Did you Vote?

When Ellie got home from school today she excitedly asked, "Mom, which prophet did you vote for?" Well maybe Mitt's as close to a prophet as we're going to get in the Presidential Election. Hope he wins for Ellie's sake :)

Welcome to Fairyland!

Ellie had a Rainbow Magic Fairies party for her 7th birthday this year and it was so much fun! There's a chance I may have become slightly obsessed in the planning of said party (Josh wondered if I spent that much time planning our wedding), but it was so worth it! Ellie had the time of her life and I decided I'm in no real danger of going too over the top in the future...I'm just not that talented. Phew!

Here are some pictures from the party.

 The Candy Buffet

 The cake was a near disaster! I tore about two layers off it trying to do something else before finally salvaging it with this idea I got online. Never mind it only took all day to accomplish. Yet another reason I won't be going overboard on parties any time soon. 

 

The girls each got to choose which Rainbow Fairy they wanted to dress as. There were twelve girls and only seven fairies so we doubled up on some but everyone seemed pretty happy with their selections. 

 Waiting for the guests...for only the tenth time that day!

 Our twelve exquisite Rainbow Fairies! They even got themselves in rainbow order...so cute!

 Decorate your fairy and wand craft.

 Popping the balloons to find out where the goblins and the jewels they've stolen are at.

 Casting a magic spell to be rid of Jack Frost.

 Wish I'd gotten a close up of this. Ellie wanted to play "Pin the wand on the fairy" so she drew a life size fairy that was adorable!

The pinwheels were thought of and created by Jonah, Ellie and Char. Super cheap. Super easy. Super cute.

Another couple activities we did that I didn't get pictures of: Dress up with clip in hair extensions, jeweled rings, bracelets, wands and lots of hair and body glitter! And we did a crystal rainbow necklace craft that was very fun and cute! To give credit where credit is due, most of my ideas came from a blog I found online. If ever you find yourself looking for Rainbow Magic party ideas...she's the real deal! Amazing presentation. Most of the supplies (tutus, wings, wands, etc. )came from Halo Heaven, an online store I only discovered when researching for this party. I'm totally hooked. Their stuff is very affordable and pretty darn cute. A little blingy for my taste but perfect for a fairy party :)

It's all over now and I found myself struggling to remember what I spent all my time on pre-party. It didn't take very long to remember. Choir potluck, organizing book club, trying to stay awake to read book club books, and the usual homework, unsuccessful attempts at keeping the house clean and if that's not enough there's always sweet Edie that takes her fair share of me. She's  worth it!

Back to School

...and endless schedules, homework, packing lunches, chauffeuring, practicing. And it goes on and on and on. I put my hands up in the air sometimes saying--well I'm not saying whatever it is that's said in Dynamite. Crying more like it. Am I the only mom out there that does not love school? It's not fair to have put myself through the stress of school only to have to relive it with the kids. Enter Josh with the Greer family motto: "We spit on fair."

Now that I've gotten my complaining out of the way I must admit that I am very excited about this year. The kids' teachers are great, Jonah and Ellie are loving to read and one further acknowledgement is that whether I like it or not, schedules are good for me. So I'm going to buck up and show some gratitude for forced exercise (a.k.a. walking the kids to school) and a daily refresher course on my times tables.

Got dirt?

No, Hazel is not homeless and no she's not trying out for the part of street urchin in Oliver. She just seems to attract ten times the amount of dirt the other kids did at Josh's indoor soccer game. I'm thinking of bringing a hose with me next time.

Newport Beach 2012