T minus 6 days - The party plans are coming together!

6 days until Macy's big party and we couldn't be more excited!!

Our Dining room has turned into craft room/party central.  It may be a few days before we enjoy a sit down meal at the table, but hey I don't care and it's totally worth it!  :-)

I thought I'd give you a little "sneak peak".  

I must say, it's kind of nice to not have a "job" and actually be able to "work" on something FUN!   hehe

alas - homemade B-Day Party decorations!!!

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 My friend from college made a banner similar to this for her little girl's 1st Birthday party a few weeks back...thanks for the fun idea Amber!!!  :-)

 The party does not have an "official" theme...but I, for some reason, have become obsessed with PIN-WHEELS.  I can't help it.  I found the directions online (and must admit I was impressed by my craftiness).  They are SOOO stinking adorable!!

I made a quick trip to Hobby lobby (okay, maybe not so quick.  I stood in the scrapbook isle and STARED at all the glorious varieties of paper for well over an hour - I was overwhelmed with delight)...took the materials out to the cabin and had my sisters assist me in some of the labor.

 make paper selections.  fold.  cut.  loop.  insert brad.  repeat.  x 50!  It's addicting.  I hope I have enough.  hehe

 Sea of pin-wheels.

 It was my sister's idea to use these papers with special wording for stems.  way to go Keri!   :-)

 I stumbled across this idea and thought it could be kind of fun to have a "Create your own Trail Mix station"

 Martha Stewart - eat your heart out!

 A bit cheesy perhaps...but I don't care because it is SOO fun I LOOVE it (That's for you Nikki & Bootie - tehe)

 After a morning trip to the "Y"...my sister Lisa and I had fun wasting away several hours this afternoon playing "arts & crafts".  Brook, Ally, McKenzie and Macy enjoyed watching and "helping" at times too  :-)

 Custom "Happy Birthday Macy" water bottles!!!

Oh photoshop, you are MY FRIEND  :-)

 My niece Danielle is coming over tomorrow to help me tear off the existing labels, cut and hot glue the new "pretty" ones on!  She will help perfect and expedite the tedious process...thanks Dani!!

oh and my niece Erika (bless her heart) offered (out of the blue) to swing by in the morning and take Macy & McKenzie off my hands for a bit so that Dani & I can "focus" on the task at hand.

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okay...so that's all I am going to share prior to the party...no more "sneak peeks" for you blogger friends  :-)

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I wanted to leave you with something sweet:

 What's this you ask?  This is Macy "skyping" with Natalie!  Natalie is Erika's BF and college roomate.  She is out of town and was sad that she could not attend the "triple" birthday party, but managed to find a way to kind of "be" there.  SOOO funny!  What a sweet-heart!

Hi Nat!  can you see her in there??  tehe

Natalie is a special young lady.  Not only has she been a good friend to my niece since elementary school, but she looks after our wild child at college.  Natalie is a very good influence for Miss Erika & keeps her grounded  :-)  Natalie also came to meet Little Miss Macy jut hours after she was born.  Erika had already been up to see Macy, she made a "no joke on the time" 12:30am visit to the maternity ward the night before...but came back bright and early the next morning with Natalie...AWWWWW!  They couldn't stay away.  From the beginning, Natalie also has a pretty special connection with Macy as her older sister, Katie, also has Down Syndrome.  

 Natalie & Erika holding Macy.

It was really neat, comforting and amazing actually to witness Natalie hold Macy in her arms that day.  Just hours after learning the news of Macy's extra chromosome.  As you know, we were still in a bit of shock and really had NO idea what to expect, think or feel.  It was comforting to chat with Natalie briefly.  She was pretty much the only person at the moment of whom I knew that had a link to anything DS, and could actually provide us with true-first-hand insights as to what our new journey might be like.  She told and showed me how easy it is to love individuals with Down Syndrome.  Thank you Natalie for being there with us.

 And thank you by showing me with your actions (cuddling here with Macy), that everything was going to be OKAY  :-)  Life can still be "good".  I envy you - not sure if you knew before the impact your short visit left on us!

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Good night friends  :-)

Children's Museum!!!

Just got home from a triple Birthday Party...because Dalton, Anna and Colton's Birthdays are all relatively close, my sister's decided to have one big party for all of them.  It was a FUN time!  :-)
The other day a big group of us went to go see Yogi Bear...pretty cute, but both McKenzie & Macy were a little restless through some of the "non-animated" parts.
We rang in the New Year in "style" this.  It started out with taking all the kiddos out to the lake where Grandma & Grandpa Lee offered to watch them all.  And by the sound of it, they all had a blast!  Thanks guys!  :-)  Because the girls were in good hands, Joe and I went to El'Bees in Waterloo for dinner.  In case you were wondering.  Best. Mexican. Food. Ever!  One of my hometown favorites  :-)  Then Heather & Chad had a really fun party back at their house.  We played card games...I schooled the boys in Texas Hold'em...and actually stayed out till almost 3am.  Whoa, that is SUPER duper late in my book!
Then we had a huge family dinner out at the lake.  yummy!  The best part is I took a bunch of craft stuff and recruited my nieces and sisters to assist in creating some (okay a lot of) fun decorations and party favors for Macy's upcoming party.  Arts & Crafts at the lake was a fun time  :-)  Thanks for helping girls!
Speaking of crafts...I had my niece Danielle sleep over the other night.  We did some craft stuff and had such a fun time.

 Macy watchin' Danielle put the finishing touches on her "groovy" bag (I got her a lot of craft stuff for Christmas :-)

DONE!  Very cool Dani  :-)

making really cool homemade picture frames!

McKenzie thought it was pretty neat to have another "cool" cousin sleepover party...Danielle is a sweetie and I look forward to more "quality" niece & nephew time in the coming year.  It's kind of a New Years Resolution  :-)  I have 17 of them for cripes sake, I really want to start hanging out with them all and getting to really know them on a "one-on-one" basis.  Each and every one are unique and special in their own way.
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okay, so on to the "headline" portion of this post...Lisa, Brook, Ally, Me, McKenzie and Danielle (Macy stayed home with daddy) headed downtown to the Omaha Children's museum.

 This place rocks, we will CERTAINLY be making many more return visits!!

 peek-a-boo

 Whoa, mom.  This hippo is big teeth.

 McKenzie crawls in one end as Danielle crawls out the other  :-)

 Look mom, I caught something.  (this is Ally)

 Ally, Kenzie and Danielle catching "stuff"

 grilling out in the big outdoor BBQ area.

 check out Ally looking thru the binoculars.  FUNNY!

 McKenzie was impressed that she could touch the fire.  What kind of lesson is this teaching exactly??

 nice...

 silly silly girl

 faster faster!

 whoa, okay maybe that's a little too fast!

 trying to pose Ally, Danielle, McKenzie and Brook in front of the NE map.  Thanks for cooperating Kenzie...she's off to something bigger & better clearly  :-(  This place is not overstimulating at all!

 getting ready for lunch!

The natives are getting restless...

 McKenzie loved this stringy thingy...I SOOO wish we had one of these at home...hint hint  :-)

 Fun arts & craft projects...

 makin' a fancy bracelet.

 painting a "sparkle paint" masterpiece.

 that crap had better be washable. cuz she got some on her cute shirt!  :-(

 Who'd a thought Brook would have fun playing with a fire hose??  hmmmm.

 weeeee

 getting some groceries at the mini-supermarket

 Here McKenzie waits patiently to check out.  Can't believe all these kids were actually standing in line for significant lengths of time just to check out PRETEND food.  TOO FUNNY!  And super cute  :-)

 "Mom, we have GOT to get a big dollhouse just like this for our house!

 pretending to sleep.  I was really excited to watch McKenzie play and interact with so many kids...even ones she doesn't know.  It was good to see her "break out of her shy shell" for a while!

 ah haha, Brook is getting drenched!  oh well  :-)

 Ally's turn to work the register.

 Back to the store for more food  (the kids could have just played here the whole time)

 Danielle was taking her "job" very seriously and was diligently trying to rush the lines along... lots of kids were patiently waiting their turn to check out at her register!

 I love this shot above...McKenzie is handing over imaginary money for her groceries...

 Next, and this was funny...McKenzie took her cart full of "paid for" groceries across the way to her "house" and proceeded to put them  AWAY! 

 And then...her and a couple little girls put the "baby" down for a nap and cooked dinner.  SOOO funny.  I loved just standing back and observing it all  :-)

 And yes, this my friends, is when I was trying to convince her that it was time to go home.  As you can see, McKenzie had a better idea!  uggggh.  It was to be expected I guess!  Can't wait to go again very soon.  Perhaps next time it won't be so busy...We did not pick the best day to go, it still being "holiday break" and all.  Plus, that day was unseasonably warm.  In the low 60's I believe.  WHY were we indoors!?!  Our neighbor friends were outside for a big part of the day and we totally could have just been home playing with them.   Now we are back to single digit temps.  Thanks for the tease Mother Nature, real nice!  :-(

oh well...Spring will be here soon...

ah hahah!  SCORE one for the mommies!  This is the successful result of a long fun day at the museum.  NAP TIME ALL AROUND!  Too bad it did not last once we got home.  We take the peace & quiet  whenever and WHEREver we can get it...right Lisa!?

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Speaking of my sister Lisa...she is my drill sergeant.  starting tomorrow, her and I are going to be "work-out" accountability partners.  WE are meeting at the "Y" early in the morning and are going to see to it that we continue to do this on a regular basis (hopefully a few times a week at least).  Swimsuit season is only 5 or 6 short months away of course.  uggggh.  Here we go again.  

Oh and we moved our treadmill from the basement, up two flights into our master bedroom.  I sure hope this motivates me to actually USE it more.  At this moment is it serving as a "clothes line"...hmmmm...

Good night folks  :-)