Girls 5th Birthday and NYE Recap

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I can't believe I have 5 year olds now. Where has the time gone? The girls have been counting down to their birthday for months. They were so excited when we surprised them with Disneyland as part of their birthday present and then had a day dedicated just to them. Anything and everything they wanted.

The girls turned 5 on December 29th. Since we went to Disneyland as part of their birthday present, we didn't have a big party for them. We went to breakfast at Pine State Biscuits (their choice) to start the day.

After breakfast, we went home and then headed back out again. I had to get stuff to make the girls cupcakes for school and we had to find rings to put on said cupcakes. The girls and I went to Target, Michael's (since Hobby Lobby was closed on Sundays) and a party store before finding the right rings. After we got home, the girls opened up their gifts from Rory and I. Their Columbia Frozen jackets were a huge hit.

Columbia Frozen 2 Jackets

I think Frozen 2 was a huge theme for the girls gifts for Christmas and their birthday. They got a ton of stuff.

After gifts, the girls had some lunch, played with their new gifts and then took a short nap. I baked 4 dozen cupcakes (for the girls school the next day) and made guacamole for our dinner that night. 

Once the girls were up, they changed outfits and we headed to my sister's house for the 49ers vs. Seahawks game and to celebrate the girls birthday. We had chips and guacamole and some shrimp cocktail for appetizers. Then my sister and her husband made chili verde on their Trager. It was soooo good. 

The girls opened gifts from my sister and BIL, my parents and my in-laws. They got even more gifts and played with a bunch of them while we were at my sisters house.

Before dinner, my sister and BIL suprised the girls with a pinata that they filled with candy. The girls took turns wacking at the pinata and then Rory and I took a turn. Yes, we are hitting the pinata with an old ski pole. Ha.

Notice the girls outfits...dresses, high heels, their Frozen jackets and tights.

Then we had our delicious dinner!

Homemade chili verde in a cast iron skillet from the Trager.

After dinner, we watched more of the Niners game and had cupcakes that my sister made for the girls. She made them Funfetti.

We watched the Niners pull out a win at the last second and then went home. It was a great birthday for the girls!!

Fast forward to Tuesday, NYE. We had to work, but got off early. My in-laws picked up the girls as they were having a sleep over. We had a small quick dinner and then headed home to relax and get ready. My head piece never showed up, so my costume wasn't complete, but I think it still looked good.

We headed out to the Depot with our friends for all you can eat and drink night of fun. They had all sorts of passed appetizers along with specialty cocktails all night. 

Once we were there, we took a bunch of photos and then enjoyed our evening. We sang, danced, people watched and had a great time.

After midnight hit and the fireworks went off, we grabbed an Uber home and promptly went to bed. I woke up with a flaming throat and a high fever. After going to the doctor, I found out I had strep throat. I haven't had strep since I was a kid. So I spent New Year's Day and the next day on the couch sleeping most of the day. By Friday I was feeling better as my fever was gone and my ears stopped hurting. My throat was still sore, but not as bad as the first two days. Plus I was on antibiotics. Another year started off being sick. Ugh. But it was so much fun on NYE.

How was your New Year's Eve? Can you believe that my girls are already 5? So crazy. They are soo wonderful, sweet, smart, sassy, beautiful little darlings. I can't wait to see where life takes them! Happy Birthday my little lady babies.

Amazon Prime - December Purchases

* This post contains affiliate links. When you click a link, it is no cost to you and I make a small commission (pennies) from it. Thank you for supporting Sparkles and Lattes.

Last month I went a little crazy with my Amazon purchases. Since it was December and Christmas was on the horizon, I bought all the things. I don't even want to add up how much I spent last month as I know it will be a lot. So get ready for a huge Amazon Prime haul.

linking up with Tanya

First, I bought Rory a Secrid wallet. This wallet is a RFID card wallet. He saw it when he was in Canada and wanted one. He loves it so far and feels more protected.

Secrid RFID Leather Wallet

Next, I bought the girls a princess dress up dress. Avery got Belle and Sutton got Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). They wear them both, but that is just who they were addressed to.

Belle Dress

 Princess Dress-up Costumes

For the girls stockings, I got them these lip balms. They are watermelon flavored and smell heavenly.

Kitty Lip Smackers

I got the girls high heels to match their princess dresses. Sutton got silver and Avery got gold.

Gold/Silver Girls High Heels

They also got a card game each for their stocking. One got Go Fish and the other got Old Maid.

Go Fish Card Game

Old Maid Card Game

Next, I bought the girls some fun cozy socks. My MIL ended up getting them the same brand of socks since they have amazing reviews. The girls LOVE them so far.

Cozy Cat Socks

One of Rory's stocking stuffers was this tire pressure gauge. He doesn't have one in his glove box (which we found out this year when we needed one), so I got him this one. It has great reviews on Amazon. And everyone needs one in their vehicle.

Tire Pressure Gauge

Another stocking stuffer for Rory was this Poo-Pourri Spray. My friend had it at her house when I visited and I couldn't stop laughing at it. She said it works great, so I bought it for his stocking. He got a good laugh from it too.

Poo-Pourri Spray

Does anyone else have a husband with large feet? Size 14? My husband does and he can never find extra large dress socks. So I went hunting on Amazon and got him these. He LOVES them and they actually fit his feet.

Mens Extra Large Dress Socks

My husband went through our kitchen recently and threw away a bunch of utensils. He said some were "worn out", but he threw away my beloved spoon that I use to cook all the time. So I had to buy a new one and I got this guy.

Sure Grip Nonstick Nylon Spoon

Another non Christmas related purchase was this clothing rack. Since we are getting closer to the end of our renovation, we needed a clothing rack for when they redo our closets. This one had a great reviews, but wasn't cheap. We know we can use this later on and when we have guests over, so we went for it. Plus it can hold up to 287 pounds of clothes.

Heavy Duty Rolling Clothing Rack

Another non Christmas purchase was this pomade for the girls. We needed something that we could use in their hair for dance class that wouldn't be stuck in there forever. This stuff washes out with water. Rory uses the male version of it.

Suavecita Pomade

The girls needed new helmets and I asked a former blogger (we are still IG friends) what she gets for her kids since her husband is an avid biker. She recommended Bell and Bontrager. I had purchased two on their website, but they never shipped out. Luckily, Amazon had them and I was able to get them in time for Christmas.

Bell Sidetrack Child Helmet

Bell Sidetrack Child Helmet

The girls love water bottles and really liked our Hydroflasks, so I bought them one of their own. I was going to get them a Hydroflask, but I found a killer deal on Takeya, so they got these and they are just as good as the Hydroflask.

Takeya Kids Water Bottle

I bought myself a Roaring 20's/Great Gatsby dress for NYE. This dress looked really good and I got a ton of compliments on it.

Roaring 20's Dress

I needed some items for my new bathroom, so I got this cosmetic organizer which fits most of my make up.

Clear Cosmetic Storage

Another storage organizer that I purchased were these clear bins. I got two sets of them since I wanted to fit all of my toiletries in them. I had medicine cabinets before, and I consolidated everything into these bins. They are great and durable so far.

Clear Storage Bins

I needed a head piece for my Roaring 20's costume, so I purchased this one, but it did not arrive in time. It was set to arrive between December 29th and December 31st, but it didn't arrive until January 2nd. So I sent it back.

Roaring 20's Head Piece

Since we are getting new closets, I bought the girls and I velvet hangers. The girls got a ton of dresses for Christmas and their birthday and they needed new hangers. I also needed new ones since I was using ones from the dry cleaner recently.

Kids Velvet Hangers

Velvet No Shoulder Bump Hangers

What did you buy this month? Did you go crazy like I did with Amazon Prime?

Christmas Recap

Wow, it feels like Christmas was so long ago. But between Christmas, New Year's and then getting strep, I haven't written that much. I had a lot of posts planned out ahead and that saved me. But now, I am getting back to recapping our Christmas. I am recapping the girls birthday and NYE on Wednesday.

Let's back up to Christmas Eve. We had to work that day, so my dad watched the girls. We got off at 3 pm and headed over to my parents house where I painted the girls nails and we waited to go to our family friend's annual Christmas Eve party.

I took one photo that night. I was just too into the moment.

After the party, we headed home and set out the cookies we made for Santa plus some milk and bourbon and then some carrots for his reindeer. This photo was taken after Rory had some of the bites while I was getting things ready.

After we were sure the girls were asleep, we started setting out the gifts and filling the stockings.

And then we watched some Christmas movies and went to bed.

The girls woke up with their clock and eagerly awaited their presents. The girls tore through their gifts in record time. We tried to slow them down, but they were just so excited.

After gifts, the girls played and we made breakfast. We usually do cinnamon rolls, but changed it up this year. We had English muffins with scrambled eggs and bacon. We made sandwiches out of them and had some coffee and mimosas.

After getting ready, we headed over to my in-laws house, so we could spend the day with Walter. We took photos, had snacks, and the girls opened even more gifts.

After a short nap, we had dinner. We had king crab, rolls, broccolini, a sweet potato casserole and a salad. It was all very delicious. Then we had a Buche de Noel for dessert.

After dessert, we headed home as we had to work the next day. Boo.

Thursday, we worked and then headed to Rory's uncles house in the mountains for another Christmas dinner. This has been tradition for years. This time we dined on beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, roasted veggies, salad and another veggie dish. For dessert, we brought over the chantilly vanilla cake from Whole Foods which was a hit.

These two pictures were taken a few years apart, but it is very cool to see how the children have grown and new ones added.

We took Friday off, so we got home pretty late Thursday night. But since we are still in the middle of renovations, we headed over to my in-laws house around 9 am to hang out for the day.

My in-laws took the girls to the Discovery Museum and we went to lunch. Then we hung out on the couch and watched football the rest of the day. We had some homemade chili for dinner and it was the perfect ending to the Christmas week!

 My FIL made us Picon's.

Sutton took this photo of my MIL, Walter and I.

How was your Christmas? Did you celebrate all week?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S! I can't believe we are in a new decade. Cheers to 2020 being amazing!!!