Happy Hunter Birthday!

Hunter had his 4th birthday last week. There were some days that I was happy that he was going to survive to his 4th year...but he's doing a lot better now. Those threes are killer!

Hunter chose green cupcakes with chocolate frosting and funny circle sprinkles. And just so you know, there were 4 candles lit when I brought it in...someone got a tad bit excited! In fact, for every line we sang of "Happy Birthday", he blew out another candle. I guess we should just be thankful that there were four lines and four candles, it all worked out in the end. Definately happy and excited!

Yum Yum!

I had to take a picture of the green cupcakes. They turned out REALLY GREEN!! Hunter was in green heaven!

Atlanta Temple Trip

We had the opportunity to drive down to Atlanta, Georgia and go to the Atlanta Georgia Temple open house. We took our friends the Muncys and boy was it an adventure. Here are our happy campers, at the beginning of the trip. It was a LOOONNNNGGGG drive!

Here is the temple lit up at night. And please note the swirling turmoil in the clouds overhead.

This is a really cute picture. Corbin is growing up.

Here is right after we finished touring the temple, and right before the tornado warning the sent us right back into the temple. But really, there was no safer place to be than the temple. Spiritually and physically.

The children really enjoyed visiting the temple and hopefully they'll remember this for a long time and remember how they felt inside.

Or at least remember wearing the booties over their shoes (which is all I remember when I was a little girl).

I'm really thankful that we had this opportunity and that we had a chance to take the Muncys down with us to. It was an amazing experience!

March Fun!

I realize that it isn't March, and I apologize. I just couldn't manage to get some of these pictures loaded onto our computer. But I just thought I'd share some of my faves from the month.

This, in case you can't tell, is an apron made out of blue jeans. Spencer needed a work apron for working on instruments (apparently some are notorious for getting nice pants greasy!). I also made sure that there were LOTS of pockets for various sundry items. Including, but not inclusive to, corks, screwdrivers, hammers, picks, rags, tuning thingamagiggers, dobobs, whatchamacallits, ets. The children helped me pick out the multiple colors for putting the pockets on. I mean really, this is a rad apron and very manly, and I think that there couldn't possibly anything like it anywhere in the world.

Here's Levi on our front porch. I included this picture because of our beautiful magnolia tree in the background. Spring is so wonderful!

My kids love spinach! Can you tell?
I think that look on Levi's face is becoming his norm "say cheese" face. And no matter what I say or do, that's the face he makes for the camera.

Somehow they got the brilliant idea to put little balls in their shirts. Some are definately funnier looking than others, but they're all real cute. I mean, really strong looking!

Who needs a dog?

This is a question that I have asked myself countless times since Saturday evening. It started out as an innocent enough evening, we went on a walk through our neighborhood. It was absolutely beautiful outside and a very enjoyable walk. We got back home and the two little ones decided that they needed to go to the bathroom. No big deal, right? They then proceeded to drop their drawers in our front yard, 10 yards away from the front door. Still no big deal, I wasn't panicking yet...and yet is the key word. I went to go help the youngest not pee on his pants, but then it started getting a little hairy. He kept trying and trying and I thought, "This doesn't usually take this long, I wonder what the problem is." And then I thought some more and realized that something bad was happening. Luckily I moved my foot not a moment too soon. And yes, what you're thinking is exactly what that child did. In my front yard. In the grass. Gross. I grabbed him, carried him inside with his pants still down and promptly put him in the bathroom. I then put Spencer on pooper-scooper detail and it was really funny to see him outside with a bag in his hand scouring the yard for the "prize". So once again I ask, who needs a dog when you have children?

Happy Birthday and Happy Mardis Gras!

Ella-marie turned 5 this past week! What? I can't believe it either!

Ella-marie picked...drumroll please...funfetti cake. But at least I was able to guide her in the right direction with fudge frosting. That made all of the difference in this cake. And also I had an epiphany with this birthday cake. Kids don't care whether the cake is shaped, circle or just an easy 9x13 cake, as long as it has fantastic heart shaped decorations and sprinkles up the wazoo. It was the easiest cake I've ever done, and it received much applause and accolations. Very much in the moment. What a delicious cake!

Ella-marie requested a super-Ella cape for one of her presents. After I fixed it (when Hunter got a hold of my scissors and "trimmed" it for me) it turned out quite nicely. Note to self: when sewing and have to go downstairs to iron, TAKE SCISSORS WITH SELF!!

Oh yes, it's a princess sing-along CD. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to sing along, only Ella-marie.

Mardis Gras

Mardis Gras this year was also my sister's birthday, so we decided to go all out for our Mardis Gras party. We had delicious Cajun chicken club sandwiches, sweet potato pancakes, and a beautiful (cough, cough, ugly) cake. It was all very delicious. And the kids wanted Michelle to know that we were thinking about her, and thus the picture. Happy birthday Michelle!

February Fun!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Where did February go? I celebrated my 29th birthday (you can count the fingers below). And no, I did not have a cake because I still don't like birthday cake. But instead we had some delicious hot fudge malts. Oh so delicious!
And in other news, Ella-marie won tickets from the library to go see "Disney on Ice: Princess Classics." She and I got to go without any other siblings or smelly boys and it was a wonderful adventure.
When you ask her which princess is her favorite, it's always answered "All of them!" And she and I have decided that when we grow up we're both going to be ice skating princesses. Yes, that's right, I want to be one too. The above picture is her in front of the rink with the "castle" behind her. They did a great job making one castle work for all of the princesses with just a few tweaks. It was great fun and I'm so glad we had a chance to go.

Princess Aurora and her fairy godmothers. Ahhh, each princess had a prince to fall in love with! It was like Ella-marie's dream come true.

This was the grand finale when all of the princesses and princes came to Cinderella's wedding. We won't think about those logistics too terribly hard...

Quote of the day!

While we were at the beauty salon today, Levi had a very cute conversation with a little old grandma. It went like this...

Little old grandma: "What color are your eyes, honey?"
Levi: "I has TWO eyes!" (while holding up 5 fingers)

Everyone burst out laughing because he had such a serious look on his face. It certainly helped lighten my day.