Landon's Special Day!

Saturday August 7th was a special day for Landon X 2. First, it was his birthday and he turned 8 years old. Second, he was baptized. He was so excited that he got to get baptized on his birthday. His baptism was at 9:00 a.m. They had a short program with a couple of talks and then they dismissed individual wards to go to the baptismal font. Dave was able to baptize Landon and confirm him. It was a special experience seeing my oldest son baptized.After the baptism we had some light refreshments at the playground behind our house. Landon also opened his gifts for his baptism. We bought him some scriptures. He also got a book, a scripture case, some ties, some scripture stickers, and a baptism coloring book.After the baptism I had to go and get things ready for his birthday party that night. I bought food and balloons. Then went home wrapped presents and finished the goodie bags. Then we went to my mom's house to set things up and get the food ready. The theme for Landon's party was SpongeBob Squarepants. For dinner we had Krabby Patties A.K.A Hamburgers. Everyone got to build their own with a variety of toppings including bacon. I thought of a couple other ideas later that would have been good to include.

After dinner we played a game. The kids were divided into 2 teams. At each end were buckets, one with water and one without. The kids had to dip a sponge into the bucket of water and then run to the other in and squeeze the water out into the other bucket. They had a lot of fun but I think it was a little confusing. Some of the kids were squeezing the water into the other teams bucket.Then we played hot potato. My mom bought it at the store. It is a little stuffed potato and when you squeeze it it makes music. When the music stops whoever is holding it is out. They had fun with it but we made it so no one was outwhen the music stopped.After that Landon opened his presents. Once again he got some good stuff. He got clothes, games, a hooded bath towel, a Nintendo DS and some games.

After the opening of the presents we had cheesecake for dessert and then the party was pretty much over. Landon passed out the goodie bags to those who came. I am so proud of Landon. He is such a good kid! His birthday was a busy but fun day!!

Back to School

About 2 weeks ago Landon and Emma went back to School. Landon started 3rd grade on July 26th and Emma started 1st grade on July 27th. It sure is different having 2 kids gone for the majority of the day but I am getting somewhat used to it. I drove Landon to school on his first day while my mom came over to be with the other kids. He hadn't met his teacher yet because he was in Missouri with grandmom and grandpa when they had Back to School night. Here he is on his first day.The next day my mom came over again and this time I took both Emma and Landon to school on Emma's first day. Here she is.And here's to a GREAT school Year!!

The BIG 1!!!

Last Wednesday June 23rd my baby Payson turned 1 years old. I can't believe that it has been a whole year already. To celebrate we had his party last Friday. We went with the monkey theme. First I did the invitations. The idea was totally my own but I did use a card layout. I think they turned out really cute.We started the party off by having dinner which consisted of Spaghetti with homemade sauce, tossed salad, and sourdough bread. It was really good. After that we let Payson open his presents. He got some good stuff, mostly clothes. He wasn't really interested in opening the presents though and he kept crawling away. Landon, Emma, and Reagan helped him out though. I love this picture that I took of Payson and his cousin Trent. Trent was trying to give Payson a kiss and I love the look on Payson's face.After Payson opened his presents it was cake time. We stripped him down to his diaper, brought the high chair down to the family room and set it on a sheet we laid down. It was fun watching Payson. He would dig into the cake and eat and then look over and see me. When he saw me he would hold his arms out and start whimpering a little. I made this monkey cake for him. I found it on Martha Stewarts website. Mine doesn't look as good as hers did, but oh well. It was my first one and even though it has crooked ears I think that gives it character.

I made these cupcakes for everyone else. The idea for these came from here.
I saw this several months ago and knew that I wanted to make them for Payson's birthday and that is probably how the monkey theme came to be.For Party favors I made bean bags and then printed off the bean bag games from here.
I also made mini milk cartons with my Sizzix Big Shot and filled them with skittles.It was a fun party and I can't believe Payson is the BIG 1!!!

Emma Turns 6!!

A few weeks ago Emma turned 6 years old. Right now she really likes Hannah Montana and so we decided to do a Rock Star Party. I was pretty excited to do this party and I came up with a lot of fun ideas. First of all I found a cute card to copy for the invitations. I changed the color scheme of the original card and this is what I came up with. I love these quilted cards even if they are a lot of work.The party was held at Grandmom and Grandpa Lifferth's house. For dinner we had Pizza from Papa John's and Salad. Papa John's was having a special and large pizza's were just $10. After dinner we played a game of Freeze dance. I made CD's for each family with different songs that kids might like from Hannah Montana, The Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, etc. The kids seemed to have fun with the Freeze dancing but I don't think that they really understood the concept. They were just dancing around. My sister Mindy designed the CD cover and I love how it turned out!After playing freeze dance we made our own backstage passes. I found a music foam kit at the store and we used that to make them. The kids had fun designing them. Then it was time for Emma to open her presents. She got a lot of fun stuff. Some of her favorite presents included a scooter, a scrapbook kit, a homemade hooded bath towel, and of course the clothes!!For the party favors I saw this cute bag on a blog so of course I had to copy it. I did change the paper and some other stuff. In the bag it had pop rocks, bubbles in a guitar container, fun dip, a guitar necklace. They also got the CD. I don't know if you can tell in the picture but the bag is sparkly. I made my own shimmer spray by mixing some rubbing alcohol and shimmer paint together in a little spray bottle and then just spritzed it on. I love the effect that it gives.

Emma's party was fun and it was a fun one to plan. I think that she really enjoyed it. And she got to use last years Halloween costume again!

Reunited

A couple of months ago Reagan's Doggie went missing. Reagan's Doggie is a lot like Landon's neigh and is literally her best friend. She has conversations with him and snuggles with him. At first it didn't really seem to bother her. But more and more lately she has told me that she missed Doggie. When I would ask if she knew where he was she would just reply with "I don't know."

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night to feed Payson. When I woke up I knocked my glasses of the night stand. This morning when I woke up and I was looking for my glasses I lifted up my bed skirt to look under the bed and I saw Doggie. He was sitting on top of one of the storage containers under our bed. I don't know why I haven't seen him before. When I woke Reagan up I had Doggie behind my back and I told Reagan that I had a surprise for her. When I pulled out Doggie Reagan had a big smile on her face. She has not let go of Doggie all day today. It is fun seeing her having her conversations with Doggie again.I will post about Emma's birthday later. Her pictures are on another camera and I need to get them.

A Hodge Podge of Stuff

I realize that it has been awhile since I have posted and I am really going to try to do better this year. I am going to spare you all the happenings from August-December 2009 and just start fresh this year. I believe that I posted pictures on facebook of Reagan's 3rd Birthday. We did a Build-A-Bear theme and it was really fun.

Payson is now 6 months old, well almost 7 months old. When we took him to his 6 month appointment he weighed 18 lbs (70%) was 26 1/2 inches (50%) and his head was 44 cm (55%). These stats could all be different now. He is a big baby but very cute!!

For New Years Day we had our Black Eyed Peas for good luck throughout the year. I have eaten these every year for as long as I can remember. I don't really care for them but this year they were pretty good. I found a recipe online for Confetti Black Eyed Pea Salad and decided to try it out. Here is the recipe:

1/3 C. Olive Oil

2 1/2 T. Cider Vinegar

1 T. Spicy Brown Mustard

2 t. Honey

2 t. finely grated Yellow Onion

1/2 t. each Salt and Ground Pepper

2 cans (15 ounce) black eyed peas drained and rinsed

1 Yellow bell Pepper, finely diced

1 large tomato, seeded, diced

4 Ribs celery, thinly sliced

2 carrots, peeled, finely diced

2 T. chopped parsley

Whisk oil, vinegar, mustard, onion, salt, pepper, and honey in a bowl. Add peas, bell pepper, tomato, celery, carrots, and parsley. Stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours before serving. Here is my finished product:

I really needed a place to put my necklaces. They were in a shoebox which was working ok, but they kept getting tangled up with each other. Just not working the greatest. Dave saw a picture in a magazine of a way I could organize my necklaces and showed it to me. I loved it and it was fairly cheep. We just bought a rake, took off the handle and spray painted it black. Now it hangs in my closet and I have a cool necklace holder for all my necklaces and they don't get tangled up anymore. I really wanted to do the picture a day thing this year, but I haven't been able to buy the kit and I haven't taken pictures every day either, but here are a couple. For Christmas Jake and Carla gave Payson these cute red Converse sneakers. They don't fit him yet, but I can't wait until they do. Two of Mindy's girls had Emma and Reagan for Christmas and she sewed them these cute skirts. I found the shirts at Target. Well that is about it for now, but I will try to be better. I am also going to be posting on my other blog http://www.inkedwithlove.blogspot.com/ so check it out also!