Happy 5th Birthday Channing Gail!

Last Sunday my sweet girl turned 5. She even starts kindergarten next month. She thought she got to start Kindergarten on Monday since she's now 5. She doesn't quite understand how all that works.

For her b-day she received a new bike but there aren't any birthday pics yet because her bday party is being delayed until Aug.



I wanted to wait until school started so she could invite her new friends from school. So, look for pictures coming after Aug 21. We are having a Hannah Montana impersonator come put on a concert for the girls. I'm so excited. Channing invites everyone she meets to her party! Who knows how many little girls will be there. Some of Sullivan's former 2nd grade classmates are dying to come.

Here's a few pictures of things that kept her busy this past year as a 4 year old...

At the ball with Grandpa...

Posing for a photos for a friend's clothing line...


competing in a cheer competition with young champions...


Playing thing 1 at brothers' school....

gymnastics at the Redbird game....


learning to swim.....



Graduating preschool!

a shopping adventure

So...a couple of weeks ago I received a notice about an amazing warehouse sale. So amazing I really wanted to go and after some conversations with some girl friends, we decided it was "worth the drive." Because the sale was a 5.5 hour drive, we decided to leave at midnight to get a good jump on the line. On the way down, none of us got any rest as the excitement of the sale grew. It also didn't help that we drove through a pretty ominous looking storm. As Meredith put it, "there was a low cloud line" that kept us watching.

We arrived at the sale at 5:30am. None of us were expecting much of a line but were surprised at the 30-40 people camped out. The sale didn't start til 9:00am. Meredith and Kim opted to make a Walmart run to go to the bathroom and buy some chairs. I think this was a ploy to get out of sitting in line because they were gone a loooooonnnnnnnnnggggggggg time. How convenient! Of course the stares they received when getting back in line were all but friendly! Tracy and I made a McDonald's/potty run as quickly as possible to not upset that many people.

It's hard to tell how many people were now behind us but the line was impressive. Glad we got there when we did. We sat there chatting with others in the line to get the inside scoop and a game plan. Many of these women come year after year and not to buy for themselves but for their consignment stores and ebay. We were a little afraid that we weren't going to find anything but boy were we wrong.

Even though the sale wasn't supposed to start until 9:00am, they opened the doors around 8:20am. It caught everyone off guard. Meredith and Kim were just about to take the chairs back to the car when the line started moving. Kim looked around like what should she do with our stuff. Tracy and I chimed in....leave it! So, the shopping began!

We had a game plan....divide and conquer. I was to get size 5/6 girls. When I got in there, I got turned around and couldn't figure out where to find what. In all the excitement I think I became discombobulated! I regrouped and started grabbing. Let me just say, it was totally worth it.

At one time I had more in my arms than I could hold. I found a table top but didn't want to leave it in fear that someone would take something. Then we started taking turns going in for more! The pile of clothes we had was massive and there was no way we were going to be able to buy all that. So eventually the weeding out for the favorite outfits began.

Kim started feeling bad from the lack of sleep but the rest of us went to work. There wasn't much room but eventually I was able to make those difficult decisions of putting some stuff back. I had also grabbed shorts for Dalton b/c they were elastic waist. I found that I had several matching outfits for the 2 so I had to go back in for Sullivan some shorts. I was happy to be able to find so many matching outfits for all 3. I think all of us girls that went were able to find matching outfits for all our girls and boys. I don't think we left that sale until around 2:00pm.

We were exhausted as we made that long drive home!




I couldn't wait to get my family in their matching outfits! I even found Craig some matching shorts. They looked so cute I went online and bought me the matching dress. Not at the same awesome price I got at the warehouse sale but I loved matching the family.






I'll definitely make this trip again if possible!

Our first slumber party

Since Sullivan didn't want a big party this year, he selected 4 friends to come over for a sleepover. He would ask me every hour how much longer until his friends arrived. He just couldn't wait. Once his friends arrived, we ate pizza and headed out to the back yard for some water fun. The slip n slide was there as well as 6 water guns for the kids to battle. That was lots of fun. I even had to add to the excitement a little.

After we were all soaked and after a game of duck duck goose,

we dried off to make ice cream sundaes and to sing happy birthday to my little guy.



The singing was his LEAST favorite part. After ice cream, it was time for presents and a movie....Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs then on to bed.



Sullivan and Darrius left the movie early to do a little reading on Sullivan's new Super Mario game book. All the kids slept up in the playroom and did pretty well. There were a few mumbles about forgotten eyedrops and a forgotten sleep medicine but beyond that, no requests for home. The boys enjoyed chatting upstairs but Sullivan was ready for bed and asked once if he could go to his own room to go to sleep.

Craig was able to get all the boys settled down and after a few minutes of Craig sitting up there, they all went to sleep (before midnight.)

All in all, I think it was a pretty successful evening and Sullivan enjoyed his first slumber party.

(Of course, little Ms. Channing wants to know when she gets to have a sleepover....she was told not until she's 8. Wonder if that will work?)

Sullivan's 8th birthday

One of my sweet boys had a birthday yesterday. Sullivan turned 8. Wow! I really can remember pretty vividly falling asleep with him on my tummy! He has turned out to be a pretty amazing little boy who definitely keeps us on our toes.

If you recall, last year Sullivan asked for an ipod touch. We thought we were out-smarting the little guy by giving him dads old one that he never used after getting the iphone. Sullivan was super excited but it didn't take him long before he started asking dad if his birthday ipod was dads old ipod. We were busted!

He was fine with that for a little while but then he found that the battery just didn't stay charged long enough to his liking. This began the pleas of a new ipod touch (one with a longer battery.) We were actually considering it as he acted pretty responsibly with this first one, but probably 3 months ago a new love was found, the DSi. Ultimately, Sullivan decided he'd rather have the DSi for his 8th birthday. He was very excited to get it and has played it nonstop since yesterday. I'm definitely going to have to limit the time on that so it doesn't consume Sullivan's summer!



Dalton and Channing also picked Sullivan up some goodies too. Channing got Sullivan a holder for his Bakugons and Dalton got him a Snuggie. Sullivan was very excited about the Snuggie!

We had just a small family party yesterday with his friends coming this coming weekend. In Sullivan style, he requested for us to NOT have a large party like years past. I knew this was coming when last year he didn't want his friends to sing happy birthday, as this embarrassed him. I knew the days of big birthday parties for him were numbered. This year Sullivan asked if he could just have a few friends over. So, he has invited 4 boys from his class to come over for a sleepover. Keep your fingers crossed we survive!

Sullivan's 1st Birthday: Luau

Sullivan's 2nd Birthday: Thomas the Train

Sullivan's 3rd birthday: Blue's Clues

Sullivan's 4th Birthday: Bob the Builder

Sullivan's 5th Birthday: Waterslide

Sullivan's 6th birthday: Magician

Sullivan's 7th birthday: Movie Night

Last Day in Hawaii, Oahu

We spent our last day in Hawaii on Oahu. We weren't able to go to Pearl Harbor our last Hawaii trip so it was a must this time. I really enjoyed getting to know more about this part of history. I learned a lot through the video and was amazed to see oil still in the Harbor.

After Pearl Harbor, we went for a drive on the island of Oahu. The island had some beautiful scenery but it definitely isn't as pretty as the other islands we've been to. There were actually areas that looked very poor with graffiti, etc.. but I'm glad we found the pretty parts of the island.




During our drive around the island, I got 2 rainbows. Couldn't help but think of mom and what she missed by not going to Hawaii while she was here on earth but also couldn't help but think of the beauty she sees now on a daily basis!




Craig and I enjoyed our last sunset on Hawaii and dinner at a neat little restaurant with 2 great Hawaiian singers.










We had a great trip but were ready to get back to the kids. The plane trip home wasn't as nice as the one on the way there...the seats weren't as nice, etc... and I practically froze to death but that's ok. I just appreciated being home that much more!