Birthday Luau

Here we are going into October and I am playing some serious catch up on my blog.  I thought I would post and share some of my shots from Cameron's 6th birthday party.  This year she wanted a "luau" summer party with lots of water games and lots of wet fun.  She also loves flip flops and summery bright colors, so this was an easy party for me.  Here she is with her flip flop cakes.  She decided she wanted pink and black flip flops, I could have done without the black, but I think they turned out pretty cute anyways.

And during her "friend party", we just did cupcakes, which I have found are less messy, and quicker to serve and manage with a group.  I did have to stick six candles into one cupcake, however, just for the effect.

 Every year I get a shot of her on the patio with her birthday dress on.  This year we spent the $ on a new swim suit instead of a dress.  Here she is looking super summery.

That's six years old, in case you couldn't remember.  Six going on sixteen.  She thinks.

Up close of the cupcakes.  These were super easy.  a white frosted cupcake rolled in graham cracker crumbs to look like a sandy beach.  The beach umbrella and the flip flop were from Hobby Lobby. 

Waiting for the bounce house to inflate.  You should have heard the chanting and cheering from the kiddos when it was raising up!

 Finally some fun!  You will notice that I do in fact have two different bounce houses in my yard.  My small controlled party of 10 ended up being a large come one come all party of 20+.  The joys of living in a neighborhood and having lots of friends and family!  But it was great.  I did however, decide that I should have two bounce houses on a one bounce house budget.  So I bargained with the bounce house man.  I traded him Brody's changing table and an old treadmill for the rental on the second one.  He was tickled to death and I was completely happy because I have been asking Matt to take the clutter to the Youth Ranch all summer.  Perfect!

 Down the water slide!

 Water games!

Bounce House #1 and Bouce House #2--traded for a changing table and a treadmill

 The crowd.  Friends, cousins, and neighbors galore!

 Four kids ready to slide....wait a minute, make that three kids and one Aunt Lulu.  How can you resist a water slide?

 Make that two Aunts.  One Aunt Mimi and one Aunt Lulu coming down the slide!

 YeeeeHawwwww!!!!!!!!  You just can't resist.....

30 Days of Lists--2

I am Happiest When.....
1-I am with my family on a lazy morning.
2-I am enjoying the company of someone special at a great restaraunt over a glass of red wine
3-In my sweats scrapbooking upstairs
4-When I have been productive all week and I can kick back and enjoy the weekend

30 Days of Lists

So I was blog surfing and I came across the idea of 30 Days of Lists from this blog:
Just Make Stuff and I was completely fascinated and inspired.  Because I am a reformed type-A personality who was ruined by having children, I still love a good list, even though mine never completely get finished.  And so, I am going to try to follow along with this gal (but I am 15 days behind her) with the list thing. 

GOALS FOR THE NEXT 30 DAYS:
1-MAKE 30 LISTS
2-ORGANIZE THE KIDS FALL SCHEDULES SO THAT THEY FLOW
3-CROCK POT MEALS ON ALL NIGHTS THAT WE HAVE SOCCER OR DANCE
4-ORGANIZE BRODY'S 1ST BIRTHDAY PARTY
5-CONTINUE ON WITH BRODY'S 1ST YEAR SCRAPBOOK
6-THREE TO FIVE POUNDS DOWN THE DRAIN
7-DEEP CLEAN, THEN DECORATE FOR FALL/HALLOWEEN
8-ONE ON ONE TIME WITH EACH KID (SHOULD BE EASIER NOW THAT THEY ARE IN SCHOOL SOME OF THE TIME)
9-A DATE WITH THE LOGGER
10-WALK AT THE ISLAND TO SUPPORT GOAL #6

Ten Years

And so it is that ten years ago today, the world changed.  And not for the better.  While the death and injuries and defeat were obvious, what these terrorists did for us that was even worse was they destroyed the trust of a nation.  And they ruined the entire innocence of not only a country, but the entire globe.  Never again will the our thought process not involve terrorists.  And just a little bit of fear.  And just a little bit of anger.  And yet, in the midst of the rubble, good still prevails.  And there is the pride of a great nation.  And what an amazing memorial at Ground Zero.

I remember that day like it was yesterday.

I was 20 years old.  Young and invincible.  And this was a dose of reality that I don't think I even grasped at the time.

I woke up late for a 8 am class with my beloved Dr. Zuroff.  My best friend Holly called with all of the vigor that she always had that early in the morning.  I on the other hand, was grouchy and irritated.  And when she told me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center, I thought she was trying to get me to wake up and participate in any conversation.  And so we went to class and nobody knew a lot of details, but we all knew it was bad.  And class went on because that is the kind of professor I had.  Business as usual.  And then it was onto our next class and between the two, we somehow found out that it was indeed bad and it was continuing.  And I had a sister in London getting ready to fly home after visiting extended family with my Grandma.  And I didn't know if she was flying, waiting to fly or what because of the time change. 

After classes we headed back to a friend's apartment and sat and watched the coverage.  And it was scary.  And I was young.  And I honestly didn't know what this meant for me.  But atleast I was in Montana, which was a long long way from New York City.  I hoped it was far enough.

And so life went on and before I knew it it was Veteran's Day.  And I was doing an observation at a local elementary school.  And they had organized a Veteran's Day celebration with a focus on the 9-11 attacks.  And the entire student body of little kids...innocent kids....acknowledged this event and sang songs to remember and recognize and event that they surely shouldn't have to worry about. 

I will never forget when they turned on Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American" and the tiny and sweet voices of the kids sang it with all the gusto and pride that they had to give.  And I sat in the row of teachers and I cried.  Because I didn't know what else to do.  And I knew this was bad.  And I didn't feel much different than those little kids.  Confused, but going along with it.

And so life went on.

Ten years later.  I am a mother of three.  And in love.  And all of a sudden, life isn't all about me.  It's about them.  And I can't help but look at the 9-11 attacks as a mother would look at this event.  I can't even begin to imagine what this must have been like for the mothers of the victims.  Or the children who lost their mothers or fathers in the tragedy.  And so, today, it is scary in a whole different way.  And what about the mothers of the men who caused this to happen?  It really gives you a lot to think about.

The families who lost loved ones in the 9-11 attacks.

Stop and pray for these families.  You know they never forgot about 9-11.