Jon's Pirate Party

Jonathan will turn 7 this week.  We threw him a pirate themed birthday party complete with a scavenger hunt that led to a treasure map which then guided him to buried birthday treasure (real coins and dollars).  I had a lot of fun making the decorations for the party and Joel came up with the clues for the scavenger hunt.  Jon seemed to really enjoy his party and we had beautiful weather for it too!

  Can't have a pirate party without a treasure box

 

X marks the spot cupcakes

 

 

They found the map!

 

Jon dug up & found his buried treasure with the help of his friends.

 

Singing to the birthday boy

 

Playing with one of his presents he'd just received

Play time

I've been collecting a few pics of our kids at play for a bit.  Joel took some pretty awesome ones & a few were from my camera phone - I'm sure you can tell which are which, LOL.

Jon and Kat went through about a 3 week period back in the fall when they played together super well all the time.  This day they were paying something fun up in the swing set with their stuffed animals.

 

Emily loves, loves to play board games.  Parcheesi has become one of her favorites.

 

Sweet shot of sisters being silly together.

 

Jonathan creating a battlefield in our living room.  Complete with sound effects :)

Passing it on

Joel was recently able to a acquire a very nice camera he'd been wanting and needing for some time.  Because of this he decided to let the kids use one of his older cameras to learn some of the basics on (the older 2 for now, that is I should add).  They both really enjoyed it, but Jonathan has seemed to take to it especially. He's been taking it along several places we've gone lately.  He even wore it to WalMart on our grocery shopping trip last week.  He got lots of comments from fellow shoppers and employees.  One woman said, "we have a photographer here today, don't we?"  He beamed and said yes.  Then after she passed he told me that was the first time someone had called him a photographer.  Joel took him and Kat on a photo walk through our neighborhood the other day (when Emily and I were at a baby shower).  Here are some great shots Joel captured of the budding photographer in action.

 

Katherine being a willing model (notice her rocking the princess attire - her favorite as of late)

 

These last 3 shots are ones Jonathan captured himself with the camera.  I especially love the one of the CapriSuns & Kool-Aids.  This was from our grocery store outing.  He took several of things he liked.  Some of the other shots were of cookies and super hero party decorations.  A glimpse into the heart and mind of an almost 7 year old boy.  :-)  

 

There was a similar post on my blog a few years back of Jonathan enjoying taking pictures when he was 3.  Check it out here: http://joyful-adventure.blogspot.com/2010/08/little-photographer.html

First Daddy Daughter Dance

Katherine got to go with Joel to her first Daddy Daughter Dance last weekend.  She really enjoyed it and has talked about how much she liked it the last two days.  Joel said she danced a bunch.  She even danced the choreography she's learned from the Just Dance video game we have any time one of the songs from the game came on that evening.  She's already looking forward to the dance next year!

Emily's Slumber Party

Emily will be turning 10 in just a few days.  Turning two digits is a big deal - so we asked her if she wanted to have her first slumber party in honor of this milestone...to which she squealed with excitement & immediately said yes.  The party was last weekend.  We helped her select some of her friends whose parents we knew and who we felt would be comfortable having their kiddos stay at our place overnight.  It was a fun time.  The girls painted nails, watched a 3D movie, made bracelets, played Just Dance, and just had fun hanging out with each other.  Joel captured it well, as usual, and here are the results:

  

Love those dimples and that smile!

 

Special note on this one: Katherine is rarely seen without donning her "princess attire" as of late.  We think it's pretty stinkin' cute - just had to mention :-)

 

Getting ready to watch Brave in 3D

 

Laughing at themselves (watching the video playback of their Just Dance performance)

Fun Visit

We spent a recent weekend visiting our good friends that moved a couple of hours away over the summer.  They live in a smaller town now and it felt to us like a mini-vacation.  The neighborhood they live in has deer waking around in it constantly.  Their "backyard" is filled with trees which make for a beautiful view to greet you each morning.  They also live right by a lake.  We walked there in the morning and got to kayak with them for a bit.  We finished up the visit by eating at Sean's restaurant he manages.  It was like no time had passed with the kids - they picked up right where they left off and played together the whole time.  Joel and I really enjoyed catching up with Sean and Joy too.  Good times with good friends!

The  boys took the kayaks out first

Katherine just enjoyed throwing rocks into the lake.

 

Em and I got a chance to try it out too.  It was fun!

 

At Sean's place.  Great food!

Sister Weekend

My sister, Kerry, jokingly suggested she fly me out to her place to help her decorate her house when she was visiting over Thanksgiving.  To which I asked if we could do so the following weekend, with a smile.  So when she called me up in December asking if I was serious my answer was, of course, yes!  So this past weekend I spent about 3 days helping her do just that.  It was a lot of fun and really great to just get to hang out with her for so long.  Something that is a real gift now that she lives several states away.  It was super relaxing for this stay-at-home mom of 3 too.  To just think about me for a few days was a real treat.  Jeff, her husband, was always thinking ahead to what we might need.  He was a great host and it was good to see him again too.