Since Noelle didn’t have an official birthday party last year, we didn’t limit the number of kids she could invite this year… and it’s the last month of kindergarten, so this year is a milestone!  She had school friends, church friends, neighbors, and family friends… it was wild and crazy and so much fun hanging out with our friends all together! 

The Pond Girls looking good!

Rachel and me with Emily and Noelle excited to get this party started!

I had so much fun planning this party for my first baby!

My lifesaver, Sharon with Nancy and Harper!

 

Ananya and Noelle have literally grown up together (so fun seeing them getting so big and smart!), and Bekah and Noelle cuddling it up!

Cousin time – I loved baby Harper’s cute leg in this pic… made me smile so much!

 

Daddy’s girl!  Kay Kay and Grandpapa had a fun time enjoying all of their grandbabies!

Nancy, Harper, Holly, and Rose

 

Ethan and Ryan are two of Noelle’s “boyfriends” (boys that are friends), but she’s daddy’s girl for now!

Camera Dad… love it!

 

Ava is one of Noelle’s great friends from her class, and here is sweet Mattie from church going down the slide!

The “littles” of the party had so much fun! 

 

Emily and Noelle are such sweet friends!

John (Brother Man), Victoria, Andy, and Bekah havin’ a good time…

 

Noelle and Carson and Chloe and Noelle, all sweet friends from school!

On the spot, we took an adult friend picture!  It is so fun seeing all our friends that we know from different places all come together and have a good time!

Ava, Noelle, Illy, and Ainsley

 

Sweet Holly and Noelle and Brianna (our new neighbor, yay!) and Noelle

Brother Man, Fancy Nancy, and Harper helped the party run smoothly behind the scene… thanks for coming and having fun with us!

Classmates, Cameron and Jacob hanging out with Noelle and she’s loving every minute of it!

We got the special honor of meeting Noemi today (Mike’s brother Stephen and his wife Susana’s baby)!!!  Love love love this precious new creation!  Welcome to the family sweet girl!

Neighbors Hewan and Julia enjoying the party!

 

Little buddies Landon and Noelle… no matter what, Noelle would do absolutely anything for this guy!  She’s like a big sister to him and is charmed watching him and Anna Kate play so silly together. 

As you can tell, Noelle had a great day!  She was in heaven… she loves special attention; it fills her heart right up, so today meant a lot to her!  Thanks to all of our friends who came out to celebrate Noelle with us!!!

 

This party sort of just came together.  I got Noelle’s shirt on clearance at a boutique back in the winter, and she liked it so much, we decided to do a pink/brown themed party.  She originally wanted a horse drawn carriage, which we had booked, but somehow the company double booked us, and “couldn’t fit us in” two weeks before the party, which left Noelle in tears because she had already told all her friends at school there were going to be ponies at her party.  So then, by the grace of God, we found the adorable ponies to come let the kids ride that you saw in the earlier pics!  So thankful that all worked out and our little cowgirl got to rope the day away!  Lol…

I’m not a crafty person, but I’m a good learner and do take everything in… I had fun remembering neat ideas my friends have taught me along the way to decorate!

Sharon and Bo made this beautiful flower arrangement for the party, and I could NOT have pulled this party off without Sharon.  She was here 3 hours before the party, working with me the whole time getting everything ready.  She’s the closest person to Rara I could ever ask for!  Thank you Sharon… you know what you did!

Mike and I stayed up sooo late several nights last week dipping pretzels in chocolate and sprinkles.  We did get to talk and joke around a lot (and listen to The Ticket) while doing it, so it ended up being a lot of fun! 

Poppa and Rara couldn’t come because they went to England to visit the Ebert family, but in true Rosie fashion, she had a present wrapped in party colors waiting for Noelle on her big day!

I made this by tracing plates while watching American Idol… I think it turned out cute!

I painted this picture frame, designed this cake, and glued ribbon around this vase… you’d think I like crafting, lol!  I had the cutest water bottles with Noelle and 6 labels (you can see all 70 of them behind the flowers) but I didn’t take a picture of them.  Bummer, because they were cute and took the longest out of anything else to make.

I ended up finding a pic on my phone of the water bottles, yay!

With it being Cinco de Mayo and all, we had some adult beverages for the parents!

Noelle LOVED this cute pony card at the store and asked for it last week.  I didn’t give it much attention in front of her but couldn’t wait to go back and get it for her big day!  We sang happy birthday to her in bed to wake her up on Saturday and gave her this card… she was excited!  Of course, the party favors are always a fun part of any party… hope the kids liked them!  We had fun making them altogether!

 

Noelle has decided this is going to be her traditional birthday outfit… she wore it to school last year on her birthday and just had to wear it again this year as well (they celebrated her birthday at school on Friday since her birthday fell on a Saturday this year)!  At school, she tore a huge whole in the front center of her shirt, so we’ll have to get that fixed so she can wear it again next year if she wants!  Lol!  She and Mike woke up a little earlier today before school so that he could take her to a special breakfast to celebrate the start of her birthday weekend! 

I’m going to the doctor today, and I asked Noelle if she would pray for me as she’s in line at school because Mommy’s going to have a hard day.  She said, “Always and forever!”

After I finished doing her hair for school, I asked her if she liked it and she said, “I don’t like it, I love it!” and gave me a great big hug.

With an angel like that, I’m up for whatever the day holds!  Bring it, Monday!

 

We had a blast today celebrating Noelle!  She had the best day ever!

This year Noelle picked a pony party, so two pretty horses came to our house, and the kids got to take turns riding the ponies!

 

Noelle was so grateful and proud of her party, which makes me so happy!  In the next pic, I love that the horse is making a silly face with Noelle! 

PondFam 5 having fun livin’ life to the fullest!

We took over 600 pictures today (what in the world!?!), so it will take me all week to get everything posted, but here and there, I’ll get it organized.  The blog helps me edit and delete our pics for storage, so it’s a win win.  We just have a crazy busy week next week with doctors appointments and so forth, but I’ll get er done at some point!  Thanks for everyone who made Noelle’s birthday a dream come true!  I know she felt very special and loved, which is so important to us!

Noelle, you’re the best and we love you with all of our hearts!  Happy 6th birthday!!!

       

As Noelle’s 6th birthday is approaching, I wanted to share my favorite picture of all time of Noelle!  It is for so many reasons.  The timing when it was taken, the fact that I took it, that she dressed herself and asked me to take it in our dining room… so many things.  It’s the age of innocence, the age of expectancy, of dreaming, hoping, looking forward to each new day…  God’s radiant natural light beaming through her gorgeous blue eyes is so special to me.  I wish she could stay 5 forever!  Mostly, I pray every day that she will deeply feel as beautiful as she truly is, on the inside and out!

So, when Mom and Dad are out working in the yard, the girls are usually found looking something like this!  Bathing suits, summer dresses, balls, watering cans, scooters, that’s just about right!  On this particular night, the lighting was too good for me not to go in and grab my camera.  By the time we were in full swing, we had about 4 other families out here with us.  We are so happy here!

 

 

 

  

Rara brought these body bouncers for the kids to play with at Noelle’s birthday party.  We had a lot of fun trying them out!

 

This is Noelle and Autumn all dressed up to go to The Magic Time Machine in Dallas.  This was also the night of Noelle’s first sleep over ever with a friend away from home!  She said if she got scared that Autumn was a good hugger so she’d be all right!  I told her to call me if she needed to or else hug Autumn real tight!  She did great and had a total blast!!!

Anna Kate is really good at trying new things!

  

These are more random pics from last weekend: Anna Kate using Noelle’s princess bath towel while Noelle was at Autumn’s (when the cats away), the girls with some of their friends at church, and Noelle getting her sparkle on!

 

After the soccer game on Saturday, the girls all met back up at the skating rink for Autumn’s 6th birthday party! 

                         

This was Noelle’s first time to skate.  I’ve asked her countless times before, but she’s always said, “Not yet…” but when she got Autumn’s invitation she didn’t hesitate saying yes.  At first, she used the pvc helper, but by the end of the party, she was skating all by herself!  I can’t believe Noelle learned how to roller skate in one hour!  She is begging to go back, and we can’t wait!

Happy birthday, Autumn!  Hope your day was lots of fun!