Rachel's 2nd Birthday

I started the morning by singing "Happy Birthday" to Rachel when I got her out of her crib. She didn't care all that much. I said things here and there throughout the day, but again, she didn't seem to care too much. By the evening she caught on a little more. She loved having people over to play. She loved having people sing to her. She loved opening her presents. I was very proud of her for saying thank you to people after opening each gift. I hope she always has a spirit of gratitude about her.

We decided to do a smallish birthday party with closer friends. I'm glad (for my sake) that I didn't have to worry about a lot of people. As it was, I stressed out enough (for no good reason).

In the morning, I let Rachel open her gift from Grandpa and Grandma C while we did a video chat. I was impressed that she knew exactly what to do to open the wrapping paper. She wore her Minnie Mouse outfit all day.

We kept the day low key as I was trying to clean and prepare for the party. I had prepared many things the day before. Cake is kind of a big deal for birthdays, right? Well, Rachel has never seemed to go crazy for cake. She loooooves frosting, though. I had been thinking about this for a while and bouncing around different ideas. In the end, I chose to make a watermelon cake. I'm pleased with how it turned out. And, secretly, I think it would be fun if Rachel never really likes cake; it will give us opportunities to be creative with a dessert on her special day. I didn't tell our guests about the cake ahead of time, so I hope no one was too disappointed.

We did have ice cream to go with. I also tried something new with that. I pre-scooped the ice cream and had it frozen in a bag, so all we had to do was plop the balls out. It worked, but if I do it again, I think it will be worth it to put them in cupcake liners so they don't stick together.

I was proud of myself for not needing extra adult help making the party happen. Though, I must say I didn't do it all by myself. I enlisted Emilee's help. She was more than willing, and she was excited about the party for a few days leading up to it. On the day of, she really stepped up and did just what I directed her to do to set up. I am so blessed to have her. I need her in my life.

I had a few ideas for games/activities, but I also didn't know if we would get to them. Nope. The party consisted of playing outside, eating dinner, playing outside, having cake, playing outside, and opening presents. Thank goodness for the trampoline and sandbox! The kids don't even get how hot it is out there.
 

We were blessed to have Britt get off early to be here for the party; we'd planned on starting it later so that he could be here, but I was really only hoping he'd get here in time for cake. Thank you to those who prayed for him to be with us!!

Emilee even helped with the camera part of the time. She took this video and another.

As you can tell, I'm a lot more word-ey when the event is fresh in my mind. For better or worse. 

Logan's 4 Birthday

Logan had his 4th birthday yesterday. [I guess I had good intentions a few months ago.] We had a party for him last Saturday when Dad could be here with us. We chose a Ninjago/ninja theme for the party. And, Logan says, "Dad, I love it when you stay home."

I worked on the party the whole week leading up to it. And, there was still a lot to do on Saturday. Things turned out well, and we had a lot of fun. I had my sister and her husband help with things while they were here for the party. I don't know how to do a party without at least four adults helping! I'm glad they were here and willing to help.

The kids got a ninja headband when they arrived. Then they went and decorated ninja stars.

 Lucky for us we have a trampoline now. That became the default place for kids to go.

 We chose to  do a punch wall instead of pinata.

 The cupcakes...ninjas.

 The part that makes it all worth it: Logan's smile.

Emilee's 6th Birthday

With Britt being gone, I wasn't sure how much I'd want to do, but as we talked and planned, I ended up doing more that I originally thought. I took cake to her class on her birthday for their snack time. I think Emilee was pretty excited to have that happen. When I went to pick up the cake, it was not ready. I was a little nervous because I had a very small time frame to get the cake, drop the younger kids off, and get to Emilee's school. Luckily it all worked out.

We had a party for her that night at the house. I asked some friends to come early to help me set up, and I also had them help me run things during the party. What would I do without good friends?!?

Emilee helped choose things for her party. It was loosely "Frozen" themed. The kids started by cutting and decorating their own snowflakes to be used later for the "pin the snowflake" game. Note to self: no more glitter for kids at parties. The kids also played with snow dough during the party.

Party favor

How much can I cram in this post?

I looked back and realized that I haven't published since last year! How embarrassing! I guess I've resorted to just posting pictures on FB. So, I will attempt to hit some cool things that have happened since last July (most of these were probably on FB already).

Emilee started kindergarten in August 2014. She was really excited for school to start.

Rachel turned one on August 21. She was a little sick, so she wasn't super interested in the cake. But she did okay.

I can't find pictures for September right now. Maybe more to come later.

Most of us went up to Utah in October while Emilee had a break from school. We threw a baby shower for my older sister.

The spread of goodies

Happy gals

One of our activities was decorating onesies

A cake I make

We went to the Phoenix Temple open house as a family. It was beautiful! It was also pretty neat to be there with my whole family. I know that our family can be together forever. I hope that my kids are learning that as well.

Halloween also happens in October...busy month, huh? We went to a few Halloween events which the children enjoyed. I hoped to dress up in coordinating costumes, but we ended up just pairing up a little.

                  

Not too much in November. But we definitely had many blessings to be thankful for on Thanksgiving.

I got to eat lunch with Emilee at school for Thanksgiving.

December was busy, yet again. Emilee's school had a gingerbread night for Kindergarten. My mom got to come with the kids and me. The story of the Gingerbread Boy was read to the kids in the library. Then everyone went to the cafeteria where each kid could decorate their own gingerbread boy. We had fun eating the cookies at home, and the kids still talk about that event and gingerbread.

We had friends over to build graham cracker houses shortly after.

 

Then more creations. We tried for building trains at our next get together. This is the adults' train.

Christmas was good. We were able able to spend time together as a family which was the best part. It was really fun seeing how excited the kids were this year about things. I don't feel like any of the pictures really do justice to things. Just trust me that Christmas was very good.

We decided to finally try going to the train park for their Christmas lights. We enjoyed it. The kids loved seeing all the lights as we rode the train.

I will stop here to close out the year 2014. The next post will pick up where I left off.