30 is Sweet

Here are a few shots from the 30th birthday party that we threw for my sister, Keeny.

If you know her at all, you would know that a "Dirty 30" party would be very fitting.

But we planned this at the last minute and for some strange reason,

J came up with the theme, 30 is sweet...

So, I took the sweet and ran with it.

Baked 50 each of 5 different flavored cupcakes.

Cadbury Egg-filled Chocolate

Peanut Butter & Jelly

 Strawberry Cream

Lemon Blueberry

Salted Caramel

  

I was supposed to blog this a month ago, but better late than never, right?

Love you, Keeny...

My Fancy Girl

My girl on her way to her first big girl party without me.

Fancy Nancy was the theme so what else could I do but

fancy her up a bit? It's not like this was a far stretch for Kate,

who lives her everyday as a real-life Fancy Nancy.

Magic

“Love and magic have a great deal in common. They enrich the soul, delight the heart. And they both take practice.”
Unknown

Yep, another day in paradise...er, uh, Disneyland, I mean.

Charlie's proud of his new hat.
He makes you press the red button for a surprise... he's funny, my little guy.

I've never really had a kid be afraid of the characters like Miss Ella is.
She was trying to give me her best smile but was too preoccupied worrying about
whether Pluto would make another appearance sending her running for the stroller.


and then there's the fierce Kate. No fear, this one. All about the dramatic flair and big smiles.

When you've been somewhere like Disneyland over 100 times, it's a challenge to

keep the kids believing in the magic of it all. We try to find new things for them

to do and explore so they always love it and want to keep coming back.

“This world, after all our science and sciences, is still a miracle; wonderful, inscrutable, magical and more,

to whosoever will think of it.”

Thomas Dekker

Tonight, we found magic in the unexpected and I, for one, LOVED it.

The magic was right there, on the roof of my car, in a hotel parking lot on the way home.

Blurry but perfect...

“That's the thing with magic. You've got to know it's still here, all around us, or it just stays invisible for you.”

Charles de Lint

I hope you find a bit of magic in your lives today, friends...



Enjoying the Zoo

It was a hot day, but a beautiful one.

The kids are on Spring Break and we were trying to make it fun

and special for them and so a day at the zoo was in order.

It's a rare day where there is minimal whining and they all pretty much get along.

It was, surprisingly, a really enjoyable day.

Here's our day at the zoo in photos...



Some of the animal favorites...

Of course there were a few moments of meltdown. You can expect that with Kate.

Isn't my niece, Isabelle, a beauty? Love her cheeks. I could kiss them all day.

Don't you just love my little hippie chick Kate and her peace

sign fingers in every photo that I allow it to be in?

She learned this move from her fellow hippie friend Cameron and uses it all the time now.