Turning Six

From this April 27, 2004

to this Beautiful young lady in April 2010

Six years ago, I had the blessing of giving birth to my firstborn child. Kara's due date was May 7, and JA was to graduate on May 8. I knew without a doubt from when I first found out I was pregnant that Kara would be early. There is no way I could have handled JA's graduation, party, and all of our relatives that were coming for his graduation, from a hospital bed. Also, I wanted to be able to spend some time with just the three of us as a family before JA's mom came to stay with us for a month. So I just knew she would be early. And she was -- 10 days.Until Ezekiel was born, I would have to say that Kara was my easiest delivery -- I slept through labor and woke up to deliver her in a matter of minutes. However, it was not quite that simple. I did go into labor Monday night during our Uncommon Vessels Meeting, and several of the ladies at the meeting could tell I was in labor. I went home, slept, and got up Tuesday morning to go to my doctor's appointment. We left early because I was pretty sure I was in labor, but was not ready to go to the hospital. We walked around Wal-Mart for as long as I could handle it, and then went into the doctor's office. I told them I thought I was in labor, and instead of seeing the doctor they sent me to the hospital -- Oh, now I know! We walked over to the hospital, and were admitted. At 1:30 the doctor came in and broke my water and gave me some pitossin since my contractions weren't doing anything, and then they gave me an iv with stadol. Shortly after that I fell asleep. At 4:00 I woke up, and I think Kara was born at about 4:25. A nice easy uneventful labor.
To see more photos from Kara's first year with us, click here

Almost 6

Wow, I can hardly believe it. Six years ago I was anticipating the birth of my oldest child. With the due date almost two weeks away, I knew for certain I would be going into labor within the next few days -- I was that confident that Kara would come early because of how crazy life would be if she didn't.

Last Saturday we celebrated Kara's sixth birthday (even though her birthday isn't until Tuesday, April 27). Kara chose a Tea Party theme for her birthday party, and I was more than happy to go along with this theme. It was so easy, and the girls loved it.

Kara blowing out the candles on her tea pot birthday cake. For those of you who don't know,
Kara thinks she is a cat, and that is why she begged me the day before to put
a cat on her birthday cake. So, I did (or at least I attempted to - she thought it was a bear).

Each of Kara's friends brought their favorite doll to the party
Here are the girls making sure their dolls are having enough tea
and sweets.

The girls carefully unfolded their napkins and placed the napkins in their laps.
It was so neat to watch these young girls be so concerned about proper etiquette
they were beautiful in their fine dress and pure girlishness

Kara loves to play Go Fish, so the girls gathered around
together to play a game of Go Fish - Thank you Lynette for
facilitating this game for me.

While Lynette was helping the girls play Go Fish, I was helping them one girl at a time
glue ribbons and flowers on hats for their dolls. It was fun to see each girls
personality exhibited by which ribbon and flower she chose, and how she wanted it placed
on the hat.

Kara absolutely loves the new doll she received for her birthday.

Here are all of the girls, their dolls, and their hats. Andy had just arrived back from
his trip to the park with Daddy, Ezekiel, Opa, Uncle Tim, and Uncle Joel, so he wanted to get in the picture. Thankfully Aunt Beth was kind enough to get Raggedy Andy down off the shelf
for the picture.

And here is the birthday girl. I will post more about her later this week if I
get a chance.

To see more pictures from Kara's Birthday Party click here

Vacation Plans

Help!!! JA and I are considering moving up our plans to vacation in Hawaii to next spring. We have been planning to go to Hawaii for our 10th Anniversary which will be a year from this December. However, we currently have enough Airline miles for both of us to go for free (which will expire before our 10th Anniversary).

Now, this is where we need help. I know a lot of you have vacationed in Hawaii. Can you please share with me where you went in Hawaii, and why you think it's the best choice of destination? See, I need to start researching so we can decide where to go, but I don't even know where to begin. Also, what did you do in Hawaii that you think we would really enjoy doing ie. Climbing to the top of a volcano, taking a boat trip between islands, visiting Pearl Harbor, etc. . .

Thank you for your Help!!!

Cloth Diaper Talk

Cloth Diaper Talk is doing a giveaway of a Diaper Sprayer. We have been cloth diapering for three years, and I have never used a diaper sprayer. From those of you who do use one, what have I been missing? Please share your experience, and whether or not it is a worthwhile investment. If you are interested in cloth diapering, check out Thanks Mama to view their variety of products.

Dinner Time Fun

We don't do much for April Fools Day around here. April 1 is also my mom's birthday, so it's not usually a day for pranks -- other than last year when everyone surprised her for her 50 birthday.

I decided to have some fun with the kids, so thanks to Family Fun I planned and carried out a prankster's dinner. We had

Not Chicken Pot Pie

Vanilla Pudding with Starburst carrots and corn
Airhead peas
White Chocolate Chicken
Banana Potatoes
Topped with a pie crust

And for dessert
Meatloaf Cupcakes with
Mashed Potato Frosting

Oh, I almost forgot about the side of
mashed potato ice cream
and toffee gravy

Needless to say, Kara took one look at the mashed potatoes and told me that it was ice cream and caramel. It took her a few licks of the frosting before she told me it was mashed potato, and then she looked at the meat and said "This is a meat cupcake, thank you mom for making such a healthy cupcake."