Finn is FIVE

This past weekend we celebrated Finn's 5th birthday! Crazy that it has been 5 years since this guy has came into the world. He was an early present for me since his birthday fell 2 days before mine.

We had two sets of cousins come into town this past weekend, along with 3 grandparents and one great aunt! They played video games and had many nerf wars outside!

Finn is 3 months younger than Avery.

Ally is exactly 6 months older than Dylan.

Can you say sweaty?? Ha!

Finn wanted a Mickey and the Roadster Racers themed party. It is a cute show on Disney Junior. He helped me decorate the cake!

Before we headed to Zone Action Park for some fun and games, we hosted all of the families at our house for dinner. For a little added fun we had themed food. I was pretty busy beforehand and did not get a good picture of it all set-up. Here is one item I made: Stoplight Brownies. Ally helped me decorate most of the cards. It was a family project.

So fun to see Finn's name on the door!

Most of the crew!

 Aunt Susan and Avery

Allyson and Nina

 The birthday boy!!

Jase was checking out the attractions!

Balloon animal for the win!

The party assistant was doing face paintings along with making balloon animals.

We headed outside to play putt-putt!

Mae got her face painted! I think she said she was Peter Rabbit!

Arcade time for these sweet girls.

Putt-putt competition going on.

"I got one, Mom!"

Coby on the tracks.

 Jase is in the zone!

Jase, Tanner, Talan and Coby.

Present time!

Allyson and I rode a race together!

We raced against Finn and Daddy!

Uno time after baths that night!

Finn woke up to donuts (a birthday tradition) and a few more presents.

The kids squeeze in one more game after breakfast!

#5 was across the board on Finn's birthday!

We got Finn a basketball goal that he could shoot on!

I found this shirt and had to get it for him. Let me tell you the backstory, if you do not know it. Here in our town there is a house with a big backyard and they have two llamas in it. We drive by at least once a week after church or whenever we come back from Denton. Anyway, we always stop and tell the girls (Betty and Stella) hello! The kids pretty much think I am embarrassing them every time, but I know deep down they love to stop and say hi to the girls! Finn loves his No Prob Llama shirt! LOL!

Sunday afternoon we also played Bean Boozled, which is a crazy jelly bean game. You spin a spinner and it lands on a color of jelly bean. That jelly bean with either be yummy or totally disgusting. We got some of it on video if you're interested. This video also recaps our weekend of fun with family and friends.

Happy 5th Birthday sweet Finn! We love you a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck!

Aristocats Musical Theatre Camp

For the past two weeks Ally has been attending a Musical Theatre Camp for Disney's Aristocats. I originally signed her up for the Juniors Camp, which was only 1 week long and it was for 4-7 year olds, but I got an e-mail from the camp director asking if she was going into 2nd or 3rd grade this fall. I told her 3rd and she asked if I wanted to move her up into the Star Camp for 8-13 year olds and it was for 2 weeks. Not only was it for a week longer, but they stayed twice as long each day. I talked to her about it and she wasn't so sure and very nervous, but the camp director reassured me that it is a lot of fun, so we moved her up to the Star Camp. On the first day of camp all of the campers had to audition, which means they had to learn a 30 second portion of a song and perform it for the staff. Plus, they wanted you to know all of the songs prior to coming to camp. She practiced her little heart out learning the part and listened to that CD before camp started.

I picked her up after the first day and she LOVED it! Everything about it she loved! Singing, dancing, lunch time {AKA talking with friends!}, blocking {new theatre term for us!}. Needless to say I'm so glad we moved her up into the Star Camp. This was the first day of camp, checking her in.

We found out after the first day of camp that she got the part of Abigail Gabble, a goose! She has a couple of small lines and her own little song she shares with another goose, Amelia! She had dress rehearsal yesterday and today was the big day! She had two performances today and her last one is tomorrow. Here is my sweet girl all ready for the musical!

We were all so excited to watch her perform!! I even had tears come to my eyes this afternoon after I dropped her off for her call time before the show. This has been such a neat experience for her, it has been a blessing to not only her, but for us as well, to see how much she has loved it. She has tried a couple of sports, ballet/tap, American Heritage Girls, and all of that she has enjoyed and always asked to do it again, but just after a few days of this, we knew this was for her. She even told me one afternoon "Mom, I just fit in there, I just love it." Melted my heart.

The boys were filling out a Star for their sister before the show!

 Just trying to get a decent picture with Finn. And then check out the photobomber! #typical

Due to copyright laws I was unable to take any pictures or video during the play, but the Gabble Girls had such a FUN part in the performance. We had several people come up to her and tell her that the Gabble Girls were the favorite part! I would have to agree!! She also played an alley cat in a few other scenes where she sang and danced to a couple of songs.

So proud of my girl!! I could not stop grinning while she was on stage!

It was so sweet, Jase was really proud of her and impressed with the musical. At dinner Ally was trying to talk him into auditioning for a play later in the school year!

This guy loved watching his little princess up on stage!

And if I'm being honest, I think Finn laughed the most out of all of us!! He thought it was so comical, and I loved to see him catch the jokes and follow along! Even Mae found Ally on stage and would point her out! We watched both of her shows today and I'll go back tomorrow to finish it up. Shawn cannot make it tomorrow because he has to pick his nephew up from the airport, so we planned for all of the kids to ride with him, and I only bought one ticket. The show is now sold out for Sunday, but guess who wants to go and watch it again!?! FINN! Like really wants to go, in tears. I told him he can go with me and just sit on my lap. I mean, what do I do?!? I guess tell him no, but I just couldn't break his little heart.

One last thing. Maebry will fight me tooth and nail about outfits and shoes and hair styles...at 2 years old. Allyson still asks my opinion on what to wear, so it is hard to have two girls and them be total opposite in that area. BUT, Ally asked for a braid earlier this week and guess who wanted one too? We are calling it our Anna and Elsa braid, which helps I'm sure! Yesterday I put a little French braid in Mae's hair and then did it again today. I'm totally surprised at how well she sit still for me and let me do it! I'm going to keep rocking the braid until this phase runs out! #headstrong

Surprise Trip

It has been way too long since I have posted. This move has definitely got me off track with blogging, but I'm not throwing in the towel just yet though.

So our little Finn turns 5 this month! In less than 10 days! Shawn and I planned a FUN 5th birthday celebration and decided to tell him on July 1st since it is his birthday month.

He couldn't believe it!! Or any of the other kids for that matter. Every other time we've went we told them just before we left. If you didn't watch the video, then we are going to Walt Disney World in September. We decided to let the summer crowds {and heat} die down a bit before we go. It's actually been kind of fun telling them this far in advance. We've had a ton of planning conversations, which is half the fun for me!

Some great friends of ours shared that they took theirs girls to WDW for their 5th birthday and Shawn and I both agreed that would be a fun tradition for our family. So, when Jase turned 5 it all began! This was my first trip to WDW {at 8 months pregnant!} and Shawn's first overnight stay there. We went again when Ally turned 5 {I was again way pregnant} and we were actually at Magic Kingdom on her birthday, which was a real treat. She got all dolled up at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and we ate dinner in Cinderella's Castle. Fun memories. And we just took a short trip right before Christmas, and not for someone's 5th birthday, but because I wanted to experience it at Christmastime. It did not disappoint. We were going ninety-to-nothing the whole week, but it was super fun.

Allyson and I sat down last weekend and made a WDW countdown calendar. It was nothing fancy, just notecards, markers, pens and crayons. The time sitting next to Ally and working with her was my favorite part about it! Here are a couple of my favorite cards. The ones she made are gold!