birthdays & parties

july 1, lucy turned 4. she'd been looking forward to it for ages and i don't think she was displeased:

as she slept, i covered her in pink balloons and waited for her bubbly excitement to overflow:

she didn't disappoint:

the 1st was a sunday and grant had early morning meetings to attend, making him unable to be around for presents. i let lucy open one (a new dress) before church:

and kept the rest back for after, when grant could watch: 

lucy was super excited to receive her very own scooter:

hazel gave her spiderman action figures:

it was hazel's lucky day too:

she received her own present from aunt jewel, along with lucy's. (thanks, jewel! they love them)

oliver thouroughly enjoyed the carnage:

lucy, after she finished opening everything, wanted to test drive her scooter:

don't let the picture deceive you, she really did have fun. as ever, grant and i are safety conscious. lucy was delighted with her spider-man helmet, knee and elbow pads, and finger-less gloves. in fact, she loved the gloves so much, she rarely took them off the first week:

lucy wanted pizza for dinner and i obliged. she also wanted a pink spider-man cake, but i talked her into cookies-n-cream cupcakes with pink frosting and she was happy to switch:

ok. maybe she was mostly excited to have a #4 candle on her cupcake, but they were also super delicious. i even fancied them up by swirling three colors of icing (pink, light pink, and white) using this tutorial. it turned out fine, but i think my frosting wasn't thick enough:

and finally, no birthday is complete without ice cream:

we took it pretty easy for the 4th of july. the library was closed so grant had to stay home with us. we went back to the spider web park:

it was hot:

really, really hot:

but that didn't stop us from getting a nice run in:

the girls rode their contraptions back and forth along the pathway:

lucy was nice enough to share:

we had lots of fun:

but eventually the threat of heat strokes sent us home.

last weekend, grant went to las vegas to visit his sister, so the girls and i had ourselves a party weekend. we went to the movie brave. lucy thought it was too loud:

but otherwise, we all enjoyed it tremendously.

we posed a bit outside the theater:

before heading home to paint:

sunday after church, we picked grant up from the airport and all was well.

i cry the day . . .

. . . that i take the tree down.

 

but only when it poked me as i de-fluffed it. i won't miss the cat tempting fate by chewing on the wires. i will miss the pretty shadows on the wall:

morning and night:

luckily, we were able to rectify our holiday faux pas and took a family picture in our sunday bests yesterday:

we're all looking at the camera! a festivus miracle.

we even tried to include oliver but by then lucy was done.

 now on to the next holiday:

fa-la-la-la-la la-la la la

our christmas was superb. we had our traditional christmas eve dinner with some good friends:

the christmas crackers were a hit. lucy went crazy and popped open half a dozen (luckily we had two packs). everyone donned on their crowns and tooted the whistles:

there was a smorgasbord of yummy foods:

roasted asparagus, caprese salad, cranberry sauce, turkey (this time with legs & wings), corn, asiago garlic & herb bread, rosemary potatoes (made by erin), santa's favorite cake (red velvet and white cake swirled together with peppermint frosting [made by erin]), and pumpkin cream pie (with a chocolate crust).

to keep them out of our hair, grant allowed the kids to have a present early:

much fun was had:

and if you can believe it, mater is still standing. the adults were able to chat in semi-peace and it was good.

later, the girls received another present:

their christmas pjs. they went to bed. grant and i watched some of our favorite christmas simpson's episodes ("i'm a buddhist!!" . . . "bacon up that sausage, boy!") and put the presents under the tree.

bright and early christmas morning, the real fun began:

even oliver received a little somethin' somethin'. i guess santa missed the hairballs the cat has been leaving all over the floor... anyway, the kids dug in:

playing as they went along:

my blood pressure is aok, fyi.

and hazel's ticker is still, um, ticking. the girls found many wonderful and marvelous things under the tree:

i was the recipient of some crazy awesome gifts: a sweater and shirt, athletic socks, chapstick, music gift card, chocolate covered cherries(!), pens, a camelbak for running, some protein snacks and these wicked high stilettos (yes. i can walk in them):

grant was also gifted magnificent things:

a cd (that contains his new favorite song), york peppermint patties, pens, smarties, eyeglass cleaner, chocolate coins:

oh and a bike, some spare tubes and white lightning:

so very spoiled.

as if all of that wasn't enough for one day, we had sweet rolls (aka cinnamon rolls) and berries for breakfast:

then we all got ready for church and rushed out the door, sadly without time to take a picture in our sunday getups. we got home, ate some lunch, took a nap, watched movies, played games, skyped with family, had dinner, and went to bed. not to shabby for a holiday.

we hope y'all had as good a day as we did!