Whitlee's Olympic Birthday

Whitlee had a birthday!  And again with all of these crazy COVID restrictions we had to get a little creative to make it an epic celebration.

She started her morning by opening presents.

Charlotte got her a rescue pet stuffed animal, which came full of plastic bugs, had tears in it's eyes, matted fur, and muddy paws.  Whitlee had to get the bugs off and clean it up.  And she abosultely loved it and packs that thing around everywhere with her now.

Without meaning too, most of the rest of us got her something "Frozen" themed.  A Frozen kite, a Frozen puzzle, a Frozen fishing pole, a Frozen bouncy ball, and a Frozen playdough set.  Good thing she likes Frozen!

But she also got some flower seeds and some gardening supplies, which she loved!

Later in the evening we decided to have an Olympic-themed birthday party, since the summer Olympics were cancelled this year.

She started the party by lighting the torch (candle).

Then we all took turns being in charge of an Olympic Event.

Since Ashlyn was a little out of it and couldn't compete in the athletic events because of her wisdom teeth removal, we let her lead us in designing some flags for our Parade of Nations and then we hung our flags on the entertainment center for the duration of the Olympics.

Whitlee chose a gymnastics event and gave us all one minute to do a routine to our music of choice.  Our highlight was Zac's routine which he did to some epic saxophone music.  His routine consisted of dancing with the gymnastics mats and making a fort out of them.  The kids were very amused.

Whitlee wowed us with the gymnastics tricks she has learned in her gymnastics classes.

Ian had a fun frisbee event, that really only he understood how to score.  It was complicated, but fun.

And dad ended the night with a high jump competition.

Some of our other events were cup stacking, balloon tossing, a relay race, and sucking up M&M's with a straw and moving them from plate A to plate B.

Whitlee requested a fox cake and we finally found one that was within our skill level.  She loved helping me bake and frost the cake.

10 Things to Know About Whitlee

1.  She loves animals.  They are all SO cute and she thinks she might like to be a pet groomer or a vet someday.  She loves to check out books to learn about animals and she loves to draw them too.  She adores her pets and loves to be outside holding a bunny or playing with Bailey.

2. She is obsessed with crafts.  But not crafts that she learns how to do from anyone or the computer.  She likes to make up her own crafts and they are so unique and complicated.  They often involve toilet paper tubes, paper plates, rolled up paper, and lots of toothpicks and glue.  They are usually some sort of abstract art, never anything that you can guess what it is.  But they often serve some sort of useful function too, like a telescope or some sort of fan.  I find craft supplies all over the house thanks to this girl.  She also loves drawing and has a talent for it!  She loves to watch drawing tutorials on YouTube and she does a remarkable job following them!

3. She has a best friend named Josie.  We have babysat Josie for almost four years now and the girls have formed a bond as strong as sisters.  We haven't had Josie for a couple of weeks because of COVID and it is crushing Whitlee.  She misses her playmate.  The two girls will disappear for hours every time they are together, only reappearing for food every now and then.  They love each other fiercely.

4. She loves her "stuffies" (stuffed animals) and she plays with them constantly.  She is usually packing around the little dog Charlotte gave her for her birthday or a little stuffed Cougar that we bought her at the BYU vs. Gonzaga game.  She thinks they are magical.  She often has tea parties with her and sometimes when she is not looking they eat their food.  She is so amazed and proud that her animals can actually eat that she tells all of her friends and family members about it.

5. She also loves tea parties.  She is always begging to have a tea party.  We have to get out our fancy table clothes, fancy dishes, and dress up in fancy clothes.  We set places for the stuffed animals and get out lots of little snacks and lemonade.  Whitlee's tea parties are the best.

6. She loves to bake and is constantly asking to bake in our little easy bake oven.  She gets home from school two hours before the older kids and this has been a fun time for her to make an after school snack in the Easy-Bake oven.  Any time mom is baking anything, she is also right there wanting to help measure ingredients and help to bake.  She has even taken her turn on Kid's Cook Sundays and baked us crepes that she poured and flipped all by herself and has also made spaghetti.

7. She is becoming a skilled reader!  She went into Kindergarten already reading simple books and is now reading picture books all by herself.  She is especially fond of Piggie and Gerald books by Mo Willems and she is beyond adorable when she reads them and does the voices.

8. She loves to physically beat up her siblings.  I think that she figured out one day that she could wrestle and box with her siblings and found out that they were hesitant to fight her back because she is just a little girl.  So she especially delights in wrestling the boys... mostly Ian.  She loves to jump on him and just start pummeling him for fun and he is such a good sport about it.  She usually just wrestles them in good humor, but she has been known to be physically violent when she is mad too.  We are trying to help her get past this... but sometimes it's hard not to laugh.

9.  She does not like to be in trouble and loves following the rules.  She loves to tell me about kids who break the rules and about how she never does those naughty things.  She has a strong desire to be a good example at school and really is constantly looking for ways to earn the best kid award at home.  She will do chores without being asked, give massages, or go make you a snack just because she has a strong desire to be such a good kid.  She really has a positive attitude about doing chores and is such a sweetheart!

10.  She loves her family so much and is always making us all tons of gifts.  Using her crafting skills and her drawing and writing skills, we often find unique gifts on our beds, taped to our doors, or presented to us in a very proud way.  They often include a little treat and heartfelt love notes.  She delights in sneaking up after being tucked into bed and still snuggling with mom and dad.

Whitlee is also starting piano lessons with mom and LOVES  them.  She takes practicing very seriously and can proudly play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, and Mary Had a Little Lamb.

We love our Whitlee Bug and are so glad that she gets to be our little caboose.  She has a tender heart and often gets upset if she thinks anyone is laughing at her or making fun of her.  The kids know this and try to be careful of her feelings.  They all spoil her to death and delight in her cuteness.  We wish we could keep her this age forever as we just enjoy this stage so much.