Laila is DOUBLE DIGITS!

 I blinked and Laila is 1-0! It's hard to believe that ten years ago I was preparing for her day of birth and getting her nursey all put together and now she's planning her own parties and orchestrating her own 'big girl' room makeover! 

She wanted a room makeover for her birthday so this was her gift from Travis and I. We went shopping and she picked out a few, new items to add to her room but I did find some surprises that I threw in that she didn't know about. She picked out the bedding quilt, the picture, and the shelf. I picked out the book shelf, the iridescent buckets and jewelry case for the book shelf, the hanging organizer for her closet, the curtains as well as the 'happy place' sign and added the lamps with remote controlled LED lightbulbs. It really doesn't take much to transform a room to look totally different. Less is more with me so I wanted it to be simple and easy for her to be able to clean up and I got rid of a lot of her 'junk'. Travis and I worked on it all morning while she was at school and we were able to surprise her with the reveal when she got home. She squealed in dramatic Laila fashion and little sis Lena covered her ears, as always. 

Laila didn't really want a 'party' this year but she wanted to go to the American Girl Doll store with her friend to get their dolls hair done for her birthday. The girls had a lot of fun shopping around the store, buying some of their favorite finds with birthday gift cards from family and watching their dolls get birthday ready! 

She got to spend the evening with family and we had her favorite, tacos and cake and ice cream. She wanted a funfetti chocolate chip cookie cake. 

We are really proud parents of a wonderful daughter/sister/granddaughter. She's a good student who shows compassion and has a good heart. I know the next, few years will be challenging with school and life but if you just keep being who you are and never change from being YOU, you'll be fine. Your silly, quirky ways make us laugh and you make me a better doll/slime playing mom. :) We may give you a hard time but it's only because we know your potential and someday you'll realize it's because we love you more than words can ever say. Don't ever dim your bright and shiny light! 

xoxo - Mom

Lena Turns 7 with Barbie & Friends!

 Happy 7th Birthday to Lena! 

We celebrated Lena turning SEVEN with family and friends and BARBIE! Lots of Barbie's and her friends showed up and the girls had fun playing with some new gifts and accessories that they brought along. Thank you to big sis, Laila, for getting them all settled in to the party! 

I made my first Barbie cake which was fun! We had pineapple cupcakes and Lena's favorite, again, made homemade by big sis - Chocolate Chip Cookies! I'm raising the next generation of party planners. ;) 

We had Uncle Craig come in from Atlanta and Uncle David and Jill (Barbie and Ken) came too! Lena loves seeing and spending time with her family the most. She always says the best part of having parties is spending it with her family and the people she loves most - she really is the sweetest. 

We had a lot of fun with the
Barbie and Ken wigs! Even Daddy makes a pretty handsome Ken!:)

I think Lena enjoyed her day! She got to go shopping at Target and then had a fancy lunch with mom and dad at her favorite spot - Olive Garden. She also went with grandma and Uncle Craig to get her nails done and they matched her Barbie themed party perfectly with Barbie silhouettes and all. Lena and Laila both played with the new Barbie's all evening and all of the next day and even added in some that they already had. Who doesn't love themselves some Barbie Town? Barbie is a classic who just gets better with time. Some of my best memories as a kid was playing with Barbie's. My favorite Christmas morning memory is when my grandpa put together my new Barbie house for me which back then was not nearly as cool as the houses now but it was everything to me! I'm still amazed at all of the new Barbie accessories and play sets that they come out with. Lena even got a Barbie with a dog that has puppies! What will they think of next?

Lena, we love you beyond all of the words in the world. And we're so proud of the smart and kind, little lady you're becoming. You make me laugh and cry happy tears more than anyone. We sure were magnificently blessed the day you were born.  

 xoxo, Mom 

Happy 9th Birthday, Laila!

 Last year in the single digits! This time last year was the last time that we saw our family all together for a long time! We finally felt it was safe to have everyone come over. Most are vaccinated and we're finally seeing light at the end of the pandemic tunnel! 

Laila loves American Girl dolls right now. She loves all of the accessories and organizing all of their clothes and play sets so we decided on an American Girl doll themed party. 

Laila also loves to bake with me and she's getting pretty good at it! She wanted to try a piñata cake filled with all of her favorite candies so that's what I made. It was fun and everyone anticipated the cutting and the 'explosion.'

 We had walking tacos, her favorite and a special guest - Papa! First time we've seen him in person in a year! We were so excited to see him and I think he was glad to get out and enjoy the day too. 

Laila also got to go to a paint class with her good friend Genevieve. They had a lot of fun and their paintings turned out great! 

Laila got lots of accessories for her dolls including a travel set, camping set, matching Girl Scout uniforms and pajamas; she loves the matching outfits! Her favorite though was the Jeep! Now she has what she needs to pull her camper - they're off to the beach! 

This year Laila has been the student of the month at school and has been the top cookie seller in her Girl Scout troop. We are so proud of the young lady you're growing up to be. You're always so helpful and happy; I love that about you. 

Happy 9th to my first baby. 

xoxo, Mom

Lena is 6!

 My baby is 6?!?! It amazes me how time flies by and every year on her birthday I get a little sad that my baby is growing up! It's always fun picking a party theme with Lena because she loves everything and everyone but we settled on an art theme as she claims to be a 'Future Artist'! She loves her art projects and when you put markers or crayons and paper in front of her she just goes and creates whatever comes to her mind. A lot of the pictures that she brings home from school makes us smile. There's many of our family and the way she sees our family is the cutest! 

This birthday was a little different because of COVID this year; we're still in a pandemic and can't really have large gatherings or parties. So, we invited a few family members and had a great time! The weather was in the high 70's and beautiful which is rare for a November birthday. 

We may have drank too much punch but we painted pictures (some self portraits) and made and mixed A LOT of slime out on the patio in the sun! 

For Lena's cake we took melted, colored candy melts and made brush strokes on wax paper with a paint brush to stick on the sides of her cake. The cake flavor was almond, vanilla confetti. We splattered the left over candy melts on the cake with the paint brush and I think we had a lot of melted candy all over the kitchen.
Thankfully, Lena loved her cake! 

 

We found all of Lena's party supplies at Hobby Lobby; including the balloon garland. One day Laila and I ran in looking for something else and we came upon these party supplies and HAD to have them. They are so fun and colorful that we thought - these are Lena's party supplies! :) We also found a couple of cute things from Oriental Trading Co. like the art inspired stand to set food on and these cute, art palette picks that we used in our fruit cups but can really be used for several, different items. 

Because of COVID lots of the activities the girls love have been canceled and put on hold. We're looking forward to when Lena can get back in to swimming lessons and gymnastics. She's doing an incredible job in Kindergarten and she's learning so much. We recently had a meeting with her teacher and were so proud to hear how amazingly well she's adjusting and expanding her knowledge; not to mention how great of a friend and helper she is in class. You always hope your child is practicing all of the things you teach them at home but you never know until you talk with their teacher how well they're actually getting along and making you proud. 

Lena loves Barbie right now; Garfield, Captain Underpants and Peppa Pig. She has a sweet and tender heart and you always know how much she loves you because she makes it a point to tell you several times a day which I love. When she gets mad - watch out, because you'll know. Most of the time when this happens though, she just needs a hug. Don't we all? 

Here's to hoping that year #6 is way, more fun! I love you kid beyond words. We were blessed with the best gift when God chose you to be ours and I hope that you always feel that love from us. You make us laugh so much and you bring absolute joy to our lives each and every day. The sun was shining big the day you were born. 

xoxo, 

Mommy