It's Great To Be Eight!

Whitney celebrated her 8th birthday with a pirate party! I went a little "ALL OUT" for this party and it cost "A LOT" of money! The things we do for our kids, right? Maybe I went a little overboard this year. I tell myself every year that I am going to keep it simple next year but it never turns out that way. This time I am "SERIOUS"! Next year it will definitely be more simple. I made it too hard on myself this year with a 4 hour party, lots of time planning, shopping, spending money, decorating, organizing games and activities and putting together invitations.

For the invitations we sent little messages in a bottle. It was a plastic bottle with the invitation and sand inside. Whitney wanted to go to Pirate Island Pizza but I thought it would be fun to have a treasure hunt and do some other fun activities at home. So, we ended doing both!

We went to Pirate Island Pizza first where we ate pizza, played games in their arcade and posed for cute pictures of course! I bought Whitney a pirate costume just for her party so I had to take advantage of the atmosphere. They have a pirate ship, caves, water falls, a jungle and pirate stuff that makes for cute pictures.



After Pirate Island Pizza we moved the party to our backyard. I had it decorated cute and spent a lot of time setting up for the treasure hunt.







I gave each kid an eye patch, earring and bandanna so they could be dressed as Lil' pirates.


First we did some crafts. I had bought little card board treasure chests for the kids to decorate. They had a blast adding gold coins and jewels to their boxes. I also bought little bottles that the kids could put sand in and make there own message in a bottle. We played pin the treasure chest on the X. Then I gave each kid a loot bag and a treasure map for the treasure hunt. I had clues all over the yard. Each clue led to the next clues until they found the treasure. For example: "Go where monkey's swing and sway, you can play here all day". The answer is the monkey bars. The last clue was "buried deep in the ground the treasure chest can be found! So use your hand to dig in the sand"! I had a treasure chest full of plastic coins, gum coins, jewels, rings and necklaces buried in the sand trap on the putting green.



I think this was the highlight of the party. The kids loved it! After the treasure hunt the kids broke open the pinata'. Then we had to take a break because whitney had her batism interview with the bishop. I thought the party would be over in time but it wasn't. So all the kids played on the playground while Whitney was gone. When Whitney got back we had cake and ice cream. I looked on line to find the perfect cake and I had my friend Wendy make it. It turned out so cute!


After cake Whitney opened her presents. She got spoiled rotten with so many presents. She got heelies and a DS game from us and lots of toys from her friends. On top of everything else the kids got they also got to go home with a goodie box filled with more pirate stuff!



It made me feel good when Whitney thanked me and told me this was the BEST party ever!

Whitney's Dance Review

This has been a VERY BUSY year with Pizazz Dance Team. I guess we really didn't know what we were getting into before we started. Whitney and her friend Shandelle wanted to take dance together. My friend Melanie had a neighbor who danced with Pizazz and that is how we heard about it. It's a professional dance team with a lot of technique and structure. There were endless mandatory practices and performances. They performed at "The World Senior Games" and during basketball games at every High School in the valley. They also competed in a competition. Here are some pictures from the dance review. It was a special night. Everyone dressed up, each dancer got a rose, was escorted by their father, had their name announced and had a special daddy daughter dance. I of course got teary eyed as I watched John hold Whitney in his arms as they danced to "Butterfly Kisses". I thought back to my wedding day when I danced with my father to that same song. Time really does go by too fast! I don't even want to think about Whitney's wedding day.

I do however LOVE to watch Whitney dance and reminisce back to when I was a dancer. It was fun to watch her perform at the basketball games. It reminded John and I of being in that high school moment all over again! LOL

I have to say my favorite moment was watching Whitney perform her ballet dance for the first time. It took my breath away! She was so beautiful and graceful. She had so much poise! She must take after me because ballet was always my stronger point. I didn't care much for jazz and I was not very coordinated. But when it came to ballet it just came easier for me. Whitney always talks about wanting to do ballet. That was the whole reason I signed her up for dance. I guess I need to find something that focuses more on ballet and less on jazz or hip hop. Her ultimate goal is to do ballet on point but you have to be at least 12 years old to start.

Whitney decided she didn't want to do Pizazz again next year. I think she was too overwhelmed with all the practices and performances on top of school, homework and no time for friends. I'm still hoping maybe after having a break she will want to take a ballet class because she is so good at it!


Whitney before the show


Whitney being escorted by her daddy


Whitney dancing with her daddy


The Pizazz Team


Whitney and Shandelle


Whitney and her friend Emma


Whitney in her ballet costume after the show

Garbage Man Truck

My cute little boy LOVES the garbage truck. He calls it the garbage man truck. Every Friday when he hears it coming down the street he goes running outside as fast as he can while yelling "the garbage man truck is here!" He will stand at the curb and patiently wait for it to get to our house. As the truck drives up he says hi to the driver. He watches intently as the garbage cans are dumped. Then he waves bye to the truck as it drives away.



Well, Caysen had a special visitor come to his pre-school. That's right, the garbage man truck came. Caysen was in heaven! He showed the kids how the truck worked and also talked about recycling.



Then he let Caysen dress-up in the "garbage man truck" clothes.

Kitchen Remodel

The day we bought our house I hated the counter tops. They were grey, white and black speckled fir mica. Soooo ugly and they didn't match anything! Finally, after seven years of living here we got new granite counter tops in the kitchen and both bathrooms. We decided on a nice neutral color of granite. We made the kitchen counter step up so we have a bar. John had to build a wall so it would step up and to support the weight of the granite. We had to put bead board on the front to cover the 2x4's john used to build the wall. It turned out really nice. I love it! It is a nice face lift for our home and makes a big difference. Here are some before and after pictures.