Olivia hit the two digits!!

Our oldest daughter just went ahead and turned 10.

Her birthday was June 30th and yes, I only got around to getting her pictures off my camera. I needed room on my card for other things or they might have been on there for another year!

We had Hoot owl party for her. She was so excited to invite her friends.

We sent out these owl invitations.

The day of the party I took them swimming at my sister-in-law's pool.

I had a little snack at the pool for them to enjoy.

I took an idea from Bible school for the food.

I gave them some pretzel sticks for twigs, cheese whiz to hold them together and white gum drops as eggs and they made a little hoot owl nest. I also had grapes so it would offset all the cheese whiz they would likely consume.

They fed the horses some grass before heading home.

At home we had supper. I made grilled cheeseburger wraps,

(they have been a big hit in our home thanks to pinterest), macaroni and cheese and peas. I bought tiny little cups and put ketchup in them to dip their wraps in. Quintin drilled holes in the top of canning jar lids for their cups. 



For dessert they made owl cupcakes. Oreos for the eyes and M&MS for the nose.

The oreos are supposed to be opened up but since I had refrigerated them they were cold and just cracked. I thought they looked a little odd but the girls enjoyed being creative with them.

When we got home from the pool, Olivia's birthday gift had arrived through the mail and was sitting on the front porch. Talk about good timings! I let her open it.

The girls all gave her a little something.

After that they had craft time.

They mod podged owls to wood and painted ceramic owls.

I put their mod podge in the same type cups that I put the ketchup in. Those little paper cups sure came in handy.   

Later in the evening Olivia gave her guests a tote with gifts in.

They each got an owl shirt to wear for bed, bubbles, jump rope, glow sticks, and an owl water bottle.

It also served as a way to carry their crafts home. 

So to wind down for the night we put an American girl doll movie in. As you can tell Quintin was so excited about all the girliness going on in the house. I should add that the other children went to Grandma's house. He probably wished he could go too. I figured Madi would stay for the party but, come on, miss out going to Grandmas? Not a chance!

I made hanging jars for when it got dark so they would have some light.

I set up their sleeping quarters in the corner of the deck. (Yes it's unfinished)

The next morning they admired their owls and checked to see if they were dry.

Really it was so warm the previous day that they had dried really fast.

Olivia served them waffles cut into sticks, bananas, yogurt, and chocolate milk.

Yuppers used those little cups again for syrup.

Time to say good bye.

Olivia had been looking forward to this party ever since I had Madi's party last year.

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I love my ten year old.
She has a servants heart.
Her younger siblings adore her and we will miss her when she goes back to school. She is good at helping Madi with her chores, putting Abbi's dolly clothes on, and hooking up Preston's tractor and wagons.

 

Lake Tobias, A real adventure

That's what they advertise and that is what we got. We had Camrin and Anya for the weekend so we decided to go to Lake Tobias. I have not been there since I was a little girl. It's funny how things are a little different as you get older.

I wish I could say one of the kids took the pictures but I can not tell a lie. It was me. I was being all flippy and turny with my settings when I should have just let it be. I should not be allowed to own a camera.

I believe this is the only picture with everyone on. Well, except me. I'm always behind the camera.

LOL! This picture cracks me up! I told them to look scared. They were like, What do you mean? Olivia is still trying to figure it out. That or she is totally embarrassed to be told to act weird. She's at THAT age.

Another attempt at a group shot. Sadly missing Preston and me, of course.

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Next we went on a tour to see the animals. I was pleasantly surprised to see they still had the cutoff buses. I figured by now they would have some fancy shmancy off road vehicle. 

It was such a hot day I thought the animals would just stay sitting in the shade. But I guess like humans they were willing to exert themselves a little if food was involved.

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Touching an alligator? crocodile? at the reptile exhibit.

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Next we headed to the petting zoo. The heat was starting to make us cranky but I was looking forward to the petting zoo the most so being an awesome mom I drug everyone there yet.

Poor Preston was sweating like crazy.

We had a memorable day at Lake Tobias but come to think of it I'm not sure Camrin and Anya have been back since!  

Our trip to New York

Some of my friends and I have been talking about taking our daughters to New York. We each have two daughters that would be the right age to enjoy it.

 After being pushed off multiple times we finally chugged our way up to New York on Saturday. After looking at how much motels were we decided to just go up for the day. We thought it'd be fun to ride Am-trak up there. So bright and early on Saturday we met in Harrisburg to board.

They had a miniature train set at the station which occupied the girls while we waited.

It was so exciting and something I always wanted to do since I was a little girl. It was fun to experience this with the girls.

The girls had their dolls along since we were planning on visiting the American Girl store.

It was around a three hour train ride so the girls settled down and read or colored.

Or played with their dolls.

There were many neat things to see outside. The train stopped off at one horse towns like Mt Joy, (my home town) to big cities like Philadelphia. I remember when I lived on the farm in Mt Joy depending how the wind blew we could hear the train whistle. Back then I always thought it would be so neat to take the train somewhere. 

Before we knew it we were there!

The girls gathered all their things and got ready to hit the streets of New York.

She looked like the height of New York fashion!

Think you'll find those two missing front teeth in NY?

I can't even begin to descibe to sights, sounds, and SMELLS that hit me. Honestly I would have loved to just sit down and watch all the people scurrying around. I always wonder what there stories are, where they're from, are they Christians? 

It would have been fun to take a taxi or ride a horse or the bike but we would have been separated and I think we were scared of losing each other.

The girl's were amazed by the skyscrapers.

They said they would like to live on the highest floor! Hmm! Not me! After this day I know I ain't no city girl!

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So after walking many blocks and then deciding to take the bus the rest of the way we finally arrived at our destination: The Plaza Hotel.

It was gorgeous! The girls thought it was "so fancy."

We ate at The Palm Court in The Plaza. The girls were able to order off an Eloise inspired menu. We didn't know much about the character Eloise but it was neat that they had kid friendly items to order.

Olivia made sure her "friend" didn't go hungry. By the way, yes my mom did make monkey hats for their dolls.

They got complimentary Eloise cookies at the end of  their meal.

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After  learning some lessons on the way to The Plaza  (1. the bus does not take credit cards. 2. the blocks are long. 3. We are a long way from Lancaster, Berks , and Perry county)  we decided to purchase a metro card and take the subway to the American Girl Doll place.

We happened to go past Times square. We took some pictures of the bewildered girls who I don't believe understood why were taking a picture here but whatever gets us closer to the doll place.

Finally, the store the girls have anxiously been waiting for.

We just have to cross one more street and we are there!

The girls enjoyed looking at all the displays.

I am so blessed to have such awesome friends. It is nice that they have daughters that are around the same age as mine. We had these same girls over for Madi's birthday party last November.

Many hours later outside the store with our purchases.

HMMM! What else do we want? We rested a little at the Rockefeller center.

Tickets, please

One of the girls told her mom later that this was her favorite part of the trip. The conductor was teasing the girls. He asked if their little friends, (the dolls) had tickets too. They thought it was funny when he threatened to throw them off the train.  

Some people can't handle all the excitement. :) But seriously it was an exhausting day. I probably would have slept too but I drank an iced cappuccino before boarding so I was wide awake.

Madi sleeping peacefully with her new look alike doll.

Olivia slept very little on the way home so while all the other girls were sleeping I let her watch a movie.

We enjoyed our day so much! I wouldn't want to live there but it was fun for one day! I loved being with my girls. On Sunday I was challenged in Sunday school that it's more important to build a relationship with your children then doing something with them. I totally agree with that but throwing a trip to New York in while building a relationship is fun too. I can tell our relationship is strengthened when I spend time alone with the girls without the constant distraction of Abbi and Preston. 

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I told the girls that I want to take some pictures of them outside with their dolls. I think this "photo shoot" could have gone on for a long time.

Madi's doll has freckles and red hair.

Olivia's doll has long red hair.

The end.