memorial day AKA hazel's make up birthday

since we traveled home on hazel's birthday 

we celebrated her birthday on monday, memorial day

which is fairly fitting since 10 years ago she was born on memorial day

she chose a paris themed birthday 

which was fun to put together

 we brought some of the cookies back from paris 

 i had gathered all these decorations before we left so it was easy to put together that day

 of course we had to include macarons, baguettes and french berry lemonade

she invited about 10 friends and they had fun painting their nails

 she opened presents

 we sang to her

 and she had a really good time

the shirt she is wearing says i love paris 

 we gave her friends eiffel tower key chains and cookies and candy we brought back with us

we took the kids to the pool after her party

and jude decided he hates going in the water (maybe it's too cold?)

but accidentally fell in (with his life jacket on) so i got to go swimming 

fully clothed and with shoes on

luckily it was just the little pool but my whole bottom half was soaked through

and he was pretty sad it had happened

 we took the family to red robin for a birthday dinner/thank you to michael's parents

  noah must be growing, he ate an entire adult burger and fries by himself!

 hazel's birthday present was a new bike

she loves it!

 happy birthday to our sweet hazel

she is smart and mature and kind and helpful

and self motivated and so easy to parent

i can't wait to see what she does in life because with her determination the sky is the limit

we are so proud of her

happy birthday, hazel!

memorial day weekend in seattle

we pulled the kids out of school early on friday and hit the road

heading to seattle

we went straight to ikea and then spent the night at debbie's 

 saturday morning we got up early and headed to pike place market

 we went out and looked at the water and took some pics together (per tradition)

 it was a chilly morning so while michael got us hot chocolate at starbucks

i took the big kids over to the gumwall

 looking like a teenager

 we got some treats at three girls bakery

 we checked out the downtown target and zara before we left seattle

 michael and the kids dropped me off at azteca and went to the museum of flight

i was there to surprise my sister andre`a who had no idea i was in town

she and monica were planning to go to lunch together for andre`a's birthday

and i couldn't resist crashing it

 our mom and dad showed up, too

total surprise all the way around

 it was a really special lunch

just us girls with our parents

 then we all met (with our families) at monica's to hang out after lunch

 after monica's we headed back to seattle to the pacific science center

where we met daryl's family, too

 and accidentally went to the folklife festival in search of bubblegum ice cream at the center house

instead we went to dinner at red robin at the landing with daryl's family and michael's parents

 sunday morning we drove around covington and showed the kids my old schools 

and the house my dad and grandpa built that we all grew up in

it's looking pretty shabby but it was still really special to show them

us girls ready for church

we had a good time going to church in andre`a's ward with her and spending her birthday with her

 monica and her family came over in the evening  

 it was so much fun

the kids loved playing together

 late at night on our way back to debbie's house we stopped by kyle's to see him

 monday morning we packed the car up and headed home

we made the whole 8 hour drive with only one stop in the middle for lunch, gas and the bathroom

after a weekend of partying the kids took some good naps on the way home

 our neighborhood pool had opened while we were gone so we took the kids swimming when we got home monday afternoon

it was such a good weekend

i'd been missing seattle a lot

 i really loved spending my sister's birthday with her

and so much time with both my sisters