The Birthday Girl!!

Kimberlyn is FIVE today. Her party was last night so that my Aunt Boo could be there. Aunt Boo spent just over a week with us and left to go home today. We had a wonderful visit with her and even went to Chicago to see more family and to "do" Navy Pier...


Kimberlyn was in love wih her cake and she told me it looked wonderful while I was decorating it! She appears to be still admiring it!

Make a wish!!

Kimberlyn insisted she wanted the bow on the back of her dress....and not just half of it, so Mom and Kimberlyn shared a piece of cake. Worked well as that Butter Recipe cake is perfect without frosting :)



Kimberlyn wanted this cake after wanting about three other cakes??? So, less than 24hrs before the party and after a whirlwind Chicago adventure, the Birthday Princess requested this cake. Thankfully it's the easiest cake to make out of my cake pan stash.

Kimberlyn's a BIG GIRL!!

So, we're back home from a week long road trip, more details to come in spurts ;)

On Thursday, June 19th we were swimming (the kids and I) in the pool after breakfast. We had a dinner date with our friend in NJ and no other big plans. I noticed Kaitlyn's shiney earrings and asked Kimberlyn when she'd get earrings. She has been SCARED to and knew the family rule is to wait until turning 5 (which she will do in 1 1/2 weeks)-- anyhow her response was a huge smile, so I asked if she wanted to get them that same day? Even bigger smile and a no questions asked YES for an answer! We ended up having lunch with Larry's old commander and THEN went to the mall to get her new shiney ears!! It is so fun with kids...watching them grow, change and make decisions...I may feel differently in a few years when I don't agree with their decisions I suppose :)

Pray for Larry and I....actually pray for Kimberlyn's future husband! SHe is pointing at the earring she sincerely wanted...the BIGGEST stone in the starter earrings! Turned out this was at Icing by Claire's and they didn't allow photos, can you believe us, crazy picture snapping mom and dad left!!! We went right outside that store to the kiosk where they allowed photos! At Piercing Pagoda they actually had more sweet little girl appropriate first earrings anyhow! She asked ME which ones were prettiest out of tow pairs. I told her both were pretty and she needed to choose! She ended up with a ruby pair, her birthstone! They look more dark pink than red...

Here is right before or during...hard to tell...

NO TEARS!! So BIG!! This shot was right when she said "but Mommy, they still hurt!" She KNEW they would hurt for a minute, but I think she didn't realize the pain stuck around for a few more minutes!


Here's a shot of Tommy and Katie during dinner. They hit it off great...sharing food through the whole dinner too! Below is a picture of us crazy moms trying to get a group picture with FIVE 1 year olds!! Annie is a dear friend that I met during fertility treatment. She ended up with quads! Check out her family blog. She was a huge comfort to me after Tommy was born as she JUST did the NICU life with her four babies. They are about 6 weeks older than Tommy. It was nice to be able to call a friend who understood and really knew we'd survive. We have NO CLUE to this day HOW WE SURVIVED IT-- only God knows as He can (and DID) provide the strength!

Tommy's new swing, family water fight and slip n' slide fun....

Here's Tommy's $2 swing I picked up at a yard sale...he likes it pretty well. Tonight he cried when I took him out of it...oh the life of a one-year-old!!



The kids in the backyard the other night (June 6)!



The kids trying out their Spiderman slip n' slide I got on clearance last summer! June 5th.

Wow!

Can you imagine the "looks" I got at the commissary as we were shopping for groceries?? Seriously I had to do a serious shopping trip last week (June 5th) so I put Tommy in his stroller and Kimberlyn in a cart with the big kids helping me shop.

To entertain Tommy I brought the container of puffs (like cereal pieces) BUT the other day when we went to breakfast I dumped Tommy's leftover Cocoa Puffs from the buffet into teh "puff container"...the above picture shows what happens when you give a baby boy a cup of water and some cocoa puffs to occupy him while shopping :) I believe he was STUFFING his face and not swallowing the drinks of water and/or his own saliva....boys will be boys and get dirty with anythign possible I guess!

Blueberries....

Okay....here's a giggle free of charge...seriously I am a picky eater....and suffer from that kid syndrome, ya know like "it looks gross, I shouldn't try it as it MUST be gross"...I had my first FRESH blueberry a few weeks ago at church in a fruit custard type something. It was an accident as I DON'T LIKE BLUEBERRIES!! Yes you read that right, I had never even tried a fresh one before.....I thought to myself "hmmm, didn't taste bad," but I didn't even really notice what it tasted like. So a week or so passes and Kimberlyn had blueberries at school for snack. She said "mom you have got to buy them, they are good!" Okay next time we go to the store... We finally get to the store AND remember the foreign food. THEN the darn things have been lost in the fridge until TODAY! Some were yucky, but most were great still. DID YOU KNOW THE DARN THINGS ARE NOT BLUE INSIDE!! No joke...I like blueberry muffins and the canned blueberries in the box are definitely BLUE and they stain too!

WANTED: My kids' sense of fear....

If you have it, have seen it or find it, please send back to the Nances, Ohio, USA!

Seriously...this was all during THIS morning :) Thankfully the rest of the day proved to be more relaxed!

First we have Trouble T...

"Warlock, buddy I'm trying to free you...."

"Ah, this isn't working, how about I tell you a joke!"




Then we have Kimberlyn taking advantage of a break in the rain showers we had today and washing the roof of their play house! She said she needed to work to get money?? This stems from our allowance system...it used to be based off of behavior but has recently been changed to behavior is assumed and you must "pitch in" with household chores or you don't get your weekly allowance. How cute!




Last we have Trouble T---No, no I think he's earned the name "Dare Devil T"

"Fish watching is for the birds..."

"I think I'll climb up...."

"Wow, look what I see, this is great!" Please notice the yellow cap that you can see on the tank cover. This is the fish food Larry has "hidden" from Tommy as he LOVES taking it and placing it a way more sensible place in our home...only to be understood if you are ONE! He also can finagle the lid OFF and graciously shares it with anybody or anything that may enjoy playing in fish food!

Over all today went smoothly...we went out to breakfast to celebrate the kids' last day of school today. Was a nice time and Dad even joined us!
The kids came home and now Kaitlyn is having a sleepover with her friend, tomorrow Robby will have a friend stay the night...MUST keep things equal! hehehe!

It's officially summer here at our home!

P.S. I told you it got calmer....sweet Tommy boy playing with Mr. Potato Head IN his toy bin!

Remembering Mom...

and Grandma
Patricia Lavergne Emerson
February 14, 1948 to June 3, 2007