Laney's birthday teaparty!

This not so little sister asked to have a "Fancy" party for her big 5 year old debut.

I was just a little excited when we suggested a Tea Party and Little Sister  jumped aboard that idea.

I will admit I went overboard, but it was definitely worth it!

Simple decorations outside...

Inside Decor...

We used my pop-up tent and set it up in the play room so that we could have decorations hanging above the tea tables.  We had to put together 3 tables for the "Fancy Tea Table" because 18 of the 20 children we invited came to the party!  Streamers, Doilies, and of course PINK!

The Food...

Tiny treats for those with a sweet tooth

Did you notice that I used my Tea Party Plates?

The Cake...

Believe it or not, this was my first attempt at fondant.  It was like playing with playdough.

I covered the cake with fondant flowers, and adorned it with a tiny fairy tea set.

Little Sister LOVED her fancy cake.

The People...

I am so lucky to have a mother, sister and brother-in-law that were willing to dress-up and put on an act for the kids, Queen of England style!

Arrival: 

Kids decorated name cards and placed them at the Giant Tea Table

in the open spot they wanted to sit.

Game:

We played a Tea Party Spoon race outside.

Kids had to scoop up a spoonful of tiny marshmallows and race to the end to fill up their tea cup.

There were a lot of marshmallows in the grass afterward.

Dress Up:

After the racing, we came in and played dress-up to get everyone fancy for our tea party.

The girls made Fancy Tea Party Hats with butcher paper and adorned them with flowers and feathers.

There was candy jewelry, feather boas, and beads galore for the girls as well.

The boys decorated top hats and cardboard ties with stickers and crayons.

Tea Time:

Once we were all dressed, it was time for tea!

Or at least, sandwiches, crackers, and snacks.

Tea Party Etiquette:

My favorite part of the party, was when all 18 kids sat at the table,

and they were almost completely silent, eating their snacks.

While they were eating I told them some silly tea party etiquette.

For instance: drink with your pinky's up, and perhaps they could talk with an accent!

I think Little Sister's favorite part was everyone singing "Happy Birthday to You!"

and of course blowing out the candles.

Present Time:

Then it was time to open some presents, and actually it was A LOT of presents with 18 kids attending.

While that craziness was happening, we turned on Alice in Wonderland for the kids to watch.

End of Party Activities:

Little Gal put herself in charge of a ribbon dancer follow-the-leader game,

and some kids continued watching Alice in Wonderland.

Picture Time:

Before anyone left, we had to get some pictures of these fancy little kids.

I have to say...I think they do fancy quite well.

Each child went home with a miniature tea set and a goodie bag with fun kid stuff.

I would have loved to go to a party like this when I was a girl!

I really hope Little Sister remembers it.

Thanks everyone for helping to put on a great show for the kids!

And most of all...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE SISTER!!!

We love you the mostest. :)

                                                                                        Cheers,

Bye Bye iPod Touch!

Josh and Nick got iPod Touches for their birthday. Kind of like an American Express Card, they never leave home without it. They even sleep with them under their pillows (so I can't take them away!)

Josh had a little accident while mowing the lawn with his iPod cranked up a bit too high...


Unfortunately, the iPod didn't survive its dunking. Josh is back to his old iPod nano. So sad...

Skylar's Birthday

Sky celebrated her 2nd birthday! We had a little party with lots and lots of presents!


She loves her bracelets from Morgan and Cade!!



She blew out her candles all by herself! Happy birthday Sky!!

Sky's Visit!

Kylie and Mike are taking a well deserved cruise to celebrate their 5 year anniversary. Which means that Sky gets to come hang out with us while they party on the big boat.

Kylie's goal is to kick back, relax and enjoy the scenery. Mike's goal is to eat as much as he can as many times as he can because it's all FREE!!!

Sky's goal is to pack as much fun into each and every day as she possible can. So far, so good!
First, Sky decided that she really really likes Grammy's watch. In fact, she likes all of Grammy's watches, and she likes to wear them all at once!






Grammy has to do a little work on the computer every morning so we made an awesome "hangout" for Sky in the hallway. She has her "softy bane" which is a soft sheepskin rug, a couple of pillows and a little TV/DVD player so she can watch her Wonder Pets and Blue's Clues movies (and eat popcorn) while Grammy works.






We had a great swim party with Cade, Morgan and the Christensen girls - Carrie and Sarah, Kadie and Laney, and Nick and Josh. It was almost 100 degrees outside so the pool felt great! Sky loved the water wings that she borrowed from Crew, and she wanted to spend every minute in the water. She especially likes to jump in to whoever will catch her!






Laney is also very good at jumping in the pool. In fact, she is SO good at it that this is all I can catch without a high speed camera! She jumps in with her floaties on her arms, then swims to the nearest wall, climbs out and jumps right back in!






Sky's favorite thing to do is to go "zooming" in the spa, which is extremely entertaining because the zoomer (Morgan) tends to get extremely dizzy, while the zoomee (Sky) just laughs and laughs and laughs...and then says "More zoom!"







After about three hours the little girls were all wrinkly and waterlogged, so they had showers (and played in Grammy's big tubtub with bubbles!) and then played cars in their jammies. And ate popcorn. And they ALL slept very well that night!