Our church had an Easter Egg-stravaganza the week before Easter, including lots of fun. There were a couple of moon bounces, face painting, a lot of crafts, cookie decorating, and more.
Upon arrival, the girls went straight to the face painting. Leah opted to have an egg painted on her arm rather than her face.
And Molly chose to have a bunny painted on her cheek.
And here are the results (for a bit).
Then Molly decided she wanted her other cheek done as well, so she headed back for another round. This time - a butterfly.
Of course, there was an Easter Egg Hunt. Leah was in the preschool area, while Molly went to the second/third grade area.
Full baskets and bunny ear crafts on their heads serve as evidence of a fun afternoon.
We got together for dinner with my side of the family to celebrate Molly’s birthday at a different restaurant this year. Usually, Molly wants to go to Red Robin since they sing. At the urging of some of the older attendees, she said she decided this year we’d go some place with tacos. Jen called around and found that they would sing on weekends at La Palapa, a local Mexican restaurant. It was awesome - good food and great singing (including the sombrero she was hoping for).
Here’s a taste of the birthday singing. I obviously had trouble recording this. I'm not sure I should even bother posting it, but it's short and gives you an idea of how great it was.
After dinner out, we headed back to our house for cake, ice cream, and of course presents.
This was a gift we hadn’t heard of, but the girls have really enjoyed it since opening it up and starting to build.
The newly 8-year-old in her new birthday dress. It's the Evie dress by Izzy & Ivy Designs. Molly and I collaborated on the fabrics and we love the result.
The sleeveless top to this dress shows off Molly’s muscles well. She’s pretty tough (well, no she isn’t, but she can fake it).
The party was over, but the fun was not. Once the guests left, there was still more celebrating to do.
All of Molly’s guests signed this shirt for her. So, once they left she had to try it on.
As usual, we didn’t have time to open all the presents from her friends during the party. After the party, though, she dove into all the great gifts. This giant stuffed cat got a serious reaction.
Molly’s big birthday present is a new bike from Grams, G’Mom and Grampa, and us. This Trek MT 220 will be great for her for a long time.
Later that evening, it was time to open even more presents - this time from G’Mom and Grampa.
To go along with her new bike, G’Mom and Grampa got her this giant (and extremely loud) bell. It’s awesome.
G’Mom also made her this new pillowcase. It's a good thing she finished this before she came, as she might have a bit of trouble with sewing for a little while.
Thus ended a very busy day. Happy birthday, Molly!
Today is Molly’s 8th birthday, but we’ve been celebrating for a week already. We’ve discovered that when her birthday falls over spring break, guests are often unavailable. So, we had the party a week early to ensure everyone could come.
Molly’s party this year was a Bricks 4 Girlz party - fun with Lego bricks and no boys allowed (though Grampa and I were not kicked out of the house). While the girls arrived, there was free play with a bunch of Lego bricks on the floor, as well as building your own minifig to take home.
Jen made the cake to resemble a Lego brick. The Lego man was made of chocolate, thanks to a friend loaning Jen the candy mold. Molly requested a chocolate and vanilla swirl cake which was a very tasty choice.
The birthday banner was also inspired by different sized Lego bricks.
Molly and Jen worked on creating the party door hanger. Molly had fun adding a bit (or 8 bits) of 8-year-old flare to it.
After free play, the girls colored and filled out a sheet on their newly created minifig.
Next, it was time for the main event - partnering up and building Mia’s Beach Buggy. This vehicle included a motor and battery pack, as well as a place for their minifies to go for a ride. Since we had an odd number of girls, Jen partnered with Leah.
Molly and Jordan focus to make sure their gears and wheels are connected properly.
After Molly and Jordan finished their buggy (which was the easier version), Molly helped Ms. Eva finish her buggy (the harder version).
After completing her buggy, Leah spent most of the time with it switched on and running into me, but I managed to get her to stop it for a second to get a picture.
Here’s Molly’s second buggy after she finished it, ready to be switched on and race around the house.
Then it was time for cake and ice cream. But first, one of Molly’s favorite parts - singing to the birthday girl.
After we finished eating cake and ice cream, it was time for some spin art and paper crinkling. These used the same motors that had been in the vehicles a few minutes before to power the Lego devices.
Here are all the girls and their minifigs at the end of a very fun party.
And before leaving with their goody bags filled with chocolate Lego bricks and minifigs, the girls all got their chance to pose in the Wylde Style cutout. Make sure to watch with the audio turned on, as the accompaniment is provided by Molly, Leah, and me.
It was a great party. We wholeheartedly recommend Bricks 4 Kidz for the Lego lovers out there. Thanks to them and to all who came and had fun with us.
Saturday, the girls broke out Twister and insisted that G’Mom and Grampa join in the fun. Moments after this picture, Molly took a tumble.
That afternoon, we decided to head to the rink for a little roller skating. Molly’s an old pro at this point.
Leah’s doing pretty well skating as well. She especially loves skating holding both of our hands. She had such a good time, she lasted much longer than Molly.
Not sure how long it’s been since Grampa was on skates, but he was happy to get out there and roll around.
G’Mom was doing great skating as well. Well, at least until she decided to go around one more time before we left…
On G’Mom’s final lap, a young girl darted in front of her, causing her to fall on her wrist. This led to an ER visit, revealing a very bad break. In order to line up the bones before putting on a cast, they hung her hand from this odd contraption.
They put her arm in a cast and a sling, as you can see here. This was just a temporary measure, though, as she had to head to the orthopedic surgeon when she got back home for surgery to insert a plate and screws to hold everything together.
She’s home recovering from surgery now. We hope you feel better soon!
Molly’s school held a Bingo night last week, and we took the whole family. Leah really wanted to win a round (spoiler - she did not, nor did anyone else in our family).
Our table included our family plus G’Mom and Grampa in town, as well as our neighbors/friends.
Molly abandoned us to sit with Jordan at the other end of the table.
Leah’s preschool held a Family Fun Night in one of the elementary schools, and we all attended. This was a pajama party, so we all donned our jammies and joined in the fun. The girls quickly found the cookie decorating table, which combined crafts and eating treats - two of their favorite activities.
Molly and Leah wore their Stompeez Slippers, and were excited to find that Nora and her little sister Emmie wore the exact same pairs (well, Emmie’s might be somewhat smaller than Molly’s). I like that all four girls posed differently. Nora was shocked that I wanted her picture. Leah struck a model pose. Molly went for the simple head tilt and slight smile. And Emmie showed off her classic poker face.
There were even some fun performers who sang songs accompanied by their guitar and fiddle, told stories with puppets, and got the kids dancing and shaking shakers. It was hard to get a picture of Molly and Leah through the crowd since they were in the thick of it.
Molly’s choir sang a couple of fun songs in church in March - Prepare Ye The Way Of The Lord and Day By Day. Apologies for not having Molly in the frame very much - she managed to unintentionally hide behind the girl in front of her for much of the song.
This morning, I didn’t have anything planned so I was happy to sleep in a bit. Leah, however, had other plans. She wanted to go sledding (Molly and Jen were headed to ballet). So, about 8:30, Leah attacked me in bed, including ripping off the covers, opening the windows, repeatedly jumping on me, and several wet willies. So, I got up, ate some breakfast, and headed out with her into the snow.
We sledded a bunch, but Leah also found she loved sledding on her belly without the sled, the same way a penguin slides on ice. Here’s an example of what I mean.
I’m impressed how well this works in deep snow. I guess it helps to have such steep hills. And she would sometimes use the tracks left by our sled runs, which meant she could get even more speed.
