Evie's 6th Birthday

Evie turned six years old! What a crazy time! She's a pistol and will probably be the kid that makes me go grey. She's madly in love with all things Charlie Brown/Snoopy/Peanuts. She enjoys pretending to be a baby kitty named Cookie still and will gladly crawl around on the ground pretending to purr and scratch thing with her "claws". It's always fun having a November birthday because the town festival is the same weekend. She also shares her big day with her Uncle Jeremy, which is fun. Despite the cold weather, she still had fun and got lots of goodies for her big day. She even got to take a tasty treat to school for Kindergarten. And let's not forget her choice of dinner which is always Wendy's or McDonald's. This year was Wendy's. I'm so blessed to be her mom! Happy 6th Birthday baby girl!

She nailed uncle Jake with the silly string and it was hilarious!

Halloween 2018

Boy, do I love Halloween! I can't get enough of decorating the house and every year it gets bigger and crazier. (Inside AND outside!) The kids love it too, which is great. It wouldn't be as fun if my gaggle of monsters weren't into it. They love dressing up as well. Which is also good as I am equally obsessed with costumes and go a bit overboard every year. This year, Alex wanted to be a Ghostbuster and I made him an epic (or 'sick', as other kids put it) costume, including the proton pack I built from scratch. I might have to be a Ghostbuster next year so I can reuse this bad boy. It was pretty great. Abby wanted to be a pirate (which I couldn't have been more proud of). And Evie wanted to be a bat. The bat costume was really fun to make as well. I had a good time with that. As the costumes I had to make for the kids took up so much of my very little free time, I didn't have time to work on a new one for me this year so I decided to revisit my favorite pirate costume. I do so love being a pirate. It was fun to dress up for school too (seeing as how I work there now).Sadly, Alex is starting to show signs of not wanting to go trick-or-treating. Apparently he's worried that he's getting too old. I told him that as long as he's dressed up, he can go! I hope he holds onto being a kid a little longer. Plus...free candy! Happy Halloween 2018!

 

Uncle Jeremy was cool and got this costume as a surprise just for Alex.

Evie as a bat, Abby a a pirate and Alex as a Ghostbuster. All custom costumes by mom!

Pumpkin carving! A yearly tradition that we all love! A monkey for Abby, heart face for Evie, and a scary face for Alex.

 

Alex's 12th Birthday

Alex had a great 12th birthday. He has done some growing up...not just in size...but in tastes. He has become quite the movie nut and his all time favorite movie (for now) is Ghostbusters. So this year's theme for the birthday was just that: Ghostbusters. He not only wanted to have the cake, but also chose to be a Ghostbuster for Halloween this year. I will miss the days when decorated cakes aren't requested. It's only a matter of time before they realize that there are other options (like brownies and lemon bars). I hope that day doesn't come too soon.  This year, he enjoyed a pudding dessert for his actually birthday and then we celebrated with family and the fancy cake. We even got him a nice Ghostbusters hoodie that he never stops wearing.

He's become quite a kid over the years and watching him change and grow is a blessing! I'm so proud of him! Happy 12th Birthday Alex!

Fun fact: Alex injures himself every year during October. This year was a scooter accident that ended with a very badly damaged finger. He lost the nail eventually. Yuck.

Josh's Birthday 2018

Every year, I make sure that we make a big deal about Josh's birthday. Ok...so not a HUGE deal, but I want the kids to always make sure that it's a big deal so they always call him and shower him with love on his big day. I always make him a special dessert (not cake as he hates it) and whatever he wants for dinner. And then the kids get to make him cards and buy him gifts. They love it! And I can't get through the day without the same photo every year. It's a great tradition! Happy Birthday Josh!

Abbys 10th Birthday

 

Abby turned double digits this year. What? Nope. I'm not believin' it. This means I only have one kid left in the single digit range and that's just scary to think about. So Abby. Oh my. What can I say about her? She is a character and a fun one at that! She dreams of being a teacher so much that she will bring extra math homework home because "teachers need math, mom." Her words. Not mine. She will spend an hour outside in the bitter cold collecting snow even though we only had a trace of it that stuck, so she can make a snowman or the biggest snowball she can forge. (See picture below.) She's nearly impossible to punish as nothing effects her (except cleaning to an extent) and she will blow your mind with the levels of sarcasm she can reach. But that is what makes Abby...well...Abby. And we love her for every ounce of her amazingness!

This year, she wanted an emoji cake so picked one off the ol' google search and that's what she got. She had a few friends over to celebrate her big day and to top it all off, she wanted math cupcakes to celebrate her birthday at school. No. Don't go back and reread that. I said MATH cupcakes. For real. The kids had to solve the problems (that all equaled 10...her age) before they could eat them. And they were blue...her favorite color. She had a great birthday and we are so blessed to have the honor of watching her grow into the amazing young lady she's becoming. What an amazing ten years! Happy Birthday Abby!

 

Giant snow ball created from barely any snow on the ground. Dedication.

Posing for the most dramatic picture she could manage.

Math cupcakes. LOL!

Singing happy birthday in the class...in opera style. It was frightening!

Wendy's for birthday dinner: Her choice!

Celebrating the actual birthday with a blue/green stuffed animal she chose and dessert. And homemade hand warmers courtesy of her dead leggings she cut up.

Friends on her birthday party.

She REALLy wanted this sloth stuffed animal...if you can tell.

The giant emoji cake...with blue glasses.