~Callie's 'Tangled inspired' 5th. Birthday~

Callie's 5th. Birthday fell on a Wednesday.  Sooooo.....after a full day of music teaching and Kid's Club, her party started around 9:00PM after church.

 Blue jello 'water' with orange slice boats.

 Food served up in frying pans!

 Cheese and pepperoni boats

 Frying Pan Flynn Game

Seth drew the poster for me.

 All the cousins

 Pascal party blowers for each party guest.

 Callie with her gifts.

 A tiny Rapuzel doll with accessories.

 A beautiful dress from Grandpa and Grandma.

 Princess game from Seth.

 A pretty card and money for her doll fund.  She's saving for an American Girl doll.:)

 Pastor Mark trying to give Callie her gift.  She hid under the table 'cause she didn't want anyone to see her get the gift.  lol  It was some more money for her doll fund.

 She was pretty happy to see her cake!!  The entire family had kept the entire theme/cake a secret. 

 Can't believe our baby girl is 5!!!

 Callie wanted ice cream in her purple-white chocolate covered sugar cone that was on the top of the cake.

 This was taken just seconds after I caught her wiping her ice cream covered face on the tablecloth!!  Grandpa was howling!!!:)

 We had the Tangled movie playing for the kids/grown-ups.:)  I do not get into animated movies, but this was one I really liked.  I just love a good fairytale.

 I sewed this Rapunzel dress for Callie on Tuesday.  It was a BIG hit!!!  The Rapunzel hair was made out of an entire skein of fluffy, thick yellow yarn. 

 She flitted around the living room after the party guests had left, singing the song from the movie.

 throwing the hair up in the air....

 And of course, her doll, Jenny, had to have a matching dress.  This, I made up Wednesday afternoon after my music teaching and party preparation was finished.

 Jenny's Rapuzel dress.....

 A close-up of the bodice.  Simon helped cut out the front piece for the dress.  It was his idea to sew her doll a new outfit. I didn't think we would have time, but I made it work.  :)

 Duane and I caught the boys playing with Callie's new Rapunzel toys. :)  Just had to get a picture.....lol

This was a super-fun party to put together!!



Ants on a Lily Pad

In my quest for eating healthier and teaching my children to make wise food/snack choices, Simon came up with this tasty treat.  He calls it....

Ants on a Lily Pad!

Very simple to make and oh so yummy!  One plain rice cake, a bit of peanut butter spread on top and then raisins(ants) sprinkled over.  This has become a requested favorite of the kids. 

It's that time again.....Strawberry pickin' time!!!!!

Friday morning, the kids got up at 6:30AM to go strawberry pickin' with grandpa and mommy.  Amazingly enough, they bounced out of bed with smiles on their faces!  They were excited!!!  On the loooong drive(only 30 minutes), Callie kept asking, "are we almost there?" over and over.  Upon our arrival, we were VERY enthusiastically greeting by a young woman frantically waving both arms holding orange flags.  It was very obvious where we were to park for there were very few cars there.  I'm guessing they'd not had much business yet that morning and were excited to see customers.  :)  We were told that it was open picking day.  We were not assigned a row.  We could pick for a little bit here and hop over and pick a little bit it another row if it struck our fancy.  Well, you know how the grass always looks greener on the other side.  My kids row hopped and row hopped.  They were ALWAYS thinking the strawberry looked better in the other row!!! 

Samuel checks out all the rows of strawberries as we first walk up to the field.

Discovering strawberries under those leaves.

Starting to get those buckets filled up.

Callie is eyeing the strawberries in the other row.  You see, they've always been told to stay in ONE row and pick.  Being told, by the people in charge of the patch, that they could pick anywhere was almost too much for them. 

Yep, she hopped over to the other side.

Grandpa getting a kick out of Callie all hunkered down trying to find some big, red strawberries.

Look at Callie's head....She's looking at the NEXT row now!!!

Samuel finding some big strawerries.

Now THIS was most interesting.  I'm picking away...trying to fill my bucket quickly.  I kept hearing a strange noise.  I glance over at an elderly woman.  It is coming from her direction.  I didn't know if maybe her hearing-aid was malfunctioning or if it was something else.  You see, she was bent over and let's just say her backside was way up in the air, pointing in our direction.  Just face it, when one is seriously picking strawberries.....it's just not a very attractive position.  I'm sure I've looked quite interesting myself....Glad I'm the one wielding the camera!!! :)  Anyways, my father-in-law told me a boy was blowing on a blade of grass(it was actually a blade of wheat...it was growing amongst the strawberries).  He decided to give it a whirl himself.  He had learned as a small child and hadn't tried it in years.  I was AMAZED at the sound one can get out of a blade of wheat between ones' thumbs!!!  I tried it, didn't work for me...:(  I had him do it again to get a little video clip to share. 

We saw this unusual site on the way to pick strawberries.  I asked to stop on the way back home to take pictures.  Here is piles upon piles of ground up blacktop!!!  

These mountains looked dark and dangerous!

At home, at last, with our 8 buckets of strawberries. 

Pink & Purple Overload!!!

When we moved here YEARS ago.....this was planned to be a guest room with a lighthouse theme.  After a year it became a boy nursery with a lighthouse theme.  The following year it became a girl nursery still with the lighthouses.  Well, we've added pink/purple decorations over the years, but that good ole lighthouse border stayed.  Sunday night, I decided it was time to tackle the project I've been putting off.  Tearing down that border.  You see, we had promised one little 4 year old that for her birthday we'd paint her room in the colors of her choice.  Early Monday morning, we piled in the car to buy paint and wallpaper remover.  After looking at many shades it was decided (by Callie) that the walls would be Tickled Pink & Windsor Purple.  Can I just say that I nearly died when I brushed on the first stroke of that pink paint.  I ran for the paint chip card thinking surely the store made a mistake.  Nope, it was EXACTLY the shade of the card.  Now that is finished it has grown on me.  I think I'm beginning to like this pink and purple madness!!!  Callie for sure LOVES her new room.....SOoooooooo, without further ado....I give you BEFORE and AFTER pictures of Callie's room transformation. 

 Her dresser piled sky-high with things.  And just take a look at that PILE of stuffed animals. 

 The AFTER pictures

 The dresser is just a little less filled up now.:)

 I love her pink/purple robe.  I cut this out of a ladies size and made it kid's sized for her.

 Laundry basket, hairbows, and check out the greatly decreased pile of stuffed animals/dolls now.

 I just LOVE this picture.  Seth painstakingly drew and colored this picture as a gift to Callie.  He did a fantastic job!!

 She's starting her purse collection young!!

 Very happy in her new room.

A few more pictures she wanted me to take!!

Thanks for looking!  :)