It'll be like Roller Girls, but without the language and the body-slamming

Both D & E have their birthdays in the summer. It makes planning birthday parties hard. In the past we've run into some other obstacles.

To combat all those things, we've decided to do a joint birthday party for the girls the Saturday before Father's Day.

D really really really wanted to go roller-skating for the party, so that's what we're doing. The rink nearest our house offers a pizza/skating party. Each of them will invite 4 of their friends.

I decided to keep the tradition of homemade invites that I do with Zoe with both D & E. Not to mention they love to do any and all kinds of crafts.

Here are the artists in action:


We decided to cut out an inline skate, attach some wheels, a bow to indicate laces and the word "PARTY." D's favorite color is pink and E's is purple, so we decided to use those as the color scheme.

They did the entire invitation, minus the bow. I couldn't be prouder of their work.

The countdown is on.

Until I can convince N to do a little couple's skating.

Friday Five Faves - vol. 8

I've been mentally trying to keep track all week of things for my 5 Faves post and I'm hoping, after some hot, sunny weather than my brain isn't totally fried.

Not that I don't love the sunny, warm weather, but when you can feel sweat dripping down your back after 5 minutes of being in the car, that's a bit warm for me.

Without further excuses related to my imaginary sun-stroke, here we go:

1) This week Zoe and I were going to cuddle and watch a Little Einsteins movie before bed. We had our popcorn, our blankies and were ready to go. She pulled out the movie and I asked, "this one is the one you want?"

Her response, "yeah babe!"

Apparently she's a little Emeril.

2) School programs. Last night was my nephew's spring program. They are usually some type of musical and this one was titled, "Holy Moses!" There are some speaking parts, some solos and lots of music. Last night it used a Trading Spaces theme. My oldest nephew, MJ had a roll as Ty Kwando the local handyman.

My middle nephew T-Dog had a solo. I am not too ashamed to admit, watching those boys up there, saying their lines and performing a solo made me a little teary. I couldn't be more proud of those boys.

Not to forget Con-Man. He's my youngest nephew and the preschoolers were not a part of this production. Instead he played with Zoe. I don't know what it is, but he can make her belly laugh just by saying her name. He's an excellent older cousin.

3) Children's Birthday parties. The Saturday before Father's Day we are doing a joint birthday party for D & E. They, along with 8 of their friends, will be rollerskating. All my neurotic party-planning is coming out again. I ordered a rollerskating cake, have disco-ball keychains/laces/rope licorice for the goodie bags and we are creating the invites this weekend.

My head is completely swirling with all sorts of fun to be had.

4) The little things. This week I had an employee meeting to conduct. Once a month I present the retirement benefits of our client to the new employees. It's the part of my job that I adore. This client is awesome. The people they hire are always interactive, fun and kind. I look forward to this meeting every month.

This last meeting totally took the cake. A woman, in her 50's sat at the "U" shaped table and began picking her nose. We're talking full-on digging for gold.

It did make me a little sick, but I was 100% glad that I was at the front of the room and not sitting next to her!

5) God's provisions. This one should probably be listed first, but just because it's #5 doesn't mean it's less important.

I've mentioned that our church is going through a transition. For the last several months it has felt like we were very stagnant. In the last couple weeks some decisions have been made that have set us on a course.

Like any major changes, some people agree and some people do not. For the first time in about a year I can feel God's hand guiding our church. That's not to say that there aren't still rough waters to wade through, but I'm glad we're on a course to take us through those waters, to be refined, to be shone His plan.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend full of Sonshine.

Toddler Water Aerobics

Now that we have grass, a slide and a water table, the backyard is Zoe's favorite place to be. We used to cuddle for about 15 minutes after her nap, just sitting and watching some cartoon, waking up slowly.

Now when I go in to wake her up, she says, "oh hi Mom. Outside?"

The post-nap cuddles have all but stopped. They have made way for a different kind of bonding.

Time for playing outside and in the pool.

It's nothing huge, just big enough for both Kate and I to sit in. Actually we don't sit. We stand in it, splash water outside of it and kick.

It's like toddler-water aerobics.

Here's my instructor. Isn't she precious?

Here's my view of the class? She seems less than impressed with my abilities.

I'm not entirely sure what she expects. I've got to do the aerobics and photograph the session for her scrapbook.

Our own Tooth Fairy

Two weeks ago N's Grammy (also known as G.G. to our girls) had to have two teeth pulled. Teeth issues in the family cause lots of pain and problems. N's mom had to have a root canal about a month ago. The result was a bruise the size of her cheek. It actually looked like she got hit in the face with a frying pan.

When we heard that G.G. would have to get two teeth pulled, Zoe and I decided to make her a get-well basket.

I found a tooth cookie cutter. By found I mean I went to a specialty cake store in hopes they would have one.

Then Zoe and I made teeth cookies. After all, G.G. lost a couple and we thought she could use some new ones.

Here's the little baker in action. Check out her mad Karate Kid skills with the cutting.

Then you smash down the cutter to get a good shape.

She's actually doing stars because all that force with a metal cookie cutter was a little dangerous.

When you bake with a 2 year old, be prepared for them to turn into a flour monster. I actually think she grabbed flour out of the tin and patted it on herself for effect.

Then the frosting. I'm not actually sure the cookies were dry, 4 days after we frosted them. Zoe is a very generous froster.

We really hope G.G. likes her tooth cookies. We promise they won't have to be pulled!

It's like an extra 150 square feet of awesome

This weekend N and I were determined to get the last of the BIG yardwork done. With the extra day off, we knew we would have more time to recover after all the work. I won't even comment on a 30-something needing an extra day to recover because that would make me feel old.

Here is the before picture. It was Zoe's little piece of Heaven. Lots of dirt to shovel and make mud with.

Little did she know it would be so much cooler. We laid sod, got rid of the concrete edging and left a little area for a strawberry/pumpkin patch.

And we assembled a slide. Which totally made up for all the lost dirt.

The best part...she LOVES to slide. She will play outside rather than being a drill sergeant about pulling weeds and doing actual work.

If that's not my little Heaven on earth, I'm not sure what is.

Friday Five Faves - vol. 7

It's Memorial Day weekend and I have yet to do a Five Faves post in May. Apparently I've fallen off the wagon. I wish I had some really great reason like I was helping create world peace or at the half yearly sale at Nordstrom, but I don't.

Never fear, I'm back on it and ready to roll.

1) Lilac bushes. One side of our house will never have neighbors. There is a natural drain area that is gorgeously green there. Because that is the first side of our house that you see when you enter our neighborhood, we thought we would add some color to that side of the house. I love lilac bushes. They are beautiful and smell great. They are N's favorite. We've decided to line that side of the house with lilac bushes. The first of which will be planted this weekend.

2) Sugar cookies. This week Zoe and I made some. Her favorite part was dumping, not sprinkling, the flour onto the counter. She was a floured mess by the time we were done. She LOVED it. They are delicious!

3) Zoe's new slide. We got her a small slide, with a tree house on top. Although I'm not positive it's actually a tree house because, well, it's not actually in a tree. It has a parascope that we can spy on people with. It's still in the box in the garage, but everytime she passes it she yells "SLIDE!" I hope it's as big a hit when it's assembled.

4) Bowling. Zoe and I have had the opportunity to go bowling twice in the last two weeks. On Wednesday I got my game back. Instead of getting only 2 pins per frame, I ended up over 100 for the game. I'm still better on the Wii, but I did beat my toddler. Although Zoe did beat her grandma. I still see a bowling league in Zoe's future.

5) Our troops. Having been a former Air Force wife, I know the sacrifices families of the military make. On this weekend it is a reminder to me of what the price is for our freedom. Thank you to all our troops and their families for their time and sacrifice. Because of you I can worship the God I love openly, speak what is on my mind and have a life that many people in the world will never experience.

Happy Memorial Day all!

Tinkle, Tinkle Little Star, Part Deux

For the last couple weeks or so, when I would take Zoe's diaper off before a bath, she'd pee on me. I got the genius idea before her last bath to take her diaper off and put her on her potty chair.

Don't ask why it took a couple weeks for me to get this genius idea. I'm going to chalk it up to lack of sleep and too many hours of CSI: Miami that I must catch up on.

Prior to this, she didn't like to sit on the potty chair without her diaper. We started singing Tinkle, Tinkle Little Star and she started to sway her head from side to side, totally forgetting she was sitting on the potty like a big girl.

She was sitting there, then she stood up. As she did that she gave me the look of "mom, something feels like it's coming." I told her to sit back down and we sang our song.

As she was swaying her head, she tinkled. On the potty.

She was totally confused as to why I was so excited and jumping up and down and kissing her face. All big girls use a potty, duh!

It was an exciting night in our house.

Time to make a sticker chart! :)