6 looks like box cupcakes and plastic frosting.

Because my girls prefer fake over scratch.

My soul aches about it.

6 looks like a fun birthday hat.

And ignoring the lice notice sent out the next day.

And special attention during morning music.

And taking a leap on the birthday carpet mat.

5 was a BIG year.

6 is going to be bigger.

Just ask her.

6 looks like handmade birthday cards from classmates.

And a special Croods drawing from Teacher Ian.

She’s currently a big fan.

Of the movie.

And Ian.

6 looks like Teacher Joanie lighting candles.

While sweet friends look on.

6 looks like musical chairs.

With daddy as a special guest.

And a very happy birthday girl.

6 looks like dinner at her favorite establishment.

Mostly for the sundae.

6 looks like party time!

Blue was the theme.

It’s her favorite color.

6 looks like water balloons.

Especially when it’s 80 degrees in April.

Summer, I think you might be early this year.

And we’re not complaining.

6 looks like little friends.

In fancy blue party dresses.

6 looks like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

And Annie’s fruit snacks.

And Cheese-Its.

And fruit salad.

And more plastic cupcakes.

6 looks like face painting.

Not sparkly butterflies and rainbows.

But Eep, the cavewoman from Croods.

My soul kind of aches about that, too.

6 looks like a fancy pinata.

Held up by an orange extension cord.

Which made it a little less fancy.

But the candy collectors didn’t care.

Sorry, moms.

6 looks like special presents.

And patient onlookers.

6 looks like blue sprinkles.

And giant candles.

And an Eep face.

6 looks like sharing new toys with friends.

And an extra cupcake.

6 looks like blue balloons.

And running and jumping on the front lawn.

6 looks carefree and fabulous.

Happy Birthday, baby girl.

We love you.

Hello, Christmas Eve with the cousins.

Hello, best gift EVER.

Pop Pop tried to steal it so she wrote her name in Sharpie on the shipping box it was wrapped in.

And wrote an “X” on Pop Pop’s hand.

And slept with the empty shipping box later that night.

My baby has issues.

Hello, favorite Christmas party dress of all time.

Hello, Gingerbread decorating with the cousins.

This is for her friend Vidal.

Or it is Vidal.

Or both.

Issues.

Hello Christmas morning.

Some awesome bedhead.

And toothless, matching PJ grins.

Oh time, I wish you would freeze.

Hello, first fire.

We are slow.

Hello, first every progressive Christmas.

Breakfast at our house.

Hello, matching Lion King shirts.

I’m embarrassed.

Early dinner at Mom and Dad’s.

And a plethora of 1994 Lion King toys my mom found on EBay.

Yay us!

Hello, Hansen.

Uncle Branden and Auntie Kennah’s new dog.

She pretended he was her present and stalked him all day.

Hello, snowman pinata and elf hat blind-fold.

Did you not have one?

And final stop?

Dessert at Grandmums.

Progressive Christmas for the win.

Goodbye, Christmas 2012.

You were fun.

Unrelated, January Pintertest Kitchen is THIS Thursday.

Link up or I’ll make you wear a Lion King shirt.

Our card this year.

I know.

It’s borderline blasphemous with all the baseball worship at Christmastime.

But it’s one of my favorite ones yet.

And if there’s any doubt?

Jesus’ birth means more to us than the Giants do.

Which means we REALLY love Jesus.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!

2013 is gonna be a good one.

{Card by KatyGirl Designs}

It’s the day before Christmas and we’re ready to celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Presents are wrapped and under the tree.

Baking is done.

Christmas morning casseroles are prepped.

Family festivities commence in just a few hours.

We are excited and joyful.  And thankful for so much.

It’s been a fun month.

 It’s not every day that your dad is Santa.

At a Foster City storage unit Holiday Open House.

His throne of lies was inflatable.

Ashlyn: “Let’s go see the real Santa.  That’s just dad.”

My Little Pony and waffles under the tree lights.

It just doesn’t get more magical.

Holiday baking quality control.

They are tough.

Hope’s Second Annual Ladies Ornament Exchange.

These women are so special.

It’s my favorite church tradition.

Ashlyn and I shared the story of the birth of Christ at her school.

She replaced baby Jesus with a cat in the paper nativity scene manger.

We have some work to do.

Adressing Christmas cards while the cat lover flashes the neighborhood in her skivies.

Again, work to do.

A surprise guest at Ashlyn’s school.

Not dad.

Celebrating the servants that make Sunday mornings happen.

Dave made us put our phones in an empty chip bowl.

Our presence was his present.

“Sailing” to Madagascar.

In a triple horse-drawn carriage.

What happens when mom hides in the bedroom wrapping gifts.

Hope’s kids choir during service.

Such sweet little ones.

Singing their hearts out for Jesus.

And as Dave preached yesterday,

He’s not the reason for the season.

He’s the reason for everything.

As a family, we’ve been trying to think of creative ways to contribute to the Hope For Sudan campaign.

If only we had 25,000,000 pennies in our sofa.

I checked.  We don’t.

Dave suggested we throw a party for his birthday this year.

In lieu of gifts, guests were to bring donations towards Hope For Sudan.

First I took his temperature.

Then I realized this fundraising effort was serious biz.

Let me try and explain.

He likes _____________________ more than birthday parties for himself.

I’m trying to fill in that blank with something sufficiently terrible and I can’t.

Black bean and tomato casseroles?

Extensive dental work?

Traffic on Highway 5?

The Los Angeles Dodgers?

Nothing fits.

Being the guest of honor is not his favorite.

But our family and friends like to celebrate him.

And he loves helping people more than he hates birthday parties.

It is was an easy opportunity to do our part in this effort.

Because if we’re asking you to help.

We better be busy ourselves.

New favorite enchilada recipe courtesy of Meg.

Yummy.

Easy.

Perfect for feeding people and making them happy when you’re asking for lots of skrill.

That was tacky.

But totally true.

The puffs didn’t hurt, either.

Our house has never been so full.

Literally.

And figuratively.

Overwhelming.

In the very best way.

I was praying some fish and loaves action over the enchiladas.

And regretting my puff intake, pre-event.

Thank you to all who came and contributed.

And to those who couldn’t come but contributed anyway.

We are overwhelmed at your generosity of heart.

The way you love my husband and our family.

And your willingness to help people you’ll likely never meet.

$1,500 added to our effort.

Bringing our grand total so far to $15,499.55

So exciting.

I’m so glad you were born, Dave.

I hope you liked your party.

Early May:

“KK, what do you want to do for your birthday this year?”

“I would like a nature hike, mama.  And Jon can be our tour guide.  Because he’s great at identifying species.  And we’ll need adventure kits.  With clipboards.  And I’d like cupcakes that are wormy, kind of dirty but also cute.”

She’s always knows exactly what she wants.

So party planning is easy.

It was 127 degrees that day.

Perfect temperature for a hike.

If you’re hiking in a pool.

But my nature-loving girl and her adventurous little friends were unphased by the heat.

And ready to tackle the trail.

So was UCLA Biology grad and Kayla’s hero, Jon.

The mini-explorers learned about buckeye butterflies, spittle bugs and banana slugs.

He explained, in awesome detail, everything they might encounter along the way.

And even scouted the trail a week beforehand to help with the clipboard checklist.

He’s my hero, too.

 They saw lots of bugs.

And beautiful shrubs and trees.

Like the majestic Oregon Oak and the California Wax Myrtle.

Some even saw a California King snake!

On the menu?

Bottled water and juice boxes.

Sun Chips, granola bars and trail mix.

And “cute and wormy” treats.

Thanks to all for braving the heat and bugs and snakes.

And avoiding the poison oak.

You gave our girl a very special day.

Hello, big five year old!

I can’t hardly believe it.

Hello, birthday celebration at school.

And birthday spankings.

Which are illegally awesome.

Hello, strawberry cupcakes with fake pink vanilla frosting.

Because she likes fake frosting better than real frosting.

My hope, by the time she leaves our house, is that she love Jesus and real buttercream.

In that order, obviously.

Hello, little classmates sharing what they love best about her.

Mostly her special party dress.

And her “eye.”

Hello, Pre-K is the best age in all the universe.

Hello, birthday dinner at her favorite establishment.

Chicken strip in one hand, ice cream spoon in the other.

Hello, sweet party guests.

And beautiful, 80 degree weather that knew it was her party day.

Hello, hat decorating.

Hello, glitter and glue and stickers and sequins and feathers, still all over my floor.

Hello, creative friend who let me steal her idea.

Hello, more cupcakes with fake frosting.

And lots and lots of sprinkles.

Hello, presents!

Hello, Giants game on in the background.

Always.

Hello, gift unwrap assistants.

So eager to see the birthday girl open their thoughtful gifts.

Hello, letting balloons go at dusk.

And then popping some of them on the grass.

Hello, childhood memories being made.

Hello, entertaining older sister.

I love that she inherited her grandpa’s strong party presence.

Hello, bedtime bootcamp.

Hello, explaining for weeks beforehand:
“mommies don’t sit on the bed and wait an hour for FIVE year olds to fall asleep…”

It probably also helped that I shared it as the thing I love best about her in class.

“What I love best about Ashlyn is that she is going to go to sleep all by herself tonight!”

And then her teacher reinforced it.

While she gave us both the sideways stank eye.

But it’s working!!!

Six straight nights of mommy-free bedtime.

With a little help from her lion friends.

Happiest of birthdays, Ashlyn Grace.

We love you.

It was 1984.

The Denver Broncos were facing the Cleveland Browns in a championship game of some sort.

My dad (far left) was the only Cleveland fan in all of California.

The couple he’s pictured with, Gary and Carol, bought their jerseys the day before.

I’m sure of it.

Our neighbors across the court, The Caldwell’s, were from Denver.

My parents hosted a party that day.

Wally Caldwell cut our cable line (with scissors) in the 4th quarter.

Everyone had to go to their house to watch the rest.

So scandalous.  So genius.  I loved our court.

My mom’s family is from Long Island.

They are lifelong Jets fans, especially my uncle.

But in the 80s?

EVERYONE was a Niner fan.

I have clear memories of watching the close game against the Bengals at my Uncle Bert’s house in 1989.

And I remember my dad buying our very first projector big screen for the 1985 game against the Dolphins.

Then, there’s Hometown Tommy.

Yes.  That is our grouchy baby up past her bedtime in a seedy Houston bar in 2004.

I know.

Although I’ve always been a bit confused over who I should be rooting for,

I’ve always loved the game.

It’s always been a part of my life.

And my earliest memories.

Thrilled for Sunday.

Super excited for a potential Pats/Niners Superbowl.

But this time I know who I’ll be rooting for.

Sorry, Tommy.

From the book of Luke, Chapter 2:

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

It’s Wednesday and my head is spinning.

Like literally.

Spinning.

I’m thinking it’s a weird flu.  Or vertigo.

Or I’m dying.

I’ve made the executive decision NOT to Web MD my symptoms.

Because I have a feeling my prognosis would not be good.

Web MD is always so rude.

Halloween has come and gone.

Wolf/skunk/panda/puppy made a last minute change to Target clearance Cleopatra.

Minnie Mouse ran screaming like a crazy woman all over the neighborhood.

And repeatedly clotheslined Cleo to make it to every doorbell first.

I might have tripped into my neighbor’s front door.

And stacked super hard on their front porch.

I will just say that my new iphone case is effective at preventing screen cracks.

And my neighbor’s porch is effective at creating lumpy knee bruises.

HOT MESS, I am.

November’s PinterTest Kitchen is tomorrow!

I loved Erin’s post from last month.

Mostly because she whitened my teeth in the picture she posted.

But also because she is a wonderfully creative writer.

And an all-around awesome person.

What are you making?

I’m trying two recipes having to do with these:

With a spinning head.

Which is good times.

And I need to clean this:

Because it’s not a very pretty test kitchen.

 Be sure to grab a button and link up tomorrow!

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P.S. Previous button had a little glitch in Blogger.

This one is new and improved.

Let me know if you still have issues.