Happy Birthday Dear Ellie...

So just when we get settled down from the long night of Lily's sleepover party we are onto Ellie's slumber party! She woke up on July 1st very excited she was 9...in fact I think she said to me "can you believe I'm 9? Your little girl is growing up"...really?! The fact that she said that to me is proof enough she is growing up! We went to Biscuits for lunch (only because you can order breakfast there all day and that is her favorite...hashbrowns to be specific!). Then I took her and Lily to get mini pedicures...this has turned into a tradition on their birthdays and I have to admit, it is one of my favorite traditions! After leaving with very pretty toes we came home to prepare for the friend party. This year I bought a kid style mystery party online at Dramatic Fanatic...and it turned out great! Jamie warned me to not have too high of expectations (I often see it going a certian way in my head and it doesn't always happen that way in reality!)...but this did for the most part! There were 8 girls and they each played a part of a character and tried to figure out who stole the items from the slumber party. I divided them into 2 groups of 4 and gave them 10 minutes to make up a commercial and I couldn't believe how well they did! They are all very dramatic...and best of all they loved it! The girls babysitter Melinda was here to help and she set up a makeover station and did all the girls make up and hair which was another big hit. After a quick version of American Idol (we only did hometown auditions)...we got them to settle down with a movie. They were quiet but I found out later they were up until 2:30 so needless to say there were some naps taken the next day! It was a successful birthday but I'm glad I don't have to do a group sleepover for another year!

Fun at Seaside

So after the all nighter all 3 kids slept the whole way to the beach which was so peaceful! I really wanted to take them to Seaside because that's where some of my best memories are from being a young girl. Every year my grandparents rented a house in Cannon Beach for a week so we would go, bring friends, go horseback riding, beach bike riding and Grandpa would take us into Seaside to ride bumper cars, tilt-a-whirl and play mini golf. He would also take us to Ter Hars to buy a swimsuit which got pretty comical as we got older...he kept insisting on one pieces and we wanted anything but! If you remember from other posts Jamie really does not like the sand so he would have been happy staying on the boardwalk but of course the kids wanted to go straight for the beach! We brought all the sand toys, swimsuits (it was beautiful at the beach although once you hit the water it's like you can't even feel the sun it's SO cold!). We let the kids play for a couple hours, then made our way to the aquarium to feed the seals and look at octopuses. The kids loved the rides...and we of course filled up on fish and chips, ice cream and elephant ears. We left just in time for Jalen to have his second nap...met Papa and Grandma at Red Robin on the way home and called it a day...a very LONG day! Early to bed!

Happy Birthday Dear Lily...

This time of year gets busy with all the birthday celebrations! And of course each girl has to have multiple celebrations! Lily had her "friend" party last Friday the 25th and watched the premier of the Disney movie "Sixteen Wishes". There was a total of 12 girls here including Ellie and her friend...for a sleepover...20 minutes into it I was regretting agreeing to this! They had pizza, homemade cookie ice cream sandwiches and popcorn with the movie. Other than the usual "girl" drama (everyone wants to sit next to the birthday girl...feeling left out...) the evening went good until it was bedtime. I checked on them at 10:30 and the lights were out and it was quiet...I thought I was in a dream! Turns out it was way too good to be true...I fell asleep at midnight only to be woken to screaming and crying at 1am because they had been quietly telling scary stories and I guess the last one was just TOO scary! There were two girls who were in tears...I was able to cuddle up with one of them and got her to sleep but the other wanted only wanted her mom. So I had to make that dreaded 1am call to have them come pick her up. Needless to say it took awhile to get everyone back to sleep so when they woke up at 7 I was NOT happy! Morning donuts were probably not what they needed but they all enjoyed it. They were all picked up by 9:30 and we decided to surprise the girls with a trip to the beach...Seaside! It was a busy but fun day for the birthday girl!