Grace's Birthday Party

We had Grace's birthday party at WOGA (World Olympic Gymnastics Academy), where both girls take gymnastics. 

Olivia's favorite event is the bars. She loves the uneven bars the most I think!

Grace is in the 4-5 year old class which is held in the main gym. Upstairs they have their kids gym for kids 3 and under which is where Olivia's class is held. We decided to use this room so the younger kids could participate in all of the fun. Grace was excited to do gymnastics in Olivia's classroom since it was a new layout! 

So many of Grace's friends came to help her celebrate! Brilyn came all the way from Oklahoma. Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Brandy were there too. And Grandma Phyllis and Grandpa Mike flew in from Missouri and spent a couple of days with us.

Olivia is so funny! If we mention gymnastics she starts talking about her flips and swinging on the bars.

The bars are one of Grace's favorite event too but she really loves it all.

After the kids all played it was time for cake! Grace picked out some really cute cupcake liners that were perfect for her Tinkerbell theme.

This was the easiest party we have ever done. I dropped off the paper products and decorations when we were there for their class a few days before the party. When we showed up everything was ready!

Grace REALLY wanted a Tinkerbell themed birthday party. Otherwise, they would have provided everything but the cake. I think we may have her party here next year too!

After eating cake there was still more time to play! 

After the party we came home and opened all of her presents.

She got a lot of stuff from her "wish list" and loved everything! 

On her actual birthday she told me she wanted to do gymnastics that day. Gymnastic days are one of her favorite days of the week!

Olivia's First Birthday

Saturday was Olivia's birthday so we had a little party.

 

Here is the birthday girl all dressed up for her party!

 

She loves to chew on the blowouts. She hasn't quite figured out how to blow in them but she thinks it is really funny whenever someone blows them at her.

It was a very small party. My parents, Papa Bill, Brandy, Andrew, and Brilyn all came to help us celebrate! But even though it was small we couldn't leave out the decorations.

 

 I wanted everything to be pink, girly, and lots of cupcakes. We made mini cupcakes and big cupcakes. Her smash cake was even a giant cupcake!

 

We opened presents first. Olivia would rather play with the presents than open them. But Grace LOVES to open presents so she helped.

 

Grace made sure to save the present she got for Olivia for the last. She worked so hard decorating it and I think she did an excellent job! She also picked it out all by herself.

Then it was time for cake!

 

She was so neat and dainty with her cake. She would just get a little icing on her finger and then lick it off.

Happy Birthday, Olivia Joy!!

Jumpin' Jax

Grace was invited to a birthday party at Jumpin' Jax this past Saturday. She has some friends that recently moved into my parents' neighborhood. They are both girls and the youngest was turning two, her big sister is 4. Jumpin' Jax just recently opened in town and we were excited to check it out.

Grace in her train

There were several bounce houses and slides. As soon as Grace saw her friends she took off!

This blue one was her favorite. She went around and around in it and up and down the slide several times. She was too quick for me to get a picture of her on the slide!

Olivia got to try the piano with Grace.

Grace looks so small on the big throne!

But she was ready for cake! I think all the bouncing wore her out.

Olivia even had a good time too!!

Grace's FIRST Birthday Party!

We had Grace's birthday party yesterday and I think it turned out great! We went to the Okinawa Zoo which is just about a 10 min. drive from our house. We were able to use a covered pavilion and the picnic tables that were there for no charge! We gave a guest list to the people at the gate and they just circled everyone's name as they came in and after the party I just went and paid for everyone's admission. And we were able to take anything we wanted - cake, ice cream, snacks, drinks, party favors, etc. We got there when the zoo opened at 9:30 and it was a perfect day! We sat up all the tables and then it was time for guests to arrive.

{Grace's cute cake! One of the cars collapsed in the night so we took it off}

{snacks - animal cookies, fruit and veggie trays, chex mix, and pb&j (the were supposed to be animal shapes but I thought the bear looked more like a rat so they ended up being triangles)}

{cups, plates, napkins}

{Jungle Juice and the cute animal cups}

When the kids started showing up (a total of 5 girls) we went and played on the animal statues.

{Her cute hairbow only lasted long enough for a few pictures}

Then it was time to ride on the rides! Before everyone got there I bought tickets for the carousel and the train.

{Grace wanted to ride on my lap}

{and then she wanted to stand up when it was time to get off}

{Dustin got to ride the train with her!}

I had a little trouble figuring out how to pay to ride the cars. We stood in line I thought I would just hand the guy working there some Yen for all the kids (and adults) who wanted to ride but we kept watching little Japanese children run out and hop right on. Finally, we figured out that you have to put your coin in the car which starts it!

{Dustin and Grace rode on the tank}

After we did all the rides it was time for cake!

{We sang happy birthday and Grace got to blow out her candle with a little help from Daddy!}

It started to rain and cool off while we were eating so we broke out the jackets. We were glad to be under the tent and several Japanese families were taking shelter with us!

And then it was time for presents!

{Grace got lots of cool new toys!}

After the presents were opened everyone got to walk around and see the animals. The rain had stopped and it was warming up again. We thought they were doing an elephant show at 11:30 (that is what was posted on the sign the last time we were there) but after waiting for a while the show never happened. My guess is that they did it early and everyone just missed it. Oh well, they still got to see the animals!

Overall her first party was a success. I think everyone had a good time!!

For more pictures you can check out the album I put on facebook HERE

Or my Mom's myspace album HERE

{Grace waving bye to her guests}

CHOO CHOO!!!

Since Grace's party is tomorrow we had to make the cake today! We made the cakes yesterday so they would be cool when it came time to frost them. This morning I made 6 batches of buttercream frosting.

{Grace was quite the fan! The icing made her pancakes even more yummy}

It took all morning to decorate the cake but the end result was well worth the time. I got to mix up all the colored frosting and my Mom put it on the cake. I actually did the window on the backside of the cake :-)

And here is the final result:

The tracks are made from black licorice and the wheels are oreos. We used the animals from the Little People Noah's Ark set that my Mom is getting her for Christmas (she got it early since we needed the animals!) It will be hard to top this cake for future birthdays!

Party Prep

Grace is turning 1!

We are getting things ready for her party. Today and tomorrow are being devoted to her cake and a few errands today. Tomorrow we have no plans other than decorating her cake which will probably take a good portion of the day. It should be a fairly short day for Dustin tomorrow so I think he is going to take Grace to the park and then maybe bring pizza home so we don't have to cook. Her cake is going to be so cute!! I will be sure to put lots of birthday party pictures up!

In other news, she is growing up but is staying about the same size at the same time. We had her 12 month check-up yesterday and she has not gained weight in a few months. Probably all the running around she is doing! In the past year she has grown 8 1/2 inches taller and has gained 9 lbs 7 oz.

Party Planning!!

The reason we wanted to visit the Zoo this weekend was to check out their party facilities. We decided we would have Grace's First Birthday Party at the Zoo! We booked it for the Saturday after her birthday and then after we got home we realized that it was the same day as the Army/Navy game so we called and changed it to the week before. They have a covered pavilion with picnic tables right next to all of the rides (train, carousel, go-karts). I am so excited! We have already started making plans. As soon as I told my Mom about our idea (before we even knew for sure if we could actually use the zoo) she went on eBay and won a cake pan for the cake I want to make for Grace. I have been shopping for party bags, favors, cups, napkins, plates, decorations, etc. I pretty much know what I am going to do for all that so now I just need to order it all and figure out what I want to do for invitations. I have already planned some of our snacks - all animal themed! I can't believe she is going to be a year old in less than 3 months.

One day last week we took a walk to the library with our friends. This was our first time to visit this particular library and the children's sections was so much better than the library we have been to once before. I picked up a few books on Australia and New Zealand and Grace got to check out 3 books and 2 DVD's. She got a Veggie Tales and a Little Einsteins movie. She loved both of them! One of her favorite things right now is to stand up holding onto the coffee table and play with the remote control and watch a cartoon. She also likes to watch cartoons at snack time. She is so cute clapping and dancing along to the music!