Birthday fun with our little fam!!

Monday night the kids were so excited for their "real" birthdays tomorrow!!! They couldn't go to sleep and had their backpacks stuffed with treats to bring to their classmates. I hadn't planned to go all out with the decorating and stuff--but they were so excited, I couldn't let them down!! So by the time I went to bed that night we had a couple dozen balloons blown up, several signs and banners hanging, and the cakes decorated and on display!! And by the time the kids got home from school, the presents were wrapped and ready to torture them til Daddy was home to watch them be opened!! I did let them each open one gift--the obvious one. Two huge balls. Those ones in the tall bins at the grocery store--you know the kind. The always BEG for them at the store. And--as you can see by the picture of Logan's cake--we did cut into the back of it before we did candles with Dad that evening.

Darin did get off work mid-afternoon. We met him at the Gateway Mall. First we spent some time in the children's department at Barnes and Noble--the kids love that. Then we got some ice-cream and Ben and Jerry's--it just happened to be $1 scoop day. (Me and my bargains!!) Of all the fun flavors to choose from--Ellie got vanilla, Logan strawberry!! Skip ahead to later in the evening. We went out to dinner at Denny's --I know that is so nasty!!! But....kids eat free on Tuesdays, AND...they have face painting!! Too exciting to get your face painted on your birthday!!

The kids wanted to come all the way home from Salt Lake before going out to dinner because they were dying to open their presents!! They got new umbrellas--which they have been wanting for awhile now, some fun smelly glitter paints, Logan a puzzle and Ellie a Hello Kitty mini nine-drawer storage box, and most exciting of all--knee and elbow pads and roller-skates. Anyone who knows me knows almost every one of these gifts came from the DI. So the skates are a little big. But they were SO excited to lace them up and strap on their "new" pads and practice around the house.

The most exciting part of the day was right after Ben and Jerry's. We were asking the kids what they would want to do if they could do anything for their birthday. We already knew what they would say--Build-A-Bear was only three stores down. We have been to the Gateway dozens of times that they have always asked if they could build a bear. Always mean mom says no. They have Build-A-Bears from their birth mom when they turned three years old. They LOVE them and have always wanted to make one on their own. So, we figured we'd give in for their special sixth birthday!! Now for me, I have to think of it as paying for the experience of it and the memory--because we all know how I feel about my kids and their "other life" with all their stuffed animals. The insanity of it all--and to think I was PAYING to ad to it!! Anything for my babies!!! Well, anything after three years of asking that is!!

It is a really fun, cute little experience. First they choose a floppy, unstuffed animal. Ellie : Lamb. Logan : Puppy. Then they choose a sound chip to go inside the paw. Ellie : A birthday song. Logan : A puppy barking and panting. Then they choose a heart, kiss it for luck and make a wish on it--and the heart goes into the bear. Then they step on a pedal to help blow the animal full of stuffing. They give it a hug to see if it's stuffed enough, then ad more stuffing. Then it's off to give their newborns a bath. They push a button and it blows air on the animals while the kids come their fur and fluff them up. Next is the choosing of the outfits, and dressing the animals. Ellie chose a ballerina outfit with ballet slippers and a pink hair bow. Logan chose a baseball outfit with a cap. We talked them out of the underwear and shoes--mostly because the underwear and shoes are never on their Build-A-Bears they have at home. Only when I dress the bears!!

Finally they sit at a computer and enter all their info. and get a birth certificate, then a big box to take their new friends home in.

They absolutely LOVED this experience and are totally attached to their new friends. Ellie has a ballerina lamb named Elizabeth. And Logan has a baseball player puppy named, Raggles.

This was SUCH a fun day celebrating the kids birthday's with just the four of us.

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLIE AND LOGAN!!!!!!