Birthday Parties

The last two weekends we were lucky enough to go to two different birthday parties. The first of which was for my friend, Erin's little girl Sophia. She had a princess themed birthday party complete with a little castle for the kids to play in...

Jane enjoyed coloring her sword.

While Jill enjoyed fighting with hers.

She played swords with my friend Tricia's son, Atticus.

And also with some other little boys she met at the party.

Jane then enjoyed decorating her crown.

Here is the birthday girl, Sophia with her beautiful cake! So cute!

Here is Jill and a new friend inside the castle!

We had a great time at the princess birthday party! Thanks for inviting us Erin!

Side note: Erin gave all of the guests at the birthday party little favor bags with these cool necklaces inside and jewelry, the girls LOVED them. Funny thing is Jill somehow ended up with a "boy" bag and so when the girls were opening them up Jane was so excited to get an Ariel necklace and so I asked Jill which princess was on her necklace and she says excitedly, "Mine's a race car!" I had gotten an extra bag from Erin for Jena so I offered Jill to trade for a girl bag and she says, "No! I want my boy bag! I like my race car!" Ok then.

 This weekend we went to my cousin Kerri's little girl Kylie's birthday party. She had it at Sugar and Spice where the girls dress up and strut their stuff. Here's the birthday girl Kylie. Precious!

 The girls picked out their dress up outfits and got their hair and nails done. The girl put Jill's hair up in a bow (like her hair was shaped into a bow). So cute. I was worried that Jill wouldn't really be able to participate but she went right along with everything.

 Jena and Maw Maw sat watching the girls the whole time and both were very happy to do that I think.

Quick hug from a big sister!

Jane ate up every second. Dress up, hair and nails done- right up her alley!

 Jane and her cousin Kylie!

 All the birthday party guests!

The girls finished the party with a freeze dance!

So much fun! Thanks for having us Kerri!!

Legoland

Sunday we went to Legoland with my cousin Kerri and her husband J.D. and their daughter Kylie. Here are the girls right before we went in. Jill wasn't so sure about this place...

We are waiting for the doors to open for the lego factory... Jill still isn't sure.

After the factory tour there is a short ride to go on...

And then a huge playscape for the girls to run around in. It reminded me of the one at Paradise Pond if you have been there.

There were lots of things to climb and ride on made out of legos...

There are legos for the big and the little!

They have a theatre they show a couple of different 3D lego movies in.

We stopped by the Princess Parlor for some Karaoke. (You should see the video of this!- I will have to try to load it later on here or facebook!)

They have a whole room decked out with the Dallas skyline and other important local buildings made out of legos.

I had to take a pic of this one for my friend Janelle ;) Let's go Rangers!

After three hours of fun (yes, really THREE hours) at legoland we ventured into the mall for food and of course had to take a turn on the carousel!

 And then we finished the day off with some candy from a candy store called "It's Sugar".

Joplin

This past weekend my bff, Julie and I went to Joplin for a wedding. Our friend from college, Lola, was getting married come hell, highwater or tornado. Literally, she and her now husband survived a tornado that destroyed the house he was in and the car she was in just two weeks prior. Julie and I flew into Tulsa and rented a car and drove into Joplin. When we got to the church here is what we saw...

The church was being used as a relief center for the tornado victims and so the outside had like ten thousand gallons of water and barbeque pits cooking hotdogs and hamburgers and signs everywhere directing people to showers, household items, grief counseling and a very small sign for a wedding. Inside the sanctuary it literally looked like a flea market...

The pastor of the church was moved to tears at the beginning of the ceremony telling us, the wedding witnesses, that in talking with Lola about the wedding after the aftermath of the tornado she was given the choice to either share the sanctuary with relief supplies or reschedule. He said Lola never gave it a second thought, OF COURSE she would share it and he said he never heard a complaint or saw as much as a grimace at any point. That is the kind of person Lola is.

After the ceremony Julie and I went in to downtown Joplin to see the damage for ourselves. I can not explain to you the "damage" we saw. Complete decimation. I did take pictures, A LOT, but I decided not to post them because actually I felt bad being a tourist through people's shattered lives and the pictures don't do it justice anyways. There is a feeling in the air of hopelessness. At one point in a pile of indistinguishable rubble (which you saw everywhere) there was a perfectly good looking cabbage patch doll and I could have just lost it right there.

Anyway, after the wedding Julie and I drove back to Tulsa and then to the Hard Rock Casino there and stayed up until 2:00 am losing all of our money at the roulette table and in general having way too much fun, most of which was probably legal. All in all a very interesting weekend. Thanks Jewels!