The party!

Since Evie loves Minnie Mouse so much, I saw these cupcakes on pinterest that I had to make for her birthday party. I frosted them, and Kiersten put on the ears and bows.

All the kids had fun playing with the balloons. My intention had been to make a balloon wall, but I'm glad I just left them loose, since the kids had such a great time with them.

Ben set up a slip n slide in the back yard, and we turned on the sprinklers too.

birthday baby with a water gun!

The kids got to frost a cookie to eat. I think Kiersten did a couple. she was in there for quite a while.

we had some velvet posters for them to color. Evie was pretty good with the markers. I was surprised!

We all got a kick out of Jacob's cookie! I was sure he'd get sick, but he ended up only eating a couple bites.

Kara said hers was a work of art, and she wanted to save it forever... until she ate it.

Evie loved opening her gifts!

of course I had to get the baby dolls right out of the packaging so she could play with them before moving on to the next gift.

She has lately started to love the new strawberry shortcake cartoons. So she was pretty excited to get some of the scented dolls! We do get tired of her demanding to watch "shawtcake!" all the time.

It was a fun party, and I think all the kids enjoyed themselves.

Yesterday, Nancy and Victor wanted to go to the temple, so I got to hang out with Tommy and Whitney. Of course Whitney was a dream, and went straight down for a nap with no fuss. The other kids wanted to come outside with me while I watered all of the new plants, so I got out the sidewalk chalk for them to play with.

Tommy was so funny. as soon as he drew a picture, he would grab the eraser to start erasing it.

After sidewalk chalk, they all had popsicles, and then we made cookies. They were all pretty good about taking turns helping. Isn't this a fun bunch of kiddos?

Evie's 2nd birthday

Evie Pie turned 2 on friday! She was such a sweet little birthday girl. Mickey Mouse called her to say happy birthday, and tell her a little story. She was so excited about it.

She got to lick the frosting beater, and didn't have to share with Kiersten.

I made her a small cake, and it was the perfect size. I didn't want left over cake sitting around all week, since I had made so many other things for her party.

Kiersten helped me decorate the livingroom while Evie napped. It turned out pretty fun.

sleepy birthday baby

Nancy and Victor arrived just before dinner, and Ben brought Evie's favorite, pizza! After dinner, we all watched her open some gifts.

In case you haven't noticed, she really loves Mickey and Minne.

When it was time for cake, she kept trying to grab the fire, so we couldn't get a shot of her with the cake. I had to keep grabbing it away, or holding her hand back away from the flame.

We couldn't get her to even attempt to blow out the candle.

Luckily, her cousin Tommy was there to help her out.

Happy Birthday EVIE!!!!

baking and Ben's dream come true

The girls love helping me bake. On thursday we made cupcakes, Evie's birthday cake, and cookies.

Kiersten gets really mad when anyone else gets to put in an ingredient. She was particularly upset that I let Kara crack the eggs, because that was the first time I've ever let one of them do that step.

Evie likes to help lick the beater clean, but she doesn't like having a sticky face.

Ben's father's day gift finally arrived last week! it took extra long because he had one of the sights customized with an arrowhead instead of a circle.

I framed some pictures for him from the chiefs game we went to.

It was kind of hard for him to try it out with 3 little cheerleaders under his feet.

Kiersten wanted me to get a picture of this bunny that we see in our yard all the time. She chased it over to the neighbor's driveway.

I've been a blog slacker this past week. I was so busy each day! but this week should be nice and calm, so hopefully I'll be able to catch up on a few things.

Independence Day 2012

since it's been brutally hot for the past week and a half, most of the fireworks shows around here were canceled. And ground fireworks are banned too. But we still had a super duper fun holiday! Ben got tickets to the Cardinals game through work, and we invited some friends to come with their kids too. It was over 100°, but at least we weren't in direct sunlight, and the game was in the evening on the 3rd. It was the coolest day of the week. we've been getting up to 108° almost every day!

Everyone was completely soaked through with sweat! and Ben kept spilling snacks all over me! first I got a lap full of reces pieces, and then when I got back from taking the girls to the bathroom, I found a seat full of nachos! luckily, Evie wasn't really using her seat, so I took hers. She made sure that the nacho cheese found it's way from the seat to my lap, of course.

The girls kept fighting over who got to sit by their friend. She's just a few weeks apart in age from Kiersten. We only stayed through the 7th inning, and then left. We got home around 10 and got the kids to bed. I was glad we had left when we did.

Morning of the 4th. the girls were so excited to wear their little headbands. Evie saw these at the store and really wanted one. She wouldn't take it off for a whole day, and then on the 4th, she inexplicably refused to wear it. But the older girls got lots of use out of theirs.

Not sure why Ben looks so sad to be wearing his Chiefs shirt???

We had breakfast at the neighbor's and everyone came over to decorate bikes, scooters, strollers, and wagons for the neighborhood parade. Kara was really excited about it.

Kiersten did okay before the parade, but as soon as the street was uphill, she started whining, and somehow tipped her bike over, and was crying. So she got to ride Kara's scooter for a bit, and then Ben helped her go the rest of the way on her bike.

We had a firetruck and some police cars escorting the parade. The kids all thought that was awesome. The also got little plastic fireman hats, but I didn't take a picture of those.

Kara sure looked funny trying to ride Kiersten's bike for a block or 2!

Evie was happy to be shaded in the stroller. I taped her patriotic headband to the top of the stroller, since she wouldn't wear it for a second.

The parade ended at the pool, which was nice after a long hot walk! There was lunch provided, and games. This pic is of the girls participating in the rubber ducky grab. They each got one, but I don't think either one actually made it home with us. They're the ones sitting down. 

Evie loves when we take her into the big pool. She has good swimmer instincts, and likes floating, etc.

after the pool, we came home to crash for a bit.Ben grilled for all of us, and then Kiersten really wanted to have a movie party, but ended up sleeping through the first 2 movies. Ben and Kara watched Ghostbusters, and then I came down for Ghostbusters II. When Kiersten woke up, I made some popcorn and we all watched the Piglet movie (which I didn't realize I've never seen). and Ben brought down cookies and candy for everyone. I didn't make it to the end of the movie, but I think the rest did. 

It was a pretty fun family holiday.

07/02/2012

Evie has gotten into the habit of wanting to put on jammies for nap time every day. It's helpful, because I know for sure that she's tired and ready for a nap when she comes to me with jammies, or asking me to get her some. One day last week, I changed her into them, and then put her in bed while I worked on painting Kara's closet. When I was ready for a break, I went in to check on her, but ended up finding her on the stairs like this. I have no idea if she got out of her room right after I put her to bed, or if she woke up from her nap, went downstairs, and fell asleep again. Either way, it didn't look very comfy. I put her back in bed, and she slept another hour.

It's been over 100° for about a week, so we haven't been going to the zoo and children's museum lately. We just go to the pool, or hang out around the house.

Kiersten and Evie love pretending to play nintendo along with Kara.

Yesterday, Ben saw this little tortoise in front of our porch. He took a few pictures of it for me to see, as I was busy in the garage painting Kiersten's bed. I guess the heat is bringing out the reptiles, because we've started seeing lizards too.

I am a little worried about him because we are having our yard redone today, and I'm not sure if he lives in one of our bushes. but I warned the yard guys to look out for him when they're over there. He offered to catch it for me to keep if he spots him, but I said no thankyou. I just don't want him getting hurt.

I was taking pictures for my etsy shop today, and just thought this one of Kiersten was sweet, and maybe Ben would like to see it.