Monthly Archives: May 2008

Audrey’s 5!

 Audrey’s birthday was so fun.  We started out the day with breakfast and opening presents from the family. Kate’s was first and was the biggest hit. If you’ll notice, Kate’s eyes are closed in the picture.  They are used to closing their eyes while they wait for surprises.  She got Audrey an Ariel umbrella and right after Audrey opened it, Kate grabbed it and said, “Thank you!” in her sweetest voice.  Apparently she’s a little confused on the ”from” vs. the ”for.”

 Opening presents The loot 

Later in the morning, Audrey had some friends come over for her “Garden Party.”  I know a garden party for a five year old sounds a little nerdy, but let me explain:  For the past six months Audrey has been deciding what kind of cake she was going to have for her birthday and none of them sounded easy.  She would usually ask for things like, Sleeping Beauty or other princesses or Tinkerbell.  Anyway, one day  we were working in the garden and she asked me if I was a gardener and I said, “yes.”  Then, she asked if she was a gardener and I said, “You helped plant the seeds so that makes you a gardener.” Then, she said, “I want a garden cake for my birthday.”  Thinking about how easy a garden cake would be in comparison to Tinkerbell, I encouraged this idea as much as possible.  So, she had a garden themed birthday. 

When Danielle was here, she painted a poster for the kids to play, “Pin the shovel on the gardener.”  Audrey and Kate rocked at this game.  They then played a relay game where they filled up buckets with plastic fruits and veggies.  All the kids ran their hearts out in this game.  They were troopers in the heat. We also had a strawberry piñata that luckily everyone got to hit before it broke.

Everyone Fill the bucket Kate Audrey Jackpot!

And of course… the cake.  Last year Audrey was a little candle shy, so Ocean helped her blow the candles out.  This year we encouraged them both to have it be a one person effort and they both did great!

Blowing out the candles The Cake The garden 

Audrey also got a little kiddie pool for the back yard, so later in the afternoon, she and Kate had some fun in the sun!

Jumping and… Splash! Just chillin’

Danielle and Ivy’s visit

Earlier this month Scott went to Las Vegas for a week for a conference, so Danielle and Ivy came to visit us.  We had so much fun just hanging out, shopping, and stopping Ivy and Kate from killing each other.  By the end of the week, Ivy and Kate found out they had something in common though, so I think they left on a positive note.

no pants

Here’s how they were discovered.  Audrey came in crying because she had fallen off the slide, so I looked out the window to see how the others were doing and noticed they had no pants on.  Poor Audrey got no sympathy at all while Danielle and I laughed our heads off and took pictures of the nudies to send to our husbands.  Normally, they probably both would have gotten in trouble for this stunt, but for some reason having them do it together just made it funny. And, yes; this is a normal occurence… at least at our house. I know Ivy’s done it before too, but there is no question in my mind who the ring leader was.

While they were here, we went to Sea World. Ivy was so cute at the “Viva!” show.  She would get so excited each time the divers went off the swings.  It’s a pretty high energy show that would keep anyone’s attention…except maybe Kate’s who was climbing around on the floor the whole time or staring at the people behind us.  I guess we’ve been enough times that it’s starting to lose some of its pizzazz.

Sea World Shamu Viva! 

For the first time at Sea World, we fed the dolphins.  It was totally worth the $5 and the stinky fish in my fingers.  Each kid got to feed the dolphins and Danielle and I got to touch them.  The girls arms weren’t quite long enough to reach them though.  Oh!  It was so awesome!

Dolphin Feeding the dolphins All of us

On what was supposed to be Danielle’s last day here, we went mountain biking at Walnut Creek Park. Scott got home Friday night, so Danielle and went on Saturday morning.  It was so fun to show her where I go biking all the time and I must say, she did awesome especially for her first time there.  I wish I had taken the camera.

Danielle’s flight got cancelled and so (after spending 6 hours at the airport), she spent one more night at our house.  We took Ivy outside after church and helped her pick some lillies to put in a vase for a Mother’s Day gift.  Plus, Danielle got gifts once she got home around midnight too.  Thanks for coming!  It was so much fun!

Mother’s Day