Michael's Birthday

 There's been a lot that has gone on in the Bailey household since my post on Lily's birthday.  A Bailey women's retreat at Park City, Utah followed by a 7 day stay in ID, a cousin wedding, watching two of my nieces for a week, family coming in and out of town, YM's High Adventure, a Hsu family vacation to Mtn. Rainier, a mini Leavenworth getaway for my birthday with just Luke and I, school starting, Fall festivities with lots of pumpkin fun, developing varicose veins due to pregnancy, diagnosed with gestational diabetes, becoming involved in the stake choir/orchestra for a Veteran's Day celebration, Luke and I both committing to singing in the Forgotten's Carol choir for the show the day before Thanksgiving up here in Seattle, and now Michael's Birthday.  There are lots of fun pictures that will remind me of these hectic days, however, I will probably not be posting on these events that have already occurred.
 Yesterday was Michael's 2nd birthday.  The morning started out with double rehearsals for Luke and I, however, we made sure that he still had a very special day.  We came home shortly before lunch and decided to take the family out to Jack in the Box.  I know, not healthy nor very celebratory, but we got him a shake and since we rarely go to fast food restaurants it was fresh and fun for him.  Afterwards we came home and I decorated his cake.  So, nothing superbly fancy with different shapes, nor was it perfect, but it was still fun and Michael LOVED it.  He loves trains. :)
 That night Luke mentioned that the Spanish branch invited our family to their ward Latino celebration for the evening, so we decided to go and check it out.  Luke made friends with some of the members of the ward over a year and a half ago at a baptism and have been playing volleyball with them once a week ever since.  The celebration was WONDERFUL!  There were LOTS of yummy authentic dishes (some we haven't even heard of or tried before) and the people were so friendly.  After we had dinner they put on an amazing show full of fun traditional dances.  Michael absolutely loved the dancing.  Then there was a really amazing band and they were so incredibly talented.  We had to leave after just 1 song played by the band, which was unfortunate, but it was already 8:30pm.  So we came home and had cake and Michael opened his present.
 Poor Michael doesn't have very many boy toys.  He's been playing tea set and dress up and we've just felt really bad.  So, we got him something that we thought he'd enjoy.  It was a hit, the boy absolutely LOVES it!    Happy Birthday to my bundle of joy!  You might be a crazy little kid, but you sure make me smile. :)

Lily's 6th Birthday Party

 Lily's birthday was two months ago.  It was the weekend right after school ended on 6/23.  It was decided long ago when Lily was a baby that we wouldn't throw a party every single birthday because that would just be too crazy.  We don't mind having a friend over to spend the night/festivities with us once the kids get older, but other than that the kids will only get a party on their 6th, 12th, 16th and 18th, with the 8th birthday being special because they get the opportunity to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
 Lily turned 6 this year so it was my first birthday party!  Lily wanted a castle cake and so I did the best that I could.  It took me FOREVER to make this cake and though it's a little lopsided Lily was IN LOVE with it!  It was totally worth the hours to see her reaction.  I believe it was a lemon cake layered with strawberries and cream in between.

 Anyway, When her friends first arrived we decorated crowns and wands.  The girls had a fabulous time doing it and got quite creative.

 Next we had some nail polish fun along with some face painting.  Thank you to Mama Hsu for painting all the nails!  She did a GREAT job.  I had a lot of fun face painting too.  The idea came because Luke and I had just taken the kids to the NW Folk Life Festival roughly a month before and saw that people charged $5-$25 dollars for face painting.  When I saw what they were doing I thought to myself, "heck, I can totally do that!"

 After the face painting we went out to hit the pinata.  It was a somewhat rainy day so we did it by our carport.  I was pretty grateful for a nice carport that day. :)

 After that was present time!  Lily LOVED all her presents from her friends and overall had a grand time.  I was completely exhausted afterwards, but I think with a bit of help from my Hubby, Mama Hsu and our dear sister Chris, we were able to pull off a very successful party.  My little princess sure enjoyed it. :)

Gymnastics Show

After having Lily in ballet last school year, we decided to try something new.  I've always wished that I was better at gymnastics and Luke has always thought gymnastics was better than dance (personal opinions here people); so we decided to enroll them at the Eastside Gymnastics Academy.  I chose the place based on location and the fact that we knew one of the coaches back from our Institute days - Jeff Crockett!  The girls absolutely LOVED it.  At the end of the school year they put on a "Gymnastics Show" where parents can go down and go through each of the stations and take pictures of their children.  So here's a bit of what they have been up to and learning this year.  I thought it was really cool that each kid got either a medallion or a little trophy at the end.  We'll definitely be starting gymnastics again this Fall. :)