Katie Turns 5!

Katie had her first friend party three days before her 5th birthday!  

She had about a dozen friends come to her Princess Party.

We had so much fun planning her party.

The party turned out just perfect.

I really think Katie loved seeing so many friends, getting super spoiled with presents, 

and being a real princess for the day.  

Sam and I surprised Katie with her own Elsa dress and Elsa braid to wear to her party.

She LOVES to dress up as Elsa all the time now and insists on growing

 her hair out long so she can have her own "Elsa braid."

One of her good friends, Katelynn Smith, has the exact same Elsa dress.  

My sister, Laura, and my sister-in-law, Alice, helped to frost the cupcakes for Katie's 

Elsa dress cake.  We had lots of decorations too.  

And I even wore my high school prom dress just for fun.

Now for the pictures in no particular order:

Katie helped get this table all ready for her friends.  

Each girl got their own princess plate with nail polish, a rainbow streamer bracelet, a candy bracelet, and a princess crown.  

 Julia and Katie are ready to party!

 Katie and Daisy (Katie's best friend from preschool)

 Avory ZaeJoDaeus as Princess Jasmine

 Chloe (Lia Ciccotti's girl) as Princess Sophia The First

 Ellie (Lia Ciccotti's girl)

 Ellie (Lia Ciccotti's girl) as Belle

 Ellie and her princess bling.

 We played a princess matching game and then "don't let the balloon touch the ground" game.

 Lucy Giles as Princess Anna

 Katie insisted that we get these Color Wonder markers and 

a special Princess Sophia Color Wonder book to share with her friends.  

It was a big hit.  The girls all spent at least 20 minutes coloring.

Mariah Crossley, Eden Jewkes, Katelynn Smith, Avory ZaeJoDaeus, Penny Wheelright, Lucy Giles, Chloe, Ellie

We made Fruit Loop necklaces and they each chose their own princess plate of goodies.

Lucy, Chloe, Ellie, Katie

Eden, Katelynn, Mariah, Avory, Penny, Lucy, Chloe, Ellie

 Jasmine (Katie's buddy from Tyler's soccer games), Eden, Katelynn, Ashley Crossley (against the wall), Mariah, Avory

After all the cake, presents, and games, we went out front and the girls each got their own bubbles to blow.  They also played with what I had put in their loot bags too.

Katie loved her party!

Brian's 9th Birthday

Brian is 9 years old!!!  He was such a cute baby and look at him now:

The night before Brian's birthday, while he was sleeping, I wrote a birthday note from the the family on the bathroom mirror.  The note said:  Brian, Happy 9th Birthday!  We all love you so much and are so glad you're in our family.  Love, Mom, Dad, Tyler, Katie, and Julia
Brian is: smart, handsome, an awesome big brother, a great friend, a wonderful son, a conscientious student, funny, persistent, a good swimmer, a Jamba Juice lover, an artist, always tries his best, great at math, an excellent reader, LOVED.

Brian had a fun birthday party two nights before his birthday.  He had three friends over to party.  The main event was the balloon pit!!!  We also fed the kids a pizza dinner and opened presents.

Lance, Dennis, Tyler, Brian, Tyson, Katie

 On Brian's real birthday, we had blueberry muffins for breakfast.  He insisted on opening one gift before school.  Brian was thrilled with his new backpack.  It's black, grey, and bright green, and has several pockets.

For dinner, we took the family to Pizza Pie Cafe.  The kids sure love that place.

Brian's biggest birthday gift:  a brand new bike!!!  See how small his old bike was for him?!

His new bike fits him much better.

Happy 8th Birthday, Brian!

Brian is an official 8 year old.  The day before his actual birthday was Brian's birthday party.

We decorated with red streamers

and balloons.

Brian used 2 rolls of masking tape to create his Humongous Circle Town.

The kids drove cars on this masterpiece.  

Even though it was snowing, we still had an egg hunt in the backyard.

Brian and Tyler hid 100 candy filled eggs.

 I told my boys that under the trampoline would be a great place to hide some eggs.

 Sam, Katie, Brian, Gracee, Jack, Trae, Tyler, Brody

 Then it was back inside for some hot cocoa and for decorating brownies.

 Oh yeah, and they all had to check out their egg hunt treasures.

8 is GREAT!

Happy Birthday, Brian!!!

Happy 5th Birthday to Tyler!

Tyler had birthday party the day before he turned 5.  

Caleb, Jack, Abbie, Dennis, Tyler, Brody, Gracee, Brian, Tyson

Tyler and Brian helped plan the details of the party.  

We transformed our house into Tyler Town.

We transformed some of the rooms in the house.  

Our kitchen became the bakery,

the TV room became the main roads of the town,

and the front room became Tyler's Gift Shop.  Tyler's friends were very generous with their gifts.  

The kids played games like a bean bag toss, don't let the balloon touch the ground, and laundry basket basketball.

My friend, Liz came and helped me out in the bakery.  

The kids had fun decorating cookies and eating them with some yummy vanilla ice cream.  

Tyler insisted that we drink orange pop too, since orange is STILL his favorite color.

What great friends Tyler has.

Now on to Tyler's actual birthday.

The boys wanted to help decorate the chocolate chip cookie cake.  

Brian drew the number 5 with the chocolate frosting 

and the boys got to press down M&Ms into the frosting.  

(Sheesh, Brian!  Lookin' extra good with that chocolate frosting on your teeth, Brian!)

I think the cake turned out great.

Grandma and Grandpa Hallstrom gave him the movie, "The Sword in the Stone."  

We gave him a twisty balloon making kit, the movie,  "Lion King 1 1/2," and a Hot Wheels storage container with a fold down race track.

Some fun facts about Tyler at age 5:

Favorite Color: orange

Favorite TV Show: Power Rangers

Favorite Movie: Curious George

Favorite Game: Basketball

Favorite Friends: Caleb, Jack, Brody

Favorite food: Pretzel sticks

Favorite Meal: Hot Tacos

Favorite things to do outside: do flips on the trampoline and swinging on the swings

Loves preschool, likes to snuggle, loves wearing camouflage, loves Hot Wheels cars, has been able to ride a 2 wheeler bike since last April, athletic, tells jokes

WE LOVE YOU, Tyler!