And they lived happily forever after...: Crazy May!

Taylor is 5!

I can't believe our tiny little 4 lb. baby girl is now 5! It feels like she should only be 2! She is such a mild-mannered tender-hearted thoughtful and sweet little girl! I had a difficult time planning and buying things for her birthday and party because she isn't very picky and is fine with any toys or themes which made it hard to narrow down what she would enjoy most. We finally decided on a Bubble Guppies Swim Party at G-ma and G-pa Pete's house. We had almost 16 kids there (typical for a Petersen party, ha ha!). We had a blast and despite the Ironman being that day and the wind being a little strong it was quite a success!

This is a shot of the group right as you walk outside. Please keep in mind that with Bubble Guppies being brand new there is no decor for parties in stores or online so everything is handmade. Don't judge my craftiness too harshly! Yes, that is Taylor's head on "Oona" her favorite character on the show, I thought it was a funny add.

We started the party off by eating pizza first and we had 2 tables for the kids to eat at. It was so cute because I had the pizza decorated with pepperonis in the shape of a five. (sorry I forgot to rotate the picture)

Taylor's table was the most popular!

This is a shot from the pool looking in...

This is the "Bubble Guppies Treats" table in lieu of a pinata

These are the cupcakes for the kids (I am a huge fan of cupcakes instead of a whole cake for kids parties because they are easy to serve and typically less of a mess!)

I made this cake just for Taylor and the adults at the party. It was a Chocolate Pudding Cream cake that was soooo good!

This is the tower of gifts for Miss Tay-tay!

She was begging to do presents after lunch so I figured it would be fine to do it now instead of after the swimming when everyone would be drenched with water inside so the princess got her wish and started opening the gifts.

She was so cute to watch open the gifts because for every one she was equally excited and thankful for as she gave a hug to each person.

Then it was finally time for SWIMMING! Sadly, I hired my sweet little brother to be my photographer so these are the only pictures I have of her party. I wish I could show the party bags I made for the kids because they took me 6 hours to make! It's better to have these pictures than nothing! I was so sick getting ready for the party that whole week so I guess when it was over I really didn't care much about the few pictures I had as I did about taking a nap! Taylor enjoyed it and was as happy as can be so that is really all that matters!

Spring Dance Recital

Poor Taylor had this recital the night of her birthday party so we had quite the full day to say the least! I have never been so impressed with my matching skills as I was when I found this flower for Tay's dance recital costume! It was only $5 too so I was way excited! Taylor was a doll the way she was shakin' her little bum and leaping across the stage! Good job Tay!

Emma had a HUGE smile after her dance and was just as proud of herself as we were! Unfortunately, I could only find a ribbon to match her costume but no matter what she looks great in anything!

She always likes to show off her splits! OUCH!!!

This was a hard position to hold so by the 6th time doing it she was a little frustrated that I couldn't get the shot before she let go. This was the best one I could get. Apparently I need to learn faster photography skills!

Chase never has any issues saying "cheese" whenever a camera is pointed at him!

Daddy was too busy playing with my sunglasses to notice I was taking pics of him, ha ha! Wow you look so cute in those babe...he he!

Uncle Mikey was so cute being supportive of his nieces in their recital. I also need to make mention that he earned major brownie points because during the recital Chase pooped in his pull-up and so he took him and changed him all so Chad and I could watch the girl's recital! Now the question is where does he spend his brownie points? I have never found a place that accepts them as currency but if anyone knows where they are accepted let me know because I have tons saved up from since I was little ha ha! Truly he's a sweet brother, I suppose the minimal pictures taken at the birthday earlier that day can be forgiven now that he did such a hazardous chore!

Then tragedy stuck...

In the chaos and excitement of the end of the recital, Taylor let go of her balloons we gave her. Dad did his best to console her, but there was no hope...

He even said he'd buy her new ones but of course she only wants the ones she let go of...

They were only 40 ft in the air! Good Luck!

Here is my last attempt to get her to smile before we left, as you can see it didn't work either!

She just looked up at them as if they were everything to her! Little did I know but there was only 2 words that had to be said to turn that frown upside-down..."Texas Roadhouse"...and she was up out of her seat racing for the car! Off we went... (Luckily kids are only temporarily distraught because it was so sad to see the birthday girl with a frown!)

Birthday/Recital Dinner

It was the boys vs. the girls at Texas Roadhouse...

We go to dinner after every dance recital so I suppose we killed 2 birds with 1 stone by going out on her birthday too! I don't know if we like the food there nearly as much as their yummy rolls though! Yummm it was so good! Tay made sure to remind the waiter it was her birthday and that she wanted to ride the saddle! ha ha the video we got of her on that saddle was priceless! It was a great end to a great day!

Emma's Violin Recital

Emma has been learning how to play the violin all year and was so excited to show what she had learned in her performance. She did a fabulous job! We are so proud of her and her many talents!

This is outside before we left

A nice close-up of her playing her violin.

Taylor's School Birthday

Since Taylor's birthday falls on a Sunday this year we chose to wait until Monday to do her birthday celebration at school. She wanted to bring donuts for everyone but I was worried about the mess so I found these cute bags and added this tag "Donut you know Taylor Petersen is 5! Thanks for celebrating her birthday!" to each bag. The donuts were cute because they were chocolate with sprinkles and gummy worms! Taylor was so excited to hand them out to all her friends in her class.

Then after I let her choose anywhere for lunch... but she picked McDonald's. What is it with kids and the nasty happy meals? Sigh, we went to McDonald's and she got her happy meal and it made her happy! ha ha I suppose I am just too sick of fast food lately!

Taylor's Graduation

I can't believe that not only is Taylor now 5, but she is graduating from preschool and will be in Kindergarten this Fall. Chad and I had a fun Jimmy John's picnic lunch with her before her program. I made this bow and if you look closely you can see that her bow says "Graduation Day".

Each year the kids pitch in one item to make these cute buckets for every kid. They usually are summer themed and are just a bucket of fun to kick off the summer with. Taylor was excited about this one and couldn't wait to get into it!

Here is her class and all the cute buckets. (Tay is on the far left)

This her with Miss Debbie after the program. It was adorable and I am so glad her teacher puts this together for the parents each year. We are going to miss her because for the past 4 years consecutively I have had her as my kids preschool teacher but Chase will have to wait one more year until he is old enough to go! See you next year Miss Debbie we love you!

Emma's Field Trip

We also had Emma's field trip to go to as well as the graduation! It was fun though because we went to the fire station in Ivins and the kids got to tour the trucks and ambulances.

Pizza Party

Last year we had a pizza party in Kindergarten so I decided to continue the fun tradition and have one again this year. Emma just wanted to choose 5 friends to join her on the last full day of school for the party. It was super cute because we had matching plates and cups. The kids were so excited and came racing in towards the table. We had yummy pizza and strawberry lemonade. for dessert we had cupcakes from 25 main! It was a fun way to end the school year too!

Emma kept saying "I feel so special" with a giggle.

Emma and some of the girls...

She was super hyper after those cupcakes!

Emma's best friend Camryn...

Out to breakfast

Those cupcakes were so good that we decided to go out to breakfast the next day to 25 main. It was fun because I rarely go out for breakfast and the food was super yummy!

Lake Mead Trip

That weekend we went to Lake Mead on a spur of the moment trip. The first thing we did when we got to the lake was fill up with gas at 711! I ran inside and got myself a delicious banana Slurpee! MMMMM I could definitely go for one right now! Then we went straight to the lake for some fun boating of course!

That night after the lake we went out to dinner and saw this cute bronze statue of this little girl.

It was called "Bubble Girl"and Taylor said that is really what she wants for her birthday...only a mere $5,580! I laughed and told her "No way that's more than your birthday budget by a long shot sweetie!" Good thing she wasn't too heartbroken, I don't want a statue like this in my yard, it looks better on this street! ha ha

My kids kept walking on this ledge by the doll shop next door to where we were eating dinner while we were waiting for our food to come to the table.

Thank goodness the store was closed or else I would have some of these creepy dolls living in my house! I can't believe people pay that much for something this silly!