K-lady is 10!

My sweet K-lady is 10 years old now.  We spread her special day out over a week so we could fit in as much partying as possible.  Okay, as much partying as I could take.  She probably could have gone for a bit more.  :)  So the day of her birthday, we had a few other things already on the calendar, but she and I had a little shopping date and she got her ears pierced!  What a grown up!!

Then a week later we did her breakfast in bed - french toast, strawberries & whipped cream with a side of fruit smoothie, kiwi and pop tart. :)  Later that day we had friends over for her party!!!!  We only do parties every other year because I'm a little over the top (Joseph puts up with all my drama for about a month beforehand as I make things WAY more complicated than they need to be...).  :)  Anyway, K-lady wanted a movie party this year, so we found a little internet inspiration and ran with it!

 

This was supposed to sit outside w/ a 'red carpet' but it was raining, so it sat in the entry instead. :)  Did you know Adobe Acrobat can print your files tiled across pages to make big posters out of 8.5x11 pages??  I loved it!

We started out with movie charades - these kids are funny.  Then we moved on to a little paper craft (making stars), photo 'booth' (cardstock-and-kabob stick props), lunch (pizza & chips & fruit), and headed down to the 'theater' (family room w/ lights off, blinds drawn)  :)

They 'bought' the treats @ the concessions stand (K-lady LOVED playing cashier) with Movie Money they earned playing charades, making crafts and eating the healthy portion of lunch. :)  Then they watched The Lorax for 86 minutes of blissful peace, then back upstairs for 'autograph books' -- they each got copies of the pictures we'd taken & decorated their own little books and signed them for each other.  Then presents, cake, ice cream and we were done!!!

Thank you thank you Heidi and Joseph for all your awesome help!!!!!!!!!!!
And as for K-lady....
She is the best oldest sister I could ask for - J-boy and Girly-A don't know how lucky they are to have such a sweet big sister.  She's is Girly-A's second momma, and J-boy's favorite playmate.  She's anxious to do good and be good, and I love that part of her personality.  This year she's started playing the violin in school orchestra, she's enjoying her [mandatory] piano lessons much more, and she's taking gymnastics.  She swims like a fish, and devours books like a bibliosaurus. (that's a book-hungry-dinosaur from one of our silly children's songs albums in case you aren't familiar with the term)   :)  We've been reading chapter books aloud - a couple of chapters a week when bedtime occurs early enough to allow it.  K-lady inevitably sneaks the book away to her room at some point to read ahead, but she happily snuggles up on my bed with her brother and sister for the next installment of reading-aloud, even if it's stuff she's already read.
When she was younger she was so worried about being a big kid - she used to shy away from holding my hand in public, or saying, "I love you!" when I'd drop her off at school.  But she's grown out of that (or youthened out of it???)  Now she's okay with all of that stuff.  I'm not sure what changed, but it seems like she's more settled in her skin as a kid (albeit a double-digits-nearly-pre-teen-kid!), and more willing to enjoy those little kid moments.  I love that.
I love her.  She's a keeper.

Happy Birthday, K-girl!

Ms. K turned SIX this month! It is so wild to see her getting so big. She is such a fun girl. The big day was busy -- I helped K and J make mini cupcakes in the morning to share with her class at school. J-boy, A and I got to share the treats during the last 10 minutes of class -- K made sure everyone got 2 mini cupcakes, even when it meant she only got one. After school we went to Sonic for Happy Hour slushes, then rushed home so I could finish wrapping gifts! We went to dinner at Red Robin (K's choice), and I think we just might make it a monthly Monday night tradition -- Monday is 'Family Night' at our Red Robin -- they have a fantastic balloon artist, and the kids get free milkshakes! After dinner we rushed home for cake and ice cream with Grandma and Grandpa L and Aunt Sonya & Uncle John and their kids. It was a great day!

On the following Saturday we had a friend party. After several years of princess/fairy/PINK parties, we branched out this year to enjoy a cooking party. We made aprons out of cloth napkins (adapting an idea for dishtowel aprons), and chef hats out of tissue paper. The girls played games, made their own little english muffin pizza and decorated cookies. Thank heavens for the internet -- I love borrowing other peoples' great ideas!!!

So here are a few of my favorite things about my lovely little K-lady:

K is such a good BIG SISTER! This morning I was sitting in Baby A's room feeding the baby, and K and J-boy came in. J-boy struck his best ninja pose, made a mean face and said, "I'm gunna go kill the bad guys!" K immediately jumped into a complimentary ninja pose, and said, "Okay, let's go get 'em!" J jumped out of his pose and ran off, K looked at me with a very grown up look of indulgence, leaned toward me and whispered conspiratorially, "He's such a funny brother!"

She's always trying to keep J-boy out of trouble (he seems to be in trouble a lot these days...). He's big into trantrums, and she soothes and cajoles and pleads and gives in to him regularly. One of K's favorite things to do is hold her baby sister -- especially when she's dressed in what K deems 'cute clothes.' The other day K got upset with me that she only got to hold A in the morning while she was wearing her non-cute PJ's. :)

I don't know if it's in her blood or if it's from my influence, but she loves MUSIC! She hums along with the background music in movies -- she just can't seem to help herself! She plays the piano and practices her lesson without being nagged - and she really just loves it! Nature or nurture? You decide.

She tries very hard to make sure everyone is HAPPY. She'll notice when I'm starting to get frazzeled or frustrated, and she'll come over, put a hand on my arm, look into my eyes and say, "Mom, I sure love you!" She loves to go swimming with her dad -- she loves to make him proud.

And lest you think she's too good to be true, she's also got a devious little streak -- more than once, J-boy has come down the stairs asking me where his cousin T is, or asking what his special treat is, or asking what his new movie is. You see, K & J share a room, and occasionally K will be less than honest with her little brother in an attempt to gain some personal play time and space. That's my cue to give K a 3 sentence lecture on telling the truth, and then engage J-boy in something that gives K a little break from her brother. :) Sneaky little bugger, isn't she?

Anyway, we're grateful to have her! So Happy Birthday, big sister! Thanks for being so great!

The Near-Tragedy of the Birthday Cake

J-Boy's B-day!

We celebrated J-boys' birthday a little while ago. We just had a quiet party with the 4 (and a half) of us -- it was so fun to see him so excited about it all!

K was happy to help him -- we have a tradition of hiding the presents, then the b-day kid has to find them. K hid them all while J-boy took a nap. When he woke up, they snuck around together when I wasn't looking and she showed him where each gift was hidden. :) I'd told them we had to wait till Daddy got home to open presents, so the SECOND Joseph walked through the door the kids were racing around the room ripping presents from their hiding spots. So much for cake and ice cream first! Or dinner or anything else for that matter.

J-boy wanted a Lightning McQueen birthday (and was adamant about a Lightning McQueen cake -- the birthday boy gets to pick what we eat for dinner, and he was quite upset when I told him he needed something IN ADDITION to Lightning McQueen cake for dinner). Anyway, I spent about 2 hours the weekend before looking at fancy marshmallow fondant sculpted car cakes online. Then I decided to keep it simple. :) He liked the result at first....

Until we told him he couldn't take the cars off till after we sang him Happy Birthday. This is classic J-boy pout. He's a champion with the eyebrows and lower lip. :)

Big Five

No, I'm not talking about Sporting Goods, I'm talking about my little girl. :( FIVE YEARS OLD?! How is that possible? We had a fabulous birthday weekend -- a party at the preschool on Friday, a party with friends on Saturday, and we'll finish it off tonight with a party for our little family. We just can't get enough pink cupcakes. :)

We decided to have a Fairy theme for the birthday party. I like to play party planner, and I may have gotten a *little* carried away, but it sure was fun! (and made for some great pictures!) (Yes, Mindy, that's part of the canopy from your wedding transformed into a "Fairy Pavillion")