb mark. That is I have lost 51 lbs since April 29th when I started Weight Watchers.  Yeah!

It is kind of ironic to me that I hit it now, as I have gone into the diet funk!  All of a sudden, it has become harder.  I am having a more difficult time eating right, not snacking, and tracking.  Especially the tracking.


I hate Tracking what I eat.  And when I say Hate, I mean it is the last thing I want to do, and what has always been my problem with Weight Watchers before.  For the past 6 months, it has been what has worked for me.  So while I hate it, it works and has helped me to lose this weight.  And it will be what works to help me lose more.  This 50 lbs, while a lot, is just the start.  I still have a lot to go, and I am determined to keep at it.



I have now met a few mile stones on my weight loss journey:  I lost 5% of my beginning body weight, 10% of my body weight, I now weight less then my husband (silly, but important to me), I have controlled my blood sugar to the point that my Doctor took me off of one of my drugs, my knees feel better and overall I feel better. 

I also noticed today on my walk that I am walking faster.  I returned to walk at a park that I have not walked at since Spring, and I walked further in less time. It is a more demanding walk then my usual (more hills), so when I had completed a longer distance then I was doing there last Spring, and looked at my time, I was surprised to find that I had walked less then the time I use to put in there. This is a good thing, as I am preparing for a 2 week trip to Disney World next May.  In our history, Glenn has always out walked me and made me exhausted by the end of each day.  A few weeks ago we went to the zoo as a family, and I out walked Glenn.  So there has been great improvement in my health.

My next goal is that I lose 20 more lbs by our trip.  I should be able to do it (if not exceed it) as that is 29 weeks away, so less then a pound a week.  I know I can do it!