Party Like A Pop Star

This year Alison wanted a Hannah Montana Birthday Party. So I made these "backstage passes" for the invitations. The reverse side had the who, what, when, and where. It told the guests to dress in their favorite Hannah clothes or Rock Star clothes. Most of the guests even wore their backstage pass to the party as well. It was a lot of fun to make the invitations.

The invitation




We played "pin the microphone" on Hannah. The girls had fun with that. And yes, that is where the microphones actually ended up. The other game was guess how many M&M were in the jar. There were 575 to be exact. I don't think any girl even guessed above 150. Alison's answer was really funny. She said "a lot". We also did dancing and I had the Karaoke machine set up so they could sing. I kept the party at 1 hour. It was perfect for this age.





We did build your own ice cream sundaes.

Our own "Hannah". Happy 5th Alison. We love you. It was fun to see you all dressed up. I loved watching your friends and you have a good time together.

Relay For Life

June is here and that means Relay! Here is a wonderful video the event photographer, Heidi Watts, put together. It sums up my 24 hours wonderfully. I was on the committee this year again as the Events and Entertainment Chair. It is so wonderful to see your communitty come together for a great cause. At the end of the event we had raised $62,000 ytd. Way to go Oregon City!

Alpha and Omega in Seattle

My sister Nicole came to spend a month with us. We really enjoyed having her here. One of the first things she told me was this idea she had. She thought we should make matching shirts. My shirt would say "Alpha" because I am the oldest. Her shirt would say "Omega" because she is the youngest in our family. We met Mark in Seattle and had lunch in the Space Needle Restaurant. It is a revolving restaurant and takes 45 minutes to make a complete rotation. The kids had so much fun watching the view constantly change. So here we are atop the Space Needle.

Jennifer and Nicole. 17 years apart. I was a senior in High School when she was born. I remember my mom having me take her with me on errands. People thought she was my daughter.

Jennifer, John, Alison and Mark atop the Space Needle.

Look what street Seattle has!

John with the Monk Fish. It is attached to a string and the guys behind the counter move it every so often to scare the viewers. This is the famous fish stand on the corner at Pike's Market Place where they throw the fish.

Nicole with the Monk Fish.

Mark, John, Alison, and Nicole

John, Nicole and Alison all smiles on the Monorail.

Father's Day

Father's Day started out with breakfast in bed for Mark. The children sing to the dads at church so Mark came with us to hear the kids sing. We had a wonderful dad with Mark. He is a great husband and father. He is so loving to the kids. They love their dad and miss him when he is gone. Thank you Mark for being a wonderful husband and father. We love you!

Breakfast in bed with Dad

John's breakfast for dad: Diet Dr. Pepper, pop tart, cereal straw, fruit loops, buttered bagel

Alison's breakfast for dad: buttered bagel, fishy crackers, pop tart and water

"I'm so glad when daddy comes home"

Me and my Man

John made this for Mark at school. It is a picture of Mark.

Youth Conference

I was asked to be in charge of Youth Conference for our Ward this year. I had to come up with a theme, location, menu, transportation, schedule of events and promotion for about 50 people ages 12 and up. The theme I came up with was...

I wanted the youth to be secret agents. They really had a fun time with it. My friend Mark McBride designed the logo for me and we used it on the shirts. The scripture focus for the youth for this year is 1 Timothy 4:12. "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." I used this scripture to plan my activities. They would be an example in conversation through bearing their testimony. For charity we performed a service project of setting up large tents for the camp. Their spirit and faith were tested through the activities we did as a team.

We went to Zions Camp in Washington. We were there for two days and one night. I had the youth divided into two teams. Each team participated in a row boat competition, archery and ropes course. The main focus was to unify the group. So they had to work together as a team to accomplish each mission. I had a CD player that "appeared" before the mission telling them what to do, and that the message would self destruct. It was a lot of fun.

Everything went off without a hitch. We were able to stay on our time schedule and had no injuries. The only criticism I have received was that I had scheduled too long of a lunch hour. They wanted to get to the activities.

Multitasking

While emptying the dishwasher, Alison decided she wanted to color. She used her "favorite" ink pen and colored on the counter, dishwasher (inside and out), various bowls, cups and lids. I had her use a "magic eraser" to clean up. She complained the whole time that "it's not coming off". I pointed out that is why we only write on paper. I made her scrub until dinner was ready (2 min tops). She told me, "I don't want to stand here cleaning anymore. I wanted some me time on the couch before dinner". To which I replied, "keep scrubbing".

Field Day

I helped out at John's field day. It was fun to watch the kids play and enjoy themselves. I can hardly believe that John will be in 2nd grade next year!

Egg on a spoon

Rubber Chicken on a stick

Hopping with bean bag in between knees

Alison's field day was for the whole family. We brought KFC for a picnic dinner. There was face painting, crown decorating and just playing with friends. The kids both got their faces painted. The cottonwood trees were letting loose. It felt like we were in a snow storm! There were so many white flurries falling all over! We all had a great time.

Alison the Kitty Cat

Alison, Nicole (my sister), John, and Jennifer

Autobot John

John's Autobot Symbol

The kids were so proud of their face paint. John had asked the lady to copy the Autobot symbol off his shoe. He was really proud with how it turned out. This was the first time either of them had their face painted. They have never wanted it done before. So bath time that night was not so pleasant for any of us. Oh if things could be permanent.

6 Crows

Alison's class put on three plays. Every child was in one. Alison was a crow in "6 Crows". The teacher read the book as the kids acted it out. They practiced for two weeks, built scenery and decided on costumes. They did a great job. Alison has turned into quite the performer. She loves to get on stage. We have signed her up for a dance class for the summer.

Evan, Matteo, Rachel, Alison and Julie

After the plays the class went to The Abernathy Center for their end of school year class party. One of the families in her class owns The Abernathy Center and said we could use one of the gardens for the party. It is a beautiful location. They host weddings and other functions. We had a lot of great food and fun! I made t-shirts for the kids. We had fabric markers and they were able to sign the back of each others shirts. They had so much fun!

This was what I put on the class shirts. It was a fun party and a great end to the school year. Alison really loved being in the Butterfly Class. She has grown so much in her Independence, social skills and educational skills. She loves to draw, perform and play outside. Congratulations Alison on a wonderful year of preschool. I can't believe you will be in Kindergarten in the fall.