Happy 6th Birthday, Christa!

The big 6 year old on her actual birthday!!

 I made an effort to simplify Christa's birthday celebrations this year, since we were on the Disney Cruise during the days leading up to her birthday.  I started the simplification process by sending all invitations out via text.  I continued, by not really planning anything until a few days before we left for our vacation :)  Between the cruise and 4th of July celebrations, I didn't feel the need to stress out about big parties.  It went really well, and I think I'm going to do last minute get-togethers via text message for everyone from now on!

 Christa really wanted makeup for her birthday.  She saw some "real" makeup, as in, not sparkly-pink-clearly-kid makeup for grown ups in several store windows leading up to her birthday and went crazy over it.  She begged and begged for some Disney makeup on the cruise ship, again, made and marketed for adults.  I found my sister's old Caboodle box at my parents' house the night we returned home from the cruise (and the night before her birthday).  I also found some soft pink makeup in the line she wanted, and wrapped it all up for her.  She was thrilled!

 Christa always has the expectation and desire to make birthday cakes for everyone in the family.  That means, no easy, store-bought cakes!  It's a fun tradition that we have, and even though they don't look like professional bakery cakes, I always enjoy decorating them creatively with her, and I love the personal ideas we come up with together.  She wanted an art party, so we came up with this painter's palate for our decoration.  She added the sprinkles for an extra touch.

 Our first celebration was a family cookout.  I decided to do a family gathering and then a very small painting party with her close friends on two different evenings.  This worked out very well, and kept things more manageable.

 Happy birthday, sweet girl!

 I wasn't up for making 2 different cakes, however!  And Christa is like her mom - a lover of chocolate and not a huge fan of white icing.  So I ordered her a cookie cake with only chocolate frosting.  It was a hit, and there was not a bite left over!

 The painting gallery that introduced Christa to painting "real" art closed just as I was trying to make plans for her party.  Luckily, I found an artist who was willing to come to my house and help 6 sweet little girls paint a cute picture.  They had a blast!

The finished masterpieces!

Cruising with "Ickey Mouse" (Part 2)

Our 3rd day was spent at Disney's private island, Castaway Cay.  It was everything you would imagine a Bahamian beach owned by Disney to be!  They had chairs and umbrellas set up.  Our ship had the island exclusively to ourselves.  Disney provided stands of fresh fruit, cold beverages, and a barbeque feast, all included in the cost of the cruise.  We rented floats (for $6 for the day!) to float in the clear waters, where we could see beautiful white fish swimming all around us.  The family beach was enclosed by a rock peninsula, so there was no fear of anyone getting swept out to sea.   The water was shallow, clear, and relaxing.  Strollers were easily accessible as well.  It was a truly magical day, and our favorite part of the whole cruise!

 We were greeted by some special friends as we arrived on the island!

 They had a dance party with Mickey and Friends, and Elizabeth loved every second of it.  The two older ones opted to sit in the shade, but Elizabeth danced the afternoon away!

 After the dance party was over, the big girls decided to join in the fun :)

 Enjoying the Bahamas Disney style!  This is more like it!

 I just thought this made a funny picture on the way back to the boat.

 We went back to get ready for Pirate Night.  The menus were pirate themed, and there was a show on the swimming deck after dinner with Mickey and the Gang.  Christa got 2 chocolate desserts with her meal to celebrate her birthday, which was a couple of days later!  She was thrilled!

 We ran into Chip and Dale while trying to get a couple of pictures of Flat Stanley - a doll Christa decorated for her first grade class.

 I pulled some strings and got us back into Andy's Room (in the kid's only area) for a quick picture with our friend.

Before we knew it, we were back in the States, and off the ship.  I have a feeling this might not be our last Disney Cruise!

Cruisin' With "Ickey Mouse" (Part 1)

Cline had a long stretch off of work at the end of June, so we splurged and took the family on a Disney Cruise.  We'd heard great things about it, and wanted to use this window of opportunity to do something a little different before the new baby is born in the Fall.  This is the first time since we've had kids that our family can sleep fairly comfortably in one hotel room, if need be.  Disney wouldn't let us cram into one room, however, so we were extra comfortable in 2 adjoining rooms!  We opted for a 4 day cruise that took us to Nassau, Bahamas, Castaway Cay, and included a full day and a half at sea to enjoy the sea.  It was seriously the most relaxing vacation we've been on with kids!!  It was every bit as much fun as going to Disney World, but much less work!  The lines for the characters were much shorter.  The surroundings were not nearly as crowded, and there were plenty of places to cool off comfortably when needed.  The food was spectacular, with plenty of delicious options, already paid for without having to calculate how many "meals" and "snacks" you had left, as is the case with the Disney Dining Plan.  They had child care on the boat, which I didn't plan to use, but once I laid eyes on it, and saw the security they had in place, I was completely comfortable allowing them to give Cline and I a short break from the kids for 2 dinners.  I was against the idea of leaving my kids with "strangers," but the set up was much more like a day camp or vacation bible school setting.  Plus, the older kids were begging to go, so how could I refuse??  Enjoy the pictures!

 Ready to board the ship!

 Donald Duck greeted us in the lobby of the ship as soon as we arrived!  No wait at all!

 Then we spotted Princess Tiana one floor up as we were finding our way around.  Again, no wait!

 Home for 4 days!

 We ran into Minnie after dinner on our first night.  Cline got a little sea sick as the ship picked up speed in the evening, but was much better the next morning.

 They had a princess gathering with all of the major princesses.  The kids got much more time with each princess than they normally do at the parks, and the lines were minimal!

 We woke up on our first morning pulling into Nassau.  We could see Atlantis across the water, and it looked impressive.  We walked around the downtown area a little, searching for a local canvas painting or other meaningful keepsake.  It was hot, the kids were fussy and not happy, and so many people kept trying to sell us things or services.  We made it about an hour or so before we decided to just go back to the boat.  I did find my canvas painting on our way out of the market that housed the passport-check area, though, so I'd call our stop a success!

 The beaches looked beautiful!!  But you had to pay to go to any of them, so we decided to just enjoy the ship.

Hanging out with Donald on the way to dinner!

 Dinner at Animator's Palate.  This place was really neat - the shark in the back ground swam across the screen every once in a while.  Crush from Finding Nemo came to the screen and personally talked to our section of the restaurant.

 Loving the port hole benches outside the restaurants!

The waiters at the restaurants consistently offered the kids "Mickey Mouse Ketchup."  They loved it!  They just used the bottled ketchup to make the blob into a circle with 2 ears.  Elizabeth especially loved the "ickey mouse ketchup," and we still have to decorate our plates with it at home, now!

Funny Things They Say

A couple of weeks ago, each of the girls said the funniest thing!!  I remembered to post them on Facebook while they were fresh in my mind, so here they are for the official family record.

 

Conversation between Christa and Mommy during our bedtime reading routine:

So, Christa has been fascinated with all things baby since we told her she was getting another sibling. The "Your Pregnancy Week by Week" book now lives on the table next to her bed, and we look at it together every week or so. She wants to see what the baby looks like and hear about how big the baby is, etc. I was reading some quick facts for her from the chapter, and it mentioned that at 22 weeks, I should be feeling better now. Christa laughed and replied, "Is that a joke???"

Well, I actually am feeling better these days, but I guess I'm not hiding the exhaustion quite as we'll as I thought!

 Conversation between Daddy and Abby Kate at local gift shop:
AK: Daddy, look at these dolls! Can we have them?
Cline: No, we just got a new toy for doing swimming lessons, and I don't think you need another one today.
AK: Mutters something in a disappointed, whiny voice along the lines of "But I want it" while slumping her shoulders.
Cline: I know. It must be so hard to have parents that are never nice to you and never let you have nice things.
AK: (suddenly animated again) That's not true!! Mommy is *sometimes* nice to *Christa*!

Elizabeth expresses her opinion:
E: I want car wash.
Me: Not right now. We just went through the car wash yesterday, and you were scared of it.
E: Ballerina car wash. (What we call the spinning cleaner scrubbers after the spaghetti noodle ones in the car wash).
Me: No, we have to go home now.
E: Car is nasty. Want ballerina car wash. Car is nasty!

Wow - insulted by the 2 year old!

I sure love my girls!  They each have so much personality! 

Father's Day (and random pictures)

So, these pictures are in reverse order for some reason, but they were taken within a few days of each other, so they'll work.  Enjoy!

 I caught Elizabeth sleeping in her car seat with both hands behind her head.  She used to sleep like that a lot of as a baby, so I tried to get a good picture of it, but she started to move her right hand as I was snapping the shot.

 See??  Blast from the past!

 Elizabeth loves to dance to "ballewina music."  She has learned where we keep the outfits, and regularly asks for help putting them on so she can dance.  She loves an Angelina Ballerina cd, and looks adorable putting one hand in the air and strutting around in circles.

 She also loves for me to "take picture" while she is performing!

 Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

I honestly don't even remember how we celebrated Father's Day this year, other than going to church and letting Cline pick the girl's outfits.  He does love for all of us to match as a family :)

Making Room for Baby!

Adding a boy to the family has already proven to be a big task around here!!  With 3 of our 4 upstairs rooms decked out in girl stuff, we had a lot of work to do to create a room that could be painted blue!  I wanted to make sure I got pictures of the girls' rooms, and especially Elizabeth's nursery, before I rearranged the entire upstairs.  Unfortunately, Cline had dismantled most of Elizabeth's nursery before I realized that I didn't have a single picture of it.  He was a great sport about it, though, when I asked him to put it back together to get pictures of it.  Hee hee.  I will completely own that "crazy mom moment" on my part, but in my defense, it only took him about 10 minutes (if that) to put the furniture back in the room the way it was!

 Christa and Abby Kate have been sleeping in the same room for some time!  That made it fairly easy to divide Christa's big girl furniture between their room and Elizabeth's room for E to grow into.  A simple addition of a closet bar and a second dresser gave me just the right amount of space to keep all of their clothes neat and organzied!

 And, the re-created girl nursery - totally worth this picture :)

 The wall hangings were LaLa's dress, bonnet, and booties from when she was a baby!  Cline's grandmother is a very organized person who does a great job keeping these keepsakes in great condition for us to enjoy!

And the crib!  We're in no hurry to move Elizabeth out of the crib, since she is a great sleeper, and asks to go to bed sometimes!  She has a big girl bed in there now, though, when she's ready, and a new (to her) girly dresser, since we took the baby furniture for the baby.  After this simple re-arranging, we were ready to paint the nursery blue!  I'll post pictures of it, once it's all put together.