Frozen Party

We had Lily's 7th Birthday Party the Saturday before her actual birthday. Since she (and millions of other little girls) is obsessed with Frozen, she HAD to have that as her theme. We got this awesome Frozen balloon bouquet at Party City. 

My niece made this adorable tutu Elsa dress for Lily for her Birthday. She just made a long tutu that fit around her chest, added ribbon to tie around her shoulders, and another silver ribbon so tie around her waist. I made the cape out of sheer blue fabric with silver snowflakes glues on and then safety pinned to the dress.

Lily LOVED it!!

We had Frozen themed treats out for people to snack on before dinner.
Sven's Carrots were actually Cheese Puffs because Lily hates carrots. :0)

Kristoff's ice cubes were blue raspberry Jell-o jiggles cut in to squares.

We used pretzel sticks as Olaf's arms:

I dipped marshmallows in blue candy melts to make Elsa's snowflakes.

And of course, Hershey drops for Anna's chocolates since she loves chocolate! 

I made all of the tags myself just by using free Frozen clip art and then copying them and pasting into my word documents.

We also had melted snow for our tasty drink, otherwise known as Blue Raspberry Hawaiian Punch. 

Lily really wanted a picture of her in her dress with her Elsa and Anna dolls.

My sister Mary made Lily's cake. After looking through several online pictures, Lily decided she wanted Elsa's snow castle. Mary already had the pieces for the castle, so that was good for us! She used sugar cones in frosting and edible blue glitter for the turrets, then added blue candy snowflake mints. We ordered the Frozen character set from Wal-Mart to place on the cake. At first Lily did not want the evil Hans on the cake at all, but then changed her mind and wanted it to look like he got kicked off of the castle. So he's on the bottom in a snow bank. ;0)   

The cake itself was white with blue sprinkles throughout!

After dinner (hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, fruit, and Lily's favorite, potato casserole), it was time for presents!!

She got a lot of great things! She is one lucky little girl!!

She could not wait to blow out her "7" candle!!

Making a wish.....

She had a GREAT time at her Frozen party!! :0)

**I also found a table cloth, plates, napkins, and a Frozen ring for Lily at Party City.

We were leaving town for a family reunion on Lily's actual Birthday, so we went out to the restaurant of her choice (Red Robin's) the night before with her friend Averie. 

We didn't leave until after lunch on her Birthday, so we had mini apple pies to celebrate her actual Birthday.  

 

After Jeff came home from work, but before we left town, we let Lily open her presents from us!

She got a new Elsa dress. (Ordered from Lulu Bug Bowtique)

Cinderella & Belle's Princess Pets:

And to help along her new obsession, Ever After High book and....

dolls!

Lily, we hope you had a great Birthday(s). :0)

Lily turns 7!

This little bundle of pink was born on June 27, 2007. She had her daddy (and maybe her mommy) wrapped around her tiny little finger from the day she was born. Her brothers loved on her every chance they got too.
Lily is the epitome of girliness. :0) If it's pink, glittery, shiny, or a pair of shoes, she loves it. She is very social and loves to know what is going on. She also loves to talk....about anything! She is sweet and loving, and is a great little sister. (Most of the time....) ;0)

Lily, we love you SO much! We are so proud of the little girl you have become and know you will grow even more lovely on the inside and out as you get older. Happy 7th Birthday!!

15 Years Later.....

15 years ago, I married my best friend. I didn't know then where our lives would go. I could not imagine how wonderful our lives would be! We have three loving, imaginative, happy children. I get to be a stay at home mom to those three kids. Jeff has a job that provides for us, and while it is stressful at times, he loves it. We have been blessed with so many things in the past 15 years, and they have gone by so fast!! I can not wait to see what the next 15 years will bring!   

Last of Our Ireland Trip

We spent our last full day in Dublin by sleeping in until 10:30. :0)
The museum we wanted to go to didn't open until 2:00, so we got up, got ready, and headed out to go shopping.
We stopped at a little French pastry shop & got cappuccino and macrons. These were just like the ones we had in Paris. YUM!!! Oh, how I have missed those!  

While we were out wandering around, we finally found a leprechaun!! ;0)

We left the shopping streets and went to the National Museum of Ireland. They have several & they are free to get in, but we just wanted to see the one of Decorative Arts and History.

It had all kinds of interesting things in it! Irish silver, china, clothes, and furniture form different time periods. 

This is a table snuff box.

The following are a silver desk set and women's silver vanity set. 

This is how the upper class in the cities would have furnished their homes:

Corsets; don't those look fun to wear? ;0)

A woman's bonnet:

Jewelry!

This is how a rural framers' family would have lived. Bit of a difference, isn't it?

After the museum, we went to the Guinness factory. It was conveniently located by the museum!

Horsies!!

Jeff smelling the hops:

Jeff & Kathleen smelling the different scents of things that go into Guinness; hops, barley, etc.

Everyone got a tasting glass, but had to wait to drink it until you went to the next room to be told how to drink it.

After more touring, you could either go to the Guinness Academy and learn how to pour the perfect pint, or you could just go up to the Skybar and get a pint to drink. We chose to go to the academy.

You have to hold the glass at a 40* angle and fill it until it reaches the bottom of the harp on the glass, then straighten the glass & fill until it reaches the top of the harp. Then you have to let it sit for 2 minutes, top it off, then let it sit for another minute.

My perfect pint!

My certificate!

Kathleen & Jeff with their perfect pints & certificates:

Enjoying our pints!

Later that evening, we enjoyed our last meal in Ireland together.

 

Kathleen's flight left very early (5:30 am) for Berlin, so I vaguely remember saying goodbye to her as Jeff took her to the airport at 3:30 am. (Such a nice guy....I think I'll keep him.) ;0)

 

Our flight didn't leave until 12:20, so we got to sleep in a bit longer.

At the airport Jeff & I got our last Irish Coffee (mine) and Guinness (Jeff's) in Ireland:



After a loooong day of flying, we finally got home late Monday night. But just seeing these three cuties excited to see up made me perk back up!!

(Poor Riley was not feeling good, his allergies were really bothering him. He was happy to see us, I promise!) ;0)

It was SUCH a great trip!!! I am so glad I got to go and see so many wonderful and interesting things!