Bling it On: Happy 10th Birthday Hope!

Well, we all survived birthday week. Needless to say, Hope was pretty excited about turning 10 and is ALWAYS excited for her birthday.

So she got an early birthday present from Mother Nature. School was cancelled because of temperatures (with wind chill) at 40 below zero. Originally I was going to stay home with her, but they opened up the before/after care, so we ended up signing her up to go for the day. She had a blast there hanging out with a few of her friends instead of hanging out with boring mom. :)

That morning I let her open one present before we left for school/work.

She is SO into Legos right now. I love it because I have as much fun working with her to put them together as she does.

Joe wrapped up a special gift for Hope that had multiple layers for her to unwrap. First it was in a gift bag...

then wrapped up in several different layers of fabric and boxes.

She finally got to the main part of the gift and cracked up when she found out it was two packages of Oreos and a paper printed from Lowes saying that her and daddy would go get some PVC pipes to make a tent/fort around her bed this weekend (see pictures below).

Then she put frosting on her nose, which is a family tradition, but is usually butter (and usually someone else puts it on you). LOL!

For supper she wanted to eat at Bang Bang's. Now keep in mind she likes to eat the Kraft Mac and Cheese and the chips and queso, not the actual mongolian grill. LOL! Luckily the rest of us like to eat there too.

Then when we got home we put candles in a cookie Joe got for her. When we looked at the pictures, we cracked up how Taylor photo bombed this picture. LOL!

So the friend party was at a local hotel that has several indoor pools. This was on Friday night after we checked into the hotel. She was SO EXCITED to get into the pool and she declared Joe and I the BEST PARENTS EVER!!! And she also could hardly contain herself and said she was bouncing off the walls. She definitely swam out her energy because it didn't take her long to fall asleep once she got out of the water. LOL!

However, she had us up at 7 am! The pool opened at 8:30 and by 8:31 am she was in the pool...

and then the other pool (with the slide).

She had one friend that had a basketball game at 3pm, so she came earlier then the other girls to swim. It worked out great for them to have some fun in the pool and then all the girls were together for a short time, about 30 minutes.

Here they are (all but one who came later) jumping into the pool.

I must thank my friend Evon Gardner for making this fabulous cake for Hope. Hope requested a chocolate layer cake with rainbow frosting. She LOVED it!

And it tasted great too! YUM!

After everyone left, Hope and I bellied up to the bar. I enjoyed a margarita and she had a virgin smoothie!

It was a great weekend, but I was exhausted. Yep, that is Taylor laying on top of me while I am taking a nap. She is a great snuggler. I can't wait for her to stop chewing on things around the house so she can sleep outside of the crate and come snuggle with me in bed (don't tell Joe). :)

So as noted above, Joe and Hope went and got some PVC pipes and worked together to make a tent/fort over her bed. Her room gets really cold at night, so this is just another way to keep her warmer at night.