The birthday celebration has begun....

Last Thursday 8/11/11 I took Charli to see my stylist, Karen at Bisou Bisou in Afton as a surprise. I was going to have Karen put a feather extension in her hair. And since we were there and she had time, Charli got her first haircut (trim) at a salon.

sitting still she was watching so intently in the mirror

Here comes feather number one....

and the finished look

putting in number two....

and it's done

On Saturday we had a birthday party for her school friends and her two best buddies Izzy and Maddie at my folks pool. Fortunately it rained early in the morning and held off again until the party was over. Here are most of the girls right after they got there.

after lunch it was time to swim

I think the moms enjoyed the water as much as the kiddos did.

after more than an hour in the water it was time for presents and cake

"a Barbie!!"

Here's my version of the Marina from the Fresh Beat Band drum cake

Ready to blow out the candle

"happy birthday to Charli"

candle victory

cake time

Ava's mom, BillieJo struggled with the kazoo so I had to take a picture

"Everybody listen, it's the Fresh Beat Band on my mom's phone"

hanging with her friend Violet

The Murillo's stayed for a while after the party and rain as we just don't see each other as often as we'd like. Here's Maddie going under water. This was a big deal.

Izzy

Charli

Maddie

chillaxin'

Tomorrow is her "real" birthday. We'll take cupcakes to school to celebrate with her classmates and then I think we'll go to Carbone's for pizza with Jama and Papa. Then back to their house to swim and open presents. And yes a little more cake. Seriously, I think grown ups need to celebrate their birthdays all week long like kids do.

I was again informed that it had been a long time since I'd updated my blog. Well, then I better get to it. :-) Since we returned from Florida we experienced no real Spring and then I was wondering if we'd ever have Summer. Well what we have had is either rain/storms or severe heat. Not a great Summer. Charli had her first ever dance recital, has gone strawberry picking and spent time with her family and friends. Here are a few pictures to catch you up.

This is Charli over at Izzy and Maddie's house for their 5th birthday party.
Pre-recital photo out in the hallway.

Charli singing and dancing....

More ballet

the finale'

with me and her flowers...

The after recital attitude

On our way to the strawberry field

heading out to the patch with Papa

"Mama, look at this one."

"I can carry the box, mama."

Fourth of July. I always take some pix at my folks house as my mom usually has these gorgeous red geraniums.

I love her "salute" in this one

and tooling around in her mustang

She even is workin' her parade wave

out back again with a flag

"cheese"

Her friend Ava had a Princess Birthday party. Here's Ava, Charli , Snow White and Pocahontas.

Charli and the princesses

And then they played on the water slide

She loved it.

Izzy, Maddie, Tony and Dani came over for a visit and we went to the castle park as she called it.

she loves to swing.

Here are the three princesses in their castle, Izzy, Maddie and Charli


Being that we live in the St. Croix River Valley area, we are fortunate to see hot air balloons a lot. One night last week, we followed this one most of the way home. It was fun

And last weekend we had a Walker Family get together and Charli was really excited to see her cousins Emma and Jake. Unfortunately, I only got a pix of her with Jake. Gotta get one with Emma soon.

I have now got photos up to date. It actually feels pretty good. I can say that as much as I mean to keep this more current doing so just doesn't happen as often as I'd like. Being a single mom is pretty time consuming. But I do love it. I'll just get things posted when I can. :-) Hope you enjoy the rest of your summer, I know we're going to try to.