Mother fail, Juliet with Patsy Ann at six, seven and she's almost eight!

I finally took photos for James' tenth birthday and realized there were photos from a year ago still on the memory card. Not only that, I never posted a birthday post when Juliet turned six. She's eight in 25 days, and I didn't post photos when she was six. WHAT???

Looking back at these photos I almost don't recognize her. Once she lost all her baby teeth her entire smile and face changed. Now, at almost eight she's tall, thin and her hair is halfway down her back.

Look at this six-year-old goof.

And this photo from a year ago, when she was seven.

Juliet, my beautiful gorgeous girl that is almost eight! I'll do a proper post in a month when she's EIGHT!

JAMES IS TEN!

James is TEN! Baby November, my sweet little firstborn is ten years old. Unreal. 

At ten, James is smart, compassionate and loves Nerf guns, thinking about war, and sometimes willing to play "Piggy and Tiger" with his little sister. 

• He's great in school, not shy and always willing to contribute. His teachers and classmates all think highly of him. Math comes easy, he's a good reader a bit above grade level and loves drawing with a pencil or pen (he rarely colors his detailed drawings of guns and armor). 
• He's playing basketball with Junior Jazz this winter, with his best friend Owen. Owen's dad is the coach and James will often say, after practice "that was the best thing ever!"
• Loves to think about forts, hideouts, and Nerf guns when he plays outside with friends
• Loves Nintendo Switch and Xbox when it's too cold to play outside. Splatoon and Plants vs. Zombies are his favorite games.
• Adores wrestling me before bed. It's fun and wild and doesn't exactly get them relaxed for bedtime. 
• Has a lot of interesting science questions. 
• Is silly and awesome with his sister, most of the time. 
• Still loves cheese quesadillas and fruit, but now says steak and ribs are his favorite foods. He got a gift card to the butcher for his birthday and wanted to spend it on ribs for the family. 

James and Wolfy over the years. 

Baby November is NINE

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? HE'S HUGE!

Fairy Garden birthday party!

Juliet desperately wanted to have a "friends party" this year, and after two years of family vacation instead of a party, we thought we better go all out. She decided on a theme easily, she wanted to have a fairy garden party! We waited to celebrate three weeks after her birthday in hopes for some spring weather. The weather didn't cooperate but the party was perfect, nonetheless. 

This friendship makes me so happy. For so long James and Emilia would stick close, but in the last six months these two have become the best of friends.

Baby Will Will and Pap-paps stopped by for a few minutes.

These two have been friends since before they could walk.

A real fairy came to the party and the girls were thrilled. She read them stories, she understood all of the fairy stories and Juliet was entranced.

Every girl got a fairy kiss (glitter star on their cheek).

The main event for any garden fairy party is building your very own fairy garden. This included a pot filled with gravel and moss, topped with rocks, a tiny mushroom, a succulent and a tiny rabbit. No fairy was included because once you set this garden out at home, the fairies will come!

Everyone loved this craft. They stayed engaged and interested for ages perfecting their gardens.

All done (her pinky kills me!)

All done!

Fairy garden cupcakes were SO EASY. I groud graham crackers with green food coloring for moss. I added candy rocks, another bunny and a toadstool for good measure! We served it with "tea" and china teacups for each guest.

The stories were all about fairies and fairy gardens and little girls and everyone was mesmorized.

Well ... almost everyone.