Family Birthday Celebration

I swore when Lillie was born just a little over a month after Molly's birthday that we would never, ever combine their birthdays into one party.

That little promise came to an end this year.

Our summer schedule this year has us running in about a billion different directions.  Trying to schedule just one party seemed nearly impossible and two, well it just wasn't going to happen.  So Clint and I decided to break the promise we made nearly 6 years ago by inviting the people we love most over for taco Tuesday. We enjoyed two cakes for dessert and turned a fun little family dinner into a laid back birthday party where we all got to celebrate and spoil our two favorite girls.

I did stick to my guns on the cakes.  Each girl got to choose the type of cake they wanted and each of them got their own cake with their own candles for their very own wishes.  Molly chose strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting and Lillie chose triple chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  (Neither of their choices surprised me.)  Though you wouldn't guess it from looking at them, both cakes were equally DELICIOUS!!

If you're noticing that Lillie only has 5 candles on her cake, she does.  Molly quickly pointed that out to me.  I guess I'm just not ready for my baby to be 6.  Her growing up is hurting my heart a little. 

(And here's proof that we fixed the candle situation before any wishes were made.) 

Both Molly and Lillie were spoiled beyond belief.  They got so many great things including lots of really cute clothes.  We did have a little trip to Oregon to do some school clothes shopping at the end of the month planned, but honestly I don't think there is much else that I could get these girls besides maybe a few pairs of shoes and undergarments.  Their closets are literally bursting at the seams with fun new things to wear. 

  

Thank you Molly and Lillie for being so gracious about sharing your birthday celebrations with each other.  You sweet girls make my heart swell! 

ELEVEN

Today Molly turned 11! 

We miss not getting to see her, but know she's probably being spoiled exactly like she should be at her other house on this special day of hers.  

We've got a few special little things planned with family and friends for when she comes back again, and I know none of us can wait to spend some time celebrating our new favorite 11 year old!  

Molly is at that fun transition age that happens when a child starts to become a little more like an adult but can still be silly and crazy at the drop of a dime.  She can go from ultra fashionista to covering herself in mud all within a few hours.  I love that about her!  

Molly's got some big changes happening this year and we couldn't be more excited for her.  While we know that her getting older and more involved in extra things means seeing her will become a little more difficult, we really are excited to get to see her spread her wings a little more.  This Molly girl whom we share with a whole army of people who love her is beautiful, bright, creative and so full of love.  I know her future holds lots of amazing things in store for her.  

Happy 11th Birthday, Molly!  

We love you more then you'll every know!     

When I'm bored doesn't work....

The kids (especially the girls) tend to get a bad case of the "I'm bored's"  during the summer.  Sometimes their whining pushes me into action to find another activity for them, but most times it just frustrates me.

For the most part we tend to be a family on the move.  An example of a few things we've done to date just this summer...  

• Gone on three camping trips 
• Spent a handful of days at my parents enjoying their pool 
• Gone for summer night walks almost every week day
• Had friends stay over almost a handful of times.  
• There's been football practice twice a week for JK since the beginning of June
• Swim lessons twice a week for Lillie
• Horse riding/ training lessons for Molly twice a week when she's with us.

Add a few birthdays, weddings, bridal showers, and baby showers into the mix along with the fact that both Clint and I work, and I think you can understand why I might want to blow a gasket when I've finally sat down for the 11 minutes that the noodles are boiling for dinner and the kids come to tell me they're bored.

For the most part I'm generally able to maintain my cool, they're kids I get that they want to be entertained 24/7.  Every once in a while though, it gets to me.  Which is why I've come up with a list of chores that need to be done around the house.  So when I hear those dreaded words the day after we get back from a camping trip while I'm folding laundry, I might heave pulled a chair up and told the kids they could either help or go find something else to do, in a not so sweet voice. 

Something fun like two sisters giving each other makeovers.

Makeovers that ended up leaving both girls giggling for hours and dad speechless.  Makeovers that took lots of scrubbing to get the glitter and waxy fake stuff off their faces.  Makeovers that created memories and bonds that these girls will most likely laugh over as adults.  Best of all makeovers that entertained my girls for at least two hours leaving me with a little peace and quiet to fold and put away camping laundry. 

Santa 2012

{Jk 13, Molly 10, Lillie 5}

This past weekend we visited Santa and then spent hours baking, decorating and taste testing cookies for his big arrival on Christmas Eve.  And because Lillie has decided that his reindeer like oranges better then carrots, we even bought another bag of cuties I'm hoping won't all be gone by next week.  

While we all love the Santa we visit, Molly and Lillie have determined that he is most definitely not the real one, but one of Santa's very best helpers.  Molly came to this conclusion after he asked if she wanted a movie for apparently the second year in a row.  She thought that seemed silly being that Santa has never actually left her a movie on Christmas morning.  Clint and I had the discussion with the kids on our way home that Santa does have helpers who listen to what each child wants and gets pictures taken as he is obviously super busy this time of year and couldn't be at all of the malls at once.  Lillie was satisfied with the explanation and Molly being the smart big sister she is assured us that the information we were sharing was old news to her.

The kids had put their letters to Santa in the mail box at the end of November and I'm really hoping he received them.  Lillie can't remember what was on her list, but wants just about everything she sees so I'm assuming it was pretty random.  Molly is being super secretive about what she asked for and won't tell a soul what was on her list to the big guy.  And JK, well being the teenager he is, his list is pretty much full of really expensive electronics and items I just don't think Santa could or would deliver on.  Luckily I was able to get him to scale his list down to some reasonable items that he wants so he won't be super disappointed come Christmas morning.   

Molly's the Big One-O

Today we spent the day at Ruston Way searching for seashells, snacking on ice cream cones, examining the shallow waters for starfish, watching fishermen pulling in their crab pots on the pier and enjoying Molly on her 10th birthday.   

I asked her when she woke up if she felt any different and after thinking about it for a minute she shrugged her shoulders and answered, "not really". I think she was secretly a little disappointed, hoping she would have woke up a just little taller on this special day of hers. 

While she may not have grown overnight, she's certainly gone through quite a growth spurt over the past couple of months.  It's a good thing she got lots of cute new clothes for her birthday because we were starting to run low on items that actually still fit her.

So while Molly is excited she's finally starting to grow after what she says was a year of staying the exact same size, here are a few random things she likes in this 10th year of her life.

1.  Ice cream over Cake
2.  Purple over pink
3.  Vanilla over Chocolate
4.  Reading over T.V. & Movies (no surprise here!)
5.  Fiction over Non-Fiction
6.  Summers over Winters
7.  Fruit over Veggies
8.  Ladybugs over Butterfly's
9.  Camping over Hotels
10. Fried eggs over Scrambled 
  
Here are just a few others from today, Molly's friend party and our extended family dinner party.

Happy 10th Birthday, Molly!  We love you!!

Family Photos

The last time we got family pictures taken, Lillie had nearly no hair and neither JK or Molly were wearing glasses yet. So to say that the picture hanging above our fireplace was a little outdated, would be a bit of an understatement.

We had tried to set up a photo shoot several times over the past few months, but with bad weather, kids in sports and just living a busy life, it seemed that we were always having to reschedule. This past Sunday though, all seemed right with the world. The sun was shinning and the amazing Sarah Richardson was available to capture our family in a way only she can.

We all had so much fun being outdoors for our little shoot and Clint and I are both super excited with the end results.

Here are just a few of our favorites...

JK ~ 12 years

Molly ~ 9 years

Lillie ~ 4 years