How can it be that she is already seven? My baby girl.  I can still remember the day this family photo seemed “complete”. 

With the request of a zebra and hot pink cake & a little girl that likes to watch Cake Boss the pressure was on to make a classy cake!!  I tried my hand at making marshmallow fondant…which was SUPER easy!!  There were several disasters at making the actual cake (which is the part I had done before with ease!!) and the fondant was a lot like playing with play dough.  Zebra stripes were a super easy task!! The bday girl was pleased and I quote “Wow mom.  You’re as good as Karra!!”  My life’s mission complete!!

 

We broke our bday rule and had the party at a “kid” location in AZ called Peter Piper Pizza. (picture Chucky Cheese).  I think having it outside the house distracted Emma from the fact that very few people where there!!  Gma & Papa flew in that day, our new neighbors came with their son & daughter that are “A” & “I” age, and one of Emma’s classmates families (minus the actual classmate) came.  They have a daughter “A” age and a son "I” age.

She was a very happy birthday girl!!

Gma, Mommy, Daddy & birthday girl.

 

Isaac wasn’t sure about his passenger.

To bad we weren’t in Vegas…she hit the 1000 ticket jackpot on the ticket machine!! Yay more tickets for trinkety toys!!

She got to make her own pizza. She loved that!

     

Here’s where I crush the hopes & dreams of the Ebay Barbie collector I bought this 1980 something NIB Barbie Fashion design toy.  But look at the excitement on her face!! Totally.worth.it!

 

My reader reading her cards!!  New HAND made barbie clothes Gma bought her.  The detail on them is C.r.A.zY!

Puppy potty training Barbie.  THAT is an interesting toy! Complete with newspaper that turns yellow or brown for the “mess”.

 

Then comes the agonizing torture fun of spending your tickets at the massive.amounts.of.crapolla.toys.counter.

 

Here’s a shot of Emma the next day (as we prepared to go to the Fiesta Bowl parade!!) at the exact moment she turned SEVEN!! 9:25 a.m.

She is a very sweet girl.  Excited to shop & loves any thing fun, colorful, animal print & related to fashion.  She loves to eat meat, hates veggies, can down a salad like no child I’ve ever seen and enjoys chinese food as well.  She has a bit of spunk & sass, yet the tantrums & fits have lessened the older she gets. She adores her baby brother, yet mostly annoyed with they older-little brother. She LOVES her daddy, yet butts heads with him constantly!!  She loves school, “writing” music, making up her own dances and all things crafty.

I’ve done terrible at continuing the tour of our new home.  You can see Emma’s room here and our bed & bath here but that is where the tour ended…until now!! All decorated for the holidays I took pictures of our living room, dining area, kitchen & “extra” room off kitchen. Here ya go…

Standing at the front door you are in our living room, and can see the dining room and arched doorway into kitchen.  You can’t see but directly to the left is our office.

Here’s a shot of our office area.  (Pretend to NOT see the 5 moving boxes of books unpacked!!) We have plans for this room…they just haven’t happened yet :) Took this pic in the arched entry to kitchen.  Dining area & stairway to right.  Living to left. Down the hall on the right is the door leading to the garage, a 1/2 bath and storage room under the stairs.

Another shot of living room w/GInormous windows needing curtains!! I have the plan and the idea…just need to make it happen!!

Another shot of dining area.  French doors lead out to side “yard”.

Stairs leading…well…upstairs! :)  We had this little 3 ft tree that fit perfectly on the first landing!!  It is decorated with all the kids ornaments & homemade creations! :)  We had lit garland wound up the railings.  Pic on right is a shot from loft above.

 

Now to my favorite room…the kitchen!!  Standing in arched doorway looking in.  Kitchen to the left & the “extra” room on the right. HUMOUNGO sliding doors leading out to patio & pool.

The massive island is my fav!!  3 barstools for each of my 3 monkeys!!  It has these cute little shelves at the end perfect for cookbooks or decor…but NOT with a 1 year old!!  The pantry is the small white door.  Do wish it was a bit bigger, but the storage under both sides of the island makes up for it.

We had to buy all new appliances (&blinds & ceiling fans) as with most foreclosures down here the house was stripped.  I have a curtain for above the sink that coordinates with the panels on the sliding door and “extra” room…just need the hardware up. :)

Arched doorway leading back into living room & to left built ins & fireplace  (w/ stocking hung :) ) in “extra” room.

We put our HUGE tree in front of the HUGE set of windows in the “extra” room.  This room was intended to be a family room.  The ceiling has built in surround sound.  The previous owners had a TV mounted above fireplace.  However, we set up what was probably the “formal” living as our family room b/c its where Matt’s TV would fit and to have TV w/ surround in a room with tile floors and all hard surfaces = LOUD!

    

The built ins around the fireplace are great.  They can hold extra kitchen stuff, school supplies when working with Emma on homework and Matt’s extensive DVD/Bluray collection that Isaac LOVES to play with!! The fireplace (yes…in the desert!!) it’s self was interesting to work with.  The mantel is stucco and doesn’t really have a ledge for holding anything.  Above it is a huge white plug in & cable box that proved difficult to hide.  Thanks to blogstalking I came up with the frame/wreath/monogram idea a short time ago and it worked perfect to hide the electrical “box”.

 

The curtains & bamboo roman shades were hung not long ago and will be GREAT when it’s super hot like it was when we first moved.  The morning sun heats the kitchen up so much it’s unbearable!! 

Showcased on the wall above the “love” seat (aka chunk of sectional that wouldn’t fit in living room) are the photos my friend Jen (of JLogan Photography) took before we left KS.  I LOVE them!!!  Kinda hard to see with the glare…sorry. They are super cute…although Isaac looks so different and less hairy now!

     

My scrap space is sooo close to being photo ready….that’ll be next on the tour! :)

Appears we had an visitor in the night ;)  The kids had a lot of fun looking at these! Emma kept saying “So he’s really real?!?” :)

 

The kids slept till the crack of 2:30 am.  I settled the older two back to bed about an hour later despite the constant barking of the neighbors dogs.  They must have been scared of Santa. ;)  They were up again about 6:30.  Emma by far the most enthusiastic about her gifts and SUPER excited to give the gifts she had gotten us at her school store.

 

She got a Barbie pool, small Barbie house, Barbie swim pool, zebra bean bag & a bride Barbie.  In her stocking was a new “big kid” bible, Ken clothes, pink calculator, & new electric toothbrush. Her favorite the house and accessories.  My concern…when did Ken become a Chip & Dale look alike.  It appears his shirt and pants could be “rip-away” at any given moment.

Aidan was a happy Christmas kid too!  He got 3 activator transformers from Santa, we gave him army men, Buzz backpack, football bean bag & a remote control car.  In his stocking he got mini super heros, books & spiderman tooth brush. 

   

In true Aidan fashion he promptly opened each gift and then placed it high atop the kitchen island so little brother couldn’t touch his stuff.  Later in the day he organized all his army men by type.  :) OCD much?

Once the older 2 ripped into their gifts Isaac realized he too had presents :)  He loved the candy, books & crayons in his stocking.  He also loved his iron man robot and sissy’s bean bag.

        

He did NOT however love his Chucky Dump truck.  It has about 50 different sayings and movements…it will take off toward you and spin circles.  He’s not a fan.  Should have saved that $30!! :)

 

During Isaac’s nap we filled up the pool for Barbie to take a dip.

   

Speaking of dips we thought it would be fun for Daddy to take his first annual Christmas plunge in our pool!! :) It was a HOOOOOT!!!

 

Once daddy got dry clothes and warmed up we took the kids to the park on their brand new scooters.  Emma was more sure than Aidan…Isaac loved them too! It was a warm sunny day…a little over 70 degrees. Ahhh!

 

He LOVES slipper sliders!

      

Mommy & Daddy joined the fun.

 

Mr. Constantly.in.motion

Merry Christmas to all!!