Lizzy's Harry Potter Birthday Party

Yes I realize that Lizzy's birthday was back in October, but I am a slacker what can I say. With her baptism and all of the festivities that went along with it, and then it was Thanksgiving and then Christmas, I just couldn't get around to doing her party.  That was part of it at least.  The other part was Lizzy was obsessed with having a Harry Potter birthday party.  I was not excited about that.  I had looked online and there was very little to do with Harry Potter parties that was easy.  All of the stuff I found online was so much work.  Do people really spend that kind of time and money on their kids birthday parties?  There was one lady that made a cape for all the guests and it only took her 2 hours per cape.  Really?  Do you have nothing else going on in your life.  What I really wanted was to go to the party store and buy some stuff for the party, but no, there was no Harry Potter stuff, so we had to make up all the stuff we did.  It seriously caused me a lot of anxiety and dread every time I thought about it.  We tried multiple times to try and get her to do something else, but she was so bound and determined to have it.  Lizzy is such a good girl and such a good helper to me that I just had to do it.  I just hoped that the simple things I came up with would be good enough for her.

 Not the prettiest cake, but hey it was cheap and Lizzy was fine with it. I convinced her to do that instead of sorting hat cupcakes which were quite a bit more work.  My writing didn't look to good, but hey its for kids they don't care right?

 By far the activity that was the biggest hit was the potions class.  I made up some cups with baking soda in them and hid some food coloring in the middle, then we had the girls pour vinegar in them and bubble over.  They loved it because they had different colors that had a different fortune and they didn't know which one they would get.  They all really had a good time doing it.

 We also did the candy bar game that I had wrapped all the candy bars up to look like bars of gold so we pretended it was Gringott's bank.  The girls were all nice though so there wasn't much stealing, they just kept the ones they had.

We also did Hot Potato with a stuffed snake and the girls had fun with that.  Afterward we had cake and ice cream and I still am amazed that so many kids don't like cake.  What's not to like?  Also Lizzy has a little friend that she for some reason wants to be just like and she said she didn't like frosting, so then Lizzy decided she didn't like frosting, which is NOT true.  Little punk.  Lizzy has a bit of a problem thinking she has to be the same as other people to fit in. We had a little talk about it later.  She is just such a people pleaser, and that can either be a good thing or a bad thing.  Just like all personalities.  For their party favor Kevin made them each a wand and they turned out really cute, the girls all seemed to like them.

Lizzy got a lot of cute things from her friends and I am so glad that we did that party for her and even more glad that it is in my rear view mirror.  I seriously cannot say how much I was dreading this party, but it turned out good and Lizzy appreciated it.  That is the most important thing.

All About Jane- 4 Years

There is so much to say about my little Janie lady.  I really can't believe that she isn't going to be my baby girl anymore.  I can't believe that she is 4! Craziness!  She is such a silly little girl with such a different personality than her sisters.  I love that they are all so different.
Jane has really grown up a lot this past year and has really started to show a bit of stubbornness that I didn't realize was in there.  She really doesn't seem to care if I want her to do something, if she doesn't want to than she isn't going to do it.  This is not to say that she is really difficult.  For the most part she is really easy still. And if it is something I ask her to do for me, like get me a diaper for Russ then immediately she is running and doing it.  But if it is putting on her shoes or making her bed, then it is really hard to get her to do it.  So silly!
Jane has always had a funny sense of humor and it is really fun to see her now.  She really likes to try and say stuff that will make the rest of us laugh. She is always trying to be silly at the dinner table to make her sisters laugh.
Jane is SO excited for her baby sister to come.  She comes up and kisses and talks to my belly everyday.  I think sometimes she feels a little left out with her sisters so she is excited to have her own little one to play with.  When we would tell her that we wanted her to stay 3 forever, she would automatically say "But I have to turn four so I can help with Annie!"  Because for some reason she can only help if she is four. :)
One of the things Janie loves to do is color and write.  Give her a pad of paper and a pen, markers or crayons and she will be happy all day.  I am not kidding either.  She will literally color all day.  She is so good too!  I love seeing her little drawings, they are so cute.  She is constantly drawing pictures of the family.  Another thing she has really picked up is writing her letters.  She can write almost all of them now and she can write them really good.  She loves to write everyone's names in the family.  Her writing is so good, she has better handwriting than Nellie.  And the funny thing is she just taught herself and just practices over and over.
Jane is also really funny when she is in the car.  If I am listening to the radio and I change it, I seem to always hear from the backseat, "But mom that was a good song!"  And if there is a song she really likes and we are to oi destination she will say. " Don't turn it off until the song is over."  A couple of times I did and let me tell you, I suffered her wrath, she was not happy with me.
Jane is really funny about food.  She is a good eater but sometimes she doesn't want to eat her meals but  she wants to snack all day long.  She loves fruit still and will eat an entire bag of little oranges herself.  She does have a tendency to get into the food while I am upstairs getting ready, and she will make the biggest messes on the couch!
Jane is really shy at first, but once she is comfortable she really will be outgoing and fun.  We LOVE having her in our family.  It just goes to show how Heavenly Father knows best.  We thought we wanted a boy after having two girls, but if we didn't have our cute silly Jane I just can't imagine what my life would be like.  She truly brightens my days and I can honestly say that the day she goes off to school I am going to be a sad Mom, because I love having her around!