Life Is But A Dream: Can We Squeeze in a Happy Birthday?

As I have mentioned, we were very busy in the month of June preparing for our upcoming move. Every day the house seemed to get more empty as I moved boxes packed full of our belongings out to the garage. The chaos and mess stirred up both dust bunnies and anxiety as the work load reached it highest point in the final days of the month. And, this was precisely when we had to stop everything to recognize one of the most important days of the year: Courtney's birthday!

This is yet another reason to be thankful for this lovely little lady! She always brings a sparkle of sunshine and joy to our family just when we need it the most. We left the messy house behind and went to a craft store, where we had rented a room for a little birthday party for her and some of her friends. It was the perfect location for a party because we did a fun and messy project and we didn't even have to clean up after ourselves. Haha! And then, we managed to spread the birthday celebration over the next few days as we waited to go out for a birthday dinner until Chase was home from scout camp, and then we had the "official" birthday cake on Sunday evening. So, we had many opportunities for pictures and for reminding our pretty little Coco how much we love her!

This was the treat we made for her birthday party. It looks like a pretty potted flower, but it is really a cake and ice cream treat in a clay pot, covered with Oreo cookie crumbled to look like soil (and even hiding a couple of gummy worms in each pot). Delicious and fun!

Birthday morning! Reading a card from Nana.

She is the sweetest big sister! Here she was pretending to have trouble opening her gifts and asking Trey to help her tear off the wrapping paper--so sweetly extending the invitation to him just because she knew he was itching to get his hands on those packages! So, they ripped it to shreds together! Sharing the birthday joy!

Excited about one of her gifts--a jewelry making kit!

And, of course, this is what happens when you grow up as the only girl in a house full of boys: she had requested this item on her birthday wish list. Ninjago Legos Samarai Mech! Hours of fun with big brothers were to follow!

This was one of my favorite things to find on her birthday wish list: a bird feeder! She wanted to invite lots of birds to our yard at the new house. So, we picked out the prettiest one we could find, along with a big bag of birdseed to go with it. Who knew we would end up shopping at the Home Depot for our 7-year-old daughter's birthday? Awesome! (And hi to Daddy in the background!)

Another happy face: this time she is showing us the flower seeds from Daddy that we bought to plant in the new garden. Love it!

Birthday party time! This is Avery painting his Castle Bird House in bright and happy colors!

One of Coco's sweet little friends and her log cabin bird house.

Trey is deeply engrossed in painting his bird house, too!

Man, I hate that this picture turned out so blurry, because he is sporting the cutest darn facial expression! He loved being invited to get messy with the big kids!

Serious cuteness happening here.

Coco and her creative design for her log cabin bird house.

Another sweet friend who is busy painting!

Avery and his Castle of Many Colors.

Trey shows us his finished work of art. So proud!

Hey! How did this paint get all over my arm?

Another finished project.

Done!

A beautiful work of art!

Creative and colorful!

Out to dinner to celebrate Coco's birthday after Chase finally came home from scout camp. We had the extra large family-sized booth and this is how they sat. Now that's love!

Red Robin...Yum!

And finally--birthday cake time! Courtney requested a Pink "black forest cake" similar to Daddy's birthday cake. Haha! So, I made basically the same thing, except with a strawberry cake mix instead. Sort of funny, but it worked!