The Ballerina Party

 Alice decided she wanted a ballerina party this year, so of course I went to Pinterest.  There are about four trillion ballerina ideas there, but my original plan was to have a dance student come over and teach the girls some steps.  Alice freaked out when I said this, though, so we kept it simple.  We invited a few friends over and I made them tutus--with no real ballerinas present!

 Water balloons have nothing to do with ballerinas, but my kids think they are a requirement for parties.

 We played Pin the Tutu on the Ballerina.  Two weeks later, the ballerina is still on the kitchen wall.

 It always cracks me up how much fun the kids have with this kind of game.  We played it twice and they still wanted more!

 There were presents...

 and lunch...

 and cupcakes, too!

Happy birthday!

The Family Party

 Now that we're home and more family can come over to celebrate the kids' birthdays, we usually have a separate family party instead of trying to have all of our family and friends all over at once.  It also gives me a chance to try out ideas for the kids' cakes before their other parties.

 We got sparkler candles and Jack couldn't get his to go out.

 I love the look Alice is giving him here!

 Jack's birthday theme was Legos this year.  I'm showing you this centerpiece because there's no picture of a similar one at his kid party--I'll tell you the story on that later.

 Alice wanted a ballerina party, so I used a lot of pink and purple.  I tried these colored jars a couple of times and finally got some I was happy with.

 Alice was sooooo excited to get a pink dinosaur!

 She has already played with the water table enough to make it worth it!

 Two things Jack loves:  Legos and Harry Potter!

The kids had fun playing outside some, too.  I took the picture from inside, though, because I don't have as much fun in the heat as they do!

We're Back!

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of birthdays, parties, vacation, VBS, and Father's Day--our anniversary, too, though that was only marked by a day full of children's birthday parties.  This week we should be back to normal, so expect lots of posts soon!

Happy Anniversary

“Were every tie that binds me to the men and women of the world severed, and I free to choose out of all the world the sharer of my heart and home and life, I would fly to you and ask you to be mine as you are.”  

~James Garfield

Exploring Oklahoma With Children

A while ago I mentioned that we had gone on a field trip.  Our trip to Deep Fork National Wildlife Refuge was for my first Exploring Oklahoma With Children article.  Each month we'll be going somewhere in Oklahoma (usually) and sharing about it in the print and digital issues of MetroFamily Magazine.  We're looking forward to many great adventures!

~~~

 "But if you want to have a good time, I don't care where you live, just load in your kids, and take some congenial friends, and just start out.  You would be surprised what there is to see in this great country within 200 miles of where any of us live.  I don't care what state or what town."

~ Will Rogers

Happy Birthday, Jack!

 I love that you get excited about the little things.

(If you saw my recent facebook post about cereal, notice that there's no milk in his bowl.  They only wanted the marshmallows.)

 I love the way you get excited about the go kart--though I don't love to watch you drive it!

 I love the way you love traditions.

 I love the way you want to make everything you read or watch into a custom Lego set.

 I love your confidence.

 I love that you're willing to try new things.

 I love that you are committed.

 I love the way you love your sister.

 I love your sense of humor.

I love that you still love to snuggle.

I love that you made me a mama.

Happy birthday!

At Home with Nature

 This week's post at MetroFamily is about studying the nature you find in your own backyard!  I'm not sure if a week goes by that we don't have some kind of nature find.

 We recently had a turtle visitor.

 Tiny turtle nostrils make me laugh for some reason.

 One night we watched a bunny cross our yard and hide in the neighbor's pasture.

 The killdeer are back again!

 We found this (empty) egg the morning after a storm.

A homing pigeon isn't really something you'd normally see in the wild, but this one came to us from Houston, and if you would like him, he is yours!

Happy Friday!