Emily went through 176 ideas before she settled on a butterfly/flower/pink theme for her party. (We edited that down to a butterfly garden party to limit eye-rolls from less girly friends. Anyway, this turned out to be one of my favorite parties to throw. Here is a run-down on what we did in case you have a little girly-girl that might enjoy something similar.

When the girls (and our one brave boy) arrived, they were bedecked with a set of butterfly wings. (Find them, among other things for a great price at Halo Haven.) Then the girls were asked to help decorate a birthday banner while we waited for the rest of our friends to arrive. Kids get pretty excited about coloring/painting on a big piece of paper. You can buy a strip of it (for around 15 cents/foot) at any craft store.

Then we played a couple of games (the favorite was bug, bug, butterfly, aka duck, duck, goose.) The girls were so excited to paint that we quickly moved to making tissue butterflies (instructions on those to come).

Actually, these were such a hit that we barely had time for cake and ice cream and gifts before it was time to head home. Emily was so happy with everything. Look at her making her darling little wish.

Then we sent the kids home with little bags filled with butterfly goodies and clipped closed with a butterfly hair clip. It doesn’t get much more girly than that. Boys, eat your heart out.

…that you are going to be buried in the avalanche of stuff that is rumbling behind you? Um, that’s pretty much what I’ve been running from for the last week or so. Life is CRAZY! Emily had a darling butterfly party last week and she is still on a high note. We put our house up for sale (anyone interested in a remodeled East Millcreek bungalow??) and then we ran away to Las Vegas for the weekend to visit my sis.

Today, I did laundry and shoveled through the pile of stuff in our kitchen and put it back where the <many> individual items belong. (Well, for the most part.) I am tired just thinking about it. : D I guess I am just tired.

I videoed a cake decorating tutorial with Emily’s butterfly garden cake. I will post it on Wednesday or Thursday. In the meantime, let’s all kick up our feet and relax for a minute.

My pineapple princess is 4 today! If there is laughing or singing in our house, chances are she is at the center of it. She loves to sing and dance and generally entertain us. Full of funny comments delivered in a darling little voice, Emily makes life much more fun.

This kid LOVES to draw and color.

and come up with crazy games with Meg (This is a camel they made out of sleeping bags, pillows and blanket. Awesome.)

I love this picture, it captures her serious little concentrating scowl.

Playing xbox games is also a big favorite. (As well as a useful tool for bribing. Notice they are in their jammies playing here.)  I had to include this–it is so cute and so typical for the girls (though not my most flattering pic. )

I don’t know what I would do without Emily, but I do know it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun, Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Emily singing her song

While perusing Allred Designs, I saw her darling journal jar. My first, uncomfortable and brief though was It’s been years since I have faithfully kept a journal, yikes! Happily the guilt was quickly replaced with envy over these darling paper roses:

Hello! to die for! Even better, Little Birdie Secrets has a video tutorial on how to make them and they are EASY! (Oh bliss!) By the way, I think Little Birdie Secrets might just be my favorite new site. It is jam-packed with awesome ideas!

Okay, now for my dilemma: I can’t get the girls to clean up their room lately. I refuse to let them play games/have treats/play with friends/go swimming/have lunch with grandma until it is done and they still don’t care. They go upstairs and play for hours, not cleaning, just getting out more toys. Each day that we are in this standoff only produces a messier room. I don’t know what to do! If you have ideas please let me know!!! I am sick of spending everyday trying to coerce them into cleaning and I don’t want to give in and do it myself. Ack!

I am trying a new method for art projects. Actually, I have been trying all week. Cross your fingers and expect an art project next week that will blow your socks off. No, wait. Don’t get too excited, I don’t want your expectations to be too high. Expect an art project that you will hopefully like quite a bit next week. Okay, now a little something for the meantime.

Deedee is having a Father’s Day giveaway spectacular. Head on over and enter to win a set of Henkels steak knives, a carwash from the Firehouse, a $25 iTunes gift card, and some excellent mustache mugs. Really, don’t you-I mean your Dad-want all of those things?? Deedee knows how to do giveaways!

Lastly, I have a little Amanda goodness for you. Here she is in her sweet little blessing outfit. My darling friend Juli gave her this super adorable, duckie-soft outfit and I fell totally in love. My Mom made a little skirt to go with it and we had the softest, most comfortable blessing dress ever. The only hitch was that we blessed her at 4 months old. This giant chunk of a baby barely fit in the outfit by then. Ha! Oh well, it worked out just fine.

I just spent 2 days, packed with hours of classes on Photoshop and query letters and I LOVED it!

Pamela and I: the curly sisters

Julie and Dianna: the straight sisters

Just getting to spend the day only taking care of one sweet and easy baby was fun in itself; doing it with these guys was even better. We picked out charms for the girls (I am including myself in that. I needed a souvenir, right?) at Oh Sweet Sadie. We drooled over the cool digital scrapbooking stuff at 300 dpi and CherishBound. We picked up tons of helpful tips and info.; but best of all, I met a boat-load of fabulous blogging divas. Here are links to a handful of favorites. Check them out–so funny, inspiring, and smart.

Kristina cracked me up when she told me a have a darling baby–and she hates babies! Last night, hours slipped away as I laughed at her hilarious blog

Tech4Mommies has tons of useful technical info…in language you can understand!

Veronica Reeve: photographer extraordinaire was amazing in the Photoshop class

Gorgeously Green: super site, full of interesting tips

Courtney Kendrick was so touching and hilarious–this gal can write!

Hunduddle Hussy was so funny, I loved chatting with her

Amber was just charming, I can’t wait to check out her letters to her husband in Afghanistan

I am starting to realize that this might be a long list. Maybe I’ll throw a few links at you in the next several posts to spread it out. Needless to say, the Casual Blogger’s Conference was fantastic. I’m grateful to my cute honey for holding down the fort and sending me off for some me time.

Tomorrow I am going to the Casual Blogger’s Conference (I know, I am really stressing the casual part.) It is going to be so much fun. And I am stoked that I am going with 2 of my favorite people and another who I have really wanted to get to know better for quite a while.

I will update when I get back and share pictures of my cute girlies’ dance recitial that was tonight. Hope you have a fun Memorial Day weekend! I know I will!

Megan had the week off last week so we decided to get out of town. Thanks to my cute Mom, we headed to Bear Lake.At first the girls were a little concerned about the bears, Are the in the lake? Will they get you? After all fears were assuaged, all they could talk about was going to THE Bear lake.

It is so beautiful up there, the girls loved playing on the beach. Emily collected a pile of the little shells that are mixed in with the course sand; while Megan worked feverishly on sandcastles.

It was pretty chilly so we were also really grateful for the indoor pool. I love getting away! Not so much on the laundry I am still working on from it.

Today Emily got her haircut, she decided to go short and I love it! She does too. She keeps patting it and dancing around. Thanks Julie!

Amanda is doing new things too. last week she started having cereal with lunch.  I love the baby food phase. It is time-intensive, but full of cute photo opportunities.

Also, head over to Deedee‘s. She is giving away this cool white sauce base. I am excited to try it!

…when you put rollers in naturally curly hair.

However, these days “I want the same as Megan.” is a very common sentiment at our house. Naturally, we try to oblige–sometimes it works out better than others.