Let's put it to a vote!

For as many years as I have had multiple children--which is almost as many years as I have been married--I have had my kids go as an ensemble cast for Halloween. First there was the Wizard of Oz with the Burton cousins, then was the year of Raggedy Ann and Andy, then the three little pigs, followed by the cast of Peter Pan...you get the idea. Anyway, this year we are putting it up to a vote. We are split on what to be so we are leaving it up to all of you in the blogosphere to help us decide. The choices are: 1. Wizard of Oz again (Abbie as Dorothy, Ruby as Glinda, Bracken as Tin Man, Tate as Cowardly Lion, Justin as Scarecrow, me as the Wicked Witch, and Lexie as Toto), 2. Star Wars (Bracken as Luke Skywalker, Tate as Darth Vader, Abbie as Princess Leia, Ruby as...an Ewok? or Princess Amadala?, Lexie as Yoda, and mom and dad undecided), 3. The whole family as an assortment of Superheroes. We are open to other suggestions but we are getting close to crunch time!

Happy voting!

Choice #1

Choice #2

choice #3

Rainbows and Unicorns

I know that I am a girly-girl, and I know that I have three daughters, and I know I have not discouraged their girly-ness but I just did not have the stomach for another princess party for Abbie this year. I was so relieved when she told me she wanted to have a unicorn party. However, after some contemplation I realized that I had no idea what a unicorn party would consist of, so I thought and thought...and then I turned to the internet. It turns out that every little girl turning six around the world also was dreaming of a unicorn birthday and other moms were not as mentally blocked as myself. Quickly our unicorn party became a unicorn and rainbows party and we had more ideas than we would be able to use!

Abbie's invites ready to mail. I thought I had taken a picture of the actual invitation but I couldn't find it so I will have to add that later. It was darling and had rainbows on it, it was purchased from a lady in Australia and I printed them here.

I am all about birthdays (really all holidays) and making my kids feel like the whole world revolves around them on that day, so this is us with an embarrassingly huge display of balloons for Abbie at school.

Abbie and her pals in line for lunch (even though we brought Abbie her lunch)

Our gang at one of the special tables you sit at when your parents come to eat with you. You are allowed to choose one friend to sit with you and your parents at the special table but after several kids lobbied to join the Allen party I found Abbie's teacher and got the green light to include a few extras.

Abbie and one of her BFF's Ashlea

Rex was pretty sure that he should come and sit with Abbie too but she wanted girls only

Ruby admiring what was waiting at home for Abbie and all her friends

the cake, looking a little homemade

I am obsessed with the sparkle paper that is sold at Paper Source, I couldn't pass up the magenta paper when I saw it---totally Abbie!

the display

under the rainbow

the girls all made sparkly unicorn horns to wear and they got to choose their favorite color of glitter, here are my little ponies

I bought these neutral tote bags and drew a unicorn on each one and added the girls' names. I thought they would be so cute, I even painted the horns and hooves with gold glitter paint. Wait until you see how they turned out.

boxes for candy-to-go

A surprise visit form Mrs. Berger!! All of the girls were obsessed with their kindergarten teacher so one of the major benefits of having Abbie's party on her actual birthdays was that since it fell on a week day her teacher was totally happy to swing by on the way home from school.

in smocks decorating tote bags

blowing out candles

rainbow layer cake. sorry orange layer, I'm not sure what went wrong.

Mrs. Berger jumping with her girls

seriously, a black square Camilla? was my unicorn stencil that offensive?

ready to unwrap

(notice Mooster Cow in Abbey P.'s hand, it was her week for Mooster)

Abbie in heaven

I loved Abbie's dress, we had been looking for a special birthday outfit for a few weeks ( I couldn't handle pettiskirts again) and when i saw this sequin Nicole Miller number at Nordstrom's I knew it had rainbow birthday written all over it!

Julia and Lexie

oh I love you little gumball machine charm, how I wish your gumballs were real

the cake stands alone

Daddy wanted a race with a crepe paper finish line

Abbie won

Lexie wanted none of her Daddy's antics

get off of me

but Ruby was game

she must be Daddy's girl

more jewelry than she knew what to do with

bye bye balloon

ugh..such a bad idea

the sneaky last shot of Tate, he had broken his pinkie finger a few weeks before and needed this whole huge cast

Abbie had an amazing day and felt like a million dollars when she turned six. These days she is into jewelry, dress-up, being glamorous, make-up, playing school, and being super-social. I love my sweet girl and can't believe that she is growing up so quickly!

Easter 2011

Tate waiting with his class before the easter egg hunt began

Tate totally being beaten by the girls heading towards the eggs

Tate and all of his buddies after their bags were full

Ms.Pompa made sure that Lexie had her very own egg

...or two

(they even match her dress)

decorating scratch eggs

bunny sugar cookies, yum!

two of my favorite guys! there is nothing better than daddy at a class party!

I guess she found the treats inside her eggs

the jelly beans were making her hands all sticky so someone was thoughtful enough to provide Lex with a cup

treats and her cozy, what a great party

new location, same thing happening

Ms. Q and her kangaroo's

it was a little dark inside on Easter Eve but it looks like the Easter Bunny made his delivery just fine

One extra deluxe easter delivery, but this one was for DADDY! Justin was a huge fan of the clear bowl that was part of a special edition Kitchen Aid so the Easter Bunny took note...even though mommy does all of the cooking and baking.

the kids were up before dawn to see what they had been left

Lexie was in candy heaven

she must have stole one of her sibling's Reese's carrots and I doubt they ever got it back, the phrase"taking candy from a baby" is very misleading, Lexie can hold her own

Tate admiring his newly-acquired light saber and video game

(notice the drying rack behind him and another basket, those are the things the Easter Bunny brought to me. There must be a very domestic Easter Bunny in Austin)

Bracken loved the frog and duck shaped eggs, he named them and kept them around for a few weeks

Lexie must not have gotten to Tate's basket

this girl is amazing at striking poses

headless peeps make me a little concerned about the psychological well-being of my baby

Bracken can't make it one mile in the car without taking off his shoes and socks, it drives me crazy. These pictures were taken after church.

Bracken looking extra relaxed, everyone else having the retina's burned out

picture taking...over it

cute little girls with opposite coloring

wait for it...

...there it is, troll picture.

Bracken and Abbie were in the same Sunday school class that day because Abbie's teacher was out of town but I think that it is interesting that they both thought to do rainbows around the exterior but then did such different self-portraits on the inside. I especially love Bracken's cow-lick curl in the middle of his forehead.