Birthday Celebrations!
Wow, 5 and 7 years old! Time just keeps going by faster and faster!!! Starting September and through the year end it is typically a whirlwind at our place. First school starts, followed by our anniversary, Halloween, Anna's birthday, then Lo's birthday (the injustice that she's younger AND her birthday is 9 days AFTER Anna's :-) ), Thanksgiving, Christmas, Russ' B-Day and New Year's. Phew. This year was no different with some travel plans thrown in the mix. Nontheless we couldn't skip any of the traditional activities associated with the birthdays! The girls really look forward to the official measurements to see how much they have grown! Annelyse grew about 1.5 inches since the last check in May. Seeing that I am only 61 inches tall, she is quite thrilled that she is "only a little bit shorter" than me and is convinced she will be taller than me before Form 3 (aka 3rd grade). Can't say there is much to argue with her on there, seeing that they don't seem to be slowing down!
Annelyse wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, so we hopped on to Food Network and found the most "glorious" chocolate cake around. I am not exactly sure what made it so wonderful, however it had the consistency of a brownie. Not to mention the butter cream frosting which had liquefied milk chocolate blended in. Needless to say, there were no leftovers...
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| Sweet Seven... love the twinkle in her eye! |
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| The Chocolatiest, chocolate cake... and a piece the size of her head! |
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| We made sure to take advantage of all the amenities! |
As our gift to the girls, we treated them to a night out at a hotel on their own for some alone time. I was the lucky chosen one who got to accompany the girls on this night out, where the main focus was on swimming!!!
We headed out after school, to a lovely little place just up the road called the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel. Built in the 18th century, the old castle has been converted to a hotel with some really beautiful rooms. I am not sure why, but they gave Annelyse a room fit for a princess! Not to mention, they had a little box of chocolates waiting for her upon arrival, which made her feel truly special! Because the focus was on swimming, we had to hurry through dinner to maximize the amount of time in the pool! After a good, two-hour swim, we headed back to the room and finished off the night in a cozy bed with some Netflix!
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| My posh, proper, princess... |
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| Writing thank-you notes to the hotel staff |
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| The best part of the room! |
Of course the "party bags" were fun to put together as well. Nothing like trying to make sure everything is 'even-Steven' for 36 bags... Once everyone's OCD went into overdrive and we didn't have enough strawberry-flavored Moam's I resorted to busting out Halloween candy to complete the bags. God forbid Sophia get two yellow-candies or Oisín get a pink one. He's a boy you know!
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We had a great time making cupcakes topped with marshmallows
to look like little popcorn buckets! |
Finally, movie day was upon us. Getting up a 6:30 makes for an excruciating long morning when the party doesn't start until 11:30. And the worst part is trying so hard not to yell at them on their party morning for being excited, yet painfully annoying. At last, 11:30 was upon us!
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| While Russ and I watched very little of the movie, the kids seemed to enjoy it! Largely, they remained seated and engaged in The Storks... only a few wayward souls kept us on our toes. |
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| Zellie, Annelyse and Anna |
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| Annelyse, Eloise (from France/California) and Cecilia from the UK. |
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| Mia, Lo, Sophia and the end, Lara.. Lara was so funny... throughout the entire move she kept bringing me her stuff and asking if I would "mind" it. |
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| Our Birthday Girl!! |
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| Lo and her BFF Sophia |
Some of the girls in Lo's class decided they were going to commandeer the front row. Our little buddy in the front was lucky enough to sit by them after the kids up above complained that he was being disruptive. Let's just say, God knew what he was doing when he gave us girls instead of boys!
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| Of course the girls were spoiled with gifts! Annelyse's favorite were origami papers and lavender soap |
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| Loralye's favorite gift... a color changing umbrella! Totally fitting for Ireland! |
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| Such lucky ladies... very generous friends = smiles all around! |
Finally, Loralye's birthday arrived! She too grew just about 1.5 inches and was happy to know that she is taller at 5 than Annelyse was. Woo Hoo... she was finally better!
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Super serious... these lines need to be exact to ensure accurate arguments can occur.
Lo: "I was taller than you when I was zero...
Annelyse: Well I was taller than you when I turned 3 1/2.
Me: Well, you both will likely be taller than me
Lo: Annelyse, I am going to be taller than mom first.
Annelyse: No you're not because I am older
Lo: Mom, can I be taller than you first... ~ insert teary eyes and a whiny voice
Me: I don't know who will be taller than me first... we will just have to wait and see
Lo: Ahhhh, I never get to be first!
Well, wasn't that a fun little activity.... |
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| Somehow we manage to end well :) |
Lo requested a carrot cake for her special day... so we went back to Food Network and found another delicious recipe! While I had never made a carrot cake before it turned out great, complete with freshly chopped carrots which Lo helped to peel and pulverize in the food processor. The girls have a chef at school; Chef Paddy, who makes gourmet meals daily for lunch. It has been great to watch their tastes and preferences change for fish, vegetables and well-balanced meals. They tell us all the time how Paddy makes them take at least one vegetable and says "You have to eat vegetables every day!". This appears to be working given Annelyse requested shrimp, salmon and "juicy asparagus" for her birthday dinner and Loralye requested chicken and broccoli. It's nice to see that good, nutritious food, when offered regularly, becomes the taste preference!
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| Our goofy 5 year old! |
The week after the party, Loralye and I headed out for our night at the hotel! Very similarly, the focus was on swimming and there was little to no interest in meals, etc. We spent a significant amount of time in the pool without water wings.... but only because I forgot them. Even though she could touch the bottom, I don't think she liked the feeling of the water being right under her chin. That said, we spent a lot of timing "doing tricks" while hanging on to the side of the wall or I got to be a dolphin, whale, horse, goat... pretty much anything she could ride on.
The hotel was very nice yet again, complete with fireplace and balcony in this room! The next morning, we headed back to the pool to do it all over again! Around lunch, Russ and Annelyse picked us up and we headed out to get our Christmas Tree! never a dull moment around these parts!
While Lo and I were at the hotel, Russ and Annelyse were having fun of their own. A nice movie night, matching PJs for her and her doll, and some Ben and Jerry's ice cream were some of the highlights.
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| Aww, love the new matching PJs. Here she is getting the iPad fired up for movie night. |
Another year in the books... Can't be more thankful for two loving, bright, kind, funny, healthy girls!
Annelyse wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, so we hopped on to Food Network and found the most "glorious" chocolate cake around. I am not exactly sure what made it so wonderful, however it had the consistency of a brownie. Not to mention the butter cream frosting which had liquefied milk chocolate blended in. Needless to say, there were no leftovers... 
⧬
Lo requested a carrot cake for her special day... so we went back to Food Network and found another delicious recipe! While I had never made a carrot cake before it turned out great, complete with freshly chopped carrots which Lo helped to peel and pulverize in the food processor. The girls have a chef at school; Chef Paddy, who makes gourmet meals daily for lunch. It has been great to watch their tastes and preferences change for fish, vegetables and well-balanced meals. They tell us all the time how Paddy makes them take at least one vegetable and says "You have to eat vegetables every day!". This appears to be working given Annelyse requested shrimp, salmon and "juicy asparagus" for her birthday dinner and Loralye requested chicken and broccoli. It's nice to see that good, nutritious food, when offered regularly, becomes the taste preference!
The hotel was very nice yet again, complete with fireplace and balcony in this room! The next morning, we headed back to the pool to do it all over again! Around lunch, Russ and Annelyse picked us up and we headed out to get our Christmas Tree! never a dull moment around these parts! 
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