it was a reel-y good time...

livia celebrated her sixth birthday with her first "kid" birthday party. bobby and i decided that since she had so many new friends from school, that it would only be natural to transition out of the big family celebration into the friends birthday party. We invited 10 girlfriends and to our surprise (and exhaustion) all 10 friends made it to the party. Livia had a great time and we could not have asked for a better day! ready for the party to start "poppin"...er, hoppin'!
livia had a popcorn/movie party for her theme

popcorn boxes with goodies for the little guests

popcorn cupcakes

(the "popcorn" is actually cut marshmallows and sprayed food coloring on top)

the screen is set up for the movie projector and the tables are ready for movie bingo

playing "red light, green light"...

opening gifts, intermission

butterfly good-byes and birthday highs...

we have been so busy lately with so many birthday get-togethers and the last week of school (for livia and me) that i have neglected our blog...i promise that i will slowly catch up throughout the next week so you are able to enjoy the OODLES of pictures we have taken in the last week :) enjoy! getting ready to release the butterflies in tom and mary's backyard

(neighbors of my parents)
painted lady butterfly

livia opening the butterfly net to release our 10 butterflies...

pretty amazing!

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livia's 6th birthday

livia wearing her birthday hat at our daycare's house

after school picture

we had so MANY birthdays before her real birthday, that we took all three cakes (yes, three!) and put them together for a birthday treat!

happy birthday, livia!

the whole tooth and nothing but the tooth...

i received an e-mail from livia's teacher yesterday that read "do you notice anything different?" when i opened the attachment, this is what i saw...

livia even received a "tooth necklace" from the nurse to keep her first lost tooth in until the end of the day...

we had to write a note to the tooth fairy so we could keep her first lost tooth. it is too special NOT to keep...ready for bed!

birthday #1...

we celebrated livia's birthday today with the withers and decann families. Livia was so excited and even said, "I am so spoiled!" It was a lovely day with lots of food (chocolate fountain, cake, country kitchen chicken...just to name some of Liv's favorites), fun (lots of games on the wii), and family. What a great day to celebrate our little Liv! livia, grandma nancy, and sophia
our family

what a great cake...thanks, decann family!

no boyfriends...phew!

livia chose to eat the piece of cake with her face on it...too funny!

pizza pie...

livia and sophia participated in the "little baker's day" at jake's pizza today. The girls were able to create a personal pizza, taste their creation, receive a treat and a t-shirt all while at the restaurant! It was an enjoyable experience, and we ran into many familiar "little bakers", while we were there...

caterpillar crawl...

livia received an early birthday present in the mail on saturday (thank you, grandma pam and grandpa mike!). She has wanted to have caterpillars again to watch ever since we bought the "bugville butterfly kit" two years ago. Here are some pictures from the beginning. We decided to take photos of all the stages and create a butterfly life cycle book at the end (I know, we're a little geeky!). Keep checking back for more up-to-date pictures... livia with her "baby" caterpillars
baby caterpillars

after 5 days of eating, they are not babies anymore!
stay tuned...

i'll tumble for ya...

on sunday livia participated in her first gymnastics expo at the glencoe fieldhouse. The expo was entitled, "On Safari" with all the kids dressing in animal inspired outfits. Livia showed off her talents on the vault, balance beam, bars, and floor. We think she did a fantastic job...way to go, Liv! sophia wanted to have her picture taken, too!
daycare friends:
claire, bryn, and livia

waiting to do the vault

showing her talents on the balance beam

finishing her floor routine

all smiles after receiving her certificate of participation!