Happy Birthday, Aryn!

My niece, Aryn, had a VERY special 6th birthday! She started the day by going to Pump It Up! playtime, then we met up with her at Chuck E. Cheese, and then she went for a "Glitz n' Glam" makeover at a little girls' salon. What a special day!

After a photo session at JC Penney's and then dinner out with the family, we all went back to Grandma's house for GIANT cupcakes for Aryn and the Superstar's birthdays. Wow!

They were delicious!

We gave Aryn her very first Vera Bradley purse...yay!

The Princess and Aryn show their Vera purses.

The Princess has a Mod Floral Blue Little Katie and Aryn has a Raspberry Fizz Audry.

Crocodile Dock ROCKS!

This summer's Vacation Bible School theme was Crocodile Dock. It was a whole lot of FUN! We've enjoyed listening to the CD of songs ever since then.the Superstar with his crew...

Sunday morning, the VBS kids helped to lead our church service. It was wonderful! The Superstar was front and center and did a super job helping to lead the congregation in song.



After church, we continued listening to our CD of VBS songs and the Princess "got into it" and sang along! In fact, she hasn't stopped singing since!

The Superstar has a sleep over birthday party!

For the Superstar's 7th birthday party, he wanted to have his friends sleep over and hold a light saber/Jedi duel. We compromised and had his friends over for a sleep over and watched Star Wars episode 1 instead of the duel. We started with a hot dog/hamburger dinner:


The Superstar is not a fan of cake (????) so I made him a giant chocolate chip cookie instead. Thank goodness Aunt Karen was here to help do the decorating!

yummy!

Aunt Karen even put the candles in the shape of a 7 - awww.

Oh what fun!

watching the movie...

the tents!!

The Pirate is ready to sleep!

All smiles the next morning :)

YAWN...we're still a little tired.

Time to play the piano!

The party was a lot of crazy fun! We had 9 kids sleeping out in two tents - along with Daddy and Uncle Jaime. Three of the kids ended up sleeping inside but no one needed to be taken home during the night - yay! I don't know if we'll do this again - it was real hot in the tents - but we'll remember this party happily.

haircut, Chuck E. Cheese, and presents!

The Princess went for a haircut today while the Superstar was at Vacation Bible School. She told me SEVERAL times, "I NO get a haircut anymore! I don't WANT to. Mommy get a haircut! I no get a haircut!" Our hair stylist gave her a lollipop so she stopped crying and at least sat on my lap for the first half of the cut. Then the Princess stood on the floor while Crystal finished trimming her up. All that drama! But her haircut is GREAT! Thank you, Crystal!

The Princess even "allowed" her hair to be blow dried! Look at that face - geesh!

After the haircut, the Princess put on her pretty dress and we picked up the Superstar from VBS. We surprised him by taking him to Chuck E. Cheese - YES!

Several of our friends met us there for a fun play date. Thanks for coming everyone!


Afterwards, we went home and the Superstar opened up his birthday gifts. He even let the Princess help him!

He loves those Transformers!

Happy Birthday, Superstar!

Today is the Superstar's birthday. Today, he is 7!! Happy Birthday, Superstar! We love you!

age 7

age 6

age 5

age 4

Party Weekend!

This was a party weekend for our family! Saturday was our friend the Pirate's birthday (7!!) and the Superstar and Daddy went to his Spongebob swimming party. The Princess and Mommy went to Herbie's baby party (Brody is coming in about 6 weeks! Whoa!) We all had fun. The Superstar got to spend the night with the Pirate too - yay!

Sunday, we went to the Princess' friends, Hunter & Hayden's, birthday party. They turned 3. It was a fun party.

7-11 = FREE SLURPEE DAY!!!

On July 11, 7-11 offered free 7.11 oz. Slurpees! YUM! The Superstar enjoyed his banana flavored one. Delicious!

The Superstar JUMPS!!

The Superstar had another swimming lesson today and he completed 3 firsts - swimming by himself, jumping in the pool without help, and jumping off the diving board! WONDERFUL!

Venice Beach

We took a trip up to Venice Beach - about an hour away from us. It was a beautiful day, hot but not too hot or humid. The Superstar and Daddy searched the water/sand for shells and sharks' teeth. The Princess played in the sand. UNTIL, she realized that she was getting dirty! She HATES to be dirty! She asked for a wipey to get clean. Poor girl! I took her down to the water to clean up and she screamed LOUDLY! "NO WATER!!" She screamed, cried, and carried on until it was time to leave. Then, we tried to rinse her off in the showers/rinsers at the end of the boardwalk. She did NOT want anything to do with that! Again, more screaming! And more "no beach!" The Superstar enjoyed himself at least. However, it will be awhile before we go on a family outing to the beach!

Independence Day

We had a great time on the Fourth of July this year! We joined our friends, The Pirate and the Mermaid, for swimming and dinner at their house:

No, she didn't nap! But she did enjoy the Mermaid's bed!

After playing at their house, we went with our friends to our annual "spot" to watch our city's fireworks display. It was fun! We played with bubbles and glow sticks while we waited.

Check out that American Spirit! Go, Mermaid! Show the Princess what it's all about!