Trying to get Pepper to narrow down her ideas about her birthday party was a herculean task. She has basically been planning her birthday since last year. I could not get her to decide if she wanted a big boy/girl party at home or a small outing with just a few girls. FINALLY, we narrowed down her many, many, many ideas and she decided she wanted a girl's afternoon out with just a few friends. At first, I went to a separate nail and makeup place to see what we could afford for the girls to do. Everything was so expensive and I was getting nervous about what I could do with the girls. Lesli Smith reminded me of a beauty school close by that will do things for very cheap. I called them and they had the perfect girly birthday package: each girl would get their hair, nails and makeup done for $12. PERFECT!!!
After ballet on Saturday, April 11th, I took the girls to the beauty school for their pampering. They were all very excited to be together and I had so much fun watching them enjoy all the attention. Each girl was assigned a beauty student that would do their makeover and their were teachers around to supervise and assist. There was another little girl party going on as well and all of the beauty students seemed to be enjoying all the little girl fun.
Pepper getting ready to be pampered.
Pepper's friend, Audrey, from school. She had A LOT of hair and kept her student busy for the longest time.
Pepper's friend, Ashlyn Tolman, from church. Ashlyn had never been to a hair salon before and was very excited.
Pepper decided she wanted an Elsa-type braid. It took the student many, many tries but eventually she made a beautiful braid. All the beauty students liked Pepper's pink hair.
Ava Lloyd joined us as well. It was fun to get together with them, since we don't get to see them very often.
One of the instructors came by with a goodie bag and Pepper got to pick out some prizes. And all of the girls were given a lollipop to enjoy while they got their hair done. Such extra details like this made it even better than I hoped for.
Love the look of concentration on the girls' faces when they got their nails done.
Pepper's party outfit made me smile.
Duck face!
My beautiful girl.
So much girl fun.
Audrey had all of these beautiful long spiral curls done. It took forever but was so worth it.
When they were all done the students dusted them with glitter. The girls were in heaven and couldn't stop posing and smiling. Their reactions were worth every penny I spent!
Waiting for me to pay the girls hung out in the lobby. I love how it looks like Pepper is holding court with all of her friends.
After the pampering, we headed to a nearby diner place for treats and presents.
Ava gave Pepper a Birthday Barbie.
Ashlyn gave Pepper a Rapunzel night light, candy, bubbles, and sidewalk chalk.
Audrey gave Pepper a charm necklace and an erector set.
Here's a video of the waiters singing to Pepper:
French fries and milkshakes all around.
Love my big girl!
To cap off all the girly fun, before we dropped off the girls at their homes, we stopped by the pet rescue One of a Kind Pets to say hi to the puppies and kitties. Ashlyn was a bit nervous at first and said hi from the other side of the door.
Pepper even found a kitty-cat named, Pepper.
Showing off her manicure.
I cannot express how much I love this picture, including Morgan's face in the background!
These two cannot handle having a big mirror in the dining-room!
"To celebrate Pepper's upcoming 6th birthday, these lovely ladies had an afternoon of pampering. They got their hair, nails and makeup done at the Regency Beauty Institute. We had an AMAZING time and the girls were in little girl heaven!"
"These girls took their pampering VERY seriously! And the stylists were super nice. They gave them treats, gave pepper little gifts, and sprinkled the girls with glitter at the end. They really did their best to make the girls feel special."
"After our pampering, we went for some sweet treats. It was a lot of fun listening to these girls' conversations.
"We finished off the girl's afternoon by visiting the kitties and puppies at One of a Kind pet rescue. It was such a great birthday celebration. Stress free for me and wonderfully, happy girls! (And yes, we found a cat named Pepper!)
"In the words of her amazing preschool teacher last year, 'I just want to be best friends with Pepper and go to lunch!' Pepper is just that person that everyone loves and wants to be friends with. She has such a big heart and is just plain crazy-fun! She will talk your ear off (and then keep talking until you want to rip the other one off,) and she is the most frustratingly floppy, spill-prone person I've ever met! But, her personality is awesome and I love spending girl time with her. Pepper is a fantastic big sister and very helpful. She is the 'start student' this week in her class for showing the trait of caring. I love my Pepper Doodle and am so grateful Heavenly Father entrusted her to our family!"
On Tuesday of spring break we spent our time getting things done at home and the older two went to a movie with friends. On Wednesday morning, Bekah invited us to join her and the kids at an indoor inflatable place that she had free passes to. It was super ghetto but for the most part we all had a great time. There was no supervision and no rules and hardly anyone else there, so the older kids had a blast going crazy. Luckily, not-so-luckily, Cody had gone in for a root canal that morning but ended up getting his tooth pulled and didn't feel that great, so he worked from home the rest of the day, which meant that I could leave Truly at home with him. Thank goodness, because I would not have wanted her crawling around on that disgusting floor!
Best shot I got of Pepper because she never stands still.
They did have a little kids' area, which helped for Emma, Samuel, and Hazel.
"We were all enjoying our rainy spring break day with our buddies at an indoor inflatable place, UNTIL the broken foosball table fell on poor Emma's toe and we had to leave. Never a dull moment with this many kids!"
"These boys take their play time seriously!"
I don't think we will ever go back there but we got out of the house and the kids had a great time. All in all a win for our 3rd day of spring break.
On Monday, April 6th, we started our spring break week. I saw the weather forecast for the week and it did not look good, so we made a last minute decision to head to the zoo because the rest of the week looked cold and rainy. Luckily, our friends, the Redds, were up for joining us. It ended up sprinkling a bit on us but overall it was a very nice morning being out and about with friends and seeing all the animals. It was fun being on an outing with Morgan and Pepper again.
Helping the eagles fly.
Getting a bird's view of our Rubber City.
Hazel and Emma Redd getting ready to ride the carousel.
No surprise who Pepper chose to ride.
When it started to rain we headed inside for lunch and to visit the fish and let the kids run around for awhile.
"First day of spring break was spent visiting the animals at the zoo. Pepper dressed up especially for her favorite animal."
"Cloudy and rained a bit but still a fun afternoon."
A week or so before Easter I got a great idea. Let's invite a bunch of people over to our house on Easter Sunday like we did last year. Cody approved my idea, so I immediately went to work. I figured that most people would already have plans and I kind of lost track of who I invited. Well, it turns out my plan to invite more people with the idea that half won't be able to come did not work, because everyone said yes. I quickly started stressing about how everyone was going to fit into our house. Luckily, Lesli Smith came to the rescue and offered to host everyone at their house and make use of their amazing backyard. We offered to make the ham and dessert and bring our bouncy house. It worked out perfectly and we all had an amazing time and ate lots and lots of yummy food. I love big parties and friends that like to have them as well!
Just chilling in the bouncy house.
Lesli took all the kids inside and kept them busy while the dads and two older Smith kids hid all the eggs. And now they're off:
"Thanks, Lesli for hosting such a lovely evening!"
Here's a video of how the swinging went:
Devin and Fuji with their new baby boy. He's a cutie.
"Perfect Easter Sunday afernoon. Great friends, yummy food, beautiful weather, zip line, rope swing, crazy, big treehouse, bouncy house, and lots of room to run around. Came home with full bellies, fun memories, and tired kids!"
"So much fun."
Perfectly lovely Easter dinner and evening. Loved it!
We are a happy little family who live in the Akron, OH area. Cody works for the fabulous Smucker's Company. Our favorite little man Morgan is five and loving life. Our little lady Pepper is almost three and a bundle of girly joy! We welcomed, Hazel to our family and couldn't be more in love with her.
