kate is eight.

(so what? i wanted something rhymey, but "katie turns eighty" didn't work!)


a still-groggy katie eating her b-day breakfast.


katie with her birthday posse.


the cake.


making a wish.


opening presents.


austin and megs.


hard to believe, but this may have been the last party that these guys will be the "babies" at.

this year katie decided to raise money for PAWS of bremerton, a local animal welfare organization. this is also the organization that helped us re-home our kitty, mosely, shortly after moving to WA. she raised $61.00 to donate to this deserving organization. i am so pleased with the fact that she has a cause she is passionate about (that happens to be the same as her mama's!)

wow it's been over a month since my last blog post. sorry to all 3 or so of you regular readers out there LOL as always, thanks for reading! (and if you REALLY want to make my day, feel free to comment!)

halloween 2011.

sam's preschool class. they had a party and then paraded around the Y, stopping at the different departments to trick-or-treat!


a few of the *wonderful* preschool teachers: bozo, harry, and wonder woman :)


makin' the neighborhood rounds.


campfire girls.


this is a combo of being high on candy and deliriously tired.


happy birthday steve!! if i were going by the candles on your cake, you're 7 now? (P.S. loved the captain america steven!)


L to R:cheetah, dimi, texas longhorn, tigger, cow, austin, cowgirl.

hope everyone had a wonderfully frightening halloween!

thanks for looking!

lucky number 7.

last month my middle babe turned 7. having a birthday so close to christmas (just over a month after) results in having a pretty hard time shopping for her sometimes. being a minimalist-at-heart, i hate having to buy "stuff" for the sake of giving SOMETHING. this post gave me an idea, that i suggested to katie: "how 'bout we ask your friends to bring donations for the animal shelter instead of presents to your party?" honestly, i fully expected for her to shoot down that idea, but instead she loved it. at first she was a little hesitant ("i REALLY want to....but i also like getting presents".....i reassured her that she would still be getting presents from mommy and daddy.) so we celebrated with a ton of her friends at Chuck E. Cheese and everyone brought donations in her honor for the Kitsap Humane Society.




waiting at the desk for her donation receipt.


saying hi to some of the residents.


visiting a kitty in their new "cattery".

she raised $115.13 in the end. quite an accomplishment for a 7-year-old!

thanks for looking!

busy busy.

so after katie and i had our "girls' night" on friday, we came home and went straight to bed, cause we got to get up at the crack o' dawn to go SKIING the next morning! unfortunately, it was one of our COLDEST ski days ever.....it was in the teens and the wind was blowing, and then it decided to snow. brrrrrr. my fingers were frozen and katie was NON-STOP complaining about the cold......BUT it was still a beautiful place to spend the day even if it was less than ideal. we resorted to bribing her with skittles which worked relatively well LOL


taking a break to warm up in the lodge

then when we got home that night one of my very most favorite families in the whole world was waiting there for me :) my friend heidi and her fam moved back to WA.....YAY!


(cue the song "reunited")

and to top off a fabulously full and busy weekend, we had my work christmas party this evening, which the kids always look forward to.


my girl and santa.


sam and santa ♥

thanks for looking!!

Sam's Seussical Birthday Celebration.

today we celebrated sam's birthday with a Suess-themed party. i loved this theme from the second i saw it on the {so wonderful, so marvelous} blog that i follow.

the decorations:


banner: i downloaded the "grinched" font and the hats were just some clip art that i found.




water bottle labels (these were one of my faves :)


tissue paper flowers (they reminded me of the truffula trees in the lorax)


cake toppers (ignore the scary looking cupcakes. i swear i don't know what happened. the cupcakes WEREN'T hot or even remotely warm when i frosted them and the frosting was SO runny, it just melted down the sides of the cupcakes almost instantaneously. i've already fired off an e-mail to pillsbury.)

the guests:


sam, of course!


L to R: lillyanne, violet, logan, kaylee, sam, alex, katie, alyvia, CJ, hannah


jackson, looking very studly in his lil' striped polo shirt :)


quincy ♥


mollie and miles


gabby


grammy

the activities:



we played "pin the hat on the cat" (and for the record, i had NOTHING to do with judging whose hat was closest, we recruited nathan's buddy dan to be the judge. thought i'd throw that in there since my kid won LOL)


"guess the correct # of candies in the jar" game.


storytime. we read "the cat in the hat", of course!


daddy helping sam open presents.


cupcake time! excuse my gaping mouth, we were mid-song. and i love my kid's expression here, doesn't he look SO excited?! :D

we had a wonderful time with all of our friends, and i was very pleased with how everything turned out! well, with the exception of the cupcakes. thanks to all who helped us celebrate ♥

and thanks for looking!

Y christmas party.

a few pics from our YMCA childwatch party tonight.....good food, great friends, and a visit from the big guy himself. i am quite sure that samuel was probably the most entertaining to watch with santa....a few kids cried when they sat on santa's lap, but samuel threw a full out kicking, screaming tantrum. i think he might have actually kneed santa in the face (sorry 'bout that, santa).


waiting to see santa.


sam already looks unsure about this whole thing.


i just wanted ONE picture of my kid crying on santa's lap....yeah, that's NOT gonna happen. LOL


candy canes and presents make everything better.


katie and santa.


sam did not like santa....but he LOVED his present. he loves puzzles, and the whole ride home he kept saying "my! my!" (mine, mine) and wanted to open his puzzle in the truck.

sam's super spectacular space-needle birthday.

my in-laws were in town for a visit this week, and they wanted to go to the space needle for lunch one day. it ended up being on sam's birthday.....making it probably one of the nicest (most expensive) birthday lunches he'll ever have LOL.....anyhoos, some pics from his b-day.

on the ferry over

eating his birthday pasta

they were even shaped like space needles LOL

present time!

i think he likes the plane you got him mel!


playing with his new fire station

and his "sock-monkey in a box"

sam's monster cake (after he stuck his finger in the "I")


make a wish.

this one's for you, heidi. LOL