The Birthday Girl!!

On May 3rd, our little Olivia turned 6!  She was looking forward to this day for a LONG, LONG time, and she was so excited to have her cousins in town to help her celebrate!  Livi chose to go to Jungle Jim's Playland . . . which is basically a (really ghetto) indoor amusement park for kids.  My kids LOVE it there!  They rode bumper cars, played arcade games, went on a roller coaster (OK, Jesica and I may have ridden the roller coaster a few times too.  Our legs barely fit under the bar, but at least we felt young again!) and rode on a carousel.

Some pictures of the fun:

 

Once we were sufficiently worn out at Jungle Jim's, we went home for pizza and Livi's prized Barbie cake.  She very specifically wanted a Barbie Fairy cake.  We found one!:

After blowing out her candles, it was present time!  She got a brand new Barbie house for her bedroom, and lots of other fun surprises!

Of course, no birthday is complete without a photo shoot.  Oh Olivia . . . how I love my cute little poser!

I can't express how grateful I am for my little girl without getting teary-eyed.  She just brings a sparkle to our family, and we love her for it! Happy Birthday Princess!!

Race Day!

The kids' school held a 5K race as a fundraiser last month.  Joshua and I signed up to run it together.  I had recently started running again, and Joshua said he wanted to train with me in the mornings before he went to school.  That "training" lasted exactly one day . . . and he decided he was ready for the race. =)

Before the 5K started, I told Joshua to start out slow and steady or he would run out of steam.  After about 5 minutes of "slow and steady" with me, he said, "Sorry Mom, but I want to win this thing!"  Basically, he left me in his dust.

By the end I caught up with him.  He'd run out of steam.  He told me I was right all along . . . am I ever NOT right?  =)  Fortunately he pushed through, and we finished strong.  Go us!

The snow cones at the end were definitely an added bonus!

It was so fun to do something just the two of us.  We decided we need to do more races together in the future.  I love my little running buddy!