Princess Party

Once upon a time in a mid-western town lived a pretty little princess who wanted to throw a party for all her friends and family.


The first guest arrives and gets a royal welcome!!!

The banners are readied for those on the Royal Guest List


After signing in, the princess's friends begin to design their very own royal door knob markers.


This day is as beautiful as the princess herself and the party guests need to run, jump, swing and hula hoop off some of their energy and excitement.





This princely guest is taking a break from all the activity before the royal games begin.


The races are on and the her highness's photographer is in attendance along with the ladies in waiting.



The banquet of sweets is ready to begin but first Princess Conley blows out the candles that confirm this is her 5th birthday!

This little princess sure draws a crowd while she opens the many gifts from all her party guests.



To thank her guests for coming, she opens a Princess pinata filled with treats that all children love to eat.


All the children left with sweet memories of fun and friends and live happily ever after.

Barber Shop

I love this barber shop, so cute, so friendly and so Western. Not what I remember from my childhood in Alpena.



The barber shop of yesteryear was pretty much a man's place. I remember waiting for my father and brother to have their hair cut. Not much fun for a child. All hair business.

These little guys have lady barbers and children's programing on television. Hudson really doesn't like having his hair cut so he tolerates it and then saddles up while he waits for his brothers.


Tucker is a little less reluctant but I don't think its his favorite thing. Seems the cartoons are a pretty good distraction.


Now,Cooper seems to actually enjoy getting his hair cut and has some definite ideas, he wants a spiky look.


So what is a sister to do while waiting for these brothers to get their hair cut?
Claire knows, she gets comfortable and eats candy.


Yea candy is better than the smoky barber shops of the 50s!

Pirates a Plenty

Land Ahoy! Hey Matey? Arggg! It was quite a celebration with swords, pixie dust, gold coins, treasure chests, sea water, pirate's brew and a lot of loot!

It did take a fair amount of preparation mostly while the pirates were sleepin. Imagine my surprise when I came upon this scene.

It takes all hands on deck to decorate these Jake and Izzy pirate cakes.

The chow is ready with cannon balls, shells on the beach, coconut chicken and Sculley's parrot food and the pirates don their vests and eye patches to greet their rowdy friends.


These two, Jake (Hudson) and Izzy(Claire) are in charge since they are VIP (very important pirates) having turned 5 years on this very day!

Speaking of tough guys wearing eye patches....

Sometimes a gal just has to climb the rigging to get a look at what's "happinen"

And their was a lot going on... a big old pirate ship came into the harbor and all those rowdy pirates beat it until it broke apart!

They were glad they did because it was filled with gold coins! They don't call this guy Tuck for nothin, he was tucked away countin his treasure.

Let me tell yah, all that hard work can make a sailor mighty hungry for some chow!

Cubi's (Coop) not waitin for nobody it's every man for himself! Got to eat hardy and save some room for those sweet pirate cakes.



It's not over yet, the loot just keeps commin.

Pirates can be pretty rough and rowdy but they sure know how to have good times with good friends!

Conley Weekend

Conley came to stay for a couple nights while her parents had a long weekend get-away. So what would a couple old folks do to entertain an almost 5 year old? Well, our first responsibility was to take her to her last swim lesson.


Conley is very social and showed the other girls her fingernail polish and liked teasing Issac. Then it was time to show what she had learned. In these pictures she is being a frog and kicking really hard doing the back flutter kick.

After swim class, we went to a "Cruise In" at our church. Hot dogs, root beer floats and Conley was excited to see her friend Molly. The girls spent the evening talking about princesses, kindergarten, and looking at old cars with Molly's mother.
After a bath and reading a few books she fell fast asleep for the next 11 hours! It's probably because as she says, "I now sleep with my eyes closed all night."

After her pancake breakfast she sorted marbles and colored in her princess book.



We then packed for Lake Michigan. What a beautiful day after so much hot weather. We went to a relative's beach and Conley made some new friends.


This is her with Briar. They along with Briar's brother, Henry, played for hours collecting stones and sea shells and wading in the water.


After Briar and Henry left, she made a sand castle with a swimming pool and stone sidewalk.

 

Then it was dress up time for dinner and ice cream! Yea!!


When we got back home, we tried to make a memory jar with beach sand, shells and stones. It was a minor success. Fun days with out little girl and tomorrow she is looking forward to spending time with her Grandma Dolly and Grandpa Con. We're going to miss you, Conley. Thanks for all the fun!