Wowzers ... how did July get here?

Apparently summertime fun does not include blogging! I couldn't believe when I looked and saw that I haven't blogged in more than a month. We haven't even been busy ... except for trying to stay good and lazy. At least that's my goal for the summer. Amazing how even when trying to be lazy we've got lots going on. I guess them's the hazards of having five kids and a husband in both working and doing school full time.

Where to even begin? Well, my sweet, adorable, kind-hearted, amazing daughter turned 6. She is adorable! She wanted a Strawberry Shortcake cake since she already had a figurine of Strawberry and her cat. Perfect! I found an easy way to make a strawberry cake, and viola -- finished cake in about 10 minutes. Not bad, eh? (She loved it, and that's the only thing I care about. :)

 

 

Somehow I always manage to spoil this girl for her birthday. This year I got her two things I thought were perfect. One of my friends growing up had one of these, and I LOVED it! Shayla has had a lot of fun with it:

 

The other perfect gift just fell into my hands the day before her birthday. It was donated to our ward yard sale and brought to my attention. I bought it before the yard sale even began, and I got a steal of a deal. She was THRILLED and LOVES it:

 (By the way, it didn't come with furniture, so today when I saw one at a yard sale I was going to see if I could get them to sell me just the furniture. Turns out it was already sold -- for 5X what I paid for ours!!!)

And of course we had to get her a Lazy Town to watch with Grandpa:

For Shayla's birthday party we had a pajama party. We thought it was a fun idea. However, one of the little girls kept mentioning over and over how weird it was to be in her pajamas mid-morning. She even asked her mom to drive her across the street so nobody would see her. Silly kids. Anyway, I had Becca draw a princess (who she forgot to draw smiling ... ?!!) and the girls decorated their own crowns to try to pin on the princess. It's so funny to watch kids cheat blindfold games -- they're so inconspicuous. Here are Austin and Shayla's attempts:

The evening of Shayla's birthday was her dance performance. Oh, man! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE watching my little girl in dance. Is there anything cuter?

 

What a fun day! And she's already 11 months away from the next one. :)