FROZEN Birthday Party for the Big Girl

 It is no secret that I love parties!!!!!!!

I love the planning, the details and the opportunity to honour and shower someone with love!  Our Amelia Ann turns 5 this year and continues to be a FROZEN fan since watching the movie this fall.  Even though we had a FROZEN movie party at our house she still wanted to do her birthday party with the same theme. It was a blast!!  Amy tipped me off to Party City for some supplies so I went online asap to order a party pack (which I had never done before), totally worth it. I also made a few things and found a few things at the dollar stores.  A friend Krystal had done the same theme for her daughter so I bought a few posters and supplies from her.  Amelia and I were pleased with the result.

  It was a super special day for many reasons.

 Friends were greeted at the door and invited to enter Polischuk Palace where we gave them a crown and sash, inviting them into our Boutique for hair and nails.  They were so sweet and super excited to see all of the FROZEN decorations, because they were ALL totally fans too!! My sweet friend Kristi was planning to help Jacey, who was sadly sick but Kristi came anyway to help and is clearly adored.

 The princesses nibbled on blue candy (giving them blue tongues) while we styled hair and painted nails.  We had blue punch and blue jello, with a side of veggies as a mid party snack, yummy.

After the Boutique part of the party we had invited a few of our dude friends to join us because a special guest was coming and we knew that although nails wouldn't be fun for them, they would LOVE the guest. We moved downstairs for games as snack finished and our dude friends arrived.  After 'Pin the Nose on Olaf' they were having such fun playing together with the toys and Stella's new castle we didn't do any other structured games.  Gosh they were adorable!!!  It is soooooo fun having a bunch of little people you care about having a blast in your home :) Makes my heart happy!

This party will go down 

in Polischuk memory 

as E-P-I-C!!!!!!!!!!

 Elsa from FROZEN made an appearance at our party.

 She did a delicate, deliberate knock on the door and I quickly gathered all of the littles to join me up at the entrance.  When Amelia opened the door it was so AWESOME!  They were all so excited, they didn't even let her in the house.  They all gathered around her with such enthusiasm talking and asking questions. We were finally able to invite her in and I was just as enthralled as the children.  Elsa was stunning, gorgeous and perfect with beautiful details in her dress, cape, earing.....and goodness what kind eyes and a beautiful smile!!!!!!  I am almost lost for words at the wonderful moments that followed. Amelia was thrilled right along with the other little guests. So special!!!!

 Elsa was incredibly patient and kind, listening to each excited comment shared.  I had decorated the den with snowflakes and a swag, I also brought in the white bench so Elsa would have a place to sit.  They just gathered around her in adoration, so cute.  I had hoped that Elsa would read the FROZEN story book we have and she did which was super fun.  She also talked to the littles about inner beauty and the importance of how we act/treat others.  I can never do enough to drive this point home, especially at a party that starts by doing hair and nails ha!

 Elsa was seriously so wonderful!  Patient, kind and so engaged with each little person she spoke to. Such kindness!!!!!!!

 Can't have a birthday without cake!  I have just come to the realization that stressing about making the cake isn't worth it to me, so Safeway made up this beauty.  Amelia picked it out and we served it with ice cream in adorable little striped bowls I had found at the dollar store, yeah adorable and inexpensive.

 No party will do with out some dancing!!!!!

After ice cream we  had a little dance party and I was brought to tears (yes really) when they all sang 'Let It Go' with Elsa.

There was some twirling, dancing and also a little foose ball. 

Totally love that Nathaniel needed his foot to man one of his players, best ever!!!!

 Again, such kindness and goodness from Elsa.  

Before leaving Amelia wanted Elsa to come see her room. It was cool to me that Amelia was so proud of her bedroom and wanted to show her idol. I hadn't been aware before of the pride she took in the little things we've done to her room to make it special. They chatted in there and guests gathered their crowns, sashes and we gave them each a reusable plastic cup with stickers, bouncy ball and Elsa hair clips (for the girls) as they gave a farewell hug and departed.  It was such fun!!!!

 It was such a wonderful day, for Amelia especially but I think everyone had such a blast.  I also just had to include this sweet picture of Mia and her daddy! Can this guy be anymore awesome?!?  He will truly do anything for his girls. <3 all="" br="" them="">

It was fabulous, EPIC...my words are at a loss but I do know it was unforgettable!  

What a sweet girl to come as Elsa and have kids smiling, fawning you and chatting your ear off.  She was adored and I have thought this young lady was pretty rad before but goodness, to come to our party she is wonderful!!  It was such a special day.

~ Mrs. P

camping weekend at the Hinko farm

 We are getting all official and  becoming hard core campers.  We even had our first highway blowout to start our weekend off, boo!  Some nice samaritans stopped to help us out, so that was super kind.

 

Oh it is getting pretty fun around the campfire, we have been trying a few new things. Super awesome was a waffle cone with marshmellows and chocolate chips inside, yummy. Beth joined us with her gang and had her first smore! What?! Thirty-three and having her first smore?  It was a blast to play with baby Grace and visit around the campfire.

 

Stony Plain has a Farmer's Day parade and it was super great.  We joined Beth's friends and ended up getting a spot right next door to where my Great Auntie Rosie and Uncle Herbie live. My Great Aunt Joan and Uncle Leo came by too.  It ended up being a mini-family reunion of sorts.  There is something so special about family, it was lovely to get to visit and see them.  Growing up, in the summer when I would stay with my Grandma and Grandpa Hinko at thier farm we would see our great Aunts and Uncles, I have a great love for them.  Most were able to come to our wedding.  It was just lovely!

 

The parade was pretty rad and the ladies had a blast.  So many great floats and groups represented in the parade.

 

 Also special about the weekend was Grandma Lorincz's 80th Bday!!! We paraded in the day and partied in the night, we are busy peeps and totally enjoyed all of the family time.

 One of the highlights had to be the petting zoo!!!!!!!

Our girls were in LOVE with the bunnies.  It was adorable and sparked an idea for growth in our family.  We spent sooooo much time in there cuddling and petting.

 A big reason we chose to camp at the farm this weekend was because the Farmer's Days had a rodeo which our cousin Willie was bull riding in.  I have to say although interesting, I am not such a lover of rodeo...it kinda makes me feel not so good inside for the animals.  It was a cool experience though, fun to get to go with Grandma!

Another weekend in the camper! Yeah us!!!!

~ Mrs. P

celebrating 80 years

We are so very lucky to have Grandma Joan Lorincz with us and rockin 80!!  It was a pleasure to plan and celebrate her 80th birthday this month.  She isn't one for fan fare or attention but we knew that 80 couldn't go unnoticed!  We made some phone calls and decided on the Glasshouse Bistro loacted in the Enjoy Centre (formerly the Lois Hole Greenhouse) so the location was spectacular with all of it's flowers and shurbery.  We had a corsage for her to wear and displayed a few black n white pictures of a young Joan, it was awesome.  Graham and Mia even went to buy a pretty potted plant for her gift, we displayed that on the table too.   Just as guests started to arrive tragedy struck...Amelia fell on a heat vent and we had to rush off to the hospital.  She was such a trooper and one stitch later we rejoined the celebration just in time for dessert.  We were able to visit and enjoy those who attended, the rest of the evening was actually quite lovely. 

 These little girls are just so lovely too!
Note the band-aid on Mia's eyebrow covering her first stitch.

 ~ Mrs. P

Stella Bella is THREE

 This sweet babe has become a lovely little lady!

In our family we start birthday mornings with a party hat and singing 'Happy Birthday' over breakfast.  This year our Miss Stella has been into Minne so she woke up to balloons and we made the pancakes with mouse ears.   It was so special and she loved it!!!  It was fun to watch our little woman be the center of attention, she totally ate it up.

Stella is a gem and brings so much joy to our family! Her sweet and sassy personality ensures there is never a dull moment.  A few things I don't want to forget about our girl at three:

*Stella LOVES panda bears

*she LOVES snuggles and still says she is my "baby Stella"

*often tells us she is "funny"

*does a fake cry and honestly a pretty good real cry too!!

*she is passionate and determined when she wants something or doesn't want something - a fabulous character trait but a challenge at times

*notices her letter 'S' everywhere; Safeway, Shoppers and in books

*will flip through her favourite books and 'reads' them

*Stella really likes to do crafts and is a big fan of cutting, getting good at tracing her name and is darn good at colouring

*is fabulous in Nursery at church, tells me that she won't cry anymore...indicative of her growth 

*has a stone cold Polischuk stare where her blue eyes will pierce your soul hahaha

*Stella likes to sing and sometimes will sing herself to bed at night

*is a good helper, dishes in sink and making beds woot woot

*plays pretend and often asks us to be different characters from FROZEN or different members of our family

*loves doing 'Ring-Around-The-Rosie' for Family Home Evening, especially the all fall down part

*tells us she misses Amelia when Amelia is off to Joy School or Swimming, it makes me a little sad for Kindergarten next year BUT it will be special for my Stella and I to have time alone together :)

*Sister is her Best Friend

*LOVES her cousins!

*LOVES playing Gorilla with her dad

Happy Birthday our Stella Bella!!!
~ Momma P

raising butterflies

 

 Raising butterflies has been a spectacular experience!  

There was a teacher across the hall from me at Timberlea School who raised and released them with her class every year.  She would make it a cross curricular experience, talking butterflies in poetry, math, art and of course science.  When I got the email advertising a kit from Education Station and for a reasonable price I was pumped, ordered it immediately.

These 'Painted Lady Butterflies' were darn cool!

The whole family has enjoyed watching each stage happen. We began by naming them, which was pretty funny.  We tried to go alphabetical.  I pulled the story books I had on caterpillars/butterflies, bought a really good non-fiction and found some great stuff online.  We sadly didn't make it to the library to pull more books.  Having this experience broadened my ladies' interests and we even went looking for Frog Life Cycle, Chicken Life Cycle and a few other life cycle videos on youtube.  They were fascinated and it has been fun to feed that interest and watch the girls enjoy!!!!!!

 Everyday the ladiess would stop by to check on their development.  They were quick to notice changes and movement.  It was also pretty awesome to hear them explain to people the different stages.  Best ever hearing Stella tell people that "our caterpillars are now in their chrysalises"!!!! We were pretty lucky and caught one of our butterflies just after it had emerged, like missed the real deal emergence within seconds... sigh...but it's wings were still bent and antenna rolled up.  Although we didn't see any actually emerge, watching it pump it's wings and unroll the antenna, we were all enthralled. Before going out camping for May Long Weekend we did the transfer to the enclosure and prepared the sugar water. They started emerging Monday - yeah!  It worked out perfectly to do the release at Joy School on Thursday. I kind of hijacked Emma's house and we made it all about the butterflies. It was super rad!!!!!  I think the pictures are evidence of the coolness of the whole experience.

 Of course we had to make a rad craft and talk about symmetry and patterns.

Seriously captivating!!!

 Love that some of the butterflies stuck around!  Spencer's shorts were apparently super attractive to the one butterfly.  After one flew out and landed on a flower the kids ran over and put their hands down beside it, much like what you would do for a lady bug and it actually walked onto Nathaniel. Of the 14 caterpillars 13 formed chrysalises and of those only 4 emerged as butterflies. From the 4 we had one with wings that never did open properly. Another 2 attempted to emerge but didn't make it for whatever reasons.  It was all a great/sad learning experience.  The little one with the irregular wings we opted to put beside a flower with a piece of orange from their enclosure and when we went to check before we went home it was no longer there, that made us hopeful.  

We wish them all the best.

 The coolness!

 The afternoon was so fun! 

 It was totally worth the $60 ($30 of which was the enclosure that we can use again). The faces of the kids.  For real, does not get much better then watching them have fantastic experiences.

 Totally again next year!

~ Mrs. P