favorite foursome

Seven! What? Oh, and he is fast approaching his first lost tooth...which may or may not have been my driving motivation for a photo shoot.

Twirling in her birthday dress

Gotta mention Tilly's dress. It was handmade and hand smocked by my mom. She's amazing.

If I loved em any more my heart might burst! Kuddos to this cute bunch for letting me drag em down the street for pictures. O-man made it feel like this picture is some sort of miracle! Whew! next time I need a sidekick.

now & then...

Emerson has visited TN four times now. The first was about a month before my Grandpa passed away. I have so many sweet memories from that trip. The way my Grandpa interacted with Emerson was priceless and I'll never forget how he called Emerson a miracle...this from a man that delivered many hundreds of babies during his career. He never lost the awe of new life. I sure miss him!

Elijah and I took EJ back to TN just before his first birthday. Then two years ago, My mom and I drove back to TN with three kiddos. This June my mom and I were able to fly (because of the kindness of dear family) with all FOUR kids. I had fun looking back at pictures from our last 3 trips. We did a lot of the same things each time. Such great memories. So, I put together some collages comparing kids and the "now and then". Enjoy!

EJ is on the left here with Oliver on the right. E was 11 months old and O was 13 months.

 This wooden swing has been around since my Grandma was a little girl. It is in her front yard. EJ to the left and O on the right.

The kids and me with Grammy Honey at the carousel...then and now.

I guess we started EJ young on frogs! He chose the frog this year and it wasn't until I looked back at the pics that I realized his first ride was on the same frog!

EJ, Then and now at Clumpies....YUM!

We visited the children's museum two years ago and again this June. Tilly danced her little heart out for a loooooong time. It was fun to look back and see she also enjoyed the stage at 15 months old.

Here's a fun one! Can you tell who is who? :-) The left side is from 2011. EJ and TIlly on the top and Tilly on the bottom. On the right is from June. Tilly and Oliver on the top and Oliver on the bottom. I was really struck here by how much Tilly and Oliver resemble each other at similar ages! Oh, how they LOVED the water play area at the children's museum. This time, Grammy Honey felt well enough to join us. I'm not sure who had more fun...but it just might have been my Grandma. The delight on her face was radiant as she watched her great grands play.

 I still have fun TN pictures to share....that will be another post.

Clara's Tangled Garden Party

Clara invited sweet little girls to celebrate her 5th Birthday with a Tangled garden party. Her mama had too much fun planning and preparing! Clara loved every second of her party which made it the perfect day. We could have done without the crazy wind...but I think it bothered me more than them. 

She requested a Rapunzel tower on her cake. Thank goodness for pinterest! I was delighted to screw a wooden dowel into a wood circle base to avoid the catastrophic tornado incident of 2012. After sliding the cake over the dowel, I stacked up these mini donuts for the tower. it was so easy! I decided to use a cake ice cream cone for Rapunzel's room on top, and then a sugar cone over that worked great for a pointed roof.

Not complete without Rapunzel and Pascal...thank goodness for plastic.

The idea was to make miniature gardens in the backyard under a pretty canopy. Well, if we had put up the canopy...it would have ended up in another neighborhood. We tried being outside but I was afraid all their little garden decorations would blow away so we headed inside. Oh well. It all worked out. And look at their colorful pots. I found them all at a yard sale...for free! A little spray paint did the trick.

I must say, it was adorable watching them create their little gardens. They each had a little bag full of goodies like a  butterfly, a little table with a plate or teacup, umbrella, pennant to hang from a twig "tree", tiny bottle of fairy dust, and a tiny pot of flowers. I had fun with my dad's orthodontic wire bending tools and made copper wire arbors for each garden. I also had my kids gather twigs so I could make and paint little tiny chairs. Might have been the most fun project I've taken on in awhile.  There's something so sweet and whimsical about "miniature". Tiny things make me happy.

moss, a little plant, and colored glass stones

Look at all these pretty girls with their sweet tiny gardens!

We didn't really get pictures of the food! My friend Sela baked me some loaves of pink bread. We had pink butterfly shaped peanut butter and jam sandwiches, little fruit kabobs, pink mac n cheese, and strawberry lemonade...all served by the handsome butlers.

Royal cake tasting. Notice she ate the chocolate cake from the middle first? That's my girl! Later she was found licking her plate...daintily of course.

EJ, Elijah, and Papa were the handsome butlers. They slaved in the kitchen and served lunch to all the little ladies and their mamas. He took this pic of himself.