Kiersten's party

Kiersten's birthday party was today at a candy store in the supermall called, Kid's Korner. We were all sad that Ben didn't get to be here for it, but I found another reason to miss him today as my mom and I tried to carry a heavy cake, plus all of our extra stuff for the party, while dragging the girls along side us. I can't wait to get my packhorse back :) As soon as we were shown into the party area, Evie insisted on putting on a party hat. There were 3 or 4 different designs, and all the kids switched and swapped hats the rest of the time.the kids had lots of fun with this pin the tail on the donkey. Kiersten really wanted to pose with it so daddy would see. the kids wanted to play over and over, which was okay since we were waiting quite a while at the beginning for the party person to come back there.Mom enjoying the festivitiesSweet Karalee. She really took it on herself to make sure Kiersten was the center of attention, and everyone was having fun. She kept asking the other kids, "what is your favorite part of the party so far?"Each of the kids got to choose an animal to stuff. Kiersten got a panda (or as she calls them, a bamboo bear). I was surprised, because she already has a stuffed panda on her bed at home. But apparently that one is a boy, and her new one is a girl. She named it "Beautiful Princess". the party helper couldn't write it on the birth certificate without laughing.These 2 little guys both picked out T-Rexes. There was a lot of growling, and smaller animals being chased or eaten, or attacked.Evie didn't weigh enough to make the machine work, so the party guy would step on it every time she poked it with her finger. She really thought she was doing it. After she had come back over to me, thinking it was finished, he decided it needed more fluff, and she booked it back over to poke the pedal for him. She picked out a pink bunny, and named it, "mine bunny"Kara chose a cat and named it "cute eyes Pip squeak Miller". Kiersten got to wear this birthday cake hat, which was way too huge, and she got to keep it, so we can use it again when our kids heads get bigger. She wouldn't wear it very long, because she thought it was messing up her curls.Here comes the cake. It was kind of heavy.She chose 4 individual candles instead of the #4 candle. She was proud to have blown them all out in one try.opening her gifts. She made sure to thank everyone at least twice.I wanted to take a group picture, but Zach didn't want his picture taken, and Evie was trying to not get tired, and therefore running around like a maniac. so I got a picture of the rest.
After the picture, they all got outfits for their animals, and a free bag of cotton candy to take home, though most of them had it eaten by the time they were out of the store. They also got little backpacks with playdough and a few small toys. I think it was a successful party.

Our Valentine's evening

I spent most of Valentine's day cleaning our rental home in spanaway. The tenants didn't clean at all when they left, and left some damage, so I've been busy down there every day since they moved out. After working hard down there, I picked the girls up from school. They were super excited to tell me all about their party at school. When we pulled into the garage, daddy was standing in there with 3 balloons waiting for us. That really added to the girls' excitement once they spotted him. He also had some stuff for the girls that he ordered online. Kiersten got a hoodie, Kara got 2 night gowns, and Evie got a special Mickey mouse.

The girls were really happy with their heart shaped boxes of chocolates, and valentine's themed pillows and blankets.

We took a video of Evie getting her Mickey out of the box. She was so cute and happy. I just wish I could have gotten her to smile for a picture with him afterward!

Here they are with their balloons from daddy. Every time I snapped a picture, someone pulled down on their ballon and got blocked out. This was the best one I ended up with.

Of course we had to get a heart pizza, as we always do. This one was barely shaped like a heart. Someone really didn't feel like going to a lot of trouble with it.

I already got my gift from Ben last week. the first day we were down in spanaway to do a walkthrough with our tenant, Ben surprised me on the way home by stopping at the jewelry store. I got to pick out some fun new earings. I chose a set of diamond hoops, and I am thrilled with them! Ben kept saying he was looking for a starbucks to get wifi on my kindle. I was totally annoyed, and kept saying, "let's just go home and use the internet". Then he seemed to be pulling into costco, and I reminded him we canceled our membership there. He said he thought there was a starbucks around there. As we pulled up to the jewelry store, I said, "there's no starbucks in there". he just laughed and told me why we were there. I felt pretty silly for being so annoyed with him, and being so oblivious.

9 years married!

We celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on wednesday. It is crazy to be married for 9 years now! I never thought I would still feel like a newlywed after being married 9 years, but I totally still do. I love being married to Ben, and still want to spend every second together that we can. I am definitely looking forward to the rest of our lives together. I got pretty lucky when I snagged my Benniboo!
I gave him a super lame-o gift this year. It was a game and a football shirt, but he liked it. It's hard being married to someone who is too impatient to wait for what he wants. He just buys everything he wants for himself. Lucky for me, he buys me nice gifts like this new set of china. I didn't want to get it all out of the packaging yet, so I just took a picture of one of the salad plates. This is exactly what I've been wanting for YEARS!

He also surprised me with a kindle fire! It has been so nice to have! I love that I can read at the gym without haing to try to keep my book from falling or closing, I can read in bed, or while the girls are in dance class, and I can check my email, etc whenever I want. Ben has seemed to really like using it to play angry birds.

Happy Anniversary to my fabulous husband!

30 years

I turned 30 years old on the 17th. It was a good day. Evie and I went to breakfast after dropping the girls at school. We just played around all day, and I did as little housework as I was comfortable with. When the girls got home, they wanted to play games all afternoon for a birthday party. It was pretty fun and funny.When Ben got home, we went down to a private sale at morgan jewelers in Tacoma. I got a pretty new ring, but don't have a picture, as it was sent out for sizing. I also got some fun free stuff too. then we all went to dinner, and the girls were really well behaved. We didn't have room for dessert, which upset Kara because I had told her instead of a birthday cake i was going to have dessert at the restaurant. (she had wanted me to help her bake a cake earlier). So she was unhappy that I didn't have dessert, so Ben stopped at dairy queen and got an Ice cream cake, and we went home. I had a few gifts to open, and Kiersten was glad we woke her back up to see me open them all.
Posing with the jewelry bag. you can see my new feetie pajamas on the couch that Kiersten gave me. I wanted them so much to stay warm in our drafty house. the part I didn't think about was what a pain it is to go to the bathroom when wearing them. you can kind of also see the chore board I got from my mother in law, and my new purse. I should have gotten a better picture, but I was so ready for bed!Once Evie saw Ben taking my picture, she got right up on the fireplace to get her picture taken too. Her personality is getting so fun lately!More than half of the cake is still sitting in the freezer. I'm sure we'll finish it soon enough, though, if the girls would just finish their dinner so they can have dessert.I absolutely LOVE my card from Kara.

I guess I thought turning 30 would be upsetting, or hard, but it was actually great, and I don't feel the least bit sad about it. I think maybe if life wasn't turning out well, or if I were unhappy it might be upsetting. But my life is everything I could want it to be. I have an amazing husband that I adore and admire, 3 gorgeous, healthy girls who love me, and great family and friends. So I'm pretty happy to be where I am at 30 years.