First Day of School

Our first day of school was actually the second day of school.  We were flying home and driving home from TN on the real first day of school.

 Three (second grade)

 Two (third grade)

 One (sixth grade)

 BoyTwo (second grade)

 Four (kindergarten)

Four's first day of school was the following week.  Here we are waiting for the bus.

 Four at her table

 One and Three had twinner outfits this year and decided to wear them on the same day:)

 Here Four is playing the part of baby of the family and having her older sisters carry her up the large hill on the way to our house.  hahaha

Three, Four, and Three's BFF

Two's Birthday Party

Last year, Two's birthday got skipped right over (another side affect of BoyTwo).  We tried to make her day special but it was severely lacking.  This year, I tried to make up for it!  We decided to have a cake shoppe.  We had dinner and then each of the girls got to decorate a cake.  I also made an apron for each of her friends.  Sort of.  I bought the white part online and made and added the ruffles.  It sounded totally easy in my mind, but the actual sewing took much longer than I anticipated.  Another, smaller problem, is that I live kind of far away from any fabric stores and it took me forever to work in a trip to town to buy supplies.  Anyhow, I would totally do this party again, just get to the fabric store much sooner.  Also, One was gone, Huz was gone, and BoyOne was gone.  I had no help.  I could've used some help.  I did have the presence of mind to have my neighbor take BoyTwo for me so that I wouldn't have to contend with him.  Smart move as it was a busy, busy night.

 Two at our family party.  It's a nine.  We didn't have cake at the cake shoppe party with her friends.  Too much cake.  Instead, we had an ice cream sundae bar.  I was smart enough to let each kid come up and choose their toppings but have me be the one who actually put the toppings on.

 Modeling the aprons that I made.  They turned out really cute.

 One of the decorating stations.  The rest of the girls were in the kitchen.

 Finished product by Two

 Four's finished product

 Three's beautiful creation

 One's cake.  She got home just after I had finished cleaning up dinner and set out all the cakes, frostings, bags, and sprinkles for decorating.  It was nice to have her home for the last 1/2 hour of the party.  She's a big helper.

BoyOne's cake.  He decorated his late that night after he got home from his soccer game.  This is the face he pulls in nearly every picture we take.  This is actually closer to a smile than usual.  Drives. me. nuts.  Part of why we haven't had a family picture done.  I am not paying money to capture an image of him 1)looking like we're holding him hostage, or 2)looking constipated.  :)

BoyOne's Birthday Bash

So, teenage boy parties are WAY easy.  BoyOne had a really, really hard time deciding what to do for his party.  We gave him a couple options and it just caused him grief, so I decided that we would invite like thirty kids over for night games and dinner (it may sound juvenile, but all summer we host night games for half the neighborhood and the kids LOVE it).  Huz said hell no.  (he's so smart like that)  Instead, we invited seven of BoyOne's closest friends (really quite an eclectic group ranging in age from eleven to eighteen, not including BoyTwo.  he's eight) to come over so I could take a couple pictures.  Like literally a couple.  Those were my instructions from Huz and BoyOne.  Rude.  Then, they went into town for pizza, a movie, and then Huz took them to a nickel cade.  They had a blast.  And were gone for six hours.  More importantly, BoyOne had a blast.  We'll probably go big for his parties until he's out of the house or decides he doesn't want a party.  We only get to have him for a few years and have a lot of time to make up for.  We can't spoil him with presents, that's a whole other post in and of itself, but it just doesn't work.  So, instead, we'll have parties.  

Here's the group before they left 

BoyOne's hair is so long here!!  He's had me cut it since.  Look how happy he is!  He's such a great kid!!

and a little bit of skateboarding while we waited for everyone to arrive

Three's Birthday Party

Three turned seven back in August.  Here's a look at her bday bash.  We had a fancy birthday party.  The girls all came dressed up or dressed nicely without their hair done.  Then, they had their nails painted (thanks to One and two of her friends), and their hair done.  I love doing hair.  Works out well since I have four daughters.  After about eight hairdos, I called in One to help me finish up.  She's really good at doing hair.  And really good at helping her crazy mom.  We did every girl's hair different.

Three had a great time and the party went by really fast.  Little kid parties are the best!!  Easy to throw, easy to please (both the attendees and the birthday kid).  

the group (or at least most of them)

a sampling of the hairdos 

One's Birthday Party

One turned 12 this year.  For her special day, we had a murder mystery party.  I had been to one such party many, many years ago when I was around the age 16.  Because I am creative (cheap), I didn't want to pay money for a party that was already scripted.  I found a couple online that I liked okay, but ultimately decided that I could put together my own.  So, I did.  I ended up veering a little from the typical murder mystery.  I decided that they were going to try to solve the mystery in order to 'clear their name'.  There was a picture/video scavenger hunt they went on where they looked for clues, and then over dinner, they questioned each other and tried to convict each other. 

The girls knew they were invited to a murder mystery and were given a character name and 'line' to say at a certain time.  They were on their own to come up with costume and to develop their character.  The names they were given, along with the line they had, gave them a little insight as to where to go with this, but enough freedom to make it theirs.  They were hilarious. (Justine Bieber, cousin; Becca Reynolds, back up singer; Britney Speared, rock star sick of sharing the spot light; Willow Shuhney, back up dancer; Lauren Schooley, high school chemistry tutor; Cameran Shoots, magazine photographer; Selena Gommez, girlfriend; Housey Dog, the pet cheetah; Taylor Fast, country singer scared that JB may go country; Stacy Crimp, former neighbor and hair stylist; Alexa Frend, childhood BFF; Lily Paddington, ex-girlfriend from 7th grade, Melody Wright, jr high choir director; Madison Jones, number one fan; Sewnya Jackson, wardrobe assistant; McKenzie McFaddon, housekeeper.)

Upon arrival, they were able to see who's murder they were there for.

Team 1

preparing for the scavenger hunt

a sampling of what they were looking for:

*a can of dr. pepper that maybe had been J's last drink

*a JB look alike

*the # 12, JB's favorite number (not really, but just for the sake of the party)

*team members walking a pet for 5 minutes.  the pet was 'looking' for JB's scent

*prepare a memorial sight for JB

*interview 3 people and get their alibis for the appx time of JB's death (this was THE most hilarious)

Team 2

On your marks, get set, GO!!

and they were off to solve the mystery and clear their names

This is what they saw upon arrival.  Crime scene.

That's right, the Biebs.  There is really no tie to him, other than when I was at the party outlet, they had this huge poster of him and in that brief second I envisioned what we could do with it.  Yep, he was crushed by someone closing a garage door on him.

In the end, Justin made an appearance (Two, dressed up as a boy) where he announced that he had staged his own death in an effort to have some personal space and free time.  No one was guilty.  Phew!

To celebrate everyone's innocence, they decided to make a human pyramid.  They never really succeeded, but here's a picture of them trying.

Later, we split into four groups and gave each group 12 rolls of toilet paper.  They were to create a spy outfit with toilet paper and nothing else.  Then, we had a fashion show and voted on the best spy outfit.

Team 1

Team 2

Team 3

Team 4

And this is what happened AFTER the fashion show.  It was inevitable and they had a blast having a 'snowball fight'.  The great thing about it was when we were all done and everyone had left, we just threw it all away.  I know it's not environmentally friendly, but I recycle and try to conserve, we reuse and reduce as well, so I didn't let this tear me apart.

There was a lot of this going on, too.

Along with an impromptu talent show.  Some of these girls were really amazing.  Wow!!

I forgot to tell how, upon arrival, we finger printed all the girls and took mug shots.  lol.  Two, Three, Four and Three's friend helped with the party.  They were officers and investigators and a pet cheetah.  They fingerprinted, served dinner, and were truly helpful.  We had a blast.

Another way fun part of this day was when I surprised One and had arranged for her BFF to be at her party.  BFF lives about 3 1/2 hours away and so this was a special treat.  Later the next day, BFF's entire family came up to spend some time together.  We had a great time.  

Misc TN, 2012

This is what we did in our 'down time'.

puzzles

Namely this ginormous puzzle of cats.  It became my personal mission to finish it.  I stayed up several nights, way too late, to get this thing done.

My mom has an enormous pile of old magazines in her house.  The kids decided to make collages.  They spent hours doing this.  HOURS!  I've never been a person who likes to read magazines or one who hangs on to them (but I do hang on to plenty of other things...), but I think I may change my ways.  HOURS, friends, hours.  All six kiddos.  

Yahtzee, baby.  

My mom has a cute little pretend kitchen that has lots of accessories.  The kids spent lots of time 'preparing meals' and 'serving meals' and lining everything up.

Front porch, TN with Grandma Shari and Papa John

 The Nashville, TN temple

Oh, cute

And now a funny one

On the plane ride home, this mama got smart and put the kids all together on two separate rows, same side of the plane.  I sat by myself across the isle, kind of in between the two rows.  Brilliant, I tell you!