Thursday, April 24, 2014

A Paris Party for Sarah

For Sarah's 13th birthday, Emily and I decided we wanted to throw her a birthday party. But not just any birthday party, a Paris party! We rarely give our kids birthday parties, but with Sarah's sweet, undemanding personality, we felt she deserved a special party for her jump into the teenage years!
We rented a room at our local Civic Center for the afternoon.
 This provided us a perfect spot to set the stage for her party! We decorated with pink, white and black everything.
 We had tables set up for seating and food.
 We bought Paris place settings and had centerpieces of black tulle and Eiffel Towers, cut from my Silhouette SD.
 Emily made these amazing tissue paper balls for wall decorations.
 Using the Silhouette again, I was able to make Sarah a banner out of pink and black paper. So much easier than cutting things out by hand!
Croissants, fruit cups, cookies,
assorted candies and mints were on the menu. We also served color coordinated pop and water bottles with printed poodle labels.
 I made a simple cake stand from cans, foam board and wrapping paper to serve her Eiffel Tower cupcakes on. They were pink lemonade flavor and each topped with an Eiffel Tower piped from black candy melts.
 We set up other tables for the girls to sit at while playing "pass the present" and bingo.
On the other table we set up bingo supplies, prizes, goodie bags and picture props. 
 My husband printed out a huge Eiffel Tower for us that we hung on the wall as a picture backdrop, colored with pink chalk and decorated with smaller tissue balls.
 All the girls made good use of this and spent a loooong time coming up with silly photos, as Emily and Sarah were happy to demonstrate. We gave each girl a copy of the photos when Sarah handed out thank you notes.
After all the activities were done, it was time to open presents and say good-bye to friends.
I hope Sarah had an amazing 13th birthday filled with many happy memories!

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

A Little Zane Catch-up

Even though Zane was just recently introduced, he's actually 4 months old now.
This little guy is such a happy baby! He's been a total delight since his arrival in December.
Here's some pictures from the earlier months:
 He's as amazed by her as she is by him.
 He wasn't very old when he started to smile!
 These past four months have flown by. Zane has fit into our family easily!
 But who could resist those cheeks?
 Or that slightly furrowed brow?
He is now weighing in at 15 lb 13 oz and can roll over, play with toys and "sing".
 So now at four months old?
We are all smitten!
 

Monday, April 14, 2014

There's This Cool Guy I Know...

his name is Josh and he's a junior in college. He can be kind of silly sometimes...
He's working on a double major while working 2 jobs, and somehow still finds time for his girlfriend and his family.
He loves his family...
 and they love him. A lot.
21 years ago yesterday, he made me a mom for the very first time. Sometimes I forget that he's my son and not just some cool guy I know..., because he's amazing and I feel privileged to have him in my life.

Happy 21st Birthday Josh!


Thursday, April 10, 2014

A Year in Review

Wow. I can't believe it's been a year since I posted anything. What started as a short break turned into a long break!

Here's a quick review of our year:
 Ethan played baseball where he discovered he loves being catcher.
Seth was a key player on his team.
Molly danced in her first recital!
As did Leah,
and Abby! They did great!
Sarah was amazing in her performance! Takes our breath away.
As hard as it was to believe, Seth finished middle school. 

Since Scott was still out of work, we decided to take a vacation.
To Disneyland!
So fun!!
But we had to return home for a very important date:
Megan graduated and delivered a wonderful Valedictorian speech.

About this time, Scott was rehired at the company he was let go from. What a huge relief and blessing!

So, next up was fair!
All the older kids did amazing,
and the little kids got to try showing animals too.
Megan and Seth even raised market turkeys which were sold in auction. 

But our biggest news from the past year?
Meet Zane Alexander, born December 14, weighing 8 lb 1 oz.
The easiest, most happy baby. Ever.

He made for a very special (and busy) Christmas.
My baker's dozen.
In case you were wondering, Anna's all grown up! 2 going on 12.
Did you miss us?
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