I'm wishing you...

the joy of a new skill and the delight that comes in making it happen

Sarah Brooke hosted her first slumber party

Here the girls have just arrived and they were very excited to start playing. My camara was on the wrong setting but there wasn't time to fiddle with something like that when there is excitment in the air. Sarah Brooke is standing by her BFF Cassie England and her other BFF's Holly and her sister Laura are on either side of Ashley. The ages were 9, 8, 7, 7 and 5.

Happy 8th Birthday Sarah Brooke

She is opening all her gifts. As they get older the birthday opening does get a little calmer but still very exciting!

I love this pic of all their hair colors.

Sarah Brooke requested that the food be something that didn't have to be cooked so this is what I came up with for them to eat. We had chocolate covered strawberries, heart shaped bologna and cheese sandwiches, doggy bone shaped p & j's, crackers w/cheese and mini "puppyroni's" and cheetos.

The birthday theme was puppies.

I bought these crazy glasses that are actually straws. Unfortunatly you couldn't see the pink lemonade running through them....

so I had to demonstrate them with a glass of Pepsi. Yes, that is Pepsi running around my eyes, if you can get over the scariness of the pic :-)

Sarah Brooke is very interested in cooking so I decided to make this a do it yourself kind of party. The girls decorated what would be Sarah Brooke's birthday cake. I think they had fun but boy was it a messy idea :-)

Please excuse the pj's. They got ready for bed so they wouldn't get icing all over their church clothes. Here is their beautiful creations. If the icing would have stayed in the carefully prepared bags then they might would have become professionals. ha

Ready for bed, Not!!!! They watched the movie Winn Dixie to wind down and then after lights out they giggled and talked until sometime after 1a.m. Good times!

This morning we carried over the do it yourself part and they made their own pancakes (w/my help) and personal pizzas for lunch. Brooke (another BFF) was able to come over this morning. She is making her pizza on the right.

It was a delightful time for my girls and something that we will do again in the future. Thanks BF's for coming and helping us celebrate Sarah Brooke. We have your little handwriting in her journal/diary that we will treasure. Now I'm off to brush my teeth and call it a day!!!

Silly Safari and Amazon John came to the library

(I had to zoom in so the pics are a little blurry)

Cameron was chosen by Amazon John to be one of his helpers.

This guy is over the top crazy. The kids love him. Cameron gets to pet the baby alligator.

EEK! Now he is holding it. Much to the delight of my big guy.

I took the kids to our new pet store in town just to look around. Cameron could not understand why I didn't see any charm in the tiny, little, cute, leopard gecko. Now the lazy cat in the corner is much more my style. I prefer big, soft and fluffy. We are enjoying our summer break so much. How about you?

Sarah Brooke has a birthday today

Happy Birthday Sarah Brooke

I decorated a brownie this year. Mm good!

We celebrated with just our family this evening due to some crazy things going on in our schedule. We are planning a sleep over with her girlfriends a bit later. She can't wait.

She's eight now. 10:42 a.m.

Sparkling candles

It is tradition to measure the kids on their birthday.

Look how much she has grown from last year.

Sarah Brooke is a delightful child that God has blessed us with. She is very affectionate and looks out for everybody. I tell her all the time that I'm glad she is mine! It's been fun celebrating her.

Cameron's field day

Just in case it isn't obvious, Cameron is having fun. He actually loves to run.

This is his school bud Jeremy running around the cones with him. When I have had opportunity to visit Cameron at his school these 2 are usually together and they are laughing. They make school bearable for one another I guess :-)

Cameron has a big ol' rubbery fish inside those paddles. The goal is to get the fish to a basket and then bring the paddles back for the next kid to go retrieve the fish.

Check out the big blue sky. This event was the baseball throw.

Only 2 1/2 more days of school left.

First grade has a field day

Ashley and I walked to school to see the last half of first grade having their field day.
I bet you all would have liked to have seen me chase this big pink ball before it got away from me :-) Just as it got to me the wind took it away so off I ran to catch it.

Jumping ropes was one of the stations. All kinds of fun stuff. It was a beautiful day to be outside.

This is what happens when you are worn out from the activities. I went to look for her and she had curled up in her bed.
Tomorrow is 3rd grade field day!

A day at the zoo with Sarah Brooke

Sarah Brooke came home thrilled with the announcement of a field trip. We put it on the calendar and counted down the days. It would be her first time on a school bus.

At the zoo with Sarah Brooke

There was an excellent response from the parents which meant all I had to look after was Sarah Brooke. The zoo was very crowded and made it difficult to stay with her class friends. I didn't mind so much since it is rare that we get to spend one on one time like that. I told David that it would have been horrible to have planned a family day at the zoo and then pull up to see all those school buses. It was a real privilege to get to spend the day with her.