Happy 6th Birthday Liz!

Liz is our almost-Halloween baby. I think the day fits her perfectly because Liz is all about making the party last a little longer. "When she grows up," she wants to be a party planner, seriously - that's her actual choice. I think she has watched a little too much HGTV with me :)

Thursday was a party all day. We started with a half-day at school where kids and parents participated in Pumpkin Math Day. Later I took Liz to the 5th Ave Mall (oh la la) to spend her Build-a-Bear gift certificate from Grandma. She absolutely loved that. Then we celebrated late into the night on Thursday (no school Friday) with Grandma and Grandpa, the Smedleys, some Moose's Tooth pizza, cake and ice-cream, X-Box Rock Band, lots of girls squealing, and a few grunts from the two boys - Josh and Owen. And then the party continued on Friday with all the Halloween festivities.


I love all the expressions in this picture. From the far right, Kali is quietly observing. Meg is quite the opposite - observing while continuously narrating. Liz is always fastidious about posing for the camera with each present and card while filling in any gaps in Meg's commentary. Josh's fingers will give you a clue to what he's doing - adding up how much $$ Liz has gotten so far. And on the far left, Tali is lovin' GapaGapa.







For her birthday, Liz got a bed for her American Girl Doll, a light blue Build-a-Bear (it's a girl), an Easy-Bake Oven, a "Barbie for President" Barbie (she calls her Sarah Palin Barbie - we might have to dye her hair), and some cash to spend. She says she is saving it . . . As much as she dislikes video games, she discovered that there is a pink Nintendo DS and I think she wants it just for its pretty color.







Liz and I had planned to make her cake together, but we decided to spend our extra time together at the mall and stop by the grocery store on the way home and find a pretty store cake instead. We still got to bake together though. We made cupcakes for her class for Monday, when she gets to be "Queen of the Jungle".






Below: This is Tali and Owen. They love eachother. They were due on the same day but ended up being born about two weeks apart (yes, Tali was later). Those extra two weeks have given Owen quite an advantage with his sword-wielding skills. On the left, you can see a concerned Jason thinking, "No. . . he's not going to take a full swing at Tali's head, is he?" Yes, he did. But as soon as Tali dropped to the ground, Owen was right there giving kisses. On the right, you can see the shagrin on Owen's face because after the incident, he was forced to let Tali swing at him while he stood there defenseless. Lucky for him, she didn't land a hit even when he wasn't fighting back.