Lea's Harry Potter Birthday Party

Lea had a Harry Potter Birthday Party this year. I was so busy running the party, I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked. We began by sorting each girl into their houses. I had a witches hat that we used for the sorting hat and Daniel was on speaker phone as I hid my cell phone inside the hat. He had the perfect sorting hat voice and the girls LOVED this activity. Once they were sorted (we only put them in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw) they each recieved a badge with the symbol from their house on it that they wore for the whole party. After the sorting was done, we played a game called Whomping Willow where the girls could win points for their house. Prizes were given out afterward and then we sat down to sing "Happy Birthday" to Lea and have cake. I made wizard hat cupcakes with a yellow lightening bolt scar on each one.

Lea was having a great time!

After the feast, the girls had 3 classes to complete to earn their magic wands (glow sticks). The first was Care of Magical Creatures class. The girls learned about and colored pictures of Unicorns, Dragons, and Gryffins. The second class was quidditch. The girls took their brooms and we went outside on a treasure hunt to find the golden snitch.

The girls had a lot of fun following the clues.

There was a golden caramel cadbury egg (golden snitch) for each girl at the end of the hunt.

The final class was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Here the girls had to fight a dragon. Of course, when they sleighed this dragon they were rewarded with candy.

Lastly Lea opened presents and then the girls visited the sweets trolley on their way out the door to go home. There they got chocolate frogs, edible wands (chocolate covered preztel rods), and Bertie Botts Every flavor Beans.

Lea had so much fun with all of her friends at her birthday party.
Happy Birthday Lea!

Leaves!

"Leaves are falling all around, on the housetops on the ground, leaves are falling on my nose, on my head, and , hands, and toes."

Playing in leaves is so much fun!

As you can see, Jonah lost his second front tooth earlier this day. Now he can sing "All I Want For Christmas Are My Two Front Teeth..."

My kids are so cute!

Our Christmas Tree

This year we followed tradition and for the fourth year in a row we got a fresh Christmas Tree from Larry's Produce. This is where we got our beautiful tree for $40.

My three cuties!

And here we are ready to bring the tree home.

Handsome Daniel is great at putting the lights on the tree.

This year we also had ornaments Daniel inherited from his Grandmother. They are beautiful and we love being reminded of her.

"Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree..."

Happy Birthday Lea!

Happy 8th birthday Lea! Breakfast in bed is a very fun tradition for birthdays in our family. Lea requested Swedish pancakes. I tried to make the orange slices into a number eight. Yummy!

This is my cute 8 year old right before going to school.

That night Grandma came over and gave Lea a birthday present.

What a beautiful dress! Thanks Grandma!

We love Lea so much! She is definitely growing up! She loves to read and experiment with make up, fashion, and jewelery, but she still likes to play with dolls and Barbies too. She loves to kayak and swim and camp especially with her Daddy. She loves being in girl scouts and she is so excited to start Activity Days this month. Lea loves to sing and she has had many opportunities to sing special musical numbers in church this year and also in choir at school. Lea is a friendly, smart, sweet, fun girl and we love having her in our family! Happy Birthday my sweet Lea!

Birthday Mani/Pedi

Lea got her first manicure and pedicure for her birthday present from her aunt Cheryl this year. She LOVED it! They went to a salon nearby. Lea loved the foot massage - who doesn't!?! Her nails were painted pink with glitter on them. Thank you Cheryl for sharing this fun pampered afternoon with Lea!

Micah

Micah is 2 and 3/4. With birthday festivities coming up for Lea and Jonah, Micah really is anxious for it to be his birthday (sorry buddy not for three more months). This picture was taken by request from this little guy while he was playing with cups and making a cup family. He came downstairs and said "Mom look! Take a picture!" He told me all about the Mommy cup, Daddy cup, and so on. Micah talks so much! When we pick up Lea and Jonah from school, I ask them about their day and sometime during their telling of events Micah shouts out, "It's my turn!" He has to wait (which he doesn't like) but he gets his turn to talk. Micah already wants to be in kindergarten as he frequently tells me when we drop off his brother and sister at school in the mornings and Micah always does his "homework" - coloring in the designated homework coloring book - while Lea and Jonah are doing theirs. He wants to be like his brother and sister. He adores them! He can count to ten but he tries counting to twenty. He just mixes up all the teens. (His counting skills began with mommy counting while teaching aerobics class. Micah just picked it up and started counting with me one day.) He is learning his letters and we find letters while at the grocery store. Micah can identify about 5 letters on his own. He is very smart and will be ready for school before too long. Although he does have a champion pouty face and he is no stranger to throwing fits now and then, Micah is amazing. We love our little guy!