Happy Birthday Hatley-Grace!

Here is Hatley-Grace blowing out her birthday candles this year!  She celebrated 3 princess style, with her manatee too!

HG Turns 3!

Hatley-Grace had a princess party this year for her birthday (June 18, I am very behind on updating the blog).  We made a castle out of boxes, left over paint and some creativity.  My mother-in-law and dad were a HUGE help in securing the castle for safe playing.

I made princess dresses for more decoration with the pattern from this website. 

The craft at her party was making princess tiaras with foam crowns and adhesive foam stickers.  All the girls loved creating their own princess crown.

We had lots of dress up clothes and jewelry for the girls.













I made glitter play dough by kneading glitter into store bought play dough.  This was a fun activity, and the glitter made it a little special.










Our last activity before lunch was unfreezing Anna.  I froze a plastic figurine of Anna in a plastic tupperware and the girls took turns pouring water on Anna to unfreeze her.  The girls giggled and cheered to Anna to be rescued the whole time.  It was a cute activity, and perfect for the summer heat.


After saving Anna from the ice, we enjoyed lunch inside.

We made sandwich trays, chicken salad with croissants, sunflower seed butter and jelly sandwiches shaped like castles for the kids, pimento cheese and crackers, watermelon, chips and goldfish.  The dessert table had rice krispie treats in castle shapes and sugar cookies in glass slipper, castle and crown shapes.

I made a white cake with strawberry buttercream icing topped with Cinderella for Hatley-Grace.  I am not a big cake fan, but this one turned out great! The cake recipe is from i am baker and the icing is here.

After lunch we opened presents.  These are the little girls that joined us to celebrate!

Summer produce picking

One of my favorite things about summer is all the fresh produce.  In Florida, everything comes just a little bit early.  We inherited a peach tree on our property when we moved in, and we have loved picking peaches all June!

In May, Marty has a blueberry fundraiser for one of the missions trips.  We have enjoyed joining them each year and picking blueberries to sell at church.  This was the first year HG really picked and ate her weight in blueberries :)

Mothers Day

crafting, cooking, reading, playing

 HG loves helping with family pizza night.  Our favorite pizza crust recipe is from 100 Days of Real Food: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/04/01/recipe_homemade_whole_wheat_pizza/

 I make 1/2 the recipe for just one big pizza that is plenty for the three of us with some leftovers.

 Hatley-Grace loves to grate the cheese the most!

 These Melissa and Doug magnet dress ups are a favorite toy right now.

 And the Highlights magazine, High Five is a big hit every month.

 This project made me wish HG had a shorter name :)  It took multiple days to finish this craft.

Easter in pictures...

Easter basket fun: princess bubbles, princess band-aids, cheddar bunnies and fruit snacks.

 Brunch and egg hunting with friends...

Easter Egg Hunt

Waiting for the hunt to begin...

 Hanging with her favorite high school seniors!

 Listening to the rules with Mimi...

 Daddy broke all the rules, picked HG up at the sound off, and ran her to the opposite side of the field to hunt the eggs.

 Running...

 Collecting...

 Running some more...

 Collecting some more...

 Her basket is all full.

 Pastor Cortese sharing some eggs and money with Hatley-Grace...

Showing off to the Easter bunny...

 Successful egg hunt...