Lillie's 8th Birthday!

Well, it's about time that I finally get around to posting Lillie's 8th birthday... there have been so many things to post lately that I'm doing it in stages : )

So, Lillie's current favorite show is Cake Boss. She loves the idea of decorating cakes and wanted to decorate her own birthday cakes. Here she is with the cupcakes that she decorated for her family party on her actual birthday:

Presents from Grandma and Grandpa, the MN Doolittle's, and the Barnes's

Thanks everyone!

Here she is decorating her own cake for her friend birthday:

I put the cake together and frosted it. She did all of the piping and sprinkles. 

Tim and I were super impressed and she was very proud of her work : )

Starting at Lillie and going clockwise:

Lillie, Abby, Saihke, Emmaleigh, Samuel, Becca, Lumina, Lizzy, Grant, Ruth, Delylah

Playing games in the backyard:

Make-a-mummy

and some kind of forehead and balloon race. 

We played hot potato but with baby food! When it landed on you not only were you out but you had to eat a bite of baby food. I was nice and bought banana apple puree. Lillie was still not too keen on it ; )

Already crafting before the guests have even left : )

Happy Birthday Lillie! I can't believe that I have already been blessed to have you for eight years! It's even harder for me to believe that you will soon be baptized!
Your father and I are so proud of you. You are a constant source of joy and blessings in our lives.
Lillie at Eight:
Favorites:
Food - Lemon chicken, Sloppy Joe's, Porcupine meatballs, Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, Oreo Yogurts,  minty gum, PICKLES!!!! especially the big sour movie theatre kind, and Hershey's plain chocolate bars
Restaurants - Pei Wei, Subway, Chick-fil-A, Spoon It, and Jamba Juice
Books - The Ramona series, the Little House on the Prairie series, Junie B. Jones series, Katie Kazoo series, and the Superfudge series. She loves to read. She reads at night before bed then tricks us and tries to sneak staying up late and reading by a night light.
TV Shows - Phineas and Ferb, America's Funniest Home Videos, Cake Boss, Pawn Stars, Pair of Kings
Classes & Teachers at School - Ms. Pena (2nd grade), Mr. Rodriguez (Art), Mrs. Rodriguez (his wife - the came to school once dressed as the same super hero (storm) and have had a special connection ever since), and Ms. Hale (GT)
Activities & Strengths - Anything crafty, she love to crochet hats on a loom, make jewelry, draw and color, sculpt, and make friendship bracelets. She also loves to bake and to decorate cakes. She received an ez-bake oven for christmas a year and a half ago and still uses it all the time. She spend all afternoon making 5 little cakes for each person in the family to have a dessert in the evening : ) Lillie is also very active. She is always jumping on the trampoline and teaching herself new flips and tricks. She is also an active member of girl scouts and says that it is the BEST PART OF HER WEEK! Lillie is an excellent swimmer and really enjoys her time in the pool. Though she finally had a set of swimming lessons this summer she has taught herself to swim over the course of the past few years. I can finally send her to the deep end without worrying about her. Lillie also really enjoys ice-skating. Unfortunately the only rink is pretty far across town but she begs to go all the time and will jump at any chance to get there!
Lillie is a super big sister. She has really grown up and started taking on a lot more responsibility lately (by her own choice!). It is often that she will create games for S and G to play and take care of them for an entire afternoon. She will do chores without being asked and offer to cook different parts of the dinner. Though I was leery at first she really wanted to learn to use the stove and now makes her own scrambled eggs with zero help from beginning to end. I often catch her reading her scriptures at night and she loves to prepare and teach Family Home Evening. Lillie loves adults, and she loves to be in charge!
Dislikes:
Going to bed
Cleaning her room and keeping it clean
Doing Homework (me too! I think homework is lame if your child is already getting great grades. At home projects = awesome, at home busy work = lame-o)

Lillie we are so proud of you and we love you so much! You have so much to look forward to: baptism, 3rd grade, activity days. Have a fabulous 9th year!

Trip to the Beach with Friends 2012

In July we took our (what has become) annual trip to the beach with friends. It was of course organized by the Watson's... thanks so much guys! We always have a blast!

The trip did start out on a bit of a sour note however. We packed up the van, got about 5 minutes out and the brakes started to act funny. All grindy and growly. It didn't feel safe at all. I'm glad it happened only 5 minutes out though! So we drove back home, repacked into the Tim's much smaller vehicle, squished our 3 very unhappy-to-be-squished-together children into the back and set out for the 2 1/2 hour drive. They complained a lot in the beginning but we said it's either this or no beach. They quieted pretty quickly after that. Then we proceeded to have a pretty nice drive! Surprisingly the kids had a lot of fun coming up with all sorts of loud games to irritate Mr. Driver ; )

Here we are at the hotel pool on Friday night....

This is personally my second favorite part of the trip

 The kids had a ton of fun with daddy making them "fly"

So, on the road that leads to the beach is a surf shop that has a huge shark mouth for the entrance. The kids have ALWAYS wanted to stop at it to take pictures. We always say "maybe we'll stop on the way back"  This time we realized that we had been seriously kidding ourselves. Really, when were we ever going to stop on the way back after 6 hours on the hot, sunny, and sandy beach, and 1 hour cleaning everybody and everything up? Never. So we got smart and stopped before we went to the beach. It completely lived up to the kid's years of expectations. The shark store in their opinion was "totally awesome".

Here they are smooshed in the back playing one of their "loud" games. I believe after this picture Mr. Dad made them play the quiet game until we got there.

Ah, finally, the beach!

S and G with G's friend Kaleb

L with her girlie's Rachel, Kirsten, and Ashley

Digging their hole to the other side of the world. It surprises me that no one has fallen into one of these yet. Knock on wood...

G and Kaleb playing soccer. They kept kicking the ball super far down the beach from our camp and I had to keep chasing them. I suppose all that running was good. Helped me work off all of the swiss cake rolls I had been eating. Gross I know. And a blatant misuse of perfectly good calories. 

The Boys:

Dean, Steve, Tim

 Grant, Kaleb, Brandon, Karson,

Samuel, Jacob, Michael, Sei, Rei

The Girls:

Mie, Audrey, Lynn, Brooke, Denise,

Ashley, Braden, Kirsten, Rachel, Lillie, Ashley

Oh my Goodness, this thing was insane. It's called the Island and it holds 9. They had to anchor it to the bottom of the ocean floor with sandbags. I didn't go out there but of course Lillie my little dare devil and Tim did. There was no way she was letting all the big kids go out there without her. 

They had a blast!

The boys playing Bocce Ball

This is my absolute favorite part of the trip:

On our way back from the beach we always stop at Rudy's BBQ to eat. 

Here are G and Kaleb again. They were super excited because they both got the same kind of popsicle. Those rainbow bomb pops I think they were. 

They opened them. Took one lick. Then proceeded to play swords with them. 

Boys, ya gotta love 'em! 

Lillie's Baptism Photo Shoot

While in Utah this summer Lillie's Aunt Jennifer, a photographer by trade, did a little photo shoot for Lillie. She did a fabulous job! And seriously, I can't believe that this girl is old enough to be baptized!

I know it shouldn't be, but this one is my absolute favorite! It's so Lillie...

BBQ with the Eastons!

Yay!!!! Kris and Michelle Easton, some of our best friends, came back to visit from California in July and we all got together at the Holland's house for a BBQ. It was awesome to them and their beautiful girls again. We had a great time catching up and eating waaaaaay to much food (especially jalabangoes). It was also great to see the kids play. Thanks Shawn for putting this night together and thank you to the Hollands for hosting. Oh yeah, it's September.... I should probably pick up those folding chairs from your house. Sorry about that. 

Aren't bike trailers supposed to fit 5 kids? This looks perfect to me!

The girls back together again. I don't think any of us were able to eat anything for a few days afterwards. Way too stuffed!

A lot of the kids from the party. Fun for them, it started to rain at the end.

Samuel's 6th Birthday!

Samuel turned 6 years old while we were in Utah! The lucky boy got to celebrate on two different days! While in Utah we had a BBQ at the park with all of the Doolittle cousins, aunts, and uncles. We had a blast! 

At the start of the day Samuel got to open two presents. He chose one from Granmmy and Grandad and one from mom and dad.

Here he is with Tim putting together a lego set that he got from Grammy and Grandad

In the morning Samuel picked Trafalga as the place he wanted to go hang out. He got to pick everything that we did. I think we did mini golf, arcade games, the rock wall, and the frog hopper. He had a blast and so did L and G and the Barnes' cousins.

At the BBQ Tim brought a secret stash of water guns. When the kids discovered them they were so excited! It was hard to reign them in to come and eat.

Here is Samuel with his cousins Christian and Ben in a showdown

Samuel picked to have a Hotwheels cake

Samuel loved this super soaker gun from the Costello's

                    Once back in Texas Samuel celebrated his birthday with all of his friends at the pool. 

I love this action shot that my mom got of him blowing out the candle!

Here are the kids playing duck duck goose. There was an unfortunate bloody nose incident at the pool and it  had to be shut down for an hour and a half. After dinner, cake, and presents, we had to get creative to keep the kids entertained. 

"BEEEEEEEYBLAAAAAAADE!!!!!!!"

That is what came out of his mouth when he opened this. 

He had been wanting a beyblade toy for a long time and he was obviously super excited!

Samuel, his friends, and their siblings. Let's see if I can name everyone for memory's sake...

L to R & Back to Front:

Johnathan, Vero, Delylah, Lumina, Brayden, Emma,

Ruthie, Lillie, Becca, Josh,

Odell, Andrew, Saihke, Rauha, Samuel,

Matthew, Gordon, Carol, Samuel, Dillan, Emmaleigh, Caden, Paxten

I can't believe that Samuel is 6 already and getting ready to go into 1st grade! We have had such a fun year with him and he has grown up so much. He had a great time in Kindergarten and came out at the top of his class! He is especially talented in reading.
Here are some special things about Samuel:
Height: 44 inches
Weight: 45 pounds
Favorites:
BOOKS -
Jan Brett Books: The Mitten, The Hat, Where the Wild Things Are, Berenstain Bear Books especially Bears in the Night, Ruby the Copycat, Bootsie Barker Bites, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, George Shrinks, Geraldine's Big Snow, and Katy and the Bog Snow. He also loves look and find activity books.
FOOD -
Pizza!!!!! Either with Italian sausage or plain cheese, hamburger patties with cheese melted on top cut into sticks and dipped in ketchup, strawberries (the kid can down an entire pint in about 10 minutes), ice-cream, Breyer's oreo or m&m topping yogurts, any kind of cheese, and "yellow chicken" (which is really chicken divan)
RESTAURANT -
Red Robin because they have a TV in the floor and a red robin hat walks around and he loves to go to Spoon It Frozen Yogurt for dessert.
TOYS -
Beyblades, Bakugans, Lowe's Build and Grow Sets, Tools, Wii Video Games specifically Mario Smash Bros., Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Smashup, Mario Kart, and Just Dance.
TV SHOWS -
Phineas and Ferb, Beyblade Battle, and America's Funniest Home Videos
ACTIVITIES -
Taking things apart with his tool set from Grandpa Doolittle. He claims he wants to be an engineer when he grows up. He's always trying to figure out how things work and I often find him with a toy on the floor all taken apart. He always gets it back together though! He also loves swimming, planting things in the garden with mom, jumping on the trampoline with his family, helping mom and dad cook dinner, playing on the computer and Wii (when his mom lets him ; ), bike riding, dancing (he has some awesome moves!), baseball, cuddling with Gracie the cat, stealing flashlights with Grant from mom and dad's emergency supply and hiding in dark closets and rooms, building forts with Lillie and Grant, and just playing make believe games with them in general. Samuel is super active and loves to run around and be crazy!
ACCOMPLISHMENTS -
Samuel finished Kindergarten this year with all E's and he made it into the Gifted and Talented Program at school which is pretty rare for a Kinder-gardener.
He learned how to swim this summer all on his own through tons of practice and can now go down the slide at the deep end and get to the side by swimming under the water!
He gave up sucking the thumb!!!
Samuel also learned to ride his bike this year without training wheels! He took them off one day (all by himself with his tool set from Grandpa) and proclaimed that he never needed them again. He tried riding his bike on the sidewalk and couldn't. He then asked me to take him to the church parking lot. Once there he hopped on his bike and rode on it right away! I was shocked and super proud of him! His goal is to win 1st place in 1st grade at the bike rodeo this winter.
He trained for the Kids Rock Race and ran a marathon over the course of 8 weeks
CLASSES AT SCHOOL -
most definitely PE, recess, and computer time
PLACES -
School, Pump It Up, Chuck E Cheese, the Dentist and Pediatrician, Best Friend Odell's house, Mini Golf, Six Flags

Dislikes - 
Going to bed.
When Grant copies him.
When Grant points at him. (Oh my goodness, this is a constant source of fighting!)
Bringing his lunch to school. In Kinder towards the end of the year he would "accidentally" forget his lunchbox in the classroom so he could get cafeteria lunch. That smarty pants : )

Special Things About Samuel - 
Samuel is the best at giving compliments. Several times through this last year he would randomly come up to me and say something like "mom, the kitchen floor looks so good! Thank you for working so hard to mop it." Or "mom, you look pretty today." Melts my heart every time.
A lot of the time Samuel seems lost in his own world of make believe and it can be hard to grab his attention. Much of the time it will seem as though he's not paying attention at all. But then he'll say something that let's you know that he was listening and that he really "gets it". It often surprises me the amazing way his brain puts things together. He is such a smart cookie!
Samuel loves to cuddle and will cuddle with Tim and I in the morning. His favorite is when he gets to hold Gracie and cuddle with her too.
Samuel has gotten really self sufficient in the past year. This summer he learned to get dressed right after waking up, come get himself breakfast and then turn on the TV, all while letting mom sleep in for the summer months. Thank you buddy!
Like I said, Samuel is super thoughtful. He loves to take time to create things for the people that he loves, especially his mom and his teachers.
He is such an easy going kiddo. He loves to participate in whatever is going on and gets really into the special days at school like career day, 100 days, pj day, etc.
Samuel is such a great big brother to Grant. Like any siblings, they most definitely fight, but they are also great friends. Samuel is so good at taking care of Grant and including him in things.

Samuel I can't believe that you are 6 already and getting ready to go into 1st grade! You are growing so fast and you are a constant source of joy and pride to your family. We love you and we know you'll have a great year being 6!!!!!
Love,
Mom and Dad