Happy Birthday Abree!!!

Oh my goodness... my little muffin girl Abree turned 7!

After her requested dinner of nachos supreme, she got to open presents.

She was excited to try on her new dress right away. When I told her I made it, she couldn't believe it.

She also LOVED her "Beanie Baby" pig, Knuckles (like new from a thrift store for .50!) among her other gifts.
We displayed the Happy Birthday sign that her school class signed for her. She liked pointing out each name and telling me about each person. She also thought it was so funny that Kaleb signed it, "You Rock!"

She was happy with her piggy cake and wanted to know if she could have the bow when we were done with it. I'm sure she had a project up her sleeve when she asked. :)

Happy Birthday sweet girl!

We love you!!!

Oink, Oink!

As you may or may not know, Abree LOVES pigs. I think it has everything to do with them being "pink" and nothing else really.

When we saw real, live pigs at the fair last year, it might have been a reality-check for her... they weren't nearly as cute or as pink as she thought! In fact, they were really noisy and startling as they jumped up on their pens at dinner time, as we passed by.

She quickly dismissed those pigs and continues her love of PINK pigs today. :)

I found this piggy bank at a thrift store and thought of her immediately. Only one problem.... it wasn't PINK.

So I primed over the cute polka dots and spray painted it PINK. I thought this project would be done for her birthday, but no, rainy weather and too much on my plate makes it a surprise for another day.

Another find at a thrift store was this material... brand new, with shirring at the top. Using a dress she already owned as a pattern, I cut up the fabric and created a birthday dress for Abree.

Another pig creation was her cake. Simple.... and PINK, of course.

Something was missing.

Ahhh, that's much better.

A bow to make it a girl pig... cuz when you're a little girl that's always important.

I made cupcakes with the remaining batter. Used pink pipe cleaners to create squiggly piggy tails for them. Also thought of her when I saw this bubble gum at the store. Put my own pink piggy touch on it

Dress sewn, cake baked and presents wrapped... I think we're ready for a birthday party.

Appreciation Week

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but we have a Birthday Appreciation Week tradition in our family. Jason has been doing nice appreciation weeks for me, around my birthday time, for a few years now. Last year, we decided to make it a family-wide tradition.

Jason and the kids made this binder (notice the cute spelling of journal).
Inside there is a section for each person. During the birthday person's week, the family writes sweet notes, telling them why they love them or appreciate them. We also try to make an extra effort to be especially nice to the birthday person that week; we do chores for them, make their lunch, make their bed, say nice things, give them treats, among other things.

Our birthday chair cover, helps to remind us to keep the birthday person in our thoughts all week.

Taylee made this individual microwave cake for Abree. She looked up the recipe on-line and went to work without any input or help from me. When Abree got home from school she had it waiting for her. So cute and thoughtful.

Happy Appreciation Week Abree!

Family Weekend

Last week, Jason was offered 2 extra BSU Bronco football tickets. He called his brother Jared and dad to see if they could make a quick, impromptu trip from Utah to Boise. They accepted and brought Grandma, Teresa and Lynely too. Yay!

I knew General Conference would take up several hours of our weekend, but thought that we could find some time to do some crafting. Even though Lynley's 1st birthday isn't until January, I asked Teresa if she wanted me to help her do some birthday prep.

Ya, ya, I know. I just can't help myself. :)
She accepted my offer and chose "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" theme.
We made pom-pom caterpillars for these cute invitations.

Next up, the "1" shirt. I purchased 3 different fabric options, but we narrowed it down to these 2 choices.

This was the combo we finally decided on.

Isn't it so cute?!

Lynley & Taylee

We also made this Hungry Caterpillar inspired circle garland and Teresa worked on a bigger Happy Birthday banner too.

Mom Smullin contributed by doing a blanket stitch around the applique.

Isn't it adorable?

Abree & Lynley

Jared-Lynley-Teresa

Even though it was a quick visit, we thoroughly enjoyed having everyone here.

So glad you guys could come. Love you!

Only a Mother?

Maybe this is something only a mother can appreciate...

In sacrament meeting, Abree leaned over and handed this program to me. At first I didn't think much of it, because she is often handing me little pictures and notes during church (sweet girl). But as I looked closer at her drawing, it touched me.

I believe it's her and the Savior side-by-side. I love the pink glorious light lines coming from Jesus. :) So sweet.

I think I'll keep this one.

The Conversationalist

Karen was out-of-town and Tim had to work, so it was a cousin day for us.

Audrey- with her cute jack-o-lantern smile.
Katelyn-eating her graham cracker snack.

Sydney- on her 3rd graham cracker snack of the day.

There was a little bit of Saturday morning cleaning and a lot of Barbie/baby/dress-up and house playing. We also fit in some park time, a movie and bouncing on the trampoline too. --The older 2 girls were perfectly content playing with their cousins and I barely saw them. Sydney was happy too, but she had to check in with me and was my buddy for the day. Or maybe I just seemed to be the most qualified person to get her COLD water. She would still have water in her sippy cup, but would NEED cold water.... and a snack. :) Funny girl.

That evening, as I was getting ready to go to General Women's Conference, I had just hopped out of the shower and was getting dressed, I heard someone come into my bathroom. I popped my head out and realized it was Sydney.

I said, "Sydney I'm getting dressed. I'll be out in a minute."

She said, "You don't have clothes on!"

My point EXACTLY. :)

Then after I was dressed and was putting on make-up and doing my hair, she became quite the little conversationalist.

She walked up to me and looked up and said, "You are vay-wee tall."

"I like pink and purple."

"You are wearing like Straw-baywee Shortcake."

"Your hair is pretty."

"You are vay-wee pretty."

When asking about my flat iron..

"Is that hot?"

"Only for you to touch? Only mommies."

Then she went on to tell me this whole story about Audrey falling off her bed. She went through some of the motions and what Audrey looked like and how she told mommy and how mommy helped her.

Then her play turned imaginary and she had a whole story about a mountain, bears and falling. Oh boy!

She was a little sad when I was getting ready to leave. I told her I wouldn't be gone long and I would be back soon. She said, "Can I have a hug?" --Awww, so sweet. I tried to get Taylee to distract her as I slipped out the door.

When I arrived back home, she came to me and told me, "I cry for you. I cry and cry and cry." --Awww. I asked her if she needed another hug. Yes. We hugged and all was well again.

Sweet, sweet Sydney... thanks for being my buddy and letting me be yours. It made my heart happy. :)