Archive for July, 2015

Serenity’s Fairy Garden Birthday

Monday, July 13th, 2015

Serenity’s Birthday Journaling

Serenity’s birthday was so much fun! The theme underwent several subtle shifts over the year. At first it was going to be Nature Girl. When she plays outside, she calls herself Nature Girl, and she loves to save the earth. Then, we read the Secret Garden, so we were going to focus on gardening and making a little secret garden in the side yard that we’d reach with a keys. Then, she discovered Rainbow Magic Fairies. She adores these books. We checked nearly a hundred of them out from the library. In each story the girls help their fairy friends recover magical objects from Jack Frost the mischievous goblin. Each fairy has a different job, and Serenity especially love the fairies that work with nature or cuddly creatures. So we kept the gardening theme, but we decided to make Fairy Gardens!

 

The locked gate to fairyland.

The locked gate to fairyland.

In Fairy Land the Queen has wings for everyone, and magical objects for the fairy gardens hidden for them to find.

In Fairy Land the Queen has wings for everyone, and magical objects for the fairy gardens hidden for them to find.

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Houses primed white with moss roofs, ready to decorate.

Houses primed white with moss roofs, ready to decorate.

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Rainspell Island, where the girls from her favorite stories first meet their fairy friends.

Rainspell Island, where the girls from her favorite stories first meet their fairy friends.

We began the party with a little Fairy Face painting to get everyone into the spirit =) I think this was Serenity’s favorite part! I also made butterfly and leaf headbands. Then, everyone went outside to make fairy gardens. We wanted to make them really inviting so the fairies would want to come live in the garden. Each child decorated a fairy house (a birdhouse I primed so the markers would show, and I covered to roofs in moss.) Then they planted an assortment of plants like miniature ivy, celosia, and groundcovers. There were also purple rocks for paths, little circles of wood they could make into trails or furniture for the fairies, twigs and bark.

Rainbow Magic face paint =)  Grandma and I had ours painted later too =)

Rainbow Magic face paint =) Grandma and I had ours painted later too =)

DZ =)

DZ =)

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We made the fairy gardens really inviting so the fairies would want to come live there, but they couldn't, because they were trapped by Jack Frost!

We made the fairy gardens really inviting so the fairies would want to come live there, but they couldn’t, because they were trapped by Jack Frost!

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I love how they turned out!  They had so much fun coloring their houses, adding plants, rocks and other details.

I love how they turned out! They had so much fun coloring their houses, adding plants, rocks and other details.

After everyone had a chance to make a garden and have their face painted, we gathered everyone together. I told them the fairies loved the gardens and really wanted to come live in them, but that Jack Frost had captured the fairies and taken them to his ice palace! The fairies needed us to rescue them! The ice palace was a pinata and everyone enthusiastically saved the fairies. Each child got at least one fairy for their garden. =) There was a backup pinata that was filled with the fairy’s magic (pixy stix) that we saved until later so anyone that came later would have a chance. I did really well at first not giving out too many sweets as favors, but I always get nervous that the pinata will break too quickly, so even though I just put fairy figures in the first I ended up with pixy sticks in the backup pinata. Oh well. 😉

Rescuing the fairies from Jack Frost's Ice Palace

Rescuing the fairies from Jack Frost’s Ice Palace

Ready to rescue the fairies!

Ready to rescue the fairies!

Fairy rescue success =)  They are so happy to live in the kids' gardens =)

Fairy rescue success =) They are so happy to live in the kids’ gardens =)

Serenity received the Key to Fairyland after they rescued the fairies from Jack Frost's ice palace.

Serenity received the Key to Fairyland after they rescued the fairies from Jack Frost’s ice palace.

After that, I told them that the fairies were so grateful, they gave Serenity the key to fairyland. I was really excited about this part! The key matched an impression in circle of clay, and when Serenity placed her key in the impression, she unlocked fairyland! I blocked our side yard off with a rainbow of fabric (reused from her third rainbow birthday =) When they followed the path into fairyland, they discovered wings for everyone, and hidden along the path were bags of magic stones to add a little more magic to their gardens. I made giant flowers out of tissue paper and used a bunch of silks to make it look magical. Plus, my trees are dying and the side garden is mostly weeds, so adding flowers helped a lot. Oh, and lots of butterfly garden stakes, which the kids ended up adding to their fairy gardens.

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My beautiful niece approved of the flowers =)

My beautiful niece approved of the flowers =)

Under the peach trees, which is Serenity’s favorite place to hang out in our yard, we made RainSpell Island, where the girls first met the fairies. I hung ribbons from the trees and more giant flowers for a magical photo opportunity.

We also have a sunflower house that was a nice spot to hang out while waiting on a turn to whack the pinatas.

Sunflower House =)

Sunflower House =)

We have fishing at every birthday party, and Serenity thought we should decorate the dock with flowers so it looked like a fairy pond.

The birthday girl chose donuts and fruit for her birthday treats. I got out my whole fairy collection to decorate with =)

Birthday Donuts =)

Birthday Donuts =)

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The fairy buffet

The fairy buffet

Serenity and Raegan

Serenity and Raegan

She also came up with several other fairy games, like fairy freeze tag and hide and seek fairies. I assume they played those as I sort of lost track after awhile, but I noticed several little fairies under the food table at one point. Maia went under there too and kept saying “cheese” since I kept poking the camera under to take her picture. Too cute.

I made fairy dust necklaces for everyone… that I forgot to pass out. Never hide anything before a party, otherwise you’ll get stuck with it =)

Papa always comes early to help!  And he watched Maia the whole time =)

Papa always comes early to help! And he watched Maia the whole time =)

DZ made a tiger garden =)

DZ made a tiger garden =)

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She said “pretty!” when she had the headband on =)

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Fishing

Fishing

 

 

Serenity’s Birthday Favorites

Sunday, July 12th, 2015

Serenity 7th Birthday Favorites:

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Serenity is growing up so fast! It’s amazing to watch her. One of my favorite moments of the year was just a few days ago. She’d made a new friend and was having a wonderful time playing with her, running around and being silly. Her friend told Donovan that they were playing and he couldn’t, but Serenity spoke right up and said, “Oh, let’s include my brother.” I was so proud of her I nearly cried. She truly is a sweet and kind girl. She says she’s shy sometimes, which surprises me because she always looks confident. She discovered she loves acting during a musical theater class, and told us she wants a “big audience!” She also got a “Star Burst” award for being an expressive reader at school. She loves to snuggle and cuddles in our bed each morning. She is best friends with her brother, and they create clubs, games and magical worlds together.   She loves making her baby sister giggle and asks me to get them matching outfits. She told me at least five times this weekend that she’s so happy to be my daughter, but I feel like the lucky one.

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Here are some of her favorite things from the year

 

Serenity truly loves to read. She gets involved in a series and just devours one after another. She discovered the Rainbow Magic Fairies and checked them out from the library 20 at a time. She read nearly every Roald Dahl book. She especially loved the Fantastic Mr. Fox, the BFG, and Matilda. Her giggles as she read these books warmed my heart. We read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone twice this year. The first time I would read a chapter and then she’d read as many as she could to herself before I told her lights out. The second time I read the whole book. I think we’ll do the Chamber of Secrets together next. She’s read three-quarters of it, but it’s at a dramatic point and she doesn’t want to go on alone. She also loves poetry, especially Shel Silverstein’s Boa Constrictor, and she can recite that one. She read a lot of Jack and Annie Magic Tree House books too.

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She doesn’t play with toys that much, although recently she’s drawn to tiny cute toys, like the Calico Critters she got from Ann for her birthday. She got another set with her birthday money from Papa. She carries around a tiny kitty in her hand and says it’s soooo cute. She still loves cats. She loves sticker activity books. She has a few lego sets, and she loves to build gardens when she’s not putting together sets. She got a Lego Elves Treetop Hideout for her birthday from Papa, and she was squealing the entire time we put it together. She and her brother play together in Lego World, making up stories and playing with them. For some reason all their lego people seem to marry.

Working on our Lego Advent Calendar

Working on our Lego Advent Calendar

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She doesn’t often play with dolls, although she recently got an American Girl doll from her cousin named McKenna. She loves her, and even made a little apron for her that she embroidered herself. She got the embroidery kit for her last birthday, and she’s actually gotten it out several times! She embroidered an apron for herself, one for her doll, and she made me a book bag with a dandelion embroidered on it! I love it!

 

Cooking with her apron

Cooking with her apron

She’s more likely to be playing at making her own little worlds. She makes hideouts with couch cushions, in her closet, or with the foam flooring from the secret room. She and DZ will make a little world and get lost in it. They also make clubs, particularly chalk club and sticker club. In chalk club the goal seems to be to cover the entire patio, yard, and fence in chalk. Oh, and on cold days, the garage. The only problem with that being that chalk in the garage never gets washed away! Sticker club is a favorite too. They usually try to completely cover huge papers in thousands of stickers. Which takes hours. =)

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This is one of my favorite pieces of work she brought home.  It asked, "what would you put in your

This is one of my favorite pieces of work she brought home. It asked, “what would you put in your

She still loves Elsa. She got an Elsa Bank for Christmas, and still pushes the button to hear her sing all the time. She actually met Elsa at Disney, which was a huge thrill. She plays dress-up with her Elsa dress, the super long cape I made her, and her fleece Elsa braid. And her brother is her Arctic Wolf pet.

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Serenity loves computer games. She plays games on the IPAD like My Little Pony and Farmville, where she’s setting up her own little world, collecting coins, jewels, or farming to add to it. She played a ton of Skylanders this last month. She loves playing Animal Jam on the National Geographic website, and even asked to become a member there. She also plays board games, especially Laser Maze and Forbidden Island.

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Serenity was involved in several exciting activities this year. She became a Daisy Scout. She had a lot of fun with this! She read the whole manual herself, and memorized the Girl Scout Law to earn her Amazing Daisy award. Her troop leader was amazing, and gave the girls so many opportunities this year. She participated in making a garden at Eisenhower school, the Superhero Challenge, earned all her Daisy Petals, and learned about other countries on World Thinking Day. It was incredible and so much fun! She also did her first cookie sales, and sold more than three hundred boxes to earn a stuffed cheetah, which was her personal goal.

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She also participated in Musical Theater. She was Flounder in the class production of the Little Mermaid. I was so proud, she learned all her lines and her teachers said she did a great job. The day of the play you could hear her clearly even though they were performing in a large warehouse, and she was so expressive! We listened to the music in the car the whole spring, and she’d always ask me to repeat Les Poisson because it’s so funny. I originally signed her up for it because she really enjoyed the Little Mermaid ride at Disney, and she loved being the narrator in her class play Johnny Appleseed.

 

Flounder

Flounder

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In the fall she did ice skating, and she can zoom around the ice! I was amazed at how quickly she took to it.

 

At Winterfest

At Winterfest

She loves being outside. She’s still my Nature Girl. =) That’s what she calls herself as she’s perched in her peach tree or flying in her swing. I love that about her.

In her peach tree =)  In every season.

In her peach tree =) In every season.

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April 2015 Heather Warren Photography

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May 2015

She loves school!  I am so happy that she does, and I’m so grateful to all her wonderful teachers that make it an amazing experience.  She had some homework four days a week, a few worksheets that she did diligently whenever she got home from school, and reading that she didn’t even realize was homework =)  She brought home some much interesting work.  I loved all the creative writing they did, by the end she was writing stories of multiple pages.  She enjoyed Kumon math, and did lots of word problems.

This is one of my favorite pieces of her school work.  If she had a tall hat like Abraham Lincoln, she would keep Unicorn Horns in it. =)

This is one of my favorite pieces of her school work. If she had a tall hat like Abraham Lincoln, she would keep Unicorn Horns in it. =)

December 2014 Working on homework.  Her handwriting has improved so much!  Thanks to Mrs. Widdoes =)

December 2014 Working on homework. Her handwriting has improved so much! Thanks to Mrs. Widdoes =)

Making Maia giggle =)

Making Maia giggle =)

She still loves riding on Daddy's shoulders, getting spun in circles, and tossed into the air =)

She still loves riding on Daddy’s shoulders, getting spun in circles, and tossed into the air =)

Serenity’s Month by Month Photos:

July 2014

July 2014

July 2014 Dress Up Show

July 2014 Dress Up Show

August

August

August 2014

August 2014

September 2014

September 2014

October 2015, her first school field trip to the Pumpkin Patch

October 2015, her first school field trip to the Pumpkin Patch

October 2014

October 2014

Halloween 2014

Halloween 2014, dressed as BatCat, a superhero she made up to go with her brother’s Batman request

November 2014 Star Student

November 2014 Star Student

December 2015 My little scientist =)

December 2015 My little scientist =)

January 2015

January 2015

February 2015 (This was her Valentine for her class, we punched holes and put a sucker in her hand.

February 2015 (This was her Valentine for her class, we punched holes and put a sucker in her hand.

March 2015.  I love how she tucks her animals into her shirt to cuddle them close.  This is Dianthus the unicorn, and she does it with Snowy too.

March 2015. I love how she tucks her animals into her shirt to cuddle them close. This is Dianthus the unicorn, and she does it with Snowy too.

Snuggling Snowy

Snuggling Snowy

My favorite drawing she brought home from school =)  She did similar magical ponies in several color schemes.

My favorite drawing she brought home from school =) She did similar magical ponies in several color schemes.

March 2015 Drama Fest.  She was Queen Elizabeth

March 2015 Drama Fest. She was Queen Elizabeth

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Wearing lots of Granny Hale’s jewelry and the crown we made for Maia’s birthday. The costume was fun for us to research and make!

April 2015 Easter Egg Hunt

April 2015 Easter Egg Hunt

April 2015 looking for the real snowy at the Zoo

April 2015 looking for the real snowy at the Zoo

April 2015

April 2015

May 2015

May 2015

May 2015 (This pic was her idea, she gave me a frame for Mother's Day asking to take this photo with me.)

May 2015 (This pic was her idea, she gave me a frame for Mother’s Day asking to take this photo with me.)

June 2015 Serenity's second pedicure, and my third =)

June 2015 Serenity’s second pedicure, and my third =)

May 2015

May 2015

June 2015 during My Little Pony week at Mama Camp =)

June 2015 during My Little Pony week at Mama Camp =)

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July 2015

July 2015