Happy Birthday, Clay-Clay!

Clay is 6. He was 3 when we moved to Alaska.. that means the boy has lived half of his life up here. That blows my mind. This year for Clay's birthday, his Filleman cousins were in town. He was very wishy-washy about what he wanted to do to party so, at the last minute, we decided to do a movie theatre party. We saw Kung Fu Panda 2 and partied at the theatre. It was a brilliant move on my part as there was no mess, no cleaning for me! I highly recommend movie theatre parties in case you're wondering...

The whole crew.. (where's Grayson?!)

Clay's birthday cake as specifically requested from Miss Kamdon... she's the best. The cake was AWESOME!!! And tasty.

Opening his present from his aunts and uncles... they obviously didn't ask Clayton for his permission.

On Clay's actual birthday, we celebrated with a costco apple pie that I pretty much ruined by attempting a crumble topping. It was a quiet night at home to celebrate our quirky, extremely bright, adventurous, momma-loving son. We love you, Udes.. how is it that you're 6? We are so proud of you.

8 is Great!!

This year's cake creation courtesy of Kamdon.. Kara wasn't as specific on the "theme" this year.. she wanted something beachy or Hawaiian. It was a tremendous hit, as usual :)

So Miss Kara turned 8 about a month ago... blogging slacker, I already know that about myself. She had a birthday of surprises this year.. Her first surprise was a redo on her bedroom. Not that there was anything wrong with Kara's bedroom, but she was asking for more "green" in her bedroom. I convinced my trusty friend Kamdon to "help me out" (come up with a design) and we pulled a "Trading Spaces" on Kara while she was at school the last day. She loves it!! (for the record, I did my fair share of the sewing on this one.. LOOK! This mommy can sew!!!!)

Her second surprise was a visit from her Miss Karen. Kara was really missing Karen and Karen graciously scheduled a visit up here... Kara slept over with Ainsley the night before her bday and Karen surprised her at Jitter's the next morning. TOO FUN!

Kara's last surprise was our Alaska cousin Ashley's surprise visit to her birthday party. I think Kara felt honored that day (despite a mini-drama at the party related to VERY loud singing by a couple of guests whilst Kara was playing Liv dolls with the other 2 guests... small drama, worked out.. Kara cried.. shocker). We did nails at home and then we hit up Simon & Seafort's for an early dinner.. between spa snacks at the house and fancy food at Simon's, the girls forwent the cake!!!! WHAT?! Too funny, 8-9 year old girls. I loved Kara's party this year for sure...

Miss Karen was our most in-demand manicurist for sure :)

I, myself, sported bright blue toes on one foot, orange on the other for 2 weeks!

Kara's friend Olivia.. Olivia moved away about a week ago. SAD DAYS! You will be missed at the counter after school, Olivia.

After Simon's, it was so sunny and warm! The girls BEGGED to go play on the playground by the inlet. This was about 7:30-8:00 in the evening. Got to love AK summer sunshine!!

And so we wished Kara a very happy 8th year. She is so creative, fun-loving, sweet hearted, kind spirited (where does she get all those traits!?). We love you, Lukey!!!!!!! May the next year be even better than the last.