Batman and beyond

After a good 5 or 6 years of collecting princess clothes in our dress-up trunk, Jayce finally has something else to wear other than a tiara and ruffles. Not that there is anything wrong with either look :)

Guess what we found on our way to school this morning?

After over a week of cloudy rainy thunderstormy days, it sure was nice to find the sun this morning.

Jaina's 7th Birthday

For Jaina's 7th Birthday, she had decided long ago that she wanted to have a "Paint your own pottery" party at Flying Saucers. We invited 12 kids in all, 7 came. Not too bad for Memorial Day weekend!

Ashlan painted an "A".

Jaina chose an angel fish to paint:

All I had to say was "Hi Toby" and he'd give me this beautiful grin:

Virginia painted a beautiful dragonfly:

Well, Brian, why don't you just take a load off while I set everything up?

Jaina always asks Brian to "hold her like a baby". And then Brian makes a big production about barely being able to lift her because she's gotten so big :) Makes me smile every time!

Quick picture with Gray:


Brian couldn't resist holding Toby. But when asked by my friend Angie if that made him want another one, this was his response:


The birthday girl got a Flying Saucers T-shirt, a princess crown, and her handprint on a ceramic tile to commemorate her birthday.





EWWW!!! Go wash your hands!

Got Pigs?

Are you SURE you don't want another baby Brittany? Just hold baby Toby and you might change your mind!

Our regular birthday party cake decorator, Dodi, was going to be out of town for Memorial Day weekend, so I enlisted the help of my friend Sarah, who used to be in MOMS Club a few years ago. She did an awesome job and the cake was DELICIOUS! Oh, and if you aren't familiar with the popular Mo Willems book, that's Knuffle Bunny on the cake. Since her brother had a Pigeon Party (same author, different book), she insisted on a Knuffle Bunny party.



Jaina was so worried that she couldn't blow out her candles!

This look is pure joy. Jaina wanted a Knuffle Bunny stuffed animal so badly, that she was secretly hoping that she might get some birthday money from someone to buy it herself. Surprise! Gray picked the perfect gift.

Naomi decided to adopt Miss Brittany's lap for a while. Luckily Ashlan didn't mind :)

Lydia helps her mom out by holding her baby brother:

That's a good lookin' group of girls!! Girls Rock (as Jaina would say)

Gotta have the "Best Friend Shot" as per usual:

Brittany and I had to yell at the girls several times to "Come on already, its time to go!"

As we were leaving and packing up, we ran into my good friend Shonna and her daughter Layn, who had come to paint pottery that day. Shonna not only worked with me at the Picture People, but she was my favorite photographer when Jaina was born. And she also shot my wedding reception and bridal portraits, too! We gave Layn a huge piece of cake to share with her mommy.

First, it was Gabby's Birthday

Jaina always has the pleasure of sharing her birthday with her friend Julia's little sister Gabby. This year, the parties were thankfully on different days! In true Beals' style, the party included swimming in their (freezing) pool and cooking out. It was a blast, although wild at times! Happy Birthday Gabby!

Happy Birthday Jaina!

Today is not Jaina's 7th birthday. Tomorrow is. But, we'll be gone practically the entire day, so I'm posting these now. Close enough, right?

I buckled Jayce into the car at 7:05 AM and remembered that I wanted to take Jaina's picture before school, just like last year. I told her to go sit on the stairs while I ran to get my camera. The next thing I know, she's dragged the white chair down to the mailbox with the flowers.
"I want flowers in my picture," she said.


So I shot this:


"Ugh! M-O-M! You can't see the flowers!"

So I take this:

I asked her if this was better. "Ugh, mom... the flowers are all blurry!" (Um, sweetie, that's the point. Mommy likes it like this!)

Okay, so here's her picture with the flowers. Jaina posed herself :)


Here are the homemade cupcakes that I made to take to Jaina's school today :) She thinks that I made two sets, one for school and one for her party tomorrow. She has no idea that my friend Sarah is making her a Knuffle Bunny cake!!


Happy Birthday (early) my sweet daughter :)

jaina 2 days old

jaina 2 days old, originally uploaded by jessstaska.

Two days after you were born, I still couldn't believe that you were mine. I loved you so much already.