Turning 6

Just a warning, up front. There are a lot of pictures in this post. It's for the family, folks!

Our babies turned six this past week. Here's a little Before and After.

Allison as a nine-month-old baby.



And Spencer at the same age.



That was then. And this is now.



We had Spencer and Allison's birthday party last Saturday, and it was honestly the easiest party we've done for our kids so far. I think because there were just enough kids there to keep each other entertained.

We had plans to play musical chairs with a Camp Rock CD that we bought them for a gift... and even had prizes. But that just didn't happen. The kids mostly just ran around the church gym, playing chase, basketball and hide-and-go-seek.

I'm all for unstructured play!

I went more low-key this party. We had the Camp Rock theme (because my kids have watched that show about a hundred times by now! And it worked well for both genders.). But I just got a generic cake from Food City. We love their whipped cream frosting!



As a little side note, I surprised Bruce with a cake of his own, because his last class for his MBA was the Thursday before the party. Only a couple of our closest friends came solely for Bruce, but that was good, too. Because while I wanted to do something for him, he would have balked if it had been a big deal.



We ate the entire birthday cake, but had Bruce's cake left over. It eventually went to my beloved youth girls' Sunday school class the next morning where three of my best buds teach, and they gobbled it all up. So it wasn't wasted!

Here are a few more pictures of the kids playing and the friends who came.







And then the boys and girls separated to two different tables to eat cake.



This next picture is just one example of why Bruce's parents make a great Meemaw and Peepaw to my kids. This is Spencer's gift bag that held the backpacks my in laws got for the birthday boy and girl.



So that was their party.

On their actual birthday on Sunday we loaded up and went to Dollywood. I know we've shown Dollywood pictures a few times here before, but I'm going to do it again anyway.

This is the first time we've been able to ride the newest ride, the River Battle. Bruce took the kids on the ride, and I shot water at them from the banks. And took pictures.





They got soaked. I didn't. And that's pretty much perfect.





Allison was not happy about being soaked. Remember, she is a princess after all.



This is at the Dreamland Forest Treehouse area. We visit it every time it's warm. The reason for that is obvious...



Just to be sure that every surface of his body was drenched, Clay went in head first.



This is what my crazy husband does for self entertainment.



Here's my new haircut... tired, hot, sweaty, and after several water rides. Holds up pretty good, huh? I love it. Bruce is not admitting he likes it. He'll get over it. (That's what he tells me whenever I'm unhappy about something he's done.)



Clay. In classic eight-year-old-Clay-mode.



Spencer sticks his tongue out while concentrating on driving at the Rockin' Roadway.



Allison and Spencer right after boarding the Smokey Mountain River Rampage.



Allison and Spencer trying to avoid getting wet on the same ride.



I love this picture because it's just so rare for all three of my kids to be doing the same thing at the same time... with all three of them happy to boot!



This ride, the Shooting Star, is always a hit.



The whole weekend was a huge hit!

Today, we've spent the entire day finishing up painting the porch/deck of our house. It has taken embarrassingly long to get this job done. Weather and life with kids has interrupted the process way too may times to count.

And I admit that I still have a small section to touch up, but the weather has started looking iffy, so we stopped. The rest will probably take me an hour.

That's as close to done as I need to be to celebrate victory over this not-so-small household job.

I'll post pictures some other time.