Aubrey's Science Spectacular

With Mina, she told me her sweet and simple little birthday party idea: Popsicles at the park with her friends. She loved looking up "party" stuff but was generally excited about any and everything when it came to her party. 

Aubrey, on the other hand, is and has always been one to have super detailed requests about how she'd like to celebrate her big day. This birthday was no different.

The day after Mina's birthday, she handed me a piece of paper with purple and blue colored lines and informed me that she'd like her party to be kept in this "color scheme". 

Um, yeah.

Every detail was her idea down to the gumballs in test tubes -- "I'd like gumballs, but not plain ones. I'd like ones with some shimmer to them. It will look more 'science-y' and kinda like space gumballs." 

Oooookay.

That's the thing with Miss A, you cannot put her in a box (or cube, for that matter... ;)). 

She is brains and beauty. 

Sassy and sporty. 

Girly and granola. 

I have yet to figure her out, and I pray I never do. She is such a fascinating enigma. 

So...enough blah blah blah...on to the party!

Oh, and this is "Skeley" -- she (he?) floated around in the pool during the party. 

For the first activity, Aubrey explained that all scientists need to be safe but not afraid to get messy. So the girls put on some lab coats and safety glasses. Then, we gave them all cans of silly string. :)

Next up, Break Your Own Geodes!

Then, after working up a thirst, we had a drink experiment!

Cotton candy + Sprite = Instant dissolving / color changing deliciousness

Cake time!

Aubrey told them there was a surprise with the cake, and the girls were all afraid it was going to explode! Ha!  They squealed with delight when the little chocolate candies poured out when the cake was cut...

After cake, it was time for the main event...

MR. SCIENCE from Hooked on Science came!

The girls had a BLAST with getting to participate in lots of different experiments.

We sent each of the girls home with a few goodies:

Grown your own crystals, rock candy sucker and chocolate rocks in a petri dish.

It was fun to see all of Aubrey's party "ideas" come to life.
Now if she could just come up with a machine to freeze time, it might help this lump in my throat go away...

Happy SEVENTH Birthday, Aubrey!
You shine bright like a rhombus!

Mina's Popsicle Party

Sweet little Mina's 4th Birthday party was all the way back in July.

When asked what she'd like to do for her special day, she said without hesitation, "Play with my friends at the park and eat popsicles!"

So, that's what we did! We invited all the girls from her preschool class for a morning at the park and unlimited popsicles! 

The day before her party, she thought it would be fun to jump off a bed holding an umbrella. It resulted in a bloodied busted lip, which turned into what looked like a fever blister by the day of her party. However, not even a bum lip can make this girl look any less adorable. 

Since our girl isn't a big fan of cake (what?!), I made a fake cake out of popsicle sticks.

We had other "popsicle" type goodies too!

Push-pops filled with her favorite "gummies" and jelly beans.

For every birthday, I always make sure there is one "white" element in honor of her birthmom. I had this white heart at the front of the picnic shelter over the party. I always have this tangible sense of her birthmom, especially on big milestone days. 

I had one of the picnic tables set-up with popsicle stick frames for the kids to decorate with stickers. I sent a photo of each sweet guest at the party with the thank-you card for them to put in their frame.

And because making Mina smile is one of our most favorite hobbies, we secretly booked Barnyard Buddies to come and give pony / horse rides. She LOVED it!

As did Big Sis... :)

Happiest Birthday to the girl who makes us all melt!

________________________________

Mina's Birthday Questionnaire...

Favorite color?  Pink!
Favorite toy?  Shifu (stuffed red panda from St. Louis Zoo)

Favorite drink? Coke (She tries to sneak sips from us all the time!)

Favorite food?  Gummies (fruit snacks, gummy worms, anything gummy)
Favorite tv show?  Mulan

Favorite movie? HomeFavorite outfit? Striped cotton dress 
Favorite game?  Candyland
Favorite animal?  Baby Pandas
Favorite song?  Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Favorite book?  Fancy Nancy
Best friend?  Tamera (from preschool)
Favorite thing to do outside?  Ride my scooter
Favorite holiday?  Holiday World (haha!)
What’s one thing you don’t like to do: I do not like to wait for Aubrey to get off the bus.
What do you want to be when you grow up? A doctor. 
Anything else you'd like to add? Something I like to do! JUGGLE, pick fruit from trees, and see my little Hanky-poo (cousin Henrik). :)

Stats:

Weight: 33 lbs. (30%ile)

Height 3 ft. 3 in. (30%ile)

Derby 2015

I'm back-dating this post so it's in the proper month / year when I convert this into our family blog book. I'm *hoping* to do a lot of these in the next few weeks: Beach trip, Vegas trip, 1st day of school for the girls, Vegas trip #2 (wha?!), Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!

But, first up...the Kentucky Derby! 

Kinda glad I waited to post this because now we know the Derby winner (American Pharoah) went on to a Triple Crown victory! 

We had a fun little shindig at Grammy and Pop Pop's house.

The girls and I made our hats for the party. I took them to the DollarTree and let them pick out a hat, flowers, and accessories. :) 

I found a cheap sunhat and then perused the hair accessory aisle at Hobby Lobby. :)

PARTY TIME!

It's hard to read in this photo, but the backdrop has the lyrics to My Old Kentucky Home on it...

The menu consisted of hot brown sliders, mutton sandwiches, slaw, chicken tenders, fruit salad, derby pies and banana pudding.

Everyone "picked a horse" to cheer for during the derby. The prize for picking the winning horse was a commemorative derby glass and Woodford Reserve bourbon balls.

MINT JULEPS.

Most people don't care for these, but I love them.

This glass in the middle is my all time fav since it's from 1981 (my birth year!). 

My mom has all kinds of derby glasses throughout the years. SO FUN.

This dapper dude ended up picking the winning horse...he donated the bourbon balls to the adults. :)

This cutie-pie found the chocolate horse suckers. :)

 

And this one snagged a chocolate horseshoe...

This guy is just always happy to have something in his hands with wheels. :)

I wanted to get one "good" picture of the girls together in their derby hats.
"Hey girls, look at me! Girls! Look at me! Giiiiiirls!"

Awesome. Thanks.

Okay, let's try a cousin pic...

How about one with all the cousins?!

Nevermind. 

Now this is how you take a derby pic...

Boom.

(Extreme paleness runs in the family. Obvs.)

This is more of a derby "infield" shot... ;) 

I think this was my second mint julep and post cornhole victory glow.

Overall, it was such a fun time being all together and enjoying the fastest two minutes in sports!

Already looking forward to the next Derby!