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Friday, September 28, 2018

She's 12!

This girl has been so excited for her birthday.
She is officially 12!
Oh wow!

She wanted waffles and ice cream for breakfast.

After school when Dad got home she was so ready to open those gifts.


Caught a weird smile on her face but she loves the music from The Greatest Showman. When I saw this shirt I thought of her and knew she'd love it.  

She wanted clothes, make-up and of course the ipod we get our kids when they turn 12. 
She was thrilled!


She's starting to make some goofy faces and poses now. Why oh why?


This girl is so obedient. She quickly jumps up and does whatever she is asked. She's a great student and works hard for those A's. She just started the flute this year and is loving it. As one of her birthday gifts we bought her 3 months of tennis lessons. She's excited to start those next week. She loves watching Chuck and Hawaii 5-O on Netflix. Her favorite book series is Gregor the Overlander. We are trying to get her to venture out and try a new series. She loves to paint rocks and doodle on paper. She loves hanging out with friends. We recently bought a trampoline and this girl is out there every single day on it. Even when she invites friends over they go out there and "talk" while sitting and jumping on it. We sure love our Emily. 

Thursday, September 20, 2018

Surprise!

 This cute girl is turning 12 next weekend! We decided to throw her a "surprise" birthday party. Unfortunately one of her friends spoiled the surprise by telling her she was going to have a birthday party and she was coming. Thankfully her party was planned an entire week before her actual birthday so even though she knew it was coming she was surprised it happened when it did. Dang girls! 

Emily loves to bake and help in the kitchen. So with Maddies help we planned a Cup Cake Wars birthday. I was going to have it at my house but when my mom offered me hers I decided to jump at it. My house is still torn apart! So we had it in Grandma's front yard. 

We served pizza and soda to fill those bellies before the games began. 
I split the girls into 2 different teams to play against each other. 
We had 3 different rounds. Our first round was Halloween. Each girl was given a cupcake and told to decorate it Halloween style. On their tables I had taken a fruit/veg tray and filled each spot with different kinds of candies. Both trays were identical. They had 5 minutes to do this. After 2 minutes some of the girls were almost done so I stopped the clock at 3 minutes. Each table had to pick the best one. Then they each got a new cupcake and had to decorate them exactly the same as the favorite cupcake they had picked earlier. 


These were the final projects. Some of them missed the "exact" same. But they still had fun. 


 Round 2 was a birthday theme. Afterall it is a birthday party.

Each girl got a new cupcake. I told them they again had 3 minutes. However after a minute I stopped them and we had a challenge! Each team had to send one girl to my middle table. I had another tray set up with some fun birthday toppings. The first girl that rolled doubles got to go first at collecting some extra fun goodies to decorate their cupcakes with. There was a catch! They had to wear a oven mit and use tongs to collect their goodies. 


It was so fun to watch these girls get creative!

Our family loves the super hero movies and so we used that as our 3rd theme. 
Having fresh cupcakes the girls were to decorate their cupcake with the new theme. At the dollar store I found the upper bodies of some super heroes. I thought they would be perfect to use as a cupcake topper. Before each round began I would give the girls a new tray with new toppings. After a minute into our new round I stopped them for our last challenge. 

I borrowed my sons nerf bow and arrow and a target. I had one girl from each team do the challenge. It was the birthday girls turn! Her friend did a better job at hitting the target and so Miss Emily had to finish decorating her cupcake wearing a hero mask I took out of my youngest's dress up box. 

They had an additional 2 minutes to decorate and then it was hands up!


 The girls had so much fun! 

I don't know what happened. After our last round I told the girls to go sit on the lawn and that my other daughter and I would bring the gifts over for Emily to open. I turned around and the next thing I knew Miss Emily had been hit with a cupcake or two by her friends. Yuck! I quickly put a stop to that. 


Despite the smashed cupcake on her face and in her hair she had an awesome party!
We had invited 4 of her friends and I spoke to each mom telling them it was a "Surprise" party and asking if their daughter would be able to make it. I made everyone a apron and I wanted the teams to be even. Unfortunately one of the girls never showed up but we still had fun.  
It makes me happy that this sweet girl has friends to hang out with. 

Monday, September 17, 2018

September Lake Powell Trip

  Lake Powell
We have travelled so much this summer that some of us were ok at not making it to our annual September trip with friends this year.  However, the closer we got to the big weekend our minds had been changed and we decided to go. Kory has been crazy busy at work and didn't have a trailer for us to use. Not wanting to set up a tent just so the wind could blow it away nor stay in a hotel we decided to go just for the day on Friday. Kory had done several installs that week and at the last minute decided to stay home and get caught up on paperwork. So early Friday morning I loaded up my van and the kids and I headed to Lake Powell by ourselves. 


Kylie and Gracie let the big girls turn them into mermaids! 

The warmth of the sun and sand between our toes was what we all needed. It was so nice to get away from the house and all it's chaos for a fun day in the sun!

These 2 loved playing on the big floating mat. 


The big kids left for a boat ride. I stayed behind to keep an eye on my little ones. 

Gracie, Kylie and Savanna

Brayden had just fallen off our floating hippo!
This kid loves to swim with his life jacket on. 

After lunch we all got on the boat for a little boat ride.
Maddie and Secoya 

Secoya, Hunter and his friend Karson that we brought with us.  

Kate and Maddie 

It would have been nice to be able to stay longer and have Kory with us but we did have fun!
Till next summer!

Monday, September 03, 2018

Peach Day Parade

Last year when Maddie was choosing her classes for this year I talked her into signing up for Jazz Band. I had NO idea that jazz band was not done during the day but early mornings before school. This girl gets to school on A days (3 days one week and 2 the next) at 6:45 for an hour of music. Then during the day she participates in her regular band class. She is going to be an even more awesome flute player by the end of the school year.  

For Peach Day's she got to participate in the parade. Wasn't her favorite thing to do. But we loved cheering her as they marched on by.....




She is going to have 4 more opportunities to play and march in parades. She is thrilled! 
Not really.....