My Big Girl...

On May 28th my baby turned 3 and is now my "Big" girl. If you call her your baby she will correct you and tell you that she's a big girl too! 

 

 For her cake this year, I did a castle. It turned out really cute if I do say so myself. Audrey was really excited about the cake and for weeks before her birthday would tell everyone that she was getting a castle cake. She even now will talk about her castle cake anytime anyone mentions anything about birthday cake. She's just too cute.

To decorate it, I used gum drops and jelly rolls that I rolled out thin then used a cookie cutter to cut out. The centers of the flowers are fruit flavored tootsie rolls. Audrey really did LOVE her cake and was very proud of it. 

The Birthday Girl!

 Blowin' out her candle...

Nathan and Audrey with Grandma Jan and Grandma Alice. I love this picture of them.

I made her this tutu...she's still not sure if she likes it. She's worn it a total of I think 10 minutes since she got it. Oh well, I tried.  :)  I think it turned out cute. And Audrey picked out the purple. It's her favorite color. 

Audrey got a big girl bike for her birthday and LOVES, LOVES, LOVES it. She even got a little bell. I love to hear her ring it. I know she's one happy girl!!

 Sure do love this little girl. We are so glad that she's a part of our family. It would not be complete without her in it. 

The Soccer thing...

Well we signed up Nathan to do the soccer thing again this year. He seemed excited at first and really gung-ho, but now that the season has started (actually 1/2 over by now) he's not seeming to be liking it too much. This may be the last time he plays until he shows some interest in it without mommy having to push him at it. I'm hoping to sign Audrey up for fall soccer...I think she really wants to play, so we'll see how that goes.

Here are a few pics from some games and some practices he's had... 

The kids posing for mommy after Nathan got his soccer pictures done the first day.

Warming up for the first game...waiting for his turn to kick the soccer ball.

 

 Practice...

 When a girl plays soccer...I guess you gotta have your purse with you. That's how Audrey does it at least. :) Just cracks me up...

Some more soccer practice...

 

 

 

That's it for now...hopefully more soccer pics to come.

Easter Weekend....

We didn't do a lot for Easter, but it seems like the less we plan the better the day ends up being in the end, so I guess it all worked out.

Nathan has started soccer again this year, so we passed up doing the Easter egg hunt at the fitness center this year and just went straight to his game. It was pretty good, Nathan still hasn't decided if he wants to play or not. There are times he wants to be in and plays really good...and other times when he just wants to sit out and doesn't want anything to do with it. We'll see how the season goes. 

Here's a pic of Nathan waiting for his turn to kick the ball...

After soccer we went over to the neighbors and hung out with their family. They got a new swingset and Chris helped them put it together while I worked on some sewing projects of my own and helped my neighbor with some of hers. And of course the kids played...and made messes. :)
Sunday morning the kids woke up to find these...

Some cute fabric Easter bunnies I made and some marshmallow chocolate eggs the the Young Women in our ward made as a fundraiser. (They were yummy too, I had to take a taste of course.)

Since we have church at 9 in the morning, the Easter bunny didn't stop at our house until after church. 

Here are the kids in their Easter outfits. I made Audrey's dress.

And a close up of Audrey's matching barrettes.

The kids had fun checking out what they got and getting full of candy (sorry, didn't get any pics of their haul). And then they both crashed, which never happens.

 

Audrey slept for almost 2 hours and Nathan for 1 1/2 hours, it was a nice break. Between playing the day before and all the fun they were having, it really wasn't much of a surprise. 

Later in the afternoon while we were eating our dinner, Nathan decided he wanted to go on an Easter egg hunt, so Chris and I filled eggs with some candy and some coins and went outside to hide them. They kids had such a fun time finding them. 

Here's Nathan and his eggs...

And Audrey with hers...

 I love having relaxed holidays when we're able to spend time as family and it's not too structured so we are all able to have more fun!

Favorites: Old Movies and Musicals...

I grew up heading off the the library and my sister and I would rent VHS video's that they had there. My parents would help us pick out movies sometimes and I came to really love movies from the 50's and 60's as well as pretty much any musical there is. I thought it would be fun to share with you some of my favorite movies from that time and ones that I still really love. Yes they are corney...but that makes me like the all the more I think.

Tammy and the Bachelor...starring Debbie Reynolds and (a very cute) Leslie Nielsen. 

I absolutely love the song Debbie Reynolds sings called "Tammy". It's also sung by a group from the era The Ames Brothers and I LOVE both versions. You can listen here. 

"Gidget" is also a fun one to watch...it's even more corny and silly then Tammy...but one of my favorites none-the-less.

 I do remember watching "Gidget" on TV with Sally Fields, but this is the movie with Sandra Dee. I loved the movie so much that I even own the book about the real Gidget. And I actually own all 3 Gidget Movies...Gidget, Gidget goes Hawaiian and Gidget goes to Rome, although the best is the first. Here's a song by a great group that I again LOVE to listen to that sings in the movie...The Four Preps singing "Cinderella"...they also sing the song "Gidget"

And my ALL TIME FAVORITE movie!!! 

"Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"!  

I remember watching this the first time when my parents took the family to California to go to a Square Dance something-or-other and we went to my uncles while they went off to dance. I fell in love with it then...I'm not sure how old I was, but didn't see it again until I was older and started getting the video's from the library and saw it again. Jane Powell and Howard Keel have amazing voices...I love the singing, I love the dancing, I love the red heads (oh, did I say that), really everything about the movie! My favorite scene in the movie is the barn raising. You can see it here. 

Do you have any favorite movies/musicals from this time???

Birthday Boy!!!

Nathan has been asking for quite a while now when he was going to turn 5 and if when he turned 5 he could go to Kindergarten. He's been so excited for the day to come and we've had to explain to him a few times that yes he'll go to Kindergarten once he's five but will have to wait a couple months for school to start. 

Well, Nathan celebrated his 5th birthday on St. Patrick's day and now that we have a 5 year old get to plan on more adventures with him, including...yes, Kindergarten this year. 

(He may be ready to go, but I'm not sure I'm ready yet!)

Anyway, since his birthday's St. Patrick's day I like to make a fun treat for his class and this is what I did for this year...

I found the idea in the Family Fun magazine and as soon as I saw it, knew it would be what we'd do this year, both Nathan and Audrey seemed to like how they turned out and I know I do.

Since he was having his actual birthday party on Saturday we took him to the store and let him pick out a small cake to celebrate that night.

Here's the birthday boy! Can't believe he's 5 already, time sure does fly.

 We also let him open 1 present for his birthday and as he was opening it, he took the paper off and exclaimed, "A box of diapers!" We had to explain to him that he needed to open the box and inside he found a cute pillow pet. He said the next day that he wants more pillow pets, but not until everyone else has one too.

Since he turned 5 this year, we decided that he got to invite some friends over for his party and decided on a Fireman theme, including a visit to the fire station. 

Here's some pictures from the fun...

 Good bags made from fireman fabrics, they had chocolate licorice to represent the fireman's hose, life savers and roll ups (stop, drop and roll) as well as stickers, a water gun and some bubbles. I also got Nathan a fire chief hat at the party store and found yellow fireman hats at the dollar store. (The firemen at the station said the chief actually does wear a red hat and the other guys hats are yellow.)

 I also got some red fire hats to use with the decorations. The table set with balloons and life savers.

The birthday banner I cut out with my Cricut.

And we decided on a Dalmatian birthday cake. Not my best cake, but Nathan seemed to like it so that's all that matters. 

 Once the kids got there they each colored a name tag to wear before heading to the fire station.

 Audrey, Nathan, Loren and Esther.

 Nathan and his buddy Loren...

 Cute Esther...

 Talking with the fire chief about fire safety...

 The fireman all suited up showing the kids that he's not scary when he's all dressed up in his gear and if they see him in a fire, not to hide from him.

 Showing us the fire engine.

Checking out the ride.

 Fireman in training!

 Group shot. The kids did have a lot of fun, but they were ready to go when it was over. Not much attention span, but they all seemed to have a good time.

We then headed home and did presents and had some cake and ice cream.

Happy Birthday Nathan! So glad that your ours!!!