Easter!

We started out the weekend with my family. At my brother Jake's house, coloring eggs.

And then a candy hunt. Reese's basket got a little full.

 Then later that night we went to Cheryl's for some more egg coloring.

 I think Rylee colored every egg green. (The girls are suddenly very into favorite colors. Reese's is
pink, and Rylee's is green, and everything has to be those colors.) Of course ignore the big shirts, that is so they can get dirty.

 Every year Jeremy makes a Jo Jo egg. (to look like his dad.)

 I bought the girls their Easter dresses, of course pink and green. I took about 50 pictures so I could get a few that were decent.

 Here's all the girls, Kennedy, Reese, Hadley, then Rylee, on their way out to hunt eggs.

 We had a wonderful day.

Reese's Brave themed party

Ok, this one is a bit of a longy. Reese turned 6! (Which by the way, I still cannot believe.)  But she wanted a Merida party. Earlier in the day I took her and two of her friends from school, and Rylee to kangaroo zoo, and then later that evening we had our traditional family party. Reese requested that I draw a Merida, I was worried about it, and the face isn't perfect, but hey, you can tell who I was going for, so that counts.

 This is not the best pic of these, because of the light coming through, but I made these targets, and you can kind of see the homemade arrows I made.

 Here is Elenor bear. Which by the way, was such a pain to draw, but she turned out ok.

 I of course, made Reese a birthday sign. And underneath it are the three brothers as bears. I have to admit, I almost didn't get these decorations done in time. I was really slow, and got started later than I should have. Anyway it somehow got pulled together right at the end.

 These don't really have anything to do with anything, other than Reese wanted them, so I made them. And they look festive, and party ish.

 We borrowed this from my bro in law Dave, which was very nice of him. I thought it was a nice touch.

 Here's the little bear piniata, (I bought that, didn't make it)

 Here's Reese's cake. She thinks it's so funny that when the mom turns back into a human, she is naked. (other than the tapestry that she uses to cover up.) So she really wanted my to get that in there.

She was also very adamant about having the cake that turns the mom into a bear. In the end, 

I just had no more time, or energy. I saw these at Lee's, and thought they looked pretty perfect. Before I served them I of course added some strawberries.

 I covered the ceiling in white plastic to make it look like we were in a big tent. And then I hung these little "Wisps" I made out of tissue paper and a fake candle.

 There's the birthday girl in her Merida dress.

 And with her cake.

 And with her little sister Rylee.

 Somehow Reese talked Jeremy into wearing his kilt.

 What a good dad!

 And Tayler apparently had one, so showed up in one, (which I think is seriously awesome.)

Anyway, it was a big day, and I have to admit that I was glad when it was over. It definitely doesn't seem  like 6 years ago that Reese was born.

Right now, Reese is doing very well in school, reading well, and something I'm extra proud of is that in every category she is judged on, they gave her a 4 rating, which is the highest you can get. And she has gotten all 4's, all year long. She loves pink, and anything that is pink. Her favorite place to eat is Maddox, or as she calls it, the pink butter place. She loves to dress up, (for play, or for real. She always loves to wear dresses, not pants.) She is really good at helping and taking care of people, which makes her a good big sister. She is so fun to have in our family. Happy birthday sweet girl!

Random moments

I was going through my phone pictures, and thought I would post some of these. They aren't at all connected, but here you go. Reese's school had an art show, the kids had all put in some art, and they were supposed to dress up and come and show their art. Reese had a piece in this, and sorry to say, I have no idea which square is hers. But she was so excited to be there it was cute.

 Reese loves to watch some designer shows with me, and when we watch them she gets out her ipad, and designs outfits. So then she made this dress out of paper for Rylee. I didn't help her at all, she did this all by herself, I thought it was cute, my little designer.

 Reese loves pink and anything that is pink. I bought her this hair extension for Christmas, she loves it. She has always wanted pink hair, and this is a safer way to give it to her because it can easily be taken out.

 On Valentines day, we like to have a romantic dinner for four. The girls decorated the room with hearts all over the walls, and candles. We dipped strawberries in chocolate, and bought a heart shaped pizza, and the girls helped me make these mini cheesecakes to look like conversation hearts. I'm sorry to say that I didn't get any other pictures, because I ended up hurting my back. But the girls had a fun Valentines day.

 Reese's first school project. It was supposed to be a box pet, of any kind of animal you wanted it to be. Of course Reese wanted to make a kitty. I thought it should be fuzzy, so I found a shammy at the dollar store that we used, and also a monkey I bought and let her cut apart and used it's fur and tail. I tried really hard not to do it all. But when hot glue is involved, there has to be some parental guidance. Anyway she did most of it. It's crazy to see that she's big enough to have to do things like this.

Sparkly Doughnuts

On Feb 2nd, or Groundhog's Day, or more importantly for the Deamer family, was Jeremy's grandpa's birthday. This would have been his 91st birthday. So Jeremy and I took the girls up to the cemetery to pay our respects/ celebrate his birthday with a sparkly doughnut.

 So Jeremy and I took the girls up to the cemetery to pay our respects/ celebrate his birthday with a sparkly doughnut.  Something their grandpa would always get them.

Reese, and even Rylee remember papa Creamer, and how special he was. And they miss him. It was so nice for them to live next door to him. Happy birthday papa Creamer!

Rylee's Birthday!!

Well, it's official, she's not a baby anymore, She's 3! Rylee has been really into The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle for a long time. She has the whole thing memorized, and if you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, she says "I'm going to be a big fat caterpillar!"

 So probably more than 6 months ago she told me she wanted her cake and birthday to be a big fat caterpillar birthday. She was surprisingly picky about how I made the cake. She also wanted it to say, Happy Birthday Rylee Kate Deamer, which I had to tell her, I just couldn't fit. So after a long conversation we compromised with just Rylee Kate.

 If you have read the book, the little caterpillar wakes up to the warm sun, and goes and eats his way through quite a bit of food, until he turns into a big fat caterpillar, and then a butterfly. All the pictures have this hand painted kind of look to them. So that is what I tried to recreate. I hand painted everything. I like how it turned out.

 When I made this caterpillar, Rylee came in and I said, "Rylee what do you think?" She looked at it and said, " It's not big enough." I had to tell her it's 7 and a half feet long. Also it couldn't be any bigger because our wall is only so big. (Good to know she's only 3 and already not impressed with my home made decorations.)

 I also made all the food that the caterpillar eats his way through.

 And the nice green leaf.

 Right before the party, I was thinking, "Shoot I should have made something for the table." And I suddenly saw a little bit of green and red tissue paper. Since I didn't have a lot, I had to make them kind of small, but I thought it was  a cute little touch.

 Of course I had to have the warm sun, coming up.

 I made Rylee this caterpillar costume. (although you can't see it that great in this pic.) And my wonderfully talented mom, made the hat, which totally makes the whole thing.

 Oh, and one last caterpillar, out of balloons. Luckily I happen to live close to what seems like the only store that still has helium.

 And there she is with her cake! It was a fun party, thanks to all my family who indulges us in these little parties and comes. (By the way, later, when the caterpillar was up, Rylee was very excited about it, and had clearly forgotten that she had thought it was too small before.

Rylee is such a funny girl, and so smart. She speaks incredibly well, knows all her letters, and sounds, can count up to 30. Can also spell her own name, and tell you my phone number, and our address. She is so fun to have around, and I can't believe she is already 3!