February 12X12

February 12X12

I am a horrible breakfast person. I dislike almost all breakfast foods.  My girls are sadly following in my footsteps.  This morning however we had leftover Krispy Kreme doughnuts so the girls had no problem chowing down.

 Along with my New Years resolution to do a year's worth of 12X12's, another resolution is to do birthday cards for all the cousins.  Taylor & Tyson love getting the mail and dropping all the birthday cards to the mailbox.  Here is Taylor after dropping cards and getting the mail I forgot to get the night before.

 We had nothing scheduled for the morning so me and the girls ran down to the Meadows Mall.

 We have a whole routine at the mall.  We hit the kids play area, See's Candy, Hot Dog on a Stick, and the Disney Store.  Today we had a coupon for Claire's and it threw our whole routine off.  The girls were in heaven in there and we ran crazy late to get Taylor off to school.

 After Taylor & Hayden went to school Ryan went down for a nap, and then it was down to work for me.  Tyson's Valentine party at school was the next day and I had to make 24 Valentine holders.

 We were going to have the kids make them but the school was having a Heart Healthy Fun Run right in the middle of our party time.  I had been saving cereal boxes all month to make these things!

 After carpool it was homework time.  You know Taylor was concentrating hard, her tongue is out :)

 Dinner was a simple meal we have all the time.  BBQ chicken and pasta.

 I love to listen to music while I have to fold laundry.  The kids think it's party time in my room when I turn the radio on.  Ryan loves shoes and was dancing in these Barbie heels all night.

 One solid hour of my life which I will never get back :)  I CANNOT wait til I can just give the kids a basket of their own clothes and tell them to fold it themselves.  One day...

 After laundry it was time to make sure I had everything ready for the Valentines parties the next day.  Here are Hayden's Dora Valentines getting candy added to them.

Jason got home just as the smoke alarm started beeping.  He walked in the door, ate, and then was off to the store to buy some new batteries so the dang thing would be quiet. I know they are "lifesavers" but when that beeping starts I just want to shoot the thing.

Fun and very long day :)

Blue & Gold dinner

For the Blue & Gold dinner the theme was "Invention Convention".  Pretty random but the primary did the best they could with that.  They had a nacho bar and you had to invent your dinner with what topping you put on.  Here's my boy with two of his really good friends, Josh & Mitchel.

 I had to include all the cakes.

 I really loved this one.  Adorable!

 The kids did inventions after eating.  Here are mini volcanoes.

 This was making duck sounds out of a cup and string.  Then the kids went out and put mentos in coke.  They always love that one.

 Tyson's cake won the award for "Larger Than Life" cake.  It basically was 3 times the size of any cake there.

We had several negative comments and quite a few haters on our cake.  I was really surprised, when I grew up the Blue & Gold dinner was really special and people tried to make amazing cakes.  My "favorite" comment was, (use your snottiest voice while saying this) "Wow, who can compete with the DeMilles?"  Answer: No one :)

Tyson's Epic Blue & Gold cake

I honestly tried to do something simple for Tyson's blue & gold cake.  I had grand intentions of a simple tank that would require 2 cakes and minimal decorations.  I pinned a few cakes and when Tyson saw the Lego man he was in love.

 I baked the cakes while Tyson was at school (5 cakes) and when he got home it was frosting time.

 We were making a Lego cub scout, hence the blue shirt.

 Tyson stirring up the frosting.  We made 5 batches of frosting which used 20 cups of powdered sugar.

 Frosting the Lego man's face.

 Our guy had lego eyes and a lego smile.

 Dad got home just in time to help put the finishing touches on.

 The aerial view.  We couldn't fit it in the fridge unless we had it in thirds. The triangle on his chest is for each den and 515 is our pack number on his sleeve.

 Tyson was so happy!

 Mommy was exhausted!

Yeah for cub scouts!!

Krispy Kreme field trip

Hayden's Mommy preschool had a field trip to Krispy Kreme this week.

 Doughnuts always make everyone happy :)

 Ryan would not look at the camera so I only could get this side shot.

 Taylor is a field trip pro and got right down to doughnut eating.

Nice way to start your morning!

Hayden's 4th Birthday Party

Hayden came down with croup on Thursday and we have been trying our best to get her better before her big party.  Saturday morning she woke up with a dry cough that would not go away.  Fun way to start your birthday day :(

 We had a baptism to go to so we set the party for the afternoon.  We did a Dora bonanza!  The kids got a backpack and had to color their map before we released them outside.

 Jason was the grumpy old troll who lived under the bridge (I made him this lovely shirt to wear, he is such a good sport!).  He had a riddle for each kid to solve before they could cross the bridge to get their prize.

 After crossing the bridge they had to go to the "rainbow cave" and pop a balloon to get their prize.

 We had wind issues so we were trying to cover some with a sheet to keep them in.

 After everyone popped at least one we let the big kids finish all the balloons.  They were so busy with this we let all the little kids do the pinata.

 After the rainbow cave the kids went fishing in the "pond", which was just a blue kid tunnel on it's side.

I love pinatas so I do them as much as possible with kids.  They are very scary, but so fun!

 Sawyer was our muscle man and busted the pinata right off of the holder.

 Candy time!!

 These are the homemade backpacks I made.  They were so fun.

We told all the kids at the beginning that we had made these goody bags for them and Swiper had come and taken all their things. Cece was adorable and so upset with Swiper.

 The grumpy old troll helped everyone cross the bridge.

I found this amazing cake at Smiths.  Loved it!

 Because of Hayden's coughing problem we thought it would be best if she didn't blow out the candle and share her cough.

 She blew out her special piece with Dora on it.

 Then it was on to present time!

 This girl made a major haul!  The valley is wiped clean of Dora toys I'm sure :)

I found this adorable shirt on clearance at Walmart and had to hide it from her until her party so she wouldn't try to wear it everyday. (I washed it today and she is right now wearing it again)

Ryan cannot be left out of any picture.

I was so sad Hayden was so sick and thought she didn't have the best time but she talked about it the rest of the night and has kissed every one of her gifts after I have opened them up for her.

I just love my Hay Hay!!
Thanks to everyone for coming and helping!  Sandy was the photographer, my Mom ran the rainbow cave, Kara helped with the prizes, and Adam was the go to guy for moving tables.  I always forget to tell each person thanks and then worry about it the rest of the night.  We have the best friends and family and it was so fun to have everyone here for Hayden :)