Two Dinosaurs?

Merlova is such a kick. Today while playing with play-doh with daddy she decided that she was a dinosaur and had to put the play-doh on her forehead. I thought it was more of a Klingon thing like Star Trek. Daddy of course had to be a dinosaur too, but since he was the "baby" one he had to use pink and she was the daddy one. What you don't see in the photos is her and daddy crawling around the kitchen floor chasing after mommy trying to get me! Here are my two SCARY dinosaurs.

An Alice Tea Party

Today we celebrated Zhivanna's 5th B-day with a girls tea party (she invited only the girls). It was inspired by Zhivanna's current love of the Disney Alice In Wonderland movie. Glenn made her a Cheshire Cat for display to go in her room and I made her an Alice outfit complete with petticoat. I read parts of the Alice story to the girls (and Akorren) while we tasted the potion from the magic bottle, ate the special cookies that make you grow tall, and looked for the white rabbit hiding outside in the yard. We had a Mad Hatter tea party with fruits, mini-pizza's, tea (of course) or lemonade and decorated our own b-day cupcakes. The Alice In Wonderland music played in the background as the girls colored Alice images, while Zhivanna opened up her gifts and discovered a hand painted tea cup and pocket watch, we then ended the day off with a modified game of croquet. It was fun and we tried not to go to overboard with the theme, Zhivanna felt so special and like Alice; she did not want to get out of her dress the rest of the day. The planning and thought put into this has already got Akorren designing his party, which is in the summer in June. I keep reminding him that Merlova's b-day is next.
The Cheshire Cat, Ava/Zhi & Akorren, the girls at the tea party, time for tea, Merlova and the cupcake sprinkles...ooops!

More Tea Party Photos

Here are some more pictures from Zhivanna's Alice In Wonderland tea party b-day. She enjoyed her Mad Hatter mini-cake that I had to bake made from 6 small cakes cooked in her 'Easy Bake' oven (yeah, really easy it only took us 1 1/2 hours to do) but she loved it and wanted to have her cake made with her oven. Next is Zhivanna opening up her gifts while the other girls color in themed coloring pages. Zhivanna gets her very own pocket watch (like the white rabbit had) along with a special tea cup mommy painted for her with Alice inspired designs from the story. Finally Alice (Zhi) sets up for a game of croquet.

Zhivanna is 5

Today is Zhivanna's real b-day. She has her party this coming weekend on the 17th but today the family went to gymnastics, picked up chicken to eat from KFC and made an angel food cake for her. She got to be sung to, opened up some small gifts and had cake and ice cream. Akorren made her a card at school (so sweet) and bought her a big Bakugan toy, Merlova gave her some color wonder markers and paints. and the adults Papa, Lois, daddy and mommy gave her a card and money. She now thinks she is rich, we will have to see if we can keep her from spending it all at once. It was a nice little celebration for her, she will have the girls over for an Alice In Wonderland inspired tea party on Sat. Zhivanna in her Happy B-day hat, Sister & grandma Lois look on, Akorren admires Zhi's cash, the family together at with the cake

Growth Chart

Had to show off the cool growth chart that Glenn put together over the week. He had to make or build something over the winter break. He and I have been wanting a place to write down and chart the children's growth. Having it written down in a baby book is not a place we easily see. We wanted something visual, so crafty Glenn came up with this space inspired design. He specifically placed certain images at the heights they were so it could be fun for the 3 kids to say I'm as tall a the rocket, or satellite. We just write on the chart with a permanent paint pen. Zhivanna wanted us to check her hight to see if she grew over the week from her B-day to day the party was, funny girl. The 3 kids in front of the new chart.

Camera... Got One!

Okay we did not win the ebay one that closed on 01/03, but Glenn broke down and went and got one at the local pawn shop. It was in better condition then the previous one we had and it only needed a new strap. I even ordered a bigger battery for it. So it was nice to know we had one in hand. Now I know life has a way of playing funny tricks on you, you know... you all live this life thing... anyway...today I get a call from our sextant (the lady to cares for the church) and she calls to tell me that she found Glenn's camera in a drawer here at church. So it's here if we want to come and pick it up. Funny, yes Glenn and I knew if we bought another one the 1st one would come up. It only hurt a little to pay out an extra $150 this month especially when the taxes are due. Yeah, funny. Darn CAMERA! Well we can do two angled shots for Zhivanna's party on the 17th. Great.

Still No Camera!!!!

So we still can't find our Sony DCR-TRV350 digital video camera (looks like the one above but more banged up). We looked again all around the house, at church, put an advertisement in the church news bulletin, have asked all around to friends we think we might have left it with and still no luck. I am trying not to be mad or upset with Glenn on this one but, it was his responsibility! I do the pictures (or my dad does) and Glenn does the video. With Zhivanna's B-day coming soon I really don't want to miss out on having footage. It is bad enough that we have nothing of our Christmas but the photos. Glenn has been thinking on this as well so we put a bid in on a camera we figured if we could get one for under $150 that would be great and then when the ebay bidding close we could still get it here before Zhi's special day. So we are resolved to get one in the next few days, yay!