And of course I had to have a picture of Alice on June 5 at 3:31.
Jack had some friends over last weekend for a pirate party. The post would look more pirate-y if I had remembered to take a picture of the loot bags or the pirate flag I made, but I forgot. That happens to me when I have a house full of people!
We made pirate hats.
We also played Pin the Patch on the Pirate.
The water balloons it took me two hours to fill were gone in about three minutes. And then they wanted more.
The new climber was great for holding the pinata.
This looked a little morbid.
Time for cake! I was originally going to try to do a treasure chest cake, but then Jack said he wanted a cake with an island. I am so glad he did, because I think a treasure chest cake would have sent me over the edge.
It was pretty windy, but the guys were determined to get the candle lit.
In the end, Jack had to pretend. The cake was yummy anyway.
In case you hadn't heard, we would like to announce that we had a baby last year. Her name is Alice and she's lovely. You may have seen a picture or two of her here.
Last week we had our families over for a cookout to celebrate the kids' birthdays. This was the first time we have hosted that large of a group and it went surprisingly well!
Alice was mildly interested in her presents. She got two baby dolls and several baby doll accessories. She is awfully cute when she loves her babies.
Jack got games, toys, walkie talkies, and a magic kit. Oh, yeah. And a little thing called Snake Mountain--complete with a Snake Face figure. (I love the look on my nephew's face here.)
Alice had cupcakes. Since we only have two temperatures here (freezing and boiling), the icing was getting pretty melty.
Jack had a treasure map cake. He helped me with the waves. The compass rose had a 6 in it, but the foil stuck to it and took it off.
We're not too big on messy cake eating, so I took the icing off and gave Alice a plain cupcake. She seemed to like it.
We sent everyone off full of candy.
At our old house, we had this just beyond our back yard. That little boy in the orange shirt is Jack (age 2) the week they installed the new play equipment.
Many a morning (and afternoon and evening) was spent at the park over the last 3 years we lived there.
When we moved, something was missing.
So the men decided to remedy the situation. Jay's Uncle Jeff (with help from Jay's dad) built the kids a climber.
The first weekend, they put up the poles. This looked kind of dangerous and at one point, I looked out the window just in time to see my father-in-law get a head injury. Thankfully, it wasn't serious.
They built two elevated sides joined by a beam for swings.
And those swings were put into use as soon as they were up!
The first night, it was pretty late before Jack was ready to come inside.
Alice sometimes gets relaxed enough in her swing to doze a bit. She wakes up when you take her out, though, because her chubby little legs get sweaty and stick to the seat, leaving no way on earth to get her out gently.
The slide works even better with water.
The last part to go up was the playhouse.
While the grown-ups worked, the kids stayed cool under the other end of the climber.
And last Tuesday evening, Uncle Jeff put the latches on the playhouse door!
We've been up to a lot lately. Here's the short version; hopefully I will get quite a few posts done this week!
Visiting my grandma
Going to the zoo
Trying out the new yogurt place
Following the museum cat all over the grounds
Taking a trip to the children's museum
Vacation Bible School (It had a western theme this year.)
Many trips to WalMart to get ready for parties
And of course, playing outside!
