My baby girl is 7 years old! She's getting so big. She's out of the baby stage and is turning into a little lady before my eyes. Getting so much taller, opinionated about clothes, capable of doing so many things on her own, and preparing for 2nd grade. For her birthday party this year, we invited a few of her friends to join us at the free movie (Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium) and then we went to McDonald's for lunch. It was so painless and the kids had a great time! Here are a few pictures from the party at home and with friends...We love you Anissa!
PS Granny & Papa: this outfit is a restyled combo of the two outfits you "bought" for her birthday!
Jeff woke me up on Friday night at about 1 am and said the neighbors house was on fire. I'd heard a lot of sirens in my half sleep, but they didn't sound right outside my house (I think I heard them coming from the station) and in my half asleep state, I was scared. I thought which neighbor? Do we need to get out of our house? When I got downstairs I could see flames glowing inside our neighbor's house directly across from us. It's so much scarier in person. I think we get desensitized by watching it on TV. I just felt sick to my stomach. I thought where are they, I don't see any people...it's some "kids" in their twenties that rent the house and I'm not even sure how many people actually live there (I know, we aren't very good neighbors). I just hoped they were all out and then I thought about all their "stuff". It's so sad. The forces of nature are so powerful. The firemen (all SEVEN trucks worth) had it out really fast after I woke up, but it still took about 2 hours for them to give the all clear. It really made us rethink our escape plan...we could see our previously designated meeting spot was basically buried in firemen and hoses and gear, so we'd better pick a new spot a little farther away. Also, it looked like the fire started in the kitchen and I wondered how does a kitchen fire get that out of hand? Didn't they have a fire extinguisher? Well we do, but we keep it in the cupboard above the microwave/oven combo...a kitchen fire will most likely start at the stove or oven. I don't think we will be able to reach over a burning oven to get the extinguisher, so we need to move that. Any way, they were all safe, but the house is unlivable for a while...it really gave us pause. I took a couple of pictures from inside our house and even that felt wrong, but here they are...
Since we have plenty of free time, we thought we'd make the rounds visiting family in California first...
Then we took a little trip up to Utah...
It was nice to visit everyone and do all the "touristy" stuff, but we hope Jeff finds a great job soon and we won't have the luxury of so much free time...keep us in your prayers.
Jeff and Aidan went for a haircut tonight, which doesn't sound unusual to most people, but anyone who knows Aidan, knows "haircut" is not his favorite word! Jeff texted me while they were there and said "Aidan is getting his head shaved, I hope he doesn't hate me..." I was really panicked. I'm picturing totally shaved and I knew Aidan would NOT like that in the morning, so I called him up and said "NO, is it too late? Don't do it! Did you talk him into it or something?" Jeff said it was already too late, so I waited impatiently for them to return. Luckily, "shaved" was an exaggeration...here are the before and after. What do you think?
