find the birthday cupcake

As you know, Kali Rose is turning 6 on July 30th! We celebrated her birthday early this year due to my whole family being in town, so we thought why not let her "find the cupcake" early as well! ;)

So, here is how it works:

 (You should know, this is the first time we have "played")

I got that big cupcake from Tjmaxx for a whopping $5!

On the morning of her/his birthday (or not) you set the cupcake on the kitchen counter.

They see it.

They get excited. :)

It's empty. 

Later, when the child is at school or in another room playing, you fill the cupcake with a small prize (or maybe even keys to a large prize... one day..) and you hide it. In this case, Kassidy hid it. :)

When the child notices the cupcake is no longer on the counter she gets sooo excited (trust me!) and goes looking for it.

 Although she is still in her pjs and her hair hasn't been brushed.. this is later.. I promise. :)

 nope

 not under there..

 nada

 There it is!! In Mommy's closet. 

 And inside? Matching pj's for herself and her baby.

We had fun! 

Ok. I must confess. When Kassidy hid it in my closet, I did clear out a few shoes for the picture..

Want to see the pile of shoes I threw to the side?

Here you go..

Ha!

I love my kids. They make life so fun. :)

I am ending with several pictures from our recent beach trip. We had such a great time soaking up family time. 

(If you notice, as looking through my pictures, that I tend to take more pictures of Kali Rose than the others.. I do. The only reason - she lets me & the others don't as much. I promise I love them all equally ;):)

 I LOVE the above picture. It looks posed. It wasn't. I love that.

The next picture is the sand castle we built.. 

Okay, okay, I am kidding. Here is ours. :)

 There was a LOT of seaweed, so we used it as the brick wall ;)

 can he do it?

 he did

 so did he ;)

 I love him

 her idea. cute right?

Every night, we waited until the beach cleared out and we walked together. 

The kids would run ahead a little and Sean and I walked.

Hand in hand

Talking about life and laughing at the kids. 

It still brings a smile to my face when I just think about it. 

By far my favorite thing to do at the beach. 

Since time flies by so fast, I try so hard to really record moments like this in my heart and mind. 

I am extremely thankful for the memories we were blessed to make!