Royal Party

K. had a “Royal” birthday party for her fifth birthday.  She had originally requested a princess party, but since many of her friends are boys, we opted for a royal theme.  Many of the guests dressed in royal attire, and as an opening craft, we adorned crowns with jewels.

There was also a royal obstacle course.

Isn’t little J. the cutest!

We had cupcakes with crown candies on top.  It should be noted that Dad made all of the crown-shaped candies for the top.  Yea!

Of course, K. had fun opening gifts (and you can see her crown that she made).  The pony in N’s hand was claimed by her pretty much the moment K. opened it, and she carried it around for the rest of the party.  K. politely shared.

K. got a new Lalaloopsy doll (Pillow Featherbed, who is her favorite).  She said, “I used to have two dolls…”

“And now I have three!”

Glow Bugs

Auntie D. got some heart-shaped glow glasses for the girls, so we had a glow party in the basement.

We invited our friends from next door, and Dad busted out all of the glow sticks he had.  We pulled out a black light, highlighters, and posterboard for drawing.  It was actually quite fun, and we need to do it again.

Thanks, Auntie D, for the glasses and inspiration!

Birthday Girl

The princess turned five (!) and we had a celebration with family.  I didn’t do a very good job of taking pictures, but she had a great time anyway.

So excited to receive an American Girl doll from Grandma and Grandpa A!

K. and N. got umbrellas and despite the risk of bad luck, promptly tried them out inside.

Grandpa L. read to K. and her new doll.

Happy birthday, sweet girl!

Outtake-tastic

I took some pictures of one of my friend’s children, and had my own children in tow.  Here are some of the outtakes, both posed (when I was trying to find a good light) and some random ones. N. and her buddy C.  I think we hope they will go to prom together someday so we can whip these pictures out to embarrass them.

Pretend Princesses

The girls were invited to their friend’s princess-themed birthday party.  Here are just a couple of the highlights.  The girls had a blast, and even the littlest one was into it.

K. and her friend, who realized their first names begin with the same letter.  Oh, the things that are exciting when you are 5!

K. leading her turn of “Simon Says.”  It was supposed to be “Princess Says,” but since K has played Simon Says before, she kept saying “Princess Simon Says…” and it was pretty funny.

Pebble Beach

A great feature of the place up north we stayed was the huge, rocky beach.  There was no shortage of digging and rock hunting, and even some brave splashing in the cool water.

Up North

We got to take a wonderful trip up north to spend some time with my dad’s side of the family.  It was beautiful, both in having nice scenery and in having great quality time with family.K. was particularly interested in her great aunts’ knitting (or “needling,” as she called it) and I can’t wait until she is old enough to learn some stitches!The weather was gorgeous (especially as I belatedly type this, when we’ve had weeks of weather being in the upper 90s).There was a great beach (very cold water, but fun if you are not swimming).  The kiddos spent a lot of time exploring.

We were also able to meet up with our cousins (my dad’s first cousin’s kids, who are my second cousins and whose kids are my daughters’ third cousins.  Confused?  We just call them cousins).  The girls were elated to have some other kids to play with, and their cousins were so sweet with them!The whole gang.K. and her cousin K., who are about 7 months apart in age.  Oh, how I wish we lived closer and could spend more time together!

The family!  Great-grandma is in the middle, surrounded by her family.  Such a fantastic time!