Happy 1/2 Birthday

I know...I know...most would probably think this very silly of me! My dd's birthday is in December...right between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That is a hectic time of year for everyone. However, this past December, Maine saw a lovely ice storm come through that knocked power out in our area for three days. Well, it just so happened that one of those day was supposed to be dd's 6th birthday party.

I consoled her with the promise of a 1/2 birthday in June, when the weather would be nice and she and her friends could enjoy some outdoor games. She was pacified...I thought she would forget...(should I feel guilty for that? lol)

She did not forget...and along about the end of May, when she realized June was coming soon...began to pine away for her party.

We finally held it at the end of July...it rained almost the entire month of June. (Who feels like celebrating when it is so gloomy outside?) We decided on a princess/dress-up tea party. My oldest daughter had dd spend the night with my granddaughter the night before (her first ever sleep over!) so I was able to go shopping for goodies and come home and decorate without her seeing anything! My ds5 helped me decorate in the morning...he blew up ALOT of balloons! I hung streamers, and we prepared the games. I decided to forgo the cake and ice cream since this wasn't her actual birthday...but did the tea table very fancy, and found fancy cookies to serve along with fruit and cheese cubes.

First the girls entered the "boutique" and got all dolled up:


Then we made paper fans:

(my dd is the one trying hard NOT to smile in those last two photos...heaven forbid she show any emotion! lol)

Then we played Kiss the Frog Prince: (dd loved this game, and actually smiled for me - not a pretty smile, but a smile nonetheless.)


Then came refreshments...yum, yum! This is the only shot of our school table all fancied up and the girls actually looking at the camera, lol!


Here's a close up of the smiling 1/2 birthday princess:


Lastly, she opened her gifts, and then the girls had some time to play with them:


*Ü* Blessings,

Happy Independence Day!

On occasion, we have watched the show "Jon & Kate plus 8." While I am saddened by the recent events in this family's life, I am not really surprised... living your life under a microscope (or in front of a camera) must be very stressful.

Anyhow...the point of this post, is that on one of those episodes, while the family is vacationing, Kate and the kids made this yummy flag cake. Well, dd6 was just in awe of the cake. (She loves strawberries.) So we made a plan to make this same cake for the Fourth of July.

And we did...





I hope your family had a wonderful holiday!

*Ü* Blessings,

Daddy gets involved

Daddy loves hearing about our day, and it's really not surprising that he wanted to be more involved than his work schedule would allow. He opted to do some "manly" activites with ds5...but dd6 joined in, too!

We took a Saturday morning, and went to several stores so daddy could get all the necessary supplies for his project. Then I left them alone so daddy could have complete control of the chaos lol!

He taught them how to use a hammer and nails. This was just a "practice" session, but the kids loved it...here they are hard at work:





I can't wait to see what they really build!

*Ü* Blessings,