Today She Is 10!

Ten years ago today Scott and I became parents.  The first time I held Eliza Grace in my arms, the only thing I kept thinking was, "I'm a mommy! Finally!"

Welcome to double digits and happy, happy birthday to our sweet, smart, beautiful daughter!

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The birthday girl chose to have a party at The Scrap Exchange in Durham. The kids had a great time creatively finding ways to turn trash into treasures. They also enjoyed the mint chocolate chip/chocolate cake ice cream cake!

Eliza Grace picked out her cute party outfit. Accessory gifts from Grandmommy and Aunt Michelle added just the right touch!

 Seriously? How cute is she??

 

Number 9

Eliza Grace is 9! One more year 'til double digits - wow!

The rule in our family is odd birthdays are small affairs and even ones can be a somewhat bigger deal. So in theory this would have been a small, low key celebration. In theory.

This year Eliza Grace had three friends over for a slumber party. The festivities began Friday evening and, after much greeting and giggling and chatting, we started work on the make-your-own pizzas.
From the beginning,Will became fully vested in his role of pesky little brother.

With dinner done, we moved on to presents!
Then it was time for cake and ice cream.

Eliza Grace wanted a Harry Potter theme. We looked around the web for ideas and decided on an open book cake. I called some local bakeries and when I learned that the price for such a cake started at $200, I told her that I thought we could make it ourselves.

The good news is that Eliza Grace wanted to fashion all of the fondant items on the cake and I was happy to let her do it!

Click on the picture below for explanations of this beast which used 3 boxed cake mixes.

It takes a lot of cheek puffing to get nine candles out!

Next, Scott set up Eliza Grace's gift from us which was a theater that we bought on Woot! months ago.

It goes up like a tent and each side of the theater has a different purpose: the front side has curtains that open and close for performances
the left side is a ticket selling booth the right side is the refreshment stand and the back side is the dressing room/stage entrance. Admittedly it is a little big (5 ft tall) so I am sure we will tear it down soon and then put it up again when the urge to perform returns.

As you can imagine, the next order of business was to get into costumes and put on a show!
"I'm a spider-man cowboy pirate."
After much silliness it was time to get into jammies, eat popcorn and watch a movie.
The girls were all abed in Eliza Grace's room by 10:30pm. Unfortunately a copious amount of sugar mixed with lots of excitement necessitated my very final command for silence at 1:30am!

We began the next morning with the birthday girl's request for chocolate chip pancakes after which everyone decorated their own picture frame as a keepsake.
One guest had to leave shortly thereafter but I took the remaining kids to McDonald's for lunch and then ice skating at the Polar Ice House in Cary.

Here is a quick look at the birthday girl at the rink:

Thankfully we got there right when they opened for public skating because within 45 minutes the place was packed and the rink was awfully crowded.

It was a really fun and really exhausting birthday celebration and Eliza Grace said that it was "really, really the best ever!" Can't ask for more than that.

The Force is Strong With This One.

Yesterday we celebrated Will's 5th birthday a couple of days early (23rd is the official day!)

This was the first time he had a big party with lots of friends. Of course we had it at a bounce house place because, well, that is just what is done these days.

We bit the bullet and bought the big package where they provided everything: balloons, cake (both Star Wars themed as requested by the birthday boy), pizza, cups/plates/napkins, goody bags, and a couple of teenagers to manage the chaos and clean up of it all. All we had to do was show up with cameras and ice cream.

Aaaaaaand of course I forgot the ice cream so Scott got to run back home for the cold stuff while the kids were jumping, running and climbing like sweaty maniacs.

The party was, as expected, quite a hit and Will is very much enjoying all his new toys.

The calm before the storm as they watch the safety video.

The only pseudo-decent picture I took in the bounce rooms. (Will on the big slide). Too many kids moving way too fast.

Sweaty boy, cute smile.

And there's the eyebrow

Silliness with buddy Cooper.

Eliza Grace thinking "Mommy, please just let me eat."

Pizza!

Luke and Darth getting ready to battle it out.

Deep breath to blow that last one out!

Cool presents!

Edging Toward the Tween Years

Last weekend we had Eliza Grace's 8th birthday party. I think her choices were indicative of the fact that she is moving away from some childish ways and moving towards early adolescence: a horseback riding party...with a Scooby Doo themed cake.

Thankfully the weather was not too cold or wet and I think everyone had a really great time. There was a little something for everyone: pony rides, horse drawn cart rides (although it was really more of a seated chariot ride), turkeys that followed you around and pecked at the back of your knees, geese, ducks, peacocks, goats to feed, dogs...you get the picture.

After we were done at the barn, we headed back to our house for pizza, cake and presents. Afterward, Eliza Grace declared it the "best birthday party in my entire life!" Now that is something every parent loves to hear!

These proud fellas followed just about everyone around. Their gals stayed close to make sure they were not tempted to stray

If you gobbled at them, they gobbled right back...loudly!

Hmph..they gave me their rear view

They enjoyed pecking at Eliza Grace's reflective tag

on the back of her jacket. The girls were obviously excited about getting on the ponies. You can practically hear Ms. Ali saying,"girls, please do not run up behind the ponies."

Eliza Grace letting Chief check her out

Waiting to mount up

I wonder what tale Eliza Grace was telling here?

Apparently my girl knows how to pose

Heading out on the trail This is how Will patiently awaited his turn:

Aunt Heidi and Cousin Gretchen
heading out for their ride The cart rides were a big hit!

Then we took the gang back to our house for
the yummy stuff