Spa party - part deux

Everyone ate pretty well. And then it was time to make our face masks. Each girl got to make her own and scoop her own oatmeal, warm water, yogurt, and if she chose, honey. 

They were such a hot mess! In true Michelle fashion, I tried a new recipe and hadn’t proofed it ahead of time. The mama were goopy messes. Their masks were falling off in chunks and one of the girls was upset saying “I don’t like the way it feels!” Then Frankie and Addie went around putting cucumbers on eyes, but those fell off too, so then it was all a mess. There was oatmeal everywhere - all over pajamas, in hair, on chairs and on the carpet. There were a few tense moments as Matt and I tried to get ahead of the mess, but it was all good! The girls ended up loving it and we all ooohed and ahhhed at their radiant skin. And none of the moms cared about the messy jams. 

Hot mess Express. 

Then it was nail time! We explained that when you get your nails done you spend some time relaxing, chatting, and looking through magazines. They were all pretty patient as the four of us workers flirted around. Frankie did foot massages, Addie did nails, toes, and shoulder massages, and matt and I were all mani’s and pedi’s. 

At the end we gave each of the girls hand massages with fragrant lotion and matt massaging d was just too cute. 

Taking pics of their nails was fun too. Between mummies and slouching maniacs, I don’t even know.  Let’s just say Delaney is a natural. 

Cake next! 

My heart. 

“D, pretend like you’re blowing out your candles, but like you’re really blowing them out, not like that, like really...” 🙄

And finally, wishes were made and candles were blown out. 

Only one more installement in the great spa party. 

Rainy Sunday

Lexi sent me some pics last night. I always love when they do. 

They went ice skating and this fancy lad was extra fancy, and Cade was extra creepy in the background. 😂

And because it’s so adorable. 😂

Just the boys. 

Awwwww. These lovebirds have been married 9 months now. 

I missed Quinn’s birthday on the family calendars I made, so I had Tracie, who is amazing, make stickers for everyone to put on her birthday in their calendars. She’s so cute. 

The only pics I took today were my 1 second videos. 

We had to do a few because you know, kids. 

We’re all set for tomorrow’s festivities. D couldn’t be more excited. 🤗

Spa party!

Yesterday we celebrated Delaney’s birthday with her friends. She decided she wanted a spa pizza party. So fancy!

Addie and Frankie were tasked to help, and Addie got all into it! Frankie was more stuck on wanting to participate, or to be a receptionist with long nails that said “what time is your appointment?” like in the movies. 😂

Addie set up the nail polish at least 20 times, and then guarded and hid polishes as she saw fit. Though I think we caught the hiding before the girls chose colors. 

We moved this cute vanity from the streeters down to add to the spa feel. And look, there I am in the mirror. Just noticed that. The bird in the mirror was a Frankie touch. 

The Ray Handmade and Homemade Spa! ~Addie 

She wanted a nail polish cake, so I sprayed large marshmallows with water and coated them with colored sugar, stuck a toothpick and a tootsie roll in it, and voila! Nail polish!

She invited ellie, Bonnie, Sephie, Silvia, and Gwynnie. 

First we each made our own pizza. 

While we waited for them to bake matt read Fancy Nancy it’s beauty day. I had to chuckle at my punk hubby reading Fancy Nancy to a bunch of kindergarteners on a Friday night. Too cute!

And taking pictures of more than one child at a time should be an Olympic sport. 

Half way through 6th birthday party fun!

Day to play

It was 60 degrees today and daddy went up to dc with the Scouts. So I texted Joni and Sarah because I knew those daddy’s were at work and out of town to see if they’d like a park date. I was pretty sure if I didn’t have a plan with friends I’d be tempted to have a lazy day. 

Thankfully friends were game and we met at Dorsey for a day’o’play. I tried many times to get a cool profile pic of Delaney in this shadowy part of the slide. 

This cute baby bug had so much fun!

She gave me instructions - follow me! Come up here! Stand there! I’m only too happy to oblige this precious baby!

I could kiss on this goofy ness all day!

As the girls climbed and played we noticed that ellie and Delaney needed some longer shirts. They thought they were hilarious with their bellies hanging out for all to see!

And then they pretty much made out, but in their cute 5-year-old way. They were hot/cold the whole afternoon, so we were just glad they weren’t fighting anymore. 

Big sisters are pretty hilarious too! The girls wanted a picture with their shirts down straight. 

😍

We played from just before 11-4! It was windy and the wind was cold, but otherwise it was so nice! Such a reprieve from the cold! The kids wanted to do the .4 mile hike and we promised them to do it before we left. 

It was a cute little bike that I’d never done, so I guess it was time after 8 years and 9 months here. 

Ellie came up to me and wanted to hold hands. It’s pretty cool loving on friends kids, and having them be old enough that they love on back. Maybe I do like older kids? Ellie was so sweet, and so was Adam, who has also usually been a mommas boy and standoffish with other adults. These independent kids are pretty fun!

We came home and did our Saturday stuff. Then we watched Descendants for our movie night. ‘Twas a great day. 💕

Tsunamis and catch ups

I woke up early this morning and one of the first things i saw was a tsunami watch for the whole west coast. I texted, and woke up, Dad and checked to make sure all was well. Thankfully it was. 

It was another glamorous day of grocery shopping, Presidency meeting, vt’ing, and the like. It was beautiful today - off and on rainy and so warm - 70 degrees! I didn’t take a single picture, other than our 2 second every day. 

So on to the catch ups! Hoping to be done with December soon. 

We held our second annual hot chocolate stand. Because of our generous friends and neighbors, and our amazingly generous little girls, we were able to donate just a few dollars more than we did last year. And this was the only picture taken, and it was taken by our last customers, Lindsay and Amy. 

One day we went somewhere and I took pictures of each of the girls...

Fascinating, right?

Such is the life of a lane blogger. 

Darlaina left this on our porch one night. We miss our wonderful friends so much!

Monday

I had been talking to Ms. H about helping in the classroom all year, and went this morning to hopefully start something regular. I did Read Naturally with 10 little friends that need a little extra help, among them, our precious little blondie. 

She’s towards the lower end of my little friends and I just don’t know. Sweet girl tries so hard, but she still struggling so much. I always said I would never medicate, but I am very much rethinking that stance. There are steps to grieving and steps to acceptance and  I’m feeling myself getting ever closer to acceptance. I just wish there were more clear answers. 

I did some tutor training and then tutoring and piano and dinner. D and I did some homework while big sisters practiced with Johnna. 

Not a very exciting day. And so one we go with our catch-up. 

One day before Christmas Frankie brought home a poinsettia she’d made on their trek around the world. She grabbed our real poinsettia for a pic. 

Christmas stickers are always fun! And look, yellow walls!

One day D came with me to visit sweet Charlene. She was SO sweet. This RS baby has come a LONG way! She hugged her, was kind and chatty, and when we left and Charlene told her she loved her, she a - said she loved her too, and b - ran back in for another hug. And to think, just 2 years ago she was busy commenting on home smells and sassily declaring how she was ready to go home. It probably helped that Charlene gave her a box of oatmeal cream pies. 😂

This kid has always had awesome hair. And now she has awesome teeth too. Lucky!

Even though I'm not a room mom for anyone this year, I decided to do my fun gift card scrapbooks for the girls 5 teachers. Delaney has 2, Frankie’s 1, and Addie has 2 - 1 math and science and the other SS and LA. I was only able to email the K parents, and almost every child donated. For the other girls I had to print letters and send papers hone. I got a little more than half participation of the kids in both of their classes. They all loved their books. We chased Addie’s teachers down to the art room to get them together and in front of the class. All the kids were excitedand it was so fun! Made all the work (and $) worth it. 

We gave Ms. H’s during the class party so a lot of the parents could see too. She was giggling the whole time, it was so cute. 

Rainbow ellie sparkles antics were awesome. 🙄

And all the Girl Scouts went caroling around our neighborhood. I wasn’t able to go for some reason, but math took them and D had some issues. Oh well!

(I stole Lea’s photo collage because matt didn’t take any pictures)