EJ is 10

For EJ's big 10th birthday party, she wanted a "spa/Late-night" party.  We invited a small group of her good friends (i.e. manageable :>) and they had a blast!

The décor was colorful and fun, just like our girl! She requested a double-tier cake with blue frosting- her fave color.

We had the spa supplies ready- fingernail polish, face mask, and hand/foot scrub.

Favors included the silly headbands, and goody bags with chapstick and a bath pouf. The girls also got to take home some of the scrub.

The girls ate pizza dinner before the spa fun begins. 10 yr old parties are awesome The girls just played, danced and giggled. I just pretty much had to point them in a new direction occasionally and they did the rest. So much fun and they are a fun group of girls!

Face masks and foot scrubbing :)

After the spa fun, there was presents and cake. Then they settled down (sort of) to watch a movie.  DMP took one for the team and kept Bear, Birdy and Rosie occupied in the bedroom with their own little movie party!

Sport Camp!

 A friend of ours told us about a free "sport skills" camp we could sign the girls up for this summer. It was so much fun!  They mostly did relays with football-type drills.  Above is Birdy pulling the tires and below going over the "hurdles" (they also had to go under them sometimes).

Above is EJ (the one in the front of the line) doing the 4 way tug of war. That was a lot of hard work, but lots of fun.   EJ enjoyed the "ladder" run relay, too.

It was an awesome, well-run camp.  The last night there was a family party. Parents (and little brothers) got to participate in all of the drills and then there was a raffle and hot dog dinner. We actually won the raffle!! It was a fancy-shmancy box of all kinds of beauty treatments and make-up. It was a great prize!  I can't wait for next year. Bear will be old enough to participate, too.

Last Day of School

Just for fun, a side-by-side First and Last day of school pics:

 First Day:

Last Day:

 



Just Stuff

Someone got shaved for the summer!  Our guy is great- he doesn't make her look stupid.

EJ had a great end-of-year project. The kids learned all about marketing, manufacturing (cost/profit) and etc. Then they made an item to sell. They had to determine price, create digital and print advertisements.  Then they saw how much profit they made based on the cost for producing.  She came up with the idea to make yarn dolls and did them herself. 

I love that this girl still loves to wear princess dresses. This is her "castle" she put together one day. She and Bear each had "rooms" that they made up.

Happy to say that the produce boxes from Bountiful Baskets are still going strong as the favorite toy in our house with all children of all ages!

Every Party Needs a Snake...

Way back in May, we spent a Saturday whipping our back porch and yard into shape. To celebrate, we invited some friends for dinner and ice cream.  One of my friends has a really tame, awesome snake. EJ was in LOVE.  She is the most patient and cool snake, and my friend wears her all the time.

Bluebonnets 2014

Taking spring pictures with Bluebonnets is a Texas "thing"- Kind of like photos at a pumpkin patch in the fall.  This is one TX tradition I can really embrace! 

 Finding the "best" bluebonnet patch is a big deal. People are posting their favorites all over the internet (or keeping them secret) and the "good" patches can get trampled quickly. Last year we just spotted some and pulled over by the side of the road. 

This year, I wanted to do a little better and plan cute hair and outfits so I started looking and asking around for the perfect spot.  One day, I drove down my street and turned a corner and saw that my neighbor, 3 houses down, had a beautiful, big patch of bluebonnets- right beside their garage!

It was perfect! I made some cookies and took an opportunity to meet a neighbor (they are nice- original owners of the house!). They were flattered that I admired their bluebonnets and let us come and take some pictures. I was lucky that the day was mostly overcast and the kids responded well to an ice cream bribe. 

A few weeks back, Bear had a bee land on his forehead and has been terrified of all bugs ever since. There were a lot of bees buzzing around the flowers, so that didn't help, but he did a good job and we got some good shots in spite of his worry.  The girls were so fun and got really into it.

I paid my friend Kim with freezer dinners to edit our favorites and these will be the kids pics for this year. I can't wait to see them on my wall!

March: Spring Break Spa Day

Spring Break here is hard. Because of state standardized testing schedules, pretty much everyone has their break at the same time.  And if you didn't know, TX is a big state, so that means everyone floods to do all the local fun stuff, as we learned on our San Antonio trip our first Spring Break here... 

Luckily, we've learned to make our own fun. We spent many days with our friends at group play date picnics at various parks.  I also promised the girls they could invite a couple of friends each and we could have a spa party. It was so much fun for everyone!  We got some snacks (m&m's, goldfish, donut holes and water bottles) and some dollar-store supplies- bath salts for feet and hands, face masks and headbands for the girls to keep.  We also made some really easy sugar scrub for their hands and feet (plus there was leftovers to take home!). 

Bear loved the attention from the big girls, but got bored after a while. It was great having the three big girls to help the three little girls.  We soaked and scrubbed hands and feet, applied and washed off a face mask and did manicures and pedicures!

I was a little nervous about executing it by myself, and I couldn't have done it without the help of the bigger girls, but it ended up being fairly relaxing and fun!

February: EJ's Accomplishments

Recently, EJ had some opportunities to shine and share some of her talents!  She was picked to be THE narrator for the school 3rd Grade music sharing program.  Our school has an amazing Music teacher and program. From kindergarten on up they learn instruments (mostly the xylophone-things and recorder) and principles of rhythm and other music principles.  Then they put it all together in a "music sharing" program. This year the program took the form of a story with music, dancing and singing. 

EJ was chosen from all of the 3rd grade kids to be the narrator- the one and only speaking part.  She read the entire story- complete with different "voices" for each character!  We got special permission for Papper to see a final rehearsal and he said it was the best show he has seen in a long time!  When the performance night came, EJ was hardly nervous at all! She was cool as a cucumber and did a FANTASTIC JOB!

We were especially proud of her when, close to the end, the bottom of her tongue got stuck between the two wires on her bottom teeth.  It was really painful, and she couldn't get it out.  However, she was a trooper and she went on with her narration.  No one besides DMP and I even noticed she was distressed until she didn't leave with the other kids and came to find us instead to help her get her tongue unstuck!  She definitely learned that the show must go on, no matter what!


The girl's school also has a really fantastic art teacher and program.  The kid learn all different kinds of techniques and about artists.  Every year all of the elementary schools in the district have an art show and EJ's single-line tiger watercolor was chosen! She was really excited to go to the gallery and see her work displayed!

Home Made 3D Glasses

This girl made her own 3D glasses out of some clear red and blue candy wrappers, a popsicle stick and a toilet paper tube cut in half.  Clever kid! She tried them out with a blue/red 3D Barbie movie we have and it worked!

Nov: EJ's "What I did over Thanksgiving Break" essay

I found this essay in EJ's school things and it was so awesome, I had to share it all with you. This is her "What I did over Thanksgiving Break" essay, apparently.

My Thanksgiving

Over Thanksgiving break I started an Endangered animal foundation called the t.t.a.  I also had a Thanksgiving feast with my friend K and A and I also got a dinosaur ensiclopida (*note: I had to share her spelling because it was cute!) Did you know there was a dinosaur called longisuqama? Or a dinosaur called Gigantosaurus? Did you know that most pet parrots barely survive by the time they get to your house?!?!?! >:( (She drew an angry face here) All living things are in a pyramid.  Humans are at the top. If too many animals become extinct, the entire world falls and humans go down with it. People clear forest and fish in the ocean too much and cows eat all of the grass.  There are poachers and disease. Sadly, probably millions of animals are on the endangered list and thir numbers are going down quickly each day. The endangered list includes:
Bottlenose Dolphin
Gray Wolf
Polar Bear
Panda

That's why we need to save!!!!!

Sept: EJ Turns NINE

I can't believe my girl turned 9 this year! Next year she'll be a whole decade old! She had a fantastic birthday. She woke up to presents and decorations. She REALLY wanted to open Aunt Kate's present before school, so we let her. She also got to open two new TX Rangers t-shirts so she could wear one to school.

We have a tradition where I meet the girls at the bus with balloons and flowers on their birthday. Since we moved out of the school boundaries, I pick them up every day, so it wasn't going to be able to happen this year.  Instead, I met her for lunch (with sushi!) and brought her a birthday crown to wear. She loved all the attention and birthday wishes she got from her classmates and her teacher was super impressed that she requested sushi!

As you can see, she liked Aunt Kate's present more than a little!

The next day was her "friend" birthday party. She and Birdy decorated for the occasion- note the party hats on Hide and Seek, the raccoons!  She looked at my pintrest board and requested baby sea turtle cupcakes. They turned out OK, but not my favorite :)

Instead of a big party with lots of friends, EJ opted to take two of her good friends from church to Build a Bear. I was really, really glad that she picked that option because DMP was out of town until the night before her party!  The poor girls she invited BOTH were injured in the couple of days before- G broke her arm the day before and K broke her tailbone!

In spite of injuries and pouring rain, the girls had a lot of fun at BAB.  They were given a budget and it was fun watching these smart girls work within it and figure out how much they could spend. They came up with pretty cute bears!

EJ requested pretzels at the mall, but the place that was conveniently really close to BAB was out of them and poor K had been a trooper, but wasn't up to any more walking or sitting on a hard chair waiting for them to make more. The girls decided that Braums was the place to go.  I went to the bathroom and left the girls to chat. When I came back, they got awkwardly quiet and I said, "Do y'all want me to go away so you can talk alone?" and EJ told me yes.  Sniff! She is all growed up and not wanting her Mom around :(   I sat at a booth nearby and eavesdropped and they mostly talked about how annoying their little sisters are.

She got a fantastic lot of presents!  She completed her Novi Stars doll collection thanks to Grandma and Grandpa K and the Target toy clearance.  She also was really excited about the new book series one of her friends gave her.

Monday after her birthday brought a surprise from Aunt Cyndi!  A guide to all the Pokémon characters. She is becoming quite the expert!