12, 10, & 3~

CReATE Studio~

We were so busy in June that we ended up doing Mikayla's birthday party with her friends in July. She chose to have it at a crafty place called CReATE Studio.  It started with a stay-at-home mom who used her garage and old stuff, junk, recyclables and let kids come and make crafts out of them.  Now she has a real studio and tons more junk and craft supplies.  The kids love it because you can make a huge mess and it doesn't matter.  For parties she gives them one craft to do and then lets them do whatever they want for the rest of the time and the kids all love it.  They were all so creative and the cutest part is that they talked and chatted the whole time and we got to be flies on the wall.=)  Very different from parties when she was 5,6,7,etc., but kind of nice to just sit back and watch.

Landen loved painting!  He made 4 pictures.  

He used a lot of green=)

Zach used old plastic toy pieces to make a robot.  He enjoyed listening to the girl talk too.=)

Most of her BFFs!

Her fave, pizza! Isn't she a beauty!?!

A place for splatter paint

Yummy cupcakes from Sweet Arlene's, winner of Cupcake Wars!

Our sweet 12 year old!

She had the best time!  It was a very fun day!

Our Fun Fourth~

 I am skipping a ton of stuff from June, but I need to get our 4th of July posted before it's August!  We are in the middle of potty training and Landen also has been sick, so it has been extra busy.  I'll catch up someday!

My Sweet Three!

 For Father's Day all Jeff wanted was tickets to the Dodgers vs. Reds game.  Since it was an evening game we decided it would be better for just he and Zach to go.  So the Reds fan and the Dodgers fan had a fun evening on the fourth.  They said the fireworks were awesome and they could see fireworks all over LA on their way home.  

Landen wanted to go too until he heard we were going to make cupcakes.

 I ended up getting bronchitis from the cold/virus thing I had and it seemed to drag on forever.  My lungs took a long time to heal, but I was able to still do some fun things with Mikayla and Landen while the big boys were at the baseball game.  As soon as Jeff and Zach left Landen shouted, "Let's get this party started!!"  He is such a crack up!

America's Best Little Helper!

 We decided to make the cupcakes I had pinned from pinterest.  I think it was originally a better homes and gardens recipe.  

He said it was his mustache.

 Landen helped so much and loved putting the strawberries on.  Mikayla was so sweet to let him have turns helping.

My little bakers=)

 Probably could have used another row of white, but we still thought it looked great!  And they were dairy free!

My beautiful girl!

Who likes the cupcakes!?  Landen said, "ME!!!"

I was surprised he ate most of it.

 After making cupcakes we headed to the Thousand Oaks Mall parking lot to watch the fireworks!  

Two cuties snuggled under blankets.  It was about 60 degrees that night.

 Mikayla was nervous we were too close and I think her nervousness rubbed off on Landen because he got nervous too, but once they started he loved them!  He yelled, "Mommy!  Wook!  I see a green one!  That's my favorite color!"

 The fog had rolled in and I was wondering if it would affect the fireworks.  They were still beautiful, but you can see it was a little foggy by the highest ones.

I let Landen take a looong nap that day, actually had to wake him after 2.5 hours, but he was still sleepy by about 10.  He said on the way home, "Mommy I fink I am getting a wittle sweepy."  He pretty much has stopped napping lately and just goes to bed earlier.  Even with his long nap he was sound asleep by 10:15pm, so I think it was a successful night!

Good Night & Good Morning~

She's 12~

Did I write in my last post that June was less hectic than the school year and everyone was fine now?!  I spoke way too soon!  We all keep saying to each other that we can't believe what a crazy 12th birthday Mikayla had.  It started off very well.  She had a great morning at Musical Theater camp that ended with pool time.  She was thinking that to herself as she left the pool to go to the locker room and change.  Then someone opened the big steel door right on her big toe and the nail bent all the way back.  Ouch!!  Thankfully 2 lifeguards were there within seconds and I was waiting outside the locker room as well.  

Not broken, just very painful.=(

 We waited a long time to be seen by the Dr. but it didn't matter because there was nothing they could do.  She'll lose the nail eventually and for now it just looks yucky.  Afterwards we had to rush to the dentist for Zach's appt. that we had been trying to get to all week.  He had a very weird, gross spot on his gums we thought might be an abscess.  Sure enough, the baby tooth that just wouldn't fall out caused a pretty bad abscess so the tooth had to be pulled right away and the abscess drained.  Poor little guy was out of it for awhile.  I think Mikayla was in better spirits than he was.

 We had to cancel plans to go to Olive Garden for her birthday and Daddy brought home OG takeout instead.  She still got her yummy cheesecake though!

 Really we are all thankful it wasn't worse.  It is a birthday to remember for sure!  

Landen insisted "bun bun" be in the picture.

On top of everything else, this was also the day I realized that it wasn't "just allergies" and that I was sick.  Landen wasn't able to nap all week because of the kids camp pick up schedules and so that added some stress as well.  It was a crazy week and we are still recovering, but by the grace of God everyone really is fine now.