Ruby turns TEN and Seussical the Musical!

Ruby's birthday was fun and busy this year, because it fell on the opening night of her debut with the Puyallup Children's Theater in their production of Seussical the Musical. Hailey and Emma came down with Oma and Opa to celebrate and show their support. We opened presents...

 ...and Ruby got the coveted McKenna doll by American Girl...she was happy!

 We had her requested taco salad for dinner and then busted out these tasty cupcakes.

 Ruby had three hour long rehearsals for ten weeks and she listened to the musical at home pretty much non-stop. I know the whole thing by heart. :) The show was cute, I think Ruby was on stage like four times but most of those times she was behind bigger people and I could hardly see her. Here is a good shot of her!

 I was so excited when she came out like a fish...there were just three or four people on stage. I thought it was her moment...

 Then she promptly laid down on the floor and acted like water, swishing scarves back and forth. It was a nice effect, but I was kind of hoping I'd see her face up there. Not so much. 

So after you see the only three pics where you can see her, I'll show you what I was grasping at the rest of the two hour play. Shots like this, when people would all move the right way so that I could get a one second glimpse of her pretty face.

It was POURING rain outside, and Chris had left quickly to get Betsey home, so I just got this quick shot of the kind visitors who came to watch the play and celebrate with us.

 I took professional pictures of the group before the show, here is the whole cast! This took over the whole weekend...there were THREE full scale shows, not to mention the dress rehearsal.

I love my ten year old girl! She is such a dilligent, happy hard worker and she is everything a first born child should be. She is an awesome example to her sisters and I really like being around her. She is funny and creative and helpful and willing and I am blessed to be her mother!!

 



Thanksgiving 2012

We had a nice Thanksgiving at my folks' house. Someone had a great idea to make little snack kits for people down on their luck that you come across out and about. Everyone contributed snacks and it was a fast, child friendly service project for everyone to enjoy together. We all had like 10 kits when it was all done...in the kits are granola bars, bottled water, fruit snacks, cookies, crackers, etc.

 My mom had this cute thankful wreath ready and we all wrote things we were thankful for on leaves and pinned them to the wreath. Someone wrote my name on a leaf. Thanks honey. Chris also wrote that he was grateful that Braden found someone to marry him. Har har.

I am thankful for my family! We stayed for the first time in our tent trailer in my parents' driveway and it was cozy and great to have space for us all to sleep.

American Girl Cousin Birthday Party...

Instead of doing a big deal birthday party this year, we just did a little joint party for Ruby, Alice and Emma at Oma and Opa's (Heather and Robb and fam are living there temporarily while they search for the right house to buy/build). Heather did the food and I did the activities. It was so much fun because the older girl cousins thoroughly enjoy one another. I loved it because it was so much more chill than other parties we've had in the previous years! I loved doing it with Heather instead of on my own. She is fancier than I am and did a great job with all her prep work!

Love the fancy drinks Heather concocted! So did the kids!

Candy...notice we had a theme...American Girl dolls, and this girl I knew in my K-12 career offered her leftover AG decorations which were actually really substantial and really made it look fancier and more tied together. She even delivered them to my mom's house!

See...place settings for dolls and their human friends! So cute! Flower shaped grilled cheese sammies...always a kid crowd pleaser!

Alice and her birthday doll, Julie. 

 Sarah doesn't have a doll, so she had Alice's doll from Christmas last year. Emma with her doll...don't know her name...I think it is a look like me doll.

Ruby with Rosie and Hailey with crazy face and her doll, I belive is Marie Grace. 

 Dessert was a tasty ice cream mud pie dessert that was in a planter and looked just like dirt...only the dirt was crumbled oreo. They loved it!

 I bought the paper "I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE REALLY CALLED" game things and the kids decorated them and then had a lot of fun playing with them together, as each one had a different theme, different questions, etc. I love my mom in this shot...in her winter coat. It's how she rolls.

  

I also got some little openable suitcases for the kids to paint and decorate.  Heather got the girls matching jammies...Alice and Emma matched and the older girls matched. So cute!

  

My girls...

I got out to take some pics of my kiddos in the leaves this fall. I like to do this if the weather allows. Often the fall leaves are all wet and nasty from rain, but occasionally we have a dry enough spell to get some good, fluffy leaf pics. I didn't intend on using this shoot for Christmas cards, but I never got around to doing another shoot...so I had no choice. They are pretty cute though! We did this in like fifteen minutes at Pierce College by our house.

My girls are so thoughtful and talented and clever and beautiful and fun and silly and sharp and witty and compassionate and goofy and a million other things. I just love them!