12 on the 12th - sort of

Time, once again, for the 12 pictures on the 12th of the month.  This month was special, though because we had a get-together to celebrate my dad and give him strength and encouragement as he battles Leukemia.  He has a few rough weeks/months ahead of him, and we wanted to get his friends and family together while he's feeling pretty good.

9am - on our way to church

10am - no pics during the sermon!  Listening to Pastor Drebes

11am - on our way home for lunch

 

Noon - Yummy smoothies for lunch!  The kids sucked them down quick.

 

1pm - Poor Angel doesn't get much attention now that he has 3 human siblings.
 Thought he deserved a big pic.  He looks so sweet in the basket.



2pm - Home Spa Time!  The last few
months have been so crazy, that
I had let my color go, and my grey
was overpowering.  Time to be
 a brunette again!



3pm - toes needed a little TLC, too.  Now I have Happy Feet!

4pm - All done and ready to go!

5pm - We're at Brent and Jana's and having a good time.  No keeping track of time from here on out.  Just enjoying our time together with family and friends.

Looking good!  Hanging out on the back porch watching all the grandkids play.

Ron (my dad), Barb (my mom), Bill (one of my dad's best childhood friends), Scott (my brother), and Jackie (Bill's fiance).

Yikes!  Found a snake in the yard!



Luke wants to be just like the big guys.



Wheee!!

All 8 cousins in one place, AND looking forward!  It's a miracle!
Nicholas, Cate, John, James, Patrick, Bella, Luke, Laney

The whole Oringderff / Merfen / Holtorf family!



The whole party!  It was a wonderful evening.  Thanks to Brent and Jana for hosting!



Enjoying time outside in the lovely weather.

Reminiscing about old times

Could hardly keep Dad inside.  He really loves being outdoors,
and watching the little ones was a great bonus!

Jerry became a human jungle gym for Bella, Patrick, and James!

We ended the evening around 9:30 looking for fireflies in the backyard.  Great end to a wonderful night!

Room #1 - The Princess Suite

Jerry and I had a lot of fun dreaming up the decoration for the girls' room and making our vision come to life!  Both girls are very much into princesses, especially Rapunzel and Cinderella.  (most likely because the villains in those movies are not as scary as some of the others) Here's the transformation. 

 This is the before photo.  We don't have a true "before" pic because we had already taken down the princess and flower wall stickers and all the frames, etc.  I took down the castle sticker last because it was my favorite. :)  We used it as a backdrop for photos at Bella's 4th birthday party last year.

First step: Base coat.  Since we did a princess theme, we chose Disney colors, of course!  This color is called "Posies for Pooh".  The next step was to pencil in the design we wanted.  We used a computer and projector (thanks, big bro!) as our "stencils".  In the pic above you can faintly see the glowing square.  That's from the projector.

 Jerry and I took turns doing the detail painting.  He did the castle, tower, horses and carriage.  I painted the cameos above the girls' beds. The lighter color that is on the bottom is called "One Enchanted Evening".  Let's hope we have many, many more than that!

All done! 

Cameo of Bella

Cameo of Delaney

 Jerry added some lanterns coming from the castle.  It must be Rapunzel's birthday!

 I added some magical golden hair coming from Rapunzel's tower.  Looks like Maximus is considering going to find Flynn Rider!

The piece de resistance: a chandelier we picked up off of Craig's List.  What a perfect finishing touch for a room fit for two princesses!  

The girls love their new room, and Bella immediately started making up a story about Rapunzel moving all around her room.  Imaginations have been jump started. We're ready for summer!

Laney's First Haircut

 Many people take their babies to get their first haircut within the first year of life.  Even 18 months, 2 years... Delaney was 2 years, 9 months and 6 days when she had hers.  It takes so long for my kiddos to GET hair, that I'm not too excited to cut it off until absolutely necessary.  I wouldn't even say that Laney was in NEED of a haircut yet, but Bella needed one desperately, and Laney wanted to do what big sis was doing.  So... the first haircut came to be. 

 She started getting a little worried when the hairdresser put the smock on her, but once the scissors came out, the worry grew.  She never did cry, but I know she was concerned.

Even through the worry, she followed directions like a champ.  She put her head down, to the side - everything she was told to do.  Way to go, Laney! Looking great!

BIRTHDAY PICS!

They have been FOUND!  The computer gods are smiling down at me right now.  I'm crazy excited.  Here's some more pics of the decorations, and a few of my smiling 5-year-old! I didn't include any pics of the party-goers, because this is a public blog, and I don't want to show pics of babies who aren't mine.

 The food table was fun and festive.  I stole some of my ideas from other blogging mommies, and others I did all on my own.  Since you are reading this blog, I know you CAN read, so I'll let you read the food labels yourself.  :)

 I'm a crazy woman with my computer and my scrapbooking supplies.  I made these labels out of leftover baby shower thank you notes.  Not planning on using THOSE again!

The cupcakes rocked my world.  I ordered them from Suplise It's a Party!  The lady had never heard of The Fresh Beat Band before, but thanks to Google, she was able to create a yummy replica of Kiki's guitar!  I'd say it was "kickin'!"

 I bought colorful cups from Oriental Trading and decorated them with pics of the FBB and each child's name on the back.  We used them for our Groovy Smoothies, of course!

 Since this was a music themed party, I got out all of our instruments, and borrowed a few from Parents as Teachers - one of the perks of my job!  The kids played instruments along with our party soundtrack (see party favors from last blog post) as they came in.

 As each child entered, they received a VIP backstage pass to see the Fresh Beat Band.  Bella dressed as Kiki, Delaney was Marina, Luke was Shout, and Jerry was Twist.  I was Miss Piccolo - lucky me, she was off duty, so she was wearing regular clothes instead of the stuffy suits she wears on the show! We also played some games - "Loco Legs Sack Race" and "Musical Dots" (just like musical chairs, but with dots on the floor - once they were out, they went upstairs for their Groovy Smoothie.)  They also made a keychain/zipper pull craft that I picked up at Michaels.

My big girl is FIVE!  I can hardly believe it.  She'll be going to kindergarten in the fall, and that completely blows my mind!  I'm so proud of her.  As she went to bed that night, she thanked me for the "best party ever."  Now you see why I go to so much work.  She's totally worth it.