Sunday, February 22, 2015

Lyla Turns 5

Lyla's Birthday started with the donut and balloon! After all the festivities she had to endure for Mac last month she was super anxious for her own birthday. 


We played during the day, and that night we met with the family at Brick Oven to celebrate 






After dinner we went back to our house for presents and cake.


She got this purse and tiara from Aunt Cindy and loved it! 



That Saturday (two days later) was her party day. She decided she wanted to pick a few friends and go do something instead of just party at home. She chose to go to Airborne, a trampoline park. 

I think this is my best cake yet, of course it had to be Frozen. She LOVED it, and was so excited to show it off to her friends. I really enjoyed making it too. 

Her cute little friends that came. Kate, Leila, Miles and Gavin. 


Pizza, cake and ice cream afterward. 


I think overall Lyla had a great birthday and party. I can't help but go all out and spoil them rotten every year.

As a 5 year old update, Lyla in the last few months learned how to snap, swing by herself, ride her bike without training wheels and swim. She is very good at learning new things and picks up on everything quickly. She surprisingly gets shy when asked to perform or is in a new situation with large groups of people. She gets nervous about new things, like 4-wheeling or going down the slide at the pool for the first time, but once we convince her to do it she usually loves it. Two things I love that she says- I love that more than the holy world (instead of whole). And will say sprinklers instead of sprinkles. She has gotten to the point where she sleeps every night with no problems, never wakes up and can even be moved from room to room with no problem. It is so nice to never ever worry about her waking up at night! Her favorite things are Frozen, dress ups, princess dolls, sour candies, anything mint flavored, her brothers, reading books, swimming and playing outside. She is the BEST helper. 99% of the time if I ask her to help me with something she does it, especially if its help with her brothers. She is great at cleaning and keeping things organized. Some days I don't know what I would do without her help. She is stubborn as all get out, and pushes my buttons to the very limit most days, but can also be incredibly sweet and helpful and makes up for the stubbornness. 

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Valentine's Day

We spoiled the kids and got them Valentine mailboxes, candy and balloons. 


Here is my "5 senses" gift for Josh. Each gift had to do with the senses and was fun to put together. 

The kids opening their stickers that were inside the mailbox. 

We even had heart waffles for breakfast

That evening Tyler watched the kids and we went out to Benihana's. We didn't have reservations so we were there late enough that dinner was all we did. It was nice to get out on the town for awhile though. 

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Tyler Moves In

Tyler has had some back pain since his mission and just recently got worse. They found out he has a bulging disc, so he would need a surgery to shave the bone down a bit. We decided he would move in with us while he recovered. So at the beginning of February he got the surgery and came to stay. The kids loved having someone else home to entertain them and I loved having a live-in babysitter and an adult to talk to during the day :) 

Tyler is an amazing uncle and the kids adore him. I love these two pictures of him and Mac together.


Thursday, February 5, 2015

Kid Cuteness


Rock has discovered how to get into EVERYTHING and can open just about any drawer and cupboard. Time for the baby proofing! 

Lyla and her best buddy Kate. These two love to match :) 

Poor Mac can't quite make it some days til bed time. Although he wont go to sleep on time if he takes a nap so its a daily struggle to get him to stay up until 7:30! 

At the library peeking through the books

 I just loved this picture of Rock's little body standing up to the table and looking at Lyla and Mac watching their every move wanting to know what they're doing 

Preschool field trip to the post office. They had a few poems and songs to sing for the parents. Lyla is second from the right.  

Mac at the post office on the field trip, wanting to be involved in it all. He will be so happy to start preschool this next year. 

I came in to Lyla's room and Mac had fallen asleep on her. So precious

Thursday, January 29, 2015

House Project

I have a list of projects I want to do on the house. A few completed, and a ton more to go. So far I made shelves in the basement storage room, Josh did a work bench, and we did some stone edging in the yard. But my favorite project by far has been our entryway. 

I found a stencil online and painted it on the top portion of the wall. Then we put wainscoting on the bottom. Neither of us had done a project like this before so it was fun learning how to do it together. It turned out even better than I thought it would. 

Ta-da! Isn't it beautiful?! I love that it makes such a bold statement as soon as you walk in the front door. 



Friday, January 23, 2015

McKay Turns 3

Somehow my baby Mac has turned 3. He is the sweetest little boy. He lights up our home and family and just listening to him talk with that sweet little voice could melt anyone's heart. He is very good at showing everyone and anyone affection and love. He still will kiss or hug me on demand any time. I hope it never stops. His favorite things to do are play with Lyla, go outside and drive his car or ride his bike, play with his cars or swords, playing with grandpa, playdoh and basically anything that is one-on-one playing. This year I have really seen his imagination come to life and has been my favorite part of watching him grow up. 

Although we already had his big part last weekend, we still had to celebrate on his actual day. 
We did the tradition of a donut and balloon first thing. He popped his balloon in the van on the way home :( but he is trying to hold it up. 


Devouring that delicious donut 

Later that afternoon we went to the mall and rode the train

In the evening we had my parents and Cindy come over to celebrate. It was a nice, fun day for him. 

Saturday, January 17, 2015

McKay's 3rd Birthday Party

 For his party this year we went with superhero's. We had it the weekend before his actual birthday because the Green's wanted to be there and that is when they were able to come into town. It turned out great, and I spent forever planning it, so there are a ton of pictures :) 

Superhero cape water bottles! 

I made a cape out of felt for all the kids who came 

The cake. For the superhero symbols I used fondant for the first time. Learned some tricks on using it, but overall liked using it for a detail on the cake. 

Gotham city in the background and batman shadow cones for chips

Superpower fruit and veggies 


Not very good lighting, but I made a spiderman hanging from the chandelier and shooting a web out over the ceiling. It was my favorite part, and Mac's too :) 

We started the party out with playing some games. One of the games was a Hulk game with "Hulk hands" and a wall of boxes to punch 

 
Another game was to shoot silly string at "the bad guy"


All the kids that came. It was a great turn out! 



About to blow out his candles



Opening presents 

Party favors