L-O-V-E

As February approached and we started thinking about Valentine's Day we decided we would do something cute and useful rather than sweet.  After all, i knew there would be plenty of sweets for all our little sweeties : )

Alexandra picked out some valentines pencils and Sophia had her mind heart set on "love bugs".  So as a compromise we agreed to incorporate both ideas and came up with these.  Aren't they cute?  It was a process but like most things that take time, the end result was all worth it.

After patiently making and assembling each "love bug pencil," the girls signed and hand picked one for each of their friends.  Then they were all set to be delivered on Valentine's Day!

From breakfast to dinner and everything in between, the day was full of heart reminders letting my 3 little valentines know how much I LOVE them!   

Afternoon snack was no exception!  Hot chocolate with pink marshmallows, a pink popcorn mix of yogurt strawberries, crasins, dried strawberries and pink M&M's.  Along with some more heart shaped strawberries and jello.  Yum!!!  I had some happy little love bugs!

 My 3 sweeties! 
Thanks for making my life SO much sweeter!  I sure do LOVE you!

MLK Christmas

We've traditionally spent Thanksgiving with The Barker Cousins but with the arrival of Jon Anthony in early November, we made the trip to Dallas instead.

Then we had planned on having them over before Christmas for an early celebration and visit, but as you might know by now, (or not) we were all dreadfully sick over Christmas break.  All five of us had a terrible cold or most likely the flu.  All plans to see family and friends were canceled and we spent the entire break watching movies in our pj's.  Thankfully, we started feeling better just in time for school to start.  By MLK weekend, along with our way overdue Barker Christmas visit, we were back to our healthy self's and had a super time with all three cousins, Aunt Judy, Uncle Chip, Grandma and Aunt Elaine. 

Girls against boys in a tickle wrestling match!

Looks like Santa left one of his reindeer behind: )

Alexandra practicing some fine motor skills with her left hand.

Whoo hoo!  More trains!!! You should see all his tracks now!

Thanks Barker's for making the trip!  It was fun!  Can't wait to see you all again soon!

Blubber Blanket

Before Christmas break, Sophia got a flyer in her binder about the school Science Fair.  For those of you who don't know, Sophia LOVES science!  So naturally, she was very excited and of course wanted to participate in the fair.  After looking through a few books, she decided on doing a project about blubber.  The concept was simple.  Does blubber really keep you warm?  

Joe and I made it very clear this was to be her project.  Her thoughts and ideas, words and work.  We were there to help but not to do it for her.  And this is how it turned out!  Not so bad right?!?!?  She started by writing everything out before, during, and after each experiment and once she was done, we went back and typed it on the computer.  Being a true scientist Joe was opposed to the stickers, but remember this was her project and she wanted stickers : ) 

 Then it was time for the Science Fair.  Her project was a huge hit!  She had lots of spectators wanting to learn about blubber and trying out her blubber mitten.  The judges had also posted little comments and compliments on her work.  Needless to say we had one happy scientist on our hands : )

She was even able to give her science teacher, Mrs. Kaufman, a demonstration!

And then it was time for the award ceremony.  Each participant received a ribbon, which Sophia was already very proud of.  So as you can see it was hard for her to control her excitement when they called Kindergarten to the stage to award the top 3 winners. 

And she won 2nd place!

We were very proud Sophia won 2nd place but what she did after she won made us even more proud!  One of her classmates was quite upset that she did not get a medal.  So on her own, Sophia went over and tried to comfort her.  First with lots of hugs and then she did something pretty extraordinary.  She gave Marina her medal.  Initially she said she could have it but i guess she didn't realize how much it really meant to her because as soon as her friend put it on, she started getting teary eyed and said "maybe you can just borrow it until you feel better."    

 Sophia's nice gesture put a smile back on Marina's face and Sophia she was happy to get her medal back.

 Congratulations Sassy Scientist!  We can't wait to see what you'll come up with next year : ) 

Jingle All The Way

Christmas came too fast this year but even with that, we've been able to squeeze in all our family traditions.  Here's a quick look of what we did to get into the holiday spirit!

First things first.  In order for Santa to have an idea of what we want he need us to send him a letter. 

 

Being the big kindergartner that she is, Sophia worked on hers all on her own.  "Fancy" name and all!

Then comes a visit to the Jolly Ole Man himself! 

With each year that goes by, the girls get more and more excited to sit on Santa's lap

 

It took Lucas a little bit longer but eventually he warmed up to the idea and gave Santa a BIG hug!

A carriage ride with the sound of Christmas carols in the background.  If only it were snowing!
No not really : ) 

 

Ballon sculpture anyone?  Sophia wanted a butterfly.  Alexandra got a Rudolph hat and Lucas asked for a Christmas train.  

Time for the Gingerbread House

Everyone still seems okay with decorating one side and then working together on the forth (tho they each take a very different approach.)  But that's okay!  So as long as they're okay with sharing, we'll stick to one candy house for all. 

Ta-da! Another  gingerbread house Hansel & Gretel would be proud of!

Rudolph

And we can't forget Rudolph.  This Christmas tradition was a little bitter sweet since it's the first year Sophia was not able to go.  Well let me clarify.  She did get to go see the puppet show but just not with us.  Sophia went on a field trip with her class the next day.  I tried to get tickets for the rest of us thinking we could meet up with her but unfortunately it was sold out : (  So I decided Alexandra, Lucas and myself would go the day before so it would be fresh in our minds to talk about when Sophia went with her class. 

Maggie and Paula joined us as well as Ansley.  With baby Grayson's arrival coming anyday, Kristen thought it would be best for her and Landon to stay closer to home. 

Lucas was proud of his misfit "Hermie." 

Our postal worker is the best!  2 letters from Santa letting us know he received our requests! 

Now we just need to make sure we stay off the naughty list : )

Sophia's the official Thank You note writer.

Alexandra added a little picture and signed her own name this year : )

And of course, Lucas couldn't just sit back and let his "isters" do all the work.

Unfortunately, we were all sick sick sick during the 18 day break!  So this is how we spent most of it, in our PJ's.  Watching movies and hanging out!  Luckily the weather was cold and rainy so there wasn't much else to do anyway.  

Elfie always spends Christmas Eve in the tree.  That way he can just fly up the chimney with Santa on his way out!  Bye Elfie!  See you next year! 

 

Fun Friday

Fridays are always exciting but this one in particular was extra fun.  It was PJ day at school which in itself is rather unique but on top of that, it was Mrs. Gossage's birthday.  We'd been planning a surprise celebration since before Thanksgiving and so far it seemed to be working beautifully.  After a few months of preparing, the plan was to meet in the room during lunch and then surprise her with balloons, a sweet treat and a basket full of her "favorite things" which the class had been secretly sending my way.  It was also Stephen's birthday.  Of course we didn't want the teacher's surprise to overshadow his special day and planned a few extra things for him as well.  It was a fun Friday the Gorillas would never forget and a wonderful distraction from the horrifying news earlier that day. 

Sophia and Clara waiting for the bus in their PJ's. 

Surprise!  I think we pulled it off!

The 2 birthday kids, Mrs. Gossage and Stephen.  Sophia and her classmates guessed she was turning 25 while Stephen was on his way to 6.  

 Happy Birthday Mrs. Gossage and Stephen.  Thanks for sharing your special day with us! 

A Little Snowflake

It is SNOW much fun to throw a party.  So there's no way Paula and I could pass up the opportunity to honor Kristen and her third snowflake Grayson with a little snow sprinkle and some winter cheer.

Snowflake center piece 

Yummy frosted dessert

Cute mint tins as favors and a snowflake headpiece for a bit of whimsy!

Anna and third time mommy to be : )

Four Galore

Alexandra's 4th birthday this year came with four celebrations.  A Cookie cake in Texas, breakfast donuts on her actual birth day, a doughnut castle at school and finally magical cupcakes at her party.  It's been four galore around here lately and this little pony has loved every minute of it!

One

A "flower pose" from my little flower!

Two

It's become somewhat of a tradition to have donuts for breakfast on birthday's.  And why not, it's a special day so why not start it off with a little something sweet! 

 

Three

A castle fit four a queen!

Four

I've joked saying Alexandra is either a head of the trends or a trend setter since last year she asked for a Hello Kitty party and it was practically impossible to find anything Hello Kitty.  This year however, it seems you can't turn around without seeing that pretty white kitty with a red bow.   So this year, her newest obsession became My Little Pony.  Lucky me!  It's not that I'm burned out on putting together a party, it's just that the theme isn't exactly one that I was that excited about.  As I started looking around it became even harder to find anything My Little Pony which lessened my inspiration even more.  So what we decide was to have was a unicorn party with a little My Little Pony sprinkled in here and there.  Still not my favorite theme but maybe I could thrown in a few other mystical creatures, fairies and lots of sparkle and Alexandra could have the magical party she had hoped for. 

The result ... Alexandra's Magical Kingdom.   

  

The invitation to set the mood.  With such a girly theme we decide only to invite the girls in her class.

Hand made pink and purple unicorn horns for the girls to decorate and wear as they pranced around.

And no unicorn is set without a pair of wings.

A little pot of "Magic Beans" for each of our mystical creatures.

Some sweet unicorn horns in her favorite color!

Really all you need are a few cupcakes!

  

I had pink and purple fairies delicately dangling from gold tree branches as decorations.  

 

When I saw these little glass bottles I thought they'd be perfect filled with "magic dust".

Lots of glitter ribbon in pink, purple & gold

I thought the little brothers could be the "Enchanted Knights" of Alexandra's Magical Kingdom

I made these "Pinky Pie" inspired unicorn cookies for each of our little ponies to take home.

As the birthday girl, Alexandra wore a long tail made of purple, pink and gold glitter ribbon

Julia playing the part in her royal castle

 

 Mackenzie chose to wear all purple

While Anne-Gregory went for a combination of pink horn and purple wings.

 

Alexandra took her time decorating her horn.  Making sure each rhinestone was exactly were she wanted it.

Sophia even came home early from school to join in the fun!

The unicorns all took a little break from playing to enjoy a picnic lunch.

Even among all the glitter, pink and purple Lucas found a way to have fun!

Maggie had fun playing our "Toss the hoop on the Unicorn Horn" game.
Yes, that's a real traffic cone we spray painted in pink and purple glitter paint : )

Jessie and Eliza Kate spent some time as knights defending the kingdom.

Alexandra was a wonderful hostess

The birthday girl!  "Cutie Marks" and all!

Sophia is always front and center when it comes to singing "Happy Birthday"

My little pony unicorn!  

Happy birthday sweet girl!  

I hope you had the magical party you had hoped for!  I LOVE YOU!