The Celebration Continues Part 1 Decorations

Makenna's favorite movie  and character  for a while  has  been  Little Mermaid, Ariel.  For that reason she was determined to have an Ari party for her fourth birthday.  At first thought, Mamma Kim thought this would be an  easy party to  put  together.  As the details began to fall into place and one thing lead to another the decorations  grew bigger and more elaborate  thus more time consuming.  About 10 minutes before the party we were finishing up all things mermaid and of course there had to be lots of bling involved.

Ariel greeted every  guest as they entered   the door.  That was not even a thought until last night about 9pm when Mamma Kim decided  the door needed something.  Thank goodness for the pazzle. It saved the night.

Lots of sugar and chocolate  are always good things to give kids to get them charged up  for  Moms and Dads.  We wanted to make sure they had plenty of each.  Everything from candy sea shells to a marshmallow octopus. 

                               Candy covered pretzels

                                       Marshmallow  Octopus

                                                  M  & M's

                                            Sour Patch Octopus

                        The treasure chest with King Triton's mighty trident

                              Goody Buckets for all the little guest

                               The table centerpiece contained jewels and stones just like the treasure chest in the Little Mermaid.  Makenna has read the book so much she knows all the  details from memory and insisted  we not  leave out one detail.  Mamma Kim loves details and was glad to oblige for Precious Baby.

 Jelly  fish went along with our theme very nicely and Makenna loved helping make these  for her party.  We have been enjoying them hanging for several weeks now.

                    Makenna and her  mighty trident, just like King Triton

No Little Mermaid party would be complete with out Makenna having her very own Ariel outfit and in the words of Makenna, "Mamma, I have my very own fin just like Ariel."

Cupcakes must  have been pretty  good as Miles ate two and wanted a third and  his Mamma would not let him have it.

Food table  included Sea cookies, sea shell candy, octopus hotdogs, Mason's favorite, Sushi rolls, mermaid pretzels, goldfish, M & M's, sour patch octopus, marshmallow octopus, and chips.

 Happy Birthday my Precious Baby.  I love you  to the moon and back.  You are worth every bit of effort and then some it took to make your dream come true with an Ariel birthday.  I hope it met every expectation you  had for your party . Four years old came much too quickly Precious Baby, please do not grow up so quickly.

Sweet Memories

I choose  to remember the  sweet memories I shared  over the years with my best  friend and the love of   my life; however, on  days like today it is hard to remember those sweet  times we  shared because John  left this life way to soon. To  have loved and lost is  better than to never have loved at all and I truly believe that with all my heart;  however, this day is always a very difficult day for me emotionally.  There are  so many questions that   do not have  answers this  side of  heaven.  Most of the time I accept that without  question but there are those days I ask why. Why will there be no more  sweet  memories to be made with my   best friend and the love of my life,  why  was John's life over so  quickly.  Yes, I know God's  plan is the perfect  plan and that is a comfort. Although I know that, there were many more memories I wanted to share with him.  I wanted him to  meet and love these precious grand babies like I know he would. We were   never promised  an easy life but God did promise to never leave or forsake  us.  I cling to that promise on the days when life  is so tough  and is  taking a toll on me because I do not have my  best friend to share this life  with and walk with me through those times.
  I miss you so much today  and cannot wait to see you again one  day.  I   love you with all my heart, John

Unforgettable

I never want to forget all the funny things my Precious Baby says, things that she knows  way  beyond her years.  That comes from going to work with Mamma Kim every day of her life.  Yesterday Precious Baby came into my office  and ask what  Mamma  Kim was  doing and I told her I  was working on Mr.  Kevin's accounting.  Makenna then went to calculator and started working.  She tore the tape off and went over to parts department where they ask what  she was doing.  She told them she was working on taxes for Mr. Kevin.  They ask her if he owed  any taxes and she said I  have worked and worked on this so Mr. Kevin does not owe any taxes now.  She was tired from all the work on the taxes.

After  we  got home Precious Baby said when her baby sister came home from the hospital she was  going to shoot her and trade her in for a baby brother because she likes baby brothers better than baby sisters.  Oh   my goodness,  where does she come up with all the things she says?

Fairpark

How does one little girl deserve so many special treats?  Not sure how others do but we have the most precious little girl around so she gets lots of treats.  Sunday after church her Mamma and I decided to take her for an afternoon of fun.  We were going to Veterans Park to the Splash Pad but it was so crowded we could not even get close.  I like going to Fairpark much better anyway and there are never as many there.

Makenna napped until we got to Fairpark then she was out of the car to see where we were.

She was the  only one there for a little while and she took a few minutes to check out what was going on.  Two other little girls came up and they all played in the water, squealing when the water would spray high.

Childhood laughter is the best kind of laughter.  Oh to experience that through the eyes of a child is a blessing directly from Jesus.

As we got ready to leave, Makenna was hungry nothing new to us these days.  This child is always hungry.  We were going to take her out on East Main to get ice cream but she had different ideas and wanted Sonic.  She got a vanilla milkshake and I got a hot fudge sundae.  Guess mine looked better that hers because she wanted mine first then she would eat hers.  That is usually the way this story goes.  Why does my food always taste better than hers?

Marching Orders

God gives all of us marching orders if we are His children.  The children learned this year in VBS at Faith Baptist Church that just as God gave Noah, Nehemiah and Jonah orders, He also gives us orders, which He expects us to follow.  Noah followed God's orders and did Nehemiah but Jonah did not follow what God told him to do.  There are consequences for disobedience.  Jonah stayed in the belly of the fish for three days until he sought forgiveness.  Disobedience always brings punishment.  Throughout the day the children learned about marching orders from God through Bible stories, songs, missions speakers, crafts and recreation.  It is my prayer that each child makes the decision to be in the Lord's Army. 

Mrs. Debbie, Mrs. Sandy and Mrs. Amy taught Makenna's class.  Their sweet and gentle spirits made such an impression on those chatty three year olds. 

Jonah made an impression on the 3-4 year olds, or Makenna anyway.  She told me after VBS was over all about Jonah not obeying.  That gave me a prefect opportunity to to remind her that we expect her to obey just like God does and when she does not obey we are not happy and neither is Jesus.

Thank you Lord, for those opportunities to teach my Precious Angel about my loving Heavenly Father.

My sweet baby, with her fish hat they made in crafts. 

Jumping

As a special treat, I decided to take Makenna to JUMP, a place with a variety of bouncey houses.  She was the only one there and I thought she would love it and I would never get her out of the place.  Little did I know in about an hour she would be ready to go.  It was realy loud with all the pumps keeping the inflatables blown up and Makenna does not like that kind of noise.  Guess it was a lesson learned, we will not be going back there. 

Mamma here I come, take my picture.  She was more interested in getting her picture made than anything else.  That would be my fault because I have taken so many pictures of her from the beginning.

This may take too mych effort and energy for my Precious Baby to do all that climbing and jumping.  Surely she should be worn out and nap well ohe afternoon.  No such luck there, she was just overly tired and whined all afternoon.

Makenna said she would rather go to the "ducks on the pond" aka Central Park at the mall, or as Mamma Kim calls it germ city.