Catching Up--4th of July

I have been really bad about downloading pics from my camera lately, so here are a few pics from the summer.

We had a fun 4th of July. My parents were visiting, so that made it even more fun!

Breakfast!

Fourth of July kiddos with my parents:

I did make a sensory bin for them to play with. I mixed up some Oobleck and put out a few 4th of July themed things for them to play with.

I thought it looked so pretty with the sprinkles melting and swirling together.

My mom treated us girls to a fun pedicure:

We didn't really have a special meal, but we did make some fun strawberries and juice. Callie wanted to decorate, so she picked out a few things at Walmart and set the table all by herself!

The we went to watch the fireworks, though Jamey only stayed for the early festivities then headed home to put Riley to bed.

Callie's 6th Birthday

These last 6 years have flown by. I have watched my beautiful baby girl grow into a fun-loving, sweet girl who I adore with all my heart. We will officially be starting kindergarten this week, which makes me a little sad, but I know we will have a lot of fun. Callie has been begging for a mermaid party almost since her last birthday. I have informed my kiddos that we are only going to do a "party" every 5 years. This year however, our cousin, whom they call Auntie Anna, moved here and she loves to plan parties. So we planned a mermaid party! It was kept small, so that made it easy. Everything turned out super cute.

We did a Mermaids and Pirates theme since there were a total of 2 boys in the group. :) All the food was ocean themed. We had starfish cookies, goldfish crackers, peanut butter and jellyfish sandwiches, sea cucumbers, and crab legs. Callie had also requested a strawberry cake, so we made a layered cake with whipped cream and strawberries as filling and I frosted it to look like aqua fish scales. It was an "ombre" cake, which means it is frosted with varying shades of the same color. You can't tell from the pics, but it turned out really cool.

 Jamey took her out front to take a pic and she completely posed like this on her own. What a clown!

 Cake in progress.

I love my little man! He randomly came outside dressed as a pirate or a knight. I wish we had captured him as a pirate. So stinkin' cute!

This wreath took me forever! I dyed several hundred coffee filters, so our kitchen table was out of commission for about two weeks while I had these laid out to dry.

The adorable birthday girl.

 The finished cake.

Callie wanted to taste the fondant pearls I made. Fondant doesn't taste that great to begin with, but I didn't put any flavoring in it because I only made a few and wasn't planning on anyone eating them. They were just made with shortening and powdered sugar. Apparently she didn't like them! I love the look on her little friend Sophia's face also!

Here you can see the colors of the cake, but the camera settings weren't very good to capture the layers. There are four different colors, and in person the colors were very pronounced. It turned out really cool. A perfect "mermaid" cake!

Callie's requested strawberry cake with whipped cream and real strawberries inside. It was delicious!

She got some awesome cowboy boots!

One of the cutest party goers!

With the turning of 6 comes the official start of kindergarten. *Sigh*. I just don't want to face the fact that my babies are growing up. We started last week, so I'll post pics soon. 

Someone also turned 8 months old this month:

Stationery Card

Vintage Volute Birth Announcement

Shutterfly has custom baby invitations and birth announcements.

View the entire collection of cards.

Creating Art on the Light Table

I got this idea from the Play at Home Moms. I bought some frames from the Dollar Tree and I already had the gems. We used clear glue to get the best results. The kids really had fun doing this. I need to buy more frames! Disclaimer: I know I've said this before, but I feel I need to reiterate: Callie dresses herself. Currently she has this need to wear Josh's undershirts. We have a very odd child! :) I love her quirkiness.

Pouring the glue on.

Starting to create.

Callie decided to write her name on hers...

so Josh decided he needed to also.

The finished products, with no help from me.

After they were done, I pulled out some words made for the overhead projector and Callie and I had fun creating silly sentences and reading them to each other. Josh also had fun just putting the words in various orders and having me read them.

Fun in the Snow

We got a couple inches of snow a few days ago. I had seen on a blog (can't remember which one) where they had painted the snow. I thought we would give it a try. I set out paints and paint brushes and the kiddos headed outside. Well, it didn't work! I think our snow is too dry because the paint brush would just brush right through the snow and not leave any paint behind. Bummer. Callie decided they should paint the sidewalk instead! She stayed out for quite awhile. Josh was only out for about 15 min or so. He is not my adventurous one. Callie takes life by the reigns and says "Giddy-up!"

I asked Callie if she decided to change the spelling of her name to a "K" instead of a "C". She said, "No mom, that spells Kaylie!" Lol!!!

Masterpieces

My little artist.

Trying to build a snowman.