Seoul's Birthday Parties

Seoul's Tangled birthday party went well! She is excited to be three now, and is excited to be four next year {slow down Seoul!}!!


This is one of the four Tangled templates I used for the invitations.

I made Seoul her very own Tangled birthday t-shirt for her special day.

We got creative with some decorations and activities thanks to some great sites online:
http://family.go.com/disney/pkg-disney-character-fun/pkg-everything-tangled/ 
http://www.supermommoments.com/2011/01/tangled-party-games-activities/

My awesome Mom and Mother-in-Law helped with this cool braid. It took more time than I anticipated but Seoul still plays with it so totally worth it! I printed the banner (from the movie) and Kelley strung them up. We hit the jackpot with Tangled decorations at Walmart! (Kelley tried to find some at Party City and he struck out - so crazy since Tangled is a pretty popular movie right now).

 

Kid Party

Sorry, no traumatizing event like a life-size SpongeBob like last year. Probably made the kids happy, but the parents remembered :)

First the kids colored coloring pages while everyone arrived. Next they worked on a cute Pascal blower craft.

The kids played the game: Pin the Frying Pan on Flynn Ryder - some kids tried it blindfolded, some didn't. They all had fun, though! [To toot our own horns, Kelley and I did the poster free hand!]

Seoul was most excited about eating - that's our girl! She chose her plate and napkin early on. We had Pascal cupcakes and Jello Boats, inspired by the Lake scene in the movie. Kids love their sugar!

Seoul opened some fabulous gifts that she loves - such kind & generous friends! Then, of course, the traditional 'all kids' photo.

Happy Birthday, sweet Seoul!

Love,

Daddy

Side note: Sydney does exist even though she's not in a single photo. She slept during the entire party. Not kidding.

Family Party

Fortunately both girls took afternoon naps after the morning festivities. This party was low-key so we could visit and wind down a bit. I attempted a Tangled cake since Seoul asked for a cake with the "Tangled tower" on it. After various experiments to make the tower tall, yes, it did fall over. Fortunately people were able to see it before the dramatic crash of 2012.

More presents - what a lucky girl! We now have all things Tangled in our house... and Seoul is in heaven!

Hopefully Amanda had more fun that this photo depicts - haha!

Sydney made an appearance! She even got a gift today also :)

So much cake in one day... LOVE it!!

Seoul's Actual Birthday

We just had a little gift opening party on her actual birthday. More fun things for Seoul! We love her and spoil her so much because she's our princess!

I love you, my sweet daughter!! Happy Happy Birthday!!

Blessed

I'm pretty sure I'm the luckiest girl in the world. I feel so blessed right now.

So big in the swing!

This is a test post from Blogger on my iPhone. How fun!

Seoul enjoyed the dry weather today as we played outside. She's almost too big for the swing!

There she goes!

Sydney started taking solid steps a week or so ago. She's gotten some distance in but I haven't been able to catch it on video because she's always too close to me. This time I was lucky to get my phone up and started just in time.

Seoul loves helping Sydney walk around. Now it's progressed to urging her on to walk to her all the time. She's so encouraging and Sydney loves to walk to her!

We can't believe our baby is getting so big! It's adorable to watch her toddle around. It's funny to hear her walk around the house: footstep, footstep, footstep, thunk, pause.... footstep, footstep, footstep, thunk, pause... shuffling (as she crawls for a while).

Go Sydney!

Random side note: So, how's this for fun? I looked up my post about Seoul being a walker and they "started" walking at almost the exact same time in their lives. Their birthdays are 18 days apart and these posts are 20 days apart (excluding years of course). {Reviewing Seoul's video shows she was much more of a walker but she was cruising around furniture for a lot longer. Sydney will be solid in no time!}
http://www.joolinandkelleyforever.blogspot.com/2010/03/look-at-her-go.html

Starting the new year...

These are some pictures from the beginning of the year... yep, a little behind as usual. We're excited for all the things this year will bring!

One night we had a game night and played a new game: In a Pickle. Seoul had fun deciding if things were bigger or smaller. Sydney had fun grabbing our cards. [Pictures courtesy of Seoul.]

The girls certainly enjoy their snacks. Sydney is in a puffy snack coma. Seoul has every single fruit snack from the pack in her mouth. Gotta love the silly faces!

Sydney was startled when I called her name. She does have pretty, big, brown eyes though!

I like how the red stars are the focal point of Sydney's jammies. She is very dainty when playing with toys sometimes... touching with just a finger & thumb.

We love our lazy mornings reading on the couch. Seoul is into the 'Louise the Big Cheese' books at the moment.

Cute. Need I say more?

One morning Seoul made me breakfast: notice the multiple donuts and cake. She loves cooking in her kitchen(s)! Sydney is so patient waiting for the food Seoul "makes" for us.

Play group is always fun for the girls. Sometimes we go to church and bring toys for the kids to share. Seoul has attached herself to someone's tricycle. I was impressed she got on and pedaled the first time she tried it. We're working on steering. Sydney has fun crawling around after the kids.

Blogs

So, one night I was reading our blog from the beginning. And I laughed hysterically. Kelley and I were so goofy and did some random things in the before-kids-life. (Really, there was such a thing but I would never go back. I can't imagine life without our girls!)

Anyway, the point is that Kelley started the blog. He was the solo author of any and all content and always wanted me to write but I rarely did. (Now look at me, writing and changing designs all by myself - what an accomplishment! Ha!) This was one of the first posts: What is a blog? and I found it fun that, as usual, Kelley was the "pioneer" in trying something that most of our friends/family hadn't done. It all started to update those far away from us of our exciting wedding plans.

Now to the point of this post: it seems like the majority of people have a blog of sorts, whether it's a private journal or public blog to brag about their kids, keep a scrapbook of sorts, post creative activities, provide yummy recipes, etc. I'm super impressed by so many of these women that post on their blogs what they do every day. I admit sometimes it makes me feel SO inadequate - I don't do amazing projects with my kids every day, re-decorate my house every week, sew beautiful things, cook gourmet food, do a bajillion things that everyone else seems to be good at. I'm not at all complaining or asking people to feel sorry for me. I love love love that I get so many great ideas from others because let's face it, I'm not at all creative. I love love love keeping up with friends' lives and get to watch their kids grow. I love blogs. 

A couple friends have mentioned using time more wisely, and that includes eliminating reading blogs that have no meaning and/or uplift them. That got me thinking about the purpose of our family blog. Essentially it's to provide pictures of our family (read: the girls) for family/friends that are far away, and has become a scrapbook. I don't post about soul searching deep thoughts or intellectual subjects. I keep a daily, personal journal for that kind of thing. Admittedly since I have started thinking about this I compose witty, meaningful posts every day.... in my head. I don't get time to post them, and then I really wonder if anyone else would care about them. So I thought I'd do this random-attempt-at-sharing-my-thoughts post just for fun. I'm done. Thanks.

I just found this amusing because sometimes I just think that is what I do: pointless, incessant barking.