Oh La La!!!

We had a fun evening celebrating Brooklyn's birthday in a Paris cafe. We had made to order crepes, invented our own all natural lip glosses, watched a movie, cupcakes, got dolled up with fun boutique like headbands, and of course, jumped on the trampoline. It was fun to have her girl friends over and celebrate Brooklyn turning 11. She is such an amazing girl, I don't know how we got so lucky. She is the most unbelievable help with Ava. I'm pretty positive Ava thinks Brooklyn is another mom. She calls her La La and she reaches for her about as much as she reaches for me. Somtimes I can't calm her down, but Brooklyn can... I love Brooklyn! She thinks outside of the box, she is not afraid to try new things. She has a beautiful smile! She is friends with everyone, literally. She is talented---great with her upright bass,thoughtful and kind, so so sweet. Respectful to others.

Quiet in a way that makes her easy. Quiet doesn't mean unopinionated though...:) She is also strong willed, which is good for a girl! So smart. Loves to read, can't wait for her to read all my favorite classics! She is a dream daughter!!! We adore her!

Wonderland Party

I am embarrassed to admit, it's been a few months. The reason prompting me to post this belated party is the upcoming birthday of Brooklyn. Basically, I'm cleaning house (meaning the 500 pictures on my camera that need to be uploaded before Brooklyn's little school musical tonight...) Lily had a charming little gathering, complete with a spread of treats

even Alice would have been delighted with. Lily wore her Alice costume from Halloween and I was glad to get more use out of it after sewing it. Actually, I made the pinafore for Brooklyn's dance recital last year, so we're going on 3x a charm. Maybe with Ava I can use it again.

There was "kind of" a croquet game, "the queen says", a flamingo pinata, and little girls! I sent them home with a copy of the book Alice in Wonderland and called it good.

BIG girl!

yes, She is a big girl now! Independent in every way! Even more so than any of our other children. We get loads of comments from strangers in public about how "independent, and spirited she is." That's a nice way of saying, "Get your kid under control!" :) Not that I mind anymore. I'd rather have the kid with all the personality, and I'm sure it will benefit her later in life! She is a charmer. I can't believe how fast she is growing. She will be in nursery here in 2 months.

First Strings Concert

I have been so proud of Brooklyn this year! She has risen to the occasion on so many levels. Being a new fifth grader must be hard (this is her fourth elementary school), but she has explored many new talents and done well socially and academically. She was chosen to be a student mediator (she listens to students who have disagreements and counsels them), she has been a safety patrol moniter, she chose to take on the challenge of reading all (A LOT) of the new texas bluebonnet books to have dinner with the librarian, participated in the school wide spelling bee, and has dedicated lots of time to learning the upright bass. All of these things were done voluntarily without any extra credit at school.

She is proving that she is ready for middle school. Here is a video of the highlight of the basses in the concert. There were 5 elementary school 5th grades that got together to perform. Meaning..., there were a TON of kids. There were also about 4 other girls who played bass. AWESOME!

DISCLAIMER: DO NOT WATCH THE VIDEO. You will get motion sick. Just listen. :) We need a tripod. ******* With my limited computer skills, I could not get it to update as quickly as I wanted, I will try later.

Halloween 2011

The blog has been a little neglected as of late. This is corresponding with Ava and her peaking curiousity and inability to sit still. She is a live wire! She is a combo of our other three kids...curious (and mischivious) like Brooklyn was as a child, I had to call Poison Control practically every month for a year..., the happy, playful nature of Tyler, she is ALWAYS smiling, clapping, or laughing, and the energy of Lily, she does not every stop... Full of energy, motivation and now the capability to walk. She is a triple threat to any plans I may have. So here is an attempt to post a few pictures from our Ward Halloween Party, while Ava wriggles out of her booster seat...

Now that the pictures have downloaded I realize they are not as great as I thought they might be while I was shooting them. :) So, here they are, the cheschire cat was obviously very tired by this time of night, and Harry looked a little uninterested. There was another family that pulled off the whole family in Alice and it was DARLING! Tyler was supposed to be the Mad Hatter, but apparently Party City doesn't have all the costumes in the store that are advertised online. So, last Sat., in a big mess of people, I went off to see what accessories I could use to make a Mad Hatter costume out of. I returned and found that he and Dad had already fixed things, he begged to be Harry Potter and Dad said ok. I relented and abolished my vision of having all the kids be a part of Alice. Oh well... I should've planned better. And I should've remembered to draw on the lighting scar. Come on, MOM! At least this was a trial run and we still have the real Halloween! As if we all need candy from multiple trunk or treats and the real deal...