The Growing Caldwell Family

Sarah Graves takes birthdays very seriously and we have been planning her party literally, since July. We had more fun talking about ideas for what games to play, what food to serve, and most importantly, what the cake should be like.  She has high expectations and lots of ideas!    It does make it rewarding to plan a party for such an involved birthday girl and a little nerve wracking hoping the big event lives up to her dreams.  I think it did! Her new Rapunzel dress for her big event! Party favors that included glittery star wands, bracelets, tattoos, and rings! Cupcakes done in pink for girls and green for boys.  She was very concerned that we had to have options for the boys at her party!   I love doing these iced sugar cookies for birthdays and am really loving this recipe that I started using recently from  the decorated cookie . The piñata was her idea and she was really excited about it. Rai...

The Maw Maws as we call them came back for Sissy's birthday party!  We spent Friday evening with them enjoying GG's stewed chicken, my childhood favorite, and king cake.  What a treat!

Sarah Graves' birthday fell on a Tuesday and Aaron had an event at work that evening, so Lovie and Pops went with us to the restaurant of her choice, McDonald's.  Lovie made her a birthday cake for her actual birthday and we sang and blew out the candles, then opened her presents from Lovie and Pops. Charlie quickly remembered his love affair with cake! She was quite pleased to get her french fries and enjoyed playing on the indoor play area.  Charlie joined her in the climbing structure and she was so sweet to him.  He got scared once he climbed up and would stop and call out, "Momma!"  She would sweetly encourage him by saying, "It's okay, Charlie.  Sissy is here.  You are one year old.  You can do it!"  She really is a four-year-old girl looking out for her little brother!

I heard recently about a new trend with Elf on the Shelf where the elf gets to come back from the North Pole to visit the family for the child's birthday.  This sounded like just our kind of fun! Rainbow Bobby came back the night before SG's birthday and he had some fun in mind!  He decorated a special sign and added balloons to her chair.  He also added some balloons and crepe paper to the light and more balloons and crepe paper in her room!  Rainbow Bobby's last step was to change into his special birthday costume! She was so excited for her birthday!  I have rarely seen her so excited to go to school! We had a delightful morning enjoying some doughnuts for breakfast and singing our way into school.  It's the kind of feeling that makes you love being a parent!

Those wobbly teeth had to come out.  We focused on the Tooth Fairy as the cool part and read some books that really helped.  The best one was called Tooth Fairy and it takes a brother and sister through their journey as they meet the Tooth Fairy and go to her tooth palace.  SG was concerned about how the Tooth Fairy would get in and I guess my description went on too long because she said, "I'm not worried anymore.  Just read the book." We also talked some about what would  happen at the dentist.  How the laughing gas would feel, the dentist putting his hand in her mouth, opening wide, and wiggling the tooth out.  I skipped the numbing injection since I feared that would cause more anxiety. She did awesome!  She listened, she stayed relaxed, and she didn't complain until we got to the car.  The gauze "band-aid" they gave her was driving her crazy. She took a great nap when we got home and really wasn't too uncomfortable.  We ...

Several weeks ago, I started with the same cough/cold like symptoms that Charlie had back in December.  The cough was miserable and made me feel like I was gasping for air at times, but other than that, I felt okay.  Then, my voice sort of went toward the end of last week.  That was annoying, but still I felt okay.  On Saturday I started having pain when I coughed.  This wasn't good and by Sunday I wasn't feeling too good.  I had a four-year-old birthday party to put on, so I took some motrin and got on with it.  By the time we were cleaning up after the party, I knew I had fever and felt lousy.  I went to bed pretty early and hoped that sleep would help. Monday morning I headed into work with plans to visit the onsite minute clinic after I dropped SG off at school.  I had never visited this clinic before and the woman working there was a nut job.  While in the middle of taking my address she commented that she knew someone on my street...

It is hard to believe my baby is four years old!  She has been looking forward to her birthday for months!  She is very excited to be four because she knows that four-year-olds go to pre-k, and let's face it, birthdays are just plain fun! We talked a lot about her actual birthday versus her birthday party and she understood the difference, so we have been celebrating her birthday here and there for a week now!  Monday night we celebrated by opening her presents from me and Aaron.  Aaron had a work event on Tuesday night, so we decided to let her open them early! She was in a wonderful mood, even presents don't always get a wonderful mood, and was filled with joy.  It was such a wonderful evening to be with her! This set to make beaded necklaces was a big hit!  She has been interested in beads and loves all the different shapes and sizes. It's hard to see in this picture, but these shoes look like they were dipped in glitter!  I bought ...