Afton's Princess Party

On Saturday, March 22nd, Afton had a Princess themed party for her birthday. She invited 11 other girls to her party. She had a couple cousins there and the rest were from church. First of all, I just want to say that I'm so glad that it's over with. Man, this party planning stuff is hard and exhausting. I don't know how you all do it. But it was a success. We had a few bumps along the way. Our original princess coming called two days before the party and canceled because she got sick. It was a pretty legitimate reason (cyst on her ovary that ruptured) so I couldn't be too mad. But I was freaking out because I didn't know what I was going to do. She was doing three different activties with the kids and I hadn't planned anything else. So I was very stressed! Fortunately, Misty (you're a lifesaver) told me of a place close by and they had somebody available the day of her party. Yeah!! Princess crisis averted! I still had to plan a few extra games and we had to do some shifting with the schedule, but it all worked out in the end. Afton had so much fun! She has been excited for like a month for her party. The guests arrived around 2:30 p.m. and we made magic wands and played some games (kiss the frog, musical magic carpets and princess freeze dancing). We put actual lipstick on them and made them kiss the frog. It was really cute! Then our special guest arrived. It was princess Belle. The girls were so excited to see her. She read them a story and then put makeup on the girls and then she stayed to help Afton open her presents and watch her blow out the candles on her cake. It was great! They had so much fun!

(L to R)Kennedy, Chloe, Afton, Kiah, Paris, Sophia, Dallas, Dylen, Emma, Halle, Kya (missing princess, Avery. She's the other Cinderella princess in picture below)

All the cute princesses!

Afton is 5!

Happy Birthday Afton! I can't believe it but my baby is 5 years old today. Wow! Where does the time go? It just blows my mind that I have a 5 year old. It's crazy! Afton was so excited today. She came into my bedroom bright and early this morning (6 a.m.!) and said, "Mommy, don't you have something you want to tell me today?" And of course I replied, "Yes, sweetheart. Happy Birthday!" She had a great day. We didn't do anything too exciting. We just had some family and friends come over for dinner and cake and ice cream. And her favorite part was opening her presents. She kept asking when she could open them. So when she finally could she was so happy.

She got lots of Birthday phone calls. She's talking to her friend Halle on the phone in this picture.

Yummy Cake!

I bet you can't tell which one is the Birthday girl.

Dylen, Dax, Afton, Avery, and Rylan

Making silly faces!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

We hope everyone had a good St. Patty's Day! The kids had fun dressing in their cute Green shirts (thanks G-ma Sharon) and pinching me although I was wearing green. We also went to pick up my mom at the airport today. She flew in for Afton's B-day. They were really excited to see her and we're so happy to have her visiting with us.

Many many Layers!

So lately Dax loves to wear all of his jerseys/basketball shirts..... at the same time! I think he's had on six shirts at once and he wears them all day long. It's the funniest thing. He looks like a football player because he's got so much padding on. And when he tries to take them off, that's pretty hilarious too. He usually gets his arms or head stuck in at least one shirt. And cries and cries until I save him. Oh and he wears the exact same shirts every day. Yeah, they're pretty dirty. It may be annoying, but I love it when they go through these little phases. I was trying to get a good picture of him with all of his shirts on and this was the best I could get.

Play Time

Afton and Dax had their friends Rylan and Avery come over the other day to play. They had a great time playing with them and always get so excited to have friends come over to play. They played dress-up and were good and bad cowboys. They pretended to be puppies and I was their owner. They played outside and drove around Afton and Daxon's new jeep. They were trying to hang on the low-lying tree branches because they were their "vines." Kids have the greatest imaginiations!

Avery, Dax, Rylan and Afton













Rylan and Logan. So cute!

Micke Grove Park

Last Wednesday, the 5th, Me and the kids went to Micke Grove. We tagged along with Misty, Dylen, Max, Jody, Joy, Val, her mom (Krystina), and Michael. Micke Grove is a very small zoo that's about 40 minutes from out house. They only have a small selection of animals to see, but it's perfect for small rambunctious children. They also have some playgrounds, a Japanese flower garden, and a carnival with rides. The kids had a great time. Afton loved the monkeys and loved copying the noises the monkey kept making. Logan didn't like the noises very much. As a matter of fact he didn't really like the zoo at all. For some reason he cried almost the entire time at the zoo. I guess he doesn't like zoo animals and the noises they make. Dax couldn't wait to see the crocodile and we were in luck because they had one. I told him that they might have one and he was set a seeing a crocodile and he kept asking to see the crocodile the second we stepped into the zoo. It was actually a crocodilian a smaller version of a crocodile, but it worked. They all had lots of fun! Thanks Joy for the fun idea and inviting us along.

T-ball Time!

We decided to sign Afton up for T-ball this year. She was old enough and we thought she would enjoy it. She had her first practice last Thursday and was being a little grump about going. I had been practicing a little with her and she was getting frustrated, so she said she didn't want to go to practice. But once we got there and she started practicing with her teammates, she loved it. Her favorite part was running the bases. And she's actually surprisingly fast. Well, faster than we thought she'd be. We just have to work on her throwing. At least she's enjoying it and having a good time. She has two friends on her team from church, Rylan and Oz and she's so excited to be playing with them.

Motorcycle Hands!

I took these pictures of Logan when he turned 7 months and wanted to share them because they turned out so cute. He just loves the camera. I love it! Finally, one child who will actually look at the camera and smile. We'll see how long it lasts. For those of you who know my niece, Abby, may remember when she was about Logan's age she use to do this cute little thing with her hands and feet. When she would get excited she would move her hands and feet in circles. We use to call it her motorcycle hands because she looked like she was driving a motorcycle. Anyway, Logan does the exact same thing. He's actually doing it in the top left and bottom right pictures. Whenever he gets really excited or happy he starts moving those hands and feet. And he does it the most when he sees his mommy!

Afton and Dylen

This is Afton and her 2nd cousin Dylen. I took this picture back on Valentine's Day and forgot to post it. It's super cute so I had to post it. Afton loves her cousin Dylen! They have so much fun when they get together. I'm so thankful that the kids have cousins close by to play with. We're so grateful for Misty and Ryan and they're adorable children. We love you guys!

Fun in the Sun

The weather has been super nice here and we've definitely been taking advantage of it. I've taken the kids to the park a couple of times. They've had so much fun!


We went one day with Dylen and Max and Misty. The kids had a blast! Logan and Max looked so cute in their hats and they loved the swings. Dylen and Dax found something fun to do. They grabbed handfuls of bark and started piling it on the bike rack. They'd get the pile really high and then knock it off. (Picture in the top right corner) They thought it was the greatest thing in the world.