Skylar

Our beautiful Skylar will be one in just a few short weeks.  She's stolen our hearts.  What a blessing grandchildren are!  It's been so nice to have Alaina and Zac home from Germany.  They will be headed to their next duty station soon but it has been a joy to get to spend some time with them and their beautiful baby girl.

The Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County

This weekend we made the drive to Angel's Camp to see "The Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County".

 I read the Mark Twain story to the kids on the way over.  They were excited at the thought of seeing their very own "Dan'l Webster" and didn't realize they would actually get to participate in the jumping fun.

The folks running the show told the little ones their frogs would jump a greater distance if given a kiss beforehand.  I guess it proved to be true as Anna (surprisingly) was the first and only one to kiss her frog prior to the contest. 

Her frog, which she named "Anastasia" jumped a distance of 3'11" while Lauren's frog "Hunter" and Jake's frog "Big" only jumped a distance of 3'5".  The goal was to place your frog on the circle on the stage and then without touching him again, get him to jump 3 times.  The length of those three jumps was then measured.

 Doug helped Jacob with his frog "Big".  Jacob was very into the contest and doing whatever it took to get his froggy a- moving.

 When Lauren saw that Anna was given an "I Kissed A Frog" button, she had to go back over and kiss her own frog so she could have one too.

 As of this morning she's put holes in two of her shirts with that stinking button, but she wears it like a badge of honor.  I was caught up in the moment and happily obliged their frog kissing but as time passed by Anna and I both begin to wonder about the wisdom behind the kiss.  Anna was terribly embarrassed and in an attempt to make her feel better I told her that there was no reason to be ashamed.  She only did what any self-respecting princess would do.  A girl has to kiss a few frogs to find her prince, right!!  For me, I began to be more concerned about salmonella and am now a bit freaked out.  I'm keeping a close eye on everyone and so far, so good.  I think I have to worry about it until Wednesday or so and then they should be out of the woods.  Funny how becoming a parent seems to make you worry about the worst case scenario with every situation.  I never used to see the danger in anything when I was young.  I remember telling my parents once when I was in my late teens-early twenties as I was out skydiving that I was more afraid of "not living" than I was of "dying".  My, how times have changed.  Having a peanut gallery changes your thoughts on almost everything.

After the frog races, we headed over to the water balls.  They had a different name which I cannot seem to recall but they were a huge hit with the kiddos.

After a break in the shade and a little pizza, it was time to head home.  Jake finally did kiss a frog but I have to say this plastic one was more to my liking!  Ha!  What a fun afternoon!

Anna's Butterfly Ball

We've been busy planning Anna's 9th birthday party. We're basing the party on "The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast", an old book we found in an antique store when we lived in England.  We're so excited because Nana and Poppy are coming in for the weekend of the party. I finished the invitations today. They were inspired by leafcutter designs and the "world's smallest post office".  You should definitely check out their site.  They have some of the cutest products!  I had never used sealing wax before.  It was so much fun that I now want to seal everything.  Haha!  

Our own Laura Ingalls Wilder

Anna's class recently took a trip to the Bernhard Museum in Auburn and had a great time. They had to dress in pioneer garb and bring a pioneer-era meal, no plastic or modern wrappings. We decided to rent a costume this time around although I'm thinking about making a couple of dresses just for play. The pattern used by the costume shop was such a simple one but it was still quite cute. I thought Anna looked lovely!

One of the many reasons I love my father...

I'm really into genealogy and family history.  My dad enjoys reading what I've found and looking at the pictures.  I love the idea of meeting family and asking them questions.  I'm also gung-ho for family reunions.  Those last two ideas, not so much for my dad.   I was recently informed that a family reunion is planned for this May.  Unfortunately, I'm in California and the reunions are in Alabama. I thought it couldn't hurt to ask my dad if he wanted to go for me, even though I know it is definitely not his thing.  This was the e-mail exchange:


Me:  Daddy, How much would I need to pay you to go to this reunion for me? There probably wouldn't be enough Bass Pro Shop gift certificates in the world to even get you to consider this. Love, Me

His Response:  Hi Baby, You are not going to believe this but I have been waiting with eager anticipation for a reunion date, but sadly I have an appointment that weekend to be poked in the eye with a sharp stick and will be unable to attend.   Love, Dad

He cracks me up.

Our guitar hero

Lauren has been taking a "Guitar Hero" music class at school. She's been enjoying it so much that Doug went out and bought a new kids' guitar for the little ones to all enjoy.  He's been giving both Anna and Lauren some instruction whenever we have a free moment.  Lauren's class recently held a concert for all of the parents.  When I arrived, Lauren was outside with two of her friends and she told me she was in charge of their practice.  I got such a kick out of her telling them to go with the rhythm and remember to strum!  When the actual performance started, she did such a great job and I was so proud of her!

Our baby isn't a baby anymore...

For Christmas, Santa brought Jacob a brand new bike.  He can ride it...really well...really fast...which means he's growing up....really fast...too fast...which means my heart is breaking.  By the way, yes, that is a Disney Princess helmet he is wearing.  Doug bought a brand new spider-man helmet with honky horn to go with his bike but Jacob, like his big sister Anna, has one big head.  The 3+ helmet wouldn't even begin to go down over his noggin so he has been forced to wear a hand-me-down Disney Princess helmet (in pink) until Mommy or Daddy can get back to the store.  Yesterday he went to "school" at the drop-in daycare while I ran some errands.  He put together a backpack just like the sisters and was waiting by the door ready to go.  When I dropped him off, I gave him a big hug and kiss and began to leave.  I looked back and he was standing there looking like such a big boy.  I called out, "Have a good day at school, Buddy, I love you!"  He nodded, smiled, waved, and said, "Bye, Mommy, wuv you."  I cried all the way to the store.

Trust in me, just in me...

Okay, last play until summer and thank goodness, because we're all exhausted!  This month Anna will be playing Kaa and one of King Louie's monkeys in "The Jungle Book" at Tower Theatre.  Here are a few sneak peeks from last night's rehearsal.

Anna as "Kaa"

 Kaa and Baloo

 Anna as a monkey

 Anna and Mowgli

 Close-up of her makeup

Snow White, the Evil Queen, and Grumpy

So proud of our two girls in "Snow White Meets the Dwarves" last night. Lauren had the best "grumpy" face ever and Anna was a wonderful evil queen, witch, and Doc.  I was so happy that Anna came around.  She really wanted to play Snow White and was a bit upset about being cast as the queen.  We watched a trailer for the new Charlize Theron movie "Snow White and the Huntsman".  I thought it looked really cool but Anna was in tears at the end.  I asked her why she was so upset and she said it was because the Queen was evil and that went against everything she was trying to be.  Sigh.  My sweet girl.

Lauren really got into the play and had a great time.  Her Grumpy face was outstanding and she did a fantastic job.  I didn't think that this would be her thing but she was really good!  This was a quick mini-musical and the kids only had 8 hours of rehearsal time!  The parents were responsible for the costumes and I made the girls' Doc and Grumpy shirts, their belts, their beards, and Anna's cape, dress, and collar.

Disney 2012

Apparently someone forgot to tell Jacob this is supposed to be the happiest place on Earth. He stomped on Mickey's foot, grabbed a passerby's breast, poked a grandfather in the rear, kicked the folks in line in front of him and hit a girl on the leg, among other assaults. Still, fun was had by all, although I now appear 50 instead of 40.

Seriously...

Seriously swooning over this little red head with his big blue eyes...

I want to have him for breakfast.  Sigh.  Have you ever seen anything quite this cute?

Come. Sit. Stay.

You've heard the expression "better late than never", well it's become my new motto.  We finally had Jacob and Lauren's puppy birthday party this past Saturday.  I didn't think we would ever pull it off.  We've been working on putting it together bit by bit since Jake's birthday in December.    

Our dear friend Gretchen was kind enough to let us borrow her boy "Kodiak" to be our model for invitations and wall decor.  It's amazing what intensity a treat held over your head can generate!  Front of invitation:

Back of invitation:

 We painted up a little doggy art to hang on the front door with polka-dot bows

 I thought it would be cute to have cut-outs for the kids, 7 for Lauren and 3 for Jake. I was in a rush to get invitations ordered and thought I would be using a photo of them with the cut-outs.  We arrived to take this picture approximately 9 minutes before they closed.  You've never seen a mom drag children and wooden dogs out of a suburban faster.  It was chaos but we got at least one shot...although I did have to cut and paste a head in photoshop.  :)

 I always think gumballs seem festive and always forget that my children treat them like crack.  They are addicted and can't get enough.  Jacob seems to think he should be able to fit at least 4 in his mouth at any given time.

 The wall in the living room with handsome Kodiak...

 I made a bone pillow for a "Pass the Bone" game (kind of like hot potato to music) but we never got around to it.  The kids mostly entertained themselves the whole time.

Do you ever have an idea at 4 in the morning which seems brilliant in theory but not so much in the light of day?  I thought it would be fun to have an idiom gallery for the adults, you know "In the Dog House, Sick as a Dog".  I came up with this "idiom" runner with five panels.  We had "dog and pony show", "hair of the dog", my dogs are barking", it's raining cats and dogs, and "the dog ate my homework".  Ignore the wrinkles, please.

I had to find a use for the doggies after the picture and my friend Courtney suggested putting them on the ledge opposite the staircase.  Splendid idea, I thought, especially considering we glued the shims on the backs of the dogs three different times and I don't think I could have handled a fourth.  The first time was when I made them originally.  The second time was when they were riding around in the back of the suburban because I couldn't think of a safe place in the house for them and a soccer ball was tossed on top of them.  The last time was after we set them up waiting to stick the balloons on and a tiny 3-year old (although he denies it) must have gone bowling with the cut-outs as pins.

Okay, can you see any shapes in the fruit?  It's alright, no one else could either.  I've made a visual aid for you below!  Haha!

I came across the framed pictures below on pinterest.  I flipped for these dogs but could not find an original link for them.  I searched again today and found the photographer, Carli Davidson.  She has an AMAZING shake series that you can purchase.  These would be so perfect for a puppy room.

 Beautiful Maycee

I wanted to fill balloon dogs with helium and have them floating around the house but they don't seem to take to helium very well.  They do float, albeit upside down.  The kids were so much smarter than me and started tying the dogs to the round, helium-filled balloons, and voila!  floating balloon dogs.

The wall in the playroom with our neighbor Sally gracing the wall.  I really wanted to make several backdrops and Doug found 4x8 underlayments panels for about $10 at Home Depot.  We'll have a few holes to patch once we take them down but I loved the "pop" of the stripes and chevrons.

Doug was so amazing this party and helped me out so much even though he's crazy busy at the moment.  When we were purchasing wood for my various crazy ideas, he kept saying, "You're going to make all of this, right?  Right?"  Fortunately, he knows me well enough to know that I am the wo-"man" with the plan and I need someone else who is much "handier" than me to see it to fruition.  He built the cute little bench using a plan from Ana White which can be found here.    I LOVED the shadow box dachshund!  I saw something similar at Anthropologie and was determined to make it.  I initially planned to put the three boxes under the three square windows in the playroom with a push light underneath but didn't trust our little man enough to leave them at a height where he could get to them.  We decided to hang them over the windows and it turned out perfectly!

 Art table for button dogs and dog silhouettes:

 Bella

 Mily

 Payton

 Levi

 Our Peanuts...

 I think Amanda likes to craft as much as I do.

 Anna and Collin

The cake....now that's a story of its own.  Amanda picked it up for me and when it arrived it looked as if it might have melted on the drive home.  There were actually two, the one below, and a little scottish terrier that slid around in the box on the drive and had his side smashed in.  I stuck them both in the fridge and contemplated getting another cake but decided we would just go with it.  When I went to get the cakes from the fridge in the garage, someone (cough, cough, Jacob) had been into them.  The scotty only had one eye left, his nose, ears, and second eye were long gone and the bone had a bite missing from it.  It also looked like a little finger had swiped some icing.  I just had to laugh.  I don't blame him though.  Once we started eating the cake, we could not stop.  It was SO good.  We finished it off that night!

 In lieu of gifts, we offered everyone the chance to participate in a book exchange if they would like.  Everyone brought the neatest books.  Anna ended up with a book she loves so much that she's sleeping with it.  Lauren got "War Horse" and I'm thinking about putting it on my night stand...just to read to her, of course. :)

 The gumball thief caught red-handed or should I say "puffy-cheeked".

The boys and Lauren, well since it's Lauren I guess I could just call it "the boys"!  They asked if they could pose with their "weapons".  Yes, it's true, sigh, my little girl has an arsenal big enough to keep 6 little boys entertained.

The girls and Jacob.  I want to point out in this picture that everyone was having a good time.  If you take a look at the very first picture at the top of the post, Caroline (front row with the yellow balloon dog) doesn't look very happy.  It's because two seconds before the group picture was taken, her balloon dog came undone.  Everyone really liked the balloon dogs and I feel like I made or repaired 8 billion and two.  Caroline told her mom and dad after the party that she wanted to hire me to make balloon dogs at her next birthday party.  Hahaha!  Maybe I'm missing my calling!

 Almost forgot this one, I made an "A to Z of Dogs" pillow.  I think I might print the jpeg out and frame it.  Who knew there were so many different types of dogs?  This was just a teeny fraction, I had no idea.

After the party, my mom called to ask how things went.  She also asked what I was planning for Anna's party in May and I told her.  Her response was, "Well, I think you better start now."  I think she's right!

Happy Birthday to our sweet little loves!