Birthday festivities for our Sunshine

I think we failed to mention that Solei had a BIRTHDAY last month, maybe because yet again I went overboard and it took us a while to recover from the insanity.  But when you have a kid like Solei, how can you NOT go a little over the top??

She requested a pajama party theme, so the first thing we did was make the ultimate blanket fort (with a parachute...  just a liiitle cheating)

 She was thrilled!

 Then, of course, I had to drag her outside and take a kajillion pictures of her.  She's usually kind enough to comply.

 Since I'm not much of a cook, none of us feels very strongly about cake, and Solei adores doughnuts, we improvised a very successful birthday treat.  Who doesn't love doughnut holes??

 We had story time, scripture and prayer in the fort that night.

 The next day was the party!  One crazy idea I had was to hot glue barrettes onto bows, because what little girl doesn't like to feel like a present?  It was a good idea until the bows kept falling off and distraught little girls kept begging for repairs.

 Before the storm...

 I didn't want to leave anyone out so I invited everyone.  So.  much. screaming.   Remind me to scale that part back next year?

 Dinner was decorating your own pancakes.

 The activity was making your own bedtime snack necklaces.

 Hi, Daddy!

 The girls decorated their own cupcakes, too.  Anyone sense a theme?

 We survived!

Whew!  It was insane, but as always, totally worth it.  We're so thankful for such a fabulous 6 year old!!

Pumpkin patch with my li'l punkin

I got a chance to go to a pumpkin patch just with Forster a few weeks ago and it was a blast.  I love how excited he gets by just about anything!

Who could resist taking a picture by this sign??

Once he got a pumpkin, all he wanted to do was get right back on the wagon and run back and forth.  It was pulled by a giant tractor and he was in heaven!

Oh, the giggles!  The missed photo-ops because he refused to stay still!!  But any day spent with a snuggly Forster is fabulous no matter what.  I'm just lucky I caught a few moments on film :)

Did I forget to mention....

... we're going to be welcoming a very active baby boy (take my word for it) into our family early next year?

Nana time!

One nifty side effect of the new Hachtman girl due date was that is was soooo close to my birthday, so Nana made a special trip out here and gave me lots of fabulous presents!

Like getting the kids to attack-snuggle someone else for a change!

 Art projects with the kids too - I'm too wary of messes to let them paint, but they LOVED it and nana knew just how to teach them.

She took us to the botanical gardens for my birthday too, and let me go hog wild with my camera :)

 We adored it!!!

 Near the end of our visit, Forster stopped, folded his arms and started praying a thankful prayer and started listing all the people he loved!

I know I should have folded my arms too and prayed along, but what mom could resist taking pictures of THAT??

Then we met up for a scrumptious lunch with some of Nana's cousins and she took Forster home and left me in Madison to shop to my heart's content for the afternoon.  HEAVEN!!  She picked up Solei from school and took care of the kids all evening so Jared could take me out to dinner and to see one of my favorite artists of all time in concert - Bela Fleck!!!  A birthday just doesn't get better than that.  Big thanks for Nana, Jared, and an accommodating baby Leonora :)

Happy Halloween 2012!

Happy November!  I'm going to be posting everyday this month for NaBloPoMo.  Get excited!!  Maybe, except it's mostly going to be pictures!

Today is a quick recap of Halloween around here.  Solei insisted on being a spider, and Forster insisted on wearing the same hat, although he refused to wear any other bit of costume.  His skeleton shirt seemed festive enough, so skeleton-with-multiple-spider-guy-eyes he was!  I took him to Solei's school for their Halloween parade, and she got her teacher to let Forster join them.  So adorable!!

Then last night, Jared and I took them out trick or treating and they were so madly excited.


My favorite part of the day, though, was when we got home, and Jared showed me how he'd taught Forster how to play Uno.  He figured Forster knew his colors and numbers, so it would work - and it did!  He beat us twice!  Then Solei beat us.  We're proud, kind of.  :)

First Day of School

First days... you'd think I'd be an expert by now, but not so much.

Here's Solei on her first day at 2 years old, just before Forster was born:

Then a fabulous preschool the next year in Baraboo at 3 years old:

 First day of 4 year old kindergarten:

 And today, her first official day of Kindergarten, at 5 years old.

 Of course, I was the only one crying: