Marci's Village

This is why...

a birthday NEEDS to be celebrated! No, not the gifts... that's just a small part of it. The expression of pure joy on your child's face.

....

The idea for a scrapbooking party came from this blogger (check out her website and jewelry -- meaningful gifts for a reasonable price!). Thank you SosoBella!

I told a friend from work I was planning to do albums as our "craft" and she showed me a purse-shaped album she had received as a gift. Maya loved the idea and we implemented with the help of our little glue gun. And a few trips to Michaels. And a husband who fixed our printer just in time to print words for the project.

Crafting + Celebrating = Fun!

I can't wait for next time.

Cake time!

Ice cream cake, of course!

 

Ah... and one more picture of most of the girls together:

Friends

During the party, when the girls were not scrapbooking:

they jumped

and jumped some more

 

... and who said my kids have outgrown this colorful playground structure? Everytime I think about getting rid of it...

not sure whose bubbles those are

the happy girl...

has some really good friends. That makes me happy.

 

A crafty fun afternoon

We had a birthday to celebrate and the weather cooperated. Spring has sprung in Arizona!

It all started with brown paper bag albums that I transformed into purse-shaped scrapbooking albums.  

I printed pictures of twelve of Maya's lovely friends and set up two long tables with all the stickers, embelishments, markers, glue, flowers, and other little things I thought the girls would like. The theme for the albums was "Friendship".



The girls checked the pictures...

and could not wait to get started!

A couple of my dear friends helped enormously! 

Isn't this something? Friends make the world go around! 

Look at these "purses"! I wish I had a picture of every single one.

There are too many great memories of that day to write in one single post. More later.

Our girl is seven!

Pictures by my wonderful friend Cris Swain

You are kind. You are beautiful. You are determined. You are smart. You are dedicated. You still like me to carry you with your legs wrapped around my waist in the morning when you first wake up. You are quiet at times (your gymnastics coach once asked me "does she ever talk?" - the answer is yes... when you are comfortable). You love your friends. You love school. You love reading. You love your sport. You love your family.

What a precious gift you are, Maya! Happy birthday, my love.

More eating and celebrating

Last week our Brazilianmoms group celebrated Cristina's birthday at Benihana, a japanese-style restaurant where (again!) the food is cooked at the table. Miss frantic busy mom here forgot the camera but here is picture the birthday girl sent us:

Thank you girls for a great evening together. Happy birthday Cristina -- your energy is contagious. And nice to meet you, Priscila (Cris'  younger sister).

Celebrating

Once again, the birthday boy asked to have his birthday dinner at the Olive Garden. You put a plate of fetuccini Alfredo in front of him and his day is perfect. Earlier in the day I joined him and Maya for lunch in school (meatball sandwich from Subway - do you sense an Italian theme here?). During lunch he talked to his friends about Pokemon the whole time. Life is so much fun with a boy!

 
 
  

 

 
 

I know... very blurry but the laughs are precious

 

a favorite toy for a boy

 

Happy 9!

 

 

Happy birthday to a boy who brings us immeasurable happiness every single day. Being your mother has made me into a better person. I am thankful for that. I'm thankful for your life. Happy birthday, Phillip!

Grandma had a birthday

Phillip made some brownies and we celebrated (a little late, I must say). Happy birthday to a wonderful woman!

 

 

Let's party! Well... not all of us

This has been a weekend of parties: four to be more exact! My dear husband has been a trooper and taken the kids to all of them. Well, I guess that is not really accurate. He really enjoys going to them too (pizza and good conversation? he's there!) Why else would he not be home until early evening both days after parties that started at noon time? 

I don't have pictures of all the festivities, since I'm usually the one with the camera. But my dearest friend Cris came to the rescue and texted me some pictures of her daughter's party. I pretty much walked around showing them to my co-workers and smiling all day. Then she sent me a few more this morning. Thank you, Cris. I hope our little girls remain friends just like their mommies.

 

That's right! A "girly girlz" party. Maya had never been to one and loved it! She chose her most comfortable dress-up dress and insisted she wouldn't wear it until she got to the place (you know... it's all about comfort for her). She probably wore flip-flops with it but who is looking at her feet when her hair looks like that?  

Maya and the special birthday girl  - Luisa