Sweet Symantha is Seven!

Although it was a little hard for me, this was the first year we did not do a big party with all ages of family and friends invited to Symantha's birthday. We discussed some ideas of what she would want to do for her party and she decided on Build-A-Bear workshop, which meant she could choose 4 friends (and Hailey!). She chose 2 friends from school and 2 from church, which worked out to be a nice combination. We packed up the van with a bunch of very silly 7/8 year olds and headed to Bellevue!

It was such a fun experience - the perfect number of girls, and I had nothing to do but take pictures.... only a few, of course:) The party planner does a great job of steering the girls towards the amount that each gets to spend in choosing animals, accessories and so on. They go through the whole process...

Derek had some fun with them while they were giving their animals baths. None of them knew there was a pedal underneath that you use your foot to push to make the air come on and they couldn't figure out how to make it work. Derek had his foot on it and he told them they had to say a magic word to make it come on. They all started trying words, and then discovered whenever they said, "Please" it came on. So the whole time they would take turns and come up to it, lean over and say "Please!" loudly to make it come on. It wasn't until almost time to go home that all of them figured out there was a pedal underneath! These are the ways the grown-ups get to have fun at the party.

Symantha and her friend Alicia with their twin bunnies. At the end, they do a little parade through the store and then they sang Happy birthday to Symantha. She loved every second of the attention, of course.

We left Build-A-Bear and headed to a little shop called "New York Cupcakes" to do the rest of the party. The 6 little girls fit perfectly around this round table and it was such a cute sight. All pink and girly, with fancy cupcakes.



We sang happy birthday, ate cupcakes and opened presents here.


It was by far the EASIEST party I've had to do, and I loved being able to just enjoy it and not coordinate so much! Not that I haven't loved doing big birthday parties for the girls.... but this was the perfect celebration for this year.

Happy birthday, Symantha Brooke!

I'm on a roll...

Here's one more project, I just couldn't resist! It is so much fun....

Vintage

Here was the original picture, with no cropping or photoshop fixing....



And here is the edited version...



This is my third project - Vintage and hand tinting. I loved this picture of Hailey and thought it would be perfect for this technique. The changes to the original are very subtle, but when you compare the two (and see it larger) you can really see the difference. I love it!

Surprise! (or not so much...)

I really thought I had him. I thought I was being so tricky and nonchalant about having an impromptu home group get-together at the park on a Thursday evening. Little did I know (due to dealing with Addison) that Hailey's prayer at dinner included, "thank you that we can have a surprise birthday for Daddy." Or the fact that he thought there is NO way our home group with all their crazy schedules could do anything spur of the moment! At least he didn't know up until 24 hours before... and I'm amazed that Hailey held the information in for the 1 hour that she did:) It was still a great little celebration, and one of these years I will REALLY surprise him.

Derek was welcomed with silly string... meant for the kids to use, but Sandy couldn't resist.

I was glad so many could make it, with summer schedules and me deciding to do it very last-minute. I just couldn't let his 40th birthday go by without some kind of celebration, despite his trying to convince me that he didn't want any big deal made about it!

Derek and Mom

The kids loved being right next to the lake and climbing over all the logs. It was a beautiful evening, thankfully!

Happy birthday, Derek! I love you!

Side note: That first picture is my second project in the photoshop class:) So fun!

First Assignment

Here was my first assignment in that free photo editing class a bunch of us are taking. Even though this first lesson was pretty basic, I did learn a couple of things that are helping me to understand photoshop better. I didn't spend a ton of time picking a picture for this assignment, so I wish it would have had a lighter background - then the frame and wordart would show up better. But lesson learned, and I am looking forward to more practice!

Ballerina girl

After a year of ballet classes once a week, the big recital finally came for Symantha. One of the things she was most excited about was getting to be on the big stage like we had seen her cousin Amanda, and Symantha loved every second of this! The week leading up to the two shows was pretty crazy - lots of rehearsals and putting hair in buns (which I HATE) and making sure costumes fit right, but it really was so cute when the whole thing was done. And I LOVED all the picture taking opportunities!

She loved that she got to wear makeup for the first time, although it was a little weird for me putting it on her - I had to remind her it was ONLY for this show and she is WAY too young for it still!

And I found the perfect picture taking spot at Grandma and Grandpa Edwards' house, right before we left for the performance.



They had to sit backstage for quite a while, waiting for their turn to go on and then after they went on, waiting for the finale. It was really cute watching all the little ballerinas hanging out together.

These were a couple of the best shots I got during the dress rehearsal - it's tricky with no flash and being a little far away, but you can see her pretty good in these! The show was called "The Elements", and Symantha's class were butterflies that danced around flowers, during the "Air" part.


Then came the part Symantha was waiting for... Flowers! Don't ask me why she was so excited to get flowers, but she loved coming out afterwards and holding bouquets like a real ballerina would. I'm glad it was such a great experience for her, and now I think she has ballet out of her system... she had talked about wanting to do it forever, and now she talks about other activities for next year!

Goodbye First grade

A week late with this, but better late than never. Symantha had an awesome first grade year - we loved her teacher, class, school and learning experiences! We are continuing to depend on God's guidance for our schooling decisions (as far as the homeschool, private school, or public school decisions) and so far He has made it clear and blessed us.

Here she was in September...


and then on the last day of school with her teacher...


Now we are enjoying the lazy days of summer! At least for a while, until we start working on all the fun plans I have:)