Saturday was the final hurdle before I could take a breath after this month of craziness.  We turned in our old house keys, then went into beast mode to finish the party preparation.  Alaina chose an art theme, since painting is her absolute favorite thing to do.







On the agenda was sidewalk chalk while the guests arrived, then painting, rainbow popsicles, cupcake decorating, and Twister.


It had been raining all week, so we decided to set up in the garage just in case.  Sure enough, it began to rain about 30 minutes before her party, so it was the right choice!  I felt bad about her party having to be in the garage with such an ugly background, so I surrendered 2 hours to those rainbow streamers!









(Try to ignore the soul-less child in these photos...what is up with that?!)

One thing that I hadn't planned on was the cupcake decorating taking about 15 seconds.  The prep work for that activity alone was like 2 hours, and it took only a few moments for the kids to haphazardly dump all the sprinkles on at once.  I snapped a picture and it was over!


Twister was a hit!  Watching the kids struggle with the concept of left and right was pretty entertaining.


THE CAKE.  I've been wanting to have an excuse to make this cake I saw on Pinterest a few years ago.  The day finally came!


Can't believe my baby is 6!  (I promise the cake didn't really lean like the Tower of Pisa...)


She was pretty shy when her friends were singing to her.


Candle blow-out #4


Ta-da!


Alaina has been asking Uncle Ryan to shove a whole piece of cake in his mouth like he did at Daynarae's birthday party two years ago.  Best to try with a 6 layer cake!


She thought it was hilarious!


All the kids had a wonderful time at the party!  I'm glad we did it, and also glad to not have to do it again for a while!  You know you've had a good day when this knife is in your sink!


The cousins stayed after the party and put on a show for the grownups while we enjoyed the sunset from our back patio, which offers amazing cloudscapes!  I'm looking forward to a slower pace this summer!

The last week of May was what I would describe as absolute mayhem.  Anthony worked late almost every night to meet a deadline, Wednesday was Alaina's birthday, Thursday was the school's carnival, every spare moment I had was spent at the old house cleaning (usually from 8-11 pm when I'm already dead to the world), then Alaina's birthday party was Saturday.

Alaina requested a donut cake for breakfast on her 6th birthday.  We had originally planned for this day to be low-key in preparation for her big party, but as you'll see, it quickly ballooned into quite the full day!


Candle-blowout #1


We took flowers in to the kids' teachers to thank them for such a geat year.
Connor with Ms. Mac.


Alaina with Mrs. Beveridge.  Hopefully the flowers were some consolation that I called her pregnant the next day, when she is, in fact, NOT.  *facepalm*


In the midst of this crazy week, I also decided it would be a great idea to start making my own baby food.  I definitely didn't need another thing on my plate, but at least I now have cute veggie purees in my freezer.


Alaina wanted a Happy Meal for her birthday lunch, and we swung by Nana and Pap's house to eat it, where she was greeted with a huge singing balloon and cake #2.


Candle blow-out #2.


We spent the afternoon at Dollar Tree, picking out 6 things.  We went back to Nana and Papa's to spend the evening.


Grandma and Grandpa hit the nail on the head with their gifts of baking supplies, a butterfly in a jar that moves like a real one, and adorable summer clothes.




Even though she may have spied them unwrapped earlier, she was still elated to receive a Rainbow Loom and other craft kits from Nana and Papa.




Harrison was happy to be outside on a warm day past his bedtime!


Ticklish!


Cake #3!


Candle blow-out #3


A pink cake with marshmallow icing...her favorite!  In my book, that's a pretty big birthday, but we hadn't even gotten to her party!  Lucky gal!

On May 17, we moved to our new house, just a few blocks away.  We only asked Anthony's coworker Cody to help us move the big stuff since we'd been taking little loads for nearly a month.  We had a terribly frustrating morning trying to pick up our moving truck, eventually securing one from "Sunny Jim's Candy Ranch" on a little mountain road almost an hour away.  We were so irritated that what should have been a 30 minute pickup had turned into a three hour one, Anthony's crappy phone had died only an hour after being unplugged, and I had accidentally left mine at home.  We drove home, already quite deflated, to see most of our possessions taken apart, on the driveway, and ready to be loaded.  Ryan and Amanda had unexpectedly showed up, let Cody in, and Brandon and Lindsay Jones also came to help.  The truck was loaded quickly, and right before we left to go unload, Ray showed up with three of his friends to help.  It was quite heartwarming and we were so grateful for everyone's help.

At 8 months old, Harrison is just a little chunk of love. He is so much fun and has been sleeping sooo much better since we moved and he has his little Woog-cave.  (Somewhere in month 7, he picked up this nickname, based on the sounds I make when playing with him.  Now, he's just "The Woog".)  He's just grasping the concept of being "naughty", and he's pretty proud of himself when I tell him "No!".


So happy that he pulled the tag off of the blinds.


Must.eat.ALL.the.fingers.


Daaaaaawwwww.




He is up to three solid meals, plus snacks, every day.  He eats so much, yet is still so tiny!




Sorry for the pic overload.  I just can't get enough of his cuteness.


He is such a happy little guy, unless he's tired, then he'll come and headbutt me until I put him to bed.


May has been a terrible rainy/snowy month and we are so ready for some warmth!


Oh well, at least rain turns the pavement into glitter, and everyone knows I'm a sucker for sparkles.


Harrison loves it when his big siblings leave stuff out for him to get into!


We spent Memorial Day over at Nana and Papa's playing with the water stuff Connor got for his birthday!


While the big kids played, Harrison napped, and when I checked on him, he looked like he had his face smushed against the crib bumper.  I bent down to see if he could breathe, and was met with this adorable squishiness.


Bathing "beauties"?