Kenzie, one cute animal!

After Taylee's busy birthday weekend, my darling niece Kenzie stayed with us on Saturday night. We decided to top off our birthday fun with a day at the zoo. We even talked Skyler and Monica into joining us! Taylee was a little less than sweet, in fact pretty whiny (maybe underwhelmed after two days of birthday magic?!). But cute Kenzie was completely twitterpated with the zoo, having not been in years! It was such a pleasure to share her enjoyment of the zoo.

Kenzie, enjoying the features of her new iPhone 5, a birthday gift one week earlier.

Pensive Taylee, checking out the monkeys.

Lovebirds

Kenzie was super excited about the polar bear souvenir cup!

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Cool mist on a hot day!

Thanks Kenzie for staying with us overnight and joining us for our zoo day! Let's do it again soon!

Fab Four with the Fam!

The day after Taylee's party with her friends, we had the whole fam over for a family celebration of Taylee's birthday. And, of course, Taylee's best friend Kate joined us for the family party. She really livened up the party, especially the gift opening! It was hilarious!!

We started with some pizza and snacks, while the kids played in the yard. We had intended to let the kids play on the inflatable water slide, but it turned out to be overcast and drizzly all day. Darn. Luckily, Taylee's big surprise was a new mini bouncy house for her birthday. We quickly progressed to the present opening portion of the party, so the kids could enjoy the gift.

Entertainment for the young and old! Thanks nana!

Pizza! Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt Shelly

Presents!

Isn't this hilarious?! I just LOVE Kate's expression. That girl has passion!!

Princess Candy Land!!
P.S. Please disregard my hideous expressions in the background of all of these photos.

Teamwork!

Proud owner of the MEGA Bouncer!

First bounce in the house!

After opening gifts and trying out the bouncy house, we busted out the pinata. Taylee begged for a pinata. We didn't think the four year old little girls would be able to bust it open, so we saved it for Taylee and her cousins. Hunter, Cody, and Kenzie put the hurt on that pinata!

And CHAOS!

After the pinata we moved on to cake and ice cream, and some family relaxation time. What a nice afternoon and evening we had. Thanks for coming everyone!

Taylee and her Little Mermaid Cake

Happy Birthday Taylee!

Fab Four!

I'm jumping ahead in my posts, because, number one, birthdays are FUN, and number two, I am  having some issues loading some photos from July into my blog. Needless to say, there is more to come. But for now, FAB FOUR! Can you believe it? My little angel is 4 years old! I just don't know where the time has gone!  I can't believe that THIS adorable little monkey, has become such a BIG girl!

I am grateful every single day for the chance to have this little girl bless our lives. She is spunky, independent, and sassy, but also silly, kind, loving, gentle, and oh so sweet. She is the light of our lives. We look forward to many, many more years of loving Taylee bug!

To celebrate Taylee's fourth birthday, we had Taylee's very first friend birthday party! Eight four & five year old girls for 2 1/2 hours?! A recipe for disaster, or a recipe for fun?! Luckily it turned out to be a recipe for fun!! My mom got a groupon for a face painter way back in March, so we booked her for Taylee's party, and took off from there.  The girls got to snack on popcorn and koolaid, make bead bracelets, frost their own cupcakes, play on the new airplane teeter totter, get their face painted, and of course, presents, cake, and ice cream!! I am pretty sure that the girls had a good time!! The pictures tell the story...

Daphne doo, taking the new plane for a spin

Cute Sarah and Kate, swinging away

Taylee's cute cousins Alexa and Brooklyn

Cougar Kate

Poor little chicken Taylee had to sit on my lap to get her face painted. This was an improvement over NOT painting her face at all, as she originally insisted.

Brooklyn Bear!

Cupcakes!

Owl Daphne

Beautiful Sarah Butterfly

Kinsley Bear

Lainee Butterfly

PRESENTS!

The whole gang! Sam and Dawson joined us for a little face painting!

My fab helpers Kenzie...

And Jayda! Thanks Girls!

 The party was a success and Taylee and her friends were very happy girls! We are so glad everybody could make it! Happy fourth Birthday Taylee!

 

Winnie the Pooh!! (Dance...)

Taylee had a dance recital last week. She has been attending dance "lessons" since February. Her "lessons" mostly involve free movement and fun! She enjoys them immensely. I love that she enjoys it, but am definitely looking forward to the fall when she will start attending the dance school right here in our neighborhood. Her 45 minute class is mostly absorbed by me running back and forth, 15 minutes each way. Mostly just a waste of gas! In addition, this hoity toity dancing school charges NINE dollars a ticket for attendance to the recital.  WTH?! I know, huh!! Anyhow, as I said, we are ready to move on!

Although the recital was a bit overpriced, it was worth every penny to see our little bug showing off her moves on stage. Our shy little miss did a fabulous job, even managing to perform a good half of the routine! It was quite possibly one of the cutest things I have ever seen. Well worth the $54 it cost for me, Kent, nana, poppi, and grandma & grandpa to attend!



Dress Rehearsal

Hot stuff!

Showing off her fab makeup. Haha!

HIking

We took to the mountains a couple of weeks ago and went hiking. We headed out to hike Wheeler Creek, but ended up hiking the Maple Creek trail for the majority of the time. It was beautiful and a nice trail, although we were bothered by bugs! Urgh. Darn bugs, out in the wilderness. What do they think they are doing there?! Heehee.

Skyler and Monica. Monica's first hiking event. She did great!

Little bug, rocking her camelbak!

Taylee loves COLD water, and she lets you know it. If it's not cold, she spits it out. Silly monkey!

My hubba hubba

Lunch break for the whole gang!

Tea Party at the Zoo

I know, sounds crazy huh? Yes, we did indeed attend a "Tea Party at the Zoo!" This particular event was a big part of nana's motivation in purchasing a zoo membership for our family. It is a member's only event, and one that she didn't want Taylee to miss! Indeed, Taylee did love the tea party.

When we arrived, Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter were there to greet us. Taylee and Alice curtsied to one another. Cutest thing I have ever seen. Because Taylee doesn't like "boys," we took a photo with only Alice.



Taylee, twitterpated by Alice


We headed quickly for the craft table, where the little "princesses" were able to make a cute little windmill to take home.

Taylee, hard at work!



Alice taught the girls how to hula hoop (or tried to anyways...), and the mad hatter did magic tricks. Way fun!

Then the girls got to meet a couple of the zoo's smaller residents. Like this adorable bunny!

 After the tea party, Taylee ditched her tiara and we went to check out some animals!



Here she is, strangling a bronze muskrat!



And, of course, we can't leave the zoo without an ice cream cone!!

What a fun and silly day. Taylee had a great time, and of course, that means that we did too! Thanks for the great idea Nana!