Starved Rock

Over Labor Day, we had a Saturday afternoon with no commitments, so we loaded everyone up in the van with a picnic lunch and headed out to Starved Rock State Park. This is my getaway when I am missing my mountains. My soul yearns to connect with nature out there. Growing up, my family went hiking in Lamoille Canyon multiple times a year. Starved Rock is the closest thing I can get for my kids to experience something similar. It doesn't have different lakes every other mile, but allows us to escape suburbia and make us feel like we are hiking. It also gave us the chance to help Evan do a 5 mile hike where he could work on his orienteering skills needed for his first and second class rank in scouts.

Lizzie is usually a big baby when it comes to physical exertion. I had warned her that she didn't get to come with the big kids unless she promised me that she would walk the whole way on her own two feet--without whining. (Am I mean or what?!) She was a trooper. She was sassy the whole day! She became a different character every quarter mile or so (princess, supergirl, fairy, strong girl, etc.) and entertained all groups of people within earshot of her voice. She would "fly" past hikers as she was off to save the world and then tap her foot waiting for us commonfolk to catch up. Her volume level along with her adrenaline was high the whole time and many fellow hikers were caught giggling and smiling at her unceasing commentary throughout the hike.

The kids love all of the coves that they can hike up in. It really is beautiful!

This one was their favorite. It was made of sandstone and they climbed and ran around listening to their echoes for nearly a half an hour.

"I'm queen of the world."

Above: A rare moment with Carter sitting still.
Below: My cute kiddos.

First Crush

There is a young man who has come every month with his father to visit our family for the last 4 years. In those four years, I have watched him grow from a boy to a man and am so proud of him! He is a superb example for my boys to emulate. He is also the type of young man I hope my girls will marry. My Emma echoes that desire. ;) We noticed in the last year that she was quite shy or giggly whenever he came. Then, when we received his graduation announcement, look what was put in the center of our fridge just moments after she read it. Yep. We now have an emptiness in our hearts as he moves on with his future at BYU. We wish him the best of luck, and are secretly hoping there is someone out there just like him...but 10-12 years younger.

Tangled up in Birthday fun!

So, here is the report on the actual Party! Lizzie was very particular in what games to play.

Freeze dance is one of her all-time favorites.

We also played a game of Musical Chairs to the Tangled soundtrack.

Pin the frying pan on Flynn Rider was a hit (no pun intended, but I amaze myself)! Lizzie loved the poster of him and won't let me take it down. It is still up 1 month later! I have to admit, I'm a sucker for his smoulder. How ridiculous is that?! He's a cartoon, for crying out loud! Obviously, I'm not the only one who thinks that bad boy is adorable. :)

Emma was having a blast! She was also a big help for Find Flynn's Satchel aka "Boolah, Boolah" where we hid Flynn's "satchel" and sang a tune louder or softer (hot & cold) to help the designated finder discover the satchel (which really did have a crown inside!).

Lizzie requested the boys to serve her party guests. Carter took it to the next level and wore his tuxedo & cumberbun! Notice, we served grapes in frying pans? :) We had so much fun!

Consequences of blue jello!

Birthday Bingo!

Makin' a wish and hoping it comes true!

Lizzie got to go through the spanking machine 4 times this year!

Everyone was laughing so hard, we made her pass through one last time ("and one to grow on").

The day of the party, I was racking my brain thinking of how I could encorporate the floating lantern portion of the movie. With a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds, I didn't want to be dealing with real flames and floating lanterns, especially since I was the only adult. So, I came up with balloons! Each party-er got a balloon and got to let it go all together. It was really fun & beautiful.

While the girls waited for their moms and dads, we had sidewalk chalk to create sidewalk art like Rapunzel does at the festival

Phew! What a fun day! I think I had as much fun as Lizzie did! I'm so grateful for creative people on the internet (www.supermommoments.com) who make my life easier and help me get my own creative juices flowing!

Rapunzel Party Prep

Lizzie turned 4 years old. I can't believe it either. She wanted to have a party, so we discussed our options and came up with a Tangled Rapunzel party. Oh, the fun we had! It was really fun to have her involved in so much of the prep work. She helped me braid and glue the invitations, prepare decorations, and cheer me on with the cake.

Here she is on her official day.

Lizzie requested donuts for breakfast, Burger King for lunch, and barbecue chicken for dinner (with our homegrown spaghetti squash, I have to add). We still had to have a treat even though her cake would be made 2 days later, so we whipped up strawberry cookies with mini chocolate chips. Mmmmm!

Her goodie bags for her friends were these cute Rapunzel sandwich containers and waterbottles with Rapunzel paints.

Here is the dress I made for the big day. Of course, she does not want to be Rapunzel for Halloween. That would be silly--and way too convenient for Mom.

Here is her hair filled with flowers for her party.

Emma had to be decorated as well.

The cake! What a challenge to keep it from falling over! But I'm so happy with how it turned out in the end! And it still tasted delicious!

Here are orange "boats" on the blue jello "water." These were a HIT!

My "Pin the frying pan on Flynn" poster. Yes, I drew this! I impressed myself. Even Evan gave me a compliment!

Here's the front door welcoming the party!

A banner with the castle's print!

Below is a tradition I have of putting out baby pictures of the birthday child on our buffet. I found this cute Pascal oragami printable and had to include him somewhere! With all this in place we were finally ready to p-a-r-t-y!

Dealing with the "loss" of her siblings

I wondered how Lizzie Loo Hoo would do the first day of school. Preschool didn't start until after Labor Day. How was she going to handle being home with a mom who was ready to clean, read, shop, coupon, and do all those things that were so much harder with 5 kids fighting for her attention and beautiful weather waiting to be enjoyed?! Well, she had no problems telling me what she wanted to do for the day. First, we came home, started laundry, and played a board game. This is a tradition we started last year and it's one that I'll miss (snif!snif!) next year! Our favorites include Candyland; Pretty, Pretty Princess; Princess Charming; BINGO; Zingo; Uno; and princess or fairy puzzles.

Then she packed her lunch with me and we headed to the park.

We were good to squeeze in purchasing fabric for a homemade Rapunzel dress (pictures coming up in my next post). She then got to watch a movie of her choice, Dora. We had plans to make cookies, but time slipped away so we grilled s'mores for our FHE treat that night instead. Fun, but not quite as good as the traditional method. Fortunately, the discovery of mint chocolate marshmallows was totally worth the trip to Walmart! I don't even like marshmallows much, but those tempt me!

See ya later, alligator!

In celebration of our last fun day before school started, the kids begged to go to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch. We then headed over to Downtown Naperville to show our Dad, who got to be with us (yea!) and see how fast the kids could run down the hill, and chase the ducks with the paddle boats. It was a perfect day!

And then reality hit! The oldest 2 boys catch the bus at 7:37 am.

It was so weird to say good-bye to Evan so early.

It was so comforting for me to have both of them get on the bus--together. I knew that despite Evan's nerves, with Braxton's nurturing personality, they'd both be OK and take care of each other.

I love this picture with Braxton holding on to Evan's backpack making sure he doesn't crowd the boy in front of him.

It was Carter and Emma's turn next.

Emma has Mrs. Kottmann for 1st grade (I already like her!)

Carter's got Mrs. Shaffron. He is thrilled and says that she is the nicest teacher EVER! Even though he says that he's not excited for school to start, once he saw his friends, I know that he was happy to be there.

Together for one last hug before good-byes for 6.5 hours!

Here's Emma with her cute neighbor who walks with us everyday and plays with Emma nearly everyday. They're great friends!