Birthday Weekend Extravaganza!!!

Breakfast on her birthday morning

Make a wish!

Alana

Pose haha

Opening a present from Gramma and Grampa

Having a birthday snack

Flowers from Gramma and Grampa

Ready to open presents

Barbie computer

Butterfly necklace!

So happy

She got two of them actually and gaved one to Brynn

Daddy and his Birthday Girl

Birthday girl and Mommy

Um, don't ask...

Brynn

She looks guilty...

Still waiting on some teeth...

Alana

Being silly

Putting some ballerina's on the front door

Her Barbie Ballerina cake

Alana and her cake

Make another wish!

How about another wish?

Alana is 4!!!

Brynn and Alana

Brynn & Alana

Brynn, Alana, and Ali dancing...

Alana, Ava, and Alexa

Alana & Aunt Kate playing a game

Some of the birthday party guests

Chuck E Cheese!

Alana getting her birthday crown

Birthday star!

With her birthday medallion

Most of the kids at the party (some didnt' want to be in the picture)

Nolan slept through the whole party

Alana, Ella, & Emma

Opening presents

Alana, Caroline, & Emma

Brynn

Opening more presents at home

Our fence after the storm (Steve had already cleaned up the yard)

Two houses down (Alot of bigger trees were damaged down the street)

One more picture of the fence

Brynn at Incredible Pizza Co. for Veronica's Birthday

Alana

Brynn

Alana at the Mini Bowling area

Alana had a wonderful birthday!!! Mom had came down Wednesday so she and I were here to wish Alana a happy birthday right when she woke up. The first thing she asked is if she looked taller. Then then enjoyed a birthday breakfast of a glazed donut with 4 candles. She loved it! She did get to open a few presents from Gramma which made her very happy! She got to pick what she wanted for lunch and she picked a McDonalds Happy Meal. Alana had a bouquet of balloons delivered from Grandma and Grandpa Malo and then later in the afternoon she got flowers that were shaped like a birthday cake with real candles from Gramma and Grampa Mahon...Mom left that afternoon and Steve got home to wish his little girl Happy Birthday. Alana then opened presents from us. She had a great time. The main thing she has been asking for is a butterfly necklace. She saw them a few months ago and wanted one and then of course by the time I went shopping they were out, so had to send Steve on a hunt and he luckily found them! She opened all her presents from us and we saved the butterfly necklace for last. I had gotten her a few dress up necklaces too and when she opened them she was so cute. She told me she really wanted a butterfly necklace but that it was okay haha. She had said all afternoon she wanted to go to Texas Roadhouse for supper that night, so we originally planned on letting her open her necklace there, but once she was done opening presents, she said she wanted to stay home and play with her stuff.

Carissa and Matt arrived around 7:15 or so that night and Alana was very excited to see them. Then about 30 minutes later Dave and Kate arrived with a huge bouquet of balloons. Alana was enjoying her night! We all hung out and ordered some takeout. After putting the girls to bed we continued sitting on the deck until 12:30 a.m. Friday we hung out here with Matt and Carissa. Alana had her 4 year checkup at 1:40. She knew she was getting shots so had been worrying about it for some time. I usually take them by myself, but this time had Steve come home and go with us. I had a feeling I would need help at this one! Carissa and Matt kept Brynn home with them and we headed to the doctor. Her appointment went fine. She didn't want to be checked out much though and then when it came time for the shots she was really upset. She got them done though and does not have anymore until age 11!! On our way home Steve told her that he would go with her when she is 11 to get those shots and she was so cute and said "I will just go by myself to those".

Friday night Mom came back down which made the girls so happy. Dave, Kate, Kirk, and Veronica also came over. We all had a great time hanging out on the deck.

Saturday morning was PARTY DAY!!! Grampa arrived and then later in the morning Grandma and Grandpa Malo got here. The girls were excited to have everyone here. Mom had made alot of great food and we had that for lunch and then Alana got to blow out her candles on her ballerina cake she wanted. We had the girls lay down for awhile but Alana was too excited to nap. We headed for Chuck E Cheese for her 4:00 party. She had alot of friends and some cousins there to help her celebrate her big day. She was really excited to play with some of her preschool friends she hadn't seen since May. I think it really helped her get excited for school in a couple weeks. I was very impressed with Chuck E Cheese!! They really made it so special for Alana and I think she really loved all the attention!!! She was not shy at all and just had such a fun party!!! The party was to get over at 5:30 but we ended up being there until 6:30.

We came back to the house and Alana got to open more presents and we also celebrated Mom's birthday too. It was fun to just have a relaxing evening and laugh at the girls as usual. We were up until 2:00 a.m. just visiting and having a fun night. Sunday morning Alana slept in until after 10 a.m. She was exhausted!! We went out for brunch and then came home and everyone left. We all took naps which felt wonderful!

Sunday night we decided to go out for supper. We went to El Rodeo and while we were eating it was pouring outside. We finally ran to the car and headed for Ankeny. When we got back to town we had to go pick up Steve's truck and trailer. The road into the parking lot was so flooded. It was almost scary to drive through it. On our way back to the house we were just shocked at what we were seeing. Roads were so flooded, so many branches were down, and even some signs were blown down. What is the world happened in the hour we were out????

We pulled up into our driveway and our recycling bin, along with our neighbors were blown over and stuff was EVERYWHERE! I tried opening the garage and nothing happened so I knew our power was out. I opened the front door and then Steve and I went to our backyard and to our surprise our gate was broke and two big panels of our fence were blown down. Our back yard was covered with recycables and part of our firepit was behind our fence back by the road behind our house. What a mess!! Many people on our street lost so many branches and trees. I am so happy we were not here when the storm went through. I think the girls would have been really scared.

Steve put the fence back up and picked up the yard which I was inside with the girls. After being here two hours with no power we decided to head up to Humboldt for the night. Around 8:30 we all left. Steve was heading up there Monday morning anyway so it worked out pretty well. We had other options here in Ankeny, but I just thought the girls would do better with beds and to be where they are comfortable...

We were in contact with our neighbor all night and he said our power came back on around 1:00 am, so it was out for about 7-8 hours. The girls were excited to see Gramma and Grampa again though and we ended up staying there two nights. We got home Tuesday afternoon to a very DRY basement thank God!! Ted and Steve put a batter backup sump pump in this winter and we are so thankful for that!!! If we hadn't we would have had to be here Sunday night bucketing water out of the sump pump as our neighbors did. What a relief!!!

Overall, Alana had such a wonderful 4th birthday!! Thank you for everyone who came to her party, sent her birthday wishes, and called her on her big day!! She keeps saying she really likes being 4!!! Last night we went to Incredible Pizza Company to help my cousin Veronica celebrate her birthday. The girls had a great time and I think it felt like we were still celebrating Alana's birthday! haha