7th Birthday Party!

First off, she wanted a pajama party/pizza party. And she wanted to do what it seems girls do at pajama parties - eat pizza, paint nails, watch a fun movie, and of course cake and ice cream and presents being a birthday party. But then she had a couple more original ideas we decided to include. 

First, she found this YouTube channel called Cookies, Cupcakes and Cardio where this lady and her niece make all sorts of awesome cake and cupcake creations. There is a video where they make cupcakes that are made to look like a hamburger and French fries. Halle's watched the video at least 50 times, and I've probably watched it at least 10 times myself :). So we decided it would be fun to try and do this cupcake creation at her party. 

Second, for probably six months Luke and Halle have been talking about an idea where Luke comes to Halle's birthday party dressed as Santa and passes out presents to her friends. At first I thought the idea was just kind of funny and that it would pass, but they kept talking about it as her birthday got closer, and then I remembered Dixie has a Santa costume so I thought, why not? Why wouldn't we incorporate Santa into an August birthday party? But really, I figured the kids would love it and it was something different, so we went for it! 

So as I thought about it her party really evolved into kind of a "Halle's favorite things" birthday party. Pajamas, pizza, nail painting, Barbie 12 Dancing Princesses movie, making cupcake creations, and a special delivery of miniture Beanie Boos (one of Halle's favorite toys right now - the "it" stuffed animal that her and Luke love collecting as play if with) from Santa himself! The girls absolutely loved the Santa appearance and thought it was hilarious! It was a very fun night and I'd say a pretty original party! 

Halle writing the invitations. She wanted to do it all herself and did a great job! Her handwriting is so neat and pretty!

  

Today we went and got new PJs for the party. Right before we had stopped for ice cream cones. We stopped at the store and Halle realized she forgot her shoes. I had to take a picture, because holding an ice cream cone and walking barefoot is just the perfect summer picture if you ask me! She picked out an adorable rainbow colored unicorn nightgown, and it even came with a matching little nightgown for her new doll! Perfect. Luke for some new Star Wars pj pants :). 

Halle and her friends Phoebe and Britta helped with the decorations. 

Halle and her new nightgown matching with her doll. 

Halle helping me make the cheese, lettuce and tomatoes out of airheads for the hamburger cupcakes. 

The nail salon 

Making the cupcake creations 

The finished cupcakes! 

Cake time!

A visit from a very jolly and silly Santa. The girls thought it was hilarious.  

Opening presents 

Luke, Mr, Sweetooth, couldn't wait long to eat his hamburger and fries 

Halle's turned out so good! 

She's our cute sweetie pie and I can't believe she's 7! 

Halle is 7!

Our Halle girl turned 7 yesterday. Looking back on pictures last night had me feeling at a loss of where the time has gone, and I couldn't help but want to pick up and snuggle that beautiful, entertaining little two year old again with the brown shining eyes, contagious smile and amazing social skills (she was talking full sentences at 2!). I will never forget what a happy go lucky baby she was, me thinking how I probably had a quiet little wall flower, and then she started crawling and it was like a tornado had broken lose and she's never slowed down since (haha). I have such a soft spot in my heart for that little girl and am amazed how fast she's growing up.

Halle has brought so much joy and happiness into our lives. Not so little anymore, Halle ia growing into such a beautiful, happy, and confident girl. She's sweet and spicy and everything in between. She's smart, passionate, determined, creative, talented, athletic, the list goes on....she really is one of those rare and amazing people who truly is good at everything she does. I feel like she could excel at anything and everything she tries and wants to stick to. She also had such a fun and amazing personality. She keeps us laughing and on our toes and will always fill our lives with adventure, I'm sure. Happy birthday our sweet Halle, we love you so very, very much! 

I made this collage tonight. 

Her birthday 

She woke up bright and early, so excited to open her present - a My Salon Doll - a doll that has real human hair you can style, wash, curl, etc. She's been looking forward to this doll for months and picked out the one she wanted - Bailey. Bailey is a dancer - very fitting for Halle. She's been so excited for this doll and could hardly stand the anticipation. I think she may have snuck a peak at the doll box hidden high on the shelf of my closet. Haha. 

Then I took Halle and Luke to Classic Fun Center on her birthday. The kids had a blast. 

When we got home Halle's friends Phoebe and Brita helped decorate the cake. 

That night we had Halle's choice for dinner - Cafe Rio. Grandma Lori, Grandpa Sheldon and Jojo came to Halle's birthday dinner and cake and presents. 

Here's her display of all the great things she got:

Two days of animal farm

On Monday we went to the Thanksgiving Point Animal Farm and the kids loved it! It was the first time for the twins and they loved seeing all the animals. I loved hearing Avery say "oooooo!" and "ohhhhh!" so excitedly and pointing at each animal as she saw them. Her eyes light up and looks back and forth to the animals and me and smiles and laughs. 

Asher says "huhhhhh?" like it's always a question with the way his voice goes up at the end, and then babbles on and on with the most adorable little serious and concerned look on his face. His little baby babble is just the cutest thing in the world. 

Halle had a lot of fun with the animals and loved riding the horses. She wanted to do it again. She was cute and found a little grass to feed a baby cow and then Luke started doing it along with her. They were both such good helpers with the babies and I think they had fun seeing the babies get so excited to see the animals. The babies also liked watching the kids ride the horses. We went on the wagon ride and the kids were good helpers with the babies. 

We were in a hurry there on Monday because we had dentist appointments to get to and the kids really wanted to go back, so we went again today!

Here are pictures from Monday:

Today we went and it was a lot of fun, too. We packed lunches and had a little picnic. There were a lot of "ooooos" and "ohhhhhs!" from Avery again. I let the babies out of their stroller from the very does this time because it's a good place to let them walk around with it not being too big and surprisingly they did really well with it. Luke and Halle were great helpers and would help me with one baby if one was wandering off. 

A funny story with the twins - when we were waiting for the horse ride for the big kids and it was really funny because Asher kept wandering off onto the grassy area and I would say to Avery, "Avery, can you go get Asher?" and she would run toward his yelling "Sash!" and try to get him to come back toward us. She would point at me and look back at me, as he happily toddled along and ignored. At one point she held a water bottle up, trying to bribe him back to us with it. It was so funny. She is like a little mom to him always watching out for him. Their relationship is really cute and it's fun to see. 

Pictures from today:

Red lipstick and soccer

For Halle, getting ready for her soccer game includes putting on bright red lipstick! 

Halle and Luke are playing on the same team this spring and it's been a fun (but cold and rainy!) season so far! It's been a rainy and cold season so far but the kids have been troopers and played in all their games so far, even when some of gem have been super windy and freezing! Every week it's cold Luke isn't thrilled about going to the games (he is really into basketball right now and keeps asking why we signed him up for soccer, haha) but Halle has such a great arritude and never complains about going! She's always so cute and happy playing out there on the field, and even though she is by far one of the youngest on the team she gets in there and tries her best, and always gets some good kicks in! She's really cute playing and it's fun to watch her. I think it's an combination of her fun-loving personality, that she's a hard worker, and that she really does like soccer! I'm glad to see she's having fun with it! Love this cute girl.