My Little Girl is 5 years old!

My Mallory Girl turned 5 on Thursday!

 So she got all dressed up in HELLO KITTY(dress, shoes, necklace, hair bow)!!! She opened presents from us and we went out to lunch!

 We met some friends and McDonald's and played, ate chicken nuggets and had PINK cupcakes!

 That's a pretty special day when your 5!

 Then on Saturday (today) we had a Hello Kitty Tea party!

 While she was getting her hair and nails done at Auntie Talitha's Salon (thank you) we were decorating the church with lots of HELLO KITTY stuff!

 When she got there EVERYONE said how BEAUTIFUL she was- you could tell by the smile on her face she felt REALLY special!

 And she got her nails done SPECIAL- you can't tell in this picture but the Thumbs are Hello Kitty!

 She was grinning from Ear to ear the whole time!

 We had our tea party with LOTS of yummy food

 and she pretend to blow out a candle on her ice cream

 She got TONS of really cool presents!!!!! THANK YOU EVERYONE!

 It was fun to see everyone who loved Mallory!

 She is such a LUCKY girl!

 Loving every minute of the attention

and I think the other kids had a fun time too...

 All the kids were GREAT helpers opening Mallory's presents

 Super excited about her Umbrella!

 After presents it was time to do the Pinata

 This a a Magic string Pinata- instead of hitting it with a stick you pull a sting and if it's the Magic string it opens the bottom and pours all the candy out!

 That's the best part- Tons if Candy for everyone- because Ice cream is not enough sugar!

 All the kids were really excited to fill up their bags with Candy!

 Natalie had to show how much candy she got!

 After the Pinata we just played more- with Balloons

 and the Pinata

 And ate more candy

 We ate lots of Ice cream and ran around the Gym

 

Thanks to everyone who came and made this such a special day for her!

What I hope my kids remember...

This may sound strange, but I think about this a lot. Maybe it's because I know my kids have a lot of trama in their history and I pray every day that they are able to forget most of it because they were SO young. I often think about what my earliest childhood memory is, What I remember about my childhood, What things I loved, how I felt, who was special to me.

I remember singing "oh what a beautiful MORNING" (from Oklahoma) Every time we saw Mt. Rainer. I remember playing at my grandmothers house, setting the table, and helping grandpa with work. I remember going out to breakfast with my dad EARLY in the morning. I remember Christmas mornings with "Christmas in the Northwest" playing on the tape player. I remember building our barn, picking up rocks and shoveling horse poop.  I remember LONG family road trips to Idaho.... It's amazing to me the things that stick out in your mind, and other things just seem to drift away!

So What do I hope my kids remember about their childhood??? Since their childhood is FAR from over I try EVERY day to create memories that FILL their minds with love-joy-happiness, so that when they look back on their life they will have NO room for sad memories because there will be too many good ones in their place.






I hope they remember that they are loved! They have SO many family and friends that LOVE them. I am thankful that they have the opportunity to spend time with so many extended family members, go to family parties, family reunions, and see their grandparents often. I want them to think back and have lots of memories of us hanging out together as a family, going on bike rides, camping or having dinner.

I hope they remember that our home was filled with music, that they learn to love music they way I do. that we always had uplifting music in our home. I hope they remember that I always sang primary songs at home and that music can change your mood in an instant.

I hope they remember that we went to church every Sunday. I hope they have wonderful primary leaders, great young woman and young men leaders and that they grow up learning to love the Lord. I hope the have memories of us reading the scriptures, singing church music, going to the Temple and serving others.

I hope they remember having lots of fun outings. Grand vacations and trips to the zoo. Lots of parades, museums, exhibits and fairs. I want my children to look back on their childhood and remember SO much fun! I hope they look back and remember Super fun Birthday parties, and that they always know they were special and loved.

I hope they remember the practical things we are trying to teach them. Things like how to save your money, and how to do your chores, and how to study hard and do your homework I hope they grow up and know how to cook, clean, run a home, and make someone a WONDERFUL husband Or a LOVING wife!

A memory is an interesting thing... there does not seem to be any rhyme or reason to what memories stay and which ones fade away....I HOPE that in 20 years Andrew and Mallory will come to me as successful, confident adults and tell me how wonderful their life was...

What was your First memory as a child? How old were you?