Winter Fun-derland

Yesterday, we had a party.  One party with all our friends and family. On her "for real" birth-day.  Callie was up at 6:30 am.  Excitedly asking every fifteen minutes when her friends were coming.   I couldn't stop her....she turned six.

Planning a sliding party in February is like planning an outdoor wedding, it all depends on the weather.  We've been building the sliding hill in the backyard since the first snowfall and I don't know how we happened to get so lucky but after a solid month of forty below weather Mother Nature pulled through and gave us a perfect winter sliding day.  I guess Mother Nature didn't want to give me any more legitimate reasons to cancel Callie's birthday.

Let the fun begin...

Inside there was a big pot of hot chocolate and fifteen snowman Sharpie mugs waiting for their owners to cheers the birthday girl.  And in a very disorderly fashion, kids covered in snow kicked off their boots and stripped off their ski-pants and soaking wet mitts and brought their rosy cheeks to the table.

My big girl was so happy.  Seeing her smile, hearing her laugh, watching her shine on her day makes all the hours of preparation worth it.  She gets excited to see all the plans come together too...just like her mama.

This years plans included a game of snowball toss.  It was a close game as we kept score.  Lexi started off on strong only to lose out in the end to the big boys.

Next it was time for a little snowman art. Paint + Q-tips + Imagination = Awesome.

Then it was time to make our indoor winter fun-derland wall mural.

This mural makes me smile.  I love how every snowman is an original, creative work of art.  I plan to keep it up for a while.  

No party happens without helpers.  Grandma rocked the snowman cake that Callie requested.  And Jon has gotten used to my crazy ideas and no longer looks at me with raised eyebrows when I say I want the furniture moved, when I stay up late wrapping juice boxes and chocolate bars to look like snowmen, or when I bake Sharpie mugs in the oven because I saw it on Pinterest.  All to celebrate our girl who turned six.
My hot glue injury is healing nicely and the house still looks like a winter mess-a-land but its all worth it. Happy Birthday Big Sister.