Lucky Seven!

So, somehow I suddenly have a SEVEN year old! How did this happen? Really though the time just keeps flying by faster and faster. I can't believe Emma is seven already! She'd been counting down to her birthday for months, and waited so patiently through Matthew and Ellie's birthdays. And finally her big day came. We got her a new bike several weeks ago as an early birthday present and then on her birthday she got her very own Legos. She was THRILLED. Now she and Matthew each have their own...and I have to say, Legos these days are pretty darn cool! They have spent hours and hours playing with them. 

We were SO busy on her actual birthday so we kept things pretty low key. She chose to go to her favorite frozen yogurt place, Menchies, instead of having a cake, so we did that in the little bit of time we had after Jon got home from work but before he had to run off to Scouts. It was a fun way to celebrate.

We spent the fourth of July with Jon's family so we had cake (a super yummy fruit pizza his mom made) and she opened presents from them.

Lots of art stuff!

Then a couple days later we had her birthday party with her friends. It's so hard having a summer birthday, and especially one right next to a holiday...so many people were out of town! We were glad so many of her friends were able to come and she loved getting to see some of her best school friends again.

We kept it pretty low key...played some tug of war

had a water balloon toss

and played some Red Rover

Emma picked a caterpillar pinata. She took a turn hitting it, then Matthew took his turn and broke it! Seriously the fastest I've ever seen a pinata break!

Happy birthday to my sweet girl!

And here is the 7 year old birthday interview

What is your full name?  Emma Farrell 

 How old are you?  Seven

What's your favorite color?  My favorite color is red.

Who's your best friend?  Eduarda

What's your favorite animal?  A turtle

What do you want to be when you grow up?   An artist

What's your favorite movie?  The Neverending Story

What are some of your favorite books? Brave, Pigeon books, and Pinkalicious.

What makes you happy?  Spending time with my family.

What makes you sad?  When my brother bes mean to me.

What's your favorite food?  Strawberries!

What's your favorite song? Ummm….my favorite song is Wreck it Ralph (Owl City's "When Can I See You Again?")

What games do you like to play?   Hide and Seek, Monopoly, and freeze tag.

What's your favorite toy? My favorite toy are the two Lego sets I got.

We've Got a 2 Year Old in the House!

Ellie was SO excited for her birthday this year. I really think 2 is the best year for birthdays. They are so enthusiastic and fun. We filled the living room with balloons for her to wake up to and then let her open a couple presents and her cards from grandparents first thing in the morning.

Emma was so incredibly sweet. She spent all of her free time at school for a week making cards, pictures, and books for Ellie. They were so cute. There was a colors book so Ellie can learn her colors, a couple cute cards, and then 3 pictures that Ellie could decorate how she wanted. There was the decorate your own cast, decorate your own chicken, and decorate your own cupcake. It was seriously the sweetest thing ever.

We met up at the zoo that morning with all of Jon's family and our neighbors/Ellie's BFF. We LOVE the zoo, but it ended up being a really hot day, so we only stayed for a couple hours.

 After the zoo, we went and spent the rest of the day with Jon's family and then opened presents and had cake that night.

I am partly excited and partly terrified for this next year! Ellie can be so sweet and smart and fun and she can also be very strong willed. She has a very extensive vocabulary, but her favorite word right now is NO! She loves reading books and being silly with the other kids. I am pretty sure she thinks she is 5 or 6 instead of 2 and she is convinced that all of Emma and Matthew's friends are her best friends. We feel so lucky to have Ellie in our family.

And in place of a birthday interview, here are a couple fun facts about Ellie's birthday-

She was born exactly 3 1/2 weeks (25 days) after Matthew's birthday and 3 1/2 weeks (24 days) before Emma's birthday. Seven weeks of nonstop birthday fun!

Her birthday (6/8/11) just happens to be the years each of the kids were born. Emma in 2006, Matthew 2008, and Ellie 2011. Kind of fun.  :)

Pinecrest

The week after we went camping at Big Sur, Jon took Emma and Matthew camping with a group of friends and their kids. After our less than pleasant night time experience camping the previous weekend, I opted to stay home with Ellie...and was SO glad I did. It was a nice, quiet weekend and I loved getting to spend time with just Ellie.

So, Ellie and I said good bye, and Jon and the kids headed out to one of their favorite camping spots. They did this same campout last year with friends, and are looking forward to doing it again soon.

The traditional stop on the way there...the kids love this store.

Practicing at the rifle range

They spent a lot of time fishing. The lake was recently stocked so they caught a ton of trout.

Oh, this picture makes me laugh!

 Saturday morning everybody headed to the lake and played on the beach and fished. Somebody brought a boat and they loved getting to ride on it too.

 If you judge how much fun you've had by how dirty you are, then it's safe to say these kids had a pretty great weekend!  :)

Preschool Graduation

It's SO hard to believe this day has come and gone. It feels like we were JUST here with Emma...watching her with her preschool classmates, thinking they looked waaayyyy too young to be starting kindergarten. And Matthew looks even smaller! But the truth is, he is 5. He is done with preschool. And he is moving on. It was a fun little morning and a quick graduation....perfect for 5 year olds' 5 minute attention spans.  :) 

 

 

We have absolutely LOVED this preschool and are so glad that Emma and Matthew could both go there. The teachers (Mrs. Barnes, Mrs. Mercanton, Mrs. Stigge, and Mrs. King) are fabulous and the kids loved going there. It was so sad to say good bye on the last day. We are so proud of Matthew and the person that he is becoming. 

Big Sur

Every Memorial Day weekend Jon's family goes camping at Big Sur, so when we can we tag along. This year the entire Farrell family came, which was really fun. The weather was gorgeous and we all had a great time...or mostly great time. The day time was really fun, but night time was a complete nightmare. There was me...20 weeks pregnant, sleeping on an air mattress that completely deflated an hour after I went to bed. Then we added Ellie to the mix, who completely refused to sleep or lay down or do anything that had anything to do with bedtime. It took until almost midnight for Jon to get her to fall asleep after driving around with her for awhile. She then spent the rest of the night sprawled out on top of me (on the completely deflated air mattress). And then because we weren't having enough fun yet, she was up for the day at 5:40. I was one tired, cranky pregnant lady! This was definitely her last camping trip for a long while!

So, moving on to happier things...

We all went on a bike ride/walk down to a swimming hole. This picture of Ellie and Nora riding in the bike trailer cracks me up.

Grandpa gave the grandkids a lesson on forest safety

The fam at the swimming hole

Emma pretty much lived in the trees the whole two days...little monkey! When we left she said she wants to live at this campsite forever.

These kids love camping!

I love this little sequence

Best buds. These 2 cute cousins were SO happy to see each other.