Jillian's 9th Birthday

The night before Jillian's birthday, I made one of Jillian's favorite meals, Artichoke Chicken.  

We also opened up a present from Aunt Beth, Uncle Nate, Luke, and Ruth Ann!  When Jillian opened up her card she immediately knew how she wanted to use her AMC card....Dolphin Tale 2! 

And then for another surprise from her cousins and aunt and uncle, she got Dolphin Tale 2, the book!  On Jillian's 6th birthday, we took her to see Dolphin Tale at the movie theater.   For her 9th birthday, she was going to get to see the sequel!  

Daddy giving Jillian a birthday kiss!  

We had some cupcakes left over from her party, so we lit 9 candles and sang "Happy Birthday" to sweet Jillian again.  

The next morning, on Jillian's birthday, Jillian got a phone call from Grammie and Grandad.

She was beyond ecstatic to get a camera of her very own!  

Her camera takes both photos and videos! Oooo-la-la!  In the days since she has gotten her camera, she has become the little photographer of our family! 

After Faith's gymnastics class, we went to Krispy Kreme for our traditional donut celebration. While we were in the car, Jillian told me she wants to always have Krispy Kreme for her birthday, even when she is all "grown up"! She said she'll bring her husband and kids and we can all go together!! 

For now, she is enjoying the celebration with her sisters, mom, and dad.

Jillian and Anna were both adventurous and tried one of the new Fall flavors!  

After donuts, it was time to open presents!

I put Jillian's present in a humungous bag. 

It was actually designed to put a bike into it.

But it only added to the fun and the suspense....

There was quite a bit of extra room....

and if Jillian had wanted to, she probably could have climbed in it and taken a nap in it.

After much effort, she found her present...

a new big girl/ pre-teen sleeping bag

and a mini sleeping bag for Kit too! 

She loves when she can match her favorite doll! 

Then she opened her BIG gift from Mimi and PawPaw

a tent for Kit with a lantern, snacks and drinks for camping! 

She was also given a fun American Girl navigation book and compass from Mimi and PawPaw.

Our dear friends, Aunt Michelle, Uncle Reed, and Lindsey who moved to Colorado last December sent their birthday love too! They sent a Lego Beach House, which Jillian has been wanting to add to her collection. She has Lifeguard/ dolphin set that has been "needing" a beach house to go along with it.   Michelle sent the mountain set as well, so Jillian could think of their family in CO! :-)

Then Faith and Anna (in going with the camping theme), gave Jillian a camping songs CD!  

After donuts, Jillian and I ran to the movie theater to see Dolphin Tale!  We got a LARGE popcorn and had it for our lunch (along with the donut)!!! After the movie, we brought the popcorn home to have this photo opportunity and to share with the rest of the family too! :-)

Brad set up the tent for Jillian and Kit has been on a camping trip ever since. 

That evening after Jillian's golf class, Brad and Jillian had a date at Jillian's favorite restaurant, Cafe Rio!  Our new friend at the restaurant, one of the managers, made it special for Jillian and gave her a dessert on the house in celebration of her birthday! It was an AMAZING day of celebrating our 9- year old Jillian. 

Building Lego Memories with Jillian

Several months ago, Jillian decided that she wanted a Lego Party for her 9th birthday.  Jillian's idea of a perfect party was to have some friends over and play Legos the whole time! :-) Together, however, we were able to think of some more creative ideas.  It turned out to be one of Jillian's and my favorite birthday parties of all time.  Everyone had a great time.

Jillian used some of her Legos as decorations for the party.  For the birthday "cake", I made Lego cupcakes with edible Lego candies on top.

When Jillian's guests arrived they got to guess how many Legos were in the jar, the girl who got the closest guess won the jar of Legos.

Then, the girls made Lego cookies with graham crackers, colored frosting, and little button candies.

Some of the girls got creative swirling colors together to make a unique Lego cookie!

I always try to have some sort of craft as the first activity, so if friends are running late, they can take the craft home with them to do later.

After that we watched a Steven Curtis song animated with Legos...it was super cute! 

Then, we played a game where each girl took a turn taking one piece of Lego at a time and added it to a group creation.  They couldn't talk throughout the whole game, which made it a little hard to work together to build something.

  At the end of the game, they each shared what they thought they were building!

Then, it was time to make home-made Lego brick pizzas.

We put tons of flour all over the table and the girls had so much fun rolling out their dough. 

Then, they each made their own individual pizzas and put their tomato sauce, cheese, and pepperoni on top! 

While the Lego pizza bricks were baking in the oven, 

the girls went outside for a Lego relay race. 

 The race involved running with a spoon across the lawn and getting as many legos as you could fit in your spoon and then running back!
 The second part of the race involved finding a Lego button (a super small Lego) and then, with another friend moving the button Lego through some tubing.  We bought the tubing at Home Depot and cut the tubing to a size that the girls would have to wave their arms up and down to get the Lego button to move through!  It was so much fun watching them (I took a video).  
Then, it was time for lunch: carrots, Doritos (Jillian's favorite), fruit salad, and home-made pizza with Lego boxed juices.

Then, it was present time! Whenever any of Jillian's friends asked what she wanted for her birthday she said, "Legos or something for Kit"! 

Every single one of her friends got her one of those two things and she was beyond ecstatic!  

Since the party, she has spent nearly every one of her spare moments building her Lego sets and playing and dressing up her doll Kit! 

"Happy Birthday to Jillian"

Little sister, Anna giving Jillian very excited birthday hugs!

Yummy cupcakes! 

For our last activity, each of the girls were divided into teams of two (by drawing a different colored Lego blindly).  Each team was given one identical Lego set, the Fire Chief Car Set, and one die.  

Each girl on the team took turns building the set. The girls were each limited to building the number of pieces they rolled on the die until their next turn.  It was a race to see which team could complete the Lego set the quickest.  Unfortunately, we ran out of time for the girls to complete the whole Lego set, so instead we pronounced the winner the girls who got the furthest in completing their set.

The winning team, each of the two girls, got to choose whether or not they wanted the car or the people/ cat & fish/ tree as their prize.  Then, the rest of the girls drew a piece of paper that said whether or not they got the car or people. Everyone won some Legos and in addition, they each were given a Lego Friends folder, a mini Rubiks cube, and a package or Oreos for their party favors.

It was a fast-paced birthday party!! I couldn't believe how fast the two hours flew by!  

Afterwards, Brad took this photo of Jillian and I at the end of the party.

I love Jillian so much and am thankful for the 9 years that I have shared life with my precious girl.