Acarith's 6th Birthday Party!

Can you believe this girl is six years old? Acarith said she really wanted to be Queen Elsa from the movie "Frozen" because, "Elsa has white hair just like mine." Well, not quite; since Elsa's hair is much longer, I bought two blonde hair clip extensions and braided them into her hair. She loved having long hair for her party!

She loved her Frozen cake. We made "blue ice candy," a real simple recipe where you bring water, sugar, and corn sugar to a boil. Once it's boiling, you no longer have to stir it and when the candy thermometer says 300, you pour it into a jelly pan to cool and harden. We flavored ours with lemon, and it kind of tasted like jolly ranchers. It was easy and yummy!

A friend of ours showed up at the party and gave Selah an Anna dress that her daughter had outgrown! I love this picture of the girls!

We invited about 8 other kids (plus Acarith really wanted her junior church teacher Mrs. Ellis to come). The kids loved playing "Hot Olaf" (like hot potato) while Tirzah played the piano. 

All lined up to play "Pin the Nose on Olaf" game.

I think the kids loved the "Snow Party" the best! For Christmas I had bought Tim a snow machine, and Acarith had the bright idea to ask her daddy if he could "play" it for her friends at her party. Tim put it on the house and hooked it up to a switch, so whenever everyone entered or left the "castle" (our house) they would be in the snow. It was so cool! (No pun intended:))

Acarith loved her party. It was fun to just have kids over for the evening (and Mrs. Ellis). We are so thankful to the Lord for giving us our sweet, beautiful girl!

 

 

 

Ruth Ann's 40th Birthday Party!

Some birthdays just come and go with simple gifts and maybe a cake. This birthday was not one of those! Wow--my 40th birthday was very fun and special. The days leading up to my birthday, Tim told me to be ready for a day of birthday surprises. The night before, he accidentally spilled the beans on the first part--we would leave in the morning to drop the kids off at school and a friend's house (thank you Naomi for watching the girls!), go to Phoenix, shop and have lunch with our dear friends Dave and Grace Hardy. We had a great time!

 

After our time in Phoenix, we picked up the girls, went to our house (Selah needed a nap), and Tim picked up the two older kids. Back at home, Tim told me my other surprise was ready. He made me lay on the couch with a blanket over my face until I heard laughter and , "Happy birthday, Ruth Ann!" It was my parents! They had driven five hours up to be with me! (What made this so surprising is that I had just been with them for the weekend to celebrate dad's birthday and had come home 3 days earlier.) It was great to have them be with me on my special day!

I loved my birthday present from Tim!

For my birthday party, Tim came up with a unique theme--a "WD-40th Birthday." He asked friends to please brings gifts that would stop squeaks, oil rusty parts, and etc. On Friday, the day after my birthday, we had an open house party at our house for my birthday from 1pm -6pm. Actually, the guests started arriving at noon and the last group of friends left at 9:30!

The kids loved seeing Grandma and Grandpa, even if they only stayed for one full day. They left Friday afternoon. Thanks dad and mom for coming to my party!

Awwww, couldn't resist posting this picture of Acarith crashing by the end of the night!

I made one of my favorite cakes--Hawaiian cake. It was my mother-in-law's recipe. It's yellow cake topped with a cream cheese/pudding layer, crushed pineapple, and then whipped cream. I used 3 cake mixes in my big sheet cake pan and was surprised to see it all gone by the end of the night!

I do want to say, I felt very special on my 40th birthday. All my family, friends, phone calls, cards, texts, and gifts--I feel so very blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life. Thank you to all who made my day very special!