Rainy Day Bubbles

 The birthday celebration is in full swing and started Thursday when the first gift arrived from our friend Rachel who couldn't make the party today. Then Friday Erin's sweet friend Eva dropped of a gift since she couldn't make the party. Apparently Eva insisted that they get Erin a gift and deliver it before the weekend. I insisted it wasn't necessary but Eva had other plans and they involved shopping for Erin. I'm not about to take a shopping trip away from a girl!
Of course my camera battery was charging when Eva arrived so no pictures of the girls together. Later that afternoon Erin was trying to keep herself busy while we worked to get her "surprise" party ready. She called us all out to the driveway to see her bubble creation. Bubbles were just one of the many gifts that Eva chose!
So the girls and I all watched as Erin got up close and personal with the driveway while it drizzled. She used up over half the bubbles and Paige and I were cracking up because she was so adorable. The cuteness factor was especially high due to the fact she put her skirt on backwards over her leggings!
It was so sweet for her friends to bring her gifts even though they wouldn't be here. I know that she's my little girl but she is a sweetheart and it seems that her friends feel the same way about her.

Formal is a Hit!

More pictures to come but I had to get Kyle and Cynthia's picture posted. All the kids had a great time and so did the adults who were helping, Bill and I included!
We started with everyone learning the Swing and Rumba basic steps. Everyone had time to practice with a partner and then we let them dance the rest of the night away. Even the reluctant boys had a great time which I was so happy about or I would have been in serious trouble.
We had a photographer get pictures of all the kids throughout the night so we will have plenty of great pictures in a couple of weeks so more to come!
The after party was a huge hit with video games, pizza, poker (?!), Just Dance, food, and all night fun. Not sure how much sleep everyone got but we didn't care since we went to bed!
Thanks to Owen and Jayme for providing a wonderful place to have our event, Owen for great enthusiasm and getting kids off to a great start, Kristi for helping kids create memories of the evening, Aimee for awesome food, and Cynthia, Kassi, Sam, Alyssa, Jenna, and Anna for planning a great night.
Thanks Lindy, Paige, Erin, and Grace for fixing my hair and getting me dressed up!

One Down, One to Go

 Lindy's first competition of the season wrapped up tonight after a crazy afternoon of three dances in 40 minutes. The Juniorettes did awesome winning 1st place in tap and lyrical. They also received High Gold in all their dances including Jazz.
I love the fact that I am not the only mom who gets teary eyed watching them dance! When the lyrical team does their lift and puts Lindy above their heads and carries her it just looks so awesome. They work so well as a team and have become great friends over the past 2 years.
Miss Brittney gave each of the girls a bracelet and a sweet note of encouragement before the day started. It was so sweet and a wonderful way to give some last minute confidence.
Having a Junior team who cheers them on really makes them all feel so special to be a part of the whole team. As a mom I love knowing that Lindy is always where she needs to be with the Juniors and her big sis looking out for her.
After a lunch/dinner break we ran back to take home awards. I lost track of how many trophies both teams took home, I know that Miss Sandy was very pleased.
Huge thanks to Miss Sandy and Miss Brittney for a wonderful year.

 Lindy and her "Big Sis" Lexi

 Lindy and Helen

Spaghetti Warehouse Break! 

 Packed stage for awards!

Finger Knitting

Paige and Lindy are learning to crochet and one of the things they have learned is finger knitting. It is so cute to watch them with their huge balls of yarn sitting and making scarves and chatting away! Paige was very excited to make a scarf for her Mimi who proudly wore it to work and got many compliments.

We Love Cake Boss!

We have been so busy I have not even taken the pictures off my camera for almost 2 weeks which is unheard of! Never in my life have I been THIS busy. And Bill is just as crazy with scout stuff and work. It is bordering on insanity in our household, but all good stuff. As you can see from the newest pictures, really fun stuff.

Two weeks ago our good friends invited us to go see Buddy from Cake Boss. Being that we are huge fans we were not turning that invite down. We saw him last year when he was in town but we didn't get to meet him. Thanks to our friend McKinley's diligence in getting good tickets we were able to get pictures and autographs. Thank you McKinley!!

Both Lindy and Erin wore their Cake Boss t-shirts that we got last year and not only did Buddy sign pictures for them he also did their t-shirts! He was also so sweet and posed with each of them individually. The kids loved it!

Cookie Marathon

 We have an awesome church with some of the best people I have met. Ethan really loves his Sunday School class and group of friends.  My friend Karen suggested we get our boys together along with a couple of other boys and take on baking most of the cookies needed for the Open Shelter Meal that our congregation is serving this week.
So last Sunday all of the moms brought batches of cookie dough and put our boys to work. Bake they did, a total of 16 dozen cookies in about an hour and a half! Pretty good if you ask me. They had a great time together and how awesome to provide such an important part of the meal, dessert!
After they popped the cookies in the freezer they headed out for a quick basketball game.
Thanks for a wonderful afternoon Peace Ladies! We need to do that again!

Cookie Walk

 In the spirit of tradition, the Girl Scout Council organized a cookie walk for the girls to do much like the beginning of Girl Scout Cookie Sales 80 years ago. When girls first started selling cookies they would bake and package cookies in their own kitchens with their moms and then go and sell them door to door.
Time have changed with the product but Girl Scouts still go selling door to door. With next year being the 100th birthday of Girl Scouts it seemed like a great year to go back to the old traditions.

The girls decorated their wagons and loaded them up with tons of cookies. Then we hit the streets! It was definitely a success! We sold around 50 boxes in an hour and most importantly the girls had a blast. We hope to do this next year when Girl Scouts is officially 100 years old!

 Sarah was our walking billboard.

 Sales were good!

 Love this sign, "we're irresistible"!

The Cookie Mobile!

Audubon Center

 Last week the Juniors earned their Wildlife Badge at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center. What a new little gem in Columbus! I had never been before and only 2 of the girls in the troop had gone before, so it was very neat to check it out as a group.
The girls started out by drawing an animal or something from nature that represented themselves in some way. What a creative bunch of girls! Faith P. drew a cat since they are adventurous and she likes to travel and is adventuresome. Lily drew a lily pad, Rebekah did a koala since she loves them, and we had quite a few horses.
We learned all about birds and conservation. I was surprised with how much the girls knew already! After we finished learning about the different bird calls we headed outside with our binoculars and started observing and recording our observations.
After the bird walk we headed back in and the girls got to sink their hands into some yuck! Mud from the river which they were to sort through and look for any living creatures. When given the opportunity to actually play in mud many girls did everything to not get dirty! Others were all about getting their hands muddy!
We also celebrated Jessie's birthday with her, she drew a cake for our quilt of pictures. A very fun afternoon, beautiful weather, and good friends, made a successful meeting.