Madison's Birthday (and a Dance Recital)

My beautiful Madison had her golden birthday yesterday. She turned 5 years old on December 5th. We tried to stick with the "golden" theme. (We had to use yellow to improvise though...) It was somewhat of a busy day as all the girls had a dance recital, two different times. In the morning they came downstairs so happy and surprised to find a couple dozen balloons floating on the ceiling. It was the first time we've ever  used helium in our birthday balloons and it was lots of fun! She requested crepes (with strawberries, nutella, and whipped cream) for breakfast. Tyler tried to dissuade her because that's our Christmas morning breakfast and he wanted to keep it special. But I told him that whatever meal you request on your birthday, you get. Then we got all ready for their dance recital. They've been taking classes at Sonja's Dance Studio, and this was their Christmas "Candy Cane Lane" performance. It was a first experience for all three of these girls and they were very excited to be up on a big stage. Madison and Kelsey's show was at 11:00. I'm trying to get the videos loaded somehow because all that cuteness needs to be shared with the world. We'll see if I can get it to work. I had no idea what to expect out of them. It's pretty impossible to watch them during their classes, so I didn't know how much of a dance they actually did, or if they'd get too nervous and not move at all, or what. But we were all pleasantly surprised that they did awesome. Kelsey kept waving at the audience and they were just adorable up there. We had fun watching all the other dancers, too. We stopped and got McDonald's for her birthday lunch on the way home.

Kenny had to leave to go help somebody move. When he got back, Brynlee and I left for her recital. We didn't want to get tickets for everyone again because it's $10 a seat! So I promised her I'd record it and show the family when we got home. She was okay with that. Brynlee did an awesome job and looked like she was having the time of her life up there. She was just beaming. She told me afterwards, "I was smiling because I was embarrassed!" But she did great. That night we had sweet and sour chicken and rice for dinner (her favorite meal) and then strawberry cheesecake and ice cream for dessert. She had a nice present from both grandmas, and a few from us, all nicely wrapped in gold paper. She got some clothes and more DOLL STUFF. Surprise, surprise :). We haven't seen much of her the rest of the weekend as she and her sisters have been totally absorbed in playing dolls with their new outfits. Oh these girls. 

While we were eating cheesecake, we went around the table and all said something we love about Madison. Right when we were done, she immediately started going around and saying something she loved about everyone of us. That's just the kind of girl Madi is. A heart of gold, a peacemaker, a gentle nurturer, a truly beautiful soul. We love this sweet middle child and are so grateful she's a part of our family. We're so blessed to have her. 

A few other things from our week. I had to hurry and snap a picture of our thankful tree before taking it down. I love this tradition.

Wednesday night Tyler had pack meeting, then they did a fun activity afterwards of Nerf war! They had set up tables (laid on their sides) as barricades and divided the boys up into teams. They had a great time playing Nerf war.
Thursday night I went to a Relief Society progressive dinner. There's a couple ladies in our ward with very nice, large homes and it was a super enjoyable evening. I love eating yummy food and socializing with lovely women. Not only that, but a guy in our ward is a limo driver, and he was kind enough to offer his services for us. So we had a huge limo waiting for us outside each home to take us to our next stop. We felt like celebrities! :)
Friday, Tyler's friend from CC, Micah, was here for pretty much the whole day. His mom needed to be in Anchorage for stuff and he didn't want to go so he played here. It's always fun to shake things up and have a friend over. He's a really good kid, too.

Today, Sunday has been a little eventful. First of all, our church time changed to 8:30 a.m.!!! I don't actually mind, because it means no one's nap or lunch is interrupted. And those things are a big deal for little ones. We did have to wake all the girls up though, which is never fun.

This was one of Madison's birthday gifts. She's been drooling over the American Girl Doll magazine for weeks and was just crazy about the matching girl-doll outfits. She absolutely loved it and she looked so adorable. She also wore her new boots from Grandma, even though they weren't meant for church boots, nor did they really match her outfit. She was pretty insistent so I let it go.

Kenny taught EQ and I did sharing time in Primary. Right after church, and I do mean right after, Brigham had walked out before I had locked things up. The other kids followed him, then ran back to me and said "Briggs just fell down!" I could hear him crying, but Briggs falls down like a hundred times a day. I walked out to get him and Tyler and I both look at his sweater and he says, "I don't know where all this blood is coming from." I kept looking in Briggs' mouth to figure out if he bit his tongue or something. Then I pull my hand off and realize my hand is now covered in blood, so it's obviously on the side of his head that's away from me. I rush into the kitchen and tell Tyler to go find Kenny and let him know where I am. I am trying to stop/slow down the bleeding. Kenny takes one look at him and goes back out into the hall to find Bro. Cook, a doctor in our ward. he comes and looks at his head. He told us that we could take him in and they'd probably put a staple in his head, or super glue it, or we could super glue it ourselves at home. So that's what we did. We got home and cleaned it with hydrogen peroxide. Then Kenny held him while I super glued it. We gave him some Tylenol and a bottle and he slept for about 3+ hours. Poor little guy.

The girls set themselves up a nice little "tea party" with their babies. They had toast, yogurt, strawberries, and hot chocolate. They kept saying "Nothing and No one is better than a tea party!" It's the little things that make them so happy. :)




Kelsey and I took a little nap together. When I nap it's about 30 minutes, tops. When Kenny naps it's 2 hours, easy. It's amazing. We watched the Christmas Devotional online, ate dinner, and then I took the older three back to the church for a fabulous performance of Handel's Messiah. It was awesome. The girls got pretty tired of sitting after the first hour, but they hung in there and were glad to have cookies and lemonade at the end. When we all stood for the Hallelujah Chorus, Tyler immediately started joining in at the top of his lungs. A few people looked at him, so he stopped and looked around and said, "Why can't we sing?!" haha. Bryn asked the same thing. I'm glad they love it so much and were very familiar with at least 3 of the songs.

Last is this cute note Tyler handed me earlier this week. He's such a funny boy and writes me notes quite often. But this one was too good not to share...

I will write it here in case it's too hard to read (but I've fixed the spelling).
"Dear Mom I love you. With holidays coming happiness is in the air and we're doing better than ever. We do chores and have a really good day. Thanks for making everything fun. I wish this can last all of 2016 and longer. You're a pioneer. Keep moving mom."