Taylor's Birthday week...

After we got the V-day weekend done and all that hullabaloo, we could focus on our little girl. Monday was no school so we decided to take advantage and get some things done around the house in preparation. (I know, lame mom, once again!)  For her birthday treats at school this year she wanted brownies. Heart Shaped brownies. With sprinkles and conversation hearts on them. A lot to ask for a domestically challenged mama. But we got to work. Three boxes of brownie mix and a few attempts at cutting a brownie with a cookie cutter and we had it down. 

 

 

I could only get 10 brownies per batch with the little ones for us. We had lots of crust leftover though, so that was yummy!

This is Jackson's cute smile face these days. He really is a happy boy but when I ask him to smile it looks like he's being asked such a hard task and he's miserable.

 

Finally....the work was done. We had 30 hearts which was perfect. 24 for her class and 6 for her little party. Don't say I never did anything for you Taylor Rae. These were definitely a work of love. I'm no good at this sort of thing!

 

 

Ben had picked up our traditional 'Nothing Bundt Cakes' cake which we love. I had leftover blue food coloring spray from her Elsa cake last year, and she wanted her Paw Patrol on her cake this year, so I let her have at it decorating. I have discovered that it is so much better when they get to decorate their own cakes. It may not be the prettiest, but she was SOOOO pleased with it!

 

This little guy decided to take the day off of school to hang out on Taylor's bed and read. I love him so much. He is so funny, and fun to have around. He is just my little buddy all day long and makes life so fun!

 

I also took advantage of the day and got the YW New Beginnings gifts done for the girls that will be coming into the YW program this year. I had to make 7 of these cute little frames with the theme in them. I love being in Young Women's! (Just one more thing I had to get done before going to Florida, on top of getting ready for Taylor's birthday and editing the thousands of pictures for the Grady's from the wedding the weekend before! No biggie!) :)

 

Oh, I also had to get packed. I had done absolutely NO packing and I was leave on Thursday morning for Orlando! Well, got one thing in the bag....my new fancy shoes! :)

 

Tuesday morning I had to get to the mall to get some things before I left and I wanted to take advantage of a GAP coupon before I left and since the only GAP we have is downtown (sniff sniff) Jackson and I went on a little shopping trip. I swear, he is the funnest little partner in crime. He was so proud to be wearing his backpack and it was so nice not even needing a stroller, but just walking hand in hand doing some shopping with my bud.

 

 

Such a sweet little boy...

 

 

Tuesday night we went out with Papa and Kathryn to celebrate Taylor's birthday with them. They were both going to be gone on Wednesday night, so we went with them a day early. I want to always remember the sweet thing Taylor did on HER birthday. This is SO Taylor. We had decorated her cake and I had asked her if she wanted it for dinner with Papa and Kathryn, or if she wanted to have this cake with her friends on her actual birthday on Wednesday, and she told me she wanted to wait until Wednesday with her friends. And that was fine. It was just sitting on our table. Well, Tucker really wanted to take it to dinner with us this night and I told him we were waiting to eat the cake with her friends on her birthday the next day and weren't going to take it to dinner. He, of course, whined and complained, and I said, sorry dude, it's Taylor's birthday she gets to decide. So,  Tucker finally dropped it but you could tell he was bummed. Well, sweet little Taylor comes over to me and says, mom...let's bring my cake to dinner tonight to surprise Tucker. She was so happy and excited to do something fun and nice for her brother even though it was her cake and her birthday. Just one of the many reasons I just love her!

 

I never get in pics with my kids and so I had to grab this one and just squeeze him. He looks really excited!

 

And the kiddies with Gramma Kathryn...

 

Finally the big day came and my little lady turned 6. I can not describe how much I love her. She is the perfect little friend and daughter. I love her so much. She is my animal loving, gymnastics flipping everywhere girl. She is strong and athletic. She is so sweet and kind and sensitive. Here she is posing with the little diji bird that Kathryn and Papa had given her the night before.

 

I didn't know how I was going to get her brownies to her, because Sunrise is so strict about little siblings going in the classrooms and I hadn't gotten anyone to watch Jackson. So she was happy taking them with her in the morning. And I didn't even get to go into her class to watch them sing Happy Birthday to her. She didn't seem phased by it at all.

For her friend party this year all she wanted to do was go to Jump and Bounce and McDonalds. And with AM Kindergarten, it was SO easy. I picked up her and 6 of her little friends from her class after school and we went jumping and went to McDonalds. It was SO easy and Taylor loved it. She kept on saying over and over again that this was the best birthday ever! :)

I had her take a picture of all of her friends in the car with us. She had to sit in the front seat because we didn't have enough room for everyone! :) But shhhh.....don't tell! :)

 

We headed to Jump and Bounce and I hadn't been there in SO long. It was so fun! I think it was Jackson's first time and he didn't know what to do with himself! :) I had so much fun with her and her friends. It was just fun to sit back and watch them run around and be crazy.

Taylor and Addie coming down the slide. Addie is so cute and such a sweet little friend.

 

 

 

They would all just run together and go from one bounce house to the other.

 

Taylor, Addie and Lyndsey...

 

 

 

Of course they had to try the velcro wall which is a nightmare when the kiddies can't even jump with the suits on so I had to get up there and throw them on the wall. My weak little arms could barely handle it. :)

 

 

After a fun hour of jumping, we headed to McDonalds for lunch and Taylor and her cute little friends were dancing and singing in the car and having such a great time! I loved it!

 

This was seriously the easiest, simplest party ever. And we were done by 2:30! :) That was the best part!

 

 

Taylor thinking real hard about her wish...

 

 

The partiers...Aidree, Addie, Giles (the lone boy), Taylor, Lyndsey, Sasha and Jackson...

 

Then I dropped the kids off at their homes and it was a perfect little party. Especially with SO many things going on this week!

I had to get a little selfie with the birthday girl while we were waiting for Tucker after school...

 

And I couldn't believe how many gifts she got from just 6 friends. They each brought like 2-3 gifts. And it was so cute. When she opened up her from Giles, he said, I know that Taylor loves Paw Patrol, so I had to get her Paw Patrol! Then Aidree said, I know that Taylor loves Beanie boo's and so I had to get her a beanie boo! And then Lyndsey said, I know that Taylor loves doggies, so I had to get her a diggie. And I just kept on thinking, do they know my girl or what!? :) It was very sweet. She has so many sweet little friends and they all know her so well and love her. Makes a mama's heart so happy!

 

 Then after school, and after gymnastics, we had exactly one and a half hours to actually celebrate before I had to get to Young Women's. So we had a little family party at that time and she got to open up her gifts.

 

 

 

 

 

I felt so bad leaving her on her birthday but we had our New Beginnings program that night and I had to be there because I made the gifts for the new girls. And Tucker had a Scout field trip to Home Depot. So she got to hang out with daddy and Jackson for a bit. 

This girl is just so sweet and I will never forget the day she was born with her big round melon head and her huge chubby cheeks. And Tucker meeting his little sister in the hospital will forever be one of my most favorite memories. She has grown into the sweetest girl. Everyone who knows her jokes that she is just everyone's biggest cheerleader and fan. She makes you feel like you are wonderful! I am so grateful that she is my little lady and forever best friend.

 

Oh, and Tucker's den leader sent me some pictures from their field trip and I had to post these.

 

Tucker and his buddies. The only ones from our branch are Dean, Tucker and Maddox, and you can see Dean kneeling beside him, they are like bosom buddies. So much alike, it's scary. But I'm glad he has a little buddy in the branch that he loves so much!

Valentines week...

Trying to get ready for Valentines day class parties and Taylor's birthday were my big agenda items this week. Of course, the week started out as usual, gymnastics on Monday's and Wednesdays like usual. I love it and I hate it. I love it because she loves it and I love going and having some chat time with the other mom's whom I love. I love it because she is getting SO good and I love watching her do something she is good at and loves to do. I love it because I really do love feeling like part of a community there. All of us moms and coaches there are friends and family. I hate it because it is an hour and a half two days a week!!! Ugh....

 

Tuesday was the 100th day of school and the kids got to dress up as old people. Tucker, of course, was totally up for it. Taylor didn't want to. Maybe next year she will be more excited. Stuff like this is right up Tucker's alley though, and he went all out.

 

We tried to make his hair grey with baby powder. It didn't work quite as well as we had wanted, and even after multiple showers, it was coming out everywhere!

 

Tucker: 'Taylor pretend to push me over and I don't have my cane.'  This boy!

 

I screenshotted a pic of Ellie, my friend Abbey's daughter. Her personality is VERY similar to Tucker's and Abbey and I called it long ago that they will date in high school. These two just crack me up! :) One day we will get to show them these pics and we will all laugh! :)

 

Jackson had to try on all of the old man clothes that Tucker wore and wanted his picture taken like Tuck.

 

 

 

 

Tucker was so sweet, and checked this book out at school for me so I could read up about Florida before going there! :)

 

Class parties were on Thursday this year because they had a snow make up day on Friday and didn't have school. I love going to the class parties. I may not get in to help much, but I can go to the parties! :) ha ha

I love this girl so much. I love going to her class and watching her with her friends and teacher. They all love her and I don't blame them. 'Ice skating' on hearts.

 

Getting to decorate a cookie:

 

And finally getting to open up her Valentines!! Woo-Hoo! I love reliving things like this with her. She gets SO excited about things like this!

 

Up next was Tucker's party. Luckily, because Taylor is in morning kindergarten, I can help in both classes this year. Next year I will have to split.

They played this really fun dice game that I am going to have to remember. They go really fast exchanging/stealing/giving candy to each other.

 

There was also a photo booth and another mom took pictures of them and printed them for us.

 

They got to make their own frame for the picture that was taken of them:

 

He got to make a Valentines day monster:

 

And finally, got to open this Valentines with his buddy Caden.

 

Friday was no school, but Tucker went to his friend Cody's house to play so that meant that the littles and I got to make the brownies that grandma sent us:

 

 

They live for things like this and since I was a lame mom and didn't plan anything, this was what they got to do. It ended up being perfect.

 

 

 

 

I FAILED majorly at Valentines this year. I was so busy, that poor Ben got the short end of the stick. In my defense, he was sick, so I cancelled what I had planned for him. We were going to do lunch and massages on Friday since that was the only time I had to celebrate during the weekend. Then we both got sick and he got it worse than me, stuffy head cold stuff. I cancelled our massages for a time when we were both feeling better.  That left Friday night AND Saturday night busy for me and him home with the kids. poor guy.

Friday night they asked me to take pictures at the Adult Stake V Day dance. Woo-Hoo! :) Ben came with me that night but only lasted there for about 20 minutes since I was in the back taking pictures all night. He wasn't feeling well and he wasn't feeling IT. :) Yulissa was at our house with our kids and he just left early to go home.

He did have me take his picture before he left though! :)

 

And I did convince him to take one with me.

 

I thought these chairs were so cute. I was coveting them. And I did have some friends show up, so it wasn't all that bad. But for next year, I think I'm going to have to pass on the V day dance pictures.

 

Saturday I was busy from noon to 10pm doing a wedding. I love doing Temple weddings, and it was a fun nice day, but I wish I would have realized sooner that it was going to be the day before Vday and that both Ben and I would have rather spent the day together. But again, lesson learned.

I did get to spend the day with this cute couple:

 

And that wasn't so bad. It was a long and exhausting day and I was happy to have Sunday to just relax.

 

Sunday we had a Regional Stake Conference broadcast from Utah. I opted to stay home with the kids. I know, it's bad. I just have no desire to take kids to Stake Conference type of events. I never get anything out of them. Ben went alone. So, while Ben was being spiritually fed, I got to spend my morning with the likes of these crazies:

 

Oh, and this one:

Ben came home and we did a little family puzzle...Happy Valentines day to us! :)

 

 Then I didn't even plan anything fun for dinner. I failed SO hard this year. So, tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches it was this year. Taylor wanted to make a salad to go with our meal to be 'healthy' and so she gathered up some 'healthy' items and put them together for her salad. It included:

cut up apples, cut up carrots, cut up mozzarella cheese sticks and croutons. YUM!

 

And just so you know, this is me failing to cook at my failed V day dinner meal. Tomato soup all over the stove! :) Ben cleaning it up for me. :) My sweet Valentine. I should also note that I woke up on Sunday morning to chocolate, Roses, cards, a new chopper, a new bedspread and a new scale. All things I had been wanting. He is so good at gift giving. I had nothing for him. NOT A THING. After I cancelled our lunch and massage, anything romantic related left my mind as I prepared for the weekend. I gave him a rain check. Totally lame.

 

But, I sure am lucky that this is just one of many many many Valentines that we get to spend together! :)