The BALL

Tonight we had a princess on our hands...

Mimi took her for her dress and all the fixins last week

and today she had her mani/pedi

Papa ordered the corsage

and our girl

 was ready for her first "ball"

The build up was heart thumping 

dimple bursting out 

crazy exciting

And that precious content smile that only the Dad-O can produce

melted my soul

I know this will be one of the few dances she attends

that I won't be filled with anxiety

because this time she had an escort

that is just as concerned with her happiness and well being

as I am

A Progression

one week


6 months


one year


two years


three


four


FIVE

THE PARTY

This year...{not on purpose}

I took very little photographs of B's actual party

we were all just having too much fun to 

stop and capture much

so here is a little peek

Thanks so much to all of our "village" for coming

The cupcake tower

In place of a traditional cake, this year we had cupcakes to welcome the fifth year.

MiMi got these great cupcake holders and flags for our young Padawan. The Storm Trooper flagged vanilla cupcakes and Darth Vader flagged chocolate cupcakes.

Aunt K made this amazing buttercream frosting that Mommy frosted the cupcakes with too early. But, they tasted great and they were still pretty cool.

My {one} picture with the birthday boy!

Ben was very excited about his cool blue Star Wars cupcakes

And he looked WAY too old blowing that "5" candle out!!!

The BIG Gift

He may be five

and the box says you must be seven

but our precious little rule follower was more than willing to break the rules on this one

Lego ENDOR 

it will take hours on end to put this together with the help of Dad-O {and Mommy?}

and we have probably already lost many of the small pieces that belong to this ewok village

but THAT smile makes the investment of money on the front end

and time on the back end

worth every

single 

bit.

Sibling Giving

So proud of my sweet baby girl

who was beyond excited to give B his gift

she helped me choose the gift

we wrapped it together

she kept it a secret for almost two weeks

and as she handed it to B

she exclaimed

"its a yoda lunchbox with SW pjs inside!!!"

she was so close to keeping it a secret until he opened it

but even the give away of the secret

could not have taken from the sweet exchange between 

brother and sister

Oh how I love these two

and how they love each other

Birthday Traditions

Two simple traditions we have in our home for birthdays

You can never blow out candles too many times on your birthday

So we begin the day with a donut cake and a happy birthday song from our family of four

And one must open the bedroom door when they wake

 to countless balloons 

to pop

and throw 

and play catch with 

and flick at your sister

until they are exhausted and deflated 

a very good start to the day indeed

Happy Birthday My Sweet BOY!

Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart

I can't believe you are FIVE today!!

I love you with everything I am

and simply cannot wait to see what you

 will do with this life.

You will always be 

this precious little bundle to me.

Preparation

After two weeks off school

it was time to prep for the Valentine's Day Party

I am not a big fan of the competition amongst mommies to make perfect boxes 

for their kids to take to school

I take the opposite route

and give them ownership of their creation

I think it is just good practice

But I have seen many friend's blogs that do make the boxes

and just to make it clear, no judgement here...

just a difference of opinion

I made the valentines cards {see previous post} and got a box at the dollar store.

 Guess which ones they wanted to sign and give to their friends?

So off they went today

to celebrate with their school friends

all dressed in red

{a heartbreaker and love bug, respectively}

Happy Valentine's Day

Pioneer Woman Entries

Pioneer Woman is having a Photography Contest this week

the theme is LOVE

these are a few pictures that make me think of LOVE in my life....

{I think I have posted them all before}

and this one is just a fun "artistic" picture that I was playing with

what do you think?

Pinkalicious

Our PINK meal

hot dog with pink sauce

pink yogurt with pink sprinkles

cherry 7up

and

pink m&m's for dessert

Not the healthiest meal I have every served, 

but a fun meal indeed!

The biggest icicle in all the land....

Right after this picture was taken, the kids took it straight to the bathtub to see how quickly it would melt under the water. I then had to bring in a shovel full of snow to show them how fast it would melt compared to ice. What fun, and such a simple thing they truly enjoyed!