Another round of birthdays!

Yikes, it's been a while since I've updated. We've been busy!

Emma turned 7, and we celebrated for over a week, gotta love the birthday "month". She had six of her friends over for a sleepover, and Camryn had a friend spend the night too. So, with eight little girls in the house, we had a little spa party. We started the evening off with a foot soak in the tub, followed by pedis for all. After dinner and cake, I gave all of the girls a homemade facial, complete with cucumbers over the eyes.

There was some Just Dance on the Wii, karaoking, movie watching and finally getting everyone to sleep around 11, which wasn't too bad of a late night. Emma had a great time and we can't believe she is growing up so fast!

A short eleven days after Emma turned 7, I celebrated  endured another birthday. It was much easier with the help of my running beans. We went for a fun run in one of my most favorite running spots, Garden of the Gods, then headed to brunch at one of my most favorite post-run locations, Adam's Mountain Cafe. Oh, and I also ran in a tutu, something I've always wanted to do!

We have our last birthday of the family coming up in a week, then all the birthday fun is over until next year. What a whirlwind!

Birthday Season

It's that time of the year, where we are busy, busy, busy celebrating family birthdays. I am having a hard time with the fact that my little baby girl turned 5 in January. She is growing up so fast!

We had a fun skating party for her, where she got to be queen for the day. See the little queen in the making? These are the shots we save to show to future boyfriends.

Here's the birthday girl with her Bitty Baby in matching pajamas, courtesy of Grammy and Papa Mike.

And finally, the Barbie cake that she just HAD to have. If I were good like that, I would have tried to make it myself but I have to say Target's version was scrumptious!

Next up, Emma turns 7 in a few short weeks! Stay tuned....

Birthdays

We have officially entered our birthday phase of the year! We kicked it off with a long weekend. Camryn had her first Happy Birthday cake, that my mom made a visit to share with her. We took everyone out to dinner, then headed home for some singing and princess cake.

The weekend also entailed a beautiful day to head to Old Colorado City to see the ice sculptures. They were melting quickly, but still quite a sight to see.

Since Daddy had Monday off from work, we headed to Denver to see the Genghis Khan exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Unfortunately, the rest of Denver also decided this was a good idea for a holiday Monday and when we arrived, the place was a zoo! Instead, we hit the Denver Children's Museum, which both girls enjoyed.

Camryn has chosen to have a few of her little friends go to Aerial's with her this year for her birthday, where they will get to play on the trampolines and bars. Let's just hope there are no accidents, as she is the injury-prone child of the two. That's on the docket for this weekend, along with attending another friend's birthday party. Let's just hope there are no accidents, as she is the injury-prone child of the two.

Just 4 weeks (to the day) following Camryn's 4th birthday, my other little princess turns the big 6! Emma  is having a skating party this year, she's officially graduated from the tumble and play parties. A week and a half after Emma's birthday, I get to add another digit to my age - yay *wink*. Then my dear hubby has a birthday less than a month later. Whew! It really is the birthday marathon for us.

What's new?

Emma thoroughly enjoyed her 5th birthday! We had about 20 children show up for her trampoline My Little Pony party. My co-worker made her cake, not only was it beautiful - it was also very yummy! The gift donation was a big hit and we collected a full trunk of goodies for KPC Kid's Place. I had several parents ask me how I got Emma to agree to no gifts, and really it was not an issue. I don't think we have quite hit that age where our kids "want" for things (and even so, they get loads of gifts from family..). They don't watch enough television to get all of the commercials promoting this toy and that. Camryn's wish list for her birthday consisted of a new bone for our dog, Jake. Emma just wanted to have fun with her friends ~ mission accomplished!

Birthdays seem to be a week long affair around our house, at least for the children. With that said, the Sunday after Emma's party, we had a wonderful brunch at the club with Grammy and Papa Mike. We had not tried their brunch menu yet, oh my - the rasberry and brie stuffed french toast was to die for! The following day, Emma and I hung out together while she played hookie from school. Only bummer was she ended up with an ear infection that we had to go to the doctor for that day!

Birthday gifts and Valentine goodies from family members continued to arrive in the mail all week, Emma got this beautiful blue sweater hand-knit by Nanna! She loves it and I love how it makes her blue eyes pop out.

Brian went on his Phoenix golf trip last week, so us girls kept ourselves entertained for a few days. There were 16 guys that went on the trip and he had a really great time. He got to see his sister and her family, so that was an added bonus. I ventured down to Manitou Springs with neighbor friends for the Mardi Gras parade on Saturday, we had an absolute blast! The weather was perfect to be outside and after the parade, we danced along to one of our favorite local bands - The Arch Hooks. Despite missing Brian terribly, we had a good weekend!

That's about it for my awfully boring family update :0! I rack my brain trying to come up with something meatier/more interesting to blog about, but to be honest, my brain is fried by the end of the day. Maybe next week after the Bachelor Finale (yes, I got sucked in this season after several seasons of swearing it off) ~ I'll have something spicier for you!

Happy Birthday Emma

First and foremost, Happy Birthday to our sweet Emma! She turned 4 yesterday and is quickly going on 13. Our weekend was full of activity with her birthday party on Saturday morning, followed by a birthday party for one of Cam's friends in the afternoon. The girls were sufficiently worn out by the end of the second party and ready to hit the sack. Emma had a fabulous party with her friends/classmates.

One of my favorite memories though from the day was when all the children sat down to eat lunch. Camryn had sat at an empty seat at a different table from where Emma was seated. Emma started looking around frantically asking, "Where is sissy"? "I want her to sit by me". She really wanted her sister right there enjoying the moment with her. Camryn was more than happy to oblige.

So we must have relaxed the following day, right? Well, not exactly. Before hosting lots of family for lunch, I hit the trail for 22 (you got it, in the middle of a snowstorm), and rushed home to shower up and get some food prepared. Emma got to celebrate her birthday again with seven of her 2nd cousins, along with my mom, aunt, two of my first cousins and Brian's mom and stepsister. What a treat to have so much family nearby to join us on these special occasions! Once everyone left, all four of our family crashed for a little bit of much overdue rest. Whew! I love, love, love planning my kiddos birthday celebrations. I am also somewhat relieved when it is all past and we have another 10 or so months before we do it all again.

Two Princesses Turning Two

Happy 2nd Birthday to our sweet baby girl!

Camryn had a wonderful birthday celebration yesterday. We had a joint birthday party for her and one of her best little buddies. They got to play, eat and exchange books with all of their friends. I think we hosted 15 children total, so there was lots of running around and giggling going on. Most of the girls were dressed up in some sort of princess attire from Emma and Cam's collection. The boys didn't seem to mind this so much, they were too busy jumping on the trampoline. The cake, made by one of my co-workers, turned out beautiful and tasted delicious as well.

As you can see, Daddy got Camryn some new wheels for her birthday, so she was zooming (2mph max) around the house last night. Camryn also celebrated at school on Friday with Sesame Street cupcakes for all of her classmates. Emma made a visit from across the hall as well. The children were painted in blue icing before long, which made for great birthday photos!

Grammy knitted a beautiful new sweater for Camryn, I'll post pictures soon. It's a little too big right now, but she'll grow into it. Lots more pictures in our January 2008 album. Enjoy!