This is My Life

There really are no words.

Six is Sensational!

My boy is six!  Yes, folks, it's true.  On Thursday, November 10th, our little guy turned a whopping six years of age.  I could be all cliche at this point and tell you how time just flies and it seems like we just brought him home from the hospital a year or two ago, but I won't.  Instead, you get a rousing recap of Everett's sixth birthday!  Aren't you a lucky reader?!?!

For Juliana's birthday in September I made some seriously awesome cinnamon rolls.  As Everett and Juliana are only 22 months apart, they tend to share the same interests at the same time.  Which is precisely why, when I asked Everett what he wanted for his birthday breakfast, he immediately replied, "Cinnamon rolls and grits!"  Sound familiar?  So, birthday cinnamon rolls, take two.  

And yes, in case you're wondering, they were just as good as the first time around.

Everett got to open his gifts before school and he was pumped!  

(Juliana got pouty when I asked her to sit in her chair instead of stand in it.  I know, I'm soooo mean!)

Giselle humored me by wearing the birthday hat.  She wasn't a fan.

Optimus Prime, SpiderMan, Army guys...this kid was in heaven.

Giselle, eating a cinnamon roll and scowling.  Giselle is a master scowler.  One of her many gifts.

That's a sugar-induced lazy-eyed smile.  Since it's his birthday, I'm not going to fuss about it like I did in the last post.

We did the whole singing/eating cake bit after dinner.  Will was at work and Giselle was already in bed, so the term "singing" can be used loosely.  It's rough when I'm the one who's expected to carry the song.

He asked for a chocolate Batman cake.  It may not look great, but it sure was tasty!

When you're in Kindergarten, having your birthday on a school day is just about the best thing ever.  He LOVED being "special" all day at school and getting to wear his super cool, totally awesome birthday hat.  Yea for six year olds!

Rambling Recap

While Juliana's birthday has been dutifully documented, it seems as though I've dropped the ball on the last couple of months.  Here's a quick commentary so try to keep up.

1) We went to the zoo with our friends Brigette, Alex and Ellie.  Brigette and her family moved to St. Louis shortly after we did and we have kids right around the same ages and gender.  A match made in heaven!  Unfortunately for Juliana and Giselle, I neglected to check the weather before we left for the zoo.  So while all the other folks were dressed in pants, long sleeves and jackets, my girls and I were dressed like it was summertime.  It was cool, the girls were freezing and to add insult to injury, it started to rain as we were leaving.  Mom fail.

2) The kids love to take random pictures with the camera.  They also love to "play" in the car.  I found this beauty as I was scrolling through pictures on the camera and thought it was pretty cute.  Too bad I had to delete about 72 of J's other "artistic" photos.

3) I got called as the Personal Progress Leader in Young Women's at church (which means I work with the girls ages 12-18 and help them set and accomplish certain goals).  We had our Young Women in Excellence night in October and our theme was "The Worth of a 'Sole'".  It was all about shoes and following in the footsteps of Christ.  We decorated with footprints (along the back in the picture), sang "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" and even had cobbler to go along with the shoe/foot theme.  We gave the girls a shoe charm as a little gift.  I only got a few pictures of the set up, but I thought it was pretty cute.  The girls did a great job and it was really a lot of fun.  I get to work with an awesome group of leaders (and girls), so it was easy and fun to put this together.

4) My sister, Paula, and nieces, Lydia and Camille, came to visit us!  They came during a week when Will was out of town, so it really worked out perfectly.  Two adults, five kids. The kids had SO. MUCH. FUN.  Seriously.  They still talk about it on an almost daily basis.  "Remember that time?  When Lydia and Paula and Camille came to visit?  And we went to the Arch?  And the zoo?  That was so much fun!"

Juliana and Lydia ran into each other's arms at the airport.  It was precious.

These two were pretty funny to watch interact.  Camille slept in the Pack-n-Play in Giselle's room and they actually did well at not waking each other up from naps.  Camille is six months older than Giselle, but G is taller and heavier.  What can I say?  Will and I don't breed 'em small or petite.

We went downtown to the Arch one day while they were here.  The girls claimed they had fun, but that was not obvious to me while we were there.  I just remember Giselle having a hard time, being really hot and having loads of fun trying to wrangle four young girls through crowds of people.  The girls were cute looking out the windows at the top of the Arch though.  They were mesmerized.

After we were finished viewing we had to wait for the "elevators".  That's pretty much where my girls started to have serious issues.  Giselle especially.  Food, drink, cuddles - nothing seemed to do the trick.  You can see how sweet their cousins were trying to be with them, but my girls are stubborn and would have none of it.

The next day we waited until after school to go to the zoo.  Everett was thrilled.

5) We've been grocery shopping!  It's a blast!  I love it!  Favorite part of my week!  I especially love it when I get to take all three kids with me and they argue over who gets to sit in the dumb "speciality" grocery buggy!  I like it even more when one of them chooses to pout about it!

6) Will and the kids carved our pumpkin.  The carving part was fine, but my beef with the following pictures (as well as the ones on Halloween) is that Everett seems to have forgotten how to smile normally for pictures.  He either gives me a) a whole "lazy eye" look or b) a "deer in headlights" look.  Let's have a look, shall we?

Exhibit A: Not a full DIH, but well on his way.

Exhibit B: Total deer in headlights/crazy eyes

Exhibit C: Classic lazy eye

Exhibit D: Followed quickly by deer in headlights

Exhibit E: Believe it or not, this is the best look of the lot.

On Halloween night, our Bumblebee and Tinker Bell were uber excited to go trick-or-treating. Bumblebee loved the mask and Tink was thrilled to be wearing make-up.  Also Exhibit F: deer in freakin' headlights.  Everett, I'd say you're killin' me, but I know what's coming...

Exhibit G: OH MY GOODNESS EVERETT!  Seriously.

Exhibit I: I give up.

Darling Giselle.  Yes, I'm a bum and didn't get her in her flower costume for trick-or-treating.  She was still cute.

An action shot.  We only did our street, which isn't terribly long, but they still got loads of candy and I'm a Halloween Scrooge and wanted to get them in bed relatively close to their normal bedtime.  I know.  I stink.  Boo on Mom!

Happy Halloween 2011!  Next time, Everett's birthday recap.  I know you're on the edge of your seat.

Four is Fun!

Somehow Juliana went from this:

(Little Miss looking more like a Little Mister at like three months old)

And this:

(On her first birthday)

To this:

All grown up, no bottles, no pacifier, no diapers, dresses herself, brushes her own teeth, rides a bike (with training wheels), AND takes care of all bathroom "stuff" by herself.  Seriously, when did all this happen?  It seems like it was only a few months ago that I was staring into that cute little face, wondering what kind of little girl/teenager/adult she was going to be. Ok, enough sappiness, onto the festivities!

Juliana started talking about her birthday and turning four around Christmastime (if only I were joking).  Apparently, turning four is a VERY big deal.  She had all sorts of requests for what toys, cake, and decorations she wanted.  Four is a great age for being excited about everything!  She likes My Little Pony, princesses, fairies, bikes, books, movies, crayons, markers, coloring books, etc.  I could've closed my eyes and picked pretty much anything from two whole aisles at Target and she would've been thrilled.

Juliana's birthday breakfast request was cinnamon rolls and grits.  It's always been a secret dream of mine to be a phenomenal cinnamon roll maker.  In the past, my attempts have been...well, less than stellar.  Fortunately, some friends turned me onto a fantastic recipe site: melskitchencafe.com.  I love Mel!  I don't know her from Job, but I've tried close to 30 of her recipes and they have almost all been hits.  Her cinnamon roll recipe is no exception.  They are a ton of work, but oh my heavens, they are out-of-this-world spectacular!  So much so that Cinnabon better be glad I don't decide to take this gig on the road and put them out of business.  Hands down the best cinnamon roll I've ever eaten and the secret ingredient?  Vanilla pudding.  I'm not kidding.  Vanilla pudding.  Go.  Try it.  And then come back here and we can bask in the yumminess that is the perfect cinnamon roll.  My only regret is I didn't get a picture of the finished product.

Fortunately, I have this beauty - Everett eating an aforementioned cinnamon roll and Juliana next to a big bowl of grits.

After breakfast we got on Skype with my parents so they could see the birthday girl open their present.  Bless you, Skype.

Lunchtime brought lunch, cake and more presents.  The cake was entirely homemade (thank you Mel!), but the decorating wasn't exactly exceptional.  Oh well.  I knocked it out of the park with those cinnamon rolls.

When asked, Juliana claimed she had "the best birthday ever!"  It was a small affair with just our little family, but I think she had a great day and felt very special.  However, I do think we need a refresher course on exactly how often birthdays occur since the next morning when she woke up she exclaimed, "On my next birthday I'm going to turn 5!  And I want a My Little Pony cake!"

(PS - Here's what our four year old does with the sparkly lip gloss my mom sent.  All. day. long.)