It Was Time For A Trim!

In preparation for Ella's 4 year pictures I decided to just give her hair a little trim. I do want to take her to Bridgett sometime this year to maybe get more of a style, but this was a nice quick fix. 

When her hair is wet it's SO long. It was also a bit uneven in the back. 

A few snips and it was much better. In a few days I'll be adding her 4 year pictures. Can't believe my girl is almost 4! 

Owen's 7 Year Pictures!

The day before Owen's birthday party we took him to JCPenny's to have his yearly birthday pictures taken.

He's such a looker! 

So big!

We had told the lady that all the shots needed to be portrait shots so they could fit into the picture frame we have. When it came to the "Seven" pictures she did them as landscape shots. She was so nice though...she actually took Owen back into the studio and redid the "Seven" shots so they would work for our frame. 

If you'd like to check out his previous yearly pictures...

6 Years 

5 Years

4 Years

3 Years

2 Years

1 Year

That Face!

He crawled up on the couch and waited. He knew I had my camera! 

He said, "cheese"! 

Where's your nose???

Can you blow Mama kisses? 

He's working on the one eyebrow up look! 

Here's the laid back I'm cool look! 

Then brings the full on coy look! 

That face...I love every look! 

Owen's Volcano Party!

 For Owen's 7th Birthday we decided to do things a bit differently and have the party in the garage. The funny thing is that kids get bigger! The people we invite to parties are all the same people except their children just keep growing. Plus I let Owen invite 4 friends from school so to make a long story short I knew that we would need the extra room to move around.  

I made this sign for Owen with my My Memories program.

On the gift table are also the gift bags for the kids. I tried to make them look like you guessed it...volcanoes!

Inside each bag was a package of mint mentos so they could do the whole Diet Coke/Mentos explosion at home, Pop Rocks and instructions for their volcano. 

I asked Michael to take care of cleaning up the garage. I knew since we were using it for extra party space that we needed to hide all the kids riding toys. I just asked him to stack them up and cover them with his painting tarps, but then I came out and saw this! When my mom bought me my new IKEA curtains we took the old 1975 original to the house curtains and just put them in a box in the garage. Michael had the genius idea to use some wire cable and hang them up as a partition. It looked SO nice!   

This is what the rest of the party prep looked like....it was science experiment! 

On the day of the party Uncle Ry and Aunt Stephie came early to help set up the snacks. 

This was the main part of our snacks....chocolate! Melted chocolate! More on that later! 

The party guest started arriving...

We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family that love Owen and want to party with us. 

Bill and Christina even drove 45 minutes from Graham with their 3 young kiddos to hang out with us. We are blessed! 

Before we officially started the party the kids were all outside playing...who cares if it's cold! Once we got everyone gathered in the living room we prayed for the food and then went over etiquette on how to eat the melted chocolate.  

Ryan and Steph have a chocolate fountain that I thought went great with the volcano theme. Aunt Stephie actually ended up being the chocolate server to help make things easier. 

Three out of the four friends that Owen invited from school were able to come. It was fun seeing Owen interact with friends that he sees everyday. 

It was also so nice to have so many places for everyone to sit! 

After snack time we moved onto the coloring contest. I found a volcano image online and had it printed at Office Depot that morning. All the kids did great, but the 3 judges concluded that camera...the boy in front on the left did the best work. He got a book about dinosaurs and an activity coloring book too. 

After the contest we moved onto the science experiment I had prepared for earlier. What I didn't take a picture of was the 10 batches of salt dough I made during the Seahawks game on Saturday. The dough was so for the kids so they could each cover their water bottle to make their own volcano. 

The kids were working really hard to get the dough spread out to completely cover the water bottle. 

Then I went around with a measure cup of vinegar. Each of the kids got to see their volcano erupt! Even though there were over 15 volcanoes it still was fun to watch each one. The kids really enjoyed it which made all the prep work totally worth it. 

All those volcanoes drying....all the kids got to take theirs home so they could erupt over and over again. 

While the kids were working on their volcanoes Ga-Ga was in the kitchen put the "lava" on the volcano cakes. 

The funny thing is I worked and worked at making this party so fun and sticking with the volcano theme that I didn't think of one basic thing that's pretty important to birthday parties. Candles! Poor Owen had to blow out our barbecue lighter. He doesn't look too bummed though! 

I think that Ella and Kendra spent most of the time with each other. I love these cute girls! 

Zeke loves being with his Pa, or as he calls him "Ba"!

When it was time for presents Owen was so cute...he asked before each present if it okay to open it. 

Owen was of course spoiled! Miss Rachael got him these cool Superman jammies. 

Ga-Ga & Pa got Owen $30 one dollar bills. It was fun how they fell out of the card. The kids got a kick out of that! 

In addition to that he got, Nerf Gun, Legos, Hot Wheels track, Disney Apples to Apples, 1st grade workbooks, I Can Read books, Sonic Car City, Drawing Art Book, Candy, Gift Cards to Toys R Us, Home Depot & Lowe's.

I know the last couple things might seen funny for a 7 year old, but we had let some friends know that it might be nice to have some money that would go towards building the kids tree house. 

Micah went one step further and built this awesome tree house night light that held the gift card to Lowe's. It's amazing and the kids love it! 

Seriously it's so cool! And he built it the night before the party! 

Here's everyone at the party minus Owen's school friends. 

Later on that night Owen got his new jammies on and of course wanted to play with everything he got! 

I'd say his birthday was a complete success! 

Thank you to everyone who helped make Owen's 7th birthday so special! 

January's Date Night!

On Friday the 10th Michael and I went on our first date from his date book. I had made reservations at Scotch & Vine in Des Moines. My parents came over and watched the kids for us. I got dressed up not because it's a super fancy restaurant, but because going out to dinner with my husband is reason enough to get dressed up! We had a wonderful evening full of conversation. It still amazes me that we can be together for so long and still not run out of things to talk about. I guess when your love is also your best friend that's pretty easy. 

Candle Centerpiece!

My SIL loves Live Laugh Love stuff...so when it came to making her Christmas present I knew just what theme I was going with. 

I've stamped on candles before, but I've never written on them. It's basically the same thing, but still I was a little worried that it wouldn't work. The first thing I did was use my stampin' up real red pen and wrote on tissue paper. Now don't think it only took me one try to get it right. I actually used almost the whole piece of tissue paper. Believe it or not cursive 'L's' are not easy for me to write even though my name starts with an 'L' I never write it with a capital cursive 'L'. Once I got them just right I used my heat gun and melted them into the candles. 

If you look close you'll actually see that the Laugh and the Love in this picture is different from the previous one. I just wasn't happy with those 'L's'! Once I got the candles done I thought they were missing something so I added the raffia. Then I started thinking that something was missing. 

So I got a plate and then some pretty decorative sand and arranged them just so, but still something was missing. 

Then I added the rocks and finally it felt finished. I think it has a beachy feel to it! The best part is Steph loved it! It really was a win-win....I got to be crafty and she got a cool Christmas present. 

He's 7!

You know the crazy thing about Owen turning 7...we have now had children for as long as we tried for children before getting pregnant. We first started trying in 2000 and 7 years later we got our miracle! To think if we had had things our way we would have a 14 year old! I wouldn't have it any other way though. God knew best...He always does! Owen Michael came into our lives precisely when he was supposed to. There's that verse in the Bible that says..."you are here for sure a time as this". That's pertaining to Esther of course and her changing the course of her people, but I do believe that Owen is here "for such a time as this". I don't know what God has in store for Owen, but I know He has something great! 

Owen Michael as I sit here typing this my eyes are filled with tears. Happy tears that God still preforms miracles and you are one! You are the answer to hundreds if not thousands of prayers. I love that you love hearing me tell you how we prayed and prayed for a baby and then finally when the time was right God gave us you! I'm so lucky...no blessed to be your mother. You make me a better person....you made me a mommy! The job that I knew I wanted from childhood. Not only do you make me a better person, but you bring such joy to SO many peoples lives. You are a blessing!!! 

Today is your 7th birthday and I don't know what it is about the number 7, but it really feels like you are truly a big boy. You are no longer a baby...your cute face has changed, your teeth are falling out and you are shoot up like a weed! You are so incredibly smart! You are thriving in school...you love math! After getting a slow start at reading you are now ahead of what they wanted you to be at. You are such a quick learner! I love that when I drop you off at the bus you still kiss and hug me goodbye and then shout across the street, "BYE MAMA....LOVE YOU!" I also love that you love seeing me at school. You love showing me what you do and introducing me to your friends. You proudly proclaim, "That's my mom....her name is Ms. Lyndsay!" I know that there will be a day when I will embarrass you and you won't want me around you and your friends so I will cherish this time. Actually I will cherish all the time I have with you. Not that it will be all sunshine and roses, but still each moment is a gift! You are a gift...the best kind of gift...my baby! Mommy loves you more than words can say! Happy Birthday Owen Michael!  

Water Blaster!

One of Owen's Christmas presents came from Value Village. It was still in the box like new. It's a water blaster car! 

A couple weekends ago it was beautiful...so I thought it would be fun to take it for a spin. 

Michael showed the boys how it worked. You first hooked the car up to the lever portion. 

The first time you step on the lever it fills the car and the reserve tank up with water. Then the second time you step on it it makes water shoot out of the tailpipes of the car. 

Then you step on it again and off it goes! 

The longer you let the water pressure build up the farther the car would travel. 

Even though it was beautiful...it was FREEZING!!! 

And Michael was outside in bare feet! Brrrrr! 

After freezing for a while Michael and I went inside while the boys still played. They had a hard time getting the car to fully latch onto the lever portion. We showed, explained and gave advise on how they could work together as a team to get it latched properly. Then they went outside and worked as a team and ended up breaking the car. Seriously! I think they maybe got to play with it for 30 - 45 minutes. Well...at least I didn't pay full price! :)