A Very Happy Un-Birthday...

We celebrated Emma's 1/2 birthday this year. Her real birthday falls too close to Christmas and it is always a crazy time of year. So I thought we would have one in the summer instead. The original idea was to do something outdoorsy that would be difficult to do in December...but Emma had other ideas. She wanted to do crafts, most of the activities were done indoors...oh well.

She decided on a polka dot theme...I suggested a few ideas and she really like the polka dot idea. These are the invitations, (two color choices).

We tried to keep the food, decor and activities in harmony with the polka dot theme.

Our first activity was to decorate bags with circle shaped sponges and paint. Here is how Emma's Bag turned out.

After that we made "Button Baubles" for the Girls hair. You can see the buttons all over the table. I sewed on the base button and let the girls pick which ones they wanted and build their own. Emma is modeling the ones she made. I think they turned out pretty well.

After that we made some glass pebble magnets

We also played "Don't eat Pete", had Polka dot snacks, and then painted all their nails with nail polish that changes color in the sun. We had cake and ice cream, opened presents and then let them jump on the trampoline and admire their nails while they changed colors.

I love that a few of the girls wore their polka dot dresses. Emma's dress has polka dots too they are just very tiny. She loved it and had great time!

Happy 1/2 Birthday Emma!

Isaac's Baptism

We were so proud of Isaac for wanting to be baptized. He was so insistent about wanting to be baptized in Utah I was a little worried, because it looked like that wasn't going to happen for a while there. But everything worked out and it was a wonderful day! Almost everyone from both sides of our family was able to be there, and it was the day after Christmas so that was fun too.

We were so grateful for everyones willingness to help get everything ready for the big day. The program went really well, we had Uncle Sterling and Grandpa give talks and Amy played the violin. We all sang Christmas Hymns as we waited for Isaac and Eric to change. Eric and I were both able to share our testimonies at the end.

After the baptism we had an assortment of soups and salads with some rolls. It was easy thanks to all the people who offered to bring stuff and very tasty! Isaac really wanted to have a birthday cake at the Baptism so we all sang him a happy Birthday song and had cake.

He is such a sweet little boy. He is affectionate, caring, energetic, imaginative and just the cutest kid ever. I love you Isaac and I am so glad you decided to be baptized. What a special day!

Meg was put in her car seat because she fell asleep. When she woke up she decided to take a peek out. I thought this picture was pretty funny even though it doesn't really relate to the post...I just had to add it.

8 is Great!

Isaac turned 8 this month. Gabe started out the day by giving him 2 pokeman cards...how nice Gabe.

A little later he opened his present from Grandma

After church the next day, we had time to break open Grandma's gift and Isaac had so much fun...Eric-not so much. Eric's words "the makers of this toy hate children and the parents who raise them". The general idea of the toy is that you put together the skeleton and then build the outer casing and then pour in a mixture that hardens up making the body of the dinosaur. It sounds alot easier than it was. I was laughing at Eric trying to show Isaac how much fun this was. I think the main problem was that there were tons of tiny pieces and elastic and all sorts of stuff and the instructions had a couple diagrams and thats about it. You just kind of had to figure it out.

Even though it was kind of a pain, Isaac sure thought it was cool and still has them displayed in his room.

Next we had birthday cake and he opened his presents from us.

Isaac wanted blondies for his birthday cake, but of course he wanted it decorated as well...Eric helped Isaac turn it into a dinosaur landscape complete with a volcano made out of brownies.

When He blew out the candles it looked like the volcano was smoking...Isaac thought it was really cool!

Happy Birthday Isaac.

You are such a fun tender hearted ball of energy. You have an incredible imagination and you are a great artist. I am glad that I was chosen to be your Mom!! I love you.

One year older and wiser too...

Eric did a wonderful job making this birthday great. Since my birthday actually fell on Sunday we got to celebrate Saturday and Sunday. He planned out a whole day for me on Saturday. Here is my schedule.
9am Facial
10am Haircut
11am Pedicure
12:30pm Reservations at Tony's a new steakhouse that officially opened that day (very good by the way)
2pm Capitol Theatre for the 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee.

It was really fun!! They were running late for the pedicure so I had to reschedule that because my schedule didn't allow for a lot of wiggle room. After the haircut I went home to nurse Meg and get Eric for dinner and the show. I have the best husband ever and it was so nice of him to make all those arrangements for things I wouldn't set up myself.

The celebration didn't stop there. Sunday morning Gabe made me a homemade birthday card...

I thought it was so cute and creative of him...Thanks Gabe!!

I am pretty sure Gabe made my card, but I found this a little later, it looks like he might have gotten some help.

I found this little note in my bathroom.

(Meg love=Meg, that's what Gabe calls her)

And this little note on my plate at dinner time

(Chuba Buba=Elijah, again, that's what Gabe calls him)

Gabe wanted to make sure that every one was involved in wishing me a happy birthday.

Emma also gave me a little present. She said she got help with spelling from Gabe at the beginning and then did it herself...I think I can tell when Gabe wasn't involved any longer. I thought it was pretty cute-that's a mermaid in case there was some uncertainty.

Sunday evening Eric prepared a really fancy, yummy dinner. Sometimes we have fancy dinners at home after the kids are in bed, but for this fancy dinner our older kids were invited. The two babies went to bed and then we had my super fancy 4 course birthday dinner.

Course #1: Homemade butternut squash soup Course #2: Garden Salad

Course #3: Chicken Milanesas with pasta and marinara, Course #4: Birthday Cake

Emma helped me blow out the candles.

Eric fixed my family cookbook by taping all the recipes down so they don't slide around anymore and gave me some scripture marking pencils, I know that might sound not that exciting, but they were both very thoughtful and cute. There was also one more birthday present from Eric...he did all the dishes, basically almost every dish we owned, especially after making the butternut squash soup. Thanks Eric for treating me like a queen. I love you lots and lots.

Gabe's Bowling Birthday Bash

Gabe decided that he wanted to have a bowling birthday party. I was happy to oblige since his second choice was a mad scientist party at our house. That would have require far too much Brian power. We had this scheduled for Thursday (today) but had a scheduling glitch so I had to call all the people we mailed invitations too and reschedule for Mon. the 18th.

Here was the invite, (a little cheesy)
I made t-shirts for everyone that had their name and small bowling pins on the front, and the same bowling pins only bigger and Gabe Birthday Bowlers on the back. The kids were pretty excited about the shirts. They each got a goody bag and that was it. Super easy!

It was really easy and the stress free the kids had a good time and most importantly Gabe was happy with it.

We were hoping to get a few more friends from school to come but most of the people were from church. Summer is hard with traveling and such.

Attendees: Kai, Preston, Kaleb, Jaxon, Ryan, Savannah, Caleb and Adam (Caleb's cousin) and of course Gabe, Isaac and Emma.

Happy Birthday Gabe!!

1 year old

4 years old

5 years old

5 years old

6 years old

Almost 7 years old 7 years old
8 years old
8 years old
9years old (in a couple weeks)
9 years old!!
Today my little Gabe turned 9. Has it really been that long? 9 years! I guess he isn't so little. How do I describe sweet Gabe...he loves being able to be the one in charge. He is a great helper, usually the first one to have his jobs done. He is just like Eric, always looking forward to the next big trip. He is an even better helper when we are getting packed up. Gabe tries hard to choose the right and likes to know that he is doing a good job.

It is Gabe's birthday but it is also my 9th anniversary being a mother. Gabe has done his best to make those nine years relatively easy on me. He is such a great kid, the perfect first child. I am so glad I was chosen to be his mom!!

I love you Gabe!