Clara's Party

Clara is seven!  She is one of the most fun-loving and unique people I have ever know.  She is always ready with a quick retort that makes me laugh out loud.  I love her perspective on life.  It's impossible to categorize this girl. She is a tomboy who loves bugs and critters, but she also loves wearing the fanciest dresses at all times, for any occasion, even if we are just going to play at the park.  She has so much raw talent for leadership, yet she is the most nurturing, caring big sister to her little brother.  I love running errands with Clara in the backseat, telling me random things.  She is lots of fun.    

Clara wanted a pool party with only three very specific friends.  I decided to create a treasure hunt, for some extra fun and entertainment for the kids.  

The pool-themed cake: 

I had a great time browsing Party City to get stuff for the buried treasure.  

Here the kids are about halfway through the treasure hunt.  There were 17 clues and it took the kids about an hour to complete.  In the background, the girls are reading a clue and thinking about where the next clue could be found.  The kids running toward the camera probably think they already know!

The last clue led the kids to a buried treasure.  I walked about 1/4 mile from our house to a spot the kids were familiar with (we call it the "maze") off the trail from our house, and dug a hole in the ground to bury the treasure.  The kids were told to bring a measuring tape and shovels to unearth it. 

Found it! 

Trying to open the chest to explore the booty!

Walking home after the hunt ... 

A pile of clues ... 

We had the whole pool to ourselves!

The After Party, with the sisters:

Family Party Time

This year for the girls' family party, Megan and her kids were in town!  Woo hoo!!

Cake walk:

Meredith and Bennett sort through the prize loot: 

Granny with sweet baby Madeline: 

The almost-seven year old, Clara Faith:

We eat a lot of cake in July, since it's birthday month!  So for this party, we decided on something a little different, an adaptation of Pioneer Woman's blackberry cheesecake and my friend Rachelle's marbled lemon curd cheesecake.  Yum!

Clara allows the younger kids to help her blow her candle.

Hanging out with Colin and Christy afterwards:

All American Girl

Meredith loves to come up with her own party themes.  She is creative and sweet and companionable.  She is fun to hang out with and always has lots of ideas and contributions to conversation.  She has become a voracious reader of fantasy and sci-fi.  I love the young woman she is becoming. 

Both my July birthday girls wanted very small friends parties this year.  The smallness factor, coupled with the fact that they are getting older, made for the easiest birthday parties I have ever thrown.  Meredith wanted an All-American theme.  She has always loved that her birthday (July 7) is close to America's birthday. 

Talk about easy.  All you have to do is go to the dollar store in late June and you have all your All-American party decorations!

Meredith loves raspberries. We went to Costco and bought a couple large packs of raspberries.  Then we made Ina Garten's flag cake with lots of cream cheese frosting.  Delish!

Nine year old girls rock!  They probably could have done this whole party by themselves.  I was there simply as the photographer.  Life has gotten easier (but I still have little boy parties to throw, so I'm not out of the woods yet)! 

The biggest hit of the party was this drink.  You take liquids with different sugar contents, and if you pour them slowly over ice, the colors stay separated.  The girls loved this so much.  I will definitely do this again!  I couldn't find the white drink--none of the gas stations where I normally see pina colada SoBe had it when I checked.  This drink is made with cran-raspberry juice and blue Gatorade.  

Meredith's snow cone maker from Aunt Christy has been put in constant use since we got it. Of course, we stocked up on Red and Blue colored flavors.  

Meredith makes these snow cones herself.  Every family should have a nine year old girl like her!

The only real "game" we played was Capture the American Flag in the backyard.  This was Meredith's idea. 

Movie time!

Doughnut time!

My oldest and youngest.  

Sophia Ballerina

My dear sweet girl who loves ballet (maybe I will finally get a girl who sticks with it) turned four in January.  Surprisingly, this was the hardest kid birthday for me to reckon with.  I think, when you have four children, life is so busy that you NEED the older ones to grow up a little bit so they can be more independent.  It's not that you want to fast-forward their childhood, it's simply about survival. But now my baby girl is four.  I'm not sure I'm okay with that.  

I have enjoyed Sophia being three so much.  On the eve of her fourth birthday, I slipped into her room and watched her while she slept. I couldn't help but feeling a tinge bit sad.  She is my cuddle bug.  She is the child who expects nothing and contentedly sits by my side.  When a kid is three years old, they take everything that you say as gospel truth.  Sophia has these big, trusting blue eyes, that say, "I believe you and I love you and I'm just so happy to be with you right now."  

Now she is four.  Four is and will be great.  But I will always look back at age three with fondness.  Sophia, you are a JOY.  It's been so great having a three-year-old as sweet as you.  

  

Birthday Boys

The two men in my family both have December birthdays.  It was Carson's 1st birthday and Kevin's *ahem/cough* birthday.


Here they are!  Two handsome guys.

Board games were played while the lasagna heated in the oven.

 

 

I would like to say that this is his first bite of cake.  If he were a first born, it would be.  But since he is a fourth born, he has been eating junk for a long time.

 

Carson had a lot of help opening presents.

 

And there were a few presents for Kevin too!

I love my men!