Six is Golden

We celebrated Braden's sixth birthday last weekend. Where have the years gone? I must be getting old, because I feel like I say that more and more. We were happy to have some extra visitors here to help us celebrate- Aunt Heather & Uncle Eric came down for the weekend. Mom isn't playing much basketball or running around on the beach these days, so it's extra exciting to have more people to play with.

Braden said he wanted angel food cake this year, with angels on it. It was pretty tasty, if I say so myself, and this fancy gold spray from Williams-Sonoma helped make it extra angelic! The trick candles I put on the top were maybe not so angelic, but awfully fun!

O-N-E

This is turning into birthday season for our family! Two birthdays within a couple of weeks should keep us pretty busy with the celebrating. I honestly can't believe that my baby girl has turned one! It doesn't seem like it's been a whole year since she was born, but I can hardly remember what life was like without her here. I picked out some of her favorite foods for dinner and made an Angel Food Cake for my little angel. She loved the menu and the party blowers! We forgot to practice blowing out the candle, so she wasn't quite sure what to do with it. But she loved all the singing! She looked like she was going to dig right into her piece of cake, but I think she filled up on too much birthday dinner because she had trouble finishing her piece. She thoroughly enjoyed the leftovers the next day, though! I thought for sure that Fiona the Destructive would be perfect at unwrapping presents. Go figure- that night she wasn't very interested in ripping paper. She loved what was hiding inside all that pretty paper! We're so thankful to have Fiona in our lives and in our family! She is a joy and a treasure!

E-I-G-H-T

Hallllllooooooo out there!! Is anyone out there still checking my sad, lonely little blog?? You can't imagine all the things that have been vying for my time and attention these last few months. I know, it's a poor excuse for not throwing a few pictures up every once in a while. But you know, sometimes something has to give. I have so much I want to share about what we've been doing. I think I will start with our latest celebration. I can't believe it, but my biggest little one just turned eight! It seems impossible. Trevor got to have two parties- the second one on Halloween with knights and fairies as guests. And for desert: pumpkin pie! Don't you just love how we smash a whole bunch of holidays into one day?! Trevor is such a patient, loving big brother (most of the time)! These pictures show how much he has matured over the past year, as he let his brother and sister help with his gifts. He's also a great helper around the house with chores and watching out for his younger siblings! I am amazed to watch him grow and change. It is hard to remember when he wasn't so big and mature, and yet it feels like yesterday that he was just a little toddler. Happy Birthday to my little man!

DINO-mite Party

Every once in a while, we have a special birthday party complete with invitations, special decorations and games. This was Braden's turn. I had a great time making the invitations, planning all the dinosaur games (pin the tooth on the dino, dinosaur egg relay race, dinosaur bone drop and more) and thinking up fun decorations. The kids were all 4 or 5 years old- which is such a great age for a theme like this, which takes a little imagination. They were so enthusiastic about the Milk Bone "dinosaur bones" and the first thing they each said at the door was, "did you know we saw dinosaur footprints on the sidewalk??!"



One activity didn't quite work out the way I planned. The pint-sized palaeontologists were having a little trouble with their pint-sized tools, so we had to call in the big guns.





Happily, the cupcakes were a huge success, especially the fondant dinos on top. I know, I swore off fondant after Trevor's 5th birthday. But it was so much easier this time....maybe because I wasn't trying to cover a ridiculously gigantic medieval castle. But I digress. I found a tutorial for these little guys, and they were actually fun to make- although I'm still glad I only had to make six.






They were a surprise to Braden, and he loved them. His smile is all the thanks I need!

The Big Three-Oh

Okay, technically, I wasn't quite there. We celebrated just a little bit early since we'll doing our cooking over a campfire on my actual birthday. Even so, I thoroughly enjoyed being pampered by my boys who made a yummy cake just for me. The two little boys insisted that we needed party horns at a party, and I think they are correct. Wisely, my loving husband spelled out my age in candles instead of just setting the whole top of the cake on fire with the appropriate number of candles. Thanks, boys, for a fun party!

Happy Happy Birthday

Streamers, balloons, noise-makers and a mile-high cake! Happy, happy Birthday, dear Daddy!

Giving Thanks

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. I've been reading some special books with the boys that talk about the first Thanksgiving. I love how one book summarizes the first Thanksgiving. It talks about all the cooking and preparation, how the Pilgrims played games and held contests with the Indians. There was music and probably singing and, of course, feasting. Most of all, it was a time for the Pilgrims to share and give thanks to God. I think that's a wonderful representation of our Thanksgiving. We had a great time working together to prepare for the meal, there was singing and music and games. Most of all, we thanked God for all of the blessings he has bestowed on us- and good friends to share with.

Great White Birthday

We had Trevor's birthday party last night. He chose Grandma's Hamburgers, applesauce jello and broccoli with cheese for his birthday meal. The dinner table gets so quiet when everyone enjoys everything that is served! After dinner Trevor unwrapped the rest of his birthday gifts with plenty of encouragement from little brother. Everything was a hit, and we've got lots of fun stuff to keep us busy in the coming weeks! Some good friends came over to share the cake and ice cream and try-out the new toys. Oh, yeah, did you notice the cake? It was a big hit, too! Trevor gave me carte blanche this year, as long as the inside was red, and there was absolutely no fondant. (I'm not kidding about the fondant- he mentioned it by name) So I did a little brainstorming and came up with a shark theme. Shark books have been very popular picks from the library recently. Besides, what better to put with blood-red cake? True to my word, there was not a bit of fondant on the cake. The numeral 6 and shark figures were made from modeling chocolate- very cool! Once I got the hang of it, it was easier to handle than fondant, and 100% tastier! Unfortunately, one of the sharks got a bite out of the number 6 before I could stop him. I guess that's an occupational hazard of working with sharks.