Happy Birthday Miss Evelyn!

How fast six years has gone by. My oh my. It's hard to imagine how much Evelyn will change in the next six years (dear god, save us from puberty), but her first six have been filled with amazing discoveries and funny misadventures.

Per Vescapades tradition, the birthday kid always gets to pick where we go out to eat the day of said birthday. As usual, my high class child chose....Cici's Pizza, the largest pizza buffet around. Really, do they all have to choose Cici's?? My dad and stepmom and brothers and sisters met us there to celebrate.





Grandpa and Grandma with the birthday girl and Soren:


What a crazy cute bunch of girls!!



Here's Evie taking one of her many birthday calls from family:



For her party, Evelyn chose bowling. The kids had a great time bowling and eating and opening gifts. It was sort of a mini kindergarten reunion in some respects. The nice thing about living where we live (semi-secluded out in Air Park) is that there is a real sense that we are our own little community. We all play on the same t-ball teams, work out at the same gyms, etc. But I digress...

Back to bowling!

Evie invited Soren to her party, but not her brothers.



Evie and her cousin, Ethan, who is only 6 weeks older than she is:



Opening gifts:



Bowling like a maniac:



The party crew:



The grown ups got to bowl, too.



Love ya, Peapod! I can't wait to share the rest of my life with you (minus puberty, of course.).

Hot Summer Barbecues

The great thing about summer is that we can get together with freinds and share lots of great times. The crappy thing about summer is that it's hot as hell when we get together with friends. No worries. The kids find lots of ways to stay cool, and water is the number one choice. Here are some photos from a recent barbecue at the Wild Wileys' house:






I have to point out that the little boy at the end of the line in the last photo is one day older than Evelyn...and about one foot shorter.

You know what's really hot about summer? Me in a bikini. I worked hard to get there. Here's me at one of my bestie's houses for a late night swim in her backyard pool:



That's how real women look in a bikini. Watch out Kim Kardashian. We real bitches are coming for you.

Painting Ourselves Silly

One of the great things about Lincoln is all the stuff there is for families to do here. For a family as big as ours, going on any family outing involves a lot of preparation and a lot of money. That's just the way it is. It was a real treat for the kids to go to Paint Yourself Silly with friends. It's something we don't do often because it involves a) a shop full of breakable things and b) a crap ton of money. Dade decided painting ceramics wasn't for him, so he stayed home. The rest of us enjoyed an afternoon of ice cream and painting with friends.

What She Always Wanted

As promised in a previous blog post, we now have our very own swing set. As Colby was putting it together (sidenote: lots and lots of swearing was involved. I mean, stuff was said that even made me blush.) Soren said, "All I ever wanted my whole life is a swing set." Talk about drama.

Well, I guess her lifelong wish has been granted.



Of course, we had to put it in the side yard for two reasons: putting it in the backyard would kill the precious grass, and there is far more shade in the side yard. Now, if it would just stop being 110 degrees outside, someone might want to swing.

My Little Brother

I was an only child for most of my childhood. In fact, my brother wasn't born until I was 15. Three more sibling followed soon after. I was already off at college when my twin brother and sister were born. Although we didn't really get to grow up together, my kids are growing up with my brothers and sisters which is quite unique and interesting.

My brother Alex will be a senior in high school in the Fall. He's really the first baby that I've got to see grow from a newborn to an adult. He's got to watch me grow from a teenager into an old lady.

I was lucky enough to get to work with him as he had his traditional senior photos. My friend has her own photography business, and I often assist her with photo shoots. This shoot was particularly special for me. We're quite a good looking couple of siblings, if I do say so myself. Take a look:




Sometimes we don't get along:



But we always make up:


I look forward to watching Alex turn from a teenager into a grown up. He'll always have an awesome big sister by his side.

So the Kids are Gone And...

...Life has been pretty good. The house stays clean. We get to go out whenever we want. I can swear all I want. I can go to the bathroom in private. It's great.

But there's no one here to sing me a song. There's no one here to tell me a story or "help" me with my chores. For all the fun we're having without the kids, we usually have a really good time with the kids around.

Someday I picture my life being like this every day. Once the kids are older we will have our independence back. Until then, I can't wait til the house is once again filled with the pitter patter of little feet. My life right now is meant to be filled with the noise and excitement and scuffling of my children.

See you in a few days, kiddos.

Swingers

Soren loves to swing. I refused for a very long time to have a swing in our yard for two reasons: I didn't want to stand outside and push a kid on the swing all day (selfish mama), and I didn't want to break up fights about who gets to swing (I already have to break up fights about who gets to brush their damn teeth first. Can you tell it irritates me?) As such, Soren specifically asks to go over to our neighbors' house not to play with her bestie, but to swing on their swing set. Here she is all alone on the 4th of July swinging:




After watching her pathetically from across the street, I finally decided to get the girl her own swing. With Colby's blessing, we headed to Toys R Us yesterday to buy a small swing set for the front yard. We can't put it in the backyard because it will kill the precious grass. We'll instead put it up front with the weeds and the shade tree.

She can push herself now, anyway. I know she'll still be yelling, "Mom, come push me!" I also know that (thank god) she can swing herself. Hopefully, Daddy can get the swing set assembled tonight so that she can start swinging tomorrow. Now she can sit on her own swing and sing songs from Glee (her current favorite is Beth, originally done by Kiss) instead of swinging at the neighbors'.

I also have another photo I'd like to share of my little nugget. She's gotten into a bit of a Top Model phase, possibly a Lady Gaga phase. I don't know what it is, but it sure is cute when she wants to wear this to the store:

Fireworks, Fireworks, Fireworks

With the boys in Norfolk at Grandma and Grandpa's, it was Colby and his girls left to celebrate Independence Day together. Lucky, lucky man.

Our first stop was my bestie Amanda's house for lunch and swimming. I brought my famous cookies, noodle salad, hummus with pita chips, and homemade apple crisp. I think I ate most of the apple crisp myself. (Side note: I wonder why I don't lose weight, and then I eat 3/4 of an apple crisp.) Yum Yum! We had a lovely afternoon despite the mosquitoes, and the girls are looking forward to swimming there again. It's nice to have a friend with a backyard pool; the girls see our visits there as a very special treat.

Our next stop was home to blow up even more fireworks. Evelyn loved lighting everything that she could.



Of course, you have to light it and then run!



You still have to bring the Top Model, even to light fireworks.





Soren hung out with us, but she didn't light anything. Of course, she had to wear the King Kong shirt we got her at the Empire State Building. If it's clean (and even if it isn't) she's wearing it.



Starting July 9th, all four of the kids will be at Grandma's for a week. That will be Colby's and my Independence Day. God bless Grandma, I mean, America!!



We spent the nighttime hours eating with our neighbors and then lighting tons more fireworks. Soren and her bestie Taver played in our backyard for quite awhile. They get in the sandbox, and it's hard to get them out. Tonight they enjoyed playing with some ice from our cooler, and Colby enjoyed shoving ice down the back of my shirt. Jackass.



Of course, we missed the boys, but they were off at Grandma's house blowing stuff up with Grandpa and fishing the days away.

Potluck and Fireworks

We had so much to pack into our 4th of July weekend, but all of it turned out fantastic. We headed to Norfolk on Saturday to celebrate with Jake and Colby's family. The kids got to eat a lot, have soda, and blow up lots of fireworks. The girls' favorite part was playing in the pool with their cousins.





My favorite parts were a) all the compliments I got on the cupcakes, and 2) all the compliments I got on how good I'm looking. It's always great to know that hard work pays off on both the baking front and the exercise front. I really do appreciate all the kind words, and I will repay them with kind words in return. Karma is a wonderful thing!

We left Dade and Brody behind in Norfolk and headed back home with the girls. The girls get to go back to Grandma's soon, so no worries. Soren didn't cry in the van on the way home, and both girls had nice little snoozes while the soundtrack from Glee played over the radio. I'm quite sure Colby has had enough Glee to last him a lifetime.

I know the boys are having fun in Norfolk, but I'm sad they are gone (mainly because I have to do their chores while their gone). Woe is me.

Cupcakes for Jake

I saw these super cute cupcakes on a website, and I just had to try making them for the potluck being thrown for my brother-in-law-to-be, Jacob. Jake is a Marine headed overseas for a loooooong tour of duty. When he comes home next year he and Colby's sister Carrie will have a wedding (in which I will be the matron of honor - Holla!). I think my kickass cupcakes may have just sealed the deal on the whole matron of honor thing, right?

The cupcakes are meant to look like food on the grill: hot dogs, corn on the cob, steaks, and kabobs. Of course, the ones on the website were perfect, but mine are as close to perfection as I can get. Colby helped me make all the little kabobs and hot dogs. I never knew my husband could be so talented at turning Hot Tamales into hot dogs! Way to go, Babe.



The second cakes I made were called Glazed Donut Muffins. While the cake itself was okay, the glaze was great. All you had to do was dip the cakes in the glaze and let it harden. I could even stack the cakes because, unlike frosting, the glaze didn't rub off all over anything it touched. I will definitely be using it again.



I'm very touched that Carrie chose me to be her matron of honor. Hopefully my homemaking ninja skills will be helpful as wedding planning continues.