Lydia is 6!

Our unstoppable Lydia turns 6 today! She's an amazing, spunky, bright, determined little soul and we are so blessed to have her in our family.

She is loving kindergarten this year. Her angel of a teacher is Mrs. Willson, who also lives in our neighborhood. She is learning more every day and is always looking for adventure. Lydia is so adventurous and social- we sometimes have to track her down as she plays from house to house in the neighborhood, which is FULL of fun playmates! She loves to ride her bike and even rode a big girl bike to school today with Jenna! She's taking 6 by the horns!

Instead of a big party, she got to take two friends to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point yesterday. The weather was perfect and we had so much fun!

 Eliza, Ava, Emmi (Lydia's long-lost twin in every way) and Lydia posed with the cow for a sec.

 Lydia had a turn all to herself, since the biggest horse already had a ride the first time. She waited patiently to get what she wanted. This is how she does things.

 The wagon ride, with Bob and Barney pulling the wagon. They girls each had a pink bandana.

 We went to the ice cream parlor where everyone enjoyed the tall stools & bubble gum ice cream!

We also made a quick stop in the candy store & then went out back to enjoy a treat. The girls did a few musical numbers in the courtyard for good measure.


What a fun adventure it is to know Lydia! We sure love you, Lyds!!

Jenna's birthday #10

Double digits saw Jenna celebrating over and over this year. Here's a peek...

Cousin party at Gma & Gpa Lloyd's

10 candles makes quite a bonfire! (Friend party- Sabrina in the background)

Jenna is all about turquoise these days, right down to the cake.

We made these fun party favors in little fruit cocktail cans. Thanks, Pinterest.

Eliza was amazed by this rainbow that joined the party.

 The girls decorated flip flops, played lots of games during the party. So many girls, so much fun!! 

And don't forget the #10 pancakes for breakfast on the big day!

Eliza turned 2!

Our spunky little Liza turned 2 in July. I still can't believe we have her & I'm so glad I got to stay around to raise her. She's a delight to have!!She's got her own unique personality and wants to run with the big kids. As soon as she figured out how to say that she's 2, she started telling people that she's 5. Such a nut! She loves playing outside, apples, Super Why & Caillou, gum, and singing and dancing. She's almost always happy, albeit shy around strangers at first.

With cousin Zach, waiting for Heavy, heavy hangover

My sweet cousin Amanda, her hubby Thomas & other family members came

Blowing out the candles

We also partied with the Prestwiches at our house. 

She was genuinely delighted with all of her gifts, and still (now November) carries around her "Tina" doll everywhere she can. Papa Jess gave her a Princess Tiana baby doll set. She loves that doll more than any of my other girls have ever loved a doll in the history of doll loving! We frequently take Tina with us when we got to the school for different things. Instead of me pushing my baby in the stroller, Eliza pushes Tina in her little stroller. So sweet!

Prestwich Movies 9

Jenna turned 9 on July 1st! She loves birthdays & parties, so we had to think of something fun. In the past we have mostly done backyard, play-in-the-kiddie-pool type parties, but she's getting a little big for the equipment we have. A bunch of 9 year old would demolish my kiddie pool in about 10 minutes.

We decided to try something different this year. I borrowed a movie projector from a sweet friend & we set up a movie theater in our garage.

 (My pictures are pretty bad, they were an afterthought & the lighting was very bad- 

but great for watching a movie)

 Hang your gifts here...

 Opening presents at intermission...

 You can kind of see how we set the chairs up in rows like a theater.

 The lamest cake I've ever made...

 She didn't mind!

We watched Gnomeo & Juliet.

Other things not pictured: We set up a concession stand in the back where the kids got pizza, breadsticks & lemonade at the beginning of the movie, then cake and ice cream after intermission. Aubrey & Lydia also passed out bags of popcorn after everyone at their pizza. No one left hungry!

Jenna was so gracious & sweet. She has great friends and they all had lots of fun. It was worth the chaos & frantic cleaning of the garage. I was worried that it would be a disaster. We had about 20 kids packed in there! I lost track of how many times she thanked me for the "best birthday party ever."