Strawberry Waffles + Jello Parfaits + Barbie Cake = Iris' 6th Birthday Extravaganza!

I cannot believe it!

Where did the time go?

My baby girl has officially lopped over to

two hands to represent her age...

six whole fingers now!

Her day started bright and early

with strawberry and chocolate chip waffles
and strawberry smoothies-
with the special plate and cup, of course!

Y U M !

For school we celebrated with

pink-swirled chocolate brownies!

D O U B L E - Y U M !

And when dinner rolled around,

we went high-end gourment with...

Macaroni & Cheese

(from a box!)

Cheetos

&

Piggies-in-a-blanket!

Since we have essentially three birthday parties every year-

one with Samuel's side,

one with mine,

and then finally just us on the day of,

we try to mix-up the desserts to avoid cake overload!

Hence the non-cake and non-ice cream parfaits!

She was so, so excited,

and even needed serious help in

blowing out her measly two candles!

{Yes, I'm a candle-scrabbler! 

Whatever's in my drawer is what we use!}

Since I've never made any of my girls a barbie cake,

I felt like this year was my last chance.

This is definitely foreign territory!

And I still can't get over how much cake it took
to cover Barbie's freakishly long legs!

I wouldn't have that problem!

{smile}

Thank heavens for cool whip! 

So, so forgiving!

And yes,

she's sporting a faux chopstick (toothpick) do!

This is what I'm talking about!

Look at that smile!

Even my big girls were thrilled!

We love you, sweet-potato puddin' pie!

Iris Luciana,

You are beautiful,

so funny,

incredibly smart,

and just a plain ol' sweetheart,

which in our opinion,

is the very best way to be!

Keep on growin', lovebug.

It is a joyous journey!

We love, love, love you!

xoxXOxoOxo

Mom + Dad

What's So Exciting?

A notorious toy in our household is the

big blue bouncy ball.

You know what kind of ball that is.

The one that's in every toy section of every story.

Seemingly millions of balls stuffed into a sky-high bin just

waiting, asking, and begging

for little kids to come and free them

so they can bounce them with abandon

throughout the store.

Yes,

one of those kinds of balls...

Anyway,

the kids LOVE to bounce it but it's off limits inside-

UNLESS they're down the hall.

In which case they go crazy launching it

from one end to the other at lightening speed,

and all under the watchful gaze of the Savior, who,

by some miracle,

has not been hit once.

The boys LOVE this game.

And THAT is what is so exciting!

Sick Day

Little did we know...

the stomach flu was going around!

Ava picked up the bug,

then Owen,

and finally,

me!

Lucky for us,

we all recovered fairly quickly.

Which can't be said for our cousins,

who ended up throwing up all week!

Yikes!

Hopefully this is our last bout with the flu for the season,

but if not,

we've got the bucket ready...

Girls Morning Out

I can remember being woken early

in the morning by my mom

-horribly early in the morning-

and it was for one of two reasons:

1) She needed help setting up her garage sale,

or 2) we were going to the auction.

I always hoped it was the latter,

but after scouring the endless number of booths

under the brutal morning heat,

neither of them really had the edge.

Now that I have my own family,

we hardly EVER go to the auction,

but when we do,

it takes me back!

My girls brought their spending money,

and we comparison shopped,

haggled,

and scrutinized

until they found token items that were just right!

And to my surprise,

the auction does NOT go on forever and forever!

We actually reached the back of it!

I had to just kind of stare at it for awhile,

I was so agog that my childhood belief that it

NEVER ENDED

wasn't true!

H A P P Y  B A R G A I N  S H O P P I N G !



IKEA's Swedish Julbord Buffet

This year we purchased tickets

to IKEA's Julbord Buffet.

And when Gabriel started throwing up

moments before we had to leave,

Samuel stayed home with him

and Great-grandma was able to join us instead!

"Julbord" translates into Christmas Table

and it was quite the spread of traditional Swedish fare

including

Ham, Pickled Herring, and Glogg!

I won't pretend to be a fan

(blame all the non-swedish blood running through my veins!),

but is was quite the experience and

the kids-and grandma!-

had a blast!

Yes,

I took a picture in the bathroom.

Gross, I know,

but Owen loves to stand under the blowers

and he's such a light-weight that it really does almost blow

him over!

H A P P Y  J U L B O R D 

T O  Y O U  T O O !

{P.S.  We ALL got the stomach flu after this! 

Not from IKEA, but from sweet baby, Gabriel!}

Balancing a Shopping Cart on Your Nose...

Sometimes,

as a mother of five,

I feel like I do just that!

But to see it actually happen,

pretty awesome!

We took advantage of the FREE Mommy Event

at the mall featuring a special performance

of the circus that came to town!

The kids were speechless as they watched

incredible balancing acts,

hoola-hoop tricks,

and of course,

crazy contortionist tricks!

It was fun...kind of weird...but fun!

And you can't beat free!

Brothers...

A True First Day

I cannot believe it!

The first day of school is already here!

The summer, as usual,

has flown by!

My girls,

are so, so beautiful! 

And so big!

It really does seem like just yesterday that

I was folding pink onsies...

...

Not only is it the first day of school,

but their first day at a new school!

It's a huge leap of faith for all of us,

but after much thought and prayer,

we enrolled them in a charter school.

We love the classics-based curriculum,

the focus on Founding Father's principles,

and the uniforms, I must say,

rock!

The girls love it and we couldn't be happier!

Fall,

here we come!

Labor Day: Point Reyes National Seashore

For Labor Day we hit one of our favorite seaside places,

Point Reyes National Seashore!

It is beautiful,

and this time,

since we weren't hiking,

we had plenty of time to explore on the way in.

Welcome to Point Reyes Station,

home to funky art galleries and random shops!

"The Box Show", a true "must-see"

on your next visit.

Imagine being given a box (think shoe-box size)

and free reign.

What would you create?

These folks did just that,

and the creativity is crazy fun to look at!

Guess who doesn't want to hold hands anymore?

Window shopping is fun,

but playing oceanside is even better!

But first,

a picnic smorgasborg!

Cold Oven-Fried Chicken + Honey

Biscuits + Strawberry Jam

Fudgy Brownies + Fresh Fruit

=

Heaven

Chillin' (literally), with my Gabriel,

while the others start to dig...

{he he}

Wherein everyone else seemed to

get more acclimated to the chilly weather,

I somehow missed that boat...

And yes,

I seriously thought about swiping Gabriel's blanket too...

Okay,

I get playing in the sand,

and even touching the water,

but seriously,

bathing suits?!?

I T ' S  F R E E Z I N G !

I don't get it.

Is our day really done?

I guess so!

Remember the age old rule:

Leave no trace behind...

Bye-bye castle!

And good-bye old friends!

Thanks for the Christmas gift inspiration.

Samuel,

can you guess what Santa's leaving under your tree?

And no,

it's not a wakeboard... :)

The tradition continues,

we spot another wedding!

How romantic,

the beginning of a new family...

on Labor Day!

Which is appropriate too,

since marriage truly is a labor of love.

...

H A P P Y  L A B O R I N G !