Party Girl

Our Chloee is now 6. Where does the time go?? Chloee is a ball of energy who loves to sing, dance, sing some more, plunk on the piano, and do pretty much anything that makes noise. She is awesome at helping with her little sisters and has already shown amazing mothering skills. Chloee absolutely loves school and looks forward to everyday, she even loves homework. She is now reading and doing great in math.

We decided to have a pizza party for her actual birthday and were able to squeeze it in at the Hansen's between scouts and church activities. Chloee wanted a fruit pizza for her cake, so I threw one together and she loved it, even with the improvised "6" candle.

We decided now that Chloee is in school, she could have a "real" party with her friends. She wanted a princess party, so nearly all the girls from her class, plus a few church friends and her two baby cousins donned their best party duds and it was a huge success.

Princess Chloee greeting her buddies. Big sister, Haylee and a few of her buddies were in charge of hair, nails, and makeup. They did a great job and all the girls looked darling.

Brady LOVES to bake and has been pushing me to let him make a fancy cake with fondant icing for a while now. I decided to let him do Chloee's cake, thinking it would keep him busy for a while and get him off my back. Brady did an amazing job, completely on his own, and is now the official family cake maker.

Chloee loved her barbie cake and was really surprised with Brady's creation. This cake took him nearly three hours, but it was his gift to Chloee. The cake not only looked good, but tasted great. Jolee loved it. How cute is she??

Here is cousin Abbi sporting her party outfit. She might be little, but she adores Chloee and she kept right up with the big girls.

This was the make up station, where we quickly had to improvise when I found that the face paint I bought was crap. I found some lip liner and the girls never knew the difference.

Present time!! Chloee was spoiled and got way too much stuff, but she loves her pet shops, Zuzu bed and ball, and endless supply of craft stuff.

Here is the whole crew on the stairs. They were too cute and the party was a lot of fun, but I am glad I don't have to do one for a while. Oh, wait...Brady and Jolee's birthday is just 2 months away.

Peninsula Winter Games

Every year, our community puts on a winter games weekend with outdoor games, ice sculptures, and most importantly, hockey! More on hockey later, but it was a great weekend had by all. Jaron and Chloee braved a ride on the ice slide. This was new this year, but pretty cool. Jaron went first, sporting his medal he earned in his hockey tournament. Naturally he loved it and wanted to go all day.

Then it was Chloee's turn. This slide, while well built, was very bumpy with the landing on a icy, gravel strip. Needless to say, with a very little tush, Chloee only lasted two runs.

Here she goes, and there she is trying to put on a brave face.

Notice how her brave face has vanished and is instead, filled with bitter disappointment. Oh well, at least the rest are happy. Check out Maycee's cheesy grin.

As far as indoor activities, there was cookie decorating, face painting, and hockey. Brady took a break between hockey games to help his sisters decorate some cookies. Jolee is still very shy with strangers and crowds, but her siblings help her to be brave.

Finally, there was the hockey. Jaron's team was eliminated early on, mostly because a Mite comp team from Anchorage entered their division and blew everyone away. Sore subject. Jaron did get his first goal though, and it was awesome. I was sitting at the far end of the rink and Jaron scored on the opposite end. As soon as he scored, he looked right where I was sitting and started waving his arms. I was so excited for him.

As for Brady's team, they were entered into the Bantam D division even though they are a PeeWee C team. If this is foreign speech to you, don't worry. Basically, his team of 11/12 year olds played teams of 13/14 year olds. However, Brady is on a C team which is supposed to be better than a D team. Anyway, Brady is the only goalie and he did awesome. His team ended up finishing 2nd in the tournament, but he faced his first ever shoot out in the semi-finals. The game went into overtime, where the score stayed tied. Because there had to be a winner, it went to a shootout. A shootout is where the goalie faces three shooters who try to score and the team with the most successful shots, wins the game. I was a basket case, but Brady did awesome. He blocked 1 out of 3 shots the first round as did the other team's goalie, so it had to go to another 3 shooters. Brady saved 2 of the 3 shots and the other goalie only saved one, so we won! It was amazing and I could hardly drive home after all the adrenaline running through my system.

We live in an awesome small community, where our family has so many opportunities to do things together, plus it makes winter go by faster. On another note, Aaron's high school team ended up finishing 4th in the region which means that season is over. Our boys still have another 2 months, but at least Aaron is around a little more now.

Poor Baby

Jolee is home with Maycee and I all day and one of her favorite ways of passing the time besides watching PBS is to make sure Maycee has all the toys she needs to be happy. Obviously she isn't too happy here, but it's the thought that counts. Jolee even threw in Maycee's shoes, a perfectly swaddled baby doll, and a nice, warm blanket. What a good sister Jolee is.

Our Backyard

We have had some amazing sunsets lately and I was able to get a quick shot off the back deck the other night. This is the view out of our family room. I am constantly amazed and humbled at how blessed we have been. I am so grateful for the beauty of God's creations and that we are able to live in one of His prettiest places.