a decade?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE MISS GIGGLES!!!

little miss giggles turns 8!

 A couple weeks ago I got to once again pick up my kids from school and once again Mr. Happy ran and jumped into my arms and wrapped his arms around my neck, hugged me tight, and said "this must be a dream!!"  :) 

Little Miss Giggles had turned 8 just a week or so before so we went to Target and I let her pick out a birthday outfit (it's a tradition that I always get my kids a birthday outfit), then we ran to Starbucks for the treat of a birthday cake pop (the pink one in the pic below) and took it to a nearby park.

Love these two! :}

Silly boy. :)

I let Little Miss Sunshine and Mr. Happy pick out one item each from the dollar section of Target.  Mr. Happy was thrilled to get a little bag of army men and set them all up at our little table.

Then I let LMG open her bday present - a whole bunch of Polly Pocket stuff!  She loooved it, just like I knew she would!  :)  All three played around and explored it for a few minutes before we headed off to do a mini bday photo shoot of LMG and play on the playground.  And yes, even Mr. Happy joined in the fun with the Polly Pockets.  Have you ever noticed how no one cares if little girls play with boy toys...but a lot of people get upset if boys play with little girls toys??  But when you have two big sisters, you want to be part of the fun, especially when there's a new toy around!  Besides, those of you with both boys and girls know that if you sit back and watch your little boy play with a girl toy for a minute, they play with them so very differently!  As my two girls played with the Polly Pockets, they found perfect little outfits for them, found a car or bike or something to ride on, pretended they were shopping at the mall, etc.  Mr. Happy, on the other hand, grabbed a doll and immediately started figuring out a way to place them in those holes you see on the table and then catapult them by smacking them from under the table to see how far he could blast them!  Lol, girl toy or not, he is still ALL BOY!  :)

Such a handsome dude. :)
I love that his belly is peeking out lol.
And that is a pirate tattoo on his arm.  Or what's left of it. :}

He saw another little boy climbing on top and of course had to try it for himself.

And just for a fun little flashback....

LMG on her second birthday...which I could swear was just a couple months ago...!

(click on this picture to go to my photography blog to see her mini bday photo shoot)

Little Miss Giggles you are so fun and spunky.  I'm so glad that you are loving school and having new friends.  I love that you still ask me to play "God songs" when you're with me in the car.  I pray that you will never forget how amazing God is and how much He loves you.  I pray for you every day - that He will whisper His love to your heart and call you to Himself.  I miss seeing your happy smile every day and love the times we get to spend together!

I love you sweet girl!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY (a little late...) LITTLE MISS GIGGLES!

7!!

Somehow, my spunky Little Miss Giggles just turned 7 today!!  (Ok, make that yesterday since it's after midnight as I'm posting this...oops.)  She had her birthday party this past Saturday at Bounce USA (soo cool!) and I loved getting to see my kids!

My snuggle bug.  :)  He gave me hugs and squeezes every time he ran by me.  And wanted to sit RIGHT next to me when it was time to eat.

So many fun things to play on here!!

Isn't she just beautiful??

LMG has lots of new little friends...this is one of them.  :)

She is waay into Hello Kitty these days.

Ohmygoodness I just love him so much!!

We also thought it was funny that we had two long tables placed end to end to spread out on...and when it was time to eat, all the kids sat on ONE side of the tables all in a row! Ha.

LMG, you are too stinkin' cute with those front teeth coming in!  :)

Lol!!  This picture makes me laugh.  

"Look!  It's icing lipstick!!"

She got just a few presents.....

This one was way cool.  

LMG, I missed being with you today after being with you on every birthday since you were two years old.  I hope you had a most fabulously fantastic day!!  I love you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE MISS GIGGLES!!

quick pic

I am attempting to madly pack so I can move tomorrow. I will stay at a friend's house for a little bit and hopefully before long will have another job and be able to afford my own place again. My attention span today is zero however and I decided take a break and post a quick pic.

LMG loves to play dress up. You never know what outfit she might come up with next! This was her very couture design from last week...

I'm sure the people on the show Project Runway would be way impressed.

:}

look ma, no teeth!!

This little sweet pea lost two teeth in less than 24 hours last friday!! Now she is missing two on top and two on bottom and looks crazy cute! I love listening to her talk. Lol.

Sadly though, we are both not feeling so great. We were all sad to have to miss going to the playground across the street today and seeing our little Monday friend, Lulu. Maybe next week... :-p

wonderland

My kids' mom is The Best Decorator ever for birthday parties! If you ever need ideas, just ask her. She always does an amazing job. This year, LM Giggles wanted an Alice in Wonderland theme party...which was one of my favorite ideas yet! Of course all the princess parties are cute and girly...but Alice in Wonderland has a funky fun twist to it!

I made her close her eyes until I was in the right position for a picture of her reaction when she saw the decorations. Mommy put paper over the windows and sliding glass door all day so she couldn't peek until it was all done! I think she liked it. I did too. But then, wouldn't you......

This picture really needs to be soo much bigger to see all the little details!!

If you've read the book or seen the movie, some of the little details - like the "drink me" and "eat me" will make sense. :)

Lauren and Reegan of course came. The rest were grown ups. :)

It was even warm enough for a short swim in the pool! They loved swimming in the dark.

Then it was time for cake and ice cream. This is Wendy's favorite cake ever!! Right, Wendy?? :} She hasn't even seen the movie...so I had to explain the "unbirthday" thing. Lol.

I'm glad you had a wonderful day, Little Miss Giggles. I am so thankful I get to watch you grow up. You are doing soo well in school so far this year - especially in math!! :) Now, I think I need to add a photography class to our homeschooling so that new little pink camera of yours will be put to good use!! (Translation: no goofy pictures of Kiki!! lol)

quik pik

I still have a few blog posts to catch up on...the past seven days have just been a blur! I will get around to it soon, I hope. In the meantime, here is one quick picture. I have more colors of tutus in my little shop and will be adding a few more in the near future. So, if you know any little girl who would like to be a ballerina, fairy, princess, etc. for Halloween, or just dress up in general, send them here: www.cre8tiveglory.etsy.com :)

testing...

EEPS!! Look what I just figured out how to do!!!! I am SO excited!! I was on yet another blog I have discovered (do you realize how many awesome, encouraging blogs are out there in blogland??), and was scrolling down through some of this mom's previous posts and she had written one on how to enlarge a picture on blogger!! It was so stinkin' easy - and I NEVER would have figured it out on my own! :)

big...

BIGGER!! :)

You have to have the background setting on a particular one...so I've had to forfeit my cute background for bigger pictures...so bear with me while I figure out this whole color thing.... :) (I think it is possible to make your pictures slightly bigger than they are when you uplaod them on "large" and can keep your background...I just wanted really big pics! :)

Wanna experiment with bigger pictures on your own blog? Here's the link to the blog post I found... have fun! :)

http://memoriesoncloverlane.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-to-make-your-photos-appear-bigger.html

happy birthday e! :)

Yesterday was my middle child's birthday. I think she had a blast at her Chuck E. Cheese birthday party...pictures to follow on facebook. :)

Last week I took her outside to do some birthday pics and got mostly waay cheesy smiles from her! :} However, here is a sampling of a few good ones.

There is an old house next door in front of the new house my kids' grandparents built. They have been planning to tear it down for several years and have just never had the time to actually have it done...until I decide I want to do birthday pics around the house! So I had to move up E's birthday "photo shoot" a week early to get some shots over at the old house...this is one of them.

I can't believe she has grown so fast! She was only 18 months old when I first came!! Now she is 5, officially in kindergarten and loving it, still has a sparkling personality, let's you know what she's thinking, and loves to be independent! I still love hearing her absentmindedly singing Steve Green's Hide'em in Your Heart songs while she plays. :) Sometimes I wish I could keep her this size forever, but then the excitement of seeing her achieve new things makes me remember to just enjoy the journey of watching her grow and trust that God has amazing things in store for her life. :)

Happy Birthday E! :)

birthday girl

Yesterday was my middle child's birthday. She is now four years old. What a difference two and a half years make!! See for yourself...

This is the first picture I took of her. She was eating a cupcake and loved the icing! :) She was 16 months old. Still a baby, but I can see all the personality in her eyes! :)

This was her second birthday. She was growing so much and most definitely went through the "terrible two's" stage. For a while, it seemed she was sitting on the "naughty steps" several times a day. Some days she wore me out, but when she wasn't wearing me out, she was cracking me up!

This was from last year when she turned three. Her face was beginning to look not quite as babyish and she was no longer the baby in the family by this time.

Now she is four. She has reached so many milestones in the two and a half years that I have been here. She is a great big sister and loves her baby brother so much. She and her older sister are best friends and play together very well (ok, most of the time anyways!). :) She is still full of personality and still cracks me up, and thankfully, trips to the "naughty steps" are MUCH less frequent!

I love the way she is eager to "talk to Jesus" before every meal. The way she will sing songs from our "butterfly cd" (Steve Green's Hide'Em In Your Heart CD) while she's playing. The way she loves to dress up in her princess dresses and dance to SCC's Cinderella song. The way she wrinkles her nose when she grins her silly grin and how much expression she can convey in those big, blue eyes!

Middle child, you are growing so fast but for now, I will remember to enjoy giving you "daily squeezes" as you and your sister call them and reading books with you snuggled up on my lap. So happy birthday, my middle child! I'm so glad God has brought you into my life and I can't imagine not getting to see you every morning. I will always be praying that you will continue learning about Jesus and how much He loves you and that you will grow up to love Him and bring Him glory in all that you do. I love you! :)