birthday party à la wonderland

I'm late! I'm late! This post should have happened several days ago, but The Sick has been here in addition to plenty of routine craziness, so here they are at long last.

Hazel's birthday party fell on the opening night of the new Alice in Wonderland movie, so naturally she wanted us to take the party to the theater so she could see it with her friends! The kids had the idea to dress up as characters in the movie, and as always, amazed us with their creativity and willingness to have fun and dress up in public!


Even though Hazel had just invited girls (for the sleepover), most of her friends also had little brothers who wanted to attend the movie with us. Some of them even got into the masquerade aspect of it and donned a costume as well. It was so much fun to see them all dressed up!


Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee



The Mad Hatter and Alice



2 White Rabbits!



The March Hare and another Mad Hatter



And one more Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat (OMG! The tail!!)



And of course our beloved (if somewhat unwilling to be photographed) Megan in her fabulous chinese dress. Is she the Red Queen? Or maybe a Dark Alice? I think a little of both.



After pictures it was off to the theater to collect our 3D glasses and find a seat. It is hard to take pictures inside movie theaters without flash (see above). So I waited until the end credits were rolling to snap one of the older girls who had not yet run off (below). Hopefully I did not blind anyone!




They attracted a lot of attention at the theater, just like they like it. And I love that they are willing to do such fun stuff.


I mean, how often do you see a gang of tutu-clad delinquents running around town? You can't help but smile.


The noise level was very high on the way home. VERY high. CRAZY high. But what can you say when the little darlings are belting out a rousing chorus of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat" on the way home from this movie?! Nothing.

Hazel got some very sweet gifts from her friends after we got back home, and then it was time for cake and ice cream. Jason always does such a nice job with the photos while I bring out the cake. One of the only times I am consistently in pictures is at birthday cake time!






Once it started to get good and late, we gathered our supplies for our "tea party", which was Hazel-style all the way. Hot chocolate with all the fancy fixings, just like at Borders. Whipped Cream in a can, chocolate shavings, marshmallows, chocolate and caramel syrup, chocolate sticks and Twix bars. It was so much fun and the girls created some beautifully artful cups of yummy chocolate goodness!




They then proceeded to go crazy with the whipped cream. Like I didn't see that coming. (What's a hot chocolate bar without all the whipped cream you can eat?)














There was lots of dancing late into the night and- surprise, surprise! They managed to end up like this not long after 5 am. Or so I heard tell. I took this photo at 8 am. If you look closely you'll notice the TV was still on, and so were Hazel's glasses. Ouch.




We sent the girls each home with a tiny tea-party charm tied on a ribbon as a keepsake.  An amazing time was had by all! Thank you to all our wonderful friends for making this a party Hazel will never forget.

birthday photos

It was a pretty crazy day, weather-wise, and we were limited to standing on our front porch for most of the photos. They turned out pretty well, considering, and at least we have documentation. This is the often the only time of year that I take portraits of my kids, and it is good to be able to compare from year to year.


Hazel put together a fabulous outfit, of course. She had purple and red flowers to match her hair and her stripey clothes. Too bad it was so cold she could barely stand still for photos!


We had blueberry pancakes for breakfast, by request, and we ate it at Hazel's usual breakfast time of 11 am. They went out to a late lunch at Panera Bread (again, Hazel's choice) and then headed downtown to Ciné to see the selection of Oscar nominees for Best Animated Short Film. They finished the evening with hot chocolates at Borders, our favorite late evening dessert spot. Seriously, the hot chocolates are FABulous and they have incredible cookies and brownies too. And they warm them up for you-MMMMmmmmmmmm. We really love it there. :)


Enjoying popcorn and cream sodas at Ciné. 

The festivities will continue on Friday, when Hazel and her friends will be seeing Alice in Wonderland on opening night and then having a sleepover. It's going to be great! 


Here are some more photos from yesterday. Hazel, we are so proud of who you are becoming as you grow older. We are so thankful you are a part of our lives!



 

sweet sixteen

Today marks sixteen years since I married my best friend. He used to bring me white daisies when we were dating so I thought I would get him some this time. :)

We have spent almost all of our adult lives together- learning and changing and growing. There have been problems and solutions, mistakes and apologies, pain and healing- but always love. Love and acceptance and friendship and support.

Happy anniversary, Jason, and thank you for your love. I am so glad to be here with you right now and for the rest of my days. I love you with all my heart.

catching up a bit

Whoa. So it turns out I just need a month off every winter! Who knew? I am feeling back into the swing of things now that vacation is over and I have triumphed over a pretty nasty cold. I knew I was ready to get back to blogging when I started noticing tiny things that I wished I could share, if only I weren't so behind. So this will be one big catching up post, and then on to the current events and everyday life this week.

Decorating our tree:




Oragami cranes by Daisy for the tip top this year instead of a star. And berries that we actually found growing on the trees at the farm! So pretty.





And our Christmas Pickle. We hide it in the tree over and over again during the holiday season, and take turns trying to find it. Everyone has a lot of fun with it. 


We visited with family and had lots of fun with cousins and grandparents




And had a very merry Waffle House Christmas breakfast before everyone headed back to TX and OK. This is one of our most beloved holiday traditions!






When we got home from Waffle House, our own family's Christmas began- with lots of presents to open from our MN relatives, and from each other. We spent the weekend playing with new stuff and settling back in to our quiet(er) house without all the extras. We had so much fun visiting but it was good to be on our own again too.
























Stella lost a tooth on Christmas Day, and we went for a drive to enjoy the lights and a snack of fries and Frosties from Wendy's before bed.






The lights downtown always look just like a starry sky. I love it so much.




Well- that's just a quick wrap-up and some pictures of the kids. We had a really crazy but really great month, and I am looking forward to posting about some non-holiday related stuff that has been going on around here since. THANK YOU so much for coming back to check on us here even though I have not posted in so long. We appreciate every single reader we have! Happy New Year to everyone!