Lars turned 1! (Back in April)

Yes, it happened, our sweet baby turned one. I honestly can't remember too many things, except I think he had two teeth but was cutting 4-6 more. His gums were so swollen, you could really see the little tooth buds trying to get through.

Lars LOVED being in his high chair and the center of attention as we sang to him. He loves music and gets his groove on dancing more than the girls did at that age. As soon as we started singing he got really still and smiled and just loved the sound of it. Of course, our chunky monkey loved his cake. I'd like to say that that's the first sugar he'd ever had - but that would be a huge lie. At the tender age of one, he had already had lots and lots of sugar.

We were in Utah right before his birthday and my brother took these adorable photos of him so we could document his one year mark. I think this rocking chair was my grandpa's when he was a little boy!

I had to sneak in this photo I took around this time period. Lars had been reminding me of someone and I realized one day it was Duckie from Pretty in Pink, ha ha!

The birthday boy! His sisters love him very much.

Since I can't remember exactly what he was doing at one year old, I will say that he started walking at 14 months, so he was definitely still crawling. He is and was such a happy and cuddly little boy. I keep saying it over and over, but he gives the best loves and just loves to snuggle, snuggle, snuggle. He loves wrestling with Ryan and the girls. I'm always surprised with how much more physical he is about everything than the girls were - he loves to do a deadfall onto the bed or couch and is an amazing climber. He's gotten into so many messes, but I can't be mad when I see his little mug. I really don't think he wants to make mischief, but he is just so darn curious about everything. One of his favorite things is switches and buttons of every kind. You can well imagine how much he is loving the remote control for the Christmas tree lights right now.

June's 5th Birthday

Way back in March, our June-bug turned five years old. The good thing about this birthday is that she was in preschool with seven other little girls, so I knew we would have plenty of friends to invite for a little party. I thought and thought about what we could do that wouldn't break the bank. I really wanted to do a princess tea party at one of the little bakeries around town, but they were extremely expensive. I was puzzling over it one day in my mind and realized that we had about fifteen (not exaggerating) nice princess dresses already at our house that we owned. We could do the princess tea party on our own! June was so excited at this idea and I had so much fun planning and looking up adorable little girl paper tea party goods.

At the little tea parties they let the girls pick out a princess dress and then they do their hair and make-up. So I laid all our dresses out and I made a little hair and make-up stand. Rebecca came over to help and I also hired a babysitter to come. So I had those two doing hair and make-up on the girls as they came, while I helped oversee the other girls on some coloring pages.

I really wanted to make the table look special and there were some adorable party things online. I also borrowed a ton of cake stands and platters from friends. Rebecca brought a ton of flowers and we filled jars and vases all around. It was so sweet, I love how it turned out!

My talented neighbor baked the cake for free. June wanted a giant teacup cake and Christine delivered. It was adorable. The girls were so sweet. We colored some princess pages and we played "Pin the tiara on the princess".  We colored "tea cups" which were white mugs I got from Dollar Tree. My very favorite was that June really, REALLY was adamant that there be some dancing once everyone was dressed and ready. I think she was envisioning it like a ball because she wanted to dance with her BFF Ava and had all the girls pair off. The video is grainy, but you can see that they took it very seriously.

We had finger foods all in little containers that I got at Dollar Tree and it was just so cute and adorable! I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of doing these types of parties. I can kind of figure out what to spend money on that will make it feel special and where we should save money. Kids this age are so easy, they're just happy to be together so you don't need a whole lot of fancy games. I think for favors, we gave everyone a gift bag with a tiara, ring, wand, and some candy.

The Cake!

Presents!

I think a few girls had to go home before we got the photo, but they were all so cute and adorable!

Ava, June, Willa, Kensie, Presley, Annie, Lyla

Annie, Lyla, June, Presley

Lyla and June

It was such a fun party and went off so easily! I was on a high the rest of the day and I still smile thinking about it. I can't believe June is already 5 1/2 and has grown so much more since this day. June makes everything fun, when we do flashcards she will start singing and doing silly voices for each card. She loves Willa and really wants to be a big kid. June is very serious about her art work and she has a big vocabulary. She says very cute phrases like, "My friend Ava is a BIG fan of zebras" or "Ava takes her food verrrry seriously." The other day after an argument between her and Willa, I was standing by trying to be a neutral party and June yelled, "Why did you have to go tattle?! This was something we could have settled between the two of us!!" I had to run out of the room so they couldn't see me laughing - because I really do want them to try to resolve things without tattling on each other, ha ha. I don't know if I've ever expressed it so specifically to them before, so it made me laugh that she articulated it so well. It must be getting reinforced in kindergarten a little.  She's a sweetheart of a girl and we love her!