Ruler of the Elves

All good things must come to an end, and sadly, that includes birthday week. Pinky’s actual birthday was fairly low key compared to the previous party and other activities. The day went down like this…

-Yesterday morning, Chris and I both had sore cheeks and were a bit winded, but the excitement on Pinky’s face when she woke up to a room full of 160 pink and white balloons was priceless and well worth the pain.

-Around 2:30, I popped into school to drop off some cupcakes and bubbles for the kid’s to have and Pinky’s little boy “friend” claimed she was the coolest kid ever.

-6:00 pm. We patiently waited for Chris to come home by blowing bubbles on the patio.

-At approximately 7:00 pm, Pinky received several phone calls wishing/singing her happy birthday.

-7:45 pm. The 3 of us headed to a local seafood joint. Pinky was craving crab legs.

-9:00 pm. We pulled a late nighter and headed to the theater to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. (Super cute movie!)

-We made it home and in bed just after 11:00 pm. Pinky had a great birthday. Now I will just have to try not to blink my eyes or it will be time to celebrate birthday number 6!

I can’t believe she is 5 years old. My baby has grown into a beautiful and amazing little girl. Pinky, you amaze me and inspire me everyday. Happy Birthday! I’m so proud to be your mom!

Every year we make it a point to stop by my step mom’s family farm in the fall. We kind of incorporate it into Pinky’s birthday weekend and this year was no exception.

The farm has about everything that a visitor could wish for. A wide variety of animals, fruit trees, a pond, tractors, fields of corn grown just for corn mazes, and tons of other fun fall stuff. It’s always fun to run around and check everything out. When we got there, Pinky took a ride on the horse drawn wagon, while some of the rest of us checked out the donkeys, orchard, pond and pumpkin patch.

Next, we headed up to the barn for some close encounters with the residents.

I was attempting to converse with some cows when one of them decided she would like to lick my camera lens. Fun stuff!

To end our trip, Pinky picked out a few pumpkins and tried to show me her cute baby squash while attempting to hide from the harsh afternoon sunlight.

We can’t wait to carve those puppies up and stick a candle in them to add to our front porch Halloween decor!

The Neverland Party

This past weekend, we celebrated Pinky’s 5th birthday (coming up on the 21st) with a lively Neverland themed party. I spent a lot of time and energy trying to make everything look great, which is quite complicated, considering the impossibility of turning wood paneling and concrete into something pretty.

We used a lot of props from the pirate party and the Wonderland party and then combined them to make our Neverland theme work. This saved me tons of time and most of my energy was spent on food prep. Pinky loves food on a stick, so we made cake pops, caprese salad skewers, fruit kabobs, and skewered marinated chicken. I also had my sis grab some rock candy because it just seemed right.

Other food included layered jello shots of the non-alcoholic variety and black beans salsa cups with chips.

There were quite a few characters who showed up this year as well, including fairies, lost boys, and pirates.

The main players even made an appearance. We had several Peter Pans, Capt. Hook, Tiger Lily, Wendy, the Crocodile…

And Pinky as Tinkerbell. Here she is preparing to open her presents.

Thanks to everyone who helped us pull off another great party! More birthday excitement to come!

Recently, we joined Ben & Katie in Indiana to watch some college football.

It was Pinky’s first game ever and she had quite a blast. The day started early with some driving and since the game wasn’t until the evening, we hung out in the parking lot (AKA tailgated) with some friends. The weather was chilly, but we came prepared with sweatshirts, blankets, gloves and hats. Ben also brought along his trusty little grill, so we cooked up some tasty burgers and hotdogs. The only problem was that in all of our planning, which included our cold weather gear, an assortment of yummy food and drink, and plenty of things to keep us occupied while we waited, we neglected to remember any silverwear or spatula to move our food around on the grill. Never Fear! Ben quickly whipped out a handy ice scrapper from his trunk which perfectly doubled as a food turner. Talk about ingenious ideas. Too bad I didn’t get any pictures.

I tried to capture a few shots of Pinky, but she was very reluctant to cooperate. She was having more fun playing with Katie and rolling on Ben than to notice me.

Chris and I (or from the looks of this photo, Happy and Sleepy) had a great time watching our little buckeye cheer the players on.

Overall, Pinky’s first college football experience went perfectly and we all really enjoyed it. It helped that our team won too!