a belated happy birthday party.

wait.  do I have a blog?  oh yeah, that's right.  I do!  haha, silly me, always so forgetful!  Room For something something, isn't it?

speaking of which, I was halfway wondering if I should turn this blogging thing over to the three muskateers, Rowan, Scarlett and Finley.  perhaps it would give them something to focus on during the day, you know, instead of tearing apart my house?  thing is, they'd probably attempt to call my bluff, stating that all those stories I've written about them in the past are nothing but false accusations.  that they were, and still are, nothing but angelic children who sit on the couch with their hands folded and no!  never did we sneak into the neighbor's house when they weren't home and steal strawberries from their fridge, what?  surely our mom must have been smoking something to come up with such far-fetched tales.

hoo boy.  I think I'll scratch that idea.  I trust those three hooligans about as far as I can throw them, which means I will just continue to post when I get a few moments, even if it is only once a week.  surely, you guys don't mind?  or maybe I should ask if anyone even reads this blog anymore?  besides me, that is.  haha, yep.  every now and then, like in all my spare time, I'll click on the 'link within' at the the bottom of a post and reread through a few oldies.  pretty soon I'm laughing my head off.  oh do I laugh!  I laugh and I think to myself, boy, these stories are hilariously crazy!  I'm sure glad those aren't my kids!  HAHAHAHAhahahauuuuurk!   oh wait.  those are my kids.  really?

shucks.

no, seriously.  this week has been all sorts of crazy.  and strange, too.  first, a little scare at home turns into a trip to the ER with Finley.  second, Rowan comes down with strep throat.  third, some random lady shows up at my sister-in-law's place down in Phoenix asking for me.  maybe I committed some type of felony that I'm not aware of?  fourth, on a whim I applied for a part time job and wouldn't you know it, I have an interview scheduled on Monday.  fifth, we made reservations to go to California.  sixth, I was contacted by an editor for a Japanese magazine wanting to publish a selection of my Instagram photos (apparently she was smitten by our, and I quote, "adorable family"), and seventh... let's see, racking my brain here trying to think if there was anything else... hmmm.  no, I think that is pretty much it.

so, uh yeah.  what's new with you guys?  heh.                                

anyway, if you recall, oh about a year ago, which you probably don't so I'll gently remind you, I promised Phoebe she could invite a few friends over to help celebrate her fifth birthday.  well, since I was almost due with Alfie, er Finley at the time and therefore feeling quite miserable, I ended up reneging on that promise (cringe), and instead, politely told her we were just going to have a family party.  she whined off and on about it for a couple days-- why can't I invite friends over?  and, you're the only mom who never lets us have parties!  (we've all heard that, right?  um, I hope.)  well, eventually she quit complaining and gave in, but only under one condition: that I better not be big and pregnant on her sixth birthday!  yes, ma'am!  well, fast forward a year, and phew!  no baby in the hopper.  looks like we're good to go!

which leads us to last Saturday and one very excited group of girls!  they played a few games, giggled, ate ice cream sundaes, sipped lemonade, giggled some more, and swung at a pinata, among other things.  afterwards, Phoebe told me that was the best birthday party ever!  guess I made up for last year's laziness.  phew!  this age is so cute and fun, very easy to please!   

*keep in mind it was midday (think harsh, blinding light, lots of shadows) when I took these pictures, so they might not be the greatest.    

have I mentioned how much I love this big deck?  it's like having another whole living space!  so fun.

yay, happy birthday!

-jessica

PS. Finley turns one tomorrow, can you believe it?!  cliche, but oh my garsh, how time flies!  my goal was to get out this week and take his one year pictures, but with a cumbersome bandage on his foot, I'll have to postpone those to a later date.  ah, snap.