Birthday Celebrations!

I can't believe my baby turned 6 on Tuesday!! We had her birthday party on Saturday and what a fun celebration! She wanted to invite all the girls from her class and some of her closest girlfriends from church so we had 11 little girls running around the house in their pajamas!! That's right - a complete girly pajama party with fingernail painting, bracelet making, being silly, playing a stuffed animal/toy game, eating cake and pizza and watching Tangled for those who could stay for the after party. It was just what Claire wanted and I know she had a great time having her friends here to celebrate with her!

I got this balloon wreath idea off of pintrest and it is something I can use for any other birthday celebration! Well worth the time and effort as I over heard Claire telling some people at school about it before they came to the party. She thought it was pretty special =)
Here's my sweet girl! We planned on doing sponge rollers in all the girl's hair so I rolled Claire's hair. But after she looked at it she was in tears wanting me to take it out...I told her I needed atleast one picture of her! 3 other girls at the party rolled their hair along with this mommy so it was worth having out!

The grandparents from both sides were there as the designated adult helpers! Thanks mom for all your fruit/dips and extra help and to Elaine for bringing the yummy bread! Made these yummy s'mores treats off of pintrest and put it together with stickers and a bog of popcorn to go with the pajama party theme! "Thanks for poppin' in and makin' my party s'more fun!" They were SUPER yummy and I've already made them two more times since!
Claire picked out a couple baby pics of her to have out with the flower cupcakes!
Making bracelets! They couldn't get enough of it... some of them made 3 or 4 of them! Beads on pipe cleaner
Most of the girls in the hallway
Here they all are!! Loving their time in Claire' room and hanging out on the bunk bed
Each kiddo brought their favorite stuffed animal/toy and dropped it in a designated bag outside the front door to keep it a secret. Then we all guessed who brought what... I wasn't' sure if they would like this game but they loved it!
Singing happy birthday! Ever since I made Eden's Snow White cake Claire has wanted a Rapunzel cake. This one was a little more challenging with her hair being so long and with the different colors of the skirt.
Guess who enjoyed it?
Thank you to everyone who blessed Claire with such thoughtful gifts! This was one of her favorites - the Rapunzel Hair!
We LOVE you Claire - our favorite 6 year old!! You have changed our world for the better and we are so honored to be your parents!
If you want to see more pics you can click on this site and go to Claire's 6th birthday! http://neilkathrynclaire.shutterfly.com/

Claire's birthday was actually Tuesday so Neil and I gave her our gifts that morning. She loved her "foo foo skirt" outfit and really liked her feather hair clips. I also finished her birthday scrapbook up to her 5th birthday and she was really excited to look through it... now I get to do the 6th birthday! I love this picture of her...she just looks so cute!
I couldn't believe all the attention she got at school! It's amazing that at a large school they can still make a student feel special. She was on the BSN news announcements in front of the whole school, wore this special hat all day, got sang to a few times and got free ice cream at lunch time! I was able to take her lunch and celebrate a little with her in the cafeteria... funny story... I asked her what she wanted me to bring her for lunch thinking McDonald's or Chick-fil-a but with big, bright eyes she said "Chocolate pudding and Cheetos!" So that's what she got =) That and a bowl of her favorite minestrone that I make. What a sweetheart that she felt like that was the way she wanted to celebrate!
After school we went to see grandpa and he had a special snack for the girls including a candle in the oatmeal pie!

After gymnastics, we met my parents, Billy and Neil's parents out for chinese to celebrate my Mom's birthday on the 8th. Happy Birthday Mom and my Grandma Ann!!

Can't wait to see what this year will bring!

Eden's 3rd Birthday Party

We had Eden's birthday party with a hand full of her closest friends! It was the first time we've invited friends so Eden was especially excited. She wanted a Snow White party and I had so much fun with the theme! We took it out to the neighborhood park and were blessed with beautiful weather. I was so worried it was going to rain but it all worked out! Thank you to everyone who was there to make her celebration special! I can't believe my little girl is 3 years old

Happy Birthday Eden!

I can hardly believe that my baby turned 3 today! I can remember that time in my life like it was yesterday... we had been anticipating Eden's arrival any day with me on such strict bedrest but her arrival still threw us for a loop! And she's kept us guessing and on our toes ever since!!

As I remember that day, I'm so thankful that we were able to hold her right after birth for a few minutes before they had to take her to the NICU. Not being able to hold her, touch her skin (we had to wear gowns and gloves), kiss her, feed her and then having to leave her there on Thanksgiving day was one of the hardest times. I praise our God for protecting her and growing her stronger everyday so that she could come home sooner than most babies in the NICU.

We had a party out at the park last weekend which I'll post pics of soon but today the 4 of us went to Pump It Up for open play so she could jump to her hearts content (my mom and dad stopped in too)! We then met Abbey and Lydia for some McDonald's lunch, did a little shopping and finished the evening with dinner and cake with grandma and grandpa! What a fun filled day!


Grandma made her a yummy bday cake... of course she refused to eat dinner but after everyone else was eating her cake, she finally "swallowed her pride" and ate so she could have a piece. Oh, is this just the start of 3? She's stubborn but tonight was a whole new level!
She wanted Claire to help blow out the candles but she actually blew them herself for the first time!

Finally enjoying her cake =)

Happy Birthday baby girl!!! I can't wait to see what this year brings for you!

Happy birthday Neil!

Happy Birthday to my one and only, my best friend, my groom, the love of my life!!
We love to take every opportunity to celebrate so we headed out to La Tuna Grill and oh my goodness was it good!! Neil had been before and always wanted to share it with me so we went and already can't wait to take someone there! Super casual, super yummy!
We were supposed to go to a movie but at the end of dinner Neil said "Let's do something different!" - there's just something about spontaneity that I love so we ran with it. We stopped in to see my brother at his place downtown to check out the work he's been doing on his patio and some recent art projects.
On the way to Billy's place we passed an outside bar called The Friendly Spot so we went back to check it out. Another place we can't wait to take someone else to - outside bar, kids playground, yummy sangria, full menu, everyone brings their dogs - had an Austin feel to it and can't wait to go back!

We were back to my parents to pick up the girls around 9:30 just as they were watching Winnie-the-Pooh. Thanks mom and dad for helping us get out to celebrate Neil's birthday!!