Learning to Ski

Over the Christmas break we decided to take Lexie on her first ski adventure.  Trey's dad, who Lexie calls Augraddy, is not only a great skier but a really good instructor.  While in college and during the first few years of his marriage he used to be a ski instructor in the winter months.  Both Trey and Augraddy had been talking to and getting Lexie both interested in and excited about skiing.  Not to mention she had been watching a dvd of her favorite show Caillou, where in one episode he goes skiing.  I myself have only been one time and that was on a youth trip in high school, or maybe it was middle school.  I don't remember much, other than I was terrified and I don't think I ever made it off the bunny slope!

Trey and his dad were convinced this was the perfect time to teach Lexie to ski because children at her age are typically fearless.  I on the other hand was incredibly nervous to let her go!  However, Lexie really wanted to go, infact it was all she had been talking about for weeks.

We went on the Friday after Christmas to Cataloochee along with a what felt like a million other people.  After getting her suited in skis and gear Augraddy took Lexie to the area just outside the bunny slopes.  The first thing he did was go down the small decline while holding onto her, so she could feel what it was like. 

That only lasted about twice and she was ready to do it all by herself.  Aunt Allison would take her up and then Augraddy would stand down at the bottom to catch her.  She loved it!  A few more runs and she no longer wanted Augraddy to catch her.  Next thing we know she is ready to go down the bunny slope so up she and Augraddy go.  Two times down the bunny slope then she was begging to ride the chair lift and go down the big mountain.

I think they went down the green slope at least three times.  While doing the big mountain Augraddy did rig up some rope and teether himself to her so she wouldn't completely loose control.  Nevertheless she LOVED the entire experience and has been begging to go back ever since.  I was so proud of her for being so adventerous!

When she first started her lesson with Augraddy a reporter came up to us from The Smoky Mountain News.  She said she had been watching Lexie having fun and wanted to ask us a few questions.  A couple of weeks later this article appeared in the newspaper!

Needless to say, and being the proud parents that we are, we have several copies of the newspaper in which the article appeared put up for safekeeping.  It was a really fun experience and one that none of us will ever forget.

Lexie's Seussical 3rd Birthday

Choosing a theme for Lexie's 3rd Birthday came to me very easily.  Every night before bed she gets to choose 2 or 3 books for either mommy or daddy to read to her.  Almost always those books are by none other than Dr. Seuss.  Trey and I can pretty much recite Go, Dog, Go!, Marvin K Mooney Will You Please Go Now, Big Dog...Little Dog and the list goes on, you get the idea!  At first I thought let's focus on just one of the books, but which one, it was too hard to choose so instead we decided to go with all things Seuss.

My first stop on the road to planning was to find a really fun invitation so I turned to one of my favorite sites ETSY.  I love, love, love this site.  I wish I were as creative and talented as the sellers on there.  After much searching I settled on this design.

I chose this invitation because I loved the iconic hat from Cat in the Hat as well as the color scheme and not to mention classic Seuss wording.

Next was deciding on a location.  This was the first birthday where we decided to invite some of her school and church friends, so I wanted a place where the kids could let loose and have fun.  STJ's was the perfect spot because the kids and the parents could both jump/slide and everyone had an absolute blast!

My next task was to come up with a menu, my goal, to be Seuss inspired.  Lexie is a pretty picky eater so I wanted to stick with her favorites.  Green Eggs and Ham is synonymous with Dr. Seuss, the only problem, Lexie won't eat eggs or ham!  However, she will eat pretzels, M&M's and chocolate, put them all together and you get Green Eggs and Bacon.

I borrowed the idea from this creative girl

One of her favorite snacks is cheese cubes and wheat thins, so borrowing from the book Fox in Socks I decided to add Three Cheese Trees to the menu.  I took 3 styrofoam cones, painted them green, and then used tooth picks to attach cheese cubes, which gave the impression of leaves on a tree.

Since the party was during dinner we needed some sort of heavier food and most kids love chicken nuggets, so we got some popcorn chicken, served it in a movie theater sized popcorn container and named it "Hop on Pop" Corn Chicken.  Lexie's favorite fruits include strawberries, blueberries and grapes, we put them on small skewers and called them Truffula (from The Lorax) Berries.

   
We rounded out the party's menu with some colored goldfish and called them "One Fish, Two Fish", some pink lemonade, which we named Yink's Pink Ink Drink (also from Fox in Socks) and of course cupcakes!  A special thanks to my sister, Krystal, who helped me create some decorative cake plate wraps out of foam stickers, ribbon and scrapbooking paper.

To help the Party Room at STJ's feel more Seussical I put light blue plastic tablecloths on the remaining tables along with vases filled with blue or red paper as well as ribbons and more foam stickers.  Then we dropped screws and washers tied with balloon ribbons into the vases so it appeared if the balloons were coming out of the centerpiece.  In addition, we displayed new Dr. Seuss board books for the girls to add to their collection.

I was really excited how all the decorations and food turned out!  My mom and sister really helped me piece together the ideas in my head and make them party ready.  Thank you so much!

The party was a success.  Lexie had so much fun, she still talks about her birthday at the bouncy place.  Thank you to all our friends and family for helping us celebrate 3 wonderful years with our blessing from God!  She is one of a kind!  Here are a few more pictures from the festivities.

Of course baby Addie wore Seuss attire to the party!

Bennett, Keaton and Lexie - the 3 amigos at  MCCS

Lexie's Marvin K Mooney birthday shirt came from this great Seuss site

She was thrilled to get her first big girl bicycle - and of course a pink helmet to go with it!