The Bar Association Annual Family Holiday Party...

We went on Monday night and it's always a blast...but with a lot less food this year thanks to the economy.

All 3 with Santa...

Anna Kate was more excited about the balloon she got for sitting with Santa than actually seeing him. None of our kids get real jazzed about Santa...maybe it's b/c he's never brought them anything b/c in the past Christmases their mom has tried to save money by not getting them gifts and has hoped they were too young to know the difference...poor kids.

Thanks Mammaw for our super-cute matching Christmas outfits we got to wear!!!

Their favorite thing was the big automatic train-set. J.R. called it "race cars."

Oh I just love our kids SOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!

Anna Kate's dining room landscape...

we MUST reign this in somehow...

Family pic from "A Night in Bethleham"

This is really gross...

every once in a while we find a "visitor" in our home with the initials C.R. and it's usually just about dead thanks to our invaluable ABC pest service, but I always swat the heck out of them just to make sure it's fully dead before I dispose of it. J.R. calls this giving it "pats." The kids get all excited when they find one (usually in the garage) and J.R. tells me it needs "pats." Tonight, I let him do the honors. After all, isn't that what sons are for?

We've been busy elves...

My friend Libby gave me a tin of my FAVORITE cookies and I've eaten them all...along with all of the PromiseLand Eggnog, which is the BEST eggnog in the world. My grandpa used to eat these cookies by the tin-fulls and he was healthy until age 93...there must be some "secret" ingredient in them -- haha.

We went to "Night in Bethleham" last night and it is always one of our very favorite Christmas events...the kids talk about the petting zoo there all year long b/c they let you get inside the "zoo" with the animals and there are camels and goats and donkeys and more...this rabbit appreciates that our family only wears feaux-fur and supports PETA :)

J.R. is in heaven hanging out with the animals. Apparently he petted a goat too long b/c some of his sweater was chewed off when we got home!!

Caroline at the "Wheat-grinding-mill." She thinks she is Anna Kate and J.R.'s age and not a baby b/c she always wants to do whatever they are doing.

Our camera just does not capture the AWESOME job Jon did on our lights this year.

The other day J.R. wanted to put on his mouse suit and read one of our family's fave books, "The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear." He is a hoot. He is such a boy...he just gets the "wiggles" out of nowhere where he has a burst of energy. He also loves to "tackle" anything that moves. But we're not really worried about him being over-the-top macho b/c he's afraid of our "blinking [Christmas] lights" and really picky about his outfits and shoes.

She loves this mirror that's waiting to be hung - ahem, Jon :)

We've been doing Advent Calendar activities every day...they are all things we do together as a family like going somewhere, reading and acting out a Christmas story together, a scavenger hunt and we went to a puppet show at the Galleria that turned out to be a circus preview, and lots of other things. The kids love it!!

We have decorated for Christmas and Anna Kate keeps "re-decorating" everything...she's so "Fancy Nancy" b/c she just has to accessorize our decorations.

The pets go NUTS at Christmas time....

just kidding...they could care less.

Decorating...

We did a little work on our house and Moses painted almost the entire downstairs walls and cut out an arch for me so I could get more light into our breakfast area and so it would make it feel bigger. Moses is the nicest person in the world and he goes to the wonderful church at the end of our street and he's a genius...he can do ANYTHING and he barely charges anything...like it was only $150 for my arch that I love. Thanks for telling us about him Sarah!!!

BEFORE (so boring, so dark)

Thanksgiving at the Mureens was tons of fun as usual...Abby is just absolutely the "Queen of Christmas" the way she transforms her home into Christmas before Thanksgiving...and it's definitely affected Jon because he can't wait for our house to get decorated for Christmas.....it makes me feel a little scroogish in comparison b/c all I can think about when decorating is how it provides more materials for the kids to make messes and how much work it is going to be to take it all down. Jon's family is also really into pictures...I always dread the family pictures, but am glad to have them when they are over. I think Jon's family really is the cutest family in the world!!!

We spent Thanksgiving Day with my family...this is my kind of pic...totally spontaneous and I don't even have be in it!! We also had a really fun "black Friday" shopping day together for my sister, Anna's, birthday...I have always called Anna, "money-bags" because she never spends money so she ALWAYS has some...I'm pretty much the opposite, so it's really fun to shop with her to see if I can succeed in getting her to "loan/give" me some money since I ran out of mine a long time ago.

As I said, we've been busy...time has been FLYING by since Thanksgiving. Also, this week we had a REALLY fun ornament exchange with the ladies from our church at our house. And today Jon has been working on an emergency project at the firm since 8am and it's now 12:45am. Lately, I've been feeling pretty overwhelmed by having 3 kids...I have no research to support this "feeling," but I feel like birth control hormones are artificial and unhealthy for my body and so you couldn't pay me $1million to take them, so I ordered a NFP book and I hope we can have a little "break" before more kids...like not having more until after Anna Kate starts kindergarten in a year and a half. If I do get pregnant any time soon, I am absolutely going to need a nanny (or several nannies -- ha!). Ok, so now I've sufficiently procrastinated doing my Christmas cards and I need to get back to them....

1 kid + 1 kid + 1 kid = 0 time

I'm late every where...really late. And the thing I hate the most about this is that I am late to things I REALLY look forward to and love. I can get to the Y or Walmart easily enough b/c it doesn't matter what we are wearing or what we look like at those places, but getting 4 folks ready takes 2-3 hours at the very least and that doesn't include breakfast or packing lunches or gathering all the things we need to remember to bring for where we are going, which is usually a lot. I'm constantly trying to get organized and as soon as I get organized in one area, the other areas are in complete shambles. I've decided it's because I'm juggling too many areas...or "full-time and part-time jobS." So how many full-time and part-time jobs do I currently have? 150+ hours worth with a "spotty" amount of sleep.



Full-time job = 80+hours per week:

1. Training 3 people to have life-skills and be kind and mannerly and helpful and spending quality time with them - DEFINITELY a full-time job...DEFINITELY the easiest job to "let slide," and I do, but it's the most important - 40+ hours per week


2. Meals - from the babyfood meals for Caroline to the meals for every one else 3x per day, to the grocery shopping, to the planning to the dishes...and I have people over for food probably at least once a week and bring a meal someone who had a baby at least once a month and if we're having a birthday party or holiday meal - this is ABSOLUTELY a full-time job + over-time hours - 40 + hours per week

Part-time = 70+ hours per week:

1. keeping the car cleaned out - 1 hour per week


2. getting the house clean - 3 hours per day at least if maintained and that doesn't include the fact that I have a house-keeper every 2 weeks for mopping, bathrooms, etc... - 20 hours per week


3. bills and organizing finances - 1-2 hours per week


4. our calendar and scheduling things like haircuts and pest control and babysitter for a date-night (if I'm lucky) and a million other things I have to schedule - 3-4 hours per week


5. the emails - 8 hours per week


6. the pets - this is probably my easiest job...unless one of the pets pukes or makes a mess which isn't unlikely - 1 hour per week


7. getting out the door - at least 20 hours per week and I usually WAY underestimate the time it takes in this category and routinely run 1-2 hours late


8. the laundry - 8 hours per week...10 if I iron


9. working out - 6 hours per week (another really easy job to "let slide")


10. errands...all the random things you have to do that are always "popping" up out of nowhere and this does NOT include the weekly grocery shopping...it includeds things like renewing your driver's license, getting a haircut, getting your oil changed, doing a "milk" run or a "diaper" run, going to the post office, getting dog food and the dog-health-food store, getting something to fix things that have broken, getting a gift and a million other little errands

then throw in all things Christmas...the decorating, the events, the Christmas cards, thinking of and getting gifts for every one and it just makes my head swim.

And I've got a stack of magazines and books I want to read, and a long list of friends I want to have over and fun parties I want to have and so many creative projects I want to attempt. There's just no time for t.v. I might let the blog slide, but I do it b/c I know these years will be a total blur when I look back on them and I want to have something to show for them and I want to remember and not be like all the people my parent's age who have totally forgotten what it's like to be in this life-stage or they would be much more compassionate towards me and instead they are just annoyed that I have more than 2 kids. I would love to volunteer as well, but it's just completely out of the question.

And we're in Dallas so there's a certain minimum standard of fashion we must adhere to which requires shopping...which is kind of annoying b/c I could save time in this category if we lived in Austin where no one cares.

I have always wanted to have 5 kids just b/c I love all the families with 5 kids that I have ever known and I think it's so fun when they get older, but I am soooo overwhelmed!!! But then if I get my house clean and a meal cooked, I feel like I can definitely go for number 4, but usually it's just plain chaos with zero order/control and it freaks me out a little bit.

Sunday School friends...

We decorated for Christmas yesterday and today!! We still have some work to do on our AWESOME outside lights...so excited :)





After we decorated I cried because I miss my Sunday School class friends from Virginia...the Miles, the Byrnes, the Taliaferros, the Longs, the Vines and so many other WONDERFUL special folks I love that we got to spend 3 wonderful years with and we were all each other's best friends. Life without a Sunday School class is just generally a lonlier life to live. We just don't have a group we see every week as a couple and pray for and get together with socially and that makes me sad.

My sweet sister Debbie...

was hit by a drunk-driver going over 100mph the day after Thanksgiving on her 42nd birthday. She died instantly. I didn't know her very well at all because she is my step-sister and much older than me, but I always remember her being stunningly beautiful with navy blue eyes and long blonde hair and her face was the most angelic-looking I have ever seen and she was always smiling. She could have had any guy in the whole world with her beauty and charm, but she was always dating guys that ended up in prison. I also remember her telling my mom, she called my mom "Jeanie," what a good cook my mom was whenever she was at our house. But that is all that I remember of her. The guy she was dating at the time of her death was with her in the car and he died too...our sister Christy said he was the nicest guy Debbie had ever dated. Debbie had a really hard life -- her mom left my dad when she was really young, so she didn't have the wonderful family to grow up in that I did. She had 5 children...they were closer to my age than Debbie was, and one passed away as a baby. She almost always lived very far away in Wyoming. She and her boyfriend died in Florida where they had recently moved to. I am sad that I don't have one picture of her and there has never been a picture taken of us together. I am sad that Jon and my kids never met her. I am so sad for her sweet children and I hope that I will get to see them soon.

How to make a long story short???

We decided to stay in our house. We originally put it on the market it because it was time to refinance and we decided we would rather move to another elementary school with more "community-feeling-neighborhoods," but after touring that elementary school (I never toured it until after our house was on the market...oops) and ours...I LOVE our elemtary school...it's perfect. And I love our house. So by-golly I'm just going to make our neighborhood "community-feeling" and who says you can't have it all?!?

So there were a few things about our house that were "bugging me," but I wasn't too worried about since we'd be moving...

1. The lack of space in our breakfast and dining rooms
2. The wall color that was the color of "people who have been dead a few days" (and yes, we just painted it that color at the beginning of this year, but I was trying to match the color that was already in a couple of rooms to save money, but that color was sun-bleached and impossible to match so we ended up with the color of "people who have been dead a few days" and once it started looking wrong to me, I just couldn't get it out of my head and it made me sick every time I'd look at it...which is a lot when it's the color of almost your whole house)
3. The dad-burned slab foundation that is as hard as a rock, literally, when you stand or walk on it all day...which is what I do as a stay-home mom...usually carrying one of my hearty beans (kids)

So....when it hit Jon and I on the same day at the same time that it was ridiculous to move from this FABULOUS perfect house (except for the affor-mentioned deficiencies) I told him I wanted to stay but fix those "minor" imperfections because we saved TONS of money by not having to pay for a move, and he agreed (because he's perfect without any imperfections whatsoever).

So...amidst traveling to both parents for Thanksgiving...I have been "perfecting" my home. Well, gees, talk about an undertaking. Our wonderful far-beyond-handyman-because-he-can-do-ANYTHING, Moses, painted our whole house and the paint color definitely looks better and matches our things better except a few things aren't right with it and the more you change, the more there is to change. So that's where I am at. I'm frustrated. It's not going to be perfect...we need to wait to do more until the graduate school loans are paid off...but I get so obsessed with wanting it to "look right." I should probably just cook my family a home-ade meal which is something they haven't seen since Thanksgiving or do the laundry or decorate for Christmas...but I want to feel satisfied with how it looks before I "move" onto anything else.

Now I am off to take a nap. I feel like I can't nap when workers are here b/c I feel like it makes me look lazy, even though I do usually nap every day. So long story short -- for real this time -- I'm exhausted.

p.s. Thanksgiving was WONDERFUL. I really enjoyed both visits with family. I have so much to be thankful for. Pics coming soon hopefully.

My life in pictures (and a few words)...

Caroline has this smile just glued on her face...especially when her brother or sister are around...now that she can crawl she just follows them non-stop.

Anna Kate still land-scapes (aka doll-scapes or more accurately stuff-scapes) our house with her "junk." I'll hear a pitter-patter for like 10 minutes and I know she's in the process of transferring her "junk" to a new location in the house to arrange it just-so...and she's constantly adding "new" junk to her stuff-scapes. I hope these things make me laugh someday, b/c right now they are just a constant mess.

You'll NEVER guess what time it is!!! Time to feed Caroline...again...and again...and again. Speaking of Caroline, I am weaning her...she didn't eat mommy's milk all day, just the bottle. I feel SOOOOOO guilty about doing this and pouring that powder into a bottle...it's soooo easy!!! I don't have a good reason for weaning her except that I'm tired of nursing...of being a milk-machine. I nursed Anna Kate for 14 months and J.R. for 11 months and Caroline is the only baby who has ever had any formula....and she eats a ton more baby food than her brother and sister, too...maybe the formula people get kick-backs from the babyfood people for putting something in the milk that makes babies really hungry for those solids ;)

Last weekend was a BLAST. We went to the last high school football game of the season. Anna Kate had been talking so much about how she wants to go to a game because she wants to be a cheerleader.

So she was! She did all the dance moves with the drill teams...so cute.

J.R. just couldn't wipe the smile off his face and held his football the whole time...he loved it.

Caroline had fun too...but she did get a little tired towards the end...we wanted to make it through half-time to see the bands and drill teams, but by the time half-time was over, it was WAY past her bedtime.

This is Anna Kate at the same age in the same adorable hat. I think they look so different as babies!

This weekend was a stinker b/c Jon was gone all weekend as a groomsmen in one of our best friend's, Steve and Christina Lecholop's, weddings...weddings are just so hard for us to attend together during our life-stage b/c they seem to always be out-of-town and you can't find an overnight or out-of-town sitter for 3 kids ages 4 and under, so you are pretty much out of options. By the time all our kids are old enough for us to leave them, I think every one we know who is getting married will be married! Good thing I'm a "stay-home mom" b/c that's what I do best!!! (Who am I kidding, I would LOVE a weekend get-away with my husband). Thankfully my parents came up Friday night to help me out. For about a month J.R. has me call "Mammaw" (my mom) so that he can tell her he wants a blue car. So she brought him a blue car and boy does he love that thing...cracks me up. Blue sports cars are his passion at the moment.

My sister got mugged tonight at gun-point in Austin...so thankful he took her purse and she's ok!!!

Our house is still for sale...it's been 4 weeks now...no one has looked at it in the past two except for two realtor tours (they aren't going to buy our house). I'm fine if we stay...today I kind of just wanted to stay and call it a day. I would like to move (mostly b/c I want a pier/beam foundation house really bad b/c it's easier to stand and walk on for my back than our slab foundation), but I love our house, too, and the market has just been tanking since we put our house on the market so now might not be the best time to sell. Jon wants to take it off so it doesn't become a "stale" listing and bring out all our "stuff" again from the attic then re-list in the spring, but I don't have any desire to "re-list." I want to get it sold by the end of December, or just decide to stay forever. (I'm so much more black/white about stuff than Jon and I can't stand the uncertainty of whether we'll be staying or moving).

Tomorrow Jon is taking the morning off work to take me and the kids to get every one swine flu shots and Anna Kate's 4 yr vaccines. Oh it will be quite an adventure I'm sure!

Now I need to update our mid-month finances on Quicken..or maybe I should just go to bed now since it's 1am.

"Manning" the fort....

Jon had another out-of-town wedding this weekend continuing his extensive run of out-of-town wedding and groomsman festivities of 2009....this could get so I'm just not going to say anything else about it.

Sore over health care...

literally. I tuned into the national health care debate on C-SPAN while working out at the Y today and got so worked up that not only did I eliptical 3 miles up-hill in 22 minutes - I was so mad that I was commenting out-loud with my ear-phones on (so it was probably really loud and ridiculous looking, especially when I faux-punched the screen)...but I just couldn't help myself...I can get a little passionate about politics. BUT all of the sudden this guy came out of nowhere and ROCKED the debate and I would SO VOTE FOR HIM FOR PRESIDENT b/c of this 2 minute clip that says everything I feel from the bottom of my heart...thank you Devin Nunes for being just plain awesomely brilliant at the debate today... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgtMKHeoZBU

I'M IN LOVE

not with someone, but with something...our elementary school. We went to the tour for preschool parents today and every thing they talk about and emphasize totally strikes a chord with me and I CRIED when my friend Lindsay gave a parent testamonial about her twin girls in kindergarten there this year. I love all the parents there, the teachers there, the kids there, all the people are just AMAZING...I can't wait for my kids to go there!!! My heart is at Merriman Park.

Cinderella, Gus-Gus and the cat...

Anna Kate in the costume Caroline wore this year...that was just 3 short years ago in Virginia!

Anna Kate was Cinderella for Halloween this year...she's been planning to be Cinderella since Halloween last year. Of course, she had to wear her wings, too. J.R., good sport that he is, was Gus the mouse from the Disney movie Cinderella. Last year he was Doc the Dwarf when Anna Kate was Snow White...I'm guessing this will be the last year he will be a character from one of her beloved princess movies.

Caroline was a cat...but DEFINITELY NOT from the movie Cinderella b/c that's cat name was Lucifer.

Eating corn like a little mouse at our fun neighborhood party...

In the wagon heading out to trick-or-treat...

Trick-or-treaters in action...

the girls :)

Wings and things....

Anna Kate wears her wings EVERY WHERE we go...except church...on Sundays. They just compliment/accessorize every outfit perfectly...even Cinderella's!!

J.R. is just J.R. - he's hilarious most all the time.

Caroline is CRAWLING!!! She also waves, gives high fives and loves to mimick noises you make...so many cute tricks.

Days 5, 6 and 7...

Well, for some unknown reason, the whole housing market has slowed significantly this past week. We've only had 2 showings...apparently they both loved our house, but didn't like that it's on a busy street...join the club :)

Overall, I'm at peace about our house and thankful that we are all getting a little better at cleaning more consistently so things don't get "out of control."

On a different note, I am just overwhelmed with thankfulness...for people in my life where we live. There was a time when I didn't feel like I had any connections to anyone when we moved here and that state seemed to last a million years, when really it was more like 2 years. But now, I feel like there are a million people in my life that I love and I just don't have enough hours to talk to and love all of them as well as they deserve b/c they are wonderful folks that I LOVE LOVE LOVE...in our church, in our kids' preschool, in our neighborhood, in our area preschool PTA, in MOPs and in Anna Kate's dance class and some other random stops along the way and I LOVE to get to see all of them. Thank you Lord!!!!!! And hopefully our house will sell soon and we can move to another neighborhood within Lake Highlands where we can be even more connected to our neighbors and I think my heart would just burst with joy. I'm so glad life is simple...people are the only "things" that matter.

Day 4 on the market...

Well, this morning I toured the elementary school of the neighborhood we want to move to, and honestly, I like our current neighborhood's elementary school much better...our elementary is much smaller so it feels like a family and more nurturing and I love that. But I still like the "community-ness" and how there are tons of kids in that neighborhood better. Now I don't know what to do!!! Argh!!!!

Oh and I decided to "perfect" the one imperfection of our house...the blue wall...boy was that a can of worms I regret. To tired to go into details...but it's worse than when I started. gees.

Day 3 on the market...

I feel better today. I guess I was picturing the phone ringing off the hook with folks wanting to view our house and us having to immediately stop what we're doing and leave the house in a state of perfection, and after only one person viewing it this weekend, I'm fairly confident that's not the case and I can relax and just not let things get too out of control.

Day 2 on the market...

No one has called so far today. I have no idea why selling the house is affecting me with such severe stress as I have never experienced before in my whole life. I have barely slept or been able to keep food down for over a week. I have no idea why. Maybe it's a control issue? People sell houses all the time. I want to move. It's not a huge deal. Yet it is physically and emotionally doing me in. It just doesn't make sense.

First day on the market...

Our house is on the market!! It's our first house so having it on the market is very new to me. All I know is that it's supposed to be clean, perfect rather. I clean...EVERY WAKING MOMENT...it's no way to live...I'm EXHAUSTED, STRESSED and just want a house we can live in and enjoy again and I'm aching to have people over. However, our house IS very clean. I mop, wipe down the bathrooms and kitchen, pick up toys and repeat...constantly. Anyway, again, it's only been one day. Only one person looked at it today. Oh, I so want it to sell quickly!! I have officially finished all my 1 million projects for this house and I think it's as perfect as a house can get except for one little issue w/ the fact that that paint color and texture of our bedroom has been dicontinued and cannot be matched for some touch-ups it needs. I'm pretty much consumed by this whole thing. My goal is for our house to sell in 3 weeks. Jon says you can't make goals for things you can't control...I'm more wishful than goalful anyway, so maybe that's what I meant. Oh the stress is indescribable!!! I know I need to trust God, but I can't trust God to keep it clean and perfect...and that's the part that is stressing me out!!!

Still getting our house ready...

to sell...hopefully it will be on the market by the end of the week...it's keeping me VERY busy...keeping it clean while on the market will be equally consuming, I'm sure.

The busiest week/weeknd...ever?

We got our foundation and all our wood floors torn out and replaced all week (this was a HUGE week-long mess!!!!!) then this weekend was busy w/ 3 shower-type things on Saturday (one was a preschool PTA brunch at my house after putting it all back together Friday night) and then today was church, lunch w/ new friends from church and a fun birthday party. I'm so glad our house is fixed and that I got a lot of people-time in this weekend...I LOVE people-time :)

A sad day for us...

Jon's big trial verdict came in this morning...and his client and all the other clients were found guilty on all accounts. It really affected me. I just don't think they should have to go to jail...especially for years. And we truly don't think Jon's client is even guilty. And since she and her husband are both defendents and will both be going to jail, they won't get to see each other at all and just give each other a hug during that time...for many years. It breaks my heart and REALLY stresses me out at the same time.

Stress!!!

Ok, so I can't sleep b/c I'm so stressed out! We had foundation work done on our house today and tomorrow they start re-doing our floors and then we have a handy-man for touch-ups and then we put our house on the market?!?!? It stresses me out so much to think about this...

1. keeping the house perfect at all times!!


2. how long will it take to sell?


3. what if it sells and there isn't a good house for us to move into?


4. what if no one wants to buy it, will that hurt my feelings?


5. what if it sales and I'm too emotionally attached to leave b/c it's our first house?


6. what if we move and hate our new house and miss this one?


7. what if it's b/w a smaller house or an ugly house that we can afford...how does one decide?


8. what if we don't move and get stuck in the new house forever due to economic uncertainty?

And then lately, this is ridiculous I know, but I worry about having 5 kids. I have always wanted to have 5 kids b/c I love families with 5 kids and I think it's the perfect number, but lately I just start feeling overwhelmed by my 3 and I think, I know I want to have at least 4 kids, but 5??? I am coming up on 30 FAST and 30 is old, so I don't want to wait and take a break. And I get all stressed out and really and truly, this is a silly thing to worry about. I just need to take one day at a time!!!

The princess turns 4!!!!

The days are long, but the years are short...I can't believe sweet little Anna Kate is 4!!!! And her long-awaited princess party she's been planning AN ENTIRE YEAR finally arrived!!!
We had pizza, fruit, and Anna Kate's favorite food - edaname...and a GORGEOUS cake that I didn't make...but I wish I had gotten a better close-up of it-bummer!!! Anna Kate just sat and stared at it before the party saying how much she loved it :) She asked how I made it and I was worried she'd be upset that I didn't make it b/c she talks about her birthday cakes all year long and which character I made for what year and they are a VERY big deal to her, but she was fine with the fact that a "special Cinderella cake bakery" made it...phew!

There was a "coloring castle" that our coloring king especially enjoyed.

The SPECIAL guest -- at first you may have been misled into thinking it was Mr. Kenny since he wore a costume for the party -- but actually it was CINDERELLA!!!!! Oh, Anna Kate still says several times a day, "I can't believe Cinderella came to my birthday party." Beautiful Aunt Charissa totally made her day/year and she's such a good actress that Anna Kate didn't ever guess who she really was!

She read a story and all the kids, even all the boys, were enthralled..."The 12 Princesses have a Ball." Well, actually J.R. decided he needed to excuse himself to get a bandaid (he calls them "man-aids" and kind of made a big deal about it, but I doubt he was bleeding or anything).

She gave Anna Kate her tiara when she left and Anna Kate is still wearing it!! After she left, we played "Name That Tune" with all of Anna Kate's favorite princess songs and Enya, of course.

Blowing out her candles...

The outfit she "really wanted to wear" came out of the closet, of course.

The Cinderella pinata Anna Kate requested to have. I stuffed and still had some room left over so I threw in some little trinkets and balls I otherwise would have thrown in the trash, hoping some other lucky child could bless their home with it, and of course my kids re-seized their treasures after the "beating."

What a great fun party!!! Better save the Cinderella dress in case Caroline has the same Cinderella-infactuation as Anna Kate!!

Oh I am so thankful for Anna Kate and the past four years we've been blessed to share with her...I'm working on a tribute to her w/ some pics from when she was younger since I didn't have a blog then and didn't really keep record of her back then :( but don't hold your breath until it's finished....