Family Night Bowling

This past weekend we finally made it on a fun family date/outing. I have a list of places I want to go and at the top was BOWLING. Good old fashioned bowling. 

And mostly I just wanted to remember the night. It was simple, we had fun, the girls were ecstatic  the whole time and all day leading up to it.

 The even got all dressed up for the event, their choices. 

"We're famous bowling people." I was told.

First up, we have "Lemon" in her leather jacket and black dress.

 And then there was "Lightening" in her Spiderman shirt, sparkly blue tutu, and bat man purse (equipped with $3!)

 Oh, and June's (creepy) doll, Cupcake, also had to come along, like she does everywhere we go these days.

It was hard to keep Rose from running to the pins! 

 We tried to distract her with fries but all she wanted was the fry sauce. Can't blame her.

 But mostly, this photo sums up life and we love it.

Simple Service- Roses Are Red

My monthly post for Little Hands Can! 

(I'm posting this one a couple weeks earlier on my blog.)

Roses are red, or in our case, they are many colors. And we wanted to put them to good use and not just let them wilt on our table after Valentine's day.

 What seems like forever ago, when June was two years old, we went to a mall and had her pass out roses to strangers.

It was a sweet experience and I decided it would make a fun Valentine's tradition. But since then I think we've only done it a couple times, certainly not every year. But hey, a few times is better than no times, right? June had to idea to go to Thanksgiving Point, a local area with food, a theater, museums, an animal farm, and gardens.

June and Hazel were both pretty nervous every time they gave away a rose to someone, but after each time they were so happy!

Towards the end, however, June was blushing quite a lot because there was a table with some young, cute boys sitting at it, and she found that altogether too much too handle. So maybe this traditions wont last the boy crazy years?  (which apparently start now?! At age six?!) 

This fun little service activity can be done any time of the year, not just Valentine's day. It's truly for all ages, although my favorite time may always be that first one because June was so young that she didn't know the social norms or any discrimination- she gave flowers to anyone and everyone- women AND men, old and young. As as adult I find myself trying to find the poeple that look the most "like they need it." But you never know what's in peoples' hearts and who might need a pick-me-up that day.

Candy Land Birthday Party

Hazel's been talking about how she's from Candy Land for quite some time now. A lot of times its when she's mad at us, she'll usually say something along the lines of, "This is NOT how my Candy Land family is. I am going back to Candy Land!" But she also talks about it and how normal life is there as well. She loves to look at the board like it's a book. Her candy land mom is the ice cream queen, her dad is the licorice guy, and she's the lolly pop princess, of course. But in Candy Land she doesn't have any sisters. 😆 Also worth noting, she thinks life would be perfect if she could eat candy for every meal.  

A Candy Land party for her birthday seemed like the obvious choice. 

So Monday was Hazel's birthday! And it was also President's day so a lot of people had school and work off- what luck!  She woke up to super fun (if I do say so myself) Candy land decorations and rainbow cereal and presents on the table. She had a great morning opening those and playing with the new stuff. Buck made her coffee cake and she blew out a candle.

Then it was time for her party! We used a room in our church building. And we made that room into a giant candy land game board. Decorations all around, colorful squares snaking across the floor as a game board. Buck's family all dressed up as different characters of the game and stood on their special squares. The kids came and took turns flipping over a card and moving spaces and getting a treat from each character that they passed by, ending with a candy bag from the king at the end. It was a little chaotic with all the kids but over all it went really well, thanks to everyone's help.

Buck's sister, Jade, made this amazing cake!!!!

Right to left, top to bottom:

Gumdrop, candy cane guy, licorice guy

Queen Frostine, Gramma Nut, King Kandy
(and somehow got out of getting a picture: The chocolate gloppy guy and gingerbread tree.)

And the Lolly pop princess herself:

After the game was played and candy was eaten for a time, Hazel opened her presents in the most excited way. She was thrilled for each and every toy and would spring up to go hug the friend that gave it to her. It was so cute. Then she got to blow out her candles and then all the kids got a small cupcake. It was a success!

After the party Hazel got to skip her nap and watch a movie instead. Then she had pancakes for dinner and got to blow out her candles again and this time we cut the cake. (note: only the top tier was cake, the other two were Styrofoam.)

 On a personal note: Some people pour over pinterest and do crafty things. (I'm jealous of these people and their skills.) And then some people (me) browse Amazon and buy inflatable ice cream cones, balloons, and a cheap back drop (and then spends a whole evening regretting those choices as she has to blow up all of those inflatable things.) Some people are also lucky as have an amazing sister in law who makes amazing cakes! Some people also continue their in-law luck and have amazing in-laws who ALL come and spend their day dressed up, passing out candy at their granddaughter/niece's birthday party. So thank you online shopping and thank you family (all of you, Idaho family also sent super thoughtful and wonderful gifts that made Hazel's day as well!) for making our girls always feel so loved! 

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS HAZEL!