Alice is 6!

Little Marta from Sound of Music would be jealous because Alice got a beautiful parasol for her birthday, courtesy of Mumsy who always gives the most interesting gifts.  ("I'm Marta, and I'm going to be seven on Tuesday and I'd like a pink parasol.")

We had lunch at Main Street Pizza in Donnelly with the Wises, the Crocketts (plus Jack), Heather and Maria Keller (plus a cousin), Mumsy, Eyrann & Sherry, and our neighbor Carrie.  It was a nice birthday for Mommy because she didn't have to clean up.  Alice requested a six layer vanilla and chocolate (vanilla on the top layer) cake.  It was decorated with sprinkles in a star shape and turned out pretty cute.  Then everyone came home with us and played in the yard.  Mckenzie and Cassidy Crockett stayed overnight for Alice's first sleepover.  They played Legos and watched Aladdin.

Alice is beautiful, an amazing reader, a very determined little girl, a lover of movies and TV, and an absolute delight.  She is getting so grown up!

Mommy's another year older....

For my birthday I got to expand the yard - yeah!  And Alice and Clyde decorated cakes for me.  We also went to the races at Les Bois the Wednesday before.  Fun times!

7 Years Old!!

Clyde requested a 7 layer Neapolitan cake, and to go fishing.  He caught a mess of perch at his secret spot with Daddy.   

He also got a lot of castle Legos that he had built right away.  But you know what it means to be 7?  It means you can start working, which is what he did two weeks later, digging post holes for Mommy's new fence!

Alice's 5th Birthday - Pie in the Face

Five is such an exciting age I could hardly get a photo of Alice she was bouncing around so much!  She got a cute "French" outfit from Aunt Janelle's family and some legos from Clyde.  Aunt Shelley got her some golf clubs because she'd told me she wanted to golf.  Shelley and I went to the driving range at the McCall course with her and she had fun but she said she didn't think it would be so hard. 

Alice and Marnie Smith shared a party again.  Alice had asked for a "pie in the face" birthday so I put together a carnival with games, tickets and prizes.  It was fun but a little crazy.  Clyde and Mackenzie volunteered at the "Pie in the Face" booth.  Alice really seemed to enjoy it.  We served corn dogs, popcorn, fruit, homemade mac'n'cheese, and cupcakes.  I couldn't have pulled it off without Teresa's help in the kitchen!

May 2013 - Clyde is 6!

Laura traveled north to U of I to see Harry receive his honorary doctorate.  John Rosholt was being honored as well and it was fun to spend time with his family.  

For his birthday, Clyde told me, "Mommy, I don't want a party.  There's too many kids.  It's loud and then we have to clean up."  This was great for a number of reasons but a big one was that we were already at Norwood.  He said he wanted to go fishing and swimming and have a 6 layer Neopolitan cake.  We delivered on all counts.  He went fishing with his dad at lunch and caught a big catfish!  We went to Zim's Hot Springs.  I made the cake and topped it with 6 candles representing things he likes - a sword, a fishing pole, a star for Star Wars, a hammer and a cow.  He was really happy with the whole day.  He's really grown up for 6!

Clyde holding a salamander he found on the ranch.

We started our one month trial of homeschooling.  I am using Five in a Row for the base.  It's a program where you study the same story book all week, looking at the geography, science, character lessons, literary devices, art techniques, etc. from the book.  One book was "How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World" so we talked about where food comes from.  It was fun to classify foods from our fridge.  

Alice lost her first tooth May 26!!!

Alice lost her second tooth May 27!!!!

A Fairy Party - Alice is 4!!!

 

It's hard to believe Alice is 4, but at the same time, she is starting to read, speaks very eloquently, and acts much older than a 4 year old in so many ways.  Our friend Marnie Smith turned 4 on August 11 and Alice turned 4 on August 13, so we planned a joint "Fairy Party" as Alice had requested.   There were 17 kids: Marnie Smith, Rylee Smith, McKenzie Smith, Bryn and Brooklyn Smith; the "Three Wise Men" (Elliott, Harrison and Martin); McKenzie, Cassidy, Colt and baby Case Crockett; Clyde and Alice; and the Herrerra girls (Dileiny, Marianna and Anji). 

 

We have a fairy castle on the Stringer Place and Alice had wanted to invite the real fairies to her birthday.  So they went looking for the Flower Fairies in the forest by the house.  Ben helped them look for evidence of fairies.  They didn't find much, but they did find a letter from the fairies....

 

 

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"Dear Alice and Marnie,

We hope you have a wonderful party!  Thank you so much for the kind invitation.  We have so much work to do spreading flower seeds that we can't be there.  We will be watching as we work in the forest.

Your friends, The Flower Fairies

p.s.  Here is some fairy dust to dip your wands in."

 

Each child found a stick to make a wand with and we proceeded to decorate them.  We used ribbons and coffee filters (to make into flowers or poofs).  They turned out pretty well. 

 

 

After each child finished her wand, she brought it to dip in the fairy dust and earned her wings, which were in a personalized tote bag with bubbles, stickers, rings and other presents.

 

 



 

That was followed by lunch - tiny fairy sandwiches, tiny fairy kebabs with cherry tomatoes and pickle slices, tiny fairy veggie cubes.... you get the picture!  Everything was tiny.  Then we had the cake.  Alice had requested "a tomato cake with strawberry frosting".... well, I didn't think that would go over really well with the other children.  So, I made yellow cupcakes with buttercream frosting.  Then, I did a little research and made a tomato soup chocolate cake.  I then filled it with mixed berry jam and topped it with pink buttercream.  So I actually managed to make a cake with tomatoes and strawberries... and it wasn't bad!!  I found some fairy toothpick toppers that were very sweet. 

 

 

 

We wound things up with a pinata - here our friend Cassidy takes a good whack at it.  It was super fortified!!  It took forever to crack it.

 

 

Here's the whole gang, including Mumsy in her birthday cake hat. 

 

 

We're so excited to have our special girls and be able to watch them grow up....

 

 



Happy Birthday Mumsy!

Mumsy had a milestone birthday that was celebrated by friends and family at Raspberry Ranch.  Gayle put together a barbecue and salad menu with Kirk's help and the ranch always makes a beautiful backdrop.  I made the cake and the kids looked their best.  Clyde took the guestbook signing pretty seriously, signing for himself and his dad.

A couple from Council that Gayle met in Yuma last winter performed music, mostly country songs and there was a little dancing and then the Garro sisters sang accompanied by the birthday girl and Camille.  Camille came all the way from Connecticut and the Fords came from California, so the party was totally bicoastal - pretty impressive!  It was really fun too.

My take on "elegant cowgirl"... yellow cake with mixed berry filling and buttercream frosting with a bandanna inspired decoration.  I made this tall one and a larger one layer cake.  I'd never baked and decorated a cake for so many people before, but it was enough so I was relieved.