I was tagged by a new bloggy friend of mine, Angela, of Mom's Fortress of Solitude. I am suppose to:

1. Go to your photo files... Select the 6th photo folder
2. Select the 6th photo in the folder
3. Post that photo along with the story behind it
4. Then challenge 6 blog friends to do the same

Since I am always posting pictures, you have already seen the 6th photo in the 6th folder AND the 6th photo in the 5th folder AND the 6th photo in the 4th folder!! So, I'm gonna cheat a little and post the 4th photo in the 7th folder...


Just for all of you Cars fanatics out there. My friend's son LOVES the movie Cars. He has everything Cars. His slippers, his chair, his overnight bag just to name a few items in his little collection. So, naturally, his birthday party and cake would be Cars themed. I fell in love with the detail of this cake. I'm a sucker for wowing birthday party guests with "the cake". When Miss J's birthday rolls around I always run right up to Baskin Robbins and put my order in for an ice cream photo cake.



Birthday #2 is missing because we had a Dora the Explorer theme that year and went with a Dora ice cream cake instead. These cakes are great. The only down side is that you have to be on schedule with getting your cake out and put away because too much time out of the freezer and your pretty design might end up being a puddle of colors. Notice the streak down the side of the 1st birthday cake.

My friend's cousin made the Cars cake. And she even made little individual cup cakes for the kids too.



(Note: When I posted this earlier I completely forgot to tag 6 people to join in, so I'll just leave the invitation open to everyone with a love of photography. If you'd like to participate and share your photo then go right ahead. Let me know that you did in the comments and I'll stop by to check it out!)

This year I played it low key. I usually go all out with a themed party and entertain about 20 kids. Now that Miss J is in Kindergarten, I decided that we should switch things up a little. We agreed to take goody bags and leis to her class since the school was also having an Aloha themed potluck that night, and then have cake at home after. We had a lot of fun. It was literally an all day celebration, I am still recovering today!

You know we couldn't go to an Aloha themed potluck without the proper attire. And Miss J worked it too...

Part 1

Part 2

(I completely forgot I had a video feature on my camera... and then I had to figure out how to use it, haha)

Mini wine glasses. Glued to the lips of 21 5 year olds. Filled with apple cider of course, at least that's what it said on the bottle.


Cider, mixed with a little excitement and good friends does this to some little people. Miss J always enjoys a good party. I still can't believe we managed to go to 20 birthday parties last semester. That was just insane. But, all good fun. Now she gets to continue this happiness while making new memories. This New Years party is the second classroom celebration so far. I think I have gotten use to the way they do things in Kindergarten. A quick 20 minute celebration and you are out the door, so that the teachers can prepare for the afternoon class. During the preschool years, we'd have potlucks. All the parents would bring a dish, we'd gather to hear our children sing holiday songs, then feast on cultural goodness. Now, its just fruit and drinks for the kids and its all over. Maybe I should be happy that I am not required to cook anything, but I kind of miss that whole "family" atmosphere I guess.


After all of the toasts and fruit indulgence, the kids met back on the rug for their good-by song, to receive their Friday Folders from the teacher and a hug and candy cane from Miss J.


I managed to find BLUE candy canes, if you hadn't already noticed from my table setting. Can you believe it. I almost jumped up and down in the store when my grandmother showed them to me. I bought 3 boxes of 12 when I probably only needed 1 or 2. After placing them on the tree and a few on the table I had too many left over. What am I going to do with all of these blueberry candy canes? I never intended on eating then, I just needed them to add to my decor. Then I started counting. 18, 19... darn... let me grab some from the tree. 20, 21. We all know that a holiday celebrating is never complete without at least 1 candy cane.

No, I didn't make a sale. I have decided to pass the source of my finger cramps on to a deserving little boy who is cuter than Benjamin Button. Everyone, meet Little Monkey


Son of Mr. Tuffy and Mrs. Round Peg, and little brother of Rorysaurus, over at Mostly Medical Misadventures & Mishaps. In case you can't tell, he's celebrating his first birthday and a happy recovery from numerous cranial operations this year. You see, Little Monkey was born with non-syndromatic synostosis. His skull didn't develop properly, which left him sporting a spiked skull at birth. But look at him, wasn't he ultra adorable?


Little Monkey had surgery and grew into those bones.


And then he had another surgery...


And he got to wear the coolest hat EVER!


And now, its like this rough start to life never even happened.


We will be heading over to his place today to help celebrate his first year and to welcome his Uncle Needlenoggin home from the hospital. You can get introduced to this extraordinary family here. Through every trial and tribulation of this year, their smiles have overshadowed their tears. They are THEE most resilient people I know. I love em' to death. These folks are my Cal family and each day that they "keep on keepin' on", they inspire me to continue to overcome.