Happy happy birthday children dear . . .

I am sure we did more stuff between the last post and this, but I didn't take many pictures. We had a play date at the children's garden with T&L I know and have had Friday Fun day each week but a lot of that has just been going to the park, it has been hard to find time to play a lot before school starts each day. Anyway, work in progress.
Back to the fun--Claire had her first birthday! My teeny baby is 1, I can't even believe it. Seriously, I refuse to call her a toddler, she is still my baby. Although 1 has sure brought some attitude with it, sheesh little miss. Someone is discovering how to exert herself on her world and is using her independence to be awfully demanding and loud. Little stinker. She is so busy and into everything already! What have I done to breed such busy kiddos? Cute little thing too though, she always has us laughing. Here she is on her big day: We had her favorite foods for lunch, macaroni and cheese and cheetos. She chowed it! Then Lowell and I took her out on a date with just Mommy and Daddy (thanks Dinda for watching the boys). We took her to the aquarium and let her run and explore. She loves fishies. Then we took her to Sweet Tomatoes (soup/salad buffet) because there is so much for her to munch on there. She had quite the feast, and ice cream too of course. She also shared a lot with the floor (at our house that's not a big deal, 3 little scavengers circle her high chair at each meal wating for such an opportunity). Some random photos between her birthday and the parties: Jammin on their PaperJamz Sissy loves books, and loves to make the elephant sound with this book particularly. And isn't she just so dang cute in a hat?! Last ride on the old bikes, sporting some Green Lantern prizes they had picked up. We took these out to ride and the chains kept falling off, etc. They are 2 years old, too small, and barely functioning. But all their friends play out in the court on their bikes, so that day during school Lowell and I went and picked up new bikes as an early birthday present. I kept trying to wait but there is only so much good weather left, we just let them have them early. Yeah, they were thrilled! And Claire still likes to rock her car. :) And size 18 month jammies, who said you could get so big?? So on to the big parties. Let's just say this was a huge stress for me. It was the 1st and 6th birthdays and I wanted to do it up right. We plan to do Disney for their bday next year and by 8 I don't think they will be as into parties like this. Last year Claire had just been born so I went pretty easy then and the year before we had done Disney. So, this was the year. But I still think Chuck E Cheese would have been immensely easier and less stressful, not to mention cheaper. Oh well, I am happy with how the carnival birthday turned out, even if I didn't sleep for a week and felt like a Mack truck had hit me the next day. If you could see how the kids reacted to it all, it was all worth it. They flipped for the cake and loved all the games and attention and having friends over. And I'll do anything for my kids, so there you have it. Here we go, drumroll please, the cake! 1 12" chocolate, 1 12" vanilla, 1 10" vanilla, Wilton carousel kit and a great new marshmallow fondant recipe that was really yummy. Maxwell starred in our petting zoo There were 10 stations, 7 games plus face painting, cotton candy, and balloon animals/hats. All the games were marked with bunting and had prizes associated with them. Lowell helped me decorate the deck with tulle and more bunting. So much of my family came to help, they are so wonderful! I put everyone to work running each station, here's my dad with L playing Balloon Pop. My nieces H&A playing Hit the bottle My soon to be brother-in-law Todd and our little friend T playing Cup Toss My mom helping J with golf My sister Cyndel painting A's face Carter displaying her talents, roar! Table wear and fresh popped popcorn More pics of the cake, with the addition of chocolate letters/number Homemade corn dogs, thanks to my Dad and Hillary. We also had hot fresh pretzels, cotton candy, lemonade, watermelon, carrots and dip (had to have something healthy!), chips, and soft serve ice cream (I just love our soft serve machine, I could eat it everyday, especially the raspberry frozen yogurt--I can serve that to Claire as baby food frozen or not.) This was the popcorn game, or just how many kids can jump with balls at one time. The after picture of the cake, always a little sad for me. We're still eating it, it is seriously yummy thanks to my friend Kris for the recipe. Mmm, cake. Then they opened presents and had a few more minutes of loud craziness that only 12 4-6 year olds can produce and the non-family members went home. Then we jumped right into Claire baby's birthday party. Here's her cute hair for the event: We played a Who Knows Claire best game that my mom won. Then Claire ate her cake while we watched her first year video. Cutie girl in her pettiskirt: And with her smash cake Here's her big cake, yea that was a lot of star tip piping. But I truly love it! The letters are chocolate. She loved it too!! Then she opened some presents: Had a sugar coma and went down for her nap! :) Rob and Cam stayed to play a little longer, but I crashed! The boys broke out their new scooters (thanks gma and gpa) and had some fun: After her nap sis was busy with her new baby and stroller: And I repurposed the cake's tutu for her new baby. The next day we all felt a bit better and were able to unwind while the kiddos checked out their new toys: These were the goody bags: And here's a few videos to enjoy:
Claire walking on her birthday:




Singing Happy Birthday to Davis



And then to Carter



And silly Claire dancing with her new toy:




Phew! There you have it! It was exhausting but I think it turned out pretty good. Almost pinterest worthy ;). Next we have the boys' actual birthday with a few surprises up my sleeve for that (Cornbelly passes, breakfast with a witch), plus birthday photos, parent/teacher conferences (praying that goes well!), the boys' dr appt (Claire had hers and everything was good, 20.5 lbs (40%tile) and 29.5 inches (60%tile), doing fine developmentally, ready for cow's milk [made it to 1 with just breastmilk, woot!], peanuts, etc). So, more to come! Loves to all, I hope the lovely fall weather we are enjoying here you are enjoying wherever you are. :)