Butterfly Birthday :: More Celebrating

We hosted a third tea party with friends, who were all sisters, because why not keep celebrating?!  

It was fun to host more small groups, but it did create for preparations for Mama.  

Greta and the Johnson sisters.  

Greta and Ivy, matching sweethearts.  

She picked out her fancy clothes for each party.  

The kids and I made these butterfly treats for the take home treat bags.  They were so fun and were a colorful sweet treat to bless our friends with.  

The take home treat bags, lined up on the steps.  

Making and putting together the treat bags is one of my favorite parts of the party preparations.  

The treat bags for the family party included...

butterfly tattoos

butterfly nail embellishments

butterfly bracelet 

bath bomb

butterfly stickers 

a Skittles butterfly 

Ivy enjoyed playing in the ivy after the party clean up.  

Greta did a virtual tea party with her friend who lives in Tennessee.  

They had tea, read a butterfly story and Greta opened her gift, which was a Caboodle.  

Time for her 6 year check up.  

She brought donuts to CC for her birthday treat.  

Happy 6th Birthday, Greta Alice!  We loved celebrating you all November long!  

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Merry Christmas 2020

 A Few of Our Favorite Things

2020 Swinger Family Edition

Ivy Rae is at the top of the list. Ivy made her appearance on December 28th, 2019. 

She has been a source of true joy for our family. It has been the perfect year to have 

a baby. With a more low-key schedule and lots of time at home, we have really 

soaked up every ounce of her sweetness. She is a beautiful gift and adored by us all. Her bright blue eyes and big smile light up our home.      

New Sunday Night Tradition Started During Quarantine: Watching a movie, eating pizza and enjoying Roy’s popcorn with M&M’s, has been a relaxing way to  end the weekend.

Books: The Hobbit and The Vanderbeekers (series)

Listening to Adventures in Odyssey and checking out stacks of books from curbside pickup at the library.   

Activities: Greta loves gymnastics and Hudson is learning to code robots at Lego League.  They both attend Awana on Wednesday nights.

Trip: Lake time in Brainerd, Minnesota, with the Bomgaars family in August

Our Neighborhood: We took countless walks, bike rides and runs on the trails in our neighborhood this year. 

Summer Tradition: A day at Adventureland with cousins

Games: Monopoly Deal, Tenzie and Sorry

Celebrating Birthdays: Hudson turned nine in February, Emily celebrated the big 40 

in October, Greta turned six in November, Roy just entered the last year of his 30’s 

and Ivy will be one at the end of December.

Homeschooling: We joined a Classical Conversations community this fall and it has been a great blessing. We all learn, sing and memorize together and are thankful for new relationships with like-minded families.  

Places to Shop: Costco, Target, Amazon, Scheels and Aldi

Hobbies: Art for Kids Hub, LEGOs and watching shows (Hudson) 

Paint by Sticker books, Perler bead projects and playing pretend (Greta)

Playing with anything that isn’t a toy and swinging at the park (Ivy)

Officiating basketball games and working outdoors (Roy)

Organizing, blogging and baking (Emily)

Amidst the craziness of 2020, we pray you have been able to enjoy a few of your favorite things too. We really do have so much to be thankful for! 

Butterfly Birthday :: Cousins Party

The birthday festivities continued for Greta with cousins on Saturday, November 21st.  We celebrated four cousins birthdays...Clara (Oct. 11), Mindyn (Oct. 13), Milly (Oct. 29) and Greta (Nov. 1).  Greta was thrilled to celebrate with her cousins because they are her favorite pals.  

We hosted Ellsy, Clara and Maryn for afternoon tea time.    

After tea we made a butterfly craft.  

Maryn was eager and excited to participate like the big girls.  

Then they searched for butterflies.  You can see I just use the same ideas over and over.  

I asked Nana Sue if she was up for making the fruit and veggie trays.  I sent her this idea from Pinterest to see what she thought and she accepted the challenge.  They turned out perfectly!  They were colorful, beautiful and delicious.     

I asked the birthday girls to vote on what to have for dinner and they all chose the same thing...pizza!  

Milly (7) - Mindyn (4) - Clara (8) - Greta (6)

Showing off their numbers.  

Auntie Lynn surprised Greta with an Our Generation Doll.  She has been patiently waiting and was so thrilled.  

Ready to sugar up with the colorful Costco cake.  

Aunt Jenna got everyone their own number candle, which were a hit.  Love these sweet little ladies and those happy smiles.  

Roy always makes homemade ice cream for family birthday parties.  

A get together with cousins wouldn't be complete without a round of dress up.  

 

Butterfly Birthday :: Friends Party

We hosted a group of little girl friends for Tea Time on Friday morning, November 13th.  The tables were set to look a bit fancy and festive for the celebration.  We used Nana Sue's dishes, which was really special.  I made butterfly name cards for each girl and added a paper doily and napkin.  

Each guest got to choose a fancy hat to wear for tea.  I found them on Amazon.  Greta picked the pretty pink one with a big flower and it coordinated perfectly with her party dress.  

Play dough with tea cups and birthday candles for a little play time as everyone arrived.  

After much debate I landed on asking everyone to wear masks.  Certainly not what anyone really wanted, but it was important for me that everyone felt comfortable sending their child and I make it a priority to keep everyone safe in our home.  We took plenty of mask breaks.     

We started off with a story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  The caterpillar puppet and giant food cut outs make it a fun one to share in a group.   

Next the girls went on a butterfly hunt.  

We punched out over 125 paper butterflies and scattered them around all over the main floor.  

Sisters searching for butterflies.  

I had prepared a butterfly craft, which was a hit.  

Then it was time for tea.  I did a demonstration, showing how to drink and use your manners at tea time.  

My audience was eager and interested.  

The spread of treats.  

There were lots of options including....

mini cupcakes

caramel and cheese popcorn mix

butterfly gummies

strawberry wafers

donut holes

fruit skewers

Lucky Charms giant marshmallows

Oreo balls (Greta's favorite)

For tea we served 2 options, pink lemonade and apple juice.  

The SIX year old has the sweetest smile in the bunch.  

These girls really enjoyed the tea treats.  I couldn't believe how much they ate.  

The hats were the most adorable element of the whole morning.    

Enjoying tea time.  

Ivy napped through most of the party.  Thankfully Daddy was around to be on baby duty.  

The group of pretty girls.  

Opening gifts is so much fun for everyone.  

We ended the party with a classic birthday party game....Bingo.  This time it was Butterfly Bingo.