Before she turns eight (must post)

For Olivia's birthday instead of having one big party with lots of kids and too many gifts, we had several small parties where the gift was optional. It was like a week of celebrating Olivia. What follows is some highlights.

Yes we had a dog cake. This one was based on a Kipper cake I found online. The eyes are made with large marshmallows and Jack and his friend Cody requested the eyes to devour while most other kids chose the ears. No takers for the nose.

Here was the end result after doling out the kids pieces:
It saddens me and makes me laugh at the same time. Poor Dog cake!
The party with this cake was attending by our friends from our Shepherding group and Eric's parents who arrived just as the food was ready. Nice timing.

Here is part of the gang before we sang happy birthday. And before Jack licked a candle and then stuck it back into the cake...

The next day was O's birthday. After spending some snuggling time with the grandparents Olivia emerged for breakfast and the first presents of the day.

Happy Birthday to you!

I wasn't really trying for a theme when I bought her presents but I did end up with one. Here she displays her kaleidoscope eyed fly gift card from Target and Eric is trying to catch her with her new butterfly net. We also bought a bug vacuum... I guess so that she doesn't squish the bugs when she tries to put them into her bug house. So far we have only sucked up ants with the vacuum and Jack occasionally uses it as a gun.

Thrilled. THRILLED about her new pjs from Grandma and Grandpa.

Grandpa being goofy with ribbon.

He's thinking.. Wow I can't wait to get my hand on that storm trooper gun aka bug vacuum.

While Grandma was here we took advantage of her membership to Sam's and bought the kids a trampoline or as Olivia affectionately calls it The Tramp.

Before you jump you must build

.

The inaugural jumps. Still in the clothes they wore to bed the night before. That is what weekends are all about Baby!

It was a pretty hot day on Saturday so we pulled out the kiddie pool. I took several pics of Jack and then he made this pose and insisted that I take a picture. Oh My Word!

And sense we are talking about the weekend, Eric's parents were very helpful in helping Eric tidy up the yard but I am pretty sure this is NOT something you should let your almost 70 year old father do. Can you see him up on that roof next to the chimney? Our roof is really steeply sloped and it freaks Eric out to climb on it but we had a small leak so Rodg offered to help. In the end it was decided that we need a new roof. Guess what Eric is getting for Father's day?

On Sunday night we had a third celebration with the Vlaardingerboeks (one of my bookclubs), man I hope I spelled that right. This time the cake was a triple chocolate cookie. The picture I should have is of all the kids on The Tramp at once. Oh my WORD! The rule, which we adopted from our friends who own the trampoline that inspired our purchase, is three people on the trampoline at one time, MAX. Well we figured that the trampoline was new and the springs were tight so we just let them all pile on and hoped for the best and I am happy to report that no one was hurt.Monday was Memorial Day and Rodg and Ruth's Wedding Anniversary.. 48th, I think. So we just hung out and enjoyed the day.Yep, Still in their pajamas. Well the kids are. I am not sure about R&R but I think they maybe as well. And we even got Grandma on The Tramp!!! Happy Happy Joy Joy!

That's all folks!