Kids Birthdays 2014

The theme of the birthday celebrations this year can be summed up as: low key.  Since we were in the middle of another move (you know, the 3rd one in a year!), I just couldn't add much more on my plate. The kids seemed totally fine with our toned down celebrations and I have promised them all parties next year to make up for it.

Carter's birthday was a few days after we returned home from our Christmas trip. He requested Krispy Kreme donuts and bacon for breakfast. He got some fun gifts including new Boy Scout gear and tons of BYU attire since he had outgrown all his other stuff.

He wanted to have dinner at Chili's and was thrilled when we allowed him to get his very own dessert. 

Exactly 3 weeks later we celebrated Addison's birthday. She got a bunch of American Girl things for Saige. We had waffles with blueberry syrup and whipped cream for her birthday breakfast.

 Addison really wanted to have lunch with a few of her friends on her birthday. (A little known fact is that the kids all go home for lunch every day here). I took them over to a little outdoor restaurant near the school for pizza and ice cream and let them play at the park. It was easy and fun!

 Our school is a no treat school so we decided to bring balloons for Addison's class. The kids were so excited and Addison loved all the attention.

 Miss Addie with her cake. Pink cake with pink frosting and sprinkles. We also had pink ice cream.

Emery's birthday is 2 days after Addison's. Emery's favorite thing is talking on the phone to her grandmas. She was thrilled to talk to both on her bday.

 Emery got the Calico Critters camper and car (still the best toys we have every purchase) and spent the entire rest of the day blissfully playing with her new toys. In fact, ALL of the kids had a really great time playing together. It was really cute.

 Emery wanted the exact same cake as Addison so I baked 1 cake mix in two pans and the each had their own cake. So completely ghetto but no one seemed to notice ;)

Makenna turned 9 at the end of February . She wanted to have monkey bread for her birthday breakfast. Her favorite gift is the disco ball we got for her room. The kids have had more fun with that thing than I ever imagined.

 Makenna wanted to have lunch with her bestie so I took them to a restaurant on camp for lunch and they had a playdate after school. Kenna is in love with her friends guinea pig and begs daily for one (so not happening). These two are cute friends!

Makenna also picked Chili's for her bday dinner and insisted on getting her own dessert but she barely touched it because she was full.

I know I usually do a bit of a recap about each of the kids at the time of their birthdays but I decided to spend the time writing in their journals instead. I only have so much time these days and that seemed more personal and important. 

We have great kids that have diverse and interesting personalities. I'm so grateful to mother each one of them with their own unique attributes and strengths! 

Addie is 5!

I can't believe my little gal is 5 years old! This girl makes me so happy and warms my heart every single day. She seems so much older in recent months and is developing into such a fun, spunky and interesting little person! 

We started her birthday a little bit early when we were able to go to the mall together one afternoon a few days before her birthday. The original plan was to go to the American Girl store to look at the dolls but since we were there and just the two of us she decided to get her ears pierced! We were going to go on her birthday but the timing was perfect so we did it a few days early.  She was very surprised when the first ear was pierced and  it hurt more than she was expecting but she was very brave and did not cry at all. She loves her new earrings! 

On her actual birthday we got up early and had breakfast and then opened presents.

 Addison was SO excited to get her own American Girl doll. After spending more than an hour at the store looking at all the dolls I was THRILLED when she picked out Saige, the new girl of the year. I did not influence her decision at all but we both love that she is from New Mexico and that she has such a fun story. She also got Saige's accessories and some Barbie princess movies. Allen's mom sent her a pretty temple necklace and my parents sent her a fun AG tea set and girl/doll apron and cooking set. She was so happy with her gifts and she has played with her doll non-stop. It has been so fun to see the girls play with their dolls and really enjoy them together.

For breakfast Addie picked Nutella/banana/pudding crepes and apple cinnamon donut muffins. Yummy!

 Addie wanted to go swimming on her birthday so I took her to the gym to swim that afternoon. We had a very busy rest of the day but were able to go to Panera bread for her birthday dinner. She loves their Mac n Cheese. Since we had sports practices that night we even had her cake at the restaurant. Overall she had a wonderful day and loved her gifts, activities and meals.  (excuse the post-swimming hair in this picture).

Addison is such a joy to be around. She has a real zest for life and has such a happy personality.  She really, really loves preschool and has made some cute friends there this year. Her favorite activity is art time and her teacher often comments on how precise and careful she is with her projects. She loves to draw, paint and create at home too. Addie is doing great academically - she is starting to sound out words and is very interested in the reading process. She always tries to figure out what letter words start with. It is exciting to see her mind expanding so rapidly. Addie also loves her gymnastics and swimming classes and asks every day if she can have a playdate with her friends.

Addison's other great love is being read to. It is not unusual for her to bring me stacks of books to read to her in the afternoon while Emery is napping. She will not go to bed at night unless we have read several books. Addison is a great big sister to Emery. Those two are as thick as thieves and we have to separate them at night or they stay up giggling and laughing with each other. Most mornings when I go to get Emery out of her crib, Addison is snuggled up with her inside the crib. Addie was the first name Emery knew in our family. One of the cutest things about Addie is that every time she prays she prays that our family will "always stick together." It's adorable. She LOVES to pray and gives very comprehensive, detailed, LONG prayers that crack us up.

Addie is still teeny tiny. I am still buying her size 4 pants and having to cinch them in all the way on both sides. She is not nearly as picky a eater as she was a few years ago and salad is now one of her most favorite foods. We laugh that she has a discerning palate and has preferences similar to an adult. She still loves fancy cheeses, chips and guacamole, edamame and really good bread. She is super picky about sweets and refuses to each cheap chocolate or any desserts that are not up to her standards. Addie loves to talk to her grandparents on the phone and will carry on lengthy conversations with them. She is a total social butterfly and likes to have lots of friends. Every single day I'm so glad I get to be her mom and love all that she adds to our family!

Carter is 10!

Carter celebrated his 10th birthday last week! I can hardly believe that I've been a mother for a decade! We started the birthday celebrations the weekend before his birthday. As usual, he wanted to go to breakfast for his birthday so we had to go a few days before so we could do it on a Saturday. We went to a local place called The Maltby Cafe that was highly recommended. The food was amazing. Carter got a huge pancake breakfast - 4 pancakes, 4 scrambled eggs, 6 pieces of bacon and OJ. He ate the entire thing! He has turned into a typical boy bottomless pit with food the past few months.

The girls got yummy food too but especially loved their HUGE servings of hot chocolate. Allen got eggs benedict california style (with fresh tomato and avocado) and I got blackberry crepes with creme fraiche (where have you been all my life?!)

His actual birthday was on Tuesday. We woke up and had strawberry Nutella crepes for breakfast and then opened his presents before school.

He got a Broncos hat and invention kit from my parents, some scouting things from Allen's mom and a few treats, a Madden xbox game and an iPod touch from us. He's been wanting an iPod for a few years and we finally relented this year. I have very mixed feelings about taking this step and we have lots of rules in place regarding it but we have LOTS of travel coming up this year and we thought it would be a great for him to have during our trips. He was thrilled!

 After school he had piano lessons but we let him skip basketball practice so he could stay home and play with his new stuff. He requested his favorite chicken dish and chocolate eclair cake for dinner.

 Carter is such a fun and interesting kid to be the parent of. His curiosity knows no bounds and he is always excited to learn about and try new things. Sometimes I think he has NO fear of anything and he is anxious to try everything. He is very talkative and will talk your ear off about things that are interesting to him - especially sports, video games, books he reads and the places he wants to travel to. He is really polite and can carry on a conversation with anyone. Carter still has A LOT of initiative to do things on his own. Earlier this year he decided to read the Book of Mormon on the same schedule as Allen and the YM. He actually finished well before Allen did without ever receiving any prodding from us. He loves to play, watch and talk about all sports. He got really into football this year and loved watching games and talking strategy with Allen. He played soccer this fall after taking a couple years off and really loved the game and got really competitive. He is playing basketball this winter and is enjoying that too. He still loves to play the piano and is getting ready to participate in a competition this spring. He is only one level behind me and is getting so good! It is so fun to watch the years of lessons and practicing pay off! Carter loves to read and is doing well in school and loves to hang with his friends. He recently started chess club and is learning lots of good strategy and loves playing games when he can rope one of his parents into it.

Carter's great ambition is to become an anesthesiologist and he talks about going to medical school all the time. He is always trying to rope us into to taking him on trips and begs to go to some exotic location almost every day. It is hilarious! He still LOVES to tease his sisters and it sometimes drives me crazy! He is still super competitive but is getting better with sportsmanship a little bit at a time. We are incredibly grateful for the bright spirit that Carter is and the energy he brings to our family. We are grateful that he loves his sisters and stands up for them when needed. We love watching him grow up to be a great young man!

Spy Party

Makenna has been planning a spy party for the entire past year. I tried to interest her in some other ideas along the way but she has knew what kind of party she wanted. We had fun planning this party even though there weren't a ton of ideas out there to "borrow." First up is the invites. We made each invited person a "Top Secret" spy file for the invitation. This is the outside:The inside had all pertinent party information and a password they had to decode along with instructions on a secret handshake they had to learn.
Once all the agents arrived at the party they were all fingerprinted to prepare for training. Our spies in training:
The first training exercise was bomb detonation (popping about 100 black balloons):

The second training exercise was getting through the laser beam maze (red string criss-crossed a ton of different ways):
The third training exercise was target shooting (water shooters on a target on our back fence). After the training exercises it was time for the agents to undergo an actual mission. We told them there was a dangerous object hidden somewhere in the neighborhood that they had to get rid of.

The first clue was written backwards so they had to use a mirror to decode it.
The second clue was a map of the neighborhood leading them to an obscure location. The third clue used the same code as the invites and led them to the 4th location. The 4th clue was written on the sidewalk behind our house and led the kids to our neighbors house where they picked up the "weapon" (a bomb piñata)
After they found the bomb we brought it back to the house and destroyed it!
After the activities we had a nacho bar and "bomb" donuts for the treat:
After opening presents (where Kenna was spoiled rotten) we gave out the goodie bags. They included secret message decoder kits, spy glasses (you can see behind you when you wear them), spy notebooks/pens and candy from the piñata.
Makenna had a fantastic time with her friends and the kids seemed to really enjoy themselves! It was fun to pull together such a unique themed birthday party!

Kenna's 7th Birthday

Makenna's birthday was last week and once again we stretched out our celebrating all weekend long. She chose to go to Red Robin for her dinner on Saturday night and loved her gigantic post-dinner Sundae.Allen was traveling for work all last week so we had her family birthday dinner on Sunday night. We had pizza fondue and chocolate eclair cake.
Monday was her actual birthday and we had a big breakfast before school and Allen flew out on his trip. Before opening her gifts:

With her gifts! She got the AG Girl of the year because her name is McKenna! She also got the McKenna sick kit and wheelchair (from my parents), a movie and some new clothes from Allen's mom. She was thrilled to pieces with her new doll and that wheelchair has been played with them constantly this week.

Makenna had a project due at school on her birthday so we were able to go watch her give her presentation on archaeology. She did a great job with her report and her class really loved the mini archaeological dig we brought in for them to try (not pictured).

Her class sang her happy birthday and she got to wear the birthday crown all day! We brought in a healthy birthday treat for her to share.

Since Allen was out of town we went and grabbed a pizza for dinner and then came home in time to Facetime with Allen for a little while (thank you Apple!) We love that technology allows us to talk face-to-face with our loved ones.

A few days after her birthday her darling primary teacher brought her over a birthday treat which she loved. Makenna is just the sweetest girl around and such a blessing in our family. She is a great friend and always has a gaggle of friends around her at church and school. She loves her friends and begs for a play date almost daily. Kenna is very sensitive to other people and gets emotional easily (wonder where she got that from?!). At Christmastime when we were watching a movie about Jesus' birth she got very emotional when Herod's soldiers killed the baby boys. She just cried and cried over it.

She is still my very best helper and is so cheerful running around for me and lending a hand whenever I need it. She still loves to help in the kitchen and is a great big sister and helper with the little girls. She often begs me to let her "babysit" Emery. She also loves to play school or house with the girls where she can be in charge (teacher or mom).

She is doing awesome at school and continues to surprise us with all she knows and understands. She was recently tested for reading and she is reading at almost a 4th grade level. She loves AG books, the Little House on the Prairie series and Magic Treehouse books. She loves playing outside more than anything though and has a bunch of kids in the neighborhood that she loves to ride bikes/scooters/play with every day after school. She is still super girly and only wants to wear dresses and skirts to school but she does love her knit pants/hoodies that she wears on PE days. She loves changing her earrings and nail polish color frequently.

Kenna also loves music. She loves rocking out/dancing in the car and is always patrolling the radio stations in the car for the best music. She is doing awesome in piano and is in the level 1 books now. She has improved a lot and loves to practice. She also loves her dance class, especially now that they are getting ready for the spring recital. She is ready to try something new so she is going to start gymnastics this fall. She has also turned into a great little artist and even one an art contest at school for her grade level last month. She is always writing Allen and me little love notes and leaving them on our pillows and drawing us pictures with lots of hearts and kind words.

We are all just smitten with this girl who is beautiful both inside and out and so happy she is such a sweet influence in our family!

ONE!!!!!

I did it. I survived Emery's first birthday. I shed a few tears throughout the day and it has taken me awhile to feel like I can sit and write about it without starting up again. Sigh. Who knew I would fall head over heels in love with this baby this year?!?

Let me preface these birthday pictures by saying that Emery starting getting two teeth a couple weeks ago and she is the most unhappy teething baby ever. Seriously. She has been miserable the last couple weeks no matter what we try. So... unfortunately her first birthday wasn't as super stellar as we were hoping it to be. Boo to new teeth.

We celebrated with our little family. Ems had an adorable birthday outfit, including a sparkly pink "1" crown. This is how she felt about the crown:

I don't know what it is with her and bows/hats lately but she HATES them and cries whenever we try to put them on her. Doesn't she know I have thousands of girl accessories waiting to be used by her?

Before opening gifts:
She loved tearing the paper off her presents. She could have done it all day long!
Birthday outfit and the one and only smiling picture from the day:
With her gifts. Man, it is hard to find gifts to give a 4th child and 3rd girl. She got A LOT of clothes from us, tons of new books and a couple little toys (including a new Sophie the giraffe since we lost ours). From Grandma Frost she got books and from G&G Baldwin she got some fun dishes/toys for the new play kitchen (which technically was supposed to be for both the little girls' birthdays)
Cake!
She was super unsure about what to do with the gigantic slice we gave her but eventually dug in and loved it and then proceeded to throw it all over the floor.
I made a fun pink ombre cake. This is the inside. I put different colors of pink frosting between each layer.

I cannot put into words how grateful I am every single day that we decided to have another baby. Emery has been the joy of our family this last year and has renewed my love of motherhood. Emery has probably been our easiest baby (which is saying a lot because all 4 of our babies have been easy) and she is super smiley and easy going. I am so thankful that Heavenly Father knew what I needed more than I did!