Getting out

The girls all got to attend a hoe-down at school for all the girl scouts last week. They were very excited to dress up for it.

There was a photo booth, craft, snacks, dancing, etc. I spent most of my time helping with a swap station, so I didn't get tons of pictures. Luckily lots of other moms did, so I will have to look at our troop websites and see how they all turned out.

It was a fun night!

The next day was Good Friday, so the girls were off school. A friend of ours threw an egg dying party. That was very lively and fun for the girls.

It was nice to have a room at a local grocery store so we weren't worried about anyone's carpet, etc.

They also got to have an egg hunt in the produce section, and they loved doing that.

We're so lucky to have all these fun friends to spend time with!

After dying eggs I took the girls to 6 Flags for opening day. We were there for just a few hours. It was really busy, and long lines for everything.

These 2 sillies wanted to ride in the carriage on the carousel. We ended up leaving because Evie threw a fit about cotton candy, and also, Kiersten needed to get home to get ready for a kids' night out swim party. Hopefully we can go back soon, and Evie will behave better.

Here are a few pictures from our neighborhood Easter egg hunt at the park. It was kind of cold, but the kids enjoyed themselves anyway.

Ready to roll.

Kiersten had her 12 eggs rather quickly. She was thrilled to get 3 $1 coins in the eggs she collected. Kara was very jealous.

Evie refused to go near the Easter Bunny until the very last second. She saw a friend getting a picture, and decided she was okay with him after all.

Spring Break

Right before bed on the 16th, Kara began to panic that a leprechaun may not visit us this year. So she made a big sign to hang outside to make sure that any passing leprechauns would know that we celebrate the day.

It must have worked, because Kiersten woke up the next morning to find a trail of glitter stars, and a hidden treasure.

She was quick to wake us all up to come down and claim the prize.

As expected, Kara made sure to sort out all of the candy evenly so everyone would have the same amount.

They all made sure to wear their green accessories so no one would pinch them.

We cut out some St. Patrick's themed shapes, and used fabric spray paint to decorate t-shirts for the girls to wear. These should fit for a few years, they were pretty big on them, and I had to tie them in the back so they weren't shirt-dresses. Kara wanted hers to say "Luck".

The way she is sitting makes it hard to see, but she has a lucky hat.

Evie wanted to go with a large shamrock on her shirt.

The last day of spring break, the girls had a slumber party for all of their stuffed animals. They also decided to bring down Sprinkles for the fun.

Kara made a little obstacle course for her out of some cardboard boxes.

She sure loves her pet!

Kiersten wanted Sprinkles to stand on her head. The only problem was that Sprinkles wasn't exactly interested in staying there.

Evie is still a little scared to touch her, so she just asked Kara to put her in her lap.

They sure had a grand time, but were disappointed when I made them clean it all up. Kara and Kiersten decided they would like a cleaning list after they got started. So I wrote down some chores, and they hurried to complete all of the tasks. Evie was less enthusiastic to help, but did do some straightening up, and talked Kiersten into helping her clean her room. As a reward, they each got to pick out a snack and drink at the store the next day.

Just a couple of tricks

Kiersten's Magical Birthday Party

Kiersten really wanted a magic hat cake for her birthday. My original plan was to use dark chocolate glaze, but Ben convinced me that I should go to the store and get some black fondant to make it look nicer. I'm glad I listened because I didn't really have a clear plan for doing the glaze. The brim of the hat is a cake board covered in fondant as well. I thought the kids would not like it or want to eat it, but was surprised that several of them did eat it.

We made the rabbit out of gum paste. I had not worked with it before. I should say Ben made the bunny, because he did actually do most of it. I drew on the face and made the teeth. I was struggling with an edible marker, and gave up and used a sharpie. I figured no one was going to eat it anyway. I made the inside of the ears with pink sugar paper. I'm lucky to be married to a guy who is good at everything. I just showed him a couple pictures of what I was trying to do, and voila! He also had the idea to make the little magic wand. He rolled it in red dusting sugar and colored the end with a sharpie. The roses are icing decorations that Kiersten picked out at the store and wanted to include. I did end up pouring melted chocolate on the top to hide the white frosting on the cake. I think it turned out pretty cute. It drove me crazy that it wasn't perfectly straight, but that's what I get for being lazy when I was leveling off the cakes. I used a new recipe for chocolate cake that was so easy, and really yummy!

It was pretty exciting when the magician arrived and began to set up. It was nice because he brought and set everything up, including party favors, ran the entire party, and cleaned up after himself, and then was gone. It was like magic!

He started doing a few tricks early since the kids that were there were getting anxious.

It was heavy on comedy, which is great for this age of kids.

Most of the kids were eager to be volunteers. He had rules on who could be a volunteer. They had to stay sitting, so certain kids were disqualified. (Evie...)

Of course Kiersten got to do most of the assisting since she was full of birthday magic.

After the performance, he made balloon animals for all of the kids. Kiersten watched carefully to see if she could pick up some pointers. She also got a big magic wand full of magic tricks. All of the kids got magic hats and wands, and a bag with 6 magic tricks that he showed them how to do.

As he was clearing his things out, we all sang "Happy Birthday", and Ben brought out the cake.

She had an "8" candle, so that was pretty easy to blow out in one breath.

She didn't have time to open gifts during the party, but a few friends stayed for dinner and watched her open them while I was gone picking up the food. Ben did call me to make sure I didn't mind.

She really had a fun, magical birthday! I'm going to try to upload a few videos we took of the magic show.