Ally's Birthday Party Part 1

So today was going to be the day for Ally's birthday party, unfortunately Ally woke up this morning with pink eye. So we decided to postpone her pool party with her friends and just do the family party. You could tell Ally was miserable because she didnt even mind that she wasn't going to be able to swim! So we had a nice dinner of spaghetti with homemade sauce! Ally really wanted flowers on her cake so she had picked some out and I used them to decorate her personal cake and also the cake we had for everyone else.
She then sat on my lap while she opened her presents and was more subdued than usual. It was a nice quite night with family to celebrate out beautiful not so little girl!

My Beautiful 4 Year Old!

My baby is 4! She is growing into such an amazing little girl! There is the occasional attitude, but she is such a lover that those moments pass quickly. I don't know what I will ever do when she decides to stop being my cuddle bug! Happy Birthday Princess Ally! You are such a light in our lives and we love you, I can't wait to see how much more the next year brings you!

Happy Birthday Darrin!

We celebrated my wonderful husbands birthday tonight. I am so thankful to have such an amazing man as my husband and the father of my children, we are all so blessed! Happy Birthday Darrin!

Happy Birthday Poppa!

Tonight we went out and celebrated Poppa's Birthday! We had a yummy dinner at McGraths which was followed up with the waitresses singing Happy Birthday and a fish had adorning my father's head!

After that we headed back to our house where I had made a YUMMY homemade Carrot Cake with homemade cream cheese frosting (go me!)

After stuffing ourselves we finished up celebrating with Wi.i Bowling! Fun.Family.Birthday.

Happy Birthday Grace!!!!

Tonight we celebrated Grace's 4th birthday. We are truly blessed to have such a beautiful wonderful niece to love and adore! Here's to another year of growth, love, and learning!

I have a 5 year old!

This year we celebrated Dylan's 5th birthday by breaking the day up a little bit. We had a "friends" party from 2-4, which included 3 kiddie pools, a slip and slide, a water table, and a sandbox. It was a blast! With the help of one of my best friends, McKenzie, we made up about 4 dozen cake batter cookies and served them up along with Freezer Pops and juice boxes. The kids had a great time just running around and playing, breaking briefly to watch the present opening. We wrapped this party up around 4:30 and then got into high gear for the family dinner starting at 5. I really enjoyed his party this year, it was so much more relaxed and it gave Dylan time to spend with his friends and a separate time to spend with family. This may have to become my new tradition! Here are some pictures from the day, mostly taken by my father.

Living Lord's Supper and Happy Birthday Grandma Winnie!

Palm Sunday found us attending church at my parents church, Northgate Wesleyan Church. Every year they do a portrayal of the Living Lord's Supper. This year was one of the best performances I have ever seen! Here are a few shots from the show!

After the service the kids got Easter baskets from Poppa and Grandma Jo and Grandma Winnie and Uncle Roger, filled with puzzles, candy, stuffed animals, and a couple other toys. The kids loved them! We also tried to get a family picture. This is the best one....

Then we headed on over to The Great Wall buffet in Salem to celebrate Grandma Winnie's Birthday. The kids helped me pick out a couple of puzzles for her and she was so happy, here's to another wonderful year. We love you Grandma Winnie!!!

Happy Birthday Jude!!!!

We celebrated Jude's 1st birthday this last weekend! How the time has flown! We spent an afternoon playing at The Toy Factory in Corvallis followed by fantastic cupcakes, some present opening, and a little more time to play. I absolutely cannot wait to see what the next year holds, these first years are so full of exploration and joy! We love you Jude!!!!

Dancing Fools

Tonight we celebrated my SIL Cagney's birthday. And after eating and hanging out we turned on some music and let the good times roll!

It all actually started when I asked Ally to sing for us. Normally she will start dancing around and belting out loads of made up songs. Tonight she switched it up on me. She started with a soft balled in a whispered voice slowly swaying her way around the room.

This went on for about 5 minutes and then she started to get more into it and the tunes came a belting out!

After watching her sing and dance for awhile we decided to turn some music on and let the kids burn some energy and wear themselves out for bed.

What ensued was a night to remember! My father, or Poppa as the kids call him, really got into it after a while, and let me tell ya the man can still cut a rug!