Bijou's purple Parisian party

Well, another birthday party has come and gone.  Bijou turned 6 on the 27th and we had her birthday party on Sunday (which just happened to my birthday).  Everyone had a good time and I figured I would share some pictures.

We spent last week in St. Louis, so there wasn't much prep time for this party.  I think I cut paper for a full 36 hours!

I always envision these parties in a nice, calming, clutter free space, but we always have them in our fairly cluttered school room.

Our little "bon anniversaire" bunting made from purple paint chips from the hardware store.  There are tons of shades of purple!

The birthday girl.  In all honesty, she was a complete brat this entire morning, but you can't tell from the pictures!

Her purple birthday crown.  I actually got this one done ahead of time.

Zion had to get on the action.

The purple cake and cupcakes were delicious, but not very pretty.  That's what happens when your husband volunteers to make the cake at midnight after a few beers, lol.  Thank, hun!

I printed these vintage french chocolate labels from Graphic Fairy and wrapped mini chocolate bars.

The flowers were my birthday gift from the hubs.

I had to have these pretty purple gumballs for this party.  It was really the only thing I knew that I wanted.

Happy birthday, Bijou.  It seems like just yesterday you were a tiny little baby with big brown eye and tiny feet.  Now you are reading and riding a two wheeler, doing ballet and writing stories.  You drive me nuts and make me smile.  I am very proud of you and look forward to seeing the young woman you will become.

Next up, Zion's sushi party!

Another Birthday Party Season is Upon Us...

It's that time of year again.  The time of year when I have birthday parties to plan almost monthly.  Bijou's birthday is the coming up on the 27th.  This year she has chosen to have a purple Paris themed birthday party.  She really wants to go to France with her older sister next summer, but unless we win the lottery, that isn't going to happen,  So, this is the next best thing.  I have stocked up on purple party supplies and invitations are ready to be delivered (almost).

Zion's birthday is on February 2nd.  She has chosen to have a sushi party.  I'm pretty excited about the prospect of a sushi themes party and all of the fun things we can make.

Ashni's last big birthday party will be in March.  This will be her tenth birthday!  She hasn't chosen a theme yet, but I'm sure she'll start coming up with ideas soon.

Update on the Lady Clan

I know, I know.  I shouldn't even consider myself a blog owner these days.  Life has certainly increased its pace here in the last couple of years.  Work takes up time, schooling takes up time, the kids are all in extracurricular activities (which take TONS of time), so there's very little time left for me to do anything except eat and sleep.  And I really don't do either of those very well anymore.  Anywho, life has been good, despite the level of business, so I thought I'd share a little update.

Three of my four girls are performing in the Nutcracker this year.  Jena will be Clara!  The show opened last night and was a success.  The entire weekend is old out.  I've finally gotten comfortable with doing the girls' makeup (thanks to a few years of crazy face painting for Halloween).  I still can't believe how much older they look now.  I mean, Ashni still has that childlike face, but Jena?  When did she start looking like an adult?  Fortunately, she is still a big goofball, so maturity is a long way off I think.

This is my classroom.  Generally it is full of busy little toddlers.  There's nothing in the room that is taller than 15 inches, lol.  Well, maybe a couple of things.

We've become part of a great little homeschool co-op.  Jena finally has girl friends her own age.  Not that she has ever complained about having boy friends, or friends that are younger, but I know that she is enjoying it.  We meet weekly for rotating lessons (nature study, geography, art, science, PE).  We also have field trips and social get togethers.  We went on a trip to a National Park here in Mississippi and hiked.  Zion  is showing off her mopey stance as we finish up the trail.

Ashni is still fencing and we are all very proud of her.  She just returned from Houston, TX competing in a youth circuit.  She won a bronze medal!  So far, she has medaled at every competition she has entered.  She loves it and we love seeing how proud she is of herself.  Her coaches envision great things for her fencing future.

Adn, although it doesn't seem like it, we still manage to get some school work done.  I printed this giant map ages ago (and pieced it together on the wall) for the girls to map the countries that they research for geography.  It is also been helpful with the younger girls learning the continents and oceans.  Bijou is labeling the seven continents while Zion names them.

I've also been painting quite a bit.  I've had some portrait work and currently have a show hanging!  So things are going well.

Day of the Dead

Happy Halloween, folks!

Ashni's short movie

Enjoy.

Dance in France

Anyone who knows us, or reads my blog occasionally knows that my girls LOVE ballet.  They've been dancing since they were two or three years old.  Next summer, Jena and Ashni have the opportunity to go to France with their ballet school to take classes and tour Paris.  This is an amazing opportunity for them.  It is also a very costly opportunity for us.  So we have set up a fundraising website for anyone who would be interested in donating to their trip.  I am also available to sell off some artwork (check out my website www.adriennebrown-david.com or email me).  I take commissions (email me!).  The girls can bake you homemade gingerbread cookies or cross stitch some lovliness for you!  We are keeping our fingers crossed that we can make this happen for them.

 Send Jena and Ashni to Dance in France

Bijou's use for Cuisenaire rods

A lovely friend let a borrow a really beautiful set of Cuisenaire rods.  They were a huge hit right away.  Zion has already mastered some simple addition with them all on her own.  Bijou has used them to do some math, but this is really what she prefers to do with them.

Here's a little known fact about Bijou.  I know that I have mentioned in the past that she is quite the cantankerous little girl.  Well, if you REALLY want to send her into fist and hysterics, let her build something (with blocks or dominoes or, in this case, Cuisenaire rods) and it fall down.  It will completely ruin her day.  So this is pretty impressive for her.  These rods are NOT easy to build with (without them falling).  She was very proud of herself.

Budding artist

I know that I have mentioned in the past that Zion colors very well for her age, but I don't think that I have mentioned the fact that she also draws very well for her age.  Actually, I didn't realize how well she drew until spending time with other three year olds.  She doesn't draw all of the time (she prefers to color), but when she does I am always impressed.  Here is a drawing from a few months ago.

She was driving me batty that afternoon, so I let her loose with a dry erase marker and a white board.  She got quiet, I finished what I was doing and when I looked up again, this is what she's drawn.

This is a drawing that she did today.  She said that is her in her wedding dress and the figure to the right is going to be her husband.  Unfortunately, her husband will have to wait until tomorrow because it was time for her to go to bed (she was not happy that I wouldn't let her finish it).

There really was no explanation for this drawing, but I thought it was pretty darn cute.  It's on the back of her wedding drawing.  Maybe it's the flower girl, but I think it looks very super hero-like.

All in all, not too shabby for a three year old, right?

Another one gets glasses...

That makes three of the four.

I give Zion another year before she completes the circle.

The big one turned 11!

Okay, so I've gotten very bad at maintaining my life and my blog.  Eh, well.  Maybe I'll get it together again eventually.

Anywho... Jena turned 11 on the 20th.  My first baby is clearly NOT a baby anymore.  We only do big birthday parties between the 4th and 10th birthday (because I think I would go insane trying to pull a party off for all of them indefinitely).  So, Jena got her first preteen birthday.  We hung streamers from and piled balloons in front of her bedroom door while she was sleeping (she said she was really surprised by that).  Then, we had homemade blueberry pancakes for breakfast.  Her sisters put the tablecloth on the table, which in our house equals fancy meal!  We took her for her annual free scoop at our local ice cream shop.  Then headed to Tupelo to the mall to spend the birthday money that Daddy and I had given her (there were lots of dangly earrings bought).  Finally, she got to pick anything she wanted me to make for dinner.  She chose brown sugar and soy glazed salmon, roasted Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes and a vanilla cake with lemon frosting.  She said it was one of the best birthdays she's ever had.

 Somehow this tiny, chubby, pink baby turned into this tall, thin, nerdy (and I love her for it) kid.  How does that happen??

I convinced Jena to buy a few Cry Babies (remember those?) to share with her sisters.  None of them had ever had one before.  Zion's face was the best...

...but Jena immediately spitting it back into her hand beat Zion's face, hands down!

She had a GIANT piece of cake.  It took her two days to eat her one piece of cake.  That's my Jena.