Content in His light ...

Monday, March 3, 2008 .. has it been 5 years? ..

Wow, where has the time gone?  It's hard to fathom that it's been 5 years since this precious addition joined our family.  God certainly hand picked her for us and she continues to bring such joy and yes challenges each and every day.. but we are the better for it all! 

Happy Birthday our precious Princess, Eden!!!

Well where to start!  I headed off for an early workout at 7 a.m. and left Eden snuggling with Daddy.. she did arrive into our room early announcing it was her Birthday and we "needed to wish her a Happy Birthday!" (that's our girl!).  I enjoyed a quiet but good workout with the FIRM: Annie - Hi-Def Sculpt for 55 minutes.  Then returned home to kids up and Bob already off to the Fly Shop hoping to get the needed work in for the day before the Birthday hit this afternoon.

When I arrived through the door she was in her Party Dress, and the stockings she'd chosen (white with blue and grey .. um... ).  Hey it's her day and she's happy!!!  I took her to Head Start at 9 a.m. where she was greeted by Teacher Starr who looked VERY happy that today had arrived.. no doubt Eden has been announcing and counting down the days and weeks AND MONTHS until it was her birthday :)

Then it was time to head home and start checking off my list:
1.  make cup cakes, decorate them
2.  research Party Games
3.  shop for snacks for the party, and extra party favors
4.  order helium ballons, and collect them
5.  order and collect pizza's from AC (one of our grocery stores that just started making Pizza's - YES, a life saver!)
6.  Shower :)
7.  Pick up Eden from Head Start
8.  2:00 p.m.  Drop Eden off to Danelle's (for their Girl Time) while we decorated Head Start & Drop Tanis off for Swimming with the 3rd Graders.
9.  Go to Head Start and decorate and set for the party
10.  Party 3:00p-4:30p
11.  Celebrate that we made it through 16 kids ages 3-6, and some very helpful teen's and adults :)

Where did all that time go I thought I had.  For a 3 p.m. party, we didn't even get to the center to decorate until 2:40 p.m. (ugh!).  Bob dropped me off and headed off to collect the balloons and the Pizza's.  Thankfully Hannah and Lesleigh, teenage friends of the kids arrived and went right to work doing what was needed to pull things together.  When the kids arrived they were pretty much entertaining themselves with gave us some breathing space to finish organizing the food, decorations, and well.. stuff!

Danelle soon arrived with Eden and the party was underway.  It began with the first game "sticker the nose on the Clown".  This was a hit!  Thanks Danelle for organizing this game.  Then we went to game #2, "Musical Chairs".. oops, I forgot we were dealing with 3-6 year olds.  Well when the first chair was taken away and the the first child didn't have a chair.. it was the first of many melt downs.  Then the next, and the next.. so we closed out the game early and decided it was time to have the Pizza.  The kids dug in and seemed to enjoy themselves.  Bob was brilliant and blew up balloons so the kids could have one each and just throw them around and have a ball, and they did!  Then it was onto Game #3, "pass the parcel", this is an Aussie game we loved to play at parties in Australia and the kids were thrilled to take part (for a while :) ).  Well the rules of the game are:  The kids sit in a circle, you have a present that's been wrapped and wrapped and wrapped in layers until it's large.  You turn the music on and the parcel gets passed one child to the next, when the music stops the child with the present takes off ONE layer of the gift.  And so it goes until all the layers come off and the last child who opens the present gets to keep it.  
Again, I wasn't thinking of pre-schoolers and limited attention spans, so there were way too many layers on it.  They became way more interested with the discarded paper :) and had fun ripping and playing in that.  They game did finish with little 'Faith' getting the Beany Baby Bear!

Here's Eden enjoying some "alone" time with her snack.Then it was time for cup cakes and ice cream.  Also for Eden to blow out her candles.  We'd tried to "bush" order in a Princess Cake for her, but we tried calling for two weeks and never had a call returned.. UGH.  So you guessed it, we pulled the old "Cup-cake" routine which did the trick!And then a final game before the kids received their goodie bags and headed home.  The last game was "Hot and Cold", Hannah and Lesleigh split the kids into two teams and they went exploring around the room to find the hidden gifts.  This was a hit.. thankfully!

Here's Hannah and I going over the Party Games, checking what is next!

The parents were good to collect their kids at 4:30 p.m. and then it was onto cleaning up :(  Thankfully, it didn't take long.

Then it was homeward bound for baths, a movie and another snack.  Bob had a meeting at 6:00 p.m. so we waiting for him to come home before opening the presents from relatives.  Then it was off to bed.. and I'm ready to head that way now.  We made it!Good night Birthday Girl!!  Happy, Happy Birthday!  Welcome to "5!"Eden says, "Thanks for sharing in my Birthday!"  - "Bye!" -

Blessings Abound - Teen -  Oh, here's an update from the last couple of days, with a picture gallery.  Enjoy!

We've been very busy these past couple of days and it will continue with the opening of the Fly Shop set for April 1st.  So it's crunch time to get the trim done, shelving made, and yes merchandise still to arrive .. so busy but a fun time too as reality is upon us that we ARE opening a business that we started remodeling a year ago February from scratch!  So in saying that, here's an update from 2-29-08 through today 3-03-08, enjoy:Friday, February 29th at 6:30 p.m. was the Cub Scout Fiesta Dinner.  Here you have Joshua (left) and Tanis responsibly filling the glasses around the table.  Good job boys :)Quinn (left) and Tanis receive their "WOLF" patch.  Fred (behind) is the pack leader.  Bob is the den leader this year.  We had a good evening, after our enchelada dinner the boys entertained us with "their specialty".  Joshua shared "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" by Violin.  Tanis shared a map of Yakutat he planned and drew.  And Quinn shared his rock collection.  The evening finished with a homemade Pinata and the kids (youngest to oldest) had three wacks (after being spun around and having the pinata swung).  It was a delightful evening.

Rusty, the new permanent addition to our family here on the Bay is enjoying a cold but sunny day on the porch.  She now had a green collar with a bell and is loving life with us being spoiled rotten.  Emma is still acclimating herself to the situation.

Happy birthday Eden

3:17 AM, Mar. 4, 2008 .. Posted by anna681119

Wow... what a pretty girl. Happy birthday Eden from mummy's friend from afar Anna, Sarah (4) is very much like you. You would have fun playing with her. We see that you had a great birthday so lots of birthday wishes from us here in Australia.

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6:50 AM, Mar. 4, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

Happy birthday my girl!! I love the socks. :)

Kristy
I am in Kent still, can you believe it's been raining here?