Happy Birthday Emma!

Emma

6 years old!!

The birthday morning started off with maple bars for breakfast and a few presents.

Emma has afternoon Kindergarten so we decided to have her party in the morning, before school. It worked out perfect!

Linsey designed the invitations.

As the guests arrived, they colored a bee....

...and then tried to get it as close to the pollen as they could.

So cute!Everyone got to plant a flower.

We blew some bubbles,

and played in the rain.

Look at all those kids crowded around our kitchen table. I think this is the largest birthday crowd we have ever had, and probably the easiest group too. It was great!

The birthday cupcakes!

Make a wish!

Opening presents is always so much fun! Emma is so lucky to have so many great friends and cousins. She really got spoiled and ended up getting everything she was hoping for, and more!

While we were waiting for the parents to arrive, we did the crazy freeze dance. The kids dance crazy until the music stops and then they freeze. The door bell started to ring and I left the music playing while I let in one parent and then another. Little Austin went over to the CD player and pushed pause. You should have seen his face when he realized that he caused everyone to freeze.
He pushed play and then giggled with excitement. He continued pushing pause and play while the kids danced and froze. It was hilarious!
After the party was over, Emma had lunch with her cousins and then had to race off to school. My sister in law Carrie shares the same birthday with Emma so once the babies were off to sleep, we began another party.

We had a yummy fondue lunch! We're thinking this should be our new birthday tradition!
Later that evening, we went to Red Robin for dinner. It's a great place to celebrate birthdays!
Emma is certainly worth celebrating! She's a fun and happy little girl. She's always thinking of others and truly is a blessing to our family.

Here are some questions I asked Emma:

Favorite Food: donuts and pizza
Favorite Toy: Pollys, horses, my new Rapunzel castle
Favorite Color: Red
Favorite Movie: Tangled
Favorite day of the week: Friday! (She loves That Rebecca Black "Friday" song.)
Favorite Activity: coloring
Favorite Place: Red Robin
When I grow up I want to be... "A cowgirl! That way my kids can play with all the baby horses."
I wish.... "for a DOG! and a horse and a dragon and a pegasus pony."
I dream... "about bad stuff"
My Favorite Vacation: Disneyland!
Best Day: "When mom came on my class field trip!"

Spring Break

Spring Break! No school for a week (but not for Dad). A trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa seemed like the perfect thing to do.

I love that it was warm enough to go without jackets. We even rolled up our pant legs so we could soak in every bit of sunshine.


We went to parks, had picnics, played in the yard, watched movies, read books, and did a lot of relaxing.






My kids always have fun playing their latest songs for Grandma. She taught Emma a new song. Emma hasn't started piano lessons yet so she was really excited!

The look on her face is priceless.

My kids LOVE to go Roller Skating!Doing it with Grandpa made it even more fun!

It was a great trip! I've already started to forget that I woke up every morning to one of my kids being sick, (and in the worst way). Thankfully they felt okay, but we did take the throw up bowl with us almost everywhere we went (and we used it a lot). But like I said, I'm blocking that part out! It was a great trip!

Feeling Loved!

It's been a great birthday! I'm really feeling spoiled.

I got home from my morning run at 7 a.m. to discover my family had a gourmet breakfast waiting for me. They had decorated with a birthday banner and homemade cards. It was such a fun way to start off a great day!

All day long I enjoyed some shopping, a girlfriends lunch, phone calls from good friends and family, cards and packages, a few goodies at my door, emails, texts, facebook messages, and even a few pranks. It was so much fun. Thank you everyone!!


Jared arranged for a babysitter and we went out to a yummy restaurant where we enjoyed a four course fondue dinner. It was pure heaven! Cheese, salad, yummy veggies and meat, chocolate.... it took two hours from start to finish which meant lots of time to visit and savour every bite. What a fun date!

Sooooo good!

After taking the babysitter home, I decided to check the mail thinking maybe there might be something fun! Woo Hoo! There were two packages with my name on them just waiting to be opened. I tore into them only to find that they were both completely empty.
Nice.
Jared and I got a good laugh from that and it was a fun way to end another April Fools birthday!

Auditions

Our Elementary school has a fabulous music program. The school play is Amazing, but I really dread the auditioning. This year Linsey and Hunter both wanted to try out for the play. We practiced the songs and I coached my kids on their stage presence. Auditions were 2 hours long and parents were not allowed to watch. Pretty intense for an elementary school play, I know. We had to wait all week while callbacks and principle parts were chosen. My kids were nervous, but as a mother, I was a wreck. I checked the music teachers website daily and by Thursday night and all day Friday I think I checked it every hour. This was Hunter's third year to try out and if he got cut again, I wasn't sure he would do this again. Linsey was in the play last year and loved every minute of it. We hoped she would get a chance to be in the play one more time before she heads off to middle school next year.

Finally, Friday night the cast list was posted online and I frantically scanned for my kids names. Hallelujah.. they both got parts! They are super excited, and I am super relieved. Phew. Mark your calendars for April 22-23rd. It should be a great show!

Big Night

In November of 2008, we told our children that baby #4 was on the way. They were thrilled! Both of our girls immediately started jumping around, squealing with excitement. Hunter stood on the couch and said, YES.... YES.... YES! He thought for a minute and then went on to say... it HAS to be a BOY!! There are already two girls in this family and just one boy so it HAS to be a BOY... I need a bunk bed!

He was disappointed when we set up the crib for baby Austin and has asked many times when we would get that bunk bed. We promised that someday we would.

Finally, that someday was today.

Jared is so busy with school and studying, I wondered when he would ever find the time to put these beds together. That is usually his thing, not mine. But, neither Hunter or I could wait another day. Hunter and I worked hard all afternoon and actually managed to get it done on our own.

Even Austin tried to help out.

This was Austin's first night in a big bed. I must admit, as exciting as it was to finally get those long awaited bunk beds, I wasn't so sure about putting that crib away. I'm not ready for my baby to be so big. Sigh....

Hunter, happy as ever!

Good night!

20 minutes later.

Yup, it's a big night! I sure love my sweet boys.