The Greatest Show on Earth (or so they say)

We had fun going to the circus with Seth's sister and her family.  I have such magical memories of seeing the circus when I was  a little girl, and so I have been dying to relive that and give those same memories to my children. 

After holding hands and skipping in...

We settled down with our cotton candy to see the show.

 James was excited about the circus hat that came with the cotton candy.  That boy and his hats!

 Chloe was literally on edge as the lights went down and the show began.

 It was a pretty good show.  I have to admit that I think the circus is to "modern" now, but I guess they really can't help it.  I guess that have to keep up with the times.  We thought all the parts with the animals were they best. 
Unicycle basketball.

The dogs were by far our favorite.  They were amazing and talented.

 The tigers were impressive by their sheer number alone...then they did their tricks.  Crazy!

 The elephants and the finale were the best.  So much happening all at once.

Over all we had a fun experience, but I do really wish that the old fashioned circus could have survived all these years so that my kids could have been like I was.  The little girl again who saw all the magic of a dirt three-ringed circus.

Bombs Away!

I was wondering where all my pillows from around the house had gone...until I saw what the kids were doing.  They had gotten EVERY pillow they could find and had make a huge pile in the guest bedroom to jump it.  It was so fun looking.  Oh to be 6 again! :)

Chloe is 3!

Chloe is 3 and she loves:

singing

dancing

painting her nails

dressing up like a princess

playing with friends (and she has a million of them!)

her favorite blankie

bath time

puppies

carebears

nursery

princesses and fairies



Chloe chose to have a fairy party.  It was fun planning and decorating for it.  We were even able to get her Grandma T involved even though she lives in Spain. 

Chloe wanted to take a cute fairy picture...

 And an angry Tinkerbell picture... :)

 A fun welcome to all the pretty girls who were coming to her party

 Everything was pink and lacy and woodland-like

 Chloe has been eyeing this cake for months.  Every time we went to the grocery store and she saw the poster for it she would say, "I'm going to have that cake for my birthday."  So of course we had to have it.

 Grandma T usually makes all the birthday cakes for her grand kids, but since she couldn't be here to make a cake, so crocheted the most beautiful flower vines for Chloe's party. 

Between the beautiful flower vines and the hanging fairies, it was the perfect decor for a fairy tea party of Chloe's favorite foods.  Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and berries (grapes).

We had the funniest games planned.  Each fairy had her own game. 

Rosetta's Face Painting - Aymee and I did our best to fulfill the requests.  It's not as easy as it looks!

Fairy Colorful Scavenger Hunt - the kids paired up and were assigned a color.  They went around the backyard finding their items in their team color and marking them off.

 Iridessa's Pixie Dust Pass - a version of hot potato where the kids sat in a circle singing, "The fairies in the forest fly up and down, up and down, up and down.  The Fairies in the forest fly up and down.  All through the forest" (the the tune of wheels on the bus), while passing a bottle of pixie dust. 
Vidia's Butterfly, Butterfly, Fairy - played like duck, duck, goose.

 Silvermist's Magic Wand Ring Toss - the kids got to try to ring the star wands with the rings.

 Don't Eat Tink - played like don't eat pete.
Fawn's Fairy Freeze Dance - the girls loved dancing to the music and finding funny poses to hold when the music stopped. 

 We had a fun tea party.  Drinking pink lemonade from our crystal tea cups, eating our triangle sandwiches of peanut butter and jelly and cucumber, and eating our berries (grapes).

 Chloe was so excited about her cake.  I loved to see she getting all her birthday wishes.  We are blessed to have a daughter with simple wishes that we are able to grant.  We are blessed. 

 

Chloe was so excited about the presents.  It was fun to watch her open each one and admire it.  There wasn't a single thing that didn't light up her face and drive her to huge thank you to each of her friends.

 Chloe had little nail polishes "for their little Tinker Toes" to give to each of her friends to thank them for coming. 

 It was adorable to watch her thank each of her friends and say good-bye to them.

Zoo Baloo

We had a fun afternoon at the Zoo with our good friends, Laura and Jonathan, and their girls, Paige and Taylor.  Paige and Chloe are great little friends who play together a lot, so it was a pleasure to go to the zoo with them.  The girls got right together and lead the way.

We loved our time at the zoo.  They have done so much to improve it.  It is so much nicer and pleasant.  There were fun places for the kids to play as well. 

 The kids loved seeing the baby elephant and watch it drink.

 (I just love this shot of my cute Chloe)

 This orangutan was so cute all wrapped up, trying to enjoy an afternoon nap. 

 The polar bear was amazing.  He was going crazy.  Swimming around, diving, splashing.  We were thankful for the fun show.

 The zoo was covered in Lego animals.  That kept Sam interested.  It was fun to see all the different animals they had made and how cute they were.  We saw Lego polar bears, snakes, frogs, butterflies, monkeys...

 James was excited to spot "Leo" the ninja turtle! :)

James is 5!

James at 5 Loves:

his santa hat

video games

iPad

loves his brother and best friend, Sam

ninja turtles

legos

dressing up in costumes (especially super heroes)

panda food (egg rolls from Panda Express)

chips and salsa

mac 'n cheese and oranges

to wear socks and shoes

James had to most amazing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle birthday party. I had so much putting this together with him by my side. He would let me know exactly what he wanted. He would let me know what ideas I had were good and which needed some help! :)

My amazing neighbor, Amanda, helped me out and saved the day by making James' cake for me.  I don't know what I would have done without that awesome cake!  It was just perfect for the day. 

We had fun treats and games.  I loved coming up with these ideas with James.  The hardest part was having to wait to play them until the party. 

We had Splinter's Slime Surprise.  The kids got to make a cup of green jell-o filled with candy worms, fish, octopus, etc.

Krrang's Cake Cups.  We had a cupcake eating contest while wearing their favorite Ninja Turtle's mask.

We also make April's Love Punch.  The kids had to pin the heart on Donnie.

Donnie's Limber Limbo.

Leo's Leap Kicks.  The kids each got a turn jumping and doing their best ninja tricks while we took pictures of them. 

Mikey's Ninja Stars.  The kids did their best to hit the balloons with their ninja stars.  

Raph's Sewer Run was a fun obstacle course in the back yard.  The kids had fun running under the tramp, going down the slide, spinning around the bat, crawling through tunnels, weaving through cones...

 

 After all the fun and games we had to have a pizza party, 'cause Ninja Turtles love pizza.

 Then it was back inside for that delicious cake and presents.  James scored some fun new Ninja Turtle toys he couldn't wait to play.

 James had a few balloons left over from his party and he decided he wanted to "send" them to Harry.  Harry is our little neighbor buddy who passed away last year.  Their was a balloon send off to him at his funeral and then on his birthday.  I thought it was very sweet of James to do that.  That is just the type of kid he is.  So sweet and kind and thinking of others.