Starshine's 8!

Friday was Starshine's 8th birthday! She is loving her new clothes, Barbies and nail polish. She picked Red Robin for dinner, and she and M&M Dad were both able to use their birthday coupons for a delicious free dinner with birthday sundae. Too bad our waitress was a little frazzled, because I had to remind her about the sundaes, and they didn't come and sing (M&M Dad was glad). We let her stay up until 9 to play with her new Barbie's - shhhh, don't tell Jr. Princess.

This year, Starshine decided instead of a birthday party, she wanted a special day like when she was young. Here is what she picked:

1. For breakfast, pink pancakes with yogurt, whipped cream, blueberries, and cherries.

2. Our morning activity was some bowling!

3. Here she is by her second game score where she got a 101 - her best ever!

4. Doesn't her hair look fabulous?? She always complains about her not curly, but not straight hair that occasionally has wackadoodle curls in weird places (Sorry Sweetie, you totally get that from me). So this morning I straightened her hair. I may have created a monster, because she already is talking about doing it on other days.

5. After a quick lunch, the afternoon activity was a family trip to the movies to see "Ramona and Beezus" which was super cute.

6. Dinner was spaghetti and meatballs.
7. And finally, dessert was ice cream sundaes.

We had a super fun day. Happy Birthday Starshine!

Oh, and by the way, the biggest news of turning eight was - no more carseats!!!!!! Not only is Starshine thrilled, but Jr. Princess immediately went out to throw away her "baby seat" (it's a booster, also can be a baby and toddler seat) and now she can just use Starshine's backless boosters. A win-win for everyone!

More of Auntie and Uncle Visiting

Since the campers came back a day early, there was plenty of leftover camping-themed food to be eaten. No problem... we made pudgy pies in the driveway Friday night! It was just as delicious, and when we were flaming hot from the sun and humidity - a nice air conditioned house to return to... aaaghhh...


We also got to introduce Auntie and Uncle to our newest family fun - geocaching! Here they are making some fun finds with us...

This cache was particularly tough, and we almost were done in by 1000 thorns and mosquito bites, but we found it. Good thing we brought Uncle because I never would have reached it... (see hole in tree above his head)

(Note to self - by more OFF when visiting G&G L in a few weeks!)

We also celebrated M&M Dad's birthday this weekend by, of course, making him his favorite homemade pizza. Yeah - 6 more months of being the same age so he can't make wise cracks :). Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Thanks for the fun visit Auntie and Uncle!

Camping with Auntie and Uncle

This week, Auntie and Uncle came up to do some camping nearby with the girls while M&M Dad and I went to work.

It started out a little rough when I had to quick rush Starshine to the Target Clinic for a strep test. The quick test said no, so we bought some ibuprofin for the low fever and sore throat and went to drop off Jr. Princess. Starshine felt better when we got there (yeah medicine) and decided to stay, too. She was quite the trooper, because we found out 2 days later when the culture test was complete that she DID have strep.

From all accounts, they had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures I stole from Auntie's camera.

Hiking...

Smores...

Swimming...

Pancake shaking...

Super fun. Too bad the forecast for the second night was for massive storms, so they came back early.

Starshine makes me smile

The other day I went to get something from my purse and found the following amusing post-it note...

I came here and stole 100 hundred dollars from you P.S. you will never find me!

Super funny!

My first baby step towards Project Runway...

Last year Starshine asked if I would make her a dress. I said yes, we bought fabric, and then apparently I got distracted by, uh, um, well, I'm not sure.


So this summer I got out the pink fabric and found some directions online that claimed to be easy, and didn't even have a pattern. Who knew shirred dresses could be so easy...

This is why having girls is soooooo much fun!

These were so fun to make, that I decided to get a little braver and try a pattern, though I picked one that didn't involve any scary words like zipper, interfacing, or button hole. I also told the girls to pick out fabric from my stash so if this turned out to be a flaming disaster I am only out the $3 for pattern and elastic.

You may recognize the fabric as what we used to decorate their nursery years ago!



I am hooked! Don't laugh, but I am currently working on a dress for myself. I even selected a pattern that includes interfacing and a zipper (yikes), but luckily no button holes.

Hopefully I'll get to wear it out, instead of hearing Heidi Klum say "I'm sorry, you're out." Wish me luck!

About Today - by Starshine

This morning we went to a bookstore .Jr.Princess used a gift card to buy a piggie and elephant stuffed animal!

After that I Had a High school Musical party ! I listened for a long time.
Then we went to a shoe store and Igot new pair of shoes:)


Then Jr.Princess tried to look Beautiful!



Last but not least we had pizza pudgy pies for dinner and then peanut butter and marshmallows for dinner - yum!

Starshine

Girls Day

Dad was heading out of town, so we had a girls day today. We started out with a quick trip to a fun park before the heat wave set in, but only lasted 30 minutes before melting. We attempted a geocache there, too, but it's a tricky one, and we didn't have the stamina to look for long.

So, as it hit 90F, we brainstormed fun things to do that involved air conditioning. Hey - let's go get Jr. Princess's ears pierced!

Before (nervous excitement)...

After... Ta Dah!

She said it hurt, but she was super tough!

We also went to Borders to get their free books for being good summer readers, went out to lunch, cruised though the pet store (always a dangerous time for this Mom trying to avoid pets...), found some cute school shoes, and ended at B&N so Jr. Princess could finally spend her birthday gift card from Auntie and Uncle. She found lots of great books, until right before leaving we spotted stuffed Piggy and Gerald friends from her current favorite books. So, we definitely HAD to have them (and therefore had to re shelf all the books except for a Phineas and Ferb book). We are looking forward to acting out tonight's bedtime reading.



The rest of the day involved relaxing time at home, and definitely not going outside! We were planning on making pudgie pies for dinner (because it was so much fun camping), but we all decided that a fire pit was not going to be fun tonight, so we called in the sandwich maker. (OK - not quite the same ambiance, but still delicious), while watching So You Think You Can Dance.

Man - that was a lot of girl activites! I'm guessing if I was out of town, M&M Dad's itinerary would have been a little different :)

Happy Birthday Auntie

The girls made a special message for you Auntie - we hope you're enjoying your special day!

(Don't you love how Jr. Princess chooses to wear her headband :) )

Day #3 - Chillaxin' down the river

After two days with lots of hiking and activities, Day #3 was a planned slow canoeing down the St. Croix River. M&M Dad was twitching to do the longer route, but we overruled him for the shorter, relaxing version to make sure our first family canoe trip was positive. I still remember the time M&M Dad and I went, and right after we past the first pick-up point, it started raining with a strong wind in the face. It ceased to be fun, and became man vs. nature to finish that canoe trip. I also remember when Grandma L got fishing hooks under her fingernails from some freak life jacket incident when I was a kid... Maybe I have a canoe trip curse...

So we packed a fun lunch and off we went. The girls LOVED getting to paddle, and we made it the whole way without losing one down the river. Somewhere mid-route, Starshine thought she made up the word Chillax, to describe the theme of our third day. I assured her that Auntie, and other children of the eighties, would remember Chillax. We had so much fun giggling about it, we used it at least 100 times that day.

Afterwards we did a bit of hiking,

and then it was time for the drive home to really Chillax on Sunday (while I did 9 loads of laundry).

Oh - and public apology to the kids for accusing them of possibly losing my water bottle. I am completely responsible for losing my newly won water bottle on the canoe trip. Sorry Melissa!

Day #2 - Waterpark fun

On Friday, we went over to Wild Mountain for a fun day of alpine sliding,

(Where the chair lift up is a fun ride, too!)

go karts

and waterslides.

We have done this for 3 straight years, and the kids are still super in love with the place. I'm sure we'll be back next year - but we'll have to remember to pack the Dramamine for M&M Dad.

We had dinner at a fun 50's themed drive-in, went for a quick walk by the river, went swimming at the hotel (14 trips down the water slide apparently was not enough water fun for one day), and then crashed in our room to watch a movie.