Katherine's 12th Birthday

Happy 12th Birthday!!

Yoyo, Winter, Katherine, Grace, HayHay, Regan

Lauren, Hudson, Benjamin

 Katherine asked for a flower birthday. The girls made little watering cans out of paper for the goodie bags and put candy in each one. I thought it was a super cute idea.

 The entrance to our apartment...100% paper

 After, the party was over, Katherine quickly collected all of the flowers that Regan made. All of them are now in one cup next to her bed.

 We happened to be out of the country, so we thought it would be fun to buy chips for her party. YUM! Yes, they all look the same color, but hey. We bought BBQ, Cheetos, Munchies, and Lays Sour Cream and Onion.

 The girls having fun :)

 Katherine got a small backpack (her favorite color..burgundy) and it was filled with her favorite snack (tons of seaweed)

 The look when she realizes that her big sister was able to sneakily buy a gift that Katherine had her eye on this past summer when we were visiting Mamaw and Papaw. It was a little stuffed kitten.

 Benjamin got her a watering can for her garden that she has started on our balcony, and some fake flowers.

 Grandmommy sent her these pigs in a blanket. Katherine thought it was hilarious. It's fitting, too, since Katherine was born in the year of the pig...so this is her year...that's why 12 is such a special birthday here....you have made it through one complete cycle.

She also got a cute little stuffed rabbit. :)

 One of her friends gave her Harry Potter Jelly beans...GROSS! They actually taste like awful things in the book! Earwax, Sausage, Grass, Vomit, Dirt, Earthworm, and more. Apparently, it was a hit though because the kids at the party took turns trying one and then guessing the flavor.

 I prefer the Garden Cake :)

 So, this was the surprise gift from her friend, Yoyo. She heard Katherine say that she really wanted a guinea pig, so your best friend goes and orders a guinea pig. :) It was delivered to our house on the same day as the party. It was 4 weeks old, and Katherine named her Cucumber.

 That's one happy girl on the left and one proud friend on the right :)

 The party was a sleepover. Katherine wanted to watch A Bug's Life.

 A 4 week old guinea pig who traveled in the mail for who knows how long means that it was a bit scared. Katherine was glad that she got to hold it so soon! (I have been looking up how to care for a guinea pig because I have NO idea)

 Homeschool...when your book asks you to go outside and observe birds/take pictures of them, you ask big sister to borrow her camera and ask Mom to come along to sprinkle bird seed to see if the birds will come ;)

 Katherine asked if we could go rock climbing for her birthday. Hudson was terrified. This is how high he got and then he wanted me to take his picture before he "came all the way back down"

 He got pretty good at it, but then realized how high he was a lost it. I thin the cried for about 10 minutes. He said he was done and just wanted to watch everyone else.

 Lauren

 Lauren (left) Katherine (right)

 After resting for 30 minutes or so, Regan was able to talk Hudson into trying once more. He raced them up the easiest wall. He now says that he loves rock climbing.

 Well, since we officially live in a zoo now...there must be some drama, right? Well, Hudson's hamster escaped during the night. Yes, we have had this happen before with a different hamster and corrected the problem. The thing is is that Hudson's hamster is the laziest animal I have ever seen. It like to sleep and eat and eat in his sleep. (not joking) So I was a little worried about finding the little guy. Well, many hours later into the day, Lauren thought she spotted him behind the bookshelf. Yep. It was him. The only way the kids could reach him was with the fish net. Lauren and Regan to the rescue! :)

 Grace was happy that her assignment had her learning how to make brownies from scratch :)

 Yes, it's cute and growing on me.

 A really cool plant that closes up if you touch it.

I found Katherine outside in her swing, playing her iPad and talking to Cucumber. Hope it was a great birthday, Katherine!

Back Online!

 We are FINALLY back online (at least temporarily)!! YEAH! Because of two holidays back to back and some events in the news, internet has been difficult....and I have lots to catch up on! Starting with the first of the festivals, Mid-Autumn Festival. It fell extremely early this year in the calendar. Someone gave us a mooncake that was as big as my head!

Katherine was excited to get a birthday package in the mail!

She got some much needed clothes. They look so nice on her.

Grace and Lauren playing outside

One more stair step picture :)

Real life...folding laundry on the bed while one with a stuffy nose and headache curls up and takes a nap (Lauren)

Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations in our complex. 

They had prizes for the kids if you won the game. This was the biggest hit...rock paper scissors with the security guards.

Katherine won the game that ALL the kids on the complex kept trying to win. She was so happy that she won the micro lego set.

So, going to a mall during a holiday is always a little crazy. I always know it will be this way, but I seem to always be amazed.

This is what most bookstores look like. They are typically treated more like libraries. People sit in the aisles reading the books, but rarely buy them.

Mid-Autumn Festival celebrated the full moon, so they put a moon on the building. It was nice, but a little strange since the actual moon was beautiful and just above it in the sky.

These were some homemade mooncakes from my friend. They are by far my favorite ones to date! I guess because they were a little sweet...plus I had never had a chestnut filled one. The most popular ones are egg yolk and red beans and I'm not a fan of either.

One of the best things about holidays is that our local friends have some free time. Our friends traveled down to see us. We now live about 4 hours away from each other, so we don't see each other as often as we would like. I am always glad that we have kept a box full of little kid toys for when we have little ones visit. :)

We put the dogs up because my friend, Hillary, is terrified of dogs....turns out that her son LOVES them :)

This is the pitiful cry Joseph made...not because he was scared, but because he wanted them to bark and they refused. I'm always telling the dogs not to bark, so they are pretty good about it. The only exception is when people knock on the door...so I had someone knock on the door and the dogs barked. Joseph just laughed and laughed.

We took the trolley down to the beach.

This was Joseph's very first beach experience. He loved it!

And I loved spending time with my friend.

Regan (and Hudson) in the background :)

I couldn't decide which I liked better on these next two pictures. Someone in our complex got married, so there were flowers petals covering the sidewalk/entrance to the building.

They will do this to celebrate their new home together...yes, the enter on a red carpet :)

Hudson has finally started playing a little bit on his own. He's found that he likes to create with legos. He doesn't spend hours upon hours doing this, but I will take what I can get. Plus, his big brother enjoys legos still, so it's something that they can create together.

The kids all got some Amazon gift cards this summer. Hudson wanted to get these earphones.

Katherine racked up on sour spray candy (She said if she can have self control that she can make it last until Christmas and maybe Santa will give her more in her stocking) haha!

Lauren bought string to make bracelets.

This is the inside of the pop-up card that Regan made for Katherine's birthday. All of the kids are so creative, but I love watching how they make things for one another. They are always thoughtful in trying to make it how the person receiving the gift would like it and not always how they prefer it.

This was a shirt from Mamaw and Papaw....flowers and plants and bugs and outdoor things make this girl happy :)