a gr(eight) birthday

 rise-n-shine!  it's donut time!!  big sister picked out her favorite donut - plain glazed.  you can keep all the fancy sprinkles and icing - this girl is a purist. 

 then came time for presents - she told me a while ago exactly what she wanted: a fijit friend in blue.  so, that is what she got, along with a few other goodies. 

and last, but certainly not least - time for dessert!  mini banana splits.

we are kinda on cupcake overload right now, having had them at her party, and sister's party.  sometimes, there can be too much of a good thing!

happy birthday, big sister!  hope 8 is great!

party weekend

not only did we have big sister's birthday party today, but she and 4 friends started partying at another classmate's slumber party on saturday evening.  this was big sister's first real sleepover.  she & about 12 girls partied until the wee hours (2:30 am is the story i heard).  after picking her up sunday morning, she had a few hours to rest before her own party, and a quick nap was unavoidable.

(before and after) 



for her own party, big sister chose a dolphin theme, and i tried my best to accommodate.

we had a great turnout - 9 of the 14 kids we invited came for a few hours of swimming, water balloons, a pinata, and - of course - cupcakes & ice cream.  it was fun, but i don't know if i could do this more than 1x per year!  and many thanks goes to daddy for being a terrific lifeguard! :-)







sleepover success

 little sister had 5 friends over to celebrate her birthday.  3 of them stayed overnight - they enjoyed pizza, cupcakes & ice cream, danced, watched movies, and generally had a squealing-good time.  (yes, with this many girls there was lots of squealing)

it was my first time hosting such a party, so by the end i was pretty exhausted.  3 girls fell asleep by 10:45, but the other 2 were up with me until i made them go to bed at 11:30.  but little sister and friends had a blast, so that is what i'll remember most.

thank goodness for all the wii "just dance" games we have - they really came in handy.  it was so cute to hear 7-year-olds singing along to the latest hits. 



look who's six!

rise & shine!  it's someone's birthday! ! ! !

 we started the day with a mini-donut tower treat.

then after dinner, it was time for presents and cake.  

does she look happy to be 6 or what?

dog walker for hire?

i'm not sure who is walking who here.  little sister is enjoying these few weeks with "g-ma's" dog, penny.  (yes, they have started calling my mom "g-ma".  not sure how that started, but it's where we're at...)

toothless

pink piggy, meet green piggy.

we finally found little sister a piggy bank - and we found it just in time...

lost tooth #3

sweet treat

 i was wrong - we figured out another cool red, white n blue dessert:  J-E-L-L-O !

and don't be stingy with the "white"!

happy 4th!

we decorated our bikes last night for the annual 4th of july parade thru our neighborhood.  so this morning, we put on our best red, white, & blue outfits and hit the street.

once the parade started, it turned into more of a race than a parade, as the girls and 3 other kids on bikes led the way and were soon out of sight - only to spend the next 10 minutes waiting at the rally point for donuts and juice to be served.  next year, remind me to slow them down somehow.  any ideas??

why didn't i try this sooner?

guess who we bribed to stop sucking her thumb with a new doll?

little sister has been begging for a monster high doll for a few weeks now, so last weekend i told her if she worked really hard on saturday & sunday to not suck her thumb, i would get her one as a reward.  well, she did okay (not great) - but i got her one today and told her that if she starts sucking her thumb again, the doll gets taken away.  but she can earn it back if she does better.  so, that is the deal we have right now, and we'll see how it goes. 

we've tried many times to get her to stop, but it always ended in fighting and stubborn tantrums and tears.  this time, she seems to have a better attitude about stopping, and she seems to want to stop but sometimes slips involuntarily.  so far, my gentle reminders to her are met with "okay, mom" and "oops, i forgot" instead of angry glares and blatant refusal.  wish us luck!!

a berry good cake

i dug out my pampered chef checkerboard cake pans and created a patriotic masterpiece.  it is super yummy, and likely won't last until wednesday.  no harm in celebrating early, right?

first, i made a regular yellow cake mix.  then i split it into 3 semi-equal parts.  i colored 1 part red and 1 part blue.  and i figured we could pretend the yellow part is white.

 then i used the pan insert to create the colored rings.

 they look kinda messy before going into the oven.

 it's always so hard to wait for the layers to cool.

 add cool whip and berries for the topping, and viola!  very pretty... 

i think i may do cakes like this for the girls' birthdays.  little sister already decided she wants green, purple, and red.  big sister would like red, blue and chocolate.  sounds like we are in store for some more masterpieces this month!

splish splash

a perfect beginning to july...