Girls Afternoon

We always have a party going on around here.  Somebody is ALWAYS setting one up.  Grace decided it was Girls' Party Time, and made this banner, which she cut out and then taped back together with painter's tape.  It says, "Wellcome to Girls Afternoon. have a happy time together. be good."  Awesome.

We Let 'Em Go

After two weeks, we decided to untie the balloons.  I was very impressed with how long that helium lasted!  We've been busy playing balloon volleyball and kickball, sitting on them, and drawing all kinds of handsome faces on them.  Balloons are both versatile, and fun!

Gracie's Graduation

Kindergarten graduation is always a hoot.  I missed this one, but good 'ole Daddy-O filmed and photographed it for me.

Mrs. Gibson was Grace's teacher this year, and we all loved her!  She has been teaching for ever, and she is also one who trains other teachers, so we definitely got the cream of the crop!  She absolutely loves Gracie (but who doesn't?).  Grace loves her right back.

Grace got her diploma, and was turned by a magic wand into a 1st grader!

Oh My

Matt goes to a weekly play date, which is awesome.  He loves his little friends, and each mom takes turns hosting.  We always have a little craft for the kids to do, and the week before Mother's Day, one mom asked each kids questions about their mom.  Here's what Matt had to say about me.  I love the one about how I like to go get drinks.  I just about peed my pants when I read that one!

I'm a Little Boy

I guess having 5 little boys between the two of us turned my sister and I into little boys, because this is one of our Words with Friends games.  Yikes.

Tinkerbell Lilacs

My absolute favorite time of year for my yard is when my Tinkerbell Lilacs bloom.  It only lasts about 2 weeks, but the color and the fragrance that comes into my house is super awesome.  Can't wait until next year!

4 Year Old Birthday Party #2

After the friend birthday, we got ready for the family birthday.  We stuck with the rainbow balloon theme, and Haley and I made balloons out of fondant for the cake.  It was pretty fun -- like playing with play dough!  And Matthew loved his cake!

The little kids went with Grandma Nan to build at Lowe's, and then grabbed a couple of pizzas.  We made it a lunch party, so we ate the pizzas, then had cake and ice cream.

It just so happened that it was the day before I left for New York, so I was taking every spare minute I could to get everybodys' calendar ready.  It was the last week of school, so things were especially busy.  But we got 'er done!

Then came present time...

Matthew went right for the biggest one first, of course!  Grandma and Grandpa Jane and Jerry got him a plasma car, which all the kids love (thankfully, it holds up to 200 lbs, so no breakage!).  He got many, many Yoshi things, including a big Yoshi doll, a Yoshi bag, and a Yoshi RC car.  He was very excited about those things (you can always tell when Matt's excited -- he has quite the happy-face).  He got some new Crocs -- blue -- just like he wanted, some new Leap Frog videos, and of course a nice, new, crisp $20 from Grandma Bertha!

4 Year-Old Birthday Party #1

Matthew has a weekly play-date with his two best friends from church -- Halle and Emily.  So, for our last play-date of the school year, we threw a birthday party with the 3 of them.

We did face-painting, pin the tail on the donkey, bubbles, a treasure hunt, and decorating cupcakes.  They each got to pick one color to make the icing, and then we had a frosting/sprinkles extravaganza. Then, of course, the present insanity began.  It was like a hurricane of tissue paper!  We broke out the bubble machine immediately!

Decorating for the Parties

I've decided that since you only turn 4 once, we had better celebrate big.  But celebrating big to a 4-year-old just means getting lots and lots of balloons, preferably in rainbow colors.  So that's what we did!  I was so happy that they now make balloon bags, which contained all 24 of them on our ride home.  I don't know what I would have done without them!

Also, our dog puts up with a lot.  Good thing she's a good sport about it.  Matthew decided that she needed to be festive, too, and put a birthday cone on top of her head.  She reluctantly complied (for about 2 minutes, when she shook it off her head).