Ella's 4th Birthday!

Princesses Joanna, Ella, and Charlotte :o)
Princess Ella and Princess Erica!
Erica, Ella, Joanna and Elena
Joanna and Elena, sweet sisters
I caught Princess Grace with a mouthfull of blueberry muffins! :o) Isn't she adorable?
The tea party
The boys had their own table ...
Princess Ella
A house full!

Our little Princess wanted to have a Princess party so we made it a Princess Tea Party! We invited all the little girls to come dressed as their favorite princess and it was so cute!!! They all loved being dressed up! My Mom and Amy helped me set up a tea party for them outside under a sun shade that we had decorated with toole and a Happy Birthday sign. My Mom made butterfly shaped pb&j sandwiches, mini blueberry muffins, and little skewers of fruit, served on silver trays. I made the cupcakes and we had real glasses with lemonade. They thought it was so fancy! And as a special treat (and a surprise to me!) my cousin Erica came dressed as a sparkly princess! It was so cute! We had 28 adults, 15 kids and 3 babies in all! A Birthday to remember! Happy Birthday Ella!

First Missing Tooth!

On the second week of first grade Anson lost his first tooth! It was loose for a long time and it finally came out after school on Aug 31. Gramma had gone with me to pick him up from school. He go in the van and said "Look how far me tooth sticks out!". When we got home it was bleeding a little so Gramma got a paper towel to put around it (Anson is not a fan of blood!) When she got the paper around his tooth, he pulled his head back and she was holding his tooth! He was so happy to have it out! (As soon as the bleeding stopped :o).

That night he put his tooth carefully in the pocket of his tooth pillow (from Toto) and the tooth fairy left him 4 shiny quarters!

Anson's First Day of School!

I can't believe that Anson is already in First Grade! We home schooled him for Kindergarten and now he is enrolled at St. Barnabas Episcopal School. We love it and so does he! There are only 13 kids in his class!
Showing me his first loose tooth!
Ready for school! The whole family rode to school the first day! (It is only 1.5 miles to school!)

Chillin' on the way...

He just jumped out of the van and never looked back! He really likes school and has adjusted well. We are so thankful that this transition in his little world has gone so well!

Alaska Whirlwind

From the train window, just leaving Anchorage
A lake we passed in Wasilla - the beautiful pink flowers are Alaskan Fireweed.
The Princess Wilderness Lodge we stayed in
View from the deck
Just below the deck
Nice cool weather for August!
Mt McKinley!! What an amazing sight to see it rise out of the clouds!

The town of Talkeetna.

Dusty had a job to do in Anchorage, AK so I "volunteered" to go to help him! It was a ton of traveling for such a quick trip but I am so glad I went! Alaska is beautiful!! We got there on Friday Aug. 5, we worked on Saturday, got on the train in Anchorage on Sunday morning and headed to Denali National Park, came back to Anchorage on Monday night and flew home Tuesday morning. Like I said, a whirlwind! But we got to see Mount McKinley in all it's glory peek out of the clouds for about 1 hour and that was amazing! We have decided to go back when the kids are older and spend a couple weeks driving around because there is just so much to see. Here are a few pics...

Anson's 6th Birthday!

Anson started out the day with Pancakes made by Daddy with whipped cream, chocolate syrup and a few chocolate chips - his special request! He wanted breakfast in bed but he changed his mind and had it on the couch! :o) Ella was so sweet... she ran up to get her big pink pillow to make him more comfortable!

After breakfast he got his present from Mommy and Daddy... a new bike!

We had his party the next day (June 18th) with friends and family. This year he wanted a Scooby Doo party (his new favorite show - we DVR the old episodes). And since it is so hot in June, we decided to have water games outside for all the kids. We set up a water ring and baby pool for the little guys, and a couple slip-n-slides for the big kids. Everyone had a great time!

Tring to cool off in the shade...

The boys slip-n-slide... the girls had a different one.

Scooby Doo cake

His binoculars from Toto and Pop

My big Six Year Old!

Happy Birthday Anson!