Noelle is 4!

Four years ago, I received the best Christmas gift I could possibly imagine...  Noelle Marie Smithson was born!  I can't believe Noelle is now 4.  I know that I say that with all my kids, every year, but it's because it's amazing how fast time just seems to fly.  Noelle is an amazing member of our family.  She is very independent, creative, observant, intelligent, beautiful, quiet yet loud, fun and serious, loving... very loving, and positively wonderful.  We love everything about this little girl and are so happy she is part of our family.

 We didn't get to do a real celebration on her actual birthday because Brandon was so sick (more on Christmas festivities later)... so we celebrated last night!  Noelle got to pick her favorite meal for dinner and what she wanted for dessert.  She picked tortellini for dinner and vanilla icecream with whipped topping and sprinkles as her dessert.  And, of course, we had party hats!  Noelle decorated these by her self!

 The kids were very excitedly saying "Happy Birthday Noelle!" in this picture.

 Noelle and Daddy!

 Noelle and Mommy! 

Noelle's Birthday Questionnaire:

Favorite Color: Pink!

Favorite Movie: Frozen

Favorite Book: Any Tinkerbell Book

Favorite Song: "Do as I'm Doing" 

Favorite Animal: Elephant

Favorite Thing to Do on her Own: Games and Puzzles

Favorite thing to do with Dad: Watch a Movie

Favorite thing to do with Mom: Go to the Science Center

Favorite thing to do with Melanie: Paint!

Favorite thing to do with Oliver: Color

Favorite thing to do with Grandma and Grandpa Smithson: Sleep over Party!

Favorite thing to do with Grandma and Grandpa George: Make Gingerbread Houses

Favorite thing to do with Grandma Traci: Go to the Butterfly World

Favorite Book of Mormon Character: Nephi

Favorite Subject at School: Snack Time!

Favorite Food: Finger Food

Favorite Snack: Chocolate

Best Friend: Chloe Traynor

What do you want to do when you grow up: be a Mommy

What do you want to learn how to do this year: Ride my bike with 2 wheels.

Happy Birthday Noelle!

Building Snowmen in the Desert

School is out and it's time for some fun and family memories.  This is one that poor Oliver missed out on because he was miserable and needed to nap, so I will be doing a repeat soon.  Yesterday, we made SNOWMEN.  In our BACKYARD!  Can you believe that?  And it was in the 70's when we did it.  In fact, the girls didn't have gloves on, and were wearing skirts.  How is this possible?  Well, I made the "snow" from 2 basic ingredients that you can find in most houses:  baking soda and shaving cream.  Mixed together, you get a nice cold powder ready to play with.  It's probably a sad thing that this is how my girls first experienced building a snowman... but ironically, it's about the same size as the first snow man I ever built, and I was in my 20's and married when I did it.  It's an Arizona thing, I think.

Here is Melanie and her first snowman.

 Here is Noelle with her first snowman in the background.

 When the girls were done making snowmen and playing in the "snow", we decided to add some vinegar to add a little excitement to our afternoon.

 Tell me...  do other snowmen do this:

This is definitely a repeat activity!  We loved our "snowday".

Polar Express Birthday Party

Today we celebrated Noelle and Melanie's birthdays!  Noelle will be 4 on Christmas, Melanie turned 6 last Sunday.  For their birthday, we have a Christmas themed party.  We called it the Polar Express Birthday Party, but we played Reindeer Games, so it wasn't theme specific.

When the children showed up, we started with some crafts.  The kids each made a Rudolph hat and a Rudolph ornament.

 Then we divided into 2 groups.  Melanie and the friends her age were one group, Noelle and her friends were the other.  Then it was time for Reindeer Games!  Some of the games were played on the patio.  These games were Reindeer Bingo and Pin the Nose of Rudolph.  We also had a Don't Eat the Reindeer Game, but didn't get to it.  The other games were relay style games played in the back yard.  These games included a 3-legged race and a Rudolph Run.  We also had a Candy Cane Pass Game set up, but once again, didn't get to it.  I guess you could say I over planned the games.  Here are some pictures from the Reindeer Games.

 At first, this group of  3 girls wanted to do the 3-legged race tied to each other.  In the end, it seems that just wasn't meant to be.

 Melanie and Sophia made great partners!

 Check out that nose on Noelle.  She is doing the Rudolph Dash!

 As we were picking up the games, who should appear but Santa Clause!!!  Wow!  What lucky girls!  This was the one thing Noelle has been asking for as a birthday wish for the last few years.  She was so excited she didn't know what to think.

 Here are the birthday girls with their special visitor.

 And the whole group with Santa.  Santa brought them each a sleigh bell as a gift.

 Then Santa had to go back to Mrs. Clause, so we decided to have some cake.  I surprised the girls with this fun Frosty cake.  They were giggling with excitement, which made it all worth it.

 We sang to Noelle first!

 Then added 2 candles and sang to Melanie!

 And then we feasted on cake!

 After dessert, we worked all that sugar off with an Arizona style snowball fight... using tissue paper!  I don't know what happened... but suddenly I became the target.  All these kids were aiming handfuls of "snowballs" at me.  I definitely got my work out running away from them!

 But as you can see...  I didn't win that battle.  I tried to hide behind Brandon, but he decided to hold me down and let them have it!  It was a fun snowball fight!

 After the snowball fight, the girls' opened their gifts.  Then it was time to thank all our friends for coming and say good bye!

We had such a fun time today celebrating the girls' birthdays.  I'm so grateful for all the help I received both planning and executing this party.  It really made all the difference.  

Happy birthday to my beautiful daughters!  We love you both so much!

Noelle's Christmas Preschool Presentation

Yesterday we enjoyed Noelle's Preschool Christmas Program.  It was a cute play about a kitten that was looking for a home for Christmas.  Noelle's character was as a baker that didn't have room for the kitty at her bakery.  Her line was "There is no room for animals at my bakery".   They sang cute songs in between and each had a line to share.  It was really cute and very special.  Here are some pictures from the program.

 Noelle made a super cute Rudolph, don't you think?

 At the end, they had the option of putting on a beard and hat for the last song.  Noelle was the only one that put on the beard.  She was way too cute.  They sang their song... and when they sang loud enough... Santa appeared!

 Santa sat down next to Noelle... I loved this candid moment I caught.

 Here is a picture of the entire class, with the teachers and Santa.

 This was Oliver's first Santa experience, and he LOVED him.  He made sure to get onto Santa's lap as soon as possible.

 Noelle waited a little longer, but still got over to visit with the "Big Man".

Noelle did a wonderful job at her program!  We are so proud of her!