Tea Party and frozen blueberries

I got a cute little Tea cup set for Em for her birthday party a few months ago. When it came time for her party I realized it would be a small fortune to have enough for all our guests, so we didn't do the tea party. A couple of weeks ago I remembered the set I had bought and the kids and I got to have a little party. I invited Ryan, but he wasn't interested. He would have preferred Logan not participate either. haha. But there was food and small cups, there's no way Logan was going to miss that!
We just had chocolate milk and cereal, but the kids LOVED it! In fact they wanted to do one twice a day for the next week!






This is the kids after eating frozen blueberries for snack! They are so yummy and the kids love em, plus their tongues turn purple, witch is super exciting for my kiddos!

Oh what fun!

Saturday May 1st (Yes I'm actually posting about something that happened this month!) Ryan was gone all day because he and another youth leader took the 12-18 yr old boys and girls to Chicago for a temple trip for the day. That morning was the Lancaster City Wide garage sale, which is a pretty big deal around here. So I packed the kids in the van and took them to A&W to get ice cream! In hopes that they would be happy while I checked a few sales out. The first mistake I made was not getting 3 of the exact same things. I got ice cream cones for the girls cause I thought they could handle them with out making too big a mess and a root beer float for Logan. All Logan could see was the the girls were getting ice cream and he was being handed a cup! He REFUSED to even try it and the girls refused to trade. I wasn't going to make them, but it would have been nice if one of them would have. So we're about a block away from A&W with Logan screaming bloody murder cause it's just not fair when Kaitlyn says uh oh. REALLY, REALLY!!! My 4 yr old is the one that drops her cone all over herself?!? REALLY!! And not only once. I think in all about 3 or 4 different times that dang ice cream fell off the cone. In Kaitlyn's defense the ice cream was massively tall and I don't think there was ANY actually INSIDE the cone, just all piled up on top. This is supposed to be a KID cone! What kid could eat that and NOT make a mess? I stuck though and we did visit a few sales, but it didn't go any better after that. So we came home and had NAP TIME. Oh how I love nap time!
Towards the end of the day the kids were off playing by themselves. And it got really quiet. Usually this means I should RUN to were they are, not walk! However, it had been a long day and I was enjoying the quiet. Kaitlyn comes in to me and with the most excited voice says "Mom! I have a surprise for you! You have to come see this!" And half of the time the surprises are fun, but the other half, not so much. So I take a couple deep breathes and prepare for the worst. Cause honestly they have been WAY to quiet for way to long. Only a HUGE mess can result from this kind of behavior!
So she takes me into the master closet, which is were the construction from the flood is. And I find Logan and Emily happily playing in what used to be the chimney! I almost laughed they looked so funny! I even snapped a picture and sent it to Ryan on his phone. Too funny. Silly kids, a house full of toys and they play in the dirt. INSIDE, they play with the dirt. I couldn't get a great picture cause they were too busy playing to look at me, but here's what I got.





And Kaitlyn posed for me



The blue and white in the background is a bag of wipes they used to "mop" up the floor. Hahahaha.
After this we took a bath BEFORE dinner. Hahaha. Backwards from normal, but necessary! I took a really cute picture of Logan COVERED in dirt sitting in a clean tub full of bubbles. It was really cute, but it's on my phone. The rest of the night went really well.
And the next morning before Ryan and I woke up we hear Logan come downstairs and go strait to the dirt pile! We had to get a handle for the door so we could shut him out! He would play in there every day if we let him!

Em's is 3!!!

Monday April 19th Emily turned 3! She had a GREAT birthday! She invited all her friends from playgroup, library time, church, and our neighborhood, and quite a few came!

Monday morning we got up and Em got to open her present from mommy. Which she LOVES, yea! I made her a frogs and butterflies shirt, cause she LOVES frogs and butterflies! I don't know where she came up with it, but she has been consistently telling me
"Mom, mom, mom! Guess what? I love frogs and butterflies!"
for a couple of months now. Here's her trying on her new shirt!




And Kaitlyn's FIRST outfit of the day. There were many, there usually are!


We invited friends to come over at 9am. At the end of the day I sat down and counted out how many people came to Em's party. Besides us there were 34 guests! I love when my home is full of children and mothers having a good time! I think the last of our friends left around 1:30. Most of the time was spent with the mothers talking and the children playing. I really didn't plan many activities. There was Cake, presents, and a craft.

Here's Emily blowing out the candles!




Guests spread through out the house eating cake. It was really yummy!







After Emmy Opened presents (she was SO spoiled by her friends!) the kids went outside to play with some of the presents Em received; bubbles and sidewalk chalk!




After nap time (which Em somehow managed to skip!) we played some more, and then Em got to choose where we went for her birthday dinner. No surprise here, she chose McDonald's. The kids had a blast playing in the play place. All in all I'd say she had a GREAT birthday!

And some random pictures to finish off the post.
The kids all got up here on their own so they could play in the sink. Typical of the 3 of them, right on top of each other!

The night before

Sunday evening, the night before Em's birthday we let Emily open her presents from her grandparents. I didn't want Grandparent gifts to get mixed in with everything else. She doesn't get to see her grandparents often, so I thought this would help make it more special.

The girls helped me mix the cakes and throw them in the oven first. You can see the evidence that she got to help all over her face :)

Waiting patiently to open the gifts:


From Grandpa and Grandma D:







From Grammy and Grandpa W:

Sorry Mom, it took me too long to get the doll out of the wrapping! I didn't get a picture of her holding it out of the box!

She got spoiled rotten by her grandparents! We love them so much! Thanks for sending your love guys, you always make our children feel so loved!

After the kids called Grandparents to say thank you, and went to bed I finished working on the cakes! I'm pretty proud of how they ended up! I think Em's cake was so nice cause I'm pregnant. I kept thinking of things to add!




One double layer chocolate cake with home made cream cheese frosting covered in strawberries and drizzled with chocolate and a one layer one.
It was really yummy!

We take my monkey's to the Zoo

Thursday the 8th the book club that I go to went out to dinner! We all jumped in my van and drove down to Dubuque! We went to Olive Garden and hung out and talked forever. It was so fun. Pretty sure we didn't even mention the book! Hahaha, pretty typical for our group! I'm so glad that we've got such a great group of women here in Lancaster!

Then on Saturday the 10th our family drove up to Madison to drop off Grandpa D. We were sad to see him go! We loved having you here Grandpa!
To make it a little better we took the kids to the Zoo after-wards! We had a lot of fun, it was a BEAUTIFUL day! Too bad Ryan and I were EXHAUSTED!! Here's pictures of our fun adventure at the zoo.


Lookin at the Seals


My monkey's







Cute Kangaroos

Up next, Em's Birthday!!

Easter

Easter morning, the kids waiting to go find their baskets


Kaitlyn found Logan's for him:



I didn't clean up, so the house is a mess. I spent 6 hrs on Sat finishing the shirts and baskets for the kids

Em's found her flip flops first, then realized there was a whole basket!



Kaitlyn


The girls and Log modeling the shirts I made for them





Logan's was the hardest! I'll have to practice more with boy shirts!

We had a nice relaxed Easter with a nice Easter dinner. This was the first year since we've been married that we had family here for Easter! It was so nice to have Dad D here!


Logan's been a big help with putting the house together. I found him working hard one day and took some pictures. Em saw the camera so she had to get in on the pictures!