'Welcome to Summer' Party!

Schools out!  The teacher in me loves any school-related things, so Nora & I decided to have a party!  Ellie finished preschool & Hayley finished first grade so we HAD to celebrate!  I decided we'd have a 'Welcome to Summer' party.  We picked up the girls in the evening after Hayley's last day.  The best way for us to celebrate was to have the girls come spend the night & the rest of the kids come over the next day for more partying.  We celebrated in the car on the way to our house.  We had to get the party started right!  There is something kids love about party blowers.  They are so inexpensive but really get the party spirit cranked up.  =)

Hayley, Nora, & Ellie partying!

To welcome them to our house, I made a banner.  It said "Hayley & Ellie Welcome to Summer".  They got to run through it to get into the house.  (Thanks to Pinterest!)  Hayley enjoyed it.  Ellie chickened out before even getting out of the car.

We had pizza for dinner and then headed to Walmart to pick up some supplies we forgot for the big party.

Nora loves pizza...never turns it down!

After Uncle Aaron got home he helped us set up the fire pit to make s'mores.  They were delish!  We stayed up way too late and even squeezed a Netflix movie in.  (Well, only a few minutes for these girls.  They were very tired, but cannot give up Netflix.  It's one of their favorite things to do at our house.)  The girls love Aaron!  They came with a homemade card for him that made him melt.  It said: "to AAroN I Love AAroN I Love AAroN yes I do.  Yes I do AAron is for hugging AAron is for kissing I Love You I Love you PS. I Love The way you chrit {treat}me".  It was a song they read/sang to him.  Aren't they cute?

In the morning, we cleaned up all the toys & got ready for the party & our guests.  (The girls' brothers Tyler & Aiden and cousin Jacob.)  Once they got here we were ready for our water party.  I'd say that is the most official way to celebrate at a 'Welcome to Summer' party!  These kids could hardly stand the excitement of getting into the pool!  There was even a sprinkler that the boys loved dragging around the yard.  Nora's old life jacket came in handy for Jacob...just in case.  You can't be too careful with so many crazy kids & only 2 adults!

The weather was pleasant and nice.  At least for Rachael & I who weren't wet.  =)  After the excitement started wearing off, we played with our frozen eggs.  The girls helped me make these the night before.  They're a toy hidden in a balloon of water and frozen.  Everyone had fun breaking their eggs, melting them in the pool, or licking the ice (Jacob) to get to the toy.  (Another easy, fun idea from Pinterest!) 

Finally everyone was ready for lunch.  We had some mac 'n cheese & the kids ate it as quickly as possible.  I'm not sure if it was because they knew more fun was coming or because they were so hungry from playing.

Yes, Nora's naked!

Next up was fortune telling drinks.  (Pinterest again!)  Since our guests were pretty young, I said if your drinks change color you're going to have a good summer.  I guess everyone is going to have a good summer!  They loved seeing what color their Sprite would turn magically.  (Thanks to some dried food coloring in the bottom of their cup.)  Nora & I also stopped by our local treat store (Treetz) and picked up some sprinkled oreo pops.  They were a huge hit.  The girls were asking for them all morning!

Once all were full and happy, we enjoyed a Netflix movie and playing with Nora's toys.  It was a nice, quiet break.

Before the guests left, I sent them with a basket of summer goodies.  I'm sure I can't remember all the basket had...I know it had workbooks (gotta practice during the summer!), activity books, library activity schedule, applications for library cards, a bag for carrying library books, papers for summer reading programs at Barnes & Noble and Chuck E. Cheese, water guns/bucket for filling, poppers, gumballs (for during reading time), and a summer fun kit I printed off pluckymomo.com.  This picture is after it was shoveled through numerous times...it was a hit! =)

We all had a great time!  Within minutes of the Rachael's crew leaving...this was Nora.  Worn.  Out.

Hayley's a {7 Year Old} Rock Star!

Our niece Hayley turned 7 on May 24th .  We celebrated her birthday {a little early} on May 19th.  She wanted to have a swim party so we met at the complex (where Nora's pancakes & pajamas party was) to swim.  The kids loved it. There are 2 baby pools and a big pool and there was plenty of pool hopping between them all.  

After everyone was finished swimming (and quite hungry) we headed to Rachael's for lunch and the party.  Hayley thought she was having a polka dot party, but was surprised with a rock star party like she really wanted.

We had sandwiches with all the fixings, chips, & fruit.  Of course some toys were played with, cake was had, some tv was watched, & the girls found Aaron to cuddle up beside.  

Nora's favorite part was playing with her cousins.  Her second favorite part:  the microphone cupcakes Rachael made.

We had a great time celebrating Hayley's birthday!  We love her!

Aunt Lani

Back in April, Rachael (Aaron's middle sister) had surgery to have her gallbladder removed.  I volunteered to help watch the kids for a couple of days for her to have the surgery and begin her recovery.  (Since she has 4 kids and watches Jacob also during the day.)  We had a blast, but they sure wore me out...and that was with one in school all day and another in school half the day!  To make things easier for me, we all spent the night at Grandma's (Aaron's mom's).  It was a mad house some times!  I managed to take a few pictures of all our fun.  

We watched a little tv and of course played outside to burn some energy.

One day we ventured to playgroup.  I had to borrow a van just for us all to fit!  It was a rainy day so it was storytime at the library.  I wouldn't recommend it with 5 kids.  Even if your sister-in-law, Emily, comes.  As if the stories aren't hard enough to sit through for the kids, craft time was hard to keep from total chaos.  Since kids eat for 99cents, we also squeezed in some Lake Wylie Pizza.  It is one of our favorite things to do on Wednesdays.  We ended up with some loud, restless kids and one asleep before lunch was through.

Somehow we survived.  We'd even do it again if there was a similar situation.  I just am not having 6 kids.  At least not 6 kids ages 6 and under!  Thank goodness I'm just the aunt for most of them!  =)

February

In February we stayed just as busy! We managed an overnight trip to Seneca to visit Aaron's grandparents & his cousin Kellye (& Matt & Evan). Nora loved playing with Evan, but even more so enjoyed his baby toys. He's growing fast & is a very cute little boy! Almost immediately we headed to TN to see Cody (Aaron's cousin's fiance) get baptized. That was a wonderful experience for all that attended. Other than that, I have no idea where time is going, but it's flying by these days! Nora turned 22 months and is UN-stoppable! She makes us so incredibly happy!

Cody & Crazy Hair Nora

We had our first slumber party with our nieces Hayley & Ellie since Nora was born. She loved every minute of it! They love Nora and she loves them! Since it was almost Valentine's Day we celebrated by making chocolate dipped strawberries, watching movies, and making heart window clings. Hayley & Ellie love coming over and always have a blast.

Hayley helping Nora paint her window clings

Ellie & as many 'babies' as she could find in Nora's toys.

Here are a few other random pictures from February:

Look closely & you'll see her pajamas are all twisted up, but still on!

That's talent.

This is our new favorite channel. We call it the Nora Channel or the Nora Show. We recently canceled our cable and this is all we get on our bedroom tv. It's the best version of a baby monitor. I highly recommend it and wish we didn't wait so long to get it. It even has night vision and sound! Hopefully now I can catch her before she takes off her diaper or does something crazy. Aaron & I will both admit it's quite entertaining to watch her. Whether it's jumping in her bed, singing songs, or calling out to Niki & Buck randomly. We love to watch her.

Nora channel screen shot.

Aaron finally got to finish her big Christmas present from us. She probably likes it even more now since there's not other present competition. It's a learning tower. She pushes it all around the kitchen to get up to the counter and reach or do something. She loves playing in the sink and 'washing the dishes' or getting a banana when she first gets up in the morning. The tower has a tip proof feature on the bottom and the platform she's standing on moves down several levels so it grows with her.

This girl is always getting into something!

She is quite into dress up these days. One day she walked out of her room like this...

Quite an outfit!

Aaron's favorite thing about Nora lately is her following directions. One of her newest tricks is that she can take his dishes to the sink or to me to get more. He has been waiting for this day for a long time! (Do you think his Dad had him do it when he was young?...perhaps.)

Little helper, Nora.

This girl loves talking on the phone & facetiming family & friends. It's one of the best ways to turn that frowny face into a smile for her!

Multi-tasking while talking on the phone

Nora likes lots of things but this next picture shows 2 of her favorites...boots (rain or cowboy) & dogs.

Talking to the dog next door

This one is my favorite from February. Nora is a dancing machine. She dances to ANY music. I mean any. Music at the beginning/ending/or during a tv show. Music in the car. Music in the store. Anywhere. She also demands others dance as well. (By demand, I mean pointing her finger at your & yelling "Dance! Dance! Mommy, dance!" for example.) One evening, after Aaron got home, they had an impromptu Daddy/Daughter dance in the kitchen. It was their first like this. She loved it. Probably almost as much as Aaron & I did.

What's that like a 6:1 ratio?

Love, love, love her!

Bear Builders

For Christmas, we got Hayley & Ellie Build-a-Bears.  We gave them Rudolph and Clarice (the girl Rudolph).  We left them un-stuffed, so we could take them to stuff them later.  Since they aren't usually available (busy girls!!) on the weekends, we FINALLY got to take them this past weekend.  They loved it!  Oh, and wanted almost everything there!
!

The girls opted to switch out their reindeer for others.  So many to choose from!

Finally made a choice and now ready to stuff!  

Stuffing away!

Added the heart!

Washing & Brushing the bear & dog!

Finished.  Happy.  Now going back to their Mom.  =)

Merry January, girls!  WE LOVE YOU!!

Oh, and Nora was FABULOUS during it.  Sat happily in her stroller through all the madness.  We're so lucky!  

Our Weekly Weekend Plans

We have a had a few great weekends with the girls lately.  

Just thought I would post some pics!

WE LOVE YOU, Hayley and Ellie!!!