Katie's Birthday Week

So continuing with the tradition of birthday week, Katie has been utterly spoiled all week long. But, as sweet as she is, she certainly deserved every second of it. On Sunday I gave her a shirt, and on Monday Daddy gave her a pair of camouflage capri/pants for hunting trips with him.



On Tuesday and Wednesday Daddy brought her some sweet treats, not that she needed any sweetening.



On Thursday we went over to Maw Maw and Paw Paw's for dinner. Afterwards, we celebrated Katie's birthday with them.



Maw Maw made some yummy cupcakes. I love that she put ten candles in one cupcake.



John David really enjoyed the cupcakes too. And singing Happy Birthday to Katie. He loves to sing. And I love to watch him sing.



Then she got to open presents from Maw Maw and Paw Paw.



And Daddy got her some LSU gear. I told her next year she'd be getting Carolina stuff. :) Love the cute LSU watch that Daddy found though. And so did she! So cute!



Maw Maw Mire was there, and it was fun to get to spend some time with her.



Friday night she had some friends come over to play for a little while and we ordered pizza for dinner. She loves pizza night!

Saturday she had a bus load of friends over for her birthday party. Lots of fun! (see previous post)



And today is her actual birthday. So I made one of her favorites for dinner, gumbo. After dinner she opened the last of her presents.



And then we sang to her, yet again.



*waiting*



*waiting*



And just as she was about to blow out her candle, Sarah stepped up and blew it out.



So Aaron lit it again, and she blew it out this time.



And then John David wanted a turn to blow the candle out. So Aaron lit it again for John David, but Sarah blew it out again. So he lit it again, and John David blew it out this time.



And then we ate the top layer of the cake that I made for her, and it was delicious. I feel 100% confident that Katie has been properly celebrated. And that I am tired. The End.

Crawfish Season

Yep, it's that time of year again. We love crawfish season around here, and usually have two or three boils a season. But they have been so expensive this year, we haven't had one yet. We were trying to wait for the prices to drop, but we just couldn't hold out any longer. So Aaron went and got some this afternoon and boiled them for dinner tonight.



And the birthday girl couldn't have been one bit happier!



Yes, she is my picky eater, but she does love some boiled crawfish. And apparently ten is the magic age, because she peeled her own this time. Hooray!



Have I mentioned how awesome my husband is at boiling crawfish? Well, let me just tell you............he knows what he's doing. So delish!



The Zacharys and the Gibsons came over for the crawfish boil, and Zack showed the Gibsons how to peel 'em. This was their first boil, and now they're hooked too!



Perfect way to end our fun day! Hopefully we can do it again soon!

Katie's Groovy Birthday Party

For the past few weeks we've been trying to figure out what kind of theme to have for Katie's birthday party. She wanted a Justin Beiber theme, and I just couldn't figure out any fun things to do with that. So I put Aaron in charge of talking her into something else. And we all finally agreed on a Tie Dye theme, and that we would tie dye t-shirts at the party. I was so excited, and the wheels started turning.



So Katie and I sat down and made invitations last week.



They turned out so stinkin' cute, we almost didn't want to hand them out, but that would have defeated their purpose in life.



Last summer while we were in North Carolina, I bought these cool tie dye t-shirts for the kids. So I had them wear them today and snapped this picture just before the party started. So cute!



When everyone got here, they picked out their size shirt, and what kind of tie dye they wanted to do. I let them choose between bulls eye, the swirl, or freestyle. I love this one that Carolyn made.



I helped a couple at a time. I think they made some really cute shirts. I wish we could have seen everyone's, but they were supposed to sit overnight with the dye on them. So we put them in ziplock bags and sent them home with the girls.



The others played until it was their turn.



After tie dying was done, Katie opened presents. She got some super cute stuff from her sweet little friends.



Then it was time for cake. I usually find pictures on the internet and copy them, but this one came out of my head. I just made it up as I went along really. I knew I wanted the bottom layer to be purple because it is apparently Justin Beiber's favorite color. This was a trade-off for not doing the Justin theme, which worked out perfect. And I tried to make the top layer look like the tie dye swirl on the plates and napkins that I had bought for the party. It really didn't work out as well as I had hoped and if it had been up to me, I would have taken it off and done something different. But Katie really liked it, so I did the best I could to make it work, and covered up as many of the mistakes as I could with daisies and peace signs. And I think it turned out great. So did Katie. She loved it! And that's all that mattered really.





Happy happy birthday Katie dear!



Make a wish sweet pea!



Yay!



I found a recipe for tie dye ice cream on the Family Fun site, so I had to make that too.



This is the shirt Katie made. I love how it turned out! So cute!



Her friend Audrey came over and dropped off a present for her before the party started, but she couldn't stay. So Katie made this one for her. It turned out super cute too! Love it!



I'm so grateful for this groovy ten year old! Love, love, love her to pieces!