summer life

I'm still using Instagram (and Chatbooks) to document the daily stuff so I don't feel like I need to blog about EVERY picture I take, but I wanted to write about a few of our best summer memories so far! "Papa's boat" is a major part of our life, but with the addition of the kid wakeboard, things have gone to a whole new level, haha.  Just look at this face...

He has no fear and LOVES riding the wakeboard or surfing with Daddy. The way that he looks at Kevin melts my heart every single time!! I have a feeling that this will be a shared hobby for years to come.

I have instigated a summer checklist for each of my kids because I didn't love them asking to watch a show each morning.  Brooke's list consists of things like, "make bed, brush teeth and hair, practice piano, read books, do something kind for someone, help with chores, do something creative, and "summer bucket list". She is obviously most excited about the summer bucket list, but I can tell that she feels a sense of accomplishment to check things off her personal list.  It has helped when they get "bored" (which they know not to say around me), to go check their lists.  Colby's list is similar to Brooke's, but has "read books with Mama", and "practice writing" as well.

One of the items on the summer bucket list was to make mud pies.  I sent the kids outside with gladware containers, shovels, gloves and wished them luck.  After a while, I checked on them and they were having the best time together.

Brooke found a tiny worm that she was in love with, and they were pretty pleased with the results of their digging and packing.

This picture cracks me up, but represents summer at it's finest :)

We have had quite a bit of rain this month, which has sort of thrown our summer activities for a loop. But, actually, it worked out well since Brooke came down with "possible pneumonia" after Jeffrey and his family left.  Poor girl was napping multiple times a day and had little energy to play or go outside. Once she started feeling better and we were itching to get out of the house, we headed over to Uptown Village to play in the sprays and at the dinosaur park.  In my opinion, these pictures show the beauty of childhood summers.

We also spent an afternoon at the pool with Brookie's new whale from Nay Nay and Papa.  I wasn't sure if the pool monitors would allow it, but thankfully they didn't say anything and we had hours of fun together.

After a while, the kids wanted to warm up and have snacks, which sounded great to me. I love laying out by the pool, but it's something I rarely get to do with kids at the pool.  But maybe my kids are getting to the age where they will relax a bit poolside with me! 

I settled myself into my chair, then looked over to see Colby like this, haha.  Rocking Sissy's glasses was the funniest part :)

We also ventured over to Lynn Creek Park with a bunch of friends from the ward.  The combination of perfectly calm water, a cloud cover, and lots of friends to play with made the day absolutely perfect! Our group was the only one at the beach, which made it nice so I could keep a close eye on the kids. I could have stayed for hours, but we could only stay for 2 since we were meeting up with cousins at the movie theatre. 

We saw the new Aladdin movie, which was actually really good!  The previews didn't look that great to me, so I was pleasantly surprised.  I love the animated version and all the classic songs, so I was glad that they incorporated those into the remake. 

Summer life really is the best!!

sweet girl

 Our sweet girl turned 6, which meant that it was picture time!!  This was the first year we didn't do the balloons for her annual picture, but it was getting too crazy with big balloons and insane helium charges. I love how they turned out, and I especially love the personality shining though on this first one!

I had picked this dress out for Brooke a month prior because she loves her other maxi dress, and she was just as thrilled about this one! The sunglasses were a birthday gift from her friend Jerzey, and she has been taking them everywhere with her.  When she requested to take a picture in them, I couldn't say no and I LOVE that her style and personality are so evident in that picture.  She is my little fashionista :) The whole photo shoot was totally impromptu because I normally have my friend Danielle take the pictures, but this particular day was cooler than usual, so I decided to just go for it and do the pictures myself.

 The gate to the bridge was closed (again), but since that hasn't stopped us in the past, I lifted the kids over the gate and hopped over myself.  I think they close it because it's copperhead season and they close the trails...but I figured that the bridge was still safe. Brooke was a little worried about every little creeping thing she saw, which is why I took this picture, haha.

 I know that I am biased as her mother, but I love the sweetness that shines through her little face.  She truly is a good girl, and I love seeing her tender heart grow every single day.

 When the smiles starting looking forced, I tried to make her laugh by having her close her eyes, then do a silly face, then back to a regular smile.  I have lots of funny pics, but I liked this one the best...

 This pose was all Brooke :)

 These pictures make me realize even more that my little girl is growing up and I'm not sure how I feel about it!

 Then it was time to throw Colby in the mix, and he was such a challenge, haha.  He just wanted to make silly faces and wiggle around.

 While trying to get real smiles, I made some comment about smiling like it was Christmas, and this is what I got, haha.

 These two love each other, and I love seeing the bond they have.  I obviously told them to look at each other, but I love that Brooke lowered her head towards her brother.

 And tried to help him smile, haha. Totally a big sister move :)

 In the end, I finally got some good ones!!

 Colby requested some on his own, but then was doing the weirdest smiles!  I had about 10 of him pulling this smile...

 Which then turned into major cheese smile, but I sure love this nutty boy.

 Besides some of the nonsense from Colby, the whole photo session went pretty well, so we headed over to play at the park.  It was rather packed but such a beautiful evening so we stayed for a while.  I had promised that we would get zepolis from Olive Garden for a treat, but since it was also dinner time, we enjoyed a fun meal together as well.  Kevin was at his softball game so he missed all the fun.  I felt bad about missing, especially since it was the perfect night for softball!  But we are definitely blessed with these two littles.

turning six

We tossed around A LOT of birthday party ideas, but Brooke finally settled on a princess tea party. One sleepless night I started searching amazon for all things tea party.  I found the cutest white gloves, tiaras, flower garlands, and paper tea cups.  I really wanted actual tea cups, but couldn't justify spending $30+ dollars on them.  I also found really cute fans that the girls could paint before the actual tea party began.  When I showed my amazon cart to Brooke the next day, she literally squealed with excitement. She loved everything, but made the same comment about having real cups, haha.  I explained that they were pretty expensive, and she understood.

I love how it all came together! I had the coral plates from a baby shower I hosted, and although they are disposable plates, I had washed them after the shower because they were just too cute and I had spent like $25 on 20 plates because they were the only coral ones I could find. I'm really glad I did, because they tied in perfectly with the flowers and the designs on the tea cups. 

Brooke and I set the table a few days before the party so that I could make sure everything was in order.  As I laid out each pair of gloves, I got pretty excited for the party.  Brooke loved each detail, and I was excited to see the look on the other girl's faces. We wanted to keep the party small so that she could spend time with each of her guests, so we only invited her cousins Kinley and Aubrey, and her school friend Jerzey, 

On the hutch, we created a tiara station where the girls could each choose a tiara based on their color preference.  I had multiple of each color, so they could all match if they wanted. 

We also set out the party bags which had a friendship bracelet (lovingly made for each girl by Brooke), a few treats, and space for their gloves, tiara, and fan.

Brooke wrote each name, and I especially love the "fancy Y's" she is totally into.

I wrapped her gifts a few days in advance as well so that she could get excited about everything :) I had ordered her a new scooter that was guaranteed to deliver by June 7th, but I realized at almost midnight on the 7th that it was never delivered!  I tracked the shipment, and the delivery date changed to the 11th.  I was pretty ticked because I only had 2 little things for Brooke, but you know what, she did't even notice since she had gifts from Nay Nay and Papa, Jeffrey, and Kimberly as well.  We let her open the gifts from Nay Nay and Papa the night before so they could FaceTime with her.  They gave her a huge whale inflatable for the pool, a stack of Mercy Watson books, and a craft kit to color piggy banks. Jeffrey and family sent her a princess cook book, which she loved.  She had to look at every single page before setting it aside.  Kimberly and family sent her a huge science kit with 68 experiments!  It will definitely be a great summer activity. Colby gave her a new summer dress that we picked out together, and Kevin and I gave her new headphones (a need since her old pair broke), and a Twisty Pet that she went nuts over.  I knew it would be a hit, but I didn't quite anticipate her excitement for it.  She likes her one JoJo bow, and the Twisty Pet was of JoJo's dog, BowBow, haha.

I did tell her that we had one more thing coming for her, but that it would arrive a few days late.  She desperately needed a new scooter since she outgrew hers, or else I would have just kept the gift for another holiday, haha.

The party started at 10 AM, and we began with the painting of the fans.  I knew they would take a while to dry, and the girls were so meticulous in their painting.

After they painted, we glued rhinestones along the outside edges of the fan to glam them up a bit.  The girls were all SUPER excited, which made me happy :)  Before we moved onto the tea party, it was time to paint their nails.  Melanie and Bev helped me with this part so we could get everyone's nails done quickly.  

Finished fans, painted nails, tiaras on, and ready for the tea party!!

The girls sat at the table with their gloves on (hopefully not destroying their freshly painted and dried nails), while the adults served the food.  Per Brooke's request, we had pasta salad, strawberries, pineapple, raspberries, carrots and ranch dip, and Hawaiian rolls.  We also ordered pizza for the adults, which the kids decided they wanted as well :) 

Brooke was cracking me up with her pinky in the air while she sipped her pink drink (7-UP, Pineapple juice, and pink lemonade powder).  While the girls were finishing their food, I asked them trivia questions about Disney princesses.  They were all totally into it, which was pretty cute.

Then it was time for the presents!  Brooke was spoiled as usual, but I love that she jumped up to hug the giver of each gift.  She received a whole bag of goodies from Jerzey, including bath bombs, new sunglasses in a cool case, a pink fan that she is obsessed with, and some princess hand sanitizer.  Grandma and Papa gave her a super cute umbrella and a sewing kit.  The Peacocks gave her these little dolls called Popteenies, and she was so excited to check them out!

We had to quickly move on to cookie cake because we had already texted Jerzey's mom to come 30 minutes after the scheduled party ending time.  Her cookie cake was adorable, and although it was overpriced, it was one less thing I needed to worry about :) We ordered it the week before and Brooke was excited that they allowed her to hand select the frosting colors and what she wanted the words to say.  We're not huge cake fans in our house, so a cookie cake was absolutely perfect!  We sang to this sweet girl and watched her make a wish and blow out her 6 candles.  It really is so crazy to feel like time is flying by, but I am doing my best to fill these years with happy memories and a lot of love.

After Jerzey left, Auntie Mel Mel helped Brooke figure out her new dolls, which came out of little party popper canisters filled with confetti. They also gave her a whole playset for the dolls, so the girls were having a great time. I had to keep Colby away because he just wanted to mess with all the tiny pieces.

Somehow the girls ended up on the trampoline, which led to water balloons out there, which led to us getting in swimsuits to head to the pool.  As I was helping Brooke into her swimsuit, I asked her if she had a fun party.  She responded that it was the best party EVER, and was just being so grateful and sweet about the whole thing. Not that she is normally ungrateful, but I just appreciated that she so openly expressed her appreciation for something that took a lot of time and energy on my part.

It was such a fun afternoon with everyone!  Our family would definitely not be complete without our Brookie in it, so we enjoyed having a day to celebrate her :) But man, was I tired at the end of the day.  I was speaking in church the next day, so I was glad that I had written my talk earlier in the week!