Helena's soda shop birthday party

Helena recently turned seven years old!

We celebrated with an old-fashioned soda shop birthday party and it was so fun!

There's a local soda shop here called Fiiz that Helena loves to go to, so we decided to take some friends out for drinks and then watch a movie at our house. I even talked to one of the owners at Fiiz and she custom designed a special drink for Helena, called the Fairy Godmother.

To go along with the old fashioned soda shop theme, Helena wore a poodle skirt and we included some records in the decorations.

A few weeks before the party, we went to Fiiz and took this adorable picture...

... for the "album cover" for the record invitations. The information was on the back side of the record (cut out of sparkly black cardstock with a hole punched and white "glare" marks on the edges). We slid them into cardstock cd sleeves that I got at Walmart and finished by gluing the picture of Helena on the front. They turned out so cute!

The cupcakes were chocolate cherry Coke float cupcakes, complete with maraschino cherries and paper straws--yum! We got a couple of cheap records from DI to set them on.

I turned our black paper plates into faux records as well, with hand drawn holes and glare marks. A bunch of old soda bottles lined the pink polka dot runner.

The birthday girl eagerly awaiting the arrival of her friends! I even hung an old record on the front door to round out the theme!

And here she is with her pink cotton candy Italian Soda (ew), the Fairy Godmother. The girls had so much fun at Fiiz, and bonus,we filled up a whole punch card buying all their drinks!

Big thanks to Fiiz for their help with this super fun party for my special girl!

Happy birthday, Helena!

Happy birthday to my sweet six year old Helena!

It's been a whirlwind ever since she came screaming bloody murder into this world. She is still an emotional girl, but hey, so am I. She is so good at creating and one of her favorite things to do is go up to the craft corner in my room and "make things" with scraps of yarn, fabric, buttons, and a hot glue gun. She is so happy and excited to be learning how to read (she got "Green Eggs and Ham" for her birthday and can read the whole thing by herself!) and she loves school.

One thing you should know about Helena is she gets very anxious about weather. She's gotten much, much braver this year, but she still doesn't like to go outside if it's cloudy or windy.

She loves to eat sour green apples, all the way down to the core.

She's really good at picking out clothes and puts together great outfits that I never would have thought would work--but they do! Sometimes I have her pick out my clothes, too.

She is sweet, generous, and loves her sisters. She leaves me little notes around the house that say "I love my mom"--and I love her!

Happy birthday pancakes and scrambled eggs!

To celebrate her birthday, she really wanted to go to Temple Square. Today was snowy and cold, so we went yesterday instead. It was windy, but still very nice and all the girls had fun looking at the blossoms and flowers!

Soon to be four sisters!

Calling all Junior Detectives!!

I haven't done a big birthday party since Tempe's "Silly Moose" party in 2012, but we decided to jump back into the birthday party game this year!

The guest of honor... soon-to-be-six Helena!

Helena decided on a detective party inspired by this adorable trench coat we got at Target (for $6!) Isn't she the cutest detective you have ever seen?

I made "case log" invitations and put them in envelopes that had "classified: for _______________'s eyes only" stamped on them.

Didn't have to purchase a single thing for this display table! I guess I buy too much "vintage" stuff at DI. I have had that old Clue game for years and this is the first time I've used it, but I love how it looked on the table!

Party favors were just little detective kits from the Dollar Tree, wrapped in more brown butcher paper and stamped with "thanks for coming".

I stamped the food labels directly onto the butcher paper. This is "on the trail" mix.

.... "gumshoe" balls

... and "chocolate disguises". I have really gotten a lot of use out of my stupid mustache mold. 

As soon as all the party guests had arrived, I handed out their disguises and we took a picture before they devoured the mustaches. If you look closely, you'll see the masked bandit peeking through the door!

After the girls ate their mustaches, we started detective training. I fingerprinted everyone and then they examined their different fingerprints with a magnifying glass.

After the fingerprinting, the girls had to climb through a yarn "laser" obstacle course on the back deck.

We went back inside and split into two groups. One group observed a page from an I Spy book for 30 seconds and then had to list as many things as they could remember without looking.

The other group examined four different kinds of smashed candy and tried to figure out what they all were, and then the groups switched places.

After detective training, the girls were ready to open presents but... the masked bandit had already gotten there! Jason hid the presents in the backseat of his car while we were doing the obstacle course outside, and when we went to the living room, all that was left was the first clue of a scavenger hunt. All the girls were so excited to follow the clues from place to place, especially since Jason kept putting his mask back on and running across the background. Every time they saw him they all started screaming "The masked bandit! There he is!"
We eventually found all the presents and Helena opened them. Her friends know her well--she got a lot of art supplies, which is her favorite!!

 Finally, we ate zebra cakes, trail mix, and rainbow sherbet and then the girls all played happily together until it was time to go home. It was such a fun party, but so exhausting. I'm really glad that I made Helena choose just one group of friends to invite (the girls from her kindergarten class) instead of everyone she knows (like she wanted to), because I don't think this 8 month pregnant mama could have handled any more!

Christmas ornaments 2013

Jason's mom got him and all of his siblings an ornament every Christmas. Jason and I have continued the tradition in our own family and every year we have fun picking out an ornament that represents our kids' year. I decided to start taking a picture of each child with their ornament this year and here they are!

Tempe loves loves loves cats and she is so excited that we have one. Her ornament has a little cat and says "Home is where the cat is". That definitely sums up her year!

Helena is such a little diva and she wants to be a rock star. She even dressed up as a rock star for Halloween this year! Her ornament is a very glittery "Rock Star" ornament.

Juno loves tools and has fun "helping" fix things around the house. She even has her very own jigsaw just like Mom's! It's hard to get a picture of a three year old holding an ornament up so you can see it, but hers is a hammer and wrench.

in honor of our current wind storm and our last wind storm in '11

Many of you know that my adorable, hilarious, mini teenager Helena is terrified of weather.

All kinds of weather, but specifically wind, clouds, and rain. Even a little bit can send her into a panic. It can be perfectly sunny outside, but if she can see leaves moving on the trees, she will flat out refuse to go outside. And if there are clouds and rain, well... that's just not gonna happen.

{The reason she is so afraid of wind is because she thinks that there will be a tornado. We've checked out books about tornadoes, talked about how they form, and why they won't happen here in Utah. We've talked about how a tornado is more than just wind and so she doesn't need to be afraid when it's windy. We've tried singing Primary songs, praying (constantly), and redirecting and distracting. If you have some other coping techniques, please let me know!!}

A few weeks ago, it was overcast and a blustery kind of day, spitting rain here and there with occasional gusts of wind. She didn't want to go to school. I love her and feel bad when she's afraid, but I know I can't keep her home just because it's windy. I really can't do that. So I told her all about tornado sirens and where to go during a tornado so she would feel prepared. That really helped her feel better. I walked her to her classroom and talked to her teacher about how worried she was, and her sweet teacher was so kind to let her stay in during recess. 

But then.... there was a fire drill that her teacher didn't know about. So after all my talk about "tornado sirens", Helena was hearing a siren.

Great timing, right? Her teacher told me that she was hysterical and they had to carry her out to the parking lot, screaming. They got her calmed down, but then when school got out she refused to leave the classroom and so they called me to come get her (I was actually already on my way).

Just a great story about a kindergartner losing her mind during a fire drill.

Kindergartner+ First grader!

A little late, but here is my kindergartner....

And my first grader!!

They're cuties, huh?

bang bang

Juno had a very strong reaction to seeing "Brave" for the first time last week. She was pretty concerned about the mama turning into a bear.
So later I asked her what she would do if her mama turned into a bear.
She kind of shrugged with a little half smile and then picked up a toy shovel, pointed it at me, and said "Shoot!"
Like, "Sorry Mom, I love you but you're a bear now, so.... bang bang."
Between that and Helena's frustration that no one was cutting off any Orc's heads in LOTR, I think maybe I have desensitized my children :(

Notice anything different about me?

Now that Helena is going off to kindergarten, it means she is old enough (in our family) to get her ears pierced!!

I took her last Saturday on a Mom and Helena date to Claire's. She wasn't nervous at all, just very excited, even though there was only one employee there so she had to have her ears pierced one at a time.

Hugging Claire while the worker gets everything ready.

And here she is!! She did great, didn't cry or even flinch--in fact, she kind of giggled after the first one. You can't tell, but her earrings are tiny gold stars. They are darling and they were also the cheapest option, so Mom was happy too. This picture also shows off Helena's cute new haircut! She sure is a cute kid!

First grade + Kindergarten, here we come!

We may have 6 1/2 weeks of summer left, but we've already started thinking about going back to school at our house!

Our school posted the class lists on July 1st, so we walked over to the school with some friends--even though it was 100 degrees at just 10:30 am!! Yes, I could have just logged onto the website to check, but I like making a big deal out of anything school related to get my kids excited.

Tempe will be in first grade this year, so she'll be gone all day long. I don't know how I will handle it, but I'm sure she will do just fine. This kid was made for school! She learned so much in kindergarten and had a great year. She made tons of friends (I was always bombarded by playdate requests when I volunteered in her class) and picked up reading so fast. She's excited to go back and be able to eat lunch at school and she's especially excited to have her kindergarten teacher again! That's right, her teacher from kindergarten is moving up to first grade and Tempe is in her class. She was so happy to see her name on that list! I liked her teacher a lot, even though she was so disorganized and chaotic (she once took Tempe on a walking field trip that I had not received a permission form for--I didn't even know about it) because she loves the kids and makes school so much fun. The only bad thing is none of her good friends from last year are in her class. I know that this will be an opportunity for her to branch out and make even more friends, plus she'll see the kids she knew from kindergarten at recess and lunch, etc.

Helena is so excited to start school like her big sister! She has been ready all year to go to kindergarten. She learned so much in preschool and doing "homework" with Tempe every night--I think she's even more prepared for kindergarten than Tempe was! She's been practicing on her scooter so that she and Tempe can scooter home every day (Helena is in afternoon kindergarten) and I can't wait to see them round the corner together every day. The Primary chorister in our ward is a kindergarten teacher and Helena has been crossing her fingers that she would have her--and she got her wish! She's so excited to start school, but I am trying to hold on to summer because I love having all three kiddos home with me all day!

Spotlight on Helena :)

Let me take a moment to spotlight my little Helena!

She graduated from preschool this week and she'll be off to kindergarten in just a few short months!

Here she is receiving her diploma from Miss Kellie!

This picture isn't from graduation, but it just showcases her awesome fashion sense. She seriously gets it from her dad, who believe it or not, is amazing at picking out clothes. I got those sparkly black suspenders at H&M and when I brought them home, Helena raced upstairs and put together this darling outfit. It was inspired by Eloise!

mini me

Helena is so much like me--the good and the bad. Sometimes it's scary. I remember all too well what I was like from ages 13-15 (horrible) and ages 16-19 (slightly less horrible) and wow, if that's in my future... wish me luck.

Today she did a craft project and made her own lunch.

She's making a Rapunzel braid decorated with paper cranes and flowers for our next door neighbor (who is 60, by the way, not 6).

And here she is making lunch. It's a triple decker "apple pie" sandwich with cinnamon butter, peanut butter, apple slices, honey, and three slices of bread.

Part of the recipe is that you have to eat it with a fork!

Little dancers

Tempe and Helena had their dance recital last night!

It was darling. You could see how much life and joy they are filled with as they danced. They actually both got to do their dances twice (Tempe's first dance was a fiasco, so they let the girls try again, and Helena's group was missing several kids when they were ready to dance, so they did it a second time when they showed up.) The second time around definitely went more smoothly for both of them!

Helena and her best friend Sophie.

Group shot of the 4-5 year old class (the " A Tisket A Tasket" girls).

Group shot of the 5-7 year old class in their "Ever Ever After" costumes.

Tempe's the one with her back to us on the right. I didn't get a group picture of them in this costume, but it was a super cute folk dance to "Pretty Little Girl With a Blue Dress On".