Party Season is FINALLY Over!

This has been a stressful few weeks. Lots and lots of parties- Camille and Audra's Birthday, Audra's baptism, and now Claire's Birthday. It's been a little rough, but now it is over!

On Friday night we had Claire's Birthday party. She asked for two things:

1. Pinata

2. Donuts on a string game

Simple enough, right? And, it was pretty simple. The bigger problem was the weather. It gets really stormy and unpredictable, and I wanted the pinata and donuts on a string to be outside, but I wasn't sure if it was going to work out. I came up with a couple of indoor games just in case.

She also decided she wanted to have a Rapunzel theme. Most of her friends are boys, so she decided she didn't want to invite most of her friends. I was able to convince her to invite a couple of boys who she is very close to. She wasn't happy with it, but she did it.

Thankfully, the weather held. We were able to play outside which was great. I thought the kids would run around wild, but they were incredibly mellow. I had to go over and start some games instead of them just playing on the swing set and such. It was funny. So I went over and we played Duck, Duck, Goose while Ben finished cooking the hot dogs.

Getting the pinata ready- Claire was so excited for this!

Audra decorated the cake. She needs a little practice with her writing tip, but overall she is doing awesome and I LOVE LOVE LOVE that Audra is my new official cake decorator!

The hot dogs were a hit!

Camille cheated a little bit, but overall she did well to not use her hands. When she wasn't using her hands, she kept yelling "I want doughnut!" It was cute.

Isn't Camille so cute?

Getting the candy!

We had to take the cake inside because the wind kept blowing out the candles.

We played "Pin the Rapunzel on the tower." It was a great indoor game.

I hope that Claire felt very loved, because she is. Her party went very well.

And now we have a two year break before the next crazy round of multiple Birthday parties.

The North Pole!

Yesterday we made our annual trek to the North Pole. I love this tradition of ours. It just gets better and better every year. This year we did not have to worry about diapers or naps! YAHOO!!!! I feel like we are a perfect age with our kids- they are old enough to be fun and to do really cool things, and not too old to cop an attitude (though Audra is showing signs of that ending soon).

The weather was almost perfect- not too hot. But, we did get a little over an hour of rain toward the end. We almost left, but we stuck it out and were rewarded with 15 minutes of sunshine at the end to enjoy the rides for just a few more minutes.

We got home and Audra immediately started crying because it will be another year before we go back. I'm glad they look forward to this tradition as much as we do!

They thought they were pretty cool that they could ride this ride without an adult.

The operators said if you need the ride to stop, do a thumbs down sign. Within about 3 seconds of the ride starting. Audra made the thumbs down sign. Maybe next year will be better!

The girls really wanted to go on the Parachutes. I can't go on them- I throw up every time. Luckily, Ben and the grandparents were willing to make the sacrifice. The girls LOVED it. The adults? Not so much.

Camille refused to smile for the first 2 hours. After awhile she realized she was supposed to be having fun and started enjoying herself. It was pretty funny.

She did NOT want to ride rides with me! It was a little sad, but I guess she figures she is with me all the time and she wanted dad or the grandparents instead.

One of the best parts of the day: Ice-cream!