Monday March 1, 2010

Life has been busy as usual, and I have neglected my blog a touch. I'm back though. Lots going on in life. My daughter McKenna recently turned 10 years old. We threw her a party with a few friends on Friday after school. The girls all walked home from school with McKenna. You could hear them all coming from the end of the street. Such a loud and fun bunch of girls. They hung out in McKenna's room for a bit, then I took them all outside for a mini photoshoot. The weather was pretty decent for it, and they had a lot of fun just being together and using a few of the props I had. They had hula hoop contests while they were waiting their turns and we also had some bubble gum chewing contests to see who could blow the first bubble. Afterwards we went back to the house and they all ran off downstairs. They had fun spinning eachother in our hanging chair, and dancing around to music, and basically just being giggly silly girls. I really didn't have to do much for this party. They were having way too much fun on their own. I had planned on making beaded friendship bracelets with the girls, and even had some back up games but I didn't need to do any of it. She got some nice gifts from her friends including $40 worth of gift cards, a webkinz caterpillar, archie comics, hair things, decorative things for her room, pokemon cards, jewellery etc. It was a fun party.

My friend Carla Gonzalez made the b-day cake for McKenna. I didn't even ask her to do it, she just said that she wanted to. It was very yummy, and matched the decor without even planning it that way. It was so nice of her to offer to do that for me. I have been blessed with an abundance of amazing people in my life. I appreciate every single one of them. Always so willing to help out and brighten my day with their surprises. My friend Diane Miller has been sharing her talents with me. She has been teaching me how to knit. I go to her house, and she even encourages me to bring Maiya and Tyson. She enjoys having children around, and is very understanding and accomodating, which makes it  a really nice visit. My friend Carla offered to come over and share a recipe with me one day and helped me cook it for dinner (anyone who knows me well, knows my dislike for cooking, and how much I would appreciate this sort of thing). It was a delicious dish. My kids liked it too. She then proceeded to offer to bake McKenna's b-day cake, because she just loves McKenna. McKenna and her daughter, Isabella, are best friends. My friend Sue Kyle heard that I had a bit of a wicked cough going on, and decided to stop by with a yummy oreo froster!!!! (or is it called a frostee???) Can't remember the name, but I was SOOO happy.  My daughter, Kaitlyn, just got a gerbil with her own money as a pet, and we didn't realize they can't live in hamster cages because they chew through plastic, and need more space. We also found out that they do much better overall if they have a companion. So we had to get another gerbil (this one is Maiya's since McKenna and Catcher are nervous of animals). My friend Megan Pierson was kind enough to give us a 10 gallon fish aquarium for free so we could make a home for the gerbils. I was SOOO grateful for that. (This does not conclude  my list of awesome friends who go out of their way for me, just a few examples of some awesomeness for now...)  Kaitlyn named her gerbil  "Scratches" and Maiya named hers "Reindeer". They love them...and while I am NOT much of a fan of rodents, I am warming up to them. This does not, however, mean that I will pick them up or play with them....but I am not freaked out every time I look at them now and I actually enjoy watching them. The 2 gerbils are actually brothers from the same litter and they are very close. They always sleep curled up beside each other at night, and play together in the day. No fights so far. I don't know how a "Zero Pet" house became a 4 pet house. We now have a beta fish named "Jingle Bells" (Catcher named him), A Hamster named Fluffy (Damian's) and 2 Gerbils named Scratches and Reindeer. It has been really good for them though.

Today the kids had the day off of school, so it was a friend day. Catcher went over to his cousin Ethans house to play. Maiya went over to her cousin Presley's house to play. Damian went over to his friend Noahs house, and then had his friend Julian over in the afternoon to play, and Kaitlyn had her friend Telesha over to hang out. I took McKenna out to let her use some of her gift card money today. She was so excited at the prospect of getting whatever she wanted with her own money....
Here are a few of my favourite photos from McKenna's party!