Halle's 9th Birthday!

Halle couldn't wait for her birthday this year. Somehow I got ahead of myself and wrote "Halle's 10th Birthday" on our calendar. I don't know what I was thinking but I am happy to say she is only nine. Early Saturday morning, she walked into my room and asked if she could open her presents. Everyone except Halle was asleep so I sent her to the office to look on the computer. We had set up an e-mail account for her which she discovered and it already had 17 messages from family wishing her a happy birthday! That was definitely a highlight of her day. Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes and nice things you said to her - she loved it.

She couldn't wait to open her presents.

I love how all of the kids get so excited when it's someone's birthday.

Halle and her styling sunglasses.

Kate and Jack are always willing to help open a present

This is Halle opening presents in the car for her birthday party. She isn't excited or anything!

Halle invited four friends to come and get their hair, nails and makeup done. This is their before picture.

Here is Halle's before picture.

She's hoping it turns out cute....

Here's her hair from the back. All of the girls kept saying, "I wish my mom could do my hair like this."

They all got their nails done.

Here is their after picture. Aren't they cute?

Instead of cake and ice cream, we took the girls to Jamba Juice. All of the workers sang Happy Birthday to Halle and decorated her cup with stickers. It doesn't take much to make a nine year old happy.

This is Halle with her good friend Brynli. It was a nice group of girls and they had a great time. That night Harmon and I took Halle and Lacey to Tepanyaki for their birthday dinner. Halle had such a nice day and definitely felt celebrated. We love you Halle!

I Think They Like Him...

Once in a while I am able to catch a tender moment. These two little ones love their dad and he loves them so much. It seems our kids are growing up way too fast and the time that two can fit on dad's lap will soon be gone. . .

Jack is 5!

As much as I tried to talk Jack in to not turning five, I couldn't convince him. However, he did promise me that he will stay five. I absolutely love this kid and his age. I wish he could stay this sweet, innocent, funny, loving little boy. I think I love him so much because he loves me so much. I wake up to him hugging and kissing me and get lots and lots of, "I love you Mom's" throughout the day just because. This year he had a couple of friends come with us to Chuck E. Cheese (still pronounced Chuck E. Jesus by both Jack and Kate).

Here's Jack with his buddy Josh. Josh and Jack go to preschool together and he lives a few doors down.

Jack and his buddy Austin. Austin also lives on our street. We are so lucky to have so many kids in our neighborhood.

With Chuck E. himself.

I guess this is Jack's cool look. I can't tell you how many times they rode this monster truck.

We are mean parents and made Jack wait until Harmon got home from work to open presents.

Jack takes his wishes seriously - I hope this one comes true - whatever it was!

Jack was so funny with his candles - he blew them out one by one! We were all cracking up. Don't look too closely at the cake or you will discover my lame spelling error. That is why I never do the birthday cakes - what was I thinking? Never again.