Amelie is 5!

    Last week Amelie turned 5 years old!  We had so much fun celebrating her and spoiling her for a couple of days.  Nanny, Bobby's mom, came into town for the occasion which added to the fun. We began her birthday by Bobby making her a special number "5" blueberry pancake followed by opening birthday gifts.  She spent all morning playing dress-up in her new Princess Anna (from Frozen) dress, making jewelry with Nanny, and painting nails.  In the afternoon, Nanny took her on a putt-putt and ice-cream date.  We ended the celebration with dinner at Lambert's, Home of the Throwed Rolls.  Amelie caught a hot roll thrown from across the room…pretty funny!

     Amelie was most excited about her birthday party on Saturday, Feb 22nd, with her school friends.  We had a Mermaids & Sharks party on the beach.  Apparently, all the kids devised the plan while at school that the sharks would chase the mermaids…and that is what they did for almost the entire time. :)  We were so thankful that she had 3 friends come to her party.  The weather was wonderful, sunny and windy.   I was so happy that everyone seemed to have a good time (moms and kids) and we have a couple of future play dates scheduled.  

     Amelie Joy truly is a joy to us and we are so thankful God has placed her in our family.  She is witty and smart, which keeps us laughing at her antics.  She has been in full blown create mode as of late and is drawing wonderful family portraits, castles, and modern art (various glued/painted pieces).  She is so amazing and I am honored to be her mom!! I don't know if it has completely set in that Amelie will be heading to Kindergarten next year…trying to focus on the time I have with her now!  She loves learning and loves school.  She is writing a ton and wanting to spell.  She is even interested in starting to read!  It's hard for us to believe that she is ready to begin this next big girl stage of her life!

Blue jello with Swedish fish on the spoon handle and on the top.
Maybe it was because we were waiting on the pizza to arrive, but the kids loved these!
I would often find Liam with another cup in his hand, sneaking more!
The Rice Krispies castle seen in the background was also really fun.
The kids would just run by and break off a hand full.

The Shark is circling the Mermaid getting ready to make his move!

DIY Mermaid tails for the girl guests.
These were a huge hit!  If you have a sewing machine and want to make one, I would be happy to share how I made these.  I am a novice sewer so if I can do it, anyone can!  It was super easy and well worth the fun!  It took me a little less than an hour for one tail. My average time could have been shortened had I not sewn the waist hole shut on the first one…whoops! :)   I have to give a special thanks to my mom for finding the fabric and to Bobby's mom for picking up my sewing machine to bring down to me.  Can you believe there are no fabric stores in Gulf Shores?!  :)  My mom found the fabric at JoAnn's and it was absolutely perfect!

After exhausting themselves with running, they took a break to make jellyfish.
We used water colors to paint the top of a paper bowl and then glued streamers underneath.  

Everyone eating pizza.

Watching Amelie open her presents.
If you want to make you own shark fins, just use grey fleece & cardboard and safety pin them onto the shirt.

I love this picture!
I found Liam and Bobby cheap shark shirts at Walmart.
In case you were wondering, Bobby wore a shark fin all day too. ;)