a square Dance {Girl's Weekend: post 2/4}

we heard there was a square dance at the bascom barn, but i certainly had no idea what to expect. but we got everyone in jeans and boots and bandanas and headed out for pizza and a square dance...complete with a band made up of guitars, a mandolin, and a bass.

in somewhat of a barn...with plastic walls and heaters ;0)

i'm almost certain we brought the average age down a generation or two with our little ones attendance. ;0)

but these two little girls in their tiaras were without a doubt as comfortable as they could be!

dancing and pausing for a few ballet moves.

it was time for sweet andrew to eat, so he sucked down a bottle in between dances with the help of Anne Perry. and i know he's mine, but could he be any cuter? 

Lots of dancing

and after Addie got a little {more} food in her (i swear this child is growing again and we cannot fill her up! she'd already eaten 2 huge pieces of pizza and started in on the chili!)

And after i {semi} drug her out there, she was hooked and had a blast!

even rierie got out and danced!  

but it really got going when they started the organized square dancing. not in a square, more of a circle. and once we realized the little girls could not be our partner (because there was no way they could promenade around the circle by themselves), we became one person...kids with adults! (and i think we royally confused the locals!). so nana and ap were one person. audrey kate, caroline, and i were one person. and the 5 of us were partners! ha! can we say multi-tasking at it's finest! and we seriously had a blast! i love audrey kate's face here!!!

we were suppose to be circling, promenading, swinging and making some bridge...so after we attempted it all, we just danced in a circle all by ourselves and smiled ;0)

i ♥ my nana something serious! she loves our girlies and andrew and can handle the craziness of our family without skipping a beat...and look gorgeous while doing it! and there you have it...a gen-u-ine mountain square dance!

Girl's Weekend

a few months ago, my aunt said my cousin would love to get our girlies together. and the ball started rolling. we threw around dates and landed on the perfect weekend. nature trails and fashion shows were planned. it turned out to be a weekend full of perfect mountain weather!

of course everyone got up (a tad later than at home!) but ready to play! so bubbles on the deck at 9am in pjs worked just fine!


it's a bit of a complicated story as to how this sweet little girl is related to us...but we're just going to go with cousin! and isn't she a darling cousin!?! sweet caroline...or as anne perry called her: carolina ;0) four little girls (6, soon to be 5 and two soon to be 4), two mom's, a rierie and a nana and a darling baby boy!
perfect setup for the best girl's weekend!

once we got our little ducks (um...ducklings) in a row and dressed and lunches packed, we ventured to one of our favorite spots: the nature center. and we actually got a (somewhat blurry, sorry ya'll) picture of all the little girlies with Nana! the girls found the stage and decided a play was in order. except every play must have a director! each of the little girls got to direct...
and they all did a fabulous job...but this little director took charge!

and had us all in stitches over her 15 second acts that she'd quickly cut short and instruct the performers that their time was up! sit down!

and onto the next dancer!

even with quite the drill instructor Anne Perry, there was lots of fun and lots of dancing

with a great audience!

and caroline even taught nana how to curtsey!

and this little guy was a trooper! adorable and precious!
and trying really hard to sit up!

...more to come!

Week 12/52

Day 78: zoo field trip with the little girls...battle of the wills to get this picture!

Day 79: how is he 7+ months old?!?

Day 80: {almost} cousins 

 

Day 81: who's in charge here...?

Day 82: fashion show

Day 83: a mountain walk

Day 84: snow! 

Chef Addie's Baking Birthday Party

i really do love birthday parties. i love the planning and the preparing (really, i do!); I love the celebrating & being with friends. it was made exponentially more fun this year because Addie was so excited about it! we tossed around the idea of a baking party last year, but i was still sick and pregnant; and there was no energy there. when i asked addie about it again this year, she immediately said no! so i asked her to hear me out...and by the time i was done explaining what we could do, she was hooked...and excited!

and so we used fun colors and made a few visits to joann's with our coupons for every.single.thing.needed!
there were chef hats and the girls made cupcake flowers to add to them.  everyone got an apron with their name on it and a little added cuteness (that i had a lot of help from my mom creating!)  after we made chef hat flowers and took a picture (how cute are they?!?)

the girls were split into two groups. one group put together a cookie recipe in a jar from here.

i'd measured everything out into cups (so the recipe would actually work when they made it at home)!
so they dumped and squished and may or may not have tasted a little brown sugar!

  

but none of which i could have done without a few very sweet and helpful mamas! while the first group was making cookies in a jar, the other group went to the kitchen and kneaded their pizza dough and added ingredients to make their very own pizza! while the pizza's were finishing up, we played an undocumented taste testing game that involved things like flour and pickle relish and red peppers and parsley (and some hilariously funny faces!)! 
after pizzas were cooked and consumed, we had birthday cake! addie's never been a big fan of having happy birthday sung to her, and that hasn't changed! but she still sat up and blew her candles out ;) and then it was time to decorate their own cakes! they realized it was a little more challenging than expected to ice an entire cake. those sides are tricky! but once the outside icing was on, they took turns with colors and icing tips and decorated some beautiful cakes! full of color and sprinkles! after every cake was decorated, the girls ended up in our girl's room all on the top bunk! (and after i grabbed a picture, i made sure everyone got safely down!) 

but what i loved most about this party was what each little girl so carefully brought for the Friendship Mission Women's Shelter. Totaling...18 sticks of deoderant. 5 (big!) bottles of lotion, 7 (big!) bottles of shampoo, and 15 (huge!) bottles of body wash. 17 toothbrushes and 32 tubes of toothpaste in addition to floss and mouthwash. Brushes and combs. Fingernail polish and manicure sets. Qtips and socks. 6 huge packages of napkins, 14 rolls of paper towels, and 270 paper plates! Addie went through each bag & looked at each item. Our prayer is that they will bless these women & children.
i cannot believe this little girl is six already. i have no idea where the time has gone. i keep thinking i'm soaking up the minutes and hours and days...and they keep passing faster and faster. I did a little flipagr@m video of Addie over the years. She first asked me why I had all of those pictures. The memories. Such sweet memories. And later that night on her birthday day as we talked on her bed, she told me it almost made her cry...tears of happiness. 

We're so thankful for this big little person. Her love of others. Encouragement. Excitement. Loyalty. Passion (oh the passion!). Kindness. Precious child of God. Happy 6th Birthday Addieboo!