My big girl turns 6!

So birthdays are always fun for me because I have realized about myself, I love having all of my friends in my home and I love making cake.  You probably have already seen how much I love making cakes by how often I post pictures of them.

Sydney’s birthday was no different and it was such a fun day!  I was much more organized this time, so there were plenty of games (my house survived much better this time) and a lot of help from Matthew my “pied piper” friend Jaime.  How would we ever survive and enjoy gatherings like this without lots of help!  Bottom line, Sydney had a ton of fun and loved having the whole day revolve around her.    

 

She got some really fun presents this year that almost left me jealous!  She & Chloe have been playing with her new dolls in this princess tent non-stop since Saturday.

 

 

And…of course I can’t resist showing off a close-up of the cake.  Sydney helped me come up with the idea for this.  At first, she wanted a fairy part, but decided that the boys wouldn’t go for that.  So instead, we decided a butterfly party would be a little better.  So I just added a few extra critters to the cake and here it is.  It was so much fun!  Its all made of marshmellow fondant, so it is very sweet (a lot of frosting didn’t get eaten!) but that’s just how I like it.  Matt keeps begging me to make a cake with whipped cream frosting, or at least a custard center, that’s just not as fun as this!

Wingardium Leviosa

 

Oh…we have too much fun with our little one.  But isn’t she cute!  This is thanks to my cute friend Jaime & her daughter Hannah (who is way into Harry Potter right now).

Christmas

Okay…this blog has been started for weeks and just sitting on my computer in draft mode, just waiting to be finished.  So without much creativity and thought, here’s our fun Christmas this year. 

Here is Christmas with Santa and the ward Christmas party.  Sabrina and I were home sick so sadly we had to miss her “baby screaming on Santa’s lap” picture.

 

 

 

And, of course, what would a holiday be without Momma obsessing over some big project.  This year, I made the girls’ Christmas dresses.  I love them!  Sadly, Sydney stood a little too close to the fireplace just before church on Sunday, so she burned a hole in the back of her dress.  Its not too noticeable with all of the tulle underneath, but I’m still debating if its worth the effort to fix it…         

 

 

This is one of my favorite parts of Christmas—Christmas cards.  This is in our front hallway, so I pass by a million times a day and love looking at all the pictures.  So if you sent a card—thanks and I love it!

 

 

 

 

 

Chloe’s helping Daddy rake up the leaves before the snow hits.  Too adorable to watch her out there—notice how she is wearing a skirt…that’s my girly girl.

 

 

 

Sydney loves to dress up Sabrina.  She says its to keep her happy, but I personally think Sydney just likes to entertain herself and Sabrina loves the attention.  Either way, we all win.

 

 

And for Christmas, we went to Indiana to visit with Matt’s family.  It was so much fun and the girls love how adored they are.  The only down side…and its a big one…is we all passed the flu around one by one.  That’s what happens in a houseful of 4 families and 17 people.  Hopefully Jim & Liz get lots of blessings for hosting our bugs along with us!

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Catching Up…

As it always does at this time of year, fall gets the best of me. I find myself setting priorities and slowly let things go one at a time.  This year it got so bad, I came home from Christmas vacation to disgusting floors.  (Anyone who spends a lot of time at my house knows I hate walking around on unswept floors!)

And so as one of my new little hobbies, blogging took a backseat even though events kept happening and pictures were being taken.  So here’s my attempt at catching up on all the events of the last few months.

Here’s my little Halloween cuties.

 

 

 

 

 

Work on our fireplace is moving along…still crawling, but we’re making progress.  You just wait, we may just have the mantel up by next Christmas!  We’re over-achievers over here.

 

The kids got in their share of teasing.  Sometimes I miss out on all kinds of fun when Matt lets me sleep in on Saturday mornings.

And of course, I baked.  Life wouldn’t be complete without a few cakes and the reasons to make them. 

 

Here’s my first attempt at making homemade cream cheese.  I’m still nursing Sabrina and so with her dairy intolerance, I’ve had to be creative.  So when you have an Oreo craving…how about some homemade cookies with coconut-mint cream cheese frosting?  It was awesome!

Although I must say, I had my first true bomb, as you see below.  I thought I would be creative with a 4 year-old friend’s birthday cake.  (Luckily it was just for her family!)  Her birthday was on Halloween, so I was playing around with devil horns & tail, then added some angel wings and halo.  Clearly I should have planned it out before adding things willy nilly.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, we had the cutest family pictures taken.  I love them all so much, so I’m just posting the entire file. 

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