Saturday, July 23, 2011

Fourth of July Weekend

We had a fabulous weekend of the Fourth.  On Saturday, I had a canning party with a few friends and family (it was a House Party.  So fun.  I recommend signing up!) and after clean up, we headed out to watch some fireworks.  We were originally planning on going to Webster Groves for their fair, but found out before we left that they were only doing fireworks Sunday and Monday.  So we hit the internet and got the idea to watch the Arch fireworks from the east side.  Genius!  We ran into zero traffic and watched the fireworks from the Eads bridge.  Great view.  The only minor downside was being unable to hear the music, but not having to sit in any kind of traffic on the way home totally made up for that.  I'll sing my own soundtrack to avoid traffic!  So fun.

Mommy and her girls before the fireworks started.

The white truck down there is an ice cream truck.  What a genius!  Charlotte and Matt went down to get a treat right before the police shooed him away.  :)

Enjoying an ice cream cone!

Sunday we took it easy in the morning.  We spent some quality pool time before heading out to my aunt and uncle's lake house in Cuba, MO.  Our neighbors gave us this super cool pool and slide.  Charlotte and Audrey love it.  Daddy likes it, too.

Lounging in the pool

Down the slide!

Cheese!

Cutest little water bug.

Keeping cool!

Once we got to the lake house, the girls played outside with their cousins and some friends from SMTC.  The Dimmitts, Laura and Ryan were there, too, so we celebrated the July birthdays.  My aunt Shirley brought a cute cake from Costco, where all wonderful things come from.  :)

Carrie- 26, Scott- 49, Charlotte-3 and Derek- 4

Charlotte and her cake (and her "Unicorn Pony", the weird ponytail sticking out of her head)

The birthday boys and girls

Claiming their pieces

Opening his new ring toss game

Charlotte opening some of her presents

Ready to blow out candles!

Doesn't Derek look like such a BOY here?

Derek huffing and puffing

Sad face after Uncle Scott blew out Charlotte's candle.

On the Fourth we headed out to the Arch again, this time with Uncle Ted in town.  He surprised us all by showing up at the lake house.  He was able to swing into town during an off week.  We were so excited to see him!  (For those who don't know, he works for the Missoula Children's Theater, a super cool organization and a great experience for Ted)

Ear plugs for Charlotte since the fireworks were "too loud".  She took them out just in time for the finale.

She looks so grown up here!  I can't get over it.

Mommy and Audrey

Ready for fireworks!

Still waiting...

Yay for Uncle Ted time!

And the fireworks!

So pretty

Headed home.  I know it's a terrible picture- out of focus, bad light- but it pretty much sums up how I felt on that awful Metro ride home!  It was a long, but ultimately wonderful weekend and work was just that much worse on Tuesday.  :)

Odds and Ends

I have a few pictures from the last batch that I copied over that seem a little random, so here they are, cute pictures without a real story.  :)

Ready for playing in puddles.

Daddy's new swim trunks for Father's Day

Daddy and his girls on Father's Day

Hanging out with Grandpa after his party

Grandpa and his granddaughters.

Hugs for Papa!

Trouble, thy name is Audrey.

What a disaster!

Mommy, take my picture!

Cheese!

Friday, July 22, 2011

Audrey's Birthday Party!

For those of you that know me, it will come as no surprise that I LOVE to throw parties!  I love planning them, I love coming up with themes and menus and favors.  It is my favorite thing to do.  Sometimes I think I missed my calling as an event planner.  :)  For Audrey's first birthday, I went fairly simple.  It was a Hot Air Balloon theme, inspired by the Curious George book, Curious George and the Hot Air Balloon Ride.  I made some super cute hot air balloon invitations, but don't have a picture right now.  They ended up even cuter than I expected!  I loved them.  Since Audrey didn't really care all that much about the party itself, I made it more a friends and family get together, with cake of course!

The backyard.  I bought two dozen balloons to decorate with and two 36" balloons.  They were huge and so fun!


It was pretty hot, so the guests congregated in the shade.  It was pretty funny- as the shaded area got bigger, the party spread out a little more.  :)

The food table before dinner.

My hot air balloon cake.  I was pretty happy with the cake sculpting, but I need to work on my icing script.

The cupcake balloons.

The living room, decorated, but most people stayed outside.  I brought the balloons from here outside shortly after this picture was taken.

Charlotte and her buddy, Abby.

Aw, besties!

Showing off their matching shoes.

Hanging out with Gramma and baby Noah (oh, and Noah's mom and dad).


Logan and his mommy, Cheryl, our fabulous neighbors.  We met them shortly after Charlotte was born.  Cheryl saw the Welcome Home, Baby sign in our yard and left a card with a Starbucks gift card and a sweet note about how new moms need caffeine.  Logan is a few months older than Charlotte, so she was in the thick of it!  We went over to thank her and found new friends!

Dinner.  My mom had a little fun arranging the pulled pork.  Weirdo.  :)

Hanging out with Abby while waiting for presents.

I don't care what's behind the paper.  Give me the bow!

Diving in.

Presents?  What presents?  I want Mommy's glasses.

The coolest one-year-old around.


These cars turned out to be one of her favorite gifts.  She plays with them all the time, "driving" them in circles around the house.  She loves them!  Thanks, Aunt Cindy and Uncle Kevin!

Tissue paper fun!

Getting help from big sis and Karlee.

Grandpa and Grandma Edie put so much tissue paper in the bag, they felt the need to throw in a brand new, unopened package of tissue paper.  :)  We returned it a few weeks later in Grandpa's birthday present.

My cousin Laura and her boyfriend, Ryan, heard that Charlotte was trying to get Audrey to be an expert fighter, so Ryan bought her a t-shirt from his martial arts studio.  If you can't read it, the shirt says "Battle Ready".  :)

A perfect fit.  :)

Cake!

Mom, give me that cupcake RIGHT.NOW.

This is the best!

Icing first...

Then stare it down.

And then eat the cake, wondering why there isn't more icing.

Seriously, where is the rest of the icing?


All gone!

The "big" kids.  Sigh.  When did my children get so old?

Charlotte leading a parade and bossing her friends around.

The girls- Karlee, Charlotte and Abby.

Tuckered out with Grandpa after a fun party.

The Freeman family post party photo.  Happy birthday, Audrey!  We are so glad you have made our family so special!