Surprise Sleepover!

We always have a family party every year for the kids' birthdays, but this year, Tessa was asking for a party with her friends. Since her birthday is in the summer, I didn't really have a way to get invitations to her friends from preschool because I didn't know their addresses (or even some of their names....oops). And every time I asked who she would want to invite, she would say Alex, Essie and Bry! So I decided to just invite her cousins over for a surprise sleepover with them, Nana and Brooke.

The night before her birthday, I had Brooke and Nana bring Alex, Essie and Bry over after I got off work. Tessa was so confused about why they were there, so I let Alex tell her that it was for a sleepover. It's the most excited she's ever gotten about a surprise! She's never had them over to stay the night.

 We started off the night by going to the splash park in Augusta. 

 They had so much fun running around and playing!

 Brooke and I went and got them some shaved ice from a little place we LOVE right down the road. They have the BEST shaved ice!

 After they were done playing, they decided to put all of their towels together to make one big 'bed' so they could dry off and "lay out." I felt like we were getting a glimpse into their teenage years. They sat over there talking and giggling for at least twenty minutes--it was so cute!

After the splash park, we grabbed a gourmet meal at McDonald's (at the request of the birthday girl). Then we headed home to play outside for a bit and they ate some "poopsicles." Aunt JJ got Tessa some emoji poop popsicle molds and they were a HUGE hit!

Tessa opened a few presents from Aunt Brooke (makeup, undies and a walmart gift card) because she wasn't able to make it to Tessa's family birthday party.

Then it was time to get in our jammies and do each other's make up! I think that was my favorite part of the whole night. These girls LOOOOOVED lipstick! I think Tessa put on about 5 layers by the time we were done.

The BEST makeup of the night award goes to Brooke. Essie and Tessa teamed up on her and did her makeup. Essie kept saying, "Brookie, with TWO womens working on you, you're gonna look fan-TAS-tic!" And she did look......special.......

Everyone finally settled down and conked out around 11pm.

The next morning was Tessa's birthday and she woke up to balloons all around (per our annual tradition) and wanted to head straight upstairs to open presents!

 

She got emoji pants, the game Guess Who, 3 pairs of sparkly shoes, emoji ice packs and keychain, Uno and a bunch of other little things. She was in emoji heaven! After presents, we hung out in bed and the girls played an intense game of Guess Who....

And then THIS cutie dropped by and Tessa's birthday was complete!

After all the cousins left with Nana, Tommy and Tessa and I got around and headed out for the day. I felt bad because I was super tired and didn't feel good at all, so I wasn't as enthusiastic as I normally would have been. But Tessa insisted she didn't notice and had a great birthday day anyways!

She wanted to eat lunch at Golden Corral and then go bowling, so that's just what we did! I didn't get any pictures at lunch, but bowling was so much fun for them!

Sometimes they fight constantly and sometimes they get along for 5 minutes...

 Tommy was being really sweet to her and helping her put the ramp in just the right position!

 

They ended the game with a whopping 83 points between them both!

After bowling, we went home and we all ended up napping for about two and a half hours....it was amazing and I felt SO much better after that nap. Once Nick got home from work, Tessa and I left to go do some shopping because she wanted it to be "just the girls." So we went to Dollar Tree and Wal-mart. I loved spending the one-on-one time with her and watching what all she picked out. At Dollar Tree, she kept pushing the cart by herself and she just looked so big!

She ended up buying some cute Shimmer and Shine PJs, a weird pig pillow thing and a few other small things. She had so much fun spending all her money!

Then we headed home to eat dinner with dad and Tommy. Nick had saved a few presents for Tessa that he picked out and she got to open them. It was riding gloves and pink goggles--she was thrilled! He really liked them too.....

Then we just hung out and watched TV together and snuggled! It was the best day celebrating the best daughter!

On her 5th birthday...

Tessa Grace--

I cannot believe that you are 5 years old! The years have FLOWN by.

You, my lady, are such a joy in life. I am so grateful every day that you are my daughter.

At 5 years old, you are 53 pounds and 3ft 8in. You are getting so big! You're not too far behind your brother. You wear a size 6 clothes (sometimes a 7, depending on the brand) and a toddler size 12 shoe! We're almost out of toddler sizes and that breaks my heart because clothes and shoes stop being as cute when they're kids sizes.

You have just started to enjoy shopping for clothes and finding your own "style." Most of the time it looks pretty good, but there have been a few outfits I've had to put my foot down on. You love it when dad takes you somewhere and lets you wear whatever you want. You usually come home and I am shocked that he let you out in public, but you always laugh and giggle about it.

You are a pretty good balance of tomboy and girly-girl. You love to be outside getting dirty, riding four wheelers, playing with the dogs, riding bikes......but you also love putting on makeup with mom, snuggling up to watch movies, twirling in dresses and finding cute shoes! You are signed up for ballet/tap class, but also want to play flag football. I'm hoping that it works out for you to be able to do both.

You love to read chapter books (except you call them "tractor books"). It's hilarious because you pick up a book, skim the pages and then when you're done, you get so excited because you just "read" an entire book. You get very annoyed with me when I point out that you aren't ACTUALLY reading and you glare at me until I retreat slowly.

You wear your emotions on your sleeve. You try SO hard not to let people tell what you're thinking/feeling, but I know in an instant when you go from happy to mad or sad or whatever. Your mad face is the cutest. You scrunch up your little nose and cross your arms. But you also have the best smile in the world.

When you are tired....you are DONE. You start falling asleep no matter where we are and you get very drowsy and a little bit grumpy. You don't ever really fight going to bed and you like your room to be pitch dark and freezing cold. Just like your daddy!

You start kindergarten this year! You're glad you're done with preschool, but your brother has made you a little nervous about kindergarten because he didn't LOVE it. So you SAY you don't want to go, but when we start talking about who your teacher might be and what you'll do all day, you act excited. I think you're going to thrive and love it!

 You love taking care of people. I'm convinced you're going to be a nurse or something along those lines, because you are all about helping people do things. If I have an "ouchie," you fix it. If someone gets hurt, you hug them. If something needs found, you find it. If I have a question about something, you try to answer it. You're always by my side wanting to help me do anything and everything. You truly do so much for me and so willingly!

Gracie, I could not be any prouder of you than I already am! You have always been the perfect addition to our family and I'm so, SO grateful for you. Happy birthday, sweet girl!

Tessa's 5th birthday party

For Tessa's 5th birthday party with our family, we ended up doing a ballerina theme. She kept begging for a poop emoji party. I'm usually willing to go along with a lot of my kid's crazy ideas, but I draw the line at decorating my house with emoji poop. So pink and gold ballerinas it was!

However, since she wasn't getting the poop emoji party of her dreams, she got a little demanding about her decoration requests--ha! She wanted lots of balloons and she wanted a cake with pink flowers all over it and 5 gold ballerinas on it. Can we say diva?! Buuuuut.....she IS the birthday girl, so I managed to make it happen! The frosting job wasn't the best (because I was running out of time and frosting), but she loved it!

 I ordered her a cute little shirt to match her pink and gold theme! I also made a tutu for her (that she refused to wear and that caused my husband hours of grief because he hates glitter).

 When we asked her what she wanted for dinner at her party, she immediately answered ribs and potato salad. I don't think Nick's had a prouder moment than that! He spent most of his day smoking ribs for his baby girl.

After we ate, she opened presents.....

She got so much fun stuff AND stuff she REALLY needed (which is my favorite kind of present). She got a leotard from Nana, ballet and tap shoes/Dr. Pepper/gum from Grandma and Papa, a ballet bag/leg warmers/$20 from the Kirkpatricks and socks/gum/shorts/emoji band aids from the Whitsons. She had been begging for ballet classes, so as a surprise present, Nick and I signed her up for them. After she opened all her ballet presents from everyone else, I was SO excited to tell her about the classes. I said, "Tess, if you have a leotard, ballet shoes and a ballet bag....where could you take all that stuff?" She said, "I don't know." I said, "Well......me and daddy got you ballet classes! So you can take all of that stuff to your new ballet class!" She just smiled a little and said, "Oh!" and then went back to opening presents! Ha!! Talk about a let down! I was expecting her to be giddy with excitement and she barely cracked a smile (however, after everyone was gone and the party was over, she DID give us big hugs and say she was so excited to start ballet). I'm just going to have to remind myself over the years that she doesn't really show a lot of emotion over surprises, but I know she quietly appreciates them in her own way.

After presents, we blew out candles and had some cake.

We took a few pictures with some of our party guests....

Then the kids played outside in the water and had a great time! It was pretty hot, but they didn't care! They had a blast running around and jumping in the pools and shooting water guns at each other.

Tommy loves his little cousin. They have to stick together because they're the only boys!

Tessa had a GREAT 5th birthday party--we had a wonderful time enjoying our family and celebrating our sweet girl!