Ella’s sixth birthday

Well this about a month after the fact, but better late than never right?

For Ella’s birthday, at her request, we had a party at our house, and had a balloon artist and face painter come. Steve and I were hoping for a magician, but strangely she didn’t want that!

I think we can say we have run the gamut now on birthday themes … we have had a dress-up party, It’s Funtime (local play place) party, an ice cream sundae party, a movie theatre party …

I think we may revisit the dress-up party for Eva this December too. She loves dress up and we already have the clothes.

We love to make our own cupcakes. And I think I’ve finally mastered using the frosting bag without getting frosting everywhere.

Ella picked out a simple craft – foam boards for all the kids and markers and stickers to decorate with.

Our balloon artist and face painter were busy the entire hour they were at our house. Glad we hired both of them!

I love my minivan!

So after months, maybe even a year, of thinking about our next vehicle, we finally decided on the Honda Odyssey. Maybe it was mostly me obsessing, but it was a big decision. I drove our last car for about 9 years. The one before I had for 5. I keep my cars around for a while.

I think we made the right one too.

It’s used but it’s a 2011 so I love the newer design of the outside (that’s when the Odyssey went to a new exterior design)

And dual temperature controls – Steve and I will never fight over my cold toes on a car trip again.

Not to mention the navigation, blue tooth … leather seats. Beats the heck out of my cd player, which was the biggest bonus on my last vehicle.

The kids love it too! Eva can easily get in and out – in fact she loves to push the button to close the door, then buckles herself in her seat. This is a new skill she has acquired since getting the van.

Ella does too and I’m sure she’ll love it even more when we are able to fit a friend or cousin in the car with us …

So, yeah, I’m a dorky minivan driver now, but I love it.

Summer days

Well we have had a couple of warm weather days now and it is like living in a different world. I swear no one appreciates sunshine like people in Indiana. And we have had really load thunderstorms and rain the last week. That’s just as awesome in my book.

Eva snacks while sitting on her bike. Notice she wears a ballerina tutu and converse. I like that my kids always are a good mix of girly and tomboy.

My kids seem to be more excited about fruit if they can have one other snack with it, like goldfish. Also they seem to really like these lunch containers with different compartments. Could they have a love of organizing like their mother? Maybe they just like lots of snack options.

I’m back and did you know there is a bee in Ella’s tummy?

I don’t know why I just haven’t wanted to blog lately. Part of me felt a need to just be private for awhile. Unlike me. But whatever, I’ve decided I needed to record this story for posterity though.

Ella revealed one of her “darkest secrets” to me yesterday morning. And that’s what she called it. I have no idea where she has even heard that phrasing before. My guess is Scooby Doo. Usually when she talks about something strange, like Zombies, and I ask her where she learned about that, she says Scooby Doo.

Anyway, she told me that when she was little (she’s  6 now, so I guess she feels like she can say that) she accidentally swallowed a bee and so when her tummy is grumbling or upset, it is most likely due to the bee buzzing around. She thinks she was 3 when this happened. Poor girl has been living with this big secret for 3 years.

So I explained to her that there’s no way it would be alive but she probably didn’t swallow it anyway. Hopefully she can rest easy knowing a bee isn’t buzzing around her tummy. Maybe I should not have read that book The Lady Who Swallowed The Fly so many times to her.

Anyway, if you see her, please don’t ask her about the bee. I don’t want her to keep any more “dark secrets” from me. She says she has one more that involves her cousin Finn. I’ll keep you posted.