Happy Ninth Birthday Eden!

So i first have to start by saying how pleased i am with myself that i am posting this only a few short DAYS after it actually occurred instead of weeks or months, HA!  ;-)

So...kids have birthdays and....they get older...yep, it's true.  Not only do I just have a 10 year old, but i have a 9 year old to go along with him now.  The kids keep having discussions with me about when they will be old enough to be left home alone and/or left home to watch over their younger two siblings.  Not sure what or if the law says about that, but it's not happening this year, although Eden i have to say is an extremely responsible child and probably is more concerned about safety and appropriate behavior than i am (unless she's the one having an inappropriate moment that is, lol).

ANYWAY, Eden did in fact turn nine on the 5th of this month and i was reminded about the upcoming birthday several weeks prior to it occurring.  One day i asked Eden if she was excited about her birthday because she was turning 9, or if it was just about the presents.  She responded that it was ALL about the presents!  :-)  I think she made out pretty well with everything that she got.  And of course a big thanks for all the presents, cards, and money sent for her, she is still very excited about it all.

One of Eden's bigger gifts this year aside from clothes that she LOVES, was a pink BB gun.  :-)  I remember when i was a teenager and my brother being allowed to use bow and arrows (what Iman got for his birthday just 2 months ago) and BB guns, when he was about my kids current age, and thinking it was irresponsible of my parents to allow such non-sense.  We'll either i am completely senseless, or just now appreciate what children are capable of and also love to see the joy on their faces when they open that special gift.  Of course adult supervision is always required.  :-)

Eden picked again this year a three layer cake and asked me to decorate it with the numerous "Littlest Pet Shop" animals you see in the pictures below.  It wasn't until she blew out the candle and began to remove the animals that it dawned on me why she had chosen so many other them to be put upon the cake.  You will see what i mean in the pictures that follow.  We were also blessed with the presence of most of our Sweet Dream Farm folk, and so we all had a very exciting time.

 I love how Evelyn is right there in the action.  She is so excited about presents, it's adorable.  :-)

 Wait for it....

 Don't know if you can tell, but the candle flames are the same color that the candles were.  

Pretty cool.  Eden picked them out.  :-)

Yep, that's right.....the more things on your cake them more you get to lick the frosting off!

Sarah turns 6! (a while ago)

Yes, yes, Sarah's birthday was in July, but like i said i'm playing catch up.

We decided to go all out for her this year and we had quite a crowd attend the festivities.  We went with water fun and had a slip and slide.  Sarah of course wanted a different rendition of a monkey cake and so i once again had to get creative with my very limited skills, especially seen as she cannot have any food coloring.  Anyway she had a fabulous time and we are very grateful to all that came and showed their love and helped celebrate.

Jack-a-Lope is THREE! (Whew, finally!)

Okay, so i know that I've been MIA for the past month and a half, but i think i have a pretty good excuse.  The fact is that there's so much to be done when moving that I can't quite justify blogging as the guilt of not being more productive is overwhelming.  Truth is, it's okay for me to blog and not feel guilty as this is really like a journal to me, documenting my life and thoughts, that one day will hopefully be valuable to my posterity.  So today's blog is about Jack's birthday, which, yes, was the 12th of March which is exactly one month and one day ago, HOWEVER i did take the pictures and i do want to remember the memories. 

Be prepared that in the next few days as i get back into the habit of blogging there will be a vomiting of them like a woman with morning sickness!  I have lots to catch up on so please excuse the "outdatedness" (nope that's not a real word) of it all.

Back to Jack! 

Jack-a-lope has been excited for his third birthday ever since Christmas. (mainly because the only way i could appease him that he would soon get more presents that he didn't get enough of for Christmas - apparently, was to tell him he had a birthday coming up soon).  He pretty much asked everyday though from Christmas to his birthday if today was his birthday.  :-)

We celebrated on the Sunday after his birthday and had our dearest friends over for dinner after church.  Jack decided that his cake was going to be pretty much like what Eden's was except he really focused on the Zebras.  This time i made even the frosting from scratch as i recently found out that even white frosting bought in the stores has food coloring in it too (the shock and the horror) and having two kids that really can't handle coloring i was forced to forgo the Betty Crocker cream cheese frosting we all love so much. Hey, if anyone has a "from scratch" cream cheese frosting suitable for cakes, let me know please! (i know you do!) :-)

I think Jack had a fabulous time being the center of attention and thanks to the Schutzes, as usual, Jack had endless gifts to open, the TRON cars were a huge hit!  ;-) 

Jack has mastered how to hold up three fingers when he's asked how old he is and is now finally not asking for things for his birthday, lol.  Boy do i love this little guy of mine!

Also from the Schutzes!  He loves it!

Happy Birthday Edy Beady!

December 4th, the day before her 8th birthday, we celebrated Eden's birthday with a party.  She had two main requests (aside from endless ideas for gifts of course) and that was 1.  A three tiered cake with horses and M&M's on it, and 2. a pinata (obviously we weren't inclined to get one before as pinata's don't normally happen in December).


She got her wishes and i think with all the wonderful friends there she had a great time.  They also played "pass the parcel" a game we played at parties in England when i was a kid. They also played Simon Says and Musical Statues.  I LOVE Musical Statues as the kids can be quite funny while dancing, especially as they catch on to the fact that it's best to dance as slooooooow as possible in order to freeze more effectively.


When i asked Eden what was her favorite part of the whole party, she simply replied, "my presents."  Well, should i have expected a deeper answer from an 8 yr old?  ;-)  Thanks to everyone that made it possible, it was a fun day for all.

 The Three Tiered M&M and Horse Cake

Yes, these are Jack's Equine and he actually kept referring to the cake as "my zebra cake."

 Musical Statues.....

 I love Mallory's Hair in this shot and that Jack looks like he's snapping his fingers like he's a Jet from West Side Story.

 Singing Happy Birthday....

 Blowing out the candle.....

 Eating the birthday cake....

 This was the Taylor Swift CD she wanted...

yes she is actually screaming here.

 waiting in line for the pinata....