5 Years Old... That Can't Be Right!

Surely Ava and Macy are not really 5 years old! Where has the time gone? Thank goodness I am having another one or I don't know if I would have made it through this birthday. In my mind, 5 years old is officially big kid. Not a baby anymore. Time for real school. Yuck! Also, 3 and 4 are my favorite ages so I am sad that we are done with that stage of their life. I think everyone has their favorite ages... some people love the infant stage (crazy!), some people love that time around 12-18 months when they start walking and talking, and I guess some people prefer older kids. But for me it is the preschool years. That is why I work where I do. I love how much they grow and learn and develop into little people during those years. They start figuring out the world around them and asking questions about it. I think 3 and 4 year olds are hilarious and so much fun to be around and they actually have some independence (unlike those toddler years). I know we have lots to look forward to, but I am still sad that they are growing up. Can you tell I am an overly emotional pregnant momma? Moving on. Here is a recap and some pics from their 5th Birthday:

 

The Nalley family couldn't make it to their party this year so we had a little mini-celebration at their house the Saturday before their birthday which also happened to be Stephanie's birthday! Stephanie and her girls were sweet enough to make cupcakes for Ava and Macy and we sang and blew out candles and everything. So fun!

 

 

 

Practicing being big sisters. This was their first time to meet Baby Gibson.



 

 

On their actual birthday, we all had work and school but Ben took them to breakfast that morning. This was a real treat for them because he is usually out of the house before they even wake up! We took cupcakes to school so they could celebrate with their friends. Then, I picked them up after school and we went to gymnastics. After gymnastics, they got to pick where they wanted to eat for their very special birthday dinner. They picked McDonalds of course. I tried to talk them out of it, but Ava said, "Mom, you said we could pick anything we wanted and we want McDonalds!!" Can't argue with that. After dinner, we went to Braum's for ice cream and then home so they could open the presents from me and Ben. We bought them iPod shuffles. I know.... they seem a little young for that but they LOVE them. It was Ben's idea because lately they have really been into pop songs on the radio or Youtube videos with Justin Bieber and One Direction. I thought they wouldn't really get into just listening to the music, but I was wrong. They just walk around the house with their shuffles and their headphones singing and dancing. See what I mean about growing up??

Before school on their Birthday!

This was their last day of being 4.

 

playing at McDonalds

 



telling me they are 5

 

attempting to get a normal picture but all I could get was silly faces.

 

or hiding behind napkins

 

or hysterical laughter

 

Then finally, a decent one. They're wearing their gymnastic leotards by the way. Not swimsuits in December. : )

Beiber Fever

 

 

On Saturday, it was time for the real party. We had their party at Coo Coo's which is a huge place with tons of bounce houses and some arcade games. We had a Hello Kitty theme per their request which turned out really cute. They had about 15 friends from school and the neighborhood that came and helped them celebrate their special day. Everyone had lots of fun. Gigi and Papa were in town so that night we went to Babe's for another special birthday dinner. Ava and Macy LOVE fried chicken legs. LOVE them. Babe's is known for their fried chicken plus they do a special birthday song and make the birthday person wear a chicken hat and a chicken nose. I thought that the girls would love this. They have seen it happen to other people every time we've been there (which is a lot) and were super excited about it being their birthday at Babe's, but it ended up being really disappointing. They were very busy, so our waitress didn't really seem to care and didn't even have the girls stand up or anything. And they only had one chicken hat so they just put a plastic bag on Macy's head (????). And they brought them a biscuit with a candle in it but didn't even light the candle. It was weird and disappointing. But, the girls didn't seem to care too much. I think mom and I were way more disappointed than Ava and Macy. Oh well. It was a special WEEK for them and I am happy that they were able to celebrate with friends and family.

 

 

Their Hello Kitty "Cupcake Cake."

Singing Happy Birthday

All of the kids enjoyed going for a ride on this train.

This panda was the hit of the party. You put a token in it (all of the kids got 10 tokens) and it walked around. You could drive it all over the room. This is Macy and her friend Audrey.

 

 

 

Opening presents at home.

 

I didn't realize how disgusting and dirty the chicken hat was until I got home and looked at the pictures. Yuck!

They told Macy to hold this cone on her nose like a beak.

 

 

 







One Last Pregnancy Post

The countdown has begun. One more week until Aubrey James Wyatt makes her appearance. We are so ready to meet her. I am very glad to report that she has shifted and moved off of my sciatic nerve! Thank the Lord. I really needed to be able to walk these last couple of weeks so that I could finish up work, the nursery, and my Christmas shopping. Now that she has moved, I am feeling good and ready to tackle my to-do list. My maternity leave officially started today! (woohoo!!) We finished up the nursery yesterday, so now I just have to finish up a few Christmas errands, pack the bag for the hospital and we'll be ready to go! I went to the doctor this morning and I am not dilated at all so unless something crazy happens, there is no way she is coming early. The plan is still Monday the 17th at 9:30 am!

Here are some pictures of the nursery. I'm really happy with it. It's simple, feminine, and calming. Exactly what I wanted for her!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The girls "helping" me in Aubrey's room. I'm not sure playing with baby toys and covering yourself in baby blankets qualifies as helping.

 

 



Since this is my last Aubrey post before she is born, I need to give a shout out to the amazing girls that I work with that gave me 2 showers and a "last day of work" party. My school is an Early Childhood School for kids ages 3 to 5. Most of the kids are there because they have special needs and 99% of them get speech therapy, so I work with a team of 15 speech pathologists just at my school. All of the girls are so sweet and we all get along so well. The "speech team" threw me a shower after work one Friday afternoon with lots of yummy food and gifts for Aubrey. I even had a friend from last year that doesn't work at ECS anymore come to the party to help me celebrate. So special! Then, we had a shower with the whole school. The school is really big, so they do one shower in the fall and one in the spring to celebrate babies and weddings. The shower was for myself and two other girls having babies. The shower was put on by the party committee at school but my "speech team" girls still had to help out by making food and helping with decorations. Then, as if that isn't enough, they surprised me with a little farewell party (with cheesecake!) on my last day before maternity leave. It meant so much to me! I feel so blessed to work with such thoughtful, generous girls. I don't have any pictures to prove that these things actually happened but I promise they did!! 

 

 

And finally, I really can't believe I am going to do this but here are some pics of my growing belly. I HATE pregnancy pictures (of myself... other people's are okay). I think they are awkward, especially these because I took them myself and because I purposely cut off my head. And I am enormous, so why would I want to take pictures of that?!?! But... I know that one day Aubrey will want to see what I looked like pregnant with her, so I did take a few throughout pregnancy. And since I do this blog for family that we don't get to see very often, I am posting these terribly embarrassing pictures:

 

 

 

21 weeks

 

23 weeks

28 weeks (Macy took this picture for me)

 

34 weeks

 

38 weeks. I might be in denial but I really feel like I look bigger in this picture than I actually am. And Ben looks so dang skinny. He's lost like 20 pounds since I've been pregnant. That's just wrong.