First day of 2nd grade!!

First day of 2nd grade!!!

 

i can't believe that Parker is 7 years old and going to the 2nd grade :'(

she and i were not ready for school to begin....seems like such a short summer!

 

Back to school night with her new teacher Mrs. Stevens

                                           

woohoo!  ready to go!

Zoie wanted to go with Parker....followed big sissy into the classroom. :)

Parker's 7th birthday

Let it go! Let it go!

 

Parker had a FROZEN inspired birthday party for her 7th birthday. 

 

 

Mother Nature (or was it Queen Elsa) helped out with the perfect white backdrop!

 



 

It WAS queen Elsa!  ;)

Don't worry, the cold never bothered her anyway!!  (hee-hee)
(Super cute applique tank and headband are made locally from Dudes and Dolls Boutique)

 



 

After a few months of "prep time" and brainstorming with Parker, the food and decor was decided on and it came together really well.

 

The banner was made with doilies, vinyl letters (cut using my silhouette machine), and tulle.  There are also some icicle twinkle lights behind the banner for added *sparkle*

 

I love to bake and decorate the sweet treats!  That's my favorite part.  There are only a few special events that I get to bake a cake for, and I take advantage of Parker's birthday party to make a girly, frilly, sparkly, fun cake!!  Each tier is two-layered and has blue frosting in between layers.  This is the white cake recipe I went with, and it was very easy to work with when frosting and stacking the layers (plus, it tastes yummy!)

 

The cake was decorated with pearl candies and "icicle" sticks (rock candy ;))  oh, and a little royal icing for the Elsa snowflake and swirls.  YUM!

 

We decided to make a snack or treat based on 6 of the main characters from the movie.  Below are a few examples of what we made (honestly, I forgot to take pics of the rest since the guests started arriving)

 

Queen Elsa's Icy Snowballs  -  white chocolate covered  marshmellows with sprinkles

Sven's Antlers  -  pretzel sticks

Prince Hans Traitor tots  -  tater tots and pizza rolls

Olaf's noses  -  carrots with ranch dip

Princess Anna's frozen heart  -  strawberries with homemade whipped cream

Kristoff's Ice Blocks  -  blue jello jigglers

 

we also had some meringue "snow" puffs, Fjord Freeze blue juice and some very special cookies that were decorated with Elsa, Anna, and Olaf (pic is on my phone and will need to be added later)

 

No party would be complete without games, so we did "pin the nose on Olaf' and "Do you want to build a snowman" partner game.  I think they were both a hit with the kids.  Prizes were a little golden book of -what else- the FROZEN story.

 



Build a snowman winners!!  Each team of two had to use an entire roll of toilet paper, add a hat and scarf, and buttons to complete the ensemble.  So fun to race against friends!!

 

Birthday girl Parker being sung to!

 

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY PARKER!!

I LOVE YOU! <3 font="">

florida family fun!

Florida Family Fun Time!

We were able to make a trip to Florida to visit family and go to Walt Disney World for a couple days! :)  Here are a few snapshots that summarize our trip.

 

 

 

Pool time fun!

 

Can you tell that Parker loves the pool??  Maybe we can convince daddy that we need a pool in the yard...

All tuckered out...   can't have too many Minnies!

Character dinner with Aunt Mary and Julian!  Here's a few of the characters that we were able to meet.  I think I had the most fun (according to Aunt Mary ;) )

Uncle Rigo's birthday dinner at Benihana!  Always a fun way to get a little "show" with your dinner! (How do they toss that egg without breaking it??)

Family funny pose :P    You can't see it, but we're trying to replicate the poses of the Alice in Wonderland topiaries behind us.  I just love Zoie in this picture; she's like "get me outta here!"  lol!!

 

Crazy teacup riders...Parker's in there somewhere :) 

Epcot Center (Ethan's favorite; although I'm not sure why.  Maybe all the difference cuisine in the World Showcase)

My little poser (in her Jesse hat - notice the red braid - too cute!)

So, there's a new element to the World Showcase - an Agent P mission.  In each country, you can take a journey with Agent P (Perry the Platypus) and work to defeat Dr Doofenshmirtz (?)  It was pretty cool, and kept Parker involved throughout the country.  We completed 2 missions, the one for England (see below) and the mission in Japan.  It's an interactive mission, for example, Parker was instructed to find the phone booth and get in then hit the button on the phone for the next instructions...a golf ball came rolling out of a tube in the phone booth!  Then it said to take the ball to the golf ball analyzinator in the shop across the street(I forget the name)...anyway, it went on and on like this so that basically we were walking all over the country.  We went thru the tea garden and to the back of the pub until finally we were able to dismantle Dr Doofenshmirtz even scheme.  Pretty cool.  Parker had a good time with it.  (*side note*  if you plan to complete the mission in each country, start early and plan to be in each country at least a half hour.)

 

After Walt Disney World, we headed back to Aunt Mary's and Uncle Rigo's place for a few more days of relaxing! 

 

Here is Zoie in her new favorite place :)  I think she figured it was a safe place away from the licking dogs and better yet, it was soft and cozy. 

 

Some added excitement -- Parker lost her top tooth the last night we were there!  Thankfully the tooth fairy came through with a Magic Kingdom Gold Coin!!  Wow!  Can't get much better than that.  :) 

 

BIG THANKS goes out to Aunt Mary & Uncle Rigo for such a magical trip!  We love to visit the Olariaga Resort!

One last bit of thanks goes out to Julian for giving up his room for the week and playing so well with Parker all week!