Branching Out Ceremony

Yesterday was Makenna's "Branching Out Ceremony" at Willow Springs.  The school celebrates an end to 4k and sends each student off to one of the four different elementary schools.

Makenna was SO excited to get all dressed up for her special day!

It was really a cute ceremony!  I only teared up a little when it first started....ha!

They sang 2 songs - the second one was "What a Wonderful World" - thankfully Makenna told me they would be singing this one ahead of time.  This is "her" song.  It was a song we listened to on the way home from Makena Beach when we dreamed of having kids and decided if God were to ever answer our prayers with a baby girl that her name would be just that.  It was the song we heard when we went out for brunch at Sheridan's when I was pregnant and I later read in my baby development book that her heart likely started beating that day.  I convinced myself it started when the song came on at brunch.  It was the first song we played after she was born.  I only teared up a little during it at the ceremony.  

With the principal, Mrs. Steiner during the ceremony

Putting her leaf on the Woodside Elementary tree

Back at school with the practice tree

So proud of our 4k grad

Makenna and her best friend.....worst enemy.... I call them frenemies, Darby.  They certainly have a love/hate relationship.  No one in school can make or break Makenna's day like Darby can.  They are a little too similar - both very strong willed and very we'll call it "leadership types."  We are looking forward to a little break for the two of them for the summer:)  And yes, they'll be together next year at Woodside......in separate classes.

I found out today that this little cutie had a little crush on Makenna all year.  Isn't he the cutest?  His mom told me he came home talking about her on the first day of school and hasn't stopped since.  He even invited her to his birthday party, but we couldn't make it.  Apparently he was crushed.  Poor thing!  He'll be going to Maple Avenue next year so they'll have to wait for middle school to meet up again.

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Makenna and her good friend Tiffani, who will also be going to Woodside.

Makenna and Bitsy, who will be going to Marcy.

Thanks for teaching Makenna so much this year Mrs. Schulz!

Ms. Brenda, Makenna's after school bus driver.  Yes, this is the same one that drove right past our house on that first day of school......turns out she is actually pretty great.  We'll miss her this summer!  

SO excited to spend the summer with these two TOGETHER!

The neighbor boys at the bus stop - crazy how much they've grown!

After school today, we headed to the lake for a little picnic lunch just the two of us.

Daddy surprised her with 4 flowers to celebrate an end to 4k tonight.

What a great year!!

Makenna's Mermaid Bash

Another perfect day for a birthday party!  That marks 5 years in a row of GORGEOUS weather the weekend after her birthday.  Seriously, we have been SO lucky!  Especially because I am guest list challenged and we usually end up with more people than what could fit in my house:)  

The birthday girl was SOOO anxious for the guests to arrive ALL day!

Thankfully she had her cousins to keep her busy until the party started

Goof balls

Alex LOVES Madison!!

Testing out "Walk the Plank" the day before the party.  I actually thought this was kind of lame, but she was really excited about it once I started putting it out and wanted to help me make it so I went with it.  As a side note, in person this looked HORRIBLE.  Ha!!  The shark fins kept falling over in the wind and you see that crepe paper around them?  That's to hide the duct tape.  Lol.  

This is her

best pirate

imitation.  

Ha ha!  We even had Alex doing it by the end of the day.

"Helping" me make crabs for the party too....

And here are the invites..... I "may" have ended up making 2 different ones because my invite list was, well, 35 invitations and I didn't quite have enough of either kind of paper for them all so I had a little fun with both of them.  

Can't believe she's 5?!?!

The party favors.  I already had the chest for this and those cute little pails, so I actually only spent money on the things inside the bags..... chocolate coins, gummy worms, life savers, salt water taffy, mermaid stickers, eye patches, beads and some rings. 

These two honeys came dressed as the CUTEST little mermaids.  Love these sweet friends!

Goldfish in a bucket

Shark teeth.....aka Doritos

Dinglehoppers - when I showed Makenna this she had no idea what a dinglehopper was.  She clearly needs to watch Little Mermaid one more time....

Seaweed (spinach artichoke) dip

Family pic.....minus daddy - where is he anyway?

Seaweed Grapes - found this on pinterest and Grandma offered to make them - super cute!

Ocean Tide pasta salad, courtesy of Auntie Sarah.  You can't tell from the picture - but the pasta was all ocean shaped - fish, octopus, etc.  Super cute!  Thanks Sarah!

Blue fruit dip and strawberries courtesy of Ms. Amy

Starfish Sandwiches - thanks Auntie Amy for making these!!

I find that with 35 kids, some sort of a craft isn't a bad idea.  So I bought a bag of white seashells at Michaels, threw a few markers on the table and made a little sign for it. 

The kids loved it!

A better picture of Blake's cute dress.

Because sometimes, you have to let the birthday girl pick out her own cake....even if it has no correlation to the party theme she asked for.  And sometimes you have to look past the misspelling on the cake as well.  Oh well.  She didn't seem to care as long as she got a piece with all the colors on it.

She's only pretending to blow here..... Grandma got her some super cute candles but they didn't light in the wind.  Oh well. 

Daddy's spread for the guests.

My usual water bottles...

No party would be complete at our house without Great Grandma Busch's sugar cookie recipe - made into beach balls and starfish.

More of the treat table.  I especially liked the puffer fish!

More treat bags and a shell from Cookie Beek

An Ariel picture Makenna had in her room.

This picture is my favorite from the day..... love the smile on her face and the smile in the background on daddy's face.  

Happy 5th birthday Kenna Girl!  Mama had so much fun planning your party again this year.   We are so blessed to have so many friends, family and neighbors that could come to celebrate with us!!