Angelina's Barbie Princess Party

The Ballard house was arrayed in pink in anticipation of
the femininity that was about to descend upon it.

What Barbie birthday would be complete without a Barbie cake?

The den was turned into a Barbie playroom with dozens of dolls and tons of accessories.
Julene set up various stations where Angelina's guests could make some crafts.
At this station, Allyse helped the little girls decorate their crowns and scepters.

Joseph helped the girls string together beautiful
necklaces made of precious Froot Loops
(or was he just sampling the goods).

The temptation of having the Barbie cake within reach grew too great.

Going, going, gone.

Before I could even start cutting the cake, Angelina had destroyed
part of it by picking at the "pinky" frosting.

Happy Birthday to You!

It Was Hair-raising!

Benjamin loves tummy time, most often opting to roll over rather than remain on his back.

I liked these pictures because they really highlight the flattop.

Benjamin is getting geared up for Angelina's birthday party.

Happy Birthday, Angelina!

April 24th was Angelina's third birthday. She woke up early wanted to open her birthday presents, which mostly revolved around Barbie, Dora the Explorer and the Disney Princesses. She was truly a happy little girl.

Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday!

The week long celebration that is known as Allyse's birthday reached its crescendo tonight with an all-star bash. Okay, we really just celebrated quietly today. After having a bunch of eight and nine-year-old girls over on Saturday, even Joseph, Benjamin and Angelina seem quiet. Allyse proclaimed it the best birthday ever.

Allyse looked like a princess on Sunday.

I finally got a picture of Benjamin smiling! Just kidding.

Allyse on the morning of her birthday.

Okay, I didn't give the boys a chance to fix their hair as I had to get going to work.

You know you're handsome when you have messy hair and still look good.

The birthday girl wore a new outfit to school and on a field trip.

Allyse went to Gilcrease Farms on a field trip and saw a bird sanctuary, thus the head gear.

Allyse's Enchanted Birthday Party

Allyse has been so enamored with the movie Enchanted that she decided
to make that the theme of her ninth birthday party.

Princess Allyse!

Julene helped the princesses get ready for the ball.

The princesses need to find their gowns.

Angelina found herself a pretty white gown.

The princesses are now ready for the ball . . .

but first they have to get a rose from their princes . . .

on their way to the grand ball.

A beautiful but evil sorceress named Narissa changed herself . . .

into an old hag and gave the princesses a poison apple.

The only way to wake up from the poison was to experience true love's kiss.

When the princesses awoke, Narissa changed herself into a powerful dragon,
which the princesses then had to slay.

The reward for slaying the dragon was the royal crown.

Allyse is thrilled to blow out the candles.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Paris Hilton dropped by to wish Allyse a happy birthday.
Actually, Allyse couldn't wait to wear her new sunglasses and purse.

Benjamin Talks

Swiper! No Swiping!

Dora the Explorer is a popular children's television program. It is about as formula-driven as a show can be; so much so that if you see one show, you've seen them all. One regular character on the show is Swiper, a fox who sneaks around and steals things. In order to prevent Swiper from successfully stealing stuff, when you see Swiper, Dora and you are supposed to shout, "Swiper! No swiping!," three times.

Julene was driving around yesterday to various stores in preparation for Angelina's third birthday party. Suddenly, Angelina became very concerned and burst out with, "Momma, Swiper is going to steal all of my birthday presents." Angelina seemed to be comforted when Julene assured her that Swiper wasn't invited.

DA Picnic

On Saturday, we went to Sunset Park for the annual picnic for the Office of the District Attorney. It was a beautiful Las Vegas spring day, with temperatures in the upper 70's. Apparently somebody blew it last year and didn't reserve the park until July, which, believe it or not, turned out to be a less than desirable time to host an outdoor event.

To compound matters, the event turned a bit ugly when some overzealous prosecutor unleashed his overly competitive nature in organizing the volleyball tournament between the various divisions of the D.A.'s office. Let's just say that a double-elimination in July against a Criminal Division's team that was loaded with ringers didn't produce a lot of warm fuzzies for a certain prosecutor. Suffice it to say that this year's volleyball tournament was not organized by that same Deputy D.A., and that it was much more pleasant being outside with temperatures in the 70's rather than the 100's.

In addition to the typical picnic food, there were inflatable jumpers, creepy clowns, carnival-like games for children, balloons, sno-cones, popcorn and cotton candy. The kids had a great time and we were able to call it quits before they became exhausted and cranky.

Happy Boy!

Hannah Montana

Allyse went to a friend's birthday party last week at Justice Just for Girls. In a word, the store is PINK. It reeks of glitter, cotton candy, nail polish, blue eye shadow and High School Musical. When I arrived at the store, the girls were still not done and I was given a very clear message that testosterone did not belong there. In any event, the end result is shown above.

Happy Easter!

Allyse looked like a princess thanks to Mom's fancy hair styling.

Benjamin enjoyed his first Easter.

Angelina and Nora rendered a special Easter performance of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

The Church Sanctioned Pagan Fertility Celebration (Easter Egg Hunt II)

A week after the Summerlin hunt, the kids embarked on a new quest for ovoid confections.

Pink shirt - check
Pink bucket - check
Skirt - check
I'm ready!

Joseph lined up Walmart as his corporate sponsor for this year's event.

A ladybug distracted Allyse from her hunting duties.

Someone brought a fuzzy little chick to the hunt.

A very serene and satisfied little girl.

Cousins by the Dozens

Somebody really needs to cheer up this bunch.

As usual, Angelina is marching to the beat of her own drum.

Sofia and Allyse playing "Hide and Seek." When I see this, I think Nicholson in The Shining.

I'm not really sure what game this is, but if you can caption this one, be my guest.

Thay Cheethe!

Lilly's getting into this whole Vegas thing. Remember: what happens in Vegas . . .

Lauren is sporting a hat from Queen Elizabeth's personal collection.

Chillin' wit my cuzzes.

Are you sure Hannah Montana got started this way?