Happy Birthday to Harper!!!

My blonde haired baby girl isn't a baby anymore. In my mind I still picture her like this:

A sweet little preschooler with bouncy curls and a smile that never left her face.  However, I blinked and she's grown up to be a sweet and sporty seven year old with a little bit of sass.  The saying is true for her...she's made up of a both sugar and spice!

When we started thinking about her birthday party she knew immediately what she wanted to do.  She wanted a sleepover with her best friends.  She also had very specific ideas about what she wanted to do at her party.  So much so that she wrote it all down for me to refer to as I planned the details of her party.  My type A planning might have rubbed off on her just a little. ;-)

I set up the dining room as our party room and she was so excited to come home from school and see all the decorations just for her!

When the girls first arrived they took off to Harper's room and played a bit.  While they were busy playing I got everything set up for the scavenger hunt.  I had made up clues to lead the girls around the house.  At the end they would find a special prize!

They LOVED this activity.  I had about 12 clues and I wish I would have done twice as many because it really was fun for all of them.  They were also really good about taking turns reading the clues and working together to figure out where to go next.  It was the simplest activity, but their favorite, by far.

At the end they found their prize, matching pajamas!  These also doubled as their party favors.  Harper and her friends love to match, so I knew they would be excited about all wearing the same pajamas to sleep in that night.

Next it was about time for dinner.  We ordered pizza and the girls toasted with sparkling cider.

A couple of weeks ago I found this pink glassware that was in the back of a closet at Gigi and Papa's house. I don't know how I forgot about it, but my Memaw gave them to me just after I was married. I used to use at it her house as a little girl so I knew as soon as I found it that I wanted to use it at Harper's party.

Instead of having cupcakes or cake, Harper really wanted to go for frozen yogurt so that is what we did. I had the girls in my car and the boys went in the truck.  They loaded up their cups and giggled the whole time.

When we got back they changed into their PJ's and she opened her gifts.  I loved the smaller setting with just a few friends!  Next they decided on a movie and I felt like I constantly was refilling their popcorn bowls.

Finally it was time for bed. I let them set a timer for 15 minutes to "talk" and then told them they needed to go to bed.  They were still up giggling past that time and I knew they all had to be exhausted so I sat in the room with them so they would stop talking and they were all fast asleep within minutes.

The next morning they woke up bright and early, but thankfully they were happy to play a little on their own before they were ready for breakfast.  That gave me time to get the waffle bar and other goodies ready.

They had just a little while longer to play before it was time for everyone to get dressed and go home.  Then I was ready for a nap!  I mentioned to Harper that I was tried and she told me she was more than tired...she was exhausted.  I asked her if it was worth it though and the huge smile on her face gave me the answer.  She felt special, love being the birthday girl, and was happily surrounded by her closest friends to celebrate her big day. Yes, it was a lot of work for me, but it was worth it!

She spent her actual birthday in the car with Gigi and Papa on the way home from Florida, but they made her feel extra special during the day and then when they got here we celebrated with her favorite dinner of tacos and brownies for dessert.

Today I helped in her class and stuck around for her birthday celebration at school.  We passed out cookies to her classmates and they all sang happy birthday to her.  I think she had a wonderful week of celebrating and I can hardly believe she is seven!

Spring Break 2016

For spring break this  year we didn't have a family trip planned since it felt like we just had our big winter break ski trip.  Plus, Robby and I had plans to go to the Masters for a few days so Gigi and Papa agreed to have the kids down with them in Florida for the week. I drove them down on Monday and it was a smooth and easy drive.  They were SO good in the car and couldn't wait to get to Florida.

I stayed one night and then came back home.  Hudson wanted me to leave right away though and couldn't wait for his fun to start after I was gone!

They had such a big time!  Gigi and Papa kept them VERY busy with all sorts of fun outings and activities.  They got to swim everyday, which is their absolute favorite thing to do.  They also went to Weeki Wachee Springs, a natural springs that has a real mermaid show.  While they were there they saw all sorts of animals and also got to swim in the springs!

They also went to the movies, played bocce ball, rode the golf cart around, saw lots of wildlife and really lived it up.

Hudson had been begging to play "real golf" for quite some time and he got lots of golfing time in with Papa.  He came home talking all about it and said he even wants to have a golf birthday party now. I have got to get that boy playing some more golf here because he was SO excited about it.

Several evenings after dinner they went to the town square where they live for the nightly entertainment.  A DJ and dancing is always fun and the kids were having a blast breaking it down.  The videos I got of some of their moves were cracking us up and I was so happy they were having such a fun time.

While they were off having all sorts of adventures, Robby and I really enjoyed our time together at The Masters.  Not only did we attend the golf tournament, but I got to try putting a little, we ate delicious meals and laughed with friends.

The Masters is such a wonderful experiences and we feel so lucky to get to attend.  The weather was a little chilly, but still gorgeous and the grounds are so beautiful. I love just walking around and taking it all in.

We had to laugh because there were more than a few times that someone asked Robby if he was Bubba Watson so he was a good sport and we did a side-by-side comparison.

Papa and Gigi brought the kids home today and we were all so excited to be reunited.  Now everyone is ready for a full week of school and sports. I'm sad for our break to be over, but now the official countdown to summer is on!

Cookout and a Campfire

I have a bit of catching up to do since we were out of town for Spring Break last week!  I want to go back to the very beginning of Spring Break though.  We had Harper's birthday party on Friday night (more on that tomorrow), but the day after we invited Jen and Justen over for a fun impromptu dinner.  We didn't have anything planned for the evening and neither did they, so it worked out perfectly!

We grilled out burgers and then all made our way outside to sit by the fire and make s'mores.  It was pretty chilly, but the kids didn't mind.  They played on the playset, the adults all laughed and enjoyed ourselves.  Everyone had a great time!

It felt like we were camping in our backyard without the actual camping part.  Plus, the boys were in heaven running around collecting sticks to add to the fire.  I just love those kind of nights with nothing really fancy planned, but the nights where everyone is smiling, enjoying themselves, and making memories!  I can't wait for summer so we can have more fun nights like that one, especially when the weather turns warm and we all want to live outdoors!   

Pink Hair!!!

I cannot let a crazy story like how Harper ended up with pink hair go by without sharing about it here on the blog.  I mean, it's not everyday she comes home from school looking like this:

It was a color run activity at school gone very, very bad. I was not happy, to say the least, and it was quite an ordeal to deal with last week.  I got tons of tips and suggestions for washing out the color that I will share on Magnolia Mamas later this week so be sure to read there if you want to hear more about how I actually got the color out.

We were both in tears when we realized it wasn't washing out. In fact, after the first wash and seeing how dark pink it still was, she was telling me she wanted her blonde hair back and that she loved her hair (something she doesn't alway say because she wants what she can't have - dark, straight hair).  After about 10-15 washes with a ton of crazy things it looked like this: 

It was still really pink and I was still really upset.  I just love her hair and I couldn't believe I'd have to deal with it being pink until it could fade. After it dried that afternoon I could see it was still so pink and I just wanted to cry every time I looked at her hair.

Later that night I washed it another 10-15 times and put her to bed with it wet. I couldn't really tell how much of the pink had come out since it was wet.  When I woke her up in the morning it was so dry and brittle and I was worried I had damaged it permanently.  Thankfully, I had some urgent repair shampoo from when her hair was damaged by the chlorine last summer so I used that and also lathered her up with leave-in conditioner and sent her to school. I had no idea what it would look like, but when she got home and I saw it dry I was SO very happy. It was almost all gone and the pink that was there was not nearly as noticeable. I'm pretty sure I cried happy tears.

It's still continuing to fade and I think we can look back now and laugh about this, but I know one thing is for certain.  She now has a greater appreciation for her hair and realizes just now special her blonde curls are!