She's 10!!

We have a 10 year old here. Meredith's birthday was today, and what a great girl she has turned into. She started the day opening all her presents before dad went to work.


Clothes, sunglasses like mom's, a desk, new curtains for her room, and a pair of earrings giving permission to get her ears pierced. Chocolate chip waffles with strawberries and whip cream for breakfast.
We prepared and cleaned for her party and then headed out to see Night at the Museum 2 at the summer movies.

Then came home and finished getting ready for her Minute to Win it Party. Here's list of the events we did, or intended to do, we didn't quite get through all of them.
Here's a picture of "Sticky Situation" They had to fish for pretzels with a wet gummy worm and then lift the pretzel into their mouths with out touching it.

The funniest one was Hanky Panky, where each person was required to pull all the tissues out of a tissue box with only one hand. The fastest one to do it won.

Tissues were flying everywhere, and when everyone got done they all had a tissue fight, threw armfuls into the air, and buried each other. Really fun!


Of course Pizza, soda, and fruit were served at Mer's request.

And we made Panda Cupcakes for dessert. We got the idea from Hello, Cupcake! Love that book!!

I am so grateful she has so many great friends. They all participated in our crazy events and got along so well.
To end the night we noticed a package on our front porch, her American Girl arrived! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa.
Tonight Mer was gushing with gratitude for all the events of the day, and gifts, and awesome party. I am apparently the "Best Mom in the Whole world" :) Thank you Meredith for being my best helper and sidekick in party throwing. She brings such a fun spirit to our home. We love her so much.

Sweet dreams sweet Mer Mer.

The end of the Last days

Soccer ends and Luke gets a Buzz

Things are starting to slow down a little here. Meredith played her last soccer game in the middle of the day on Saturday. They had no energy. We were grateful to be able to go for a team pool party right after, where they all got to swim and get their trophies.

Luke is a dada's boy. He loves Doug. He particularly is in love with is car. Riding in "dada's car" is a frequent source of tears these days. A couple of days ago he woke up and the first thing he said to me was "dada car??" Last night he did not want to go to bed without walking outside and saying goodnight to "dada car". I just thought that needed to be recorded.

Get a good look at this cute head of hair. It's the last you'll see of it for a while because Luke received his first "buzz". Doug loves to buzz his boys heads. I finally consented and let him buzz the baby.
Of course he took it like a champ. I'm always amazed when a little kid holds still while loud buzzing clippers are being dragged across his head.
He keeps saying "haircut" and patting the top of his head. And here he is with his "dada" .
Now he has "dada hair."

I'm still getting used to it.

Moments I want to remember from this week.

Max and his rocket ships...

Our preschool Cinco de Mayo party...the last day of the year!

Jack did a load of laundry, washed folded and put away, for a $1. I'm thinking I should have paid him more.

Our 2-day trip to Walt Disney World

The magic of the Magic Kingdom

The wonder of It's a Small World

I don't really want to remember the sickening teacups, but everyone else does.

The fun my pirates had on the Pirates of the Caribbean

And how dad caved and bought them all swords.

The beauty of Animal Kingdom

And how we saw animals our zoo doesn't have.

How no one wanted to ride Everest with me until it was too late.

And how dead tired we all were by the end of the 2nd day.

Guns, Noodles, and Camping too.

Luke's newest "talent" is shooting things. He makes a gun out of every thing and pretends to shoot with it. Well it's not really a new talent, he's been making shooting sounds for a while. I snapped this pictured because he picked up this gun shaped stick, aimed it right at me and said clearly "Hands up Mom, hands up" then he proceeded shoot me making a big bullet shotgun type noise. When did he get so grown up? and I wonder where he learned "hands up" from?

Of course Jack is a proud teacher.

Here they are stringing noodle necklaces at our preschool this week.

We met Doug for Lunch on Wednesday and got a chance to try out the Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich he's been raving about. It was delish despite the playing of "Detroit Rock City" in the background.


We rescheduled FHE to Wednesday too and went on a nature walk through the Florida forests. We found some great little trails through a neighborhood near by. We felt like Bilbo Baggins tromping through dimly lit forest, keeping our eyes out for The Spiders at every turn.
Doug took the boys out to the Father and Son Campout on Friday. They had fun starting the fire and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows.
Unfortunately they had to cut the night short, coming home at 12:30 because a certain little LooLoo wouldn't go to sleep or stay asleep depite repeated attempts by Doug. Camping was just too exciting for the two year old.

And that was our week!!!