Zachary's 3rd Birthday Luau!

The tiki bar is open... we made yummy Pina Coladas!

Chris working his magic at the grill, sweet and sour shrimp skewers and Tropical Chicken skewers with grilled pineapple.... mmm...
Cute Abby coming back for more Pina Colada, the girls wanted fancy glasses too, and had fun dressing up for the party.
Nicole and Caleb...
Patty with her cute wrap from Hawaii...
Claire, Caitlyn and Nico with their plates full of yummy food!
It's my party and I'll pout if I want to... someday I'm going to teach this kid how to cooperate with the camera...
The three second graders having some fun... Hannah, Fayth, and Abigail...
Isabelle was all decked out and ready to party... she wanted to wear the flower bra by itself, but Mom was mean and I think she looks adorable anyway.
What would a luau be without fun fruity smoothies complete with pineapple wedges, maraschino cherries, and little umbrellas?? Not at my party.

For the last month, Zach has been telling anyone who will listen, "my birthday's coming up!"Zach got spoiled as usual... thanks everyone!
Abby the overseer, we had to keep reminding her to let him open his own presents, big shock!

When we went to try on his new Spider Man costume from Chris... this was way too funny and cute not to share. Silly boy...

Shake your coconuts!


I think everyone had a good time... good food, good company, good fun!
Ivana ALWAYS tries to get out of pics, so Chris actually took this one holding the camera upside down in his hand walking by... too funny!
Patty had more patience trying to get all the right fingers in the right places in his glove.
This is to prove to Nicole that I did actually sit down at one point and even enjoyed myself too!

Spider Man, Spider Man, does whatever a Spider Can! Spins a web... blah blah blah... sorry, don't remember the rest, you'll have to ask Zach. He still LOVES Spider Man!

TJ, TJ, TJ...
My baby is getting SO big, and fun, and cute, and smart, and....
Happy Birthday Zachary, you are such a cute little man!

Isabelle Is Spoiled!

Isabelle's sisters were very worried about Belle's birthday since we were not planning a friend party for her. They were afraid she was missing out or somehow being deprived- let me assure you that she is in no way deprived, in fact she was spoiled rotten!!

I redecorated her whole bedroom, and am still finishing an awesome quilt for it. We also got her a new pink bike with matching pink helmet! And a cute new outfit complete with new shoes! Grandma Grace sent her a special music box, and couldn't decide between two, so apparently another one is still on it's way. Grandma Connie and Grandpa Mark got her her very own guitar! And she loves it, Chris was trying to teach her some chords last night. And her Aunt Patty took her by herself for a day of shopping, she was planning on getting her an outfit, and Isabelle came home with 3 cute outfits complete with accessories, and they even went to lunch!

So, yes, Isabelle had a fantastic birthday that dragged out for more than a month of gifts, and she was absolutely spoiled rotten!! Thanks everyone for showing such love and care towards Isabelle! She is growing too fast into such a pretty and smart girl!

Claire's Pink Pampered Princess Tea Party

For those of you who know that Claire's birthday is on October 2nd, y0u know that this post is a little late... but, as always, better late than never. I survived all of my parties- Yahoo!! You've already seen Abby's birthday and our Hulaween extravaganza- so here are the pics (and some details) from the Pink Pampered Princess Tea Party. I have to admit that it was very cute and a raging success, in my completely impartial and unbiased opinion.
The girls are coloring a giant coloring page of Cinderella!
I should have taken a pic of the invitation- I designed my own princess using my scrap punches and a pair of scalloped scissors- and they turned out VERY cute. I asked each of the girls to come dressed up as a princess. As they arrived, they each got to take turns getting pampered in our Royal Salon... Kemari (BFF) helped as our very own hairdresser- and she has some mad skills with a curling iron and bobby pins! (And she helped even though she had a party of her own to host an hour later for her son Conner who just got baptized today) THANK YOU so much Kemari- all the girls hair turned out beautifully. Patty (sister in law) came to help as our Nail stylist (even though she had to be at work in an hour) Thanks Patty, what would a pampered princess be without a great manicure!? And I did their makeup. And of course, they got glitter- they got glitter in their hair, on their faces, on their lips, and on their nails!

After they were all dolled up, they got to walk the red carpet and have the paprazzi (Chris, our live in photographer) take their pictures (which I printed and attached to their thank you cards).
To keep them entertained in our salon waiting room, I found a giant coloring book with the Disney princesses that they could work on together and they got to watch Barbie's Princess and the Pauper.
Kate (Kemari's daughter), and Claire's best friend!! Ready for her close up...Caitlyn, my niece, all dolled up and ready for a night on the town, or perhaps a great tea party!
After that, we joined in our royal dining room for our Pink Princess Tea Party- we had finger sandwiches, flower shaped Jell-o jigglers, Strawberry-Grape skewers, Pink flower shaped sugar cookies, Pink lemonade, pink Strawberry pudding, and pink sparkled cupcakes. We didn't even have room for our pink ice cream... but I would say it was a great pink feast fit for a princess.

These little shot glasses with Strawberry pudding, and whipped cream were my FAVORITE! (not because they tasted the best, but because they were SO cute! I will do these again)
I even served them on "silver" trays and made a ruffled tablecloth to fit my table out of pink satin with teacups and teapots on it! And of course, they each got a tiara!

After that, Claire opened her gifts, naturally she was spoiled absolutely rotten! She got really great gifts from very thoughtful friends and family! And being the true princess she is, she even remebered her pleases and more importantly, her Thank You's.

All the beautifu princesses- Kamry, Claire, Kate, Caitlyn, Abby, Aubrey, Alyssa, Isabelle, and Katelyn- (they all had names with A's, C's, and K's, except Belle)
To wrap it all up, we made Glittered Bath Paints and Glitter Body Gel. They turned out to be great crafts for that age, and they got to take home some more pampered sparkly stuff! And for their goody bags, they got to each take home a sparkly necklace, a ring pop, and their very own makeup set! So they all got spoiled! And Claire had an awesome Princess party if I do say so myself!
Happy Late Birthday Little Princess Claire!!