hazel's eighth birthday party

hazel had her eighth birthday party this last weekend

her birthday isn't until a few days from now but since she has a memorial day weekend birthday

we figured we should do it earlier rather than later

i got things set up while she was at school

for painting birdhouses

 i thought the paper flowers and hats i made looked better in the living room

 when the girls showed up they played for a little bit and then got to painting

 henry rocked his party hat

hazel wanted pizza and treats for her party

so we served pizza, fruit kabobs, krispy kreme donuts, chocolate chip cookies and soda

the girls had fun playing outside after they ate

pretty painted birdhouses

they also played pin the party hat on the butterfly

using a poster hazel painted 

hazel won!

then they played musical chairs

and then it was time to sing to hazel

she requested an ice cream cake

opening presents

all the kids

pinata time

michael made this cute flower pinata for hazel

she loved it

michael made it a little too strong and had to break it open for them

it was a really fun party

we love celebrating hazel

it's a......BOY!

a picture of us right before the ultrasound

 positive i was about to find out i am having a girl

 but apparently i was so WRONG! i was 100% sure it was a girl

my body is way different than it was with henry

michael thought of the name the day eleanor was born

i could only picture a girl

but it's definitely a boy!

and speaking of boys....while we were at our ultrasound henry somehow busted his eyebrow open

at crystal's house

so instead of going shopping and out to lunch after the ultrasound

we went to the doctor and got henry stitched up

 poor sweaty boy after being held down :(

 we made it out to lunch eventually

 the best pizza

 when we got home we put henry down for a nap and waited for noah and hazel to get home

when they got home we had them each pop a balloon with confetti inside

blue confetti

 we were all pretty surprised

honestly, the whole first day i was in shock

then the next day it hit me

this little girl i thought i had "known" was not coming to our family

this is our last baby 

we will end things 3 and 3 which is great

and really perfect

but it was still an adjustment

i felt better about it after i let it really sink in and had a little cry

time to find a boy name

re-think how i will decorate

buy some boy clothes for the fall/winter

since his birthday is the opposite of henry's 

it's an adjustment

but we're excited for our little boy to complete our family

michael is 32!

my sweet michael is thirty two years old!

his birthday was on a sunday so we got a babysitter and went out saturday night

to tucanos

 we considered a movie but dinner took longer than expected so we skipped the movie

and headed to the mall

you'd think that might be lame but not having kids made it so much easier to shop!

michael's been needing new clothes so we grabbed a few things

and some measuring cups he's been wanting at williams sonoma

we have nine o'clock church so i got up early to make him a quick breakfast in bed

 he opened his presents while the kids ate breakfast

 we got a cute picture of the birthday boy with his kiddies before we headed out the door

 for lunch we had mashed potatoes, pretzel rolls and ribs

 we set the ping pong table up in the dining area for a little get together with friends that evening

 michael loves this chocolate costco cake

 michael and darcy are exactly 30 years apart so we celebrated her 2nd birthday, too

her cake is the one i made, chocolate peanut butter

 the guys had lots of fun playing ping pong and badminton

 the girls

it was a fun day

michael's big present was a nice big tent for our family that we'll hopefully get lots of use out of 

happy birthday, michael

we love you!!

the week in between mother's day and michael's birthday

i loved watching my mother's day peonies blossom all week

 doing the breakfast dishes is much preferred to cleaning the playroom for noah

so glad he'll happily do his chore now

 henry sat happily (for the most part) for a hair cut for the first time in months

 a new shirt for hazel

i love this boxy shape on her

 cute button detail on the back

 olive got a new skirt out of the extra fabric, too

 and eleanor loves the shirt i made her the day before

 my friend kim gave us these trays and the kids think they're the coolest

they were so stoked i let them use them for lunch one day

this is olive's, henry's and eleanor's 

they told me every specific detail to add

 a few recent changes were made to the living room

including a print from my friend crystal and some wooden chairs from a garage sale

 these two are so cute after a bath all wrapped in white fluffy towels

 a little backyard bike riding before ballet

 i went on a five mile hike with the yw to get ready for girl's camp

and it came with the prettiest view

 my friend mandy told me to jump off this rock at the half way point

it's a pretty sweet picture and not bad for being 18 weeks pregnant

the next day michael and noah went on a hike for scouts

and we met at wendy's to hand noah off

so i got the kids some little tiny frosty's and henry though it was so funny to dump it all over himself..

 stinker

 he made it up to me the next day by helping me mow the backyard

 walking home from school on friday it was extra hot 

so olive and eleanor shared the backseat of the stroller

friday night we took michael out to red robin for an early birthday dinner

 the kids think red robin is the coolest but we almost never take them

i think it's becoming tradition that we take them once a year for michael's birthday

 being sung to

 we also braved winco as a family

because this is what our fridge looked like

 after

much better but not quite full until the next day's costco trip

 saturday morning we had a garage sale (with our neighborhood)

not that we had a lot to sell

but the kids were dying to have a lemonade stand

so we did it

i made muffins and cookies and lemonade (strawberries optional)

they made $40! pretty impressive. 

it was a pretty good week with some ups and downs in between

we are so excited to find out if we're having a boy or girl on tuesday!!