Happy Birthday!

My girls were all summer babies so each summer we throw one big birthday party for them all to celebrate with friends and family. We still celebrate each of their actual birthdays separately too, but on a much smaller scale. On their actual birthday we make a cake and have a special dinner of their choosing just the 5 of us all cozy like. :)

This year they chose an ocean theme for their birthday party. Our friend Cathy so graciously offered to host the party at her beautiful home for us since she has a pool and thought the kids would have fun having a pool party. It was so nice. :) We decorated the dining room in dolphins, whales, seashells, and fish decorations. I painted a big fish on posterboard for a 'pin the tail on the fish' game and made a whale "cornhole" game where the kids could throw "fish" (blue bottle caps with fish painted on them) into the whale's mouth. The girls had a blast decorating fish with glitter glue to hang on the ceiling and I per Ella's request baked a fishy cake with pink icing and m and m scales. :)

Poor little Ella came down with a fever later in the day and slept through most of the party but luckily she didn't seem to mind since we saved her a piece of cake and sang happy birthday to her and she played with her gifts when she was feeling better the next day. All in all though the party turned out pretty well and it was so nice to get to visit with friends and family although hopefully next year little Miss Ella will be awake for the festivities.

Ella at our house before the party smelling the moon flowers :)

the dining room all decorated for the party

the paper glitter fish the girls made

Raven opening gifts

Raven and Gwen blowing out their candles

Miss Rowan...such a cutie!

Mikayla and Raven (they have been friends since they were babies)

Gwen testing the water

and last but not least the cake :)

It's a zoo around here

It's no secret my girls are very much animal lovers. I guess they take after me. When I was young I always had a menagerie of pets throughout the years growing up...mice, rabbits, gerbils, cats, dog, fish, chameleons, hamsters, hermit crabs, a fire belly newt, frogs, toads, chickens, ducks, button quail, and even the occasional peacock and mama and baby pygmy goat. My dad was very tolerant but he always drew the line at snakes though....lol.
My husband is a definite animal lover too. When we were dating he even owned a snake, a match made in heaven lol. ;) We have always had cats when the girls were growing up (all adopted strays). Strays are always attracted to us... we must give off a come hither stray vibe or something I don't know lol and of course the big mushes we are we can't stand to see an animal in need. We adopted a shelter dog (named JoJo) when we first bought our house several years ago and have had her ever since she is such a good dog. :)

Now that the girls are older and old enough to handle more responsibility they now each have their own pets. Raven has a super loving girl rat named Princess Smoothie (don't ask...Raven named her herself lol) and Ella and Gwen have an aquarium in their room with a blue betta (named what else but Betta Blue by Ella lol) and a tiny dwarf african clawed frog (whose name changes so frequently I'm not sure what it is at the moment lol). We also have our orange old man tabby cat (Colby) who we had even before we bought our house, our backyard chickens, and meet the newest members of our loving zoo...

This is Willow my husband's cockatiel. We adopted her from a nice couple off of Craigslist. She was hand fed and raised and is a very tame bird who loves to sing, perch on shoulders, whistle like a construction worker (we taught her that lol), and play with her birdie disco ball. :)



This is Daisy my sweet little siamese kitten. I have always wanted a siamese and fell in love with her the instant I saw her. She is such a beautiful and loving kitty. She is a major cuddler. :)

Then a few days after getting our new kitten Daisy my friend Rebecca and I were on the way home from a road trip when we spotted something in a ditch on the side of the road. She stopped the car and we got out and found a tiny little crying grey tabby kitten down in the ditch. The poor baby was soaking wet, shivering, and covered in burrs. :( We scooped her up and wrapped her in an extra flannel shirt Rebecca had in the car.

So needless to say...we now have 2 new kittens. Meet Hollow (named after the road we found her abandoned on).


Poor little Hollow was suffering from a pretty bad respiratory and eye infection when we found her but after visiting our wonderful vet little baby Hollow is beginning to feel much better and will be up and romping with little Daisy very soon. Daisy can't wait. :)