Leah's TEN!!!

I could go on and on about how I'm dying that my 2nd child has hit double digits and how I can't even believe it, but really I just want to say how much I have LOVED watching her grow and blossom into the fabulous young lady that she is. She's my biggest helper, my best baking buddy (actually she cooks on her own), my lively, fun and spirited girl who I have loved hanging out with more and more. She was a tough kid and we butted heads a lot, but it's probably because she's so stubborn like her momma. And I know I'm probably in for it come her teenage years, but for right now, I am going to soak in every wonderful minute with her and hope she always remembers that I love her and want to be with her!

She wanted a big party at home. So despite the fact that I kind of dread hosting parties, I complied. She's in love with a youtube sensation who calls her show, Nerdy Nummies, and she wanted to do everything Nerdy Nummy style. So we planned an awesome party of games, food challenges, silliness and lots of noise. Leah invited all of her "closest" friends (which the list could have gone on forever. I did make her cut it off at 13 invites) and we partied hard for three solid hours. It was LOUD and CRAZY and full of GIGGLES and I think she had a total blast!

She wanted a pinata SO bad, so we of course got a pinata. It was busted in a matter of minutes! 

Gracie and Baylie being silly!

Leah wears her crown proudly!

 A bunch of cuties!

Lunch and yummy cake!

Love that she pointed to herself as we sang Happy Birthday! This girl has confidence and loves the spotlight. She definitely didn't get that from me OR her Dad!

Dog pile on the birthday girl!

From her brother's of course. And there is her bestie smooshed in there somewhere too.

See...there she is! Love these two together!

This was after cake! The sugar high is real peeps!

Goldfish challenge. This was a tough one.

Blind folded art. The girls did surprsingly well with this.

We also did some "Just dance", a bean boozled challenge, and opened gifts!

Leah sporting her new apron from Gracie. She got right to baking the very next day!

And this is her awesome invite made by her very talented Daddy!

On her actual birthday (two days after her party), she had cake for breakfast!

And then I snuck her out of school for lunchtime and we hit up Chili's for some quick mommy/daughter time.

Even she couldn't finish all of this!

LOVE YOU MY LEAH PEAH PIE!!!!

You're the perfect combo of sweet and spicy with a whole lot of pizzazz!

Just a regular ole week

Sam's club grocery shopping at it's finest. Actually, I got all of these for free with my yearly reward points. So I was pretty darn excited!

Brandon is in love with Tsum Tsum's lately and decided to create a hospital for them. Love the Dr. Brandon sign! Too cute.

Out to Lunch with my cute Encino friends!

I missed the memo that we are ducking down in this photo, which isn't good when I'm already quite a bit taller than every single one of these awesome ladies.

Menchies with my little buddy who talked me into getting him out of school early. 

Lucky boy!

And some serious Chocolate Chip cookie making going on prepping for YW Camp in June. We are doing a fundraiser to help the girls raise money for camp and it's been a huge success. Well, for those girls that have chosen to participate. I don't think any of these three girls here will end up paying much (if anything) for camp. Wahoo!

Plus the cookies are delish!

Grammy and Pop Pop came to visit

Yay for a visit from Grammy and Pop Pop. We love when they get to come visit. The kids love hanging out with their grandparents and Mom and Dad love the extra "help" entertaining the kiddos.

We did lots of fun things. 

BOWLING!

Out to Kisho's. I think the adults enjoyed the food more than the kids.

Toppers (we like to go out to eat).

Ice skating for the girls and laser tag for the boys (no picture of that though).

Ashlyn was kind of nervous, but she got the hang of it. I was proud of her.

Leah already had skated a bunch so ice skating wasn't too different for her. She had a blast!

Mexican (can't remember the name of it). The dessert was the best part of the meal. The kids had these awesome looking churros and I got this chocolate tortilla with ice cream and cinnamon. It was so yummy!

And then we did the CA tourist thing for a day and went down to Hollywood to the Ripley's Believe it or Not. It was really cool and it was fun to see the kids so interested in everything and wanting to read about stuff. Perks of having "older" kids.

Lunch at Johnny Rockets. It's hard finding enough space for all of us to fit, but this nice family literally moved to another table so that we could all sit together.

The Hollywood sign (way off in the distance).

It was a really fun visit and we are always grateful when they make the effort to get out here to visit us. I know it's not an easy trip, even with the convenience of planes. It's a long travel day for sure. Love you guys and can't wait to see you again!

Too funny to not post

Leah will not like me for this picture some day. But one of these girls has the flu and one of these girls doesn't. But I bet you can't guess which one really does...I'll give you a hint. It's not the one that looks like she's about to die! 

Poor Ashlyn....she's the sick one here! Actually Leah was sick too. Just didn't have the flu. Their doctor put them all on Tamiflu which ended up being a miracle worker for Ashlyn since she had her big "Medieval Times" field trip the next day and was so sad at the thought that she might not get to go. She went and even though she couldn't talk (like at all), her fever had broken over the night so she felt well enough to go and enjoy it with her friends.