Gracie's Birthday Party - finally!!!

Her party was late this year, really late for me - later than I've ever had one before. We had Sammie's party on her actual birthday, then Gracie's birthday was 6 days later. I felt bad for her on her birthday because she thought since it was her birthday now all her friends were coming over. She kept asking when they'd be there and I had to explain several times that it was just us and her birthday PARTY would be later. It kept getting bumped back. Kevin had to work all day Saturday and Sunday one weekend, then we had Tammy's baby shower, then Poppy was going to be out of town, then we finally found a day. It was over a month late and I felt really bad. Bradley was even asking me if she was turning 4 now :( It wasn't THAT late! :)
Originally she said she wanted a Piggy Party. Since Bradley was a Dinosaur for Halloween and he had a Dinosaur party, it only made sense that she would have a Piggy Party since she was a Piggy - I totally get her reasoning. But I thought it was kind of hard to plan everything around pigs :) So I thought a Rainbow party would be fun, especially since the party was so late it was really close to St Patrick's Day :) I had a lot of fun planning and decorating. I do realize that they are getting older and soon I will probably have to have their parties somewhere cooler than my house, because I can only make my house somewhat entertaining - so I am enjoying the party planning here while I can :) I was hoping the day would be nice enough for outdoor activities, but it wasn't. My house isn't all that big and seems much smaller with a dozen kids running around, but I think they all had fun, and Gracie had all her friends there and she was happy :)

I'm loving making wreaths lately, they're so much fun :)

The jello orange slices were a big hit, I found myself explaining how I made them several times. They were so easy and the kids loved them. I think it's actually the first time I've made jello since I've had kids :)

Birthday Girl :)

Sammie, Gracie, Sienna, and Autumn

The many different faces of Gracie :)

Love all these kids! So glad everyone could come :)

The cake was a lot of fun to make, but I get so frustrated making cakes, it ended up being a little lopsided, which bothered me :) But it was still pretty cute :)

Making fruit loop necklaces. It was hard to get the kids to stop running around long enough to get into this activity, Autumn helped me by being the first one interested and the others followed :) Then it was a hit :)

Sammie hadn't had fruit loops before, she was a big fan :)

Gracie just kept eating them. I had to string up her whole necklace very quickly before she ate them all, then it only lasted minutes :)

Last time sitting on Tammy's lap with baby Ayden in her belly :)

Lovin' her bunny that her best friend Aubrey picked out for her :)

Enjoying the jello oranges with Quinn, deep in conversation :)

Fun with the self-timer :)

I don't let a whole lot of people touch my camera :) Kevin will take pictures every now and then when I ask him to, but I have come to realize I don't have a whole lot of pictures of me with my babies. So, we've been playing with the self-timer on the camera lately :)

Sammie sure is straight-faced in all the pics, but at least she's looking right at the camera :) trying to figure out what's going on I guess :)

My kids sure know how to make silly faces, and I have to remember to get all the smiling pictures in first BEFORE I mention silly face picture, because there is no going back!

 

 

Tammy's Baby Shower

I've been thinking about Tammy's baby shower ever since I first found out she was pregnant, and I can't believe it's already come and gone. I had so many ideas, some of which I didn't get a chance to complete, and now that it's over I still think of stuff that I wanted to do :) Tammy looked amazing, as always, and we were all eagerly anticipating little Ayden's arrival :) I made her letters to go above baby Ayden's crib, just like I have for all my kids.

Baby boy ribbon wreath

Beautiful Mommy-to-be!

Mini watermelon stroller, which turned out really cute, and then the terrible cake for which I kept apologizing :( I tried to convince Mom to stop by Walmart on the way to Tammy's house so we could pick up a cake at the last second, but she refused. She said mine was cute and "very homemade looking" - NOT a compliment :) Cakes never turn out like I imagine, even though it seems like a simple thing to do in my head! Oh well, it tasted yummy at least :)

Danielle, Tammy, and Jen

Mom and Tammy

Kristi, Sharon, Dad (crashed the party for some cake :) ) and Jan

Wonderful Diaper wreath that Danielle made

I sure love my sister and can't wait for little baby Ayden to come!!!

P.S. He's actually already here and I have to hurry and catch up so I can post HIS pictures :) LOVE him :)

Picky, picky

Gracie is like me in so many ways, especially when it comes to food. She wants it a very specific way and will take a very long time to make sure everything's right before she eats it. She also smells EVERYTHING, including everyone else's food. This night she took about half an hour to eat one hot dog because she had to peel the entire skin of it off :)

Playing in the sand