So I thought I was done with the postings from Maddie's 4th Birthday but my dear, dear friend Erin put together the cutest video of the pinata fun we had at Maddie's party. I just LOVE this video! Thank you Erin!!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Maddie's Birthday Dinner
We Ciriza's love any opportunity to eat out so the family met at Chevy's after work on Tuesday, January 13th for Maddie's birthday dinner.
I had set aside the birthday gifts that Grandma Jeanne had gotten her so she had fun opening up more presents! She loved the Strawberry Shortcake dolls she sent!
I had set aside the birthday gifts that Grandma Jeanne had gotten her so she had fun opening up more presents! She loved the Strawberry Shortcake dolls she sent!
Is this Maddie's new 4 year old smile? Not sure about that... I think she was just being silly. Notice Kitty enjoyed the celebration with us...
The wait staff at Chevy's caught Maddie a little off guard with the birthday song and fried ice cream they brought her. She didn't really care for their wishes. I think she was just a little scared. The birthday hoop-la is done. Now, just one month away and I'll be posting pictures of William's birthday. I definitely didn't plan to have their birthday's one month apart!
The wait staff at Chevy's caught Maddie a little off guard with the birthday song and fried ice cream they brought her. She didn't really care for their wishes. I think she was just a little scared. The birthday hoop-la is done. Now, just one month away and I'll be posting pictures of William's birthday. I definitely didn't plan to have their birthday's one month apart! Maddie turns 4!
I can hardly believe my little Maddie is 4. It seems like yesterday (well almost) that we were headed off to the hospital for her scheduled c-section delivery. This year we had a big birthday party for her and all of her little friends... and our friends too! We were so thankful to everyone who came because Mom sent out the invitations late...less than a week before. Maddie was well overdue for a birthday bash and it was a ton of fun... a TON of work...but a TON of fun! 
We had the party on the Saturday before Maddie's actual birthday which is January 13th. It was a "Hello Kitty" themed party complete with all the Hello Kitty fixins'... plates, napkins, party hats, blowers, a Hello Kitty cake, and Hello Kitty pinata!
The only thing I couldn't find that was Hello Kitty was the bouncer...that had the Disney Princesses on it. The bounce house was so much fun and a big hit with the kids. Thank goodness for my quick thinking and acting husband. I had a near panic attack when I blew a fuse while blow drying my hair just an hour before the party was to start and I looked out Maddie's window to see the bouncer rapidly deflating into a pile of mush on my driveway! Talk about a crisis! Mike got the plug into another outlet faster than I could run downstairs and the problem was solved.
There was a basketball hoop in it, an obstacle course to run through and a big slide right down the middle. Maddie specifically asked for a bouncer with a slide in it. She was a little scared scaling up the ladder to the slide at first but once she got the hang of it, she loved it. William loved the bouncer too. He was too cute jumping all over in it and wasn't afraid one bit of going through the obstacle.
Maddie's good friend Chandler who lives next door couldn't make it to the party in the afternoon but they played in the bouncer until 6:00 pm when the bouncer was picked up. We definitely got every penny's worth of bouncing time which was great.
By the end of the day, both Maddie and William were exhausted and filthy! Mike and I were exhausted as well. As I was giving them a bath that night, I asked Maddie what her favorite part of her party was and her reply made it all worth it. She replied, "I liked the cake, the pinata, the bounce house...I loved every part of my party!" Talk about satisfying. That is what it is all about. What a blessing she is to us. We love her so very much!
We had the party on the Saturday before Maddie's actual birthday which is January 13th. It was a "Hello Kitty" themed party complete with all the Hello Kitty fixins'... plates, napkins, party hats, blowers, a Hello Kitty cake, and Hello Kitty pinata!
The only thing I couldn't find that was Hello Kitty was the bouncer...that had the Disney Princesses on it. The bounce house was so much fun and a big hit with the kids. Thank goodness for my quick thinking and acting husband. I had a near panic attack when I blew a fuse while blow drying my hair just an hour before the party was to start and I looked out Maddie's window to see the bouncer rapidly deflating into a pile of mush on my driveway! Talk about a crisis! Mike got the plug into another outlet faster than I could run downstairs and the problem was solved.
There was a basketball hoop in it, an obstacle course to run through and a big slide right down the middle. Maddie specifically asked for a bouncer with a slide in it. She was a little scared scaling up the ladder to the slide at first but once she got the hang of it, she loved it. William loved the bouncer too. He was too cute jumping all over in it and wasn't afraid one bit of going through the obstacle.
Maddie's good friend Chandler who lives next door couldn't make it to the party in the afternoon but they played in the bouncer until 6:00 pm when the bouncer was picked up. We definitely got every penny's worth of bouncing time which was great.
By the end of the day, both Maddie and William were exhausted and filthy! Mike and I were exhausted as well. As I was giving them a bath that night, I asked Maddie what her favorite part of her party was and her reply made it all worth it. She replied, "I liked the cake, the pinata, the bounce house...I loved every part of my party!" Talk about satisfying. That is what it is all about. What a blessing she is to us. We love her so very much!Tuesday, December 30, 2008
This year's hottest gifts
Ok, so I'm on blogger-overload right now. My wine is gone and I have to get to bed but I had to post some pictures of a few of the hot gifts the kids got this year. Here's to fun Christmas memories and to ringing in the New Year tomorrow night!
William and his Handy Manny fix it truck complete with tools and all from Grandmacita and Papa. Oh and the remote control Thomas the Train from Auntie Soosa and Russel. So cute and fun.
Maddie got a "dress up box" from Grandmacita and Papa and she loves it. Unfortunately (or fortunately?)... William loves it too! Again... I know he's going to hate me for posting this one day but it's too cute to resist. And believe me, I have more pictures where this came from.
This is one of Maddie's favorite presents. Norma (our babysitter) got this for her and she was so excited. I think it's one of her favorite gifts. She scoots around the house and figured out a way to give William a ride on it too.
Mike's Aunt Norma (I know, another Norma in the family) and Les got William this remote control dinosaur. She was worried that he might be afraid of it but not Wil. He loved it. It was the hit of Christmas Eve. The dinosaur is loud and obnoxious and he figured out which buttons to push right away to make it ROAR!
And last but not least, my little performer got a gaint microphone from Aunt Soosa and Russel. Grandma Jeanne sent her a cool one too with a stand and everything but she didn't get that 'til Christmas morning. With all of these new toys, I'm STILL trying to find new spots to put everything. I'm sure I'll get everything organized by 2009!
William and his Handy Manny fix it truck complete with tools and all from Grandmacita and Papa. Oh and the remote control Thomas the Train from Auntie Soosa and Russel. So cute and fun.
Maddie got a "dress up box" from Grandmacita and Papa and she loves it. Unfortunately (or fortunately?)... William loves it too! Again... I know he's going to hate me for posting this one day but it's too cute to resist. And believe me, I have more pictures where this came from.
This is one of Maddie's favorite presents. Norma (our babysitter) got this for her and she was so excited. I think it's one of her favorite gifts. She scoots around the house and figured out a way to give William a ride on it too.
Mike's Aunt Norma (I know, another Norma in the family) and Les got William this remote control dinosaur. She was worried that he might be afraid of it but not Wil. He loved it. It was the hit of Christmas Eve. The dinosaur is loud and obnoxious and he figured out which buttons to push right away to make it ROAR!
And last but not least, my little performer got a gaint microphone from Aunt Soosa and Russel. Grandma Jeanne sent her a cool one too with a stand and everything but she didn't get that 'til Christmas morning. With all of these new toys, I'm STILL trying to find new spots to put everything. I'm sure I'll get everything organized by 2009!Ho-Ho-Ho...Merry Christmas!
Christmas morning was so fun this year. We travel back to Minnesota for Christmas every other year so we're still in the process of defining our family traditions for when we are home but it mostly consists of waking up and heading downstairs to see what Santa brought. I guess it's not too complicated. 
Maddie is afraid of Santa. She's never wanted to sit on his lap and she even expressed sincere concern about him coming when putting her to bed the night before. She said she wanted to tell Santa to leave the presents outside the door. It didn't seem to bother her Christmas morning though when she ran downstairs to see her stocking full of goodies. Santa brought her a slinky!
And he brought her the Wow, Wow Wubbzy movie she'd been wanting so badly! How did he know? That's "cookedy"!
After checking out our stocking goodies, we sorted out the presents under the tree and got to the unwrapping. Of course, William couldn't get started until he finished his morning "baba". I know, I know... I've got to start weening him from his bottle...but he only has 2 a day. He's still my baby!
Maddie had a blast. Even the pets did some shopping this year. Check out the Barbie pretend makeup kit Jackson bought her. She loved it and she wasn't camara shy Christmas morning. She loved posing with all of her new presents in her new Princess jammies!
William totally got into the unwrapping this year too. He wanted to open up every new toy he got immediately and play with it. Maddie had to end up helping him finish opening his gifts. Ahhh... this is what Christmas is all about. What pure and utter joy.
Maddie is afraid of Santa. She's never wanted to sit on his lap and she even expressed sincere concern about him coming when putting her to bed the night before. She said she wanted to tell Santa to leave the presents outside the door. It didn't seem to bother her Christmas morning though when she ran downstairs to see her stocking full of goodies. Santa brought her a slinky!
And he brought her the Wow, Wow Wubbzy movie she'd been wanting so badly! How did he know? That's "cookedy"!
After checking out our stocking goodies, we sorted out the presents under the tree and got to the unwrapping. Of course, William couldn't get started until he finished his morning "baba". I know, I know... I've got to start weening him from his bottle...but he only has 2 a day. He's still my baby!
Maddie had a blast. Even the pets did some shopping this year. Check out the Barbie pretend makeup kit Jackson bought her. She loved it and she wasn't camara shy Christmas morning. She loved posing with all of her new presents in her new Princess jammies!
William totally got into the unwrapping this year too. He wanted to open up every new toy he got immediately and play with it. Maddie had to end up helping him finish opening his gifts. Ahhh... this is what Christmas is all about. What pure and utter joy.Christmas Eve Best!
On Christmas Eve, we all got dressed in our best and headed to the family service at church at 5:00. When the service was over, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas Eve dinner. I took Maddie and Wil to get their haircuts that morning. I didn't work that day and they were due for trims so I figured it would be perfect. They'd look great in their new Christmas outfits and their hair would be perfect for all the cute pictures I'd be taking.
How wrong could I be! No one seemed to be cooperating with me in front of the camara that night. 
I swear, all I wanted was ONE nice, family shot with everyone looking at the camara. Is that too much to ask for? Maddie was having a complete meltdown. It was obviously getting to be too late for a family picture.
I think William is starting to pick up on some of his sister's bad habits. Look at him blatently denying the camara when we asked him to say "cheese"!
Maddie knows exactly what she is doing. She thought it was pretty funny that she was refusing to look up from the new Leapster game Grandma Jeanne had sent her. Merry Christmas! I won't give up. I'm going to get my framable family portrait with everyone looking and smiling at the camara... even if I don't get it on Christmas!
How wrong could I be! No one seemed to be cooperating with me in front of the camara that night. 
I swear, all I wanted was ONE nice, family shot with everyone looking at the camara. Is that too much to ask for? Maddie was having a complete meltdown. It was obviously getting to be too late for a family picture.
I think William is starting to pick up on some of his sister's bad habits. Look at him blatently denying the camara when we asked him to say "cheese"!
Maddie knows exactly what she is doing. She thought it was pretty funny that she was refusing to look up from the new Leapster game Grandma Jeanne had sent her. Merry Christmas! I won't give up. I'm going to get my framable family portrait with everyone looking and smiling at the camara... even if I don't get it on Christmas!My Christmas Sheep
I'm a little behind on my blogging so I have to back up a couple of weeks to before Christmas. Maddie had her Christmas Program on Wednesday morning, December 17th...my birthday. I told Maddie she gave me the best birthday present ever. Her class "dressed' as sheep and they were adorable.
Here's my little Christmas sheep proudly wearing her ears and of course, the cutest plaid jumper that I practically had to beg her to wear that morning.
Mike was able to make the Christmas program...thank goodness. He had to be late to a meeting out in La Quinta and he paid for it a bit on that end but there was NO WAY he was going to miss the program. Unfortunately he couldn't make the Thanksgiving program due to work and Maddie did not let him forget it. As we were talking the Christmas program up beforehand, Maddie says straight out, "Dad didn't come to the Turkey Program". I swear she's going to be 17 and reminding her Dad that he missed her first Thanksgiving program. She is too funny.
Maddie thought it was pretty silly to put her sheep ears on her dad and I. I figured I'd post the shot of Mike sporting the ears. It was a fun, fun morning and the sound of the children's voices singing Christmas carols was music to our ears and a perfect way to get us all in the Christmas spirit!
Here's my little Christmas sheep proudly wearing her ears and of course, the cutest plaid jumper that I practically had to beg her to wear that morning.
Mike was able to make the Christmas program...thank goodness. He had to be late to a meeting out in La Quinta and he paid for it a bit on that end but there was NO WAY he was going to miss the program. Unfortunately he couldn't make the Thanksgiving program due to work and Maddie did not let him forget it. As we were talking the Christmas program up beforehand, Maddie says straight out, "Dad didn't come to the Turkey Program". I swear she's going to be 17 and reminding her Dad that he missed her first Thanksgiving program. She is too funny.
Maddie thought it was pretty silly to put her sheep ears on her dad and I. I figured I'd post the shot of Mike sporting the ears. It was a fun, fun morning and the sound of the children's voices singing Christmas carols was music to our ears and a perfect way to get us all in the Christmas spirit!
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