Happy 6th Birthday, Elizabeth!

I can't believe my Lizzie-Kay is six already!

Grandma put her skills to work and did not only Lizzie's quilted pony cake, but cousin J's layered Minnie Mouse cake as well!  These two girls' birthdays are only 3 days (and three years) apart, so we had fun throwing them a joint birthday party!

Thinking about what to wish for...

And candle blown out!

Elizabeth adores My Little Pony and was thrilled to see two new ones on her cake!  In fact, she kept asking if she could take them before we even got to the singing/cake cutting part of the day.  She especially loves that these two are sparkly!

Another yummy crazy cake!  With there being two cakes, we were obliged to bring home 80% of Lizzie's cake and took over a week to finish it!

It was sweet to watch Lizzie 'feed' her new ponies and get excited about them!

Lizzie's well-child appointment is also over her spring break (mid April), so I don't have her growth at this time.

Things we love about Elizabeth Kay:

She is a smart, sensitive little kindergartener.

Even though her class gets 'rest', she nearly always falls asleep before bedtime, just tired out.

Her favorite movie is Frozen, to which she also knows all the music.

It finally seems like she's outgrown the way she always used to be accident-prone; we no longer see bruises or scrapes or sores that she doesn't remember.

She loves to do crafts, but gets frustrated because she's also a little perfectionist.

She loves pretend play!

Cole's 2nd Birthday Party

Why won't they stop growing up??

Grandma made a great cake, trying her hand at checker-board cakes!  It was green and yellow and perfect for my little two-year-old!

He was so anxious to get his hands in that cake; I felt bad for holding him back!

We all had to laugh when cousin J beat him to the punch and blew out his candle.  I have no doubt that he will learn from this experience and blow out someone else's candle in the future.

Happy Birthday Boy!

I gave him both cake and ice cream and he didn't see the need for the spoon - little cake in this hand, little ice cream in that hand and we're good to go!

He approved!

I'm glad Grandma took pictures of presents for me!  This was one Cole got from Grandma R a little while ago but we'd been hanging on to for an occasion.  He already loves having his own big kid church bag with his own special Sacrament meeting books and quiet things!

From us, Cole got some mega blocks.  His big present from Grandma and Grandpa B was a bulldozer and he LOVES it!  Naturally, his older siblings all love it, too, but Cole is good-natured enough to share.

Some of our current favorite Cole words right now are:

Run! (always while running)

milk

waya (water)

Eee-ba (Eve, from Wall-E, imitating Wall-E's speech, also Evie)

Gar-Gar (Carson)

Mom!

Dad!

Beeez! (please, nearly always said as he signs it)

canny? (candy)

ap-bole (apple)

ni-ni (goodnight)

Bye!

He-yo (hello)

sit

Ugah! (hug)

a-MEN! (frequently the last syllable is shouted, even after Sacrament prayers)

I love that Cole tries to bargain for his milk.  Not that he makes any concessions, but that I offer him water and he just says milk repeatedly until I give in or walk away - usually the latter.

Cole loves balls!  However, if no sphere is close at hand, he will cheerfully throw anything else he can get his hands on.

Cole's 2 year well-child isn't until our spring break, so I don't have those stats right now.

Hole-y Ears!

Evelyn was so excited to get her ears pierced!!  She and I went to the mall, to Claire's and she got to pick out which earrings to be stuck with for 6 weeks.  She was a little nervous, but, as she said, "80% excited,' so it was a pretty positive experience.

Last hole-less picture!

After a brief talk and getting her ears marked, there was a little 'punch-punch' and there she was, all earring-ed up!

With the earrings and piercing, we got a discount on a purchase made at the same time, so I let her pick out a new hair thing.  She chose a sparkly rainbow headband to match her new, sparkly rainbow flower earrings!

**Update - We're down 4 and a half of the 6 weeks and she's SO responsible about keeping her ears clean and taking care of the holes.

Birthday Party for Evie!

Since we had so much planned around Evie's birthday, we agreed upon a pre-birthday party - almost a week before her actual birthday.  She invited 4 friends over for a pajama, pizza and wii party.

We laid out butcher paper for table cloth and invited the attendees to decorate it for the birthday girl.  Daddy and the boys joined us for the first little while, helping color, playing a few games and getting dinner, then Daddy took the boys to bed and himself to the basement to avoid the excessive girly time.

We had two pizzas - Aaron didn't think 8 kids could polish them off, but he barely got his three slices!  The girls would have eaten more but for all the pineapple.  MY kids will eat pizza with only pineapple on it forever, but evidently the other girls would all have been fine with plain pepperoni - and my other pizza was pepperoni-pineapple.  It was, nonetheless, a successful dinner.

After dinner, the girls got to decorate cupcakes.  Those six girls ate all dozen cupcakes - plus all the frosting and sprinkles they could fit on them.

Silly girls making silly faces!

Evie got a candle in her cupcake and we sang "Happy Birthday" before she made a wish and blew it out.

The girls took turns playing Mario Kart and really seemed to have fun!

I didn't take pictures of pedicures because I was the one painting all the girls' piggies, but they all loved to get their toes pretty.  After that, we played a couple rounds of Twister.  Things escalated when the girls started using the Twister mat as a parachute, until I remembered our own parachute in the playroom.

The parachute got used a couple times to hide under, then they took turns sitting on top of it while the others lifted and tossed them around.  It might not be what it was intended for, but they all seemed to really love this activity!

Evie opened a bunch of awesome presents.  From Mom and Dad she got pierced earrings - and the ability to choose when to get her ears pierced.  She set the date for the next week and we have pictures of that, too!

She got a Frozen story book, a notebook and pen, some bling jewelry with the letter E, glitzy sunglasses in a case, glow-in-the-dark friendship bracelet kit, and a spare Rainbow Loom kit - she has been so excited to learn what rainbow loom things she can make with two looms!

It was super fun to dress in pjs and have a fairly relaxed birthday party.  Evie loved everything she did and was so happy to have some friends over to celebrate with her!

I'm Going There Someday!

Preparing for Evelyn to turn 8 and be baptized, she and I made plans to go with Grandma B and take some special 'baptism' pictures.  We talked about going to the Chicago Temple or maybe the Mitchell Botanical Domes here in Milwaukee.  When the day rolled around mostly overcast and cold and windy, Grandma and I tried encouraging the Domes, since it's indoor and colorful.  We put the question to Evie and were surprised and so proud when she said she'd rather go to the temple.  She wore a white dress we picked out months ago and the beautiful cape her Aunt LaNita knitted for her last Christmas.  The cape really added some beautiful color to the 'white dress on white snow on white temple on overcast skies' monotone!

I was so proud, seeing Evelyn dressed in white on the temple grounds.  In 4 short years, she'll be eligible to go inside and participate in baptisms for the dead!  I did feel a little bad for her, since it was absolutely FRIGID out!  She snuggled into Grandma's down coat in between poses and even then she shivered for several minutes after we got back in the car!

Afterward, on the way home, we stopped at the 'Oasis', which is a toll road-reachable-only overpass group of fast food, mini-shops and gas station.  Evie and I had some Taco Bell and Grandma had some Chinese.  We sat where we were over the road and tried to get semi trucks to honk their horns as they passed under us.  We got a few to do it!

We are so looking forward to her baptism next month!