A birthday tea party

Felicity is turning 4!  She has never had a big Birthday party so this year I started planning ahead of time to make this Birthday extra special.  I had a few different ideas but a dress up tea party seemed to be a perfect fit for my little Peanut.  At her request no  little boys besides her brothers and baby cousin were in attendance.  

My sister Brittany bought Felicity a new "Belle" princess dress.  We got it in the mail awhile before the party and had to put it up so that it would stay beautiful.  Felicity asked often if she could "Pllleeeease" have her belle dress and crown.  I felt bad keeping it from her but it was worth it.  She added a broken vale from another dress so she could have "tangled hair" (Rapunzel hair)  under her crown to complete her Birthday costume.

We were able to use the photography studio that I work at for the party.  It is such a fantastic studio and worked perfectly for our little tea party.

 

My mom, brother Zach and sister Kirstie were able to drive up from PA to spend the weekend with us and help celebrate.  It was great to see them again and to have them here to have fun with the kids!

I was running way late with the final set up of everything so I didn't get any pre-party photos but everything really looked sweet.  There were little tables and chairs with tea sets and a pretty pennant banner hanging across the whole front of the room.

It was so cute watching all the other little girls watching Felicity open her gifts.  They were all so intent and concentrated on watching to see what was inside each package.  Felicity got alittle over excited and started tossing things a bit but otherwise it was just a cutest thing.  

Wesley sat by his sister's side almost the entire time.  He said he was her Prince.  He can be such a sweetie.  He did however eventually get bored of just being a present watcher and told me that "opening presents is the best part of a birthday party and it is not fun since he can't open any."  Poor guy.

Charlie busied himself licking the frosting off of the cupcakes and rearranging the furniture.  He even got into dressing up and wore his Halloween custom from earlier this year.

By the end of the party however Charlie was exhausted!  He went from running around like a tornado to bailing his eyes out to running to crying to running to crying, you get the idea.  Matt and my siblings took the kids home so we could clean up without all the kids and their sugar highs. 

But back to the little girl that inspired her party and her unconventional tea sipping ways.

Seeing all the kids with their real tea cups sent in from Texas thanks to my sister Brittany was so sweet.  They had tea, iced tea and pink lemonade to sip.  There were also cookies, tea sandwiches, cupcake, popcorn and fruit salad to fill there little bellies.  

The dress up corner was definately a favorite spot, all the little girls got tea party gloves thanks the Target's super dollar section and there were a few pairs of Princess high heels for them to take turns  falling  walking in.   

I was able to get most the the girls together for a little shot.  Aren't they just the cutest?!

I think that it was a super sweet girlie party and that is exactly what I hoped to give my super sweet and girlie Peanut for her 4th Birthday!

Wesley may have ended up getting bored and may have asked to play on my phone instead of playing with the new Lala Loopsie dolls but Felicity had a blast from start to finish.

Matt and I were very please with the whole day and were beyond happy to be able to make this special day happen for our little girl.  She is such a little blessing to our family.   I am looking forward to making her official birthday (tomorrow) a special one as well with her favorite meals and a trip to the store to pick out something special with her Birthday money she received as gifts. 

Happy 4th Birthday Sweet girl.

It's been awhile

I haven't blogged in so long that I seriously could remember where to start.  I sat here looking at the screen trying to figure out where I had to click to get the page where I could write a new blog post!  That's sad.  It seems that whenever something new comes into my life something else moves to the back burner and the blog sadly has taken the backseat to a few things recently. 

I miss blogging, I miss reading other blogs but most of all I really miss rereading my own blogs.   Not to sound rude but it's true, some times I had completely forgotten that the kids did or said some thing and reading them makes me smile and remember the whole thing all over again!  The kids grow and change so quickly and this blog really used to document their fleeting little moments so well.  I used to plan post while taking photos of the kids or "write" them in my head before falling to sleep at night.   Blogging also encouraged me to take more photos of the kids just being themselves around the house.  

I miss it enough that I really am going to try to stop in at least once a week and write a little and post some photos.   

Blowing Bubbles

 When Wes gets home from school  the girls and Charlie are always so excited to have him home. Yesterday was no exception.   They squealed with delight as he announced to them that he was going to blow bubbles for them to pop.

I thought the  bubbles smelt horrible!

The kids didn't seem to care but I won't be buying them again.  I was thankful that Wes was so enthusiastic about blowing them because I couldn't stand the smell from where I was let alone having them right up in my face.  Scented bubbles are gross!

Scented or not, the kids had a blast.  I let them play till they lost interest since there probably won't be very many bubble blowing days this year.  Fall is quickly changing everything into crisp beautiful colors.  

I love fall but dislike that it doesn't last long and the many freezing months of winter that seem to drag on forever.

Another thing I love is Charlie's hair and how it curls up around his ears.  I seriously will mourn the loss of those sweet curls when I finally break down and trim his hair.

On a happy ending note.  Wesley came home from school with a green card and a note from his teacher saying there was no real crying (he started but stopped quick and got himself under control).  I am so proud!

Wesley school update

Wes still loves school and gets up bright and early rip raring and ready to go.   He is just a sweet boy with so much to offer to those around him.  He loves reading his little books and sight words to his siblings and just beams when he writes his letters well.  He is always ready to start his school day and has made lots of friends on his bus.  I think the bus ride is a favorite part of his day.  He doesn't even complain about doing his homework!

He also has more energy than the energizer bunny and that is getting him into a little bit of trouble in school.  His class room has a green, yellow, red card system that they use to deter inappropriate class room behavior and Wes has been bringing home more yellow cards than we would like him to.

  

His teacher and I had an email chat about how to handle Wes and ways to help him control himself in the classroom.  My heart breaks a little because I know from experience how hard it is to just sit still and concentrate on only one thing.  I have a  hard time with this as an adult.  I want Wes to learn and do well within his class but I don't want him to loose that spark that is so uniquely Wesley.  

He is also disturbing others when he whistles and sings during quiet work time.  He has always done things like that and I just thought of it as a way to release energy when he is forced to contain his movements for long periods of time.  I explained to him that it is hard for the other children in his class to focus if there is a little whistling boy next to them.  He thought that was funny but I think it made sense to him.   I also told him that when he is home and not doing his homework he is free to sing and whistle all he wants but when he is doing school work he has to keep his body and noises to himself.

Kindergarten is a little tougher than I thought it would be.  I don't remember doing as much work as Wes does when I was in Kindergarten.  I'm sure there was work but I just remember fun stuff and playing with my friends.  Wes really does love it even if he is getting himself into a bit of trouble.  The only bad things he has said is that the art teacher yelled and scared him and that a little boy in with a dragon on his shirt hit him once.

The final thing Wes is struggling with is his emotions.  Again this is a typical Wesley thing.  He is emotional and feels sorrow and happiness very strongly.  Disappointment and frustrations can send him to tears and occasionally a tantrum.  I was most worried about this behavior as I know there is less I can do to help him with this.  His teacher and I talked about ways to work on this and I am going to work harder on this at home.  It's so hard for me since I have never had a child in school before so I don't think I prepared Wes the way I should have.  I want him to do great and I can see that emotional outbursts are not helping him in school or at home.    

Please keep Wes in your prayers, there have been so many changes for him.  If anyone has constructive words of wisdom I will gladly accept them as well.  We are both learning. 

Quarterly Top 5 Photos: Quarter 3

This may be the third quarter but it is the first time that I am posting along with Sarah Halstead and her friends.  I think this is a great idea to post your favorite photos and why they are your favorites!

This is the most recent photo, taken just this past week.  I love it because it is such a natural capture of Matt interacting with his little boy.  Totally different from the way that I bond with my boys but perfect for a Daddy.  Every time I see it i can hear Charlie's squeals and giggles.

This photo was taken on Wesley's first day of Kindergarten.  He was so excited to be in school and ready to learn.  He is still up almost everyday before the alarm excited to head off to school.  

This was taken in July for Charlie's first birthday.  It bothers me that I cut off the back of his head but his sweet little profile is absolutely adorable!  This chubby round little baby face will look so different next year, I so glad to have this sweet picture of him.

 

I love this one because it was during one of my attempts to get a photo of all the kids together and they just started being sweet and sharing with each other.  Felicity is our sharer and this just really captures her sweeter side and how she takes care of her brothers.

This is my most favorite.  I sent Wes to bed for having a bad attitude.  His room was being used by other sleeping children so he was allowed to go into my bed.  When I came up to tell him he could come down I found him like this, sound to sleep snuggling his pillow and sucking his thumb.  This was shortly before he started school.  I knew that his days of napping in my bed were numbered and it made me emotional.  This is one of those photos that may not be the best or be special to anyone besides me but I absolutely love it!

Head over to Sarah's blog, look at all the other photos and link up as well if you would like. 

Apples

Every year I try to go to the local apple orchard and pick some apples and take pictures of the kids. This year Matt as able to go with us, he hasn't been able to come with us in a couple years.  It was nice to go as a family.

My plans of getting a fall photo of the kids didn't work out exactly the way I planned it in my head. 

Charlie was just not having his brother using his hood as a leash.  

I scrapped the photo shoot idea and just picked apples.

We all love the crisp sweetness of freshly picked fall apples!

Wesley wanted to pick every apple off of every tree and taste every apple he picked.

When Charlie wasn't ducking under the apple trees and running off into different aisles he was following around his apple eating siblings begging for bites.

 

It is safe to say that we have another little apple lover!

Daddy adding his own brand of fun to our little trip.

He took Charlie for a walk because he was being a bear when we wouldn't let him roam the orchard alone.  Next thing I hear is his happy squeals and the other two laughing and telling me to look...up.

Charlie LOVED it!! 

 After Matt stopped he would thrust himself up like he thought it would make him go back up into the air.  He is a little dare devil.

Our bag of apples was bulging and the kids were getting crazy but I was determined to try again for a nice photo of my family.

No one else shared my enthusiasm for photo taking.

Poor Matt.  This may not be a great photo technically but it just cracks me up!  I love it.

We moved on to what everyone was waiting for, apple cider and sugar coated cider donuts!

Charlie ate all of his donut and half of Felicity's.  

Wesley ate at least two and a root beer flavored honey stick.  The sugar rush that followed was epic.

Felicity was having a hard time with her strawberry honey stick, Daddy had to help.  She was more interested in her stick than her donut, which made Charlie very happy.

As the sugar rushes kicked into full gear, we packed up and headed home.

We will be eating lots apple pies, apple crisp, apple oatmeal, apple sauce and apples with cinnamon this week  or until we make it back to the orchard again this year.