Life in Las Vegas: September 2004

Rhiannon's "Moon" birthday party

Rhiannon's birthday party was a success! :) I've posted some pictures below. It was a Moon Party, so I baked a moon cake, and had moon-related activities for the kids. I made "moon rocks" from coffee grounds, flour, and sand, and hid little "treasures" inside for the kids to find. I also made "moon goo", which is sort of like Gak, made with white glue and liquid starch (it's stretchy and slippery). It was in the afternoon, so we just had munchies before cake and ice cream. Rhiannon had two of her little friends attend; our neighbor Nicole and her one-year-old daughter Sydney, and Taggarts with Rhia's friend Jasper. Everybody had fun!
I didn't get any still shots of Rhiannon opening gifts, since Dave was manning the video camera and I was helping Rhia. Oops. I will get all of her bounty together and take a pic of everything - she got books and puzzles, clothes, a bath toy, a wooden sewing machine and tree house from us, a blender.... cute stuff. I think she's set for a while. :)

The Birthday Girl!

Nicole and Sydney - our neighbor friends. They are moving to Reno soon, we will miss them.

Playing with "moon goo"

Jasper opening a "moon rock"

Playing with new PlayDoh

Rhiannon's moon cake

Happy Birthday Rhiannon!

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to Rhiannon,
Happy Birthday to you!!!

We love you!!

I told Rhiannon "happy birthday" this morning, and she says "hippy birdie". :)
We're going to have Sandy and Jasper over for dinner tonight, and she will open her presents from us. I think I'll make little cupcakes, and we'll have cheesey potatoes, since Rhia loves them. I'm still trying to get ready for her party Sunday - and I'm running out of days! Bye for now, I'll post pics when I have some!

It's been a couple of weeks since I've done an update, so I added a few extra pictures. :) I've been busy planning Rhiannon's birthday party! Her birthday is Friday, the 24th, but we're having the party on Sunday. I'm going to bake her a crescent moon cake, and make it a celestial theme. She points out the moon in the sky, not to mention in all her storybooks, so I think she will enjoy it. We've also been talking about her birthday, and she knows about birthday cake ("bir-day CAAAAKE!"). It's hard to believe she'll be 2 years old already!

Rhiannon at the Children's Museum (Sunday, Sept. 5)

Playing with dinosaurs at the Children's Museum

Rhiannon and her baby (and another excuse for not making the bed ;)

Our trip to MN

We took a family vacation to MN in August. Rhiannon and I were there for 3 weeks, from 8/3-8/24. David was able to come for a few days, and was there for Jill's wedding. It was so nice to get to see so much family, and I met many relatives on the Rollie (Dave's mom's) side. It was FREEZING there!! Several days there were only highs in the 60's, which is like winter to this desert flower. LOL But it was nice to get away from the heat, too, and the cold made sure the mosquitoes weren't too bad.

Rhiannon took several knocks while we were there, but she is one tough little cookie. She fell down the stairs at Grandma & Grandpa Selander's house, and had to get 4 stitches in her forehead! This was right before Jill's wedding, of course. She also bashed her face at a playground, and split her lip open. She was determined to keep playing, though, and I was pretty proud of her. She came home with a few more scars and marks than when she left, but she was a trooper.

Enjoy the pictures from the trip. We had fun!