Ben & Jerry's

I am a little behind in posting the FINAL celebration pics for Sophia's 7th birthday!  We celebrated with her school friends at Ben and Jerry's for a fun party of ice cream cake decorating and even got a tour of the ice cream store as well as a lesson on making waffle cones and cups!!  

First the girls got to have a taste test of a variety of ice creams and had to guess the flavor!  Pretty fun!

Even little J got in on the action:)

Sam didn't get any ice cream...but he certainly didn't miss out on the action:)
Too bad it was a cold and rainy day for our spring ice cream party:(

The favors...

The girls watching the store owner demonstrate how to make a waffle cone!

Decorating the ice cream cakes.

The girls had so much fun with these frosting bags....maybe next year we should just have a cookie decorating party at our house....Lord knows I already have ALL of those supplies;)

Sophia looked so sweet in her new birthday dress!

Then came the mustaches....too funny!

Opening presents...Some of her friends went in together and got her another pair of twinkle toes that she has been DREAMING of.....pretty neat!

What a lucky little girl...she got so many fun things....one mother even hand-made a little dollie dress for Sophia's new American Girl.  Sooo sweet!

I Scream....You Scream...

We all scream for ice cream.....

Ice cream was the perfect party theme for my SEVEN year-old, Sophia!  It was a beautiful day for a birthday party with her family on Saturday!  We didn't do anything fancy....just enjoyed each other, opened lots and lots of presents, and treated ourselves to a "make your own sundae" bar.  Of course there was cake and cookies and cupcakes too!!!

Here are some of the party decorations and treats!

These little guys were actually cupcakes with a buttercream frosting that was scooped on and made to look like ice cream!  The sauce was melted chocolate candy melts and of course the cherry on top was a peanut butter m&m carefully placed by my best helper, little J!

The cake!

Some of the toppings for the sundae bar.

The cookies.

The favor table!

The ice cream pints were for the guests to fill with treats to take home. I found the printable labels on this site .

Opening presents...some of her favorites were her Kanani accessories, roller skates, Magic Tree House books, and the movie Tangled.  Of course she received lots of DARLING clothes, too!

Thea and Nouna watching me feed Sam while S was opening!

I love this picture of her!  She looks like a 7 year old!    I tried to make a mini bunting on her cake.  The little pennants were pink and blue and had the letters of her name on it...but they were so light you could hardly see it in the picture!

Making a wish...

A picture with my birthday girl!

The cake was 4 layers...like the Easter cake...but different recipes....chocolate and white cake.

There were no shortage of arms to hold Sam.  He got passed around all day and loved it!!! Such a sweet little guy!

Whew....another party in the books!  Hope Missy enjoyed her day!!! We still can't believe she is 7!  Pics of her Ben and Jerry's party with her friends to come soon:)

Sophia is SEVEN

Her day finally arrived and it couldn't have been a more beautiful one.  The weather was perfect.....(too bad my allergies were not...uggghh worst sore throat ever)  Sophia had a busy day packed with lots of fun!  Here is her special day in pictures....

1.  At the breakfast table...with her birthday balloon...but not too thrilled to take a picture :)

2.  Sophia chose donuts for her special birthday treat!  Joseph ( who doesn't normally eat donuts) got to join the fun...and he even ate some....guess it was all of that BIG kid pressure:)

3.  One of the teachers offered to snap a picture of us....so sweet since we rarely have pictures together!  Sophia was so glad Daddy got to come.  She shared her "All about Me" poster with the class and I got to read a chapter from one of her favorite Magic Tree House books!

4.  Back home after school....practicing spelling words and math flash cards while wearing the light-up Birthday crown, of course!

5.  Love how Joseph is looking at her crown!  Getting ready for soccer practice...

6.  Even Sam was happy to celebrate with Sophia today!!!  I just can't get enough of that SMILE!

7.  Hungry for dinner after soccer.... Sophia chose Culvers.  Pretty funny because she had never actually eaten there...but she has seen others eat it at school.

8.  Best part of dinner... the custard!! Mmmmm she chose chocolate with chocolate sauce:)

 9.  Back home to open one present (the small ones will come at her family birthday party on Saturday).

10.  Pretty excited...Recognize the box?

11.  Can hardly wait to open it....

12.  Kanani!!!

Whew!  What a day, and another busy weekend in store!  I need to get busy with the rest of the party preparations...  Oh...and Sophia...someday when you are older and you go back and read these....I am so sorry that I forgot to bring the sandals for you when I picked you up from soccer practice!!! You were so upset that you HAD to wear your soccer shoes to dinner instead of your fancy sandals!!!
Happy Happy Birthday to the BEST little girl EVER!!!

Alleluia!

"Your eyes will see the King in His beauty,"  Isaiah 33:17

Sophia was so thrilled that Easter had finally arrived today for more than one reason.  Of course a visit from the EB was pretty exciting...but so was the fact that she could eat ice cream again AND that she could again sing Alleluia in Church:)

Here is a glimpse of our Easter festivities....a special one of course for sweet Sam, being his first:)

Look at what grew from those Magic beans....

Finding the first Easter eggs

Pretty even right out of bed:)

After Church...loving the sunshine!

Sophia was sooo willing to pose for me today....she looked sooo cute in her Easter dress!!!  Thanks Yiayia!!

Just because life around here isn't always peachy keeny....had to include this picture...Poor J....didn't want to take pictures today.... He was kinda cranky this morning... I'm blaming it on the switch to a new allergy medicine...I think we will be back to good ole claritin tomorrow:)

Awww...best attempt at all three of them smiling:)

Sam smiles sooo much...just not in THIS picture!!:)

YAYYYY...She did it...went 40 whole days without ice cream....so of course we had it after lunch and Easter dinner as a treat!  I'm so proud of this girl!  Such will power!

Almost ready to give me a "real" smile by lunch time:)

The cake and cookies I brought to Omi's for Easter dinner!  Good thing I took the picture of the cake BEFORE it started to sag...guess a few of my chocolate layers were too heavy for the white layers!

Unfortunately... I brought my camera with a freshly charged battery to Omi's for Easter dinner...but left my memory card at home..uggghhh!!  But...the kids had a fabulous time on a second Easter egg hunt and of course had tons of fun just playing with Omi, Papa, and Auntie E!

Happy Easter!