E.'s partay

We celebrated Elizabeth's birthday with a party on Thursday after her actual birthday on Saturday. It was the last night of first session though, so James had to miss it. (Just like last year!) Elizabeth, why did you have to go and be born during a camp month?

This year's celebration was a repeat of last year's. We again had a shared celebration with Lydia D., who turned five this time. It was again at the pool in the Windmill subdivision next to our church. It was again with Thursday night dinner friends, plus a few extras. I again made the cake, and since Lydia requested a princess we went the Barbie cake route. I figured that would be a no-brainer since I had done two before. So I baked the cake the night before, with the help of Karina W., who was staying with us for the week to help me with the kids. (Karina is the daughter of church friends, and will be coming to camp for her 6th summer during 3rd session. Perhaps one day I will dedicate an entire post to why every mommy needs a live-in kid helper. She was a fantastic help, and a sweetheart to boot. I invited her to move in.)

I learned this week that apparently a butter cake recipe isn't meant to hold it's shape once out of the pan, because the thing fell apart all over the place. So much for saving time the next day by baking ahead. So the next morning I headed back to the store for another cake mix, vanilla this time, and tried again. That one turned out okay, so Karina and I mixed icing so we could work on it after lunch. I was out of disposable decorator bags, so I figured Ziplock bags would work. They will- if you have the thickest ones. I didn't, and when the third bag busted and icing started coming out again I ditched them and headed to the Dining Hall kitchen in search of thicker bags. After finding them and transferring all the icing to new bags we were finally in business. So much for a no-brainer cake.

Barbie turned out okay though.

Do a twirl for us Barbie.



Ta da!

Swimming is a huge hit with the kids. Elizabeth is a maniac in the water. So I suit her so she's virtually unsinkable and let her play. Here she is with her buddy Violet, who will be two in August.

Matching floaties!

Kids in the pool.

Kids in the pool again.

Happy birthday girl, floating around like a buoy.

Carlton and A.J.

She's perfectly content to kick around by herself out in the middle. When I put the camera down and got in next to her she said, "Don't get me!" She was afraid I was going to make her get out of the water.

Elizabeth and Alex Anne.

Avery loves the water too. He and Shannon are doing swim lessons this week, so it will be interesting to see how comfortable he is without a float by the end of the day. Today was their first lesson and it freaked him out a bit, though he did fine.



Shannonball!

Grandmommy got to come to the party too. Mom is at camp for the summer, running errands, helping with classes, and all sorts of odds and ends.

Barbie, on fire.



Blow out the candles!

Do what?

Alrighty, then.

Oh, okay. I got it.

Barbie came out of the cake first, and then my mom thought it would be a great idea to hand her to Elizabeth.

Who promptly turned her into a Barbie popsicle.

Mmmmmm!

Then we opened a few presents.



The other birthday gal.





It was a fun party, and was a great way to celebrate Elizabeth's second year with us. Neither Jenny or I got a picture of the entire party crowd. It's hard to remember details like that when you're constantly scanning the pool for four little heads.

We had a quiet weekend, then yesterday opened second session, a two week one. So far it's going great, in spite of the fact that we're in a serious heat wave all of a sudden. James' folks arrived from Texas this morning, and we get the pleasure of their company for a whole month! We've been looking foward to this for a long time.

The bed calls, so I'm off to grant it's wish. Goodnight!