Alice's Sewing Camp

 This week Alice went to a sewing camp called "Make a Stuffie a Day" at a local sewing shop.

 Each day they picked a different stuffed animal to make.

 I wasn't sure how she would like it since she's never done anything like this before and she was the youngest one in the class and didn't know anyone else.

 She did a great job, though, and she had a blast!

 

 Tuesday she made a bunny.

On the second day she brought her own machine to work on!

 

 Wednesday she made a penguin.

 Thursday she made an owl and she finished so fast she was able to help others with their stuffing!

 Today she made a bear and finished in time to add a bow and an apple.

All of her stuffies together!

If you are local and have a child who is interested in sewing I would definitely recommend Owl & Drum.  The teacher was so nice and so patient and Alice enjoyed it so much she said she would like to go there every day!

Happy 11th Birthday, Jack!

 Today was Jack's 11th birthday!

 We actually started celebrating last week, when he had friends over for a party.  Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures, but they had a good time.  He had Star Wars themed food that must have been tasty because it was all gone by the end of the party--or we've reached the age when they're eating everything in sight.

 Of course, there were water balloons!

 Remember that video of that awesome water balloon filler that went around on Facebook a while back?  You can buy them now!  They did around 500 balloons and I didn't have to tie a single one.  It was well worth the money!

 Opening presents

 Singing!

 I hesitate to post this for fear it will end up on Cake Wrecks, but this is my take on the Sarlacc cake Jack requested.  

 Jack wanted to do a Punch It game, so we came up with the idea of putting prizes in plastic cups and putting tissue paper over them.  Everyone got to punch a cup to get their prize.

 Today Jack was up (before) bright and early.  When I got up at 5:15, he had already been up reading his next Harry Potter book.

 Hanging out with Hobo

 He was ready for everyone else to get up so he could open his presents.

 He got a book about He-Man art...

 ...and some Star Wars Lego sets.

 He was pretty excited!

 Alice made him a TMNT card.

 After VBS we went to Incredible Pizza for lunch.

 They let Jack spin the birthday wheel!

 He loves the Wizard of Oz game.

 The official 4:30 photo!

 Last week Jack had saved up enough money to order the Kwik E Mart set, but he was not thrilled about the 3-8 business day wait for it to arrive.  I got an email yesterday saying it had shipped, so I told him it would probably be a few more days.  We were just getting ready to sit down to dinner when the FedEx man arrived.  He was thrilled!

 Jay's parents came over for dinner to celebrate the kids' birthdays.

 One happy boy!  As of 11:45 pm, he has both Star Wars sets built!

Happy birthday, Jack!  You are such an awesome boy and I am so glad I'm your mom!  We love you so much!

Happy 6th Birthday, Alice!

 Alice was SO excited about her birthday this year!

 She had some friends over for a monkey birthday party yesterday.

 I was thinking something was missing.  Turns out sandwiches are good with something besides bread!

 I was so excited to find that my cake pan was not in the storage, but I never thought to check all of my decorating stuff.  At about 10:00 the night before, I realized it had all been packed!

 This morning she opened her presents from us.

 A new sewing machine and a Hello Kitty DS game!

 We had a quick snacky breakfast...

because she wanted to go blueberry picking!

 

 She got a Happy Birthday serenade in the middle of the blueberry bushes!

 Playing around after picking!

 Our next stop was IHOP for a bigger breakfast.

 This afternoon we tried out her new machine.  It is really cool!

 At 3:31, she officially became a six year old!

 She had swimming this evening.

And there was a stop at Cherry Berry afterward!

I think she had a pretty great birthday.  Tonight at bedtime she told me she "got happier and happier any time someone said, 'Happy Birthday!'" to her.  Happy Birthday, Alice June!  You are the sweetest, smartest, strongest, funniest, most creative girl I know and we love you so much!