Libby's Butterfly Birthday!

I know it has taken me forever, but I'm finally getting around to posting some pics from Libby's 4th Birthday! (My Baby!) Libby had a really good time playing with all her little friends and luckily it wasn't even too hot that day!


Here is Libby's Butterfly Birthday cake. When I tucked her in bed the night before her party I hadn't decorated the cake yet. She said, "Mommy don't forget to put the sprinkles on my cake! Did you almost forget?" I assured her there would be lots of sprinkles! She was very impressed the next day when she saw her cake!

I know I don't have much time left before Libby stops letting me dress her up in such "ensembles!" Here she is in her butterfly dress, with her butterfly wings and butterfly head band on! Isn't she so cute!?

What would a butterfly cake be without butterfly candles! Here she is with her cake before we sing "Happy Birthday"

Libby loves the "Fancy Nancy" books. They have come out with a whole line of toys now. Here is Libby with two of her prizes... Fancy Nancy and her dog Frenchy!

Happy 4th of July!

Libby watching the fireworks in between rain showers!

Time for sparklers on the porch where it is nice and dry.

I thought this looked so pretty...it looks like fog but its really smoke from the fireworks blowing away and the sunset shining through the trees. And there over by the tree is Ginger the wonder dog checking things out!

Here is a pretty rainbow we saw after the rain. This was the first time Libby had ever seen a rainbow. She was very impressed. About every 7 minutes Libby would run out into the yard and say, "I'm going to go check and see if the rainbow is still there!" She's so entertaining!

Here is Libby doing her happy dance for sparklers!

Summer is for swimming!

Here is Libby dressed to go to her first swim lesson of the year!

Working on her front float...

...mastering the back float.

Last year Libby wouldn't go under water. Here she is preparing to take the plunge!

She's under and even blowing bubbles like a good little fishy!

And she returns to the surface! She's so big now! She is doing really well with her swim lessons this year!

Barbie Slumber Party

To Libby's amazement, a young girl named Madison no longer wanted her Barbie townhouse or Barbies and gave them to Libby. This was the highlight of Libby's week. As soon as we got home from picking up the doll house we took it to Libby's playroom and set it up. Libby was so excited. She played with those Barbies in that house for 2 hours straight! She got all the barbies dressed, I helped her comb their hair and put in pony tails. At the end of the night Libby wanted to tuck all the barbies in. I had found places for all the barbies throughout the house...some were sleeping on the couch, some on the floor. But Libby wanted them all together as you can see in the last picture. It was so cute. She even blew them kisses!

Just call her Betty!

Today Libby decided she wanted to play with her easy bake oven and make cupcakes...except its not really an easy bake oven...its a princess cool bake oven. It "cooks" the cupcakes by putting ice cubes in the "oven." I have no idea how it works but Libby thinks it's great fun! As you have probably already guessed, these are no gourmet cupcakes. They are the strangest little things. They have a very spongy kind of texture and that's really all I can say about them.

Here is Libby showing off her finished product. Aren't they wonderful?? (And yes, she is "cooking" in some dress-up princess dress that she has! What else would you wear while cooking princess cupcakes?)

Here is the infamous "Princess Cool Bake Oven!"

"Is it done yet, Mommy?" Twelve minutes is a long time for ice cubes to bake a cake?!?!

Here is Libby licking the cake batter out of the mixing cup. She really thinks it's tasty! MMM Good!

Now it's time to make the icing...oh yes, I told you these were wonderful! Libby is concentrating very hard to make sure the icing turns out just right! By the way, she is making vanilla cake with vanilla icing...

...and sprinkles! Lots of sprinkles!

"Wow mommy! Is that cool?" My baby sure can cook...she gets it from her mama! She is very proud of herself right about now!

And now for the taste test...MMM delicious! So delicious...

...She only ate a half a cupcake! That's all she ever eats and then she says she's done! To put into perspective how big these cupcakes are...think silver dollar! That's ok..she has fun baking them even if they taste like sugar-coated foam rubber!

What's more fun than a trampoline???

A TRAMPOLINE WITH BALLOONS!

My oldest niece, Kenzie, came over Sunday night to spend the night with Libby. Besides Nathan, this is the 2nd person Libby has had over to stay all night! She was very excited. In May, my niece Cassie spent the night. All the girls came over to drop Kenzie off. They were playing inside with all these balloons...the ceiling fans were on...there were kids everywhere...then I got the great idea of putting all the balloons in the trampoline and letting them jump around with them. They loved it! It was even more fun when someone landed on a balloon and made a big *POP*! Aahh! I love cheap entertainment!

Little Libby Mermaid

Turn the sound up...Here is a video of Libby singing "Part of Your World" from the Little Mermaid. She is becoming obsessed with Ariel! She is so cute when she sings big songs!

My Friday night off! Woohoo!

The day started with bubbles! Libby was blowing bubbles at Ginger but she has a short attention span, so Libby moved on to the Mama! (I don't chase them around quite like Ginger, the wonder-dog does!)

The little Nemo sitting on the deck railing is actually a bubble blower. Libby gives the Mama a rest a lets Nemo blow some bubbles in her face! It doesn't get better than this!

After our bubble-blowing adventure, we went to my nephew's (Nathan) baseball game. This was their last game of the season because they lost. This was also the first game I had a chance to see Nathan play this year because I work EVERY weekend! It was very exciting! Nathan is still on the pee-wee team. I forgot how entertaining those little kids on the team can be! I can't wait for Libby to play next year! Anyway...in the pic above, Libby is playing in the little play area next to the ball diamond. Look at her stance, her body language, her utter disgust that this little boy is moving towards her in an attempt to play! She was in a "I'm shy and don't like boys mood" I guess!

Here she is again...This time she is trying to leave the little fenced in play area but here comes a little boy. She just stops and waits for him to pass for fear of touching him! Meanwhile, the little boy has something interesting in his hand and stops to ponder it for a while. I think Libby stood there about 7 minutes before the kids grandma told him to get out of the way so Libby could get out! I was dying laughing on the inside! (Because what kind of mother would I be if I laughed out loud!)

Ok...back to baseball...Here is my nephew up to bat. For a minute, I almost thought I was watching Don Mattingly! (For those of you who know me really well, know I know nothing about sports! The only two reasons I know that name is because he is from Evansville and my little brother used to idolize him!) So Nathan hit the ball out somewhere in the outfield and he ran like Forrest Gump! Run, Nathan, Run! (Libby was cheering him on in the stands...it was so cute because she had no idea what was going on! She just liked to yell and clap! She clapped for everyone on both teams!)

Nathan made it to second base and is waiting for the next batter to do his thing!

And he's off! He rounds third and heads into home! The crowd cheers, "Go, Nathan, Go!" Ok, so Libby and I are cheering!

...And here he is after crossing home...taking a quick look behind him to see if he is safe and if anyone is behind him! It's all good! My nephew, the rock star!

After the game, we all went to my dad's house for a cookout. Here are the kids and my youngest brother, Jack, daddy to my nieces, going for a spin on the golf cart!

The kids played on the swing set...Libby learned a new trick...pulling herself up on the rings and flipping through her arms! Watch out Olympics 2016...Here comes Libby! That's my niece, Julianna on the swing.

This is my middle niece, Cassie. She's just hanging around! :)

And that was my Friday off! Poor Libby didn't even make it to bed until 11pm that night. She was so tired. She's an 8pm bed time kind of girl! It was even a hour past my bedtime, too! It didn't even get dark until 10pm! It's so easy to loose track of time....stupid daylight savings time!

Father's Day Festivities/2 Birthdays!

All the kids...minus Libby because she wasn't cooperating!

Libby...not cooperating again!

Nathan (9) and Kenzie's (7) Birthday.

Kenzie, my oldest niece. (The Amish-looking guy in the background in my Dad!)

Cassie, my middle niece.

Julianna, my youngest niece. She is 9 months younger than Libby!

Nathan, my nephew! (I don't know what happen to the focus!)

My younger brother, Jack...Daddy to my nieces!

Dylan and Nathan playing ladder ball...it's more challenging than it looks!

Libby on the slip n slide...she's a pro now!

Julianna and Libby playing in the sprinkler.

Libby playing in the sprinkler trying to get a drink!

For Father's Day we had a cookout at Tarah's parents house. It was also Nathan and Kenzie's birthday. All the kids were there and had a good time playing together. I can't believe how grown up they all are now! The two "babies," Libby & Julianna, are 3 and 4 now! We all managed to eat, play, and open presents all before the big storm came blowing through. It didn't last too long...When I left for work (at MN) it had all passed.