Minute To Win It!

We planned to have a sledding party for Elliot's birthday. What could be easier? Go sledding, have a donut cake and hot chocolate, party over, house isn't destroyed by a bunch of 6 year olds. I even made these really cute invitations, see?

I mean, we had so much snow! And it was cold! Until 2 days before the party. It suddenly was 43 degrees and raining. All the snow melted and I scrambled. We quickly came up with plan b, and I called everyone and let them know about the change of plans. We decided to have a Minute to Win It party. You can look on the shows website and find a list of all the games with instructions and supplies needed. Perfect for 6 year olds!! It was all thrown together at the last minute but it was so fun! Everyone had a great time.

We played "Defying Gravity" -they had to keep their balloon in the air for 1 minute

"A Bit Dicey"-they had to balance dice (we used dominos) on a tongue depressor

"Cookie Unicorn"-balance 3 cookies on their head

"Light as a Feather"-they had to blow on their feather and keep it up for a minute

"Back Flip"-flip progressively more pencils over their hand and catch them

"Hanky Panky"-take all the tissues out of the box with one hand in one minute

"Separation Anxiety"-separate m&m's by their colors into separate bowls.

"On the Nose"-put vaseline on your nose and use ONLY your nose to move cotton balls from one bowl to another.

"Stack It"-stack 2 golf balls so they stay without holding them (yes, it can be done!)

The boys had a great time playing the games and everyone got prizes.

Elliot didn't want to take off his secret disguise glasses :)

Thanks for the Bakugans Keenan!

Thanks for the star wars guy, Peter!

Thanks for the Sponge Bob bath paint, Gabe!

Thanks for the Legos, Shane!

Thanks for the nerf gun, Roan!

Thanks for the watch and hot wheels, Treyson!

Elliot still wanted to have a donut cake.

Which everyone enjoyed!

Silly kids...

Happy Birthday Elliot!

6 Years Old

Have I ever mentioned that Elliot and Naomi's birthdays are 4 days apart? Well, they are. It's honestly hard to keep up, and I consume way more cake and ice cream in January than should be legal! But you have to make a big deal about it because they were born right after Christmas and they will surely hold it against you someday if you let it all blend into the Christmas madness!! Anyway, we had a little family party on his big day!

Elliot talked about turning 6 for months.

As I was making his green cake I told him I was going to make a green cake with blue frosting, his 2 favorite colors, he told me that he wanted chocolate frosting. So chocolate it was.

He liked it.

He loved his Mario Party game that he got for his ds.

Happy Birthday Elliot! We love you!

My baby is 2, *sniff*

Naomi turned 2 at the beginning of the month. I simply can't believe that she is already 2. I'm really at a loss for words about the whole thing. It seems like she was just a little baby, then I blinked. My baby is getting so grown up. She is talking up a storm. She has a crazy stubborn mind of her own. She is most definitely in her terrible 2's. She is sweet, she is adorable, she loves to dance, her favorite song right now is mmmBop by Hanson (thanks Ray). Every time I'm on the computer she comes up and says "doowap, mom, doowap", and forces her way on to my lap and stays there until I turn the video on youtube. She doesn't like to watch TV all that much (to my chagrin, when am I supposed to ever get anything done around here??). She prefers to walk around getting in to everything she can possibly reach. It's exhausting, *sigh*. But I'm trying to enjoy it because soon I'm going to wake up and she will be starting high school! We sure love this girl and are so happy that she is a part of our family.

*Ice cream love*

We invited some of our friends over for cake and ice cream on her birthday. They got her some Dora bath toys, which she loves!

Cake and ice cream were enjoyed by all.

Especially Nathan :)

Wintry Weather

We had some really cold weather in December/beginning of January. I don't love the extreme cold, but it is so beautiful when none of the snow melts and it clings to every branch.

And when the snow sparkles.

And the pine trees are all snow flocked.

So beautiful, *sigh*.

Christmas: Part II

Christmas morning is always very dramatic around here because we can't put any presents out before Christmas because they would be immediately opened. So when the kids come downstairs on the big day they see all of the presents laid out that weren't there before. Even if there aren't actually that many presents, it seems like there are because there was nothing there before! They love it, and so do I.

Captures the moment, for sure.

It's a pillow, it's a pet, it's a pillow pet! If that song isn't stuck in your head for the rest of the day you just don't watch enough Nick Jr. The kids have been begging for pillow pets all year. Well, Santa delivered this year. I think they would've been thrilled beyond belief if that was the only present they got. They were a huge hit!

Grace got an ipod with an itunes gift card. (Her ipod looks a lot like my ipod that has gone missing, hmmmm.) She was very excited about it. Later that day she said to Ray, "I think this is mom's ipod". Ray said, "It can't be mom's ipod, it doesn't have any of her music on it". She was mollified. Especially when we plugged it in to the computer and it showed up as "Grace's ipod". That Santa, he thinks of everything!

Thanks for the sweater and bracelet kit, Colby!

Elliot got a nintendo ds.

He was thrilled!

Thanks for the cool books and the zhu zhu pet, Cole!

Maggie got some dress ups and a ballerina outfit. Just what she wanted.

She changed her outfit 4 times in 10 minutes!

She looks like a pretty tough princess with that black eye!

Thanks for the movie Lilia!

Naomi got a baby and a stroller.

She loves babies, and she loves strollers. There is always some kind of fight over the 2 in nursery every Sunday!

She also loves Maggie's dress ups. She refused to take this dress off all day :) She also LOVES the crocs and dress she got from Valerie! Thanks girl! (they got here a little late and I didn't get a picture.)

I got all the girls these adorable leg warmers that a friend of mine made.

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!