B's Actual 6th Birthday Day

I would like to tell you I took a ton of photos on this special day.  But I didn't.  My SD card went bad.  Weird huh?  Here is the first two hours, then nothing.  The highlights of later?  Grandpa and Pat came to celebrate with us.  We hit sushi dinner first, with a follow-up to the All Chocolate Kitchen.  Where Grandpa got B an birthday eclair complete with raspberry sauce and whipped cream.  B had a great day.

 

B took treats to school.  This is what she wanted, rice krispies that I doctored with M&Ms and sprinkles.

I cannot believe B is 6!  Selfish moment - when did I get six years older?   Want to see a picture of B as a baby?

She was a prosperous little baby.  Highly addicted to the milky.   Now? Addicted to cinnamon honey waffles.  What else to remember about B?  Loves kindergarten.  Reading and writing.  Awesome memory.  Very good with her little sister (most of the time).  Wakes up with incredible bed head.  Going to park district soccer and tennis.  Swimming very well.  Likes pink and purple. Wearing dress and sparkly shoes. Social, polite and a bit bossy.  Oh, and she thinks she is 36, not 6.

B's 6th Birthday Bash

So I have a party rep to maintain, right?  Or not.  I don't know if Shadow sucked all the life out of me this summer, but I just couldn't gear up for B's party.  Around June, I got the idea to have a Wipeout party - like the ABC show where everyone ends up in muddy water.  But I struggled with when to throw the party.  October seemed a bit late and undependable to do anything with water.  Mid September was an option, but I if I invited kids from B's class, it might not have left enough time to issue the invite.  Then, as luck would have it, I kind of screwed myself by inaction.  If we were going to really Wipeout it up, I had to make stuff and really plan.  Sooooo..........  I thought I would make it easier and rent a blow-up slide - something I could wet or dry.  And then I saw it.

Yes, that would make my life easier.  I added in a snow cone, cotton candy and popcorn machine.  Lemonade and water.  A hot pink dinosaur theme (egads!) from the birthday girl, a simple invite (The photo above with the pertinent info) a date that Lee could come and we were set to go!  (OK, I did have adult food, and beer and a secret plan for chili afterward with Marci's margaritas.)  Oh, oh oh, I did have help the day of the event.  Jordan came and surprised B.  She, Jeana and Lee and Dick  brought the cake and helped with all the fun food.  And my friend Beth came and took pictures and wrangled kids OUT of the house.   I know my friend Robin did stuff too, I just can't remember right now! 

 

Hot Pink and Dinos, and B had a dragon shirt.   That's my girl with the varied interests.

I ordered this dinosaur from Amazon.  My plan was to put it on the cake table.  Do I need to read the description just a little bit better or what?  I opened the box, and it kept unfolding, and unfolding and my lungs started to hurt just looking at it.  I handed it to Mike and asked if he could use the compressor to inflate it. That is Larkin. 

B had a very specific description for her cake (down to the pink lava and the color of the dinosaurs).  She told Lee who had her friend draw up the cutest card.  Lee then took the card to the cake place and they reproduced it.  Lee hated the cake.  It was supposed to be a sheet cake with a smaller volcano.  B LOVED it.  Lee also hated trying to cut the cake.  Let this be a warning.  Volcano shaped cakes = hard to cut.

This little one had fun too.  It was a little hard to convince her it wasn't her birthday too.  Charley already thinks she is 5........

As my sister would say, B was in hog heaven.

 I thought the jumpy thing would be the main attraction.  Yeah, sugar was the main thing. 

 

A lot of kids went home blue.  

B was pretty good letting Charley share in all the festivities. She even let her help with the candles.  This is a funny story I want to remember - as soon as I lit the candles, B needed a potty break.  Yeah, we blew them out and re-lit them when she came back.

Notice B's blue mouth.

There's me in the background.  Very hard to pick pictures when I know that I don't want to be in any and my sister doesn't want to be in any.

Afterward everyone went home, we had some of Mike's chili and Marci's margaritas.  Dorota braved the party even though she was having neck surgery the next day.  Cathie P. came even though she babysat her grandkids all weekend.  (I have a picture of Cathie P., but I bet, she like me and my sister, really don't want our photo on the blog.)

After we ate something, B opened her presents.

Torin got B a bat house. She had trouble opening the box, so he reached into his pocket and pulled out arrowheads.  Good, prepared friends are hard to come by.

B even let Charley help out.

Despite the fact that we asked kids to bring donations to H.E.L.P.  (Homes for Endangered and Lost Pets - where we adopted Scoopsy Baby, the cat) instead of gifts, some of her friends brought gifts and some brought both gifts and donations. 

We had an awesome day for a birthday bash.  The weather was perfect, there were tons of people (like so many) and most importantly, my almost 6 year old had a great time.

Cute dresses I made Chatch

I have been sewing a bit.  The girls need some fall things, and most of what B wore when she was three, Charley wont wear.  Namely jeans and tees.  That and Charley is so little through the middle, she needs a three length and a 24 months waist.  The kid needs to eat!  So dresses and leggings are the answer.

This dress (or Ebeneezer's nightgown) is a modification of the Figgy's Ayashe shirt. 

This is Leila and Ben's Sweet Dress where I gathered the neck and trimmed it in bias, lengthened the sleeves,  and added a sash to the seams to begin it it.   It is so cute, and so big (hence no live model).  Next year maybe?

Charley Does Ballet!

Three Fridays ago, Charley started ballet.  She picked out her whole outfit (ok, minus the tights, those were B's).  For two weeks, she wore the same thing ('cause we are girls, it is all about he clothes around here, and by girls, I mean Mike too.  He usually looks the best out of all of us.).  Last week she wore a sparkly purple leotard that Lee gave her for gymnastics.  She has learned passe, and maybe first position?  I don't know.  all us moms huddle around the only window watching.  I cannot hear anything.  Drives me crazy!

(Sorry about the bad iPhone pictures - funny how they say these phones take great ones.)

 

So, Did Absence Make the Heart Grow Fonder?

So, long time, no hear, huh?  I wish I could tell you we have been crazy busy having tons of fun in the last month and a half, but, we haven't.  It hasn't been lame by any sort of the imagination.

I think the biggest thing is our 15.5 year old dog Shadow has become more work than she used to be.  She hasn't been sleeping as well. Shadow has been having more trouble standing up, and she was wondering around at night.  I finally read on the internet to leave some lights on where she sleeps.  Sounds counter intuitive, but it worked.  She is now only getting up once or twice a night.   Yeah, that is better.  She had been having balance issues and a lot of falling down.  We took her off of Rimadyl, which among pother things can cause vestibular issues, so we are waiting until that is out of her system before starting another pain reliever.  My poor girl, she is in pain now, but is more with the program.  OK, enough about Shadow, though let's hope there isn't an RIP post about her any time soon.

Update on Shadow:  I should have never written she was sleeping better.  "Cause now she isn't.  I swear, she'll lose her life one night when Mike and I have had enough.  And today, I am too tired to get her up and burning energy during daylight. She is drinking water all night, then going out (thankful of that part) 2 and 3 times a night.  EEE GADS!  She started new medicine last night.  Hopefully it will help.  We are a bit lost with what to do.  She still eats, she comes around for attention, still urinates outside.   It is a hard road with this one, makes me thankful that with our other animals we were lucky when it came time for them to pass.  

Update 2 on Shadow:  We put her to sleep two Wednesdays ago.  She couldn't walk anymore and she couldn't even stand without help.  She would fall and her eyes would go back and forth with vertigo.  Pain medicines were not working.  Mike came home from lunch, and we sat for almost two hours trying to figure out what to do.  Doggie wheel chair (yes, they have them and I kind of wish I had gotten one months ago) a splint.  Anything.  But really, we knew it was time - well, I was the one that needed to know.  And we got to the vet without being stopped by any lights or trains (a sign, says Mike) and Shadow went very quickly, very peacefully.  Of course I am so sad, she was a part of my life for almost 15 years, and as all of our passed animals are, Shadow was a saint.  She never bit through Jake's ear.  She never escaped the James Street yard and was in the middle of the busiest road in town.  She never barked when it thundered.  She never harasses the cats.  And she never bared a canine tooth (in a semi - growl) to Jake, thinking we couldn't see. 

So, I started this post a couple of weeks ago

OK, enough with the sap and morbid.....(But people, if I ever talk about getting more animals, come egg me.  Really, I don't need anynore to take care of.) 

So, for what you have been waiting for, pictures of the kids.

Charley in her doll bed.


 B took a field trip to a farm.  I thought it was a flower farm (Primrose was the name) and I wore heels.

 A sleepy Chatch playing in my car.  Her summer teacher, Jennifer put the piggies in.

Lots of outside playing this summer.  Despite the heat.

Uggs are essential to summertime fun.

Another thing that screams summer?  Visits to Aunt Lee's to swim with the cousins.

That is B swimming with a mermaid tail.  Her swimming has really blossomed this summer.  As long as she has on her goggles.

That is Jess catching Charley off the board.

 

I think this is the time we went up for my birthday.  (Gawd people, I am 41!  41! Where did my youth go?  How am I this old with small children?)  That would be my annual carrot cake with annual cream cheese frosting.  

 A dress I made for B.  Modkids Maya is the pattern.

Turtle Park.

We all went to the eye doctor.  These are the glasses Charley got.  Must be nice to get Elton Johns instead of pop bottle lenses.

The zoo.

Cambria's birthday party.   The kids got to decorate hats.  And hit a pinata.

There is always some "look" happening at hour house.

Case in point.

  

Newest household member (April) Scoopsy Baby.

Needed a way to entertain the girl.  Wonder where B was?

Remember what I was saying about there is always some look happening?

One of B's fairy gardens.

Ah, yes, the slip and slide. And muddy feet.  With the neighbors.

 

Love session with Isabel the nighttime screamer.  Yeah, she keeps us up too.  Funny, the animals keep us up just when Charley starts to sleep all night in her own bed. Ironic!

 

Here is an event that probably deserves it's own post.  First Day of Kindergarten for B.  Including eating lunch there.  She goes 4 full days and one half day (she has swim lessons on Monday morning and goes in right before lunch).  Montessori in the morning and kindergarten in the afternoon.  B loves it!

OK, Charley was not as excited for school to start.  Especially since she didn't have a lunch box.  (I have since rectified the situation  - who knew it would be handy for taking lunch to the zoo?  Way better than the expensive schlock they have.)

See Charley is still not excited.

  

 Swimming Lessons.  B on the left, Chatch on the right.

So, B stays at school until 2:45, Charley on the other hand comes home at 11:30.  What was I thinking?  Who knew B was so integral to Charley's playtime?  You know who plays with Charley now?  ME!  No wonder I am not getting as much done.  "Cause really, Charley doesn't nap much.  If she does, bedtime moves from 8 until 10:30.  Seriously.  How can a nap be bad news?

Charley and I have been doing stuff, like, making play dough with jello powder.  We go through a lot of playdough.  Don't you hate when they mix colors together?

She is so cute right?

Being that the kids go to Montessori, I thought we should incorporate more of a Montessori philosophy in our home.  I put together a couple of lower kitchen cabinets with bowls, the kids glasses, snack, water bottles and B's lunch bag and containers.  And being that she is almost 6, she has to help make her lunch.  Here she is cutting carrots and cucumber.   It is a cute little chopper that has a rippled edge.  Like the bathing suit?  Any excuse to put one on......  And you see how it fits her?  That is why I only buy two piece suits.

 Another afternoon, another what to do with Charley.  The park.

 

Since I started this post weeks ago (seriously people, I am not kidding - weeks!) more has happened.  We had a last warm weather HURRAH swimming at Lee's. I worked out,  made clothes for the girls,  and planned and executed B's birthday party (with help of course). Charley started ballet. B started soccer and tennis.  Just park district stuff.  No games or anything.  Thank God!  Our Saturdays are still hours to wile away sitting on the back patio watching Mike water the landscape (really bad summer to plant anything).  

Until next time, let's hope it isn't months, and months and months.