Crystal is 8!!!!

A LOOK BACK

I am really having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that I have an 8 year old! For one I don't feel old enough. Lol. I'm still waiting for that moment in my life when I feel like I'm a 'real' adult. I was hoping it would happen before the kids hit their teenage years... but it's really not looking good. lol. Secondly, it doesn't seem that long ago that the anesthesiologist took this picture of us! 

CRYSTAL'S BIRTHDAY WEEKEND

Well we didn't really mean to do this, but Crystal kinda celebrated her birthday all weekend even though her birthday wasn't until Monday. Haha. Friday night we usually go out to dinner. It's generally our 'date but bring all the kids' night. Lol. This Friday we went to Garcia's after Jay requested to go to the 'Gar Eating Place.' Haha. The first thing Lily told the waitress was that it was Crystal's birthday. Ty and I told her it wasn't really her birthday until Monday (Garcia's won't usually give you a dessert unless it's your actual birthday so I wanted to clarify). We had a kind waitress who surprised Crystal with a Happy Birthday AND a fried ice cream! 

After dinner we decided since we were in the mall parking lot already that we should go get Crystal her birthday present... pierced ears! She's been waiting for this day for at least 4 years now!!! Haha. We decided she needed to wait until she was 8 and old enough to decide for herself if that's what she wanted. Well she decided that's what she wanted for her 8th birthday! I was pretty nervous for her, but she did great! She was even still smiling after the first earring went in! She was a little more nervous for the second one but the smile never left her face! Then we wandered Claire's for a bit and let her pick out a few more earrings. 

Saturday I took a break from working on things at the house to take Crystal to ToysRUs to get her free Geoffrey plush, book, balloon, and crown! We missed the little party they had for all the birthday kids but she still left with a smile on her face.

After working on the lawn, the front porch, and party preparations for the next few days, we were exhausted and no one wanted to cook so we went out again (we're bad I know). This time we went to Lucy's Pizzeria. The kids loved drawing on the pizza boards with dry erase markers! Lily again announced her beloved sister's birthday (she has clearly figured out birthday girls get free dessert and wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to help her sister out. haha). After we ate they brought out a Reese's/cream cheese cal-zone.  It was huge. Haha.

THE CAKE
I made her a Frozen barbie cake this year. It wasn't my best work, but I was just glad it stood until we were ready to cut it. Haha. We cut into the cake a little early this year because I didn't want to have cake at her 'friends party' and then turn around and have cake again as a family an hour later. It just felt like too much for one afternoon. So we had her cake at Grandma Gordon's during our usually Sunday dinner at their house. Grandparents Cook and Great Grandparents LaPray stopped by to see the birthday girl and have cake with us too! 

FROZEN PARTY
First I want to mention that for her birthday Crystal walked home from school by herself for the first time ... well she walked with a friend so not totally alone. I think they made it home faster than they usually get out to the car after school. Lol. Crystal was super excited and wants to do it again! I wonder how long the excitement would last if she had to do it every day. Haha. 

Crystal requested a Frozen Party this year with her friends. We had a Frozen Ice Palace (bouncy house), Elsa's Magic Bubble Wands with a water table full of bubbles, and SNOW to build a snowman with (Baking soda and shaving cream mixed together. It was awesome and my preschoolers loved it the next day too)! We also had crowns/antlers to decorate and wear! We had Frozen cupcakes (thank you Walmart...I wasn't baking 2 cakes this year...), and icicle suckers, as well as Glacier Juice! I think the kids all had a good time! And Crystal said on more than one occasion that this was the best birthday ever! So I'm going to call it a success! 

The birthday kid gets to choose what we have or where we go for dinner. Crystal chose Leo's Place and requested that instead of wristbands we got lots of tokens to play the arcade games. So that's what we did. The birthday girl won the most tickets and even though she didn't quite have enough, the guy at the ticket counter let her get a pink sword! What a way to end the day! 

Carnival, Potato Truck, Another DIY

SCHOOL CARNIVAL

I only took one picture, but the kids had such a good time at their school carnival last week. They had Nachos for dinner and tons of fun playing games and winning prizes. We used most of our tickets getting Orange Leaf for all of us! After we played, Ty and I helped out with the games. We got stuck with the bowling game. I'm so glad Ty helped out because after 15 minutes of putting pins up and chasing the ball every 5 seconds my legs were so SORE! They hurt for 2 days! Haha! 

IDAHO POTATO TOUR

We went to McDonald's with Grandma Gordon last week and The Big Potato truck was there! We got a picture in front of it, and they let the kids pick out a prize! Jay got a water bottle, Lily sunglasses, and they let us pick out a prize for Crystal too!!! She got a Frisbee! They also got stickers and potato pins! You'd think it was Christmas or something! Haha.

FRONT PORCH DIY

Two weeks ago Ty got the sudden urge to replace the front porch (it was supposed to happen 2 years ago so it's about time. haha). Anyway preschool had just started, and I was a little concerned but I wasn't going to stop him. When he decides to do something on the Honey Do List, I let him! Haha. Anyway just as I feared, after 11 hours of work, the steps were only half done and not fitting quite right (that would be too easy). He needed more parts, and it was going to have to wait. I thought to myself, 'No worries, he'll have a few hours Monday to work on it and make it usable by Tuesday.' But come Monday, something went wrong at work, and he had to stay till the sun was heading down. So we used the back door for preschool. No big deal, just a pain because of the dog. Haha. Tuesday he had an Audit, and Wednesday he was able to get the top boards screwed in so it was at least safe to walk on! It was still missing the bottom step and 2 boards on the top (just dropped a few inches to the concrete porch). But Ty insisted it was fine for preschool, so on Thursday my little 3/4 yr olds stretched their little legs to the first step and balanced their way over the 2 missing boards to the door. Haha. The kids thought it was the best thing ever... not so sure the parents felt the same way. Lol. Saturday Ty was able to get to the store and buy the parts he needed to fix the steps. By Saturday afternoon we had a fully functional front porch again! YAY! We still need to cover the sides, put on the rail and stain it... but I'm so so so happy it's usable again (and so is the mailman! haha)!

Preschool and the Fair

FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL

Jay had his first day of preschool this week! And so did Mom! As always, we have a great group of kids! I'm so excited for preschool this year! 

FAIR WEEK
We also went to the fair this week! So much fun!! We love going to see the animals, walk thru the buildings and booths, and especially eat the FOOD!!!! YUM! The kids absolutely LOVED the sea lions especially Lily! She was in 7th heaven!!!!

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
We celebrated Grandma Gordon's birthday this weekend with dinner and a movie outside!!!! Brrr! It was a little cold, but I got extra cuddles from the little one, and there's nothing more fun than a movie outside with the family!

Painting and Pinkalicious Pink Party

PAINTING

I decided a while ago that I was going to slowly paint the whole house, and while I was at it I would sand and paint the dated wood trim. I was going to start upstairs with the kids' rooms and work my way down saving the preschool room for last (since I knew I wouldn't be able to work on it during the school year). Well I had to do a lot of work in the preschool room this summer to make a little more space since I have 2 more students this year than I had last year. In the process I had removed almost everything off the walls. When I thought about putting it all back on, I didn't like the idea of having to take it all off again to paint after the school year. So alas, my big paint project began in the preschool room instead! It was a ton of work sanding, cleaning, painting, painting and painting some more. Oy. My wrist is still sore after a week! BUT even though I just painted it white, it looks SO much better! I couldn't believe how ugly the color in that room was compared to the nice bright white I put on it. Haha. And I love the painted trim. Although, I may look into replacing the trim in the living room and hallways just so I don't have to try sanding and painting the trim without accidentally sanding and painting the floor. Whew. That was not an easy task! 

My preschool room is freshly painted and ready for school to start in 2 days! Yay! Can't wait!

KID CANDIDS 
Lily loves the elephant at Fiesta Ole and insists I take a picture of her on it every time we go. Haha. She asked again with Jay on it and he said "no I don't want a picture!" I pointed my phone at him and said 'okay Jay smile and I won't take your picture.' He grinned from ear to ear. Lol. 
Later this week he was playing with his Trex transformer and sat it on my lap and said, "Mom he needs a picture!" Lol. He wouldn't take no for an answer. 
I got to babysit my nieces this week! Isn't that little baby gorgeous!?!?! 
Jay ASKED Lily to do his hair on Friday. lol. He said he wanted Dragon Hair. She lined his head with bows. Haha. 

PINKALICIOUS PINK PARTY
The girls went to the library for another story time party on Saturday! They all wore pink! We read a Pinkalicious story and ate a pink cupcake and ... oh no! ... we got Pink-itis!!! Good thing it didn't last too long. Haha. We also made wands and had a Pinkalicious Dance Party!!! So much fun! Jay and Dad rode bikes at the church so Jay didn't feel too bad that he was left behind. ;-)

PINK-itis!!!!!