Parker's 8th Birthday

My oldest turned 8 on the 1st!! Holy cow! I am getting old! Matt and I are still in shock that we have an 8 year old, we can't even remember what life was like when it was just the two of us before we had kids. We sure love Parker and all the wild and crazy excitement he adds to our family. He is a great kid and we are so proud of him. For his birthday I sent boxed rice crispy treats to school, I was so overwhelmed with his birthday, Halloween, his baptism, and Pieper's blessing that I didn't want to have to worry about getting to his school to drop off treats. And with Halloween being the day before the kids were all probably still on a sugar high anyway. I felt a little guilty for not making him something homemade that he chose, but only for a little while. After he got home from school and Matt got home from working, we met my parents, Grandpa and Grandma Yancey, for Pizza at Mr. Pizza. It was delicious! I love their cheese breadsticks, I could eat them for dinner all by themselves! Parker wanted pizza and at first he chose Little Ceasers, but I convinced him that Mr. Pizza was better and that we needed to go there. It was great and I didn't have to cook!! We came back to the house for cake and gifts. Parker wanted an Army (camouflage) cake this year. It turned out great and he loved it. When he came home from school and saw it, he was so excited and immediately told me how much he loved it. I was glad I could at least do that for him to make his day special. He got a cub scout shirt, neckerchief, and scout book from Matt and I, along with a baptism book and towel. Grandma Yancey made him a quilt for his bed and a scrapbook about his baptism. Grandpa Yancey got him a remote control truck. He was quite excited for a new remote control vehicle. (Grandpa & Grandma Christiansen were out of town on Parker's birthday weekend but they got him a new church outfit with a white shirt, tie, and tie tack and he looked so handsome in his new clothes!). After gifts we had cake and then called it a night. We had a big day to get ready for the next day!

Paige Turns 5!

Paige turned 5 on the 12th of April, but we celebrated her birthday on the 6th because I was going to be out of town on her actual birthday (scrapbooking with my mom and Charyn). Paige didn't seem to mind at all that we were celebrating early, especially since that meant that she got to open presents earlier. We had a few family and friends over to help us celebrate with dinner and cake and ice cream. We made hamburgers and hot dogs with all the fixings, potato salad, veggie tray, fruit tray, chips, and soda. This year Paige wanted a Lalaloopsey cake and I was able to talk her into just the face of a Lalaloopsey. I think it turned out very well and Paige loved it so much!! I makes me so happy to see how excited they are when they see the finished cake and love it! Paige was spoiled for her birthday and got a variety of great things. Doc McStuffins dress up, Doc McStuffins doctors kit with Lambie and the big book of boo-boos. She got several new Lalaloopsey dolls, a cowgirl hat (that she had to have when we were in Cal-Ranch), an itunes gift card, a new outfit, dress up clothes, ballet slippers, a new barbie, and a few other things. She loved them all and we were very appreciative of those that came and showed their love and support for our sweet and sassy little girl!!

Paxten Turns 2!

Paxten celebrated his 2nd birthday on the 9th of February. I can't believe my baby is 2, and isn't a baby anymore!! We had a small party at our house for our little guy with grandparents and my sister. We had little smokies, tater tots, cheese and crackers, a veggies tray, and a fruit tray. It turned out quite yummy and there was something for everyone. We enjoyed visiting with each other and watched Paxten open gifts. He was loving unwrapping the presents and wanted to play with all his new stuff as he was unwrapping. He got a few new outfits, a ball and bat, plastic golf clubs, gummie bears, goldfish crackers, fruit snacks, a couple of cars that make noise, sidewalk chalk, nerf guns, coloring book and markers, and an Ipad Mini. Talk about spoiled!! After Christmas time when Parker and Paige both got an ipad mini, Paxten would take theirs and play with it or was always trying to take my phone and play on it, so we convinced my parents that he needed his own. He had loved it and played with it almost every day. There are so many educational games that I don't feel bad about him playing on it. After he opened gifts, we had cake and ice cream. I made Paxten a robot cake with chocolate doughnuts. I thought he turned out pretty darn cute and it was one of the easier cakes I have done. Paxten seemed to like him. He had a fun day and was spoiled rotten by the people that love him. 

Parker Turns 7

Parker turned 7 on the 1st of November! How did that happen. I can't believe that I became a mother 7 years ago. It really has flown by quickly (I think I say that after every birthday, anniversary, year!) Parker took brownie cupcakes to school for his birthday treat. I tried to convince him to take cheese and crackers or something like that, since Halloween is the day before and kids have had so much sweet stuff. But that is what he wanted. For his birthday dinner we went to the China Buffet here in town and had Grandpa and Grandma Christiansen with us as well as Grandpa and Grandma Yancey. We all ate until we were stuffed with good chinese food and then went home to open gifts and have cake and ice cream. When we got home from dinner we had the neighbors, the Billings, over for cake and ice cream as well. Parker wanted an Angry Birds cake this year. I decided to make it easy on myself and I bought an Angry Birds game and used it as decoration on the cake. It turned out pretty good. I only had to fix it once when all the blocks tipped over. Parker loved it and that it what counts! He was spoiled as usual and received a lot of great gifts. He got some nerf bullets, angry bird shirts, a remote control car, cowboy guns, a slingshot sort of toy, star wars books, lego set, money, wallet, and three angry birds games. He loved everything he got and felt very special. We had cake and ice cream and then called it a night, since it was a school night! I hope Parker had a great birthday and knows how much we love him and how glad we were that he is part of our family. We are looking forward to next year when he will turn 8 and be baptized!! 

Paige's 4th Birthday

Paige turned 4 on the 12th and I just barely getting around to writing about it. At least it is still the same month! Our sweet little princess was just that on her birthday. She put in the order that she wanted a "Tangled" cake. She loves that new movie and wants to be just like Rapunzel. I did not know how I would make a castle cake, but I happened to come across an edible image that you put on top of a cake and I bought it. It was perfect and one of the easiest cakes I have done. Paige loved it!! She took chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting to preschool for her birthday treat. The evening of her birthday we had grandparents over for pizza and salad (suprise suprise, all our kids pick pizza for their birthday dinner) Grandpa & Grandma C were there along with Grandpa & Grandma Yancey. Paige of course was spoiled and got a lot of fun things. She got a few new outfits, several jammies, tennis shoes (which she calls her new Sketchers, although they are not Sketcher brand!), nail polish, a barbie, squinkies, money for our Disneyland trip, a jewelry box, lots of bracelets and necklaces to put in the jewelry box, a barbie hand held game, a LaLaLoopsey outfit to dress up in, a little lalaloopsey, and a cute gardening set with miniature tools. She got quite a variety of things and very happy with most things she got. She had told me, along with everyone that she wanted a jewelry box. I looked all over and could only find a red or silver on. I bought the silver one for her thinking she would like it because it was kind of sparkly. As soon as she opened it and realized what it was she exclaimed "but I wanted a pink one!" So she was a little disappointed at first about the color, but since has realized that she does indeed like it. She is quite the spit fire and sure says what is one her mind!



Some of miss Paige's favorite things right now are:
Pepperoni pizza,
frozen go-gurts,
Cheddar cheese slices,
strawberries
the color pink
anything chocolate, especially Hershey Kisses
green (lime) sherbet
she loves to play barbies
cooking with mom
watching cartoons, especially Max & Ruby, Peppa Pig, and Olivia
She loves to have her nails polished, then she picks the polish off after it dries
She is such a fun little girl to have in our family and we all love her so very much. She often makes the funniest comments and usually is the comic relief in our family. We hope you had a fabulous birthday Paige!!
 

Paxten's Party

 

What to do with the third child for a birthday!!! Honestly I was a little disorganized this year, his birthday snuck right up on me. I did happen to order decorations and supplies in advance enough that I wasn’t running around last minute trying to decide what to do. We went with a dinosaur theme for Paxten and the invitations said “Rooaarr Invited….to my 1st birthday party.” I thought it was pretty cute! We had the party on the Saturday following his birthday. While Paige was at her princess party, Parker and I decorated and I made the cake. I made an orange dino cake, and it turned out pretty cute. We had pizza, tossed salad, fruit, and pop for dinner. We had grandparents there from both sides and Charyn, Mike, Jackson, and Zander were also able to make it.

Paxten didn’t really know what was going on, although I kept calling him birthday boy all day long. He did seem to enjoy the extra attention. When it came time for presents, he just wanted to play with a ball he found. I kept having to pull him back to my lap to open the next gift. He got some money to put in his piggy bank, several outfits, a camping chair, a toy golf set, a few books, a mini pillow pet, and a few toys. He did manage to get spoiled and seemed to love his new toys, so did the other kids.

Paxten has been my only kid to really eat his birthday cake. He was a little hesitant at first, but after giving him a fork and a taste, he dug right in and ate the entire piece he was given. That’s my boy!! We had a fun night and appreciate and love all our family and friends that made it special for Paxten.

Parker's 6th Birthday

 

Parker turned 6 on the 1st and how did he get to celebrate?....In bed with a bucket by his side! Poor KID! The night before his birthday he was up most of the night throwing up and not feeling good at all. I felt really bad for him and the fact that he had to stay home from school and wouldn't be able to celebrate his birthday with his friends at school. I pretty much confined him to his room all day long watching movies. I wanted to keep the nasty flu bug away from everyone else. By about 3:00 he seemed to be feeling better, but still not quite himself. We had already invited some grandparents over for pizza, cake and ice cream and I didn't want to change it to the next day because then Matt wouldn't be there, so we went ahead with the birthday plans. I kept with my tradition of making the cake and attempted to do a Spider Man cake for the special occasion. I was getting frustrated with it and at one point took some of the icing off and started over. But for the most part it turned out fine and Parker loved it. That is all that really matters anyway.

We had pizza, pepperoni of course, and salad and then opened presents. Parker got a Star Wars lego set, new pajamas, new hat and gloves, and a lego figure from Grandma and Grandpa C. He got the Cars 2 movie and some ninja stars from Grandpa Yancey, a remote control car that transforms into a robot and a sweat suit outfit from Grandma Yancey. Paige got him 3 new cars 2 cars that he was so excited about. Then Matt and I got him the Transformers 3 movie, a Sonic video game and another video game called Shoot. He was pretty excited and perked right up after opening his gifts. He seemed to feel more like himself and was eager to play with all his new toys. Even though the day started out rough, it ended on a good note and he had a great birthday! I can't believe he is 6!!

Paige Turns 3!

Yesterday my little girl turned 3! I can't believe it, where has the time gone? It is amazing to me that she is already three years old, I so remember the day she was born and it feels like a few days ago. Now we have another baby and Paige is growing up into a beautiful little girl. Matt and I convinced Paige that she didn't need any toys for her birthday (our kids have WAY too many toys!!) and so she said that all she wanted was REAL makeup and a big girl bike. She told my parents that she wanted a bike, so that left Matt and I to handle the makeup part. She is all girl and loves to watch me get ready and always asks me to put makeup on her too. I am going to be in trouble when she is a teenager if she is already that into makeup!

Paige wanted a Dora cake for her birthday party and I was able to find a Dora pan so I thought that decorating would be a breeze. Well I was wrong. It wouldn't have been too bad if I didn't have a whiny baby that thinks he always needs to be held and 2 other kids that seem to always need something as well. I was about to have a breakdown when one of the piping bags sprung a "leak" and almost messed up all of my previous work. But somehow I managed and 5 hours later we had a pretty darn cute cake. Amidst all of the work I kept wondering why I was doing this, and what I had started with making my kids homemade decorated cakes for their birthdays. Now that I have started this tradition, they look forward to it and love to watch the progress of the cake. I guess it is something special and will be something they remember as they grow up..I hope!

We just had my sister and parents over for a quick little celebration. I semi-homemade pizza and salad for dinner. I say semi-homemade because after all the work on the cake from the day before I was tired of a messy kitchen and doing dishes so I bought the pizza dough from Papa Murphy's and did our own topping. What a lifesaver! It worked out great and was half the mess! We had pepperoni pizza, Hawaiian, and tomato basil pizza. All of which were so yummy. I even made homemade croutons for the salad, just for Matt! We had cake and Neapolitan ice cream for dessert. Paige only wanted the chocolate ice cream.

We opened presents in between pizza and ice cream and Paige was outfitted with a whole new summer wardrobe. She got a cute brown zebra print dress, 2 pair of shorts, 2 shirts, 1 pair of pants, and a cute pink velour sweat suit from Matt and I. Along with the clothes we got her 24 mini nail polishes, lip gloss, chap stick, and some eye shadows. She also got a Dora swim suit (which is too small) and Dora flip flops and beach towel that is also a bag. From Aunt Charyn and Uncle Mike she got a Purple flowered rain jacket and goulash's. My parents got her a cute new pink and orange outfit and a NEW BIKE and helmet!! It is adorable with a pink frame and polka dots all over. It even has a seat for her baby to ride in. She loves it, but it will take her a few weeks to figure out how to ride it. She was spoiled and didn't even miss the fact that she didn't really get any new toys for inside. I am so glad that I don't have one more thing to pick up!

Here are some fun facts about our little Paige:
1. She loves all things girly. Makeup, purses, shoes, dresses. She doesn't like hair bows or having elastics in her hair.
2. She love to watch Dora the Explorer and Max & Ruby
3. She loves the colors pink and purple
4. She love to have her clothes match. If she is wearing black pants, the shirt must be black as well.
5. She is feisty and can hold her own against her big brother.
6. She is a great big sister and love Baby Paxten Wayne...when referring to him she always uses his full name.
7. Her favorite food is a hot dog and cheese
8. She loves the movies Cinderella, Tinkerbell, and Tangled
9. She loves to sing Intsy Winsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and The Wise Man and The Foolish Man.
10. She loves to give hugs and kisses, but at her own discretion, you can't force this girl to do anything.

We love her so much and can't even remember what it was like in our family without her. Happy Birthday Paige!!

Paige's Birthday Cake

We celebrated Paige's Birthday on Monday with Grandparents. Since Paige has been interested in cats lately I decided to make her a cat cake. I looked all over online and didn't really find anything that I loved. Then about a week before her birthday I got a magazine in the mail and it had ideas for different birthday parties. In those ideas was a picture and directions for a kitty cat cake. I loved it!! I knew it was meant to be. I decided to alter it a little bit because the picture was a blue cat and I wanted to make a pink one for her. After I got baking and assembling the cake I realized that the directions were not very good. The directions said to bake the cake in an oven proof bowl. But it did not say what size of bowl. I didn't think much about this until after I had baked the cake and was about to put the snowballs on for the cheeks and realized that the snowballs were huge compared to the rest of the cake. I didn't know what to do because I needed to finish the cake, but I was afraid it wouldn't work out. Well I went ahead and finished and it turned out alright. It ended up looking a little more animated than the original picture, but she loved it. Next time, if there is a next time, I would bake the cake in a bigger bowl so the face is more proportioned! Paige was excited about it and kept saying "meow, meow". I think it was a success!

Turning 4

Well my little boy is now 4 years old. My how the time has flown by!! I can hardly believe he is that old, that means I am getting old as well! I don't really feel like I am getting older, but I did find a grey hair the other day *sob, sob*! Anyways I can't dwell on that, but we did have a fun day, week, in celebration of Parker turning 4. The week before his actual birthday we had a celebration at Matt's dad's house and had a great time. Then we had a fun day on Halloween and I took the kids to McDonald's for lunch and we ate inside! They loved it, it isn't something we do often so to them, especially Parker, it was a real treat. We played outside in the leaves for a while and then we had pizza and a little party for him with my parents. We did it the day before because my parents were leaving the next day to go on a cruise to Mexico and weren't going to be around. How rude! I hope they are having a great time. We miss them and can't wait until they get home. Anyways we had pizza, opened presents, and had a Transformers cake. I was a little disappointed in the cake. Parker said he wanted a Sponge bob cake fore his birthday about 6 months ago. So I had found pictures and had figured out what I was going to do. Well he changed his mind a few weeks before to a Transformer cake and I wasn't about to attempt that. My cake decorating skills have improved, but not to that extent. So I went to the WalMart bakery and they told me they do have a Transformer cake, we looked at a picture and Parker was excited, he liked it and that made me happy. So that was the plan. I went to order the cake and in the middle of the store renovation they hadn't ordered the figures and cake toppers needed for the one we had looked at. Crappy huh!! So they had a few plastic pieces that represented the Autobots and the Decepticons so we said alright do that. Well When I saw the finished cake I was a little disappointed for various reasons, but it was soooooooo plain. I will definitely be making my own kids birthday cakes from now on. Then I have no one to be disappointed in by myself and will have saved some money. Anyways, the cake tasted good and Parker loved it. He was spoiled rotten and got a few new pairs of jammies, some transformers, a Book of Mormon, a movie, some clothes, and a new pair of shoes. So the birthday was a success after all. I think we as adults sometime think kids will be disappointed if we don't go all out on parties and stuff. He would have been perfectly fine with one toy and a cupcake. But he is worth the extra work and effort and we love him so much. He is a fun and rambunctious little boy, but we love having him in our family!! Happy Birthday Parker!!!

Parker Turns 3

Saturday the 1st was Parker's 3rd birthday. Wow has time gone by so quickly. I can't believe that my little boy is 3 and is no longer a baby. He is growing up to be a pretty smart little boy. Everyday he surprises me with the things he is learning. I spent the morning preparing for a little get together we were having in the evening for him. I made his birthday cake (a dirt cake, he loves dirt, this time it was edible) and I had a lot of fun making it for him. I thought it turned out really good. I told him to come and look at it and when he came into the kitchen and saw it he looked at me and said, "What is it?" I said a birthday cake. Doesn't it look good? He just wanted to take the bugs off of it. In the early evening we mte Matt's parents and Tara for Pizza and he had a fun time running around with his cousin. We got home and had my parents over for a little party. The theme for the night was pajamas, he got 6 new pairs (he was in desperate need of new ones). He also got a new pair of shoes, some slippers, snow boots, a movie, some sugar cookies, a new book,a new outfit, some laffy taffy, and the big one was a new set of junior golf clubs. He was pretty excited about those. Too bad there aren't too many more days left to play with them. He will have to wait until the spring. meanwhile the clubs will be resting in the garage. I don't want the house destroyed. After we opened gifts we had cake and ice cream. He loved blowing out the candles. Oh one funny thing that I have to mention is that he got a pair of Spiderman jammies from Grandpa Yancey, and Parker immediately wanted to put them on. He then tried to climb the walls like Spiderman. It was funny. He has had the jammies on ever since that night. I did manage to get them off him for a few hours yesterday for church, ony after promising him that as soon as we got home he could put them back on. The same thing this morning. I had him put on some clothes so we could run errands. Then as soon as we walked in the door he wanted them back on. I am not sure when I will be able to get them to put them in the washing machine. I guess he really likes them. Good choice Dad!! Thank you to everyone that got him a gift. He is spoiled!!